Besties: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande in ‘Wicked’.
WICKED ***1/2 (160 minutes) PG
While some people know the hit musical Wicked so well they can quote it verbatim after seeing it umpteen times on stage, most people know of it via its treatment on South Park.
The show has been seen by 60 million people around the world since its debut in 2003 (thank you, ChatGPT) and Hollywood has been toying with a movie version ever since the studio bean counters twigged that such a venture might turn a dollar.
So, here it is and, in a word, it’s marvellous.
Director Jon M Chu (GI Joe: Retaliation; Crazy Rich Asians), working from a screenplay by Winnie Holzman & Dana Fox, paces the storytelling upon the very sensible presumption that the droves needed to see the thing to make it a hit won’t know much about Wicked, apart from what they saw on South Park.
In brief, Wicked tells the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West, played in the classic 1939 movie by Margaret Hamilton.
In Wicked: Part One (Part Two is due this time next year) we meet the character pre-witch as Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), a life-long victim of bullying due to her Martian-green skin.
At the oddly-named, Hogwarts-like Shiz University, she befriends the prim, self-consciously pretty Galinda (Ariana Grande) as they study sorcery, their journey regularly peppered by big musical numbers that are so elaborate the camera often has trouble capturing them properly.
There’s no two ways about it: Wicked is fabulous stuff, a frame-filling, family-friendly cinematic confection with a host of catchy songs, dazzling sets – you’ll absolutely love the design of the school library – and, most importantly, two spirited lead performances.
The film’s obviously expensive production values are singularly sumptuous, making for eye-pleasing backdrops to Elphaba’s rather captivating character story as she and Galinda gradually make their way to seeing the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), with pop starlet Grande proving a delight in a largely comic role.
With the long musical sequences swelling the film’s running time to 160 minutes, Wicked will test some bladders, so best to keep liquid intake to a minimum. That said, if you do need a restroom run, the music bits provide a window for you to nip out without missing too much.
All up, grand entertainment. Bound to be huge.
GRAFTED **** (95 minutes) MA
Wowsie. Out of nowhere and with no advanced warning comes this excellent, tightly-wound body horror number from New Zealand, easily ranking as one of the year’s best genre pieces.
Shy Chinese scholarship student Wei (Joyena Sun) continues her late father’s pioneering work in experimental skin grafting in Auckland, discovering a handy means of not only concealing her unsightly skin condition but of assuming the attractive facial features of the popular girls at her school.
The procedure does entail killing them first, but no matter. Vanity…sorry…Science comes first.
Also starring Jess Hong and Eden Hart (a Margot Robbie lookalike), the film features loads of fabulous ick-worthy effects and a well-rounded, full-bodied story that, in accordance with the finest horror movie conventions, gets progressively bonkers.
Directed by Sasha Rainbow with a strong sense of psychological and pathological dread, along with nifty touches of black humour, Grafted is clever, intense, wildly satisfying and singularly deranged. What fun.
If nothing else, the film certainly reinforces what director Takashi Miike (an obvious inspiration here) taught us in 1999’s horror classic Audition – that there are few things in this world scarier than an insane chick with a syringe. (Salute also to Kathy Bates in Misery.)
Of particular note is how Grafted is the third film this year, following The Substance and Smile 2, to explore the touchy topic of the extremes women will go to in the pursuit of beauty and adoration. There’s clearly something in the ether.
As to why the film is getting such a tiny release, go figure. Add it to that long list of things about the Australian movie business that make absolutely no sense.
GOODRICH ***1/2 (111 minutes) M
A timely reminder that there’s a lot more to Michael Keaton than Beetlejuice and Batman, Goodrich is a richly nuanced, bittersweet comedy-drama about a man in the midst of a bruising mid-life crisis.
Set in sunny Los Angeles, Keaton plays Andy Goodrich, a formerly successful art gallery manager who is facing closure. He also has a wife in rehab who refuses to speak with him, two young kids and an adult daughter from his first wife who is pregnant (Mila Kunis).
Admirably, he tries keeping his spirits up, but life keeps clobbering him each time he comes close to getting things to work.
Produced by Keaton and Kunis and released with no fanfare, Goodrich is a touching, thoughtful portrait of a man facing the very real prospect of watching his personal and professional life crumble before him.
A very good film, strongly recommended for those seeking blockbuster relief.