May Movie of the Month: 28 Days Later
“It was in the street outside. It was coming in through your windows. It was a virus. An infection.”
Dear reader, a quick note:
A brief introduction is in order.
I welcome you to Movie of the Month, a column exclusive to Pilot Magazine. A column dedicated to sharing movie recommendations.
I myself am a filmmaker. I eat, sleep, and breath movies. And yet I am continually astounded by them. There are spectacular stories everywhere. In every country, every format, and every decade since the invention of the moving picture. It is my journey to explore them, and my privilege to share them with you all.
My goal is as follows:
I will review a movie each month. These will vary greatly. Some will be international, some will be old, some will be familiar. But with each, there will be an intention, some connection to the demographic and life we live today. I will do my best to make those connections for you all.
I’m not going to write summaries, and I’m not going to throw any shade. I’m going to write about movies that I love and that I think you will love too.
My intention here is to give you a rough sense of plot, tone, and themes... Enough to convince you to go watch these on your own.
While I will pick a movie catered to each month, these movies are really my suggestions for any time. Feel free to go backwards, forwards, upward, inward, whatever. It’s my pleasure to share my thoughts on these films. I hope you enjoy!
My best, Ishana
For the month of May I considered sharing a more versatile movie. I thought about The Graduate, the sexy gateway drug into more niche cinema. It’s popular, smart, and a reliable classic.
Don’t get me wrong, I love The Graduate. But it didn’t feel right. These are not “reliable” times. We’re in the midst of a universal crisis. Everyday life feels dangerous and unpredictable. We have no answers and there seems to be no greater reason to all this. It’s like we went to bed and woke up in a zombie movie.
Then the perfect movie presented itself. I had actually seen it at 13 or so, but with my hands in front of my eyes. As I sat down to watch it again, I was struck by it’s depth, high caliber, and extreme relevance to the situation we are in today.
Thus I present, the movie of May.... 28 Days Later.
⌿
The first thing you should know about 28 Days Later:
This film is a zombie movie, the fucking OG.
Zombie apocalypse movies have become a staple of pop-culture. A genre in their own right. There’s something fundamentally delicious about a hero or heroine fighting through a chaotic world ruled by the undead. It’s dangerous, sexy. We eat that shit up.
But your contemporary favorites, i.e. The Walking Dead, Zombieland, I am Legend etc., though wonderful themselves, were birthed from the loins 28 Days Later.
The film centers around a young man named Jim (Cillian Murphy), who wakes up from a coma in a drastically altered world. It’s been 28 days since the spread of a grotesque virus. He finds himself alone in an evacuated London. Until he meets his first zombie.
The film then catapults into a raucous journey of survival, loss, and love as Jim meets other survivors, including one of the most badass women you’ll ever meet on screen.
If zombie movies aren’t your thing, I urge you not to be deterred. There is so much more to this film.
The second thing you should know about 28 Days Later:
28 Days Later is stylized. For those who are less versed in this kind of cinema, the bold filmmaking choices can feel abrasive, or a bit uncomfortable. But I promise, if you surrender yourself to the language of these films, you will be swallowed by an experience you’ll never forget.
This film is explosive. I guess it could be considered “lo-fi” before “lo-fi” was a thing. It’s visually gritty: high contrast, handheld shots, almost like the footage was shot on a home video camcorder. The scenes are punctuated by quick cuts, bold framing, and an eruptive contemporary soundtrack. 28 Days Later relishes in early 2000’s unapologetic, almost kitschy glory. The best way I can describe the tone of the film is punk rock.
All of this style yields a greater purpose: to create a visceral world that buries you in intensity, and doesn’t let you catch a break till the credits role.
This leads us to....
The third thing you should know about 28 Days Later:
This film is not for the faint of heart.
I don’t scare easy. I was raised on horror movies and I’ve had quite a few Brazilian waxes. I’m jaded at this point.
But somehow, this movie had me literally saying “Oh my god”... out loud... like a freak.
Danny Boyle, the filmmaker, creates some of the most spectacularly terrifying sequences I’ve ever seen. He employs gore, sound design, and editing in a masterfully restrained way. And when shit hits the fan, these elements hit you fast, right in the gut. I would be remiss to try and explain the experiential nature of these sequences. They are technically complex and could be broken down in a film seminar for their artful use of cinema as a tool for emotion. Or you could just watch it and experience it yourself.
The fourth, and final thing you should know about 28 Days Later:
This film is not just a surface level jump-scare thriller. (Though you will jump and you will be scared).
It is steeped in poetry. Amidst all the style and bravado of the film are some jaw-dropping frames, striking production design, and cinematic artistry. But most importantly, the journey is profound. It speaks to the importance of family. It speaks to the place of women in society. It speaks to the concept of nature vs. man. Of monster vs. man. Of the monster inside man. And there’s even a love story.
The film is centrally about human beings, and explores a hypothesis. If everything else is taken away, and we are left with only our human nature, how do we choose to act?
In conclusion...
I think that everyone can love this film. If you’re a film buff, you’ll be impressed by the craftsmanship and style. If you’re not, you’ll still be exhilarated by this ever twisting ride. If
you’re looking to get laid, this will certainly bring you physically closer to a partner on a date. (He or she will need a hand to hold, a leg to caress).
And if you’re simply looking to find meaning in this strange and scary time, this film can do that too.
So get off your quarantined asses and watch the movie. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will. In which case don’t tell me.
All film stills sourced from FilmGrab