Katie Stelmanis' 2008 album Join Us matched her operatic voice with plaintive keys and glowing beats, a very arch and formal LP cut and paste from Kate Bush, Cabaret Voltaire, and classical music. That collage begged the question: Was this some sort of art school project, or was she serious? With new band Austra, the Toronto musician has a clearer vision of electronica.
A classically trained opera singer, Stelmanis uses her incredible vibrato to maximum effect, which can be a bit grating at times, but she definitely has control over it.
The fivepiece band, with linchpin drummer Maya Postepski, hit singles “Lose It” and “Beat and Pulse,” both from debut LP Feel It Break (Domino), Stelmanis' Stevie Nicks incantations and long tapestry kaftan adding to the witchy disco vibe.
“Lose It” sounds club-ready, an anthem for something and nothing; stylish and catchy, like something you'd hear in a Forever 21. Not all of Austra's jams were so anthemic, though—some were more intricate and melodramatic, synth and beat tumbling down repetitive Italo-disco inclines.
They lost some speed on the more ballad-y fare, but in this era of synth culture redux, they're at least trying to recontextualize it. The costumed backup singers (and twin sisters) harmonizing with Stelmanis gave the set a more primal feel, without the smeared mascara and ripped fishnets—electronic music expertly dug up through punk roots.
The most important thing for any movie to establish early on is its tone. No matter the genre, a film needs to make its audience understand how they should feel as the story unfolds so that they’re willing to go along with whatever transpires on screen. A film that doesn't do that, such as the new Onslaught, runs the risk of failing to connect with viewers even if it has some interesting or fun elements to offer.
One of the biggest issues for the movie is that it fails to fully invest in its main character, Celeste (Adriana Arjona). She’s a military veteran who now lives in and manages a desert trailer park, which is filled with a motley crew of offbeat people. She also has a contentious relationship with her ex, who unexpectedly drops off their daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy), soon after the film begins.
Celeste has a stash of high-powered weapons, showing she hasn’t left her former career fully behind. Her expertise comes in handy when something goes wrong at a nearby military contractor facility run by Hans Kemmler (Dan Stevens), and a trio of super soldiers escapes into the wild. Trained to kill everyone in their path, it’s not long before they set their glowing eyes on the trailer park.
Directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett, the film has elements of horror, action, and comedy, but the filmmakers struggle to find the right combination of the three. Wingard and Barrett divide the film’s focus between the trailer park and the military facility for a long time at the beginning of the film, and the quirkiness of people at the former mixed with the bold weirdness of the people at the latter keeps viewers off balance in a bad way.
Once they finally settle into the main part of the story where the super soldiers go on a rampage, the filmmakers overpromise and underdeliver. The showdown between a seemingly unstoppable group and an angry woman and her band of misfits seems destined to be highly entertaining, but comes off as underwhelming. The sequence is filled with brutality with no meaning and heroics that feel more accidental than purposeful.
The ham-fisted way in which the story plays out is disappointing since the film has a bunch of characters who could have been great if used properly. The trauma of Celeste’s military career and personal life is hinted at, but doesn't come into play as much as expected. Hans and his wife Hanna (Rebecca Hall) are completely off-the-wall, but their eccentricities seem to be apropos of nothing. The super soldiers are initially intimidating, but the climactic sequence undercuts them significantly.
Arjona has yet to fully break out despite some good roles in Hit Man and the Disney+ show Andor. She makes for a good lead here, embodying the toughness of a military veteran while still being relatable. Stevens and Hall go all in with their bonkers characters, but the story doesn’t serve them well. Comic relief comes in the form of Reginald VelJohnson and Eric Wareheim, and they do a great job in smaller roles.
A movie like Onslaught is typically one where the audience just turns off their brains and enjoys the carnage. But Wingard and Barrett try a little too hard by throwing in oddball characters that don’t add much to the story, forgetting to pay enough attention to the mechanics of the plot in the process.
AustraPhoto by Bill Sallans
AustraPhoto by Bill Sallans
AustraPhoto by Bill Sallans
