AFP

Destined to be one of the most divisive films of the year, Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde” finally lands on Netflix on Wednesday after more than a decade of troubled production.

While there is almost universal praise for the visceral lead performance by Ana de Armas, critics cannot agree whether the uncompromising, nearly three-hour film is an artistic tour de force or another cruel layer of exploitation perpetrated against the 20th century icon. 

For ID magazine, “Blonde” is “guttural, instinctive, anguished filmmaking that bends space, time, and every cinematic tool at its disposal in service of attaining emotional truth”.

Or viewers might take the position of the New Yorker’s Richard Brody, who called it “ridiculously vulgar”, seeing the endless torment that Monroe experiences on-screen as “a special kind of directorial sadism”.

There are certainly no punches being pulled by Australian director Andrew Dominik in his adaptation of the hit semi-fictional book of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. 

From the trauma of a mentally unstable and violent mother, through her rape at the hands of a studio boss, to a particularly sordid scene with president John F Kennedy, Monroe’s life is depicted as one of relentless abuse and anguish. 

Dominik spent 11 years trying to get the film made, and has credited the #MeToo movement against sexual assault with finally generating interest in the story — though he reportedly fought long and hard with Netflix over long running time and graphic scenes. 

Armas told reporters at the Venice Film Festival, where the film premiered this month, that she had to go to “uncomfortable, dark and vulnerable” places for the role. 

“She was all I thought about, all I dreamed about, all I could talk about. She was with me, and it was beautiful,” she said. 

The crew filmed in the real locations where Monroe was born and died, with Dominik saying the shoot “took on elements of a seance”. 

– ‘Sense of awe’ –

It is a star-making turn for Armas, who worked for months with a vocal coach to overcome her Cuban accent and find a voice that could express Monroe’s character as well as her own unique intonations.

“On the first day of filming, I went home with this sense of awe that I had the privilege of actually working with Marilyn Monroe,” co-star Adrien Brody, who plays husband Arthur Miller, said in Venice.

Dominik’s films have often proved divisive. 

Many saw his previous biopic, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” starring Brad Pitt, who serves as a producer on “Blonde”, as a poetic masterpiece, but just as many found it dull and pretentious, and it flopped at the box office.

Dominik is unlikely to be bothered, however.

“Blonde” is “a demanding movie,” he told Screen Daily. “If the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the f—ing audience’s problem. It’s not running for public office.”

NPR were among several outlets saying the film is “an exercise in exploitation, not empathy”. 

But Vogue said a lot of the initial shock may fade over time. 

“History will be kind to ‘Blonde’, a Hollywood biopic in real anarchy mode… (which) in time, could be considered a masterpiece.”

Parts of eastern Canada suffered “immense” devastation, officials said Sunday after powerful storm Fiona swept houses into the sea and caused major power outages, as the Caribbean and Florida braced for intensifying Tropical Storm Ian.

Canadian authorities have now confirmed two deaths caused when Fiona, then a post-tropical cyclone, tore into Nova Scotia and Newfoundland early Saturday.

Fiona had earlier claimed seven lives as it roared through the Caribbean at the start of a week of havoc.

Officials on Prince Edward Island on Sunday confirmed the death of one person there, though there were few details.

And officials have found the body of a 73-year-old woman believed to have been swept from her home in Newfoundland. She apparently was sheltering in her basement when waves broke through.

The storm packed intense winds of 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour when it arrived with force rarely seen in eastern Canada, bringing torrential rain and waves of up to 40 feet (12 meters).

“The devastation is immense,” Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told reporters. “The magnitude of the storm is incredible.”

Storm surges swept at least 20 homes into the sea in the town of Channel-Port aux Basques, on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland.

Mayor Brian Button described “a total war zone” in the coastal community. 

Some 200 residents had been evacuated before the storm hit.

On Sunday, residents were reckoning with the damage.

“Some people have lost everything, and I mean everything,” Button told CBC News.

“The sea was taking back the land and we were getting separated. A lot of our homes are built along the coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. Down there, Fiona just wiped out parts of that,” he said. 

Tempers were fraying Sunday as residents tried to return to their homes — or what was left of them. 

“I know people are showing up at the barricades angry this morning and wanting to move in and go check up on their properties,” said Button in a live video on Facebook. 

“You’ve got to give us a little bit of time… Unfortunately, this is going to take days, could take weeks, could take months in some cases,” he said.

– ‘Incredible storm’ –

More than 300,000 people were still without electricity across five provinces Sunday after the storm felled trees, ripped roofs from buildings and damaged power lines, officials said. Hundreds of utility crews were working to restore power.

Nova Scotia premier Houston told CBC the Canadian military had been deployed to help clear trees and roads.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said the Canadian armed forces would also provide assistance to Newfoundland’s cleanup efforts. This is the third province to request federal military assistance, after Nova Scotia on Saturday and Prince Edward Island earlier Sunday.

Television images showed a long line of cars and people on foot queuing to get gas for generators in Cape Breton, an island off Nova Scotia, where dozens had spent the night in relief centers operated by the Canadian Red Cross.

On Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown Police Chief Brad MacConnell pleaded with residents to stay inside as recovery efforts continue.

“We ask people to stay home unless absolutely necessary,” he told CBC, adding that there’s “a lot of devastation” and hardly an area of the city that had not been significantly affected.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter that he had met again with his Incident Response Group to ensure that “resources are available to help those affected by the storm.”

By Sunday, with a waning Fiona dissipating over the Labrador Sea, the country’s environmental agency said all warnings had been canceled.

– Ian to become major hurricane –

Further south, parts of the Caribbean as well as the US state of Florida were preparing for Tropical Storm Ian, which the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said is forecast to become a hurricane on Monday and a major hurricane the following day.

Packing winds of near 60 miles per hour and getting stronger, the storm is expected to pass near the Cayman Islands, either near or over western Cuba, and then head toward Florida, the NHC said.

A hurricane warning is in effect for parts of Cuba — where the storm is forecast to “produce significant wind and storm surge” — as well as the British territory of Grand Cayman, according to the NHC. 

Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis said Saturday that he had declared a state-wide emergency in preparation for the storm, warning on Twitter that “Floridians should take precautions.”

Authorities in several Florida municipalities including Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa began distributing free sandbags to residents to help them protect their homes from the risk of flooding. 

“It’s never too early to prepare,” tweeted Jane Castor, the mayor of Tampa.

burs/st/bbk/wd/to

With the launch of cheaper, ad-supported subscriptions, Netflix and Disney+ are expected to bite into the revenue of traditional television channels as the streaming services look toward continued expansion.

After having long-shunned the notion of advertising on its platform, Netflix thisyear accelerated work on just such an offering as inflation prompts consumers to spend less and competition in the streaming television market intensifies.

Netflix is expected to launch an ad-supported subscription tier in early November, about a month before rival Disney+ does the same, according to US media reports.

“These launches are going to create the biggest premium advertising space in more than a generation,” said analytics company Samba TV senior vice president Dallas Lawrence.

“It’s going to be a major moment for advertisers.”

The windfall for Netflix and Disney+ could be considerable. Market tracker Statista forecasts that spending on television ads globally will hit $159 billion this year.

Insider Intelligence analyst Ross Benes estimates that advertising revenues from streaming could reach $30 billion in two years in the United States alone.

Global video sharing and online television platform YouTube saw $28.8 billion in ad revenue in 2021.

“Not long ago, everyone said subscriptions would kill ads,” said Kevin Krim, head of marketing analytics firm EDO.

“Now, we can see that is obviously not true.”

Some streaming television services such as NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Paramount+ and HBO Max already feature ad-supported offerings.

But Netflix and Disney+ — with 220 million and 152 million subscribers respectively — throwing their hats in the advertising ring could catch the attention of businesses interested in reaching television audiences, analysts said.

Netflix is looking to win over at least 40 million subscribers to its ad-subsidized tier by next year’s third quarter, according to an internal document cited by the Wall Street Journal.

When the time comes, Disney+ will transition its existing $7.99-per-month subscription tier to the ad-supported version, and the ad-free option will go for $10.99, the company has said.

– Threat to old-time TV –

Being able to reach Netflix or Disney+ viewers promises to help brands reconnect with audiences that have abandoned traditional “linear” television in favor of streaming entertainment, said nScreenMedia chief analyst and founder Colin Dixon.

“This actually gives advertisers access to people who they haven’t been able to reach in a while, in their most focused viewing time,” Dixon said

No matter when viewers with ad-based subscriptions choose to watch a show or film, the commercials will be there, waiting for them.

It will also afford advertisers the luxury placing ads directly with Netflix or Disney+ for viewers around the world, rather than having to negotiate numerous deals with channels or stations in various regions, Dixon added.

These new subscription tiers will put pressure on linear television service providers that have not yet entered into the streaming game, analyst Lawrence said.

Even major US studios such as CBS, NBC and Fox are expected to see TV ad money lured away by the prospect of matching marketing messages with winning content such as “Stranger Things” at Netflix or “Star Wars” at Disney+.

“When Netflix and Disney+ unlock that capability and allow advertisers to access the most premium inventory available on televisions, we’re going to go to a full stampede out of linear television and into streaming environments,” said Lawrence of Samba TV.

“It will probably drive down linear television advertising value.”

Along with reaching viewers wherever and whenever they stream television shows, ads on Netflix or Disney+ can provide marketers with more data than is available from what Samba called “old-fashioned TV,” he added.

Streaming television ads can also be targeted at individual viewers, noted Krim.

And, Netflix and Disney+ have a chance to create new advertising models, breaking long-held norms about advertising length or placement, and even involving partners in program creation.

So far, streaming television services do not seem a threat to digital ad revenue for the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Google or TikTok, with marketers expanding their overall budgets for reaching people online, according to analyst Benes.

It turns out that, all the noise aside, Olivia Wilde didn’t need to worry. The actor/director’s new film “Don’t Worry Darling” topped the North American box office this weekend, taking in an estimated $19.2 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

It was unclear whether middling reviews and reports of off-screen cast dissension — including between the director and actress Florence Pugh — had helped or hindered ticket sales. 

Regardless, the Warner Bros. film had “a very good opening, above average for an original romantic mystery,” according to analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

Last weekend’s top film, Sony’s “The Woman King,” sold $11.1 million in tickets but saw a 42 percent drop-off from its opening to place second. Oscar winner Viola Davis stars in the history-based tale of an all-female army of African warriors.

In third was the re-release of super-hit “Avatar” from director James Cameron. The 20th Century film took in an estimated $10 million — most of it on big Imax screens — for the Friday-through-Sunday period. 

Gross said that was only a “fair” opening, but he noted that the film was a slow starter in 2009 before going on to set an all-time record of $2.8 billion in global ticket sales.

The studio hopes the re-release will build a head of interest big enough to offset the huge $250 million budget of highly anticipated sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water,” due in December.

Fourth place went to another 20th Century film, “Barbarian,” at $4.8 million. The horror film stars Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgard.

And in fifth was A24’s blood-soaked slasher film “Pearl,” at $1.9 million. Mia Goth stars.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“See How They Run” ($1.9 million)

“Bullet Train” ($1.8 million)

“DC League of Super-Pets” ($1.8 million)

“Top Gun: Maverick” ($1.6 million)

“Minions: The Rise of Gru” ($1 million)