Wes Anderson reconnects with the works of Ronald Dahl in his new short film. While the director and star of Shiva Baby are back in "Bottoms," a crazy look at queer high school.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix USA) - The acquisition by Netflix of the Ronald Dahl Library may have been the surefire way to entice Director Wes Anderson to create strong links with the streaming channel. If you recall, one of Anderson’s earlier works was a wonderful stop-motion animated feature of Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was one of those proverbial matches made in Heaven, so it was promising to hear that the agreement between Anderson and Netflix involves the Director adapting up to four of Dahl’s stories for the platform. The 39-minute The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (1977) is the first collaboration, and it’s a beautiful Live Action debut for the partnership.

The simple and delightfully silly premise is that Henry Sugar learns about some mystic who had developed the skill of seeing without his eyes, and Sugar embarks on a journey to acquire that same skill, but in order to cheat at gambling tables. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Henry Sugar and he’s a wonderful addition to the Anderson acting ensemble. Also in the cast are regulars Ralph Fiennes as Dahl, Ben Kingsley as Imdad Khan, plus Dev Patel, Rupert Friend and Richard Ayoade. The short film is like a masterpiece in delivery; watch Cumberbatch, Patel, Fiennes and Kingsley take on multiple roles and take each role by the horns. This jewel box style exposition of Anderson is perfect for the Dahl stories, with form and content meshing beautifully. 

Bottoms (Amazon Prime on Demand) - Canadian Director Emma Seligman was a Festival darling in 2020 with Shiva Baby, her precocious take on Jewish queer millennials. Audiences similarly loved the performance of her lead star, Rachel Sennott, shuffling between her sugar daddy and ex-girlfriend. Seligman and Sennott are back with this new film that aims to blow the lid on gender identity and losing your queer virginity in High School. And it’s the High School trope given an R treatment, both bawdy and bloody. Bawdy because sex is constantly on their minds, and bloody because the premise is a fight club for girls, under the pretense of advocating self-defense. It’s a loopy premise at best, but you can’t fault Seligman and Sennott for the screenplay that’s ready to be as offensive as possible and take no prisoners.

PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri of The Bear) are queer best friends and social outcasts. They lust for cheerleaders Brittany (Kaia Jordan Gerber) and Isabel (Havana Rose Liu), respectively - but Isabel is the girlfriend of the school’s narcissistic star quarterback Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine). When a stupid car accident threatens the two with expulsion, in desperation, they create the concept of the self-defense fight club for the girls in their class. It’s a ploy for the two to lose their virginity but generates a life of its own, and several girls swear by the club. The film is way over the top, having fun at the expense of plot plausibility and political correctness. And there is a hasty ending that some may question, but the ride is so worth it.