“Beast.” / “Major Arcana.”

“Beast” (2017, Amazon Prime) British psychological thriller, written and directed by Michael Pearce, stars Jessie Buckley as 27-year old Moll, who is treated by her controlling mother as flawed and a burden. (You may wiki the rest of the premise or plot.) 

       Although critics consider 2018's “Wild Rose” as her breakthrough, “Beast” was Ms Buckley's first movie and may well be one of her best performances. I haven't seen all her movies (including “Wild Rose” and 2021's “The Lost Daughter,” which gave her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress) so I can't really say “Beast” is her best. But I saw her in about 5 or 7 movies. 

       All that I can say is, Jessie as Moll, is power performance, restraint and forewarning like a fuse to a dynamite. So the eventual explosion (although not entirely expected) jars the viewer's nerves. Co-lead Johnny Flynn as the tortured soul Pascal is also fine but this is all a Jessie Buckley ride. You'd disregard the movie's flaws, which are minimal. 

“Major Arcana” (2018, Amazon Prime) about a long-troubled itinerant carpenter returns home to small town Vermont and attempts to build a log cabin by hand, hoping to free himself from a cycle of poverty and addiction. This indie simplicity is labeled “arthouse drama.” But I didn’t bother myself with such a mark. I enjoyed the 1 hour and 22 minutes ride, nevertheless. 

       Major Arcana are the named cards in a cartomantic tarot pack. I don’t know if that actually works in life although a few friends here in Asheville NC sweetly offered me a reading or some sort years ago. I didn’t pay attention afterwards. I just lived my life as is. This movie, however, isn’t about tarot cards, or was it, metaphorically? Doesn’t matter anyhow. 

       Director/writer Josh Melrod’s little claim to fame before this small-town excursion is the editing job for 2014’s “Skunk,” a Cannes Film Festival winner. No matter. Josh was able to weave an engaging short story from an otherwise boring plot point around the fluid and focused performance of Ujon Tokarski and Tara Summers. Cool, tiny movie! 🎥📺📽

GAVE Up. Movie, “A Bend in the River” (2021, Amazon Prime) Irish film, follows a writer who returned to his Irish town after 25 years inNew York City. Seems interesting but after 15 minutes, I fell asleep.