It’s rare that a film makes the transition from the Cannes competition to the awards race, but not only is Todd Haynes’ Carol another heavyweight entry in a strong year, it may well net more than a handful of Oscar nominations at the ceremony next February. Starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, it tells the story of shopgirl Therese (Mara), who falls for a wealthy customer (Blanchett’s Carol). Carol is married with a child, and Therese involved in a casual relationship with a man who clearly loves her, but the two women are instantly attracted and begin an affair of sorts, much to the annoyance of Carol’s long-suffering husband Harge (Kyle Chandler). As she and Harge are about to divorce, Carol suggests a road trip, which takes the two women far from NYC. Picture credit: Getty Images
Although penned by Patricia Highsmith – a writer better known for psychological thrillers, including five Tom Ripley novels – Carol is not a genre movie in the obvious sense. There are dark moments, heightened by the fact that Carol carries a gun in one of her stylish, matching valises, but this is first and foremost a love story, set in the days when same-sex relationships came at a price. One could be forgiven for thinking that Haynes has been here before, with the lush, Douglas Sirk-influenced melodrama Far From Heaven, but Carol is quite a different beast, evoking a much less documented era. This is the '50s that saw in Dwight Eisenhower as President, a brief moment before the economic boom that characterised the decade, and Haynes captures it with his usual savvy and ease.
That the film, its two stars and Haynes will get awards buzz in the coming months is a no-brainer, but the tech heads here are so incredible that every department will feature in those For Your Consideration ads. Chief among them is Ed Lachman, whose painterly compositions are simply stunning, but if you’re of the betting persuasion, put a flutter on a fourth Oscar for costume designer Sandy Powell, whose creations put the crowning flourish on a quiet masterpiece.
Turning up the volume somewhat, we come to Jeremy Saulnier’s terrific cult crowdpleaser Green Room, the follow up to Blue Ruin and the director’s second film to debut in Director’s Fortnight. Starring Antony Yelchin and Imogen Poots, it finds unknown punk rock band The Ain’t Rights struggling to make a living while taking their hardcore sounds to the masses. After a gig goes sorely wrong, the band are directed to a rundown club in the provinces, where they play to an audience of skinhead neon-Nazis. Backstage, however, something sinister occurs, leaving The Ain’t Rights trapped in the venue’s hospitality area (the green room of the title), where they realise they are going to have to fight for their survival.
It sounds like an odd start to a siege thriller, and it is, which is why Saulnier’s film works so very well – like Straw Dogs, this is a film about people drawn into violence against their nature. And when it happens, that violence is blunt, gory and shocking (there were several walkouts at the first screening), all of which escalates with the introduction of Patrick Stewart as Darcy, the malevolent leader of the Red Laces skinhead movement.
Admirers of **Blue Ruin **will be pleased to see the return of Macon Blair, as one of Darcy’s semi-competent underlings, but mostly to note that Saulnier has not sold out with a bigger budget. He could have made a studio calling card but instead he made something for the fans; Green Room is likely to join **The Guest **and It Follows in the pantheon of modern-day genre reinventions: a blast of movie rock’n’roll.