“Death of a Unicorn”

(Comedy/Horror: 1 hour, 47 minutes)

Starring: Jenna Ortega, Paul Rudd and Will Poulter

Director: Alex Scharfman

Rated: R (Strong violent content, gore, strong language and drug use.)

Movie Review:

“Death of a Unicorn” is an entertaining, goofy movie. It combines nice comedy with horror bits. While some of the visual effects are lacking, this dark comedy provides nice entertainment in the way comedy did during the 1980s, absurd but enjoyable.

Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) inadvertently ram a horse-like being with their car while traveling to the estate of the wealthy Leopolds: Odell (Richard E. Grant), his wife Belinda (Téa Leoni) and their son Shepard (Will Poulter). When the father-daughter duo, The Leopold Family and mansion staff investigate what Elliot hit, they find a being resembling a horse with a skeletal structure protruding from its head. They realize they are viewing a unicorn. The problem is the unicorn’s parents become irate about their offspring’s death and attack everyone at the Leopold home.

This dark comedy is entertaining as a satire. Some moments are far-fetched material that are too recurrent, such as The Leopolds’ greed for more wealth. If one suspends one’s perspective of reality, “Death of a Unicorn” offers some sprite moments.

This is mainly because the cast provides unique characters, most of whom have monetary motives. Rudd is known for his comedic roles. He is always entertaining, and the attractive Jenna Ortega is always engaging. However, The Leopolds steal the spotlight with humorous moments fueled by their extravagant lifestyle. Clearly, The Leopolds are a parody of The Sacklers, an Austrian-American family that owned Purdue Pharma.

Some visual and special effects are subpar, especially near the end. Still, the cast delivers, and the story by director-writer Alex Scharfman, his directorial debut, is amusingly original if nothing else.

Grade: B- (A cheeky death.)

“The Assessment”

(Science-Fiction/Drama: 1 hour, 54 minutes)

Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander and Himesh Patel

Director: Fleur Fortuné

Rated: R (Sexual content, language, suicide, sexual assault and nudity.)

Movie Review:

“The Assessment” is another dystopian tale set in a near future by director Fleur Fortuné in her feature film debut. It offers a nice insight into what its writers consider life will be for humanity in future decades. Lead actors Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander and Himesh Patel offer well-acted, engaging characters. Even when their behavior goes beyond normality, they are captivating.

Mia (Olsen) and Aaryan (Patel) are a couple wanting to have a child. But the world has changed, and couples can only have children after they have been evaluated and deemed worthy. The government determines who is worthy by sending an assessor to evaluate couples’ parenthood. The selective process requires seven days of evaluation. The Earth is overpopulated, so the government only wants the best parents. Mia and Aaryan’s assessor is Virginia (Vikander). The couple soon finds Virginia’s questionable tactics excessive.

Earth’s resources are no longer sustainable for large populations. The movie does not elaborate on this very much. Instead, “The Assessment” focuses on the rigorous parent selection process.

This movie plays on the concept that not everybody should be a parent. After teaching middle school, this is understandable.

Humor aside, this movie becomes a psychological drama. Audiences maneuver through the assessment rules as much as the main characters, Mia and Aaryan, nicely played by Olsen and Patel. Moreover, Vikander intelligently plays their assessor with a certain malevolence that drives the movie.

Ultimately, the main characters are tasked with the perplexing question: Is all this worth it just to have a child? Audiences should come to this thought about 35 minutes into the movie’s runtime. But what happens on screen creates such captivating, interesting dynamics that one must see how it all ends.

Grade: B (Assessment of this movie: Satisfactory.)

“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”

(Drama: 1 hour, 39 minutes; Bemba with subtitles)

Starring: Susan Chardy, Elizabeth Chisela and Esther Singini

Director: Rungano Nyoni

Rated: PG-13 (Thematic material involving sexual abuse, some drug use and suggestive references.)

Movie Review:

A serious drama, “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” expounds on Zambian culture regarding family obligations, the role of women, and funeral rituals in a community’s male-dominated culture. The mental harm caused by sexual assault has a potent presentation here, but it is interrupted by cultural aspects that overshadow the serious grievances of several young women.

The drive home for Shula (Chardy) is typical until an untimely discovery. On a nighttime road, she finds her deceased Uncle Fred lying face up, looking natural with his eyes open. Moments later, her cousin Nsansa (Chisela) also encounters their uncle’s body. As the two wait for the police, they begin to talk and unravel something about their uncle’s past regarding them. Family members are dismayed that Shula appears unmoved by her uncle’s death. Slowly, Shula, Nsansa and other female cousins reveal a major secret about their Uncle Fred.

Rungano Nyoni (“I Am Not a Witch,” 2017) is the director and writer of this screenplay set in her country of Zambia. This movie is about the rituals of a funeral for a family patriarch. It has a very large cast, but Nyoni keeps focus mainly on Shula and her reactions to everyone. However, with showcasing Fred’s funeral, something deeper is subdued by the Zambian cultural mores of this movie — a man’s transgressions’ effect on several members of his surviving family.

For several young women of the bereaved family, led by an impeccable performance from Susan Chardy as Shula, the situation remains grim for them even when their aggressor is dead. Their goal to find some acceptance regarding their past is at the core of “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.” Nyoni brilliantly develops this while keeping her screenplay focused and light enough that the funeral is not depressing.

Grade: B (A becoming woman finds her voice in this fitting movie.)