Brief Utopia

Hors du temps/Suspended Time (2024) - Assayas There has been a few films made during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2019-2020. For Miguel Gomes, lockdown with all the safety protocols was a source of inspiration to make a small, intimate comedy, The Tsugua Diaries (2021). Radu Jude made a stock footage laden satire, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021), where as Jia Zhangke gave it a grander historical context in Caught by the Tides (2024). But for most of filmmakers, the period was a time of frustrations and gave them a complete pause in their artistic endeavors. The prolonged lockdowns, and strict safety protocols on set and social distancing made almost impossible for filmmaking to take place, which is a highly communal art. Although the pandemic happened only a short time ago (even though it feels like it's been ages), enough time has passed to look back at this 'suspended time'.

For French auteur Olivier Assayas, one of most astute observers of our changing times, this reflection is perhaps his most personal and autobiographical film to date. Suspended Time takes place in a country house where Assayas grew up in, and narrated by Assayas himself. Brothers Paul (Vincent Macaigne) and Etienne (Micha Lescot) and their girlfriends, Morgane (Nine D'Urso) and Carol (Nora Hamzawi) are riding out the lockdown together. Paul is a film director (Assayas's alterego) and Etienne a music journalist (based on Mitchka Assayas, Olivier's brother and journalist). Going through a messy divorce, and not being able to work, Etienne is less than happy being stuck with his brother as a grown-up. Also Paul's hypochondriac tendencies when it comes to all the Covid precautions aren't helping the matter.

All the habits and tendencies during lockdowns were examined with humor - masks, gloves, countless Amazon deliveries for stuff you don't need, shopping for groceries.... The brothers bicker about letting the packages and groceries outside before taking them in, cleaning the floors and how to cook ripe strawberries. They both engage their work via the internet while trying to be less intrusive to others as possible - facetiming a therapist in the garden, talking to an ex and their daughter, taking an online yoga class and delving into cooking perfect crepes.

Assayas narrates many of the details of his childhood home and its surroundings - a house with his dad's extensive book collections, the memories of his parents separation, mom's forbidden room, a creaky kitchen door, a large estate next to his parents house owned by his neighbors who let them use their property as kids - the tennis court, large idyllic gardens. However restricting and scary the lockdown is Paul's days are filled with peace and tranquility, thanks in large part to Morgane- a girlfriend of two years, whom he never had a chance to live with, but the pandemic inadvertently gave them an opportunity to do so. They reflect on their time together and a self-imposed exile that is forced upon their lives. For Paul, stuck in his childhood house, gives him a brief utopia, an almost therapeutic reprieve. Even though no one knew how long it would last or the impact it would have on the future. It wasn't a renewal, a change in the new world order as many had secretly or openly hoped. It was a mere pause.

With Suspended Time, Assayas is channeling Eric Rohmer vibe - idyllic, vacation movie full of reflections. Macaigne is great as his neurotic alterego, as a germaphobe, neurotic self, talking about considering Kristen Stewart as the famous Portuguese nun, a literary sensation from the 17th century, and about having just finished shooting a project in Cuba (his international production - Wasp Network). So is the rest of the small cast, giving naturalistic performances in their roles. Lensed by Assayas regular DP, Eric Gautier, Suspended Time is sunny and beautiful and full of wide shots of French countryside.

In varying degrees, Assayas maintained that all his films were personal, some more than others - Early August, Late September and Something in the Air come to mind. But with Suspended Time, he really delves deep into autobiography territory. It is said that when he showed his brother the script for approval, Mitchka Assayas suggested that they play the roles themselves. But Assayas, fervent purveyor of preserving the life and work separation, declined the idea. But using his parent's house and narrating the film himself, the filmmaker shows much more of himself and his background to the public, in contemplation of the world in precarious times. It's light, playful and nostalgic and features an artist being forced to pause and reflect and ultimately enjoying life.

Suspended Time opens in theaters Friday, August 15.

Satire Gone Wrong

Eddington (2025) - Aster A small New Mexico town, Eddington (shot in Truth or Consequences, NM) is a backdrop of what is supposedly the cross section of America during Covid-19 pandemic. Ari Aster, a millennial director made his name for his family-based trauma horrors (Hereditary, Midsommar), with a hip studio backing (A24), embark on his take on what our divided America looks like. The result is a half-baked satire gone wrong that suffers from the worst case of both-sideism and falls for very obvious conspiracy theories it thinks it's making fun of.

The sheriff of the town is Joe Cross (Joachim Phoenix), living with his child-abuse-surviver wife, Louise (Emma Stone) and her conspiracy-addled mother, Dawn (Deirdre O'Connell) who moved in during the pandemic for the time being. Joe's boorish anti-establishment sentiment extends to not wearing masks in public, and therefore not following the mandate imposed by the town's mayor Garcia (Pedro Pascal), who shares a history with Louise. It's an election year and after a lot of confrontations about masking policy, Joe decides to run against Garcia for the election, despite Louise's objection to the prospect of not being left alone and bothered by reporters digging into her past.

This is also the time of George Floyd’s death, BLM and the rising Antifa movement. White young teens in Eddington start protesting in the streets and with everything being recorded on the phone and instantly posted on social media, Joe's every public conduct is scrutinized. After his failed attempt to smear Garcia with his wife's story, Louise leaves, and Joe chooses violence and coverup. And neighboring Pueblo Native American police are on his tail.

This is Aster's moment to capture the zeitgeist - the angst of the divisive nation which became more apparent during the pandemic. But Eddington, which starts out addressing many of these conflicting issues, quickly and decisively succumbs to the conspiratorial nature of our social media and misinformation discourse: Yes, privileged white teens are stupid and don't know what they are talking about. Yes pandemic deniers and anti vaxxers who died deserved their fate. But George Soros funded jet-set Antifa terrorists dressed like ninjas with heavy artillery and drone technology descending upon a small town to take out a small town sheriff? Aster even provides a video clip of 'terrorists' engaging in a fierce gun battle with the police in the streets without providing any context, over and over.

Eddington becomes an action thriller about 2/3rd way in. All of the minority characters are either dead or gravely injured. Michael, a young black deputy in Joe's station becomes a scapegoat for Joe but also the target of 'Antifa terrorists' with extremely fuzzy details. And still, are we supposed to be identifying with Joe?

Feedom, racism, white privilege, pedophilia, 2nd amendment all take part in the Aster's everything in the blender approach, hitting none of it. Muddled in its messaging, the film plays out like a sub-par South Park episode, a vanity project of a self-absorbed director who thinks he is smarter than everyone else. I think it's time that we stop bowing to the altar of the auteurs and the hip, boutique movie studios that propagate their unchecked greatness.