Weekend Watch: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm And The Witches
Sacha Baron Cohen's back for more chaos and Anne Hathaway has evil plans
Image Credit: Amazon
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Sacha Baron Cohen returns as Borat and Anne Hathaway is a pantomime villain.
In 2006, when Sacha Baron Cohen first unleashed satirical character grotesque Borat Sagdiyev on the big screen, America, and the world in general, was a very different place. Certainly, there were plenty of issues for Cohen and his writers to take aim at, and as we approach one of the most important elections in US history, it made sense for the character to return.
This new film picks up the story with Borat in disgrace (and prison) for bringing shame upon his home nation of Kazakhstan. He’s plucked from hard labour and dispatched by the country’s Premier (Dani Popescu) to return to America with a gift for Donald Trump to restore Kazakhstan’s standing in the eyes of what they think is a strong ally. Of course, things don’t go smoothly and he’s left scrambling with an alternate plan, which is to hand off his daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova) to a powerful ally of Trump. Along the way, he prods at America’s racist corners, encounters the Covid crisis and learns a lesson about being a better father to a young woman along the way. Unfortunately, only fitfully does he hit a target and generate real laughter.
Despite the presence of no less than 10 writers on the story and screenplay (twice the number of the original), the focus of the new Borat film is much less stringent, leading to rambling sections that have little to say, let alone provide much entertainment value. Sure, Cohen and his crew can offer up some moments that will be talked about (Rudy Giuliani for one) but an awful lot here is a carbon copy of skits from the first film, and with far less impact. Part of that is not the filmmakers’ fault – America has simply moved on to a much more shocking place in real life, and the impact of the satire is somewhat blunted.
Where Cohen had Ken Davitian to bounce off of (or wrestle) before, here he has Bakalova’s Tutar. The actress proves to be a natural at playing off of (and sometimes besting) Cohen, and Tutar’s story is one of the high points of the film, as she evolves from caged child to confident crusader. Their interactions with people such as a pro-life doctor and a debutante ball crowd are the sort of comedy that will have you chewing your fingertips off in cringing anguish – which is exactly their aim. Elsewhere, the conceit of Borat forced to disguise himself because people on the street recognise him wears thin quickly, reduced to an excuse for Cohen to slap on more make-up. And with that changed circumstance comes the distinct whiff that less of the film is as spontaneous or as truly natural as the 2006 effort.
The team is to be praised for one or two inspired sequences and quick thinking when tackling the pervading theme of the world, but while I’m happy to see Cohen trying to bring his most famous character back (don’t jump down my throat, Ali G fans), I do wish the film around him was a better vessel for his particular comedy brand.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is on Amazon Prime Video now.
Image Credit: Warner Media
Roald Dahl’s 1983 tome The Witches has, of course, come to screens before. Nicolas Roeg directed the 1990 version, which benefitted from a commanding performance by Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch, ably abetted by some serious prosthetics courtesy of Jim Henson’s creature shop. Yet in places, it’s also a slog, ladling on the exposition before getting to the story of a young lad and his grandmother who have to take on a legion of the scary hags who hate children and want to turn them all into mice. Robert Zemeckis has neither Huston nor Henson but instead figured that his own effects experience and Anne Hathaway would provide an adequate answer. Sadly, the math doesn’t add up.
Let’s start with the positives: Zemeckis certainly hits the ground at a faster pace and maintains a speedier feel (even as his film has a longer running time) all the way through. Octavia Spencer takes over the grandmother role and acts the hell out of it, as she so often does. And switching the location/time period to 1960s Alabama does make this feel different, as does one major plot choice (no spoilers). But that, sadly, is about it.
Hathaway’s Grand High Witch is less psychopathic menace than preening pantomime villain, with an accent that hitchhikes around Eastern Europe and Russia by way of Norway, and she’s less truly terrifying than Huston. Her scare factor is largely due to Joker-style scars at the side of her mouth, which crank open into a wider, serpent-like orifice. Elsewhere, the kids are largely forgettable and even Stanley Tucci isn’t given that much to do.
On the effects front, the results are… fine, but they honestly miss the homespun, practical feel of the original. Sure, the director can do a lot more with the mice and stunts, but that doesn’t compensate for a story that never quite gels into the same level of entertainment. Whereas Roeg’s film felt like something the whole family could enjoy (the odd moment of downtime aside), Zemeckis’ is a wackier, wilder affair and appears to be clearly targeting a much younger audience with its frenetic style.
Yet here’s my advice: try both, and see which version ends up as a Halloween ritual for you and/or your family.
The Witches is on HBO Max in the US now and will be out on PVOD in the UK on 26 October.