By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
“The Revenant” begins in 1823, when frontier ‘scout’ Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) sets out to explore an uncharted northern Missouri River area. When he and his fur-trapping cohorts are near what is now Lemmon, S.D.,, Glass is savagely mauled by a grizzly bear and left for dead.
According to the dictionary: ‘revenant’ means one who returns from the dead, so it’s quite apt to describe stoic Glass, who not only survives but is determined to wreak revenge against those who abandoned him and killed his teenage half-Pawnee son (Forrest Goodluck).
En route to Fort Kiowa, tormented Glass resolutely forges on foot through the harsh, frigid wilderness, dodging Arikara tribesmen searching for a chief’s kidnapped daughter. The collateral damage inflicted by encroaching white men on the spiritual culture of America’s indigenous people is thematic.
And if you thought Alejandro G. Inarritu’s bitterly sardonic, Oscar-winning “Birdman” (2014) was obtuse, this perilous epic is even more so, as cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki finds primordial symbolism in the rugged landscape, using all-natural lighting.
Filled with sadistic, gruesome gore, the Oscar-nominated, ultra-realistic adventure (shot in Canada and Argentina) is certainly the most bluntly brutal, visceral and visually striking movie of the year.
Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a punishing, physical performance with Tom Hardy as his despicable adversary. Their apocryphal story is based on true events and a legendary explorer’s tale, chronicled in Michael Punke’s “The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge” (2002).
Punke’s extensive research revealed that, defending their territory, the aggrieved Arikara attacked the Rocky Mountain Fur Trading Company’s boats, killing 13 people and wounding others.
FYI: Early bloggers erroneously reported that DeCaprio was raped by a bear; not true – when Glass inadvertently gets between a huge female and her cubs, she viciously attacks him.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Revenant” is an eerie, elemental, exhausting 8, making “Deliverance” look like a walk in the park.
Set in the rural Norfolk countryside, Andrew Heigh’s emotional drama “45 Years” revolves around a middle-class English couple who are preparing to celebrate their 45th anniversary when the arrival of a mysterious letter shakes the foundation of their seemingly idyllic marriage.
Kate (Oscar-nominated Charlotte Rampling) and Geoff (Tom Courtenay) Mercer are stunned when an official dispatch from Switzerland informs Geoff that the body of his former girlfriend, Katya, has been found.
Back in 1962, when they were hiking in the Alps, Katya fell into a fissure in a glacier. Since they were pretending to be married, Geoff was officially listed as her next of kin and, as such, has been asked to identify Katya’s recently recovered, perfectly preserved corpse.
After receiving the disturbing news, Geoff becomes increasingly preoccupied with memories of Katya and, when questioned, he confesses he would have married Katya had she lived.
Emotionally strained, increasingly jealous Kate feels compelled to search in the attic for Alpine photographs of Katya, one of which reveals that she was pregnant at the time of her death.
Significantly, Kate and Geoff are childless, devoted only to each other and their Alsatian dog Max.
Writer-director Andrew Heigh once again explores the naturalistic complexities of intimacy, as he did in “Weekend” (2011), which he considers a thematic companion piece.
On the Granger Gauge, “45 Years” is a compassionate, elegant 8, subtly delineating a devastating drama.
Situated at the base of Mt. Fuji, the Aokigahara Forest is Japan’s most notorious suicide site. Former advertising veteran, first-time feature film director Jason Zada uses this aptly named “Sea of Trees” as the folkloric centerpiece of “The Forest.”
As it begins, Sara Price (Natalie Dormer) discovers that her willful, self-destructive twin sister Jess has disappeared in rural Japan. So she hops on a plane to search for her sibling, whom she subconsciously senses is still alive.
Arriving at an Inn in the Aokigahara region, Sara meets Aiden (Taylor Kinney), an expat American travel writer who offers to let her accompany him and a knowledgeable park ranger (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) into the fabled forest where Jess was last seen.
Screenwriters Ben Ketai, Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosca delve into how the 14-square-mile woodland is haunted by angry ‘yurei,’ the twisted, tormented ghosts, yet their ambiguously malevolent horror story is only vaguely creepy.
Best known as spirited Margaery Tyrell on TV’s “Game of Thrones” and rebellious Cressida in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay,” Natalie Dormer does her best with woefully underwritten dual roles.
Although Jason Zada utilizes familiar jump scare tactics, along with spooky sounds and eerie, ominous music, he fails to achieve the necessary suspense to sustain audience interest.
On the Granger Gauge, “The Forest” is a formulaic, trivializing 3. If you’re curious about the real-life location, I suggest watching “Aokigahara: Suicide Forest,” a 20-minute short.
( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
