Every time somebody thinks they have developed a fountain of youth, it always
turns out tragic, in a suitably ironic way. Seriously, haven’t they seen The
Twilight Zone? Yet, they keep trying. In this case, Robyn Smith’s old
ex-flame convinces her to take his new youth serum with him. However, she
cannot cajole her faithful husband Oscar to take the plunge with her in Henk
Pretorius’s Forever Young, which releases today on VOD.
Smith
was once a literary star. Her sales have diminished, but she still outshines
loyal old Oscar. Her latest autobiographical book has her pondering all her
considerable life regrets, particularly never having a child with Oscar, who
was always grade-A fatherhood material. Consequently, she is primed to accept
when dodgy old Jim Petrak shows up offering her eternal youth, in the form of
his miracle drug Novus.
Seeing
Petrak transform himself from an elderly callow reprobate into a young callow
reprobate convinces her. However, Petrak has a few fine print details. Smith
and all other potential Novus users must pass a battery of health tests. Any form
of cancer is disqualifying, because Novus would accelerate the growth of cancerous
cells. Unfortunately, Oscar has just been diagnosed, but he hasn’t told his
newly youthful wife yet, because he prefers to contemplate his mortality on his
own for a while.
If
Forever Young had been whittled down to forty-some minutes, it could
have been solid Twilight Zone-ish anthology episode, in the lowkey
tradition of “Kick the Can.” Pretorius and co-screenwriters Jennifer Nicole Stang
and Greg Blyth explore some of the intriguing aspects of immortality,
especially asymmetric immortality. However, the big twist we can see coming
from twenty blocks away.
Bernard
Hill (whom everyone on planet Earth has seen on-screen, since he had smaller
supporting roles in Lord of the Rings and Titanic) is terrific as
sensitive, soulful Oscar. He also forges consistently poignant chemistry with
both Diana Quick, as the senior Smith, and Amy Tyger, as the Novus Smith.
A mobster like John Morgan has so many enemies, he can’t be bothered to
worry about a washed-out alcoholic copper like Frank Conway. However, he will have
worry about enemies closer to home—and perhaps some previously unknown to him
in James Crow’s Nemesis, which releases this Friday on VOD.
Morgan
presents himself as a philanthropist, but his money is dirty. Unfortunately,
neither Conway or his cop father before him could ever get any evidence to
stick on him. The best Conway can do is drunkenly crash Morgan’s coming home
party. All Conway gets for his efforts is a suspension, but Morgan is secretly
concerned someone tipped off the cop regarding his return to the UK. He
suspects his thuggish brother Richard, who resents his brother’s greater
success in organized crime. Richard Morgan will be a guest at his brother’s
dinner party, but it takes a potentially lethal turn when it turns into a home
invasion-hostage crisis.
So,
what kind of person would be rash enough to take connected kingpin like Morgan
hostage? That will be the whole surprise, or surprises. They are actually
memorably dark and twisty. In fact, the captive dinner party section is quite tense and
memorable. It just takes half the film’s run-time to get there.
Nemesis
is
a grubby overachiever that isn’t ashamed of its grunginess. Billy Morgan is
terrific as the steely silver-haired John Morgan. He definitely has a Michael
Caine-ish pugnaciousness going on. Frank Harper brings similarly grizzled
bluster as his bitter brother Richard. A notable standout, Jeanine Nerissa
Sothcott is entertainingly flamboyant and catty as Sadie Morgan, the gangster’s
cougar-trophy wife.
