Dan Berk & Robert Olsen's Villains

TONIGHT’S FILM.

FIRST, TRUE STORY MOVIES.

Every week, I ask the tnmn community for film recommendations in an arbitrary category. To find out who won last week’s category – Keanu Reeves movies – vote on this week’s submissions for movies based on true stories.

SUBMIT YOUR FAVORITE BOAT MOVIES.

That is, movies that take place on or involve a water craft of some kind. Reply to this email with your recommendation and why we should watch it. Include your first name and last initial. I’ll feature you in next week’s email. For duplicates, I’ll include up to three names and pick the best quote provided.

Note: If the movie doesn't comply with the category, I’ll come to your local grocery store and buy up all of the organic produce. I’ll do it once a week. The only produce you’ll be able to purchase will be covered in pesticides or whatever. You’ll taste the difference. Your strawberries will be like, too big. You won’t be able to shake the thought that what you’re eating is unnatural. Yuck. So, ya know. Follow the category.

DAN BERK & ROBERT OLSEN’S VILLAINS

WHAT IT IS.

A spoiler-free description of the movie.

Two criminals break into a house, but they’re interrupted by the homeowners before they can get away.

IF YOU LIKE.

If you like these things, then you’ll like the film.

▶ Fast starts. Villains gets right into it by cleverly dropping you in about halfway into the story. This is a literary device called in media res, for anyone who likes to sound pretentious.²

▶ Power struggles. The kind where the pendulum swings back and forth to no end.

▶ Monologues. Jeffrey Donovan performs two or three monologues that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Quentin Tarantino film.

▶ Fancy end credits. Sometimes, production teams nail the end credit sequence. You’ll know it when you see it. And you’ll see it when you watch the end credits of Villains, animated by Matt Reynolds.

MY TAKE.

What I liked about it.

Dan Berk & Robert Olsen's Villains has a very particular energy about it. Jeffrey Donovan, who plays George, says the film operates ‘just south of farce’.² 

I nearly wrote this off as an actor’s platitude, but you start to get what Donovan means when his character appears on screen for the first time alongside his co-star, Kyra Sedgwick.

Each of their characters is comical, bordering on unserious. Caricatures of old Hollywood, almost. In order for the film to work, though, their performances must balance the farcical with a genuine, present threat. It can feel outrageous, but it also has to feel dangerous. It’s commendable work, put into this context.

Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe each turn in fun performances of their own, playing affable, dimwitted criminals who stumble into a game of chess with the aforementioned caricatures. Both seem to have gotten the “just south of farce” memo — a sign of a well-directed film.

Accompanying the performances is stylish editing work from Sofi Marshall, which serves as embellishment to much of the film’s humor. There’s a slow motion shot of Bill Skarsgård falling down sideways with a dumb smile on his face that, by some modern-day miracle, never became a meme.

Above all else, Villains is a clever screenplay. The writing is unpredictable, explosive, and plain-old fun. The last thing I watched that made me feel this way is Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

While these are distinctly different productions, they share a narrative sensibility I quite admire: unpredictability.

Villains takes unexpected turns early and often. Every character gets backed into a corner at one point or another, but the writing never feels forced. And through every turn, the tone of the film prevails: “just shy of farce”.

Enjoy the film.

OH, NEAT.

A fact or two about the production that makes you say “oh, neat”.

▶ In an interview with Collider, the directors noted that Kyra Sedgwick’s character, Gloria, was intended to feel like she fell out of a Tennessee Williams production. Watch Villains and then watch A Streetcar Named Desire. Job well done, I’d say.³

▶ The end credits sequence was originally intended to be shown at the beginning of the film. The directors took a note from a colleague to move it to the end. Their words: “It sets expectations where people think the whole movie is going to be like skulls exploding.” Moving the sequence to the end prevented audiences from getting the wrong idea.⁴

THE QUOTE.

One great line of dialogue from the film.