Ex Files, Part I: Rock of Ages

We finally hand out our first straight-A of 2016:

A BIGGER SPLASH (A) - Do you have a specific warm memory of an old love linked to a song or an album, maybe a guilty pleasure, evoking an era, a slice of a decade or a moment in time? This film by Luca Guadagnino -- re-teaming with Tilda Swinton from 2009's "I Am Love" -- will jar that loose for you.

Luxuriating on the Italian island of Pantelleria, the director and his cast spin an intoxicating tale of a fading rock star, Marianne Lane (Swinton), seeking solace with her hunky boyfriend, Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts), after throat surgery, only to have their exile interrupted by her sybaritic former lover/producer/guru, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), who has dragged with him a kittenish young woman, Penelope (Dakota Johnson), whom he pawns off as the long-lost daughter he reunited with a year or so ago. Marianne has had throat surgery, so she's mostly mute, a stark contrast to Harry's near-psychotic romp through their compound and the tourist town.

Table set, two tag teams stoked, let it rip. The cast sinks its teeth into the meaty roles. Swinton and Fiennes -- on a given day the two best actors of their generation -- have the rare ability to disappear into their characters so that their brilliance is never thrust in your face. Here, they bring wildly different energy levels to the proceedings. Swinton, shackled with nothing more than a whisper, mugs and mimes and speaks volumes with her wide eyes. She can elevate the simple stage direction of "Exit gargling" to Shakespearean levels. Fiennes is a Tasmanian devil here. Harry is fueled by drugs and alcohol, as well as the buzz of his vinyl-producing days and his eternal desire for Marianne. The two actors are giants elevating a smart script into memorable moviemaking.

The two main supporting actors raise their game, too. Schoenaerts ("Bullhead," "Rust and Bone") brings heft to the role of a brooding, loving hunk. Johnson, shockingly awful in the snippets of "Fifty Shades of Grey" that I could bear to watch, smolders as the coquettish Penelope, suggesting layers of intrigue beyond your average sex kitten. When her character turns on a dime at the movie's climax, you understand how sophisticated her handling of subtext was throughout the film.

As the tension among the four builds, Guadagnino slaloms along flawlessly. He revels in the lush life of the rich and famous -- an enormous hunk of cheese at an outdoor dining table speaks volumes through a fleeting sight gag. And he picks away at those layers of each character until he finally hits a nerve. When tragedy strikes and the police are called in, Guadagnino isn't afraid to go broad, bringing in Italian comic and satirist Corrado Guzzanti for some Columbo-like laugh-out-loud moments.

Juggling these genres, the director also captures the emotional tug of bygone romances or classic pop songs without tipping into nostalgia. Harry tells stories about the old analog days, working with the Rolling Stones among others, and then he drops a needle on a vinyl album and does a crazy, inspired dance to the Stones' R&B workout "Emotional Rescue." It's tough to stay in your seat during that scene. It's easy to get swept up in the giddiness of treasured memories, of the muscle memory that kicks in when an irresistible riff hits your ear.

If a movie like this doesn't make you fall in love -- whether it's with the past, present or future -- then you're just not a hopeless romantic. You may just be simply hopeless. "A Bigger Splash," cynical as it can be at times, urges you to rekindle a passion, any passion. 

BONUS TRACK
A clip from a dinner scene, which captures the quartet's interactions well:
 


St. Vincent sings an electro-funk version of "Emotional Rescue" over the closing credits:



And that led us to another classic covered by Ms. Clark. After a brief Hendrix-like tease, she shreds the Beatles' "Dig a Pony":