MOVIES Jojo Rabbit, the exuberant
new period film by Thor:
Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, is being
billed, somewhat anxiously, perhaps,
as “an anti-hate satire.” You can see how
a marketing department might go the
extra mile to spell this out, given that
the movie’s central character is an avid
member of the Hitler Youth. But for
Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), it’s just a
big, fun club—like Boy Scouts with hand
grenades. Then again, he’s a guileless
10-year-old boy who’s lived his entire life
in a bubble of propaganda, indoctrination,
and persuasive graphic design. Jojo
is lonely. His father is gone, his sister is
dead, and his mother, Rosie (Scarlett
Johansson), doesn’t want to discuss
Nazi nonsense. So for this, he turns to
his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler.
Hitler—or, rather, the friendly Führer of
Jojo’s imagination—is played by Waititi
(who is half-Jewish) as a kind of idiot
Hobbes to Jojo’s credulous Calvin.
Not long after his first camp
weekend, run by the hilariously
louche, one-eyed Captain
Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell),
goes disastrously wrong, Jojo
comes home to discover that his
mother is hiding a Jewish girl.
Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) is
older, tougher, and beautiful, and
Jojo is as terrified of her as he
is fascinated. Darkly hilarious
and unbearably sad, Jojo Rabbit
is like a Wes Anderson movie
set on Jupiter, whimsy tempered
with gravity, and it’s precisely
Love and War
A W W II satire takes on hate; a matriarch says goodbye.
this juxtaposition that makes its message
of empathy pop.
Directed by Ira Sachs (Keep the Lights
On, Little Men), Frankie is about a family
coming together to come apart. Isabelle
Huppert plays Frankie, a terminally ill
movie star who plans one last vacation in
the resort town of Sintra, Portugal, in
order to sort everyone out. The story is as
gossamer as it can be without evanescing
completely—even Frankie’s illness is
treated like a rumor. The family members
have gathered but spend much of their
time alone, strolling through forests,
talking to strangers.
Frankie tries to set up
her son Paul (Jérémie
Renier) with her
hairstylist friend Irene
(Marisa Tomei)—who
has invited along her boyfriend Gary
(Greg Kinnear). Frankie’s husband, Jimmy
(Brendan Gleeson), is mourning her
already, and her stepdaughter (Vinette
Robinson) is trapped in a marriage that
reveals itself to be a prison. The movie
echoes its rhythms: meandering walks
to nowhere, chance encounters with
alluring strangers, ancient memories
burnished through their telling until they
gleam. Not much happens in Frankie
except life goes on—which, on the other
hand, is everything.—CARINA CHOCANO
IN REFLECTION
ISABELLE
HUPPERT (LEFT)
IS THE TITULAR
LEAD IN FRANKIE.
DESIGN
A Good Egg
Last year, when singer, activist, Renaissance man Pharrell
Williams teamed up with French chef Jean Imbert to
open Swan in Miami’s Design District, the 13,500-square-
foot restaurant was such a hit that the Art Basel crowds
says, “plays with your taste buds and creates a
conversation.”) This fall, the duo continues its
silversmith’s latest egg-shaped cutlery carrier
to reveal a 24-piece flatware set engraved with
the word share—the spirit that animates the
collaboration. On the shell, a troupe of cartoon
characters based on real-life friends and family
against a shade that can be described as cheerful.
Better yet, let’s call it happy.—lilah ramzi
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR
VOGUE, DECEMBER 2017.
LEFT: PROCEEDS WILL
BENEFIT THE CHARITY FROM
VLIFE
110 OCTOBER 2019 VOGUE.COM
STILL LIFE: COURTESY OF CHRISTOFLE. PHARRELL; MARIO TESTINO.
VOGUE,
2018.
MOVIES: © GUY FERRANDIS/SBS PRODUCTIONS. COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS.
