David R. Walker

Archive for April, 2025

Die Kwiksilwers

Director: Jordy Sank

Cast: Lida Botha, June van Merch, Susanne Beyers, Jacques Bessenger, Johann Vermaak, Laura-Lee Mostert, Solomon Cupido, Theresa Sedras

Running Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Language: Afrikaans with English subtitles

Johannesburg based film director Jordy Sank continues his exploration of the aging demographic as he effortlessly switches from his award winning 2021 documentary film Ella Blumenthal: I am Here to a feature length fiction film in the new hilarious Afrikaans comedy Die Kwiksilwers opening in South African cinemas on Thursday 1^st May 2025.

Die Kwiksilwers features a merry group of elderly ladies lead by Elsabe Marias played by Lida Botha and her friends Anna played by June van Merch, the outrageous Meinke played by Susanne Beyers and Katie played by Theresa Sadras.

The group actually make a perfect bridge four but Elsabe is desperate to escape the confines of her overbearing carer and her son Wikus wonderfully played by Jacques Bessenger. In a bid to recapture the memories of her travels with her late husband Roland in a Ford Granada nicknamed Die Kwiksilwer, Elsabe and her friends decide to go on a vintage road trip to Sutherland in the Northern Cape to watch a meteor shower near the observatory. The only catch is they don’t tell anyone where they are going.

Die Kwiksilwers is a poignant and funny road trip about four elderly ladies that decide to break free and travel across South Africa for an adventure which will get them entangled with the law, some wayward goats and of course a psychedelic festival in the desert which resembles Africa Burn.

While Wikus desperately attempts to track his mother and her friends as they continue to elude him, director Jordy Sank and co-writers Gabriella Blumberg and Marista Van Eeden shine a light on a significant issue: how the younger generation treat elderly people as if they are incapable of being independent. There is a great scene whereby Elsabe and her friends discuss how their children all treat them as invalids as they merrily travel on their great escape.

Die Kwiksilwers shows a humorous side of getting older and not caring about what people think. It’s a light-hearted and hilarious comedy with strong production values which rightfully earned the Audience Favourite Award at the kykNET Silwerskerm Festival in Camps Bay, Cape Town in 2024 https://silwerskermfees.co.za/english/.

Support South African cinema and catch Die Kwiksilwers in cinemas from 1^st May 2025. Director Jordy Sank does a brilliant job of shining a light on the elderly which often appear to be invisible in a youth obsessed culture.

Die Kwiksilwers is an excellent comedy, fun and exhilarating which gets a film rating of 8 out of 10. Highly recommended viewing and definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

Drop

Director: Christopher Landon

Cast: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Reed Diamond, Ed Weeks, Travis Nelson, Ben Pelletier, Gabrielle Ryan  

Running Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Horror director Christopher Landon who helmed the 2017 film Happy Death Day returns with a more psychological thriller in his new film Drop starring The White Lotus star Meghann Fahy as single mother Violet who decides to step out of her comfort zone and go on a date with the incredibly handsome photographer Henry played by Brandon Sklenar (Midway, It Ends with Us).

Violet leaves her 5 year old son in the capable hands of her sister Jen played by Violett Beane. Violet wears a fabulous red dress and is ready for a night on the town in downtown Chicago at the exclusive restaurant Palette on the 38^th floor of a skyscraper.

As she patiently waits for Henry to arrive, she receives digital drop images which threaten her night out. A cyber stalker starts commanding her to do specific things one of which is to kill her date. If Violet doesn’t comply then the cyber stalker will instruct a professional killer played by Ben Pelletier to kill her son Toby.

From a visual perspective Drop is a fascinating film in which the director and a very creative production designer namely Susie Cullen create a restaurant which becomes a character of its own. Drop makes use of the concept of urban cinema to a maximum.

Palette is the chic downtown restaurant to bring your date to, a sleek 5 star gourmet experience with gorgeous lighting affording an expansive view of Chicago. A place with creepy waiters and lots of single men hanging around using their smartphones. Anyone could be a killer.

As Violet tries to navigate an extremely tricky evening, Henry soon realizes that the first date jitters are far more serious especially when the sleazy piano man Phil played by Ed Weeks suddenly collapses after too many martinis.

Much like director Mark Myclod’s bizarre 2022 thriller The Menu starring Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy, Drop works on multiple levels as a Hitchcockian thriller about a traumatized woman who is desperate to save her son while trying to uncover who is really threatening as well as a tailored narrative about how woman can feel vulnerable in any given situation.

In a pure character switch, the heroine is the one who saves the hero while the villain remains out of sight right until dessert is served.

Drop is captivating, engaging and exciting. A clever psychological thriller whose only downfall was a script that needed some character nourishment in terms of a decent back story. Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar do their best in a psychological thriller about first dates which crash and burn.

If you enjoy a good psychological thriller, then catch Drop in cinemas now. Drop is rated 7 out of 10 and is worth seeing especially for those wanting to dive back into the dating pool.

The Amateur

Director: James Hawes

Cast: Rami Malek, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Bernthal, Rachel Brosnahan, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Stuhlbarg, Caitriona Balfe, Danny Sapani, Marc Rissmann, Joseph Millson

Running Time: 2 hours and 3 minutes 

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Oscar winner Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) made a convincing Bond villain in the 2021 smash hit No Time to Die but as a leading action hero his status is dubious at best.

However, One Life director James Hawes took a chance on Rami Malek as a leading man in the new spy thriller The Amateur which is like a nerd’s guide to the Jason Bourne franchise without the guns, fistfights and car chases.

Malek plays the extremely clever CIA data analyst Charlie Heller whose beautiful wife Sarah played by The Marvellous Mrs Maisel and House of Cards TV star Rachel Brosnahan who gets murdered in a terrorist attack in London while in the British capital on a business trip.

Charlie senses a CIA cover up and ignores orders not to go after the Belarussian terrorists responsible and decides to go rogue with enough hacking skills to break through any firewall.

First Charlie seeks the assistance of tough guy Henderson played with a welcome return to the big screen by Oscar nominee Laurence Fishburne (What’s Love Got to Do With it) who attempts to train him to become a killer. While Charlie doesn’t take to firing guns at bad guys he discovers a penchant for explosives and detonators which can so easily be digitally triggered.

As Charlie seeks creative revenge on the terrorists and their leader Schiller played by Michael Stuhlbarg (The Shape of Water, Call Me by Your Name), he globe trots from London to Paris to Marseilles and eventually to Istanbul where he catches up with a CIA asset the mysterious Inquiline, briefly played by Irish actress Caitriona Balfe (Ford v Ferrari, Belfast, Money Monster).

The Amateur is an enjoyably different spy thriller as Rami Malek makes for a usual spy while all the CIA hotshots played by Holt Callany and Julianne Nicholson are one step behind him.

The cinematography by Martin Ruhe was not good, many scenes appeared extremely dark and badly lit and the scriptwriters Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli battled to get some character dimension into a rather bland screenplay adapted from the novel by Robert Litell.

Despite these drawbacks, The Amateur is an entertaining if slightly overlong film which is heavy on tech gadgets and light on action. Although there is one brilliant scene when Charlie kills a man in a rooftop swimming pool in a plush Spanish hotel. His creative revenge pays off.

If you enjoy a unique spy revenge thriller then catch The Amateur in cinemas now. The Amateur gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is no Jason Bourne but it just proves that never underestimate the tech guys in the basement level. Recommended viewing.

Rami Malek is excellent in the main role, especially being cast against type.  

A Working Man

Director: David Ayer

Cast: Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, Maximilian Osinski, Cokey Falkow, Michael Pena, David Harbour, Arianna Rivas, Piotr Witkowski, Greg Kolpakchi

Running Time: 1 hour 56 minutes

Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

With screenwriters David Ayer and Sylvester Stallone based upon the book by Chuck Dixon called Levon’s Trade, A Working Man perfectly recreates a world of good and evil. In David Ayer’s universe, the evil villains are really bad: diabolical and ruthlessly violent.

A Working Man’s poster shows an image of the action star Jason Statham looking mean with a shotgun and a baseball bat and this tells viewers everything about a violent action film in which Statham’s character Levon Cade is a construction site manager who at the film’s beginning is down and out, sleeping in his car and battling to get custody of his beautiful young daughter.

A Working Man pits the honest hard working fellow against an evil crime syndicate that are involved in human trafficking and the kidnapping of young girls for kinky clients in distant locations on the outskirts of Chicago.

In this case, when the construction boss Joe Garcia played by Michael Pena’s daughter Jenny gets kidnapped on a girl’s night out, Levon is hired by the Garcia’s to find their talented daughter.

Levon with the help of his blind friend Gunny played by David Harbour enters the underworld of Chicago crime syndicates and discovers that the real perpetrators are the evil Russians. In this case these are not the Brighton Beach Russians of director Sean Baker’s Oscar winning film Anora, these are the crazy Russians with links to human trafficking, drugs and illegal gambling.

The Russian crime syndicate is thrown into disarray when the son of a Russian mob boss, Dimi Kosnyk played by Maximilian Osinski (In Time) hires two deadbeats to kidnap Jenny Garcia and then have to face the consequences of their actions when Levon Cade comes after the entire Russian crime family including the crazy twin brothers, dressed in matching haute couture tracksuits, Danya and Vanko played by Greg Kolpakchi and Piotr Witkowski.

The scene in the panel van when Levon takes on the twins is frenetic and then there is the final gruesome showdown in which director David Ayer does really ensure that audiences are taken into the depravity and decadence of the underworld filled with bloodshed and perversion.

One thing David Ayer does brilliantly is creating his evil villains and in A Working Man he does not disappoint.

Cinematographer Shawn White and production designer Nigel Evans do a superb job of creating a contracting aesthetic between the bright innocent world of normal law abiding citizens and the dark nefarious world of organized crime. The contrast is startling and effective.

South African audiences should watch out for a great cameo by SA actor Cokey Falkow (Jurassic World: Dominion) as Dougie a biker enforcer who also gets involved in Levon’s crusade to save the maiden from the underworld.

A Working Man is a violent kidnapping thriller with action man Jason Statham delivering on every level and gets a film rating of 6.5 out of 10. This film is average with parts of the storyline sliding indulgently into excess while generally it maintains an entertaining storyline.

This film is recommended for action fans and lovers of David Ayer films like Fury, Suicide Squad and End of Watch.