Little to Write About... Except "Wicker"

I hesitate to make too much of my day-to-day struggles, but October has been a challenge. Unless I start selling stuff seriously, I am broke. Cold weather has set in, and I ache even more than usual thanks to chronic pain and old injuries. Life is a challenge, and I don't like burdening honest readers with reality or giving ammunition to the trolls. But life is hard right now nonetheless.

There was a bright moment when @generikat, our friends W & T, and a couple others went on a Halloween trip gone wrong yet ended well. My appetite has been coming and going, so I only bought an appetizer at our group dinner, and despite their efforts, ate little of they tried to share. Then, we went to a club in downtown Spokane with terrible atmosphere and an even worse sound system. I don't know anything about their equipment, but I still could have probably made it actually work better than whoever there was "running the show." Live music is great, but not when it is wall-of-sound mixed so no one can even hear anything and blasted at the maximum the speakers can handle. Or maybe I'm old now. No, it was definitely the music.

Joking aside, it was their issue. Feedback and other problems on top of the bad mix and volume so high we couldn't think made the place unwelcome. After all that, we decided to just go watch a movie: Wicker. I say "we," but I was riding with friends and subjected to their terrible choices. How would I survive? I had seen the previews, and I was not optimistic. Of course, before the film, we were also subjected to previews and advertisements. Ugh. WHY IS THE CINEMA REPEATEDLY ADVERTISING THE CINEMA TO PEOPLE ALREADY IN THE CINEMA! OK, calm down, JT, and tell the readers what you thought of the movie. If you're actually reading this, be sure to comment with something about wicker. Something you own, something you remember from childhood, whatever.

Our story opens with an unnamed fisherwoman going about her day, catching fish, gutting them, and selling them to the local village where she is something of an outcast. The film shows her purchase of a magically enchanted wicker man from the local basket maker to serve as her husband, and the consequences which flow from that choice. The film is rated "R," and features footage of the wicker husband's... anatomical correctness... in a few scenes, but was otherwise fairly light on explicit nudity. I think the rating was for the quantity of less-explicit sex scenes, fish-gutting, language, violence, a moderately gory injury to a minor character, and general grittiness.

Do I recommend the movie? I don't know. I didn't hate it, I didn't fall in love. It was very stylistically shot, with obvious lens effects and focus changes showing where the lens was looking and what was in the background for many scenes. It seems much of the acting involved real prosthetics and other applications with some digital enhancements at various times and places, and everything felt more grounded than heavy CGI filming does. The story was good overall, and didn't feel overly drawn out. I think some of the casting was off based solely on the setting for the story. On one hand, this is an alternate history or fantasy setting. On the other hand, when so much else was so explicitly medieval Europe, why were there Africans? It's as much a modern allegory as an old story, and there's no reason to demand historical racial purity. The characters were just people in the village. I'm basically arguing with myself here as I think about the film again 24 hours after seeing it.

In the end, I'd say my opinion is positive, just not enthusiastically so. Give it a go at some point, whether in theater, on a streaming service, or DVD/Blu-Ray at some point. I don't think it's suitable for any preteen audiences, but older teens might get a lot from the story, and the wickery-dickery and other sex scenes are more for storytelling than simple titillation. There's nary a human nipple or wiener in sight aside from the Wicker Husband in a non-sex scene to my recollection, but lots of camera work and sound effects showing sex is happening for sure. Scandalous! Since it is based on a relatively recent short story, The Wicker Husband (2008), and follows it rather well according to some reviews, you could avoid the film entirely and read the story instead. Just be aware I haven't read it, so I can't say for sure what level of maturity it involves.

It's 1:40 AM now as I wrap up this rambling review, and since the clocks just changed, it's actually 2:30 AM inside my groggy noggin, so I will be calling it a night now. I even missed out on Hive Power Up Day thanks to Halloween evening and then the clock change yesterday. Have you seen this movie, and do you have any opinions of your own? Chime in with a comment. I'll reply later.