Movies
Daniel Ortiz Rants on: Hereditary
After the matriarch passes away, a grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences, and begin to unravel dark secrets.
When I originally saw the trailer for this film I knew what to expect. This wasn’t going to be the run-of-the-mill horror movie that would rely on underdeveloped characters and cheap jump scares. This was going to be a horror thriller that would deal with family trauma and absolute weirdness. I hate to pat myself on the back, but I was right!
Hereditary deals with the downward spiral of a family and their tumultuous experiences after the death of their grandmother. They all try to cope with past and present events in their own way which ends up driving them further into a bizarre rabbit hole.
A lot of people loved the movie, but I have to admit I was split. The first, and probably biggest problem I had with the film was the continuous slow pace. I truly appreciate a movie that’s a slow burn because I understand the necessity to build up characters and/or an environment to help fully grasp the context of the story, but this was a bit too slow. Even when something major would happen, I expected the pace to pick up a little, but often it went back into the comforts of the slow burn. I found too much of a gap between the development of the story and actually seeing something happen.
“I found too much of a gap between the development of the story and actually seeing something happen.“
I will say there was some creepy and disturbing imagery in this film, and some things that transpired that I was actually shocked happened. I was completely caught off guard by a specific scene that I thought would be the catalyst for a very dark turn, and even though things did get bizarre, it did drag between these moments.
My favorite character was Charlie, the young teenager played by Milly Shapiro. She managed to tread the line between totally creepy kid, and someone that you actually felt sorry for. It was never exactly specified what was wrong with her, but it played an intricate part in her dichotomy.
Anything else I say will be diving too deep into the film so I will leave it at this.
Overall Grade: C+
I felt there were enough good elements for me not to hate it, but the slow movement was sometimes too damn cumbersome. Also, this movie will have you talking about it after. Most of it was piecing together some of the confusing symbolism, and the rest was trying to understand why certain things were being done. I feel that the general audience is going to enjoy those elements or are going to find it to be the most frustrating part of the movie. If you like the pace of Rosemary’s Baby or The Exorcist, you will love this. If you’re looking for The Conjuring or Annabelle, you probably won’t.
Hereditary
Mystery, Horror, Drama
June 2018
Director: Ari Aster
Palm star Media
2 hours 7 minutes
IMDB reference click here
Now that Captain America is Black
- Bucky Barnes will change his name to Summer Soldier Buckquan because “Nah son! we ain’t doing sh*t in the winter!”
- Fearing for their lives, Police officers will fire 751 shots at Cap in the 4th of many incidents to come.
- In a new altered timeline, Thanos will win due to Cap being detained by a routine traffic stop. “How can you afford Vibraniun on a government salary? Please step out of the vehicle sir.”
- Captain America will form a Rap group with Black Panther called “Black-America.” The group will not be received well but will eventually have all their intellectual property stolen for decades to come without any due repar… I mean royalties. #MESSAGE
- Racists will be utterly confused when they tell Captain America to “Go back to where you came from.” Equally confused, Cap will pack up all his belongings and stay put.
- Cap will be accused of stealing Thor’s hammer the next time he picks it up.
- Cap’s shield will be replaced with a Vibraniun PlayStation Controller since black men are more comfortable throwing that.
- The battle decree will officially be changed from “Avengers Assemble” to “Yerrrrr! It’s on sight!”
- After 40 years of service, Cap will travel back in time to 1998 to finally get that last dance with his true love, Laura Winslow. They will Cha Cha Slide to “Before I let Go” as the credits role.
- Upon retirement, those jaded with having an Af-Am do such an amazing job will appoint a failed real estate charlatan to take up the mantle. The New Cap will immediately try and grab Scarlet by her “Johansson” and declare himself the best Captain America that ever did it during his inauguration.
It is clear that Chadwick Boseman chose iconic roles like Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, Jackie Robinson and Black Panther with deliberate intent and for a specific purpose. In an age where positive roles for Black actors is often sparse, Chadwick managed to land and portray historical figures that made most respect his talents if not revel in his ability to transition effortlessly for one character to another. Even I had to give his African accent a solid B+ (It’s the highest grade the Nigerian Standards Bureau can give for an African accent to a non African FYI.)
Holding out and preparing for these dynamic roles came with both great frustration and incredible resolve I’m certain. Not to mention the taxing ordeal of battling Colon Cancer as the grueling scheduling of filming and increasing responsibility for positive representation loomed. Even under extreme duress, Chadwick’s commitment to others appeared to outweigh his own tribulations, unbeknownst to us all.
Black Panther may have been just a movie to some and that may be because some can easily rattle off 10 movies with a king of non Af-Am origin. It represented a lot more to others. Albeit imagined, imagery on cinema often accomplishes more to augment the social narrative and society itself than actual reality. If negative stereotypes influence perception then positive ones absolutely have the same converse effect.
Even in jest, the cultural misappropriation of raisins in potato salad on SNL skits directly spoke to the tampering of black culture to which T’challa championed, represented and aptly responded “Oh hell Nah Karen!”
If you don’t understand the relevance of representation, it’s probably because you are thoroughly represented. After all, no one is ever grateful for every breath they take until they are gasping for air.
R.I.P Chadwick Boseman. Thank you for breathing life into the possibility of Black excellence.
