PremiumDune 2 fever takes over the world; 5 Denis Villeneuve films you must watch if you are alien to the frenzy around you
Last Updated: 06.13 PM, Mar 03, 2024
One has to really be staying under a rock if they haven’t been touched by the Dune craze that has been evident all around us for the past two years now. The sci-fi epic based on the series of novels from the 1960s was first introduced to us in live action in 2021 and the world has never been the same since then. The second film titled Dune: Part Two was one of the most anticipated movies of our times, and the demand for it was so massive that even an early preview in the domestic market for it has earned over $12 million, which just so you know is close to $2 million more than what Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer managed to do last year during its early domestic previews. So you understand the demand for the material that was released on the big screen two days ago on March 1, 2024.
While the world was reintroduced to Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, and others in a new light with the release of Dune and Dune: Part Two, we have to also look at how strongly and artistically Denis Villeneuve has re-established himself as the man who can make tentpole movies that are not just commercially viable but also artistically rich with immense history and research. But with Dune, a massive audience also met Denis for the first time. Of course, they had seen at least one of his many sci-fi epics blending into emotions and human feelings, but they weren’t aware that this was the man behind them.
So today as we continue celebrating Denis Villeneuve and Dune with the release of Dune: Part Two, let us revisit five Denis directorials that are a crash course in knowing who Villeneuve as a director is and where his interest and expertise lie. Below is this list of five and we don’t claim that these are his best but they certainly are the ones that really define the artist he is.
Incendies (2010)
Cast: Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Lubna Azabal, Maxim Gaudette, and ensemble.
Streaming On: NA.
Incendies will also be that one movie in Denis Villeneuve’s filmography that set out to tell a moving message but was interpreted in a wrong way only to take away the attention from the main topic of the movie. Said to be a controversial pick, this has to be the first movie we talk about only so it could get more attention. A story about two siblings who have to do that one thing so their late mother finds peace on the other side. They go back to an unnamed Middle Eastern country where they revisit the hardships their mother has gone through and that becomes the premise of the movie. It was about letting go, acknowledging pain, and reminding everyone what the world has been through.
Prisoners (2013)
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Maria Bello, Paul Dano, and ensemble.
Streaming On: Lionsgate Play.
What happens when a man whose daughter has been missing is pushed to the boundary by the system that should actually be helping him to find his daughter back? Hugh Jackman’s Prisoners is a movie that will shake your core with the story that looks at the flip side of society that looks very cordial but is unhelpful mostly. There is so much in Prisoners to process because every twist and turn has a message of sorts. The cast includes not just stars but massively talented artists who know their job pretty well.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Dave Bautista, and ensemble.
Streaming On: Netflix.
This is where we saw Dune coming for the first time. Blade Runner 2049 with the release itself was called one of the most visually stunning movies in a long time and the world was busy dissecting the visual brilliance of the frames. But for the content took another couple of years to find its place in the consciousness of the masses for them to understand what Villeneuve was aspiring with the film. It was about a man breaking free of slavery and trying to find his place in the world while being a ruthless individual who only knows survival and nothing else. This has to be the most subtle yet dramatic Ryan Gosling performance ever.
Enemy (2013)
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, and ensemble.
Streaming On: NA.
While it is not a movie that is flawless, Enemy is certainly an experiment that will become one of the most revered pieces of art in the coming years. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a double role where he is a professor who meets his lookalike who is an actor. The movie is a self-assessment test for its viewers as it talks about how we lie about ourselves to ourselves and the world. The movie gets onto a journey that is mostly personal and one that can be interpreted in more than one way. It is an experience seen over reading about it.
Arrival (2016)
Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, and ensemble.
Streaming On: Prime Video.
Denis Villeneuve’s art of blending science into love and emotions peaked at Arrival and there is no other movie in the genre in recent times that even comes close to the mark that Arrival has left on us. Best in all possible categories, the movie deserves to sit even above Dune on any list about the filmmaker. An expert has to find a way to form a connection with the aliens who have landed on a spaceship over Montana. There must be a way and one that stops a war that hovers over the planet. There is so much to grasp in Arrival which looks at love and loss while wanting to save our home that you will be stunned to see what all is possible with a genre we were so far only associating with machines, VFX, CGI, visually scintillating frames.
Dune: Part Two is in theaters right now. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more content like this and everything else from the world of streaming and films.