One Line Review: Two things that sum up Gunpowder Milkshake; Female cast domination and John Wick references.
Youtube Trailer Gunpowder Milkshake
Starring: Karen Gilan, Lena Headey, Carlo Gugina
Director: Navot Papushado
Release Date: 14 July 2021
Introduction
Gunpowder Milkshake is an action film directed by Israeli director Navot Papushado. The film looks like a hymn to female empowerment, between Tarantino’s atmospheres and strong female solidarity. Available from July 30th on Amazon Prime Video.
Plot summary and analysis
The story of Gunpowder Milkshake begins in a diner in which 12-year-old Sam and mother Scarlet ( Lena Headley ) share a milkshake, symbolically immediately established as a metaphor for their relationship; but soon a team of armed men peeps into the diner, wanting to kill Scarlet. The woman then reveals her hidden papers and the daughter surprisingly realizes that she is a professional assassin, who will soon become a fugitive due to a job gone wrong and for which she is wanted. Scarlet, after killing the men, will then be forced to flee, abandoning her daughter.
Fifteen years later we find Sam ( Karen Gillian) who followed in his mother’s footsteps, becoming a hitman for the criminal organization The Firm; the latest target assigned to Sam by boss Nathan ( Paul Giamatti ) is a man who has stolen money from the organization and whose murder will have to carry out Sam. While facing his victim, Sam discovers that he is the father of an eight-year-old girl, Emily ( Chloe Coleman ) that the young hitman will take under her wing, in a whirlwind of conflicts and chases that will never stop and that they will see. also involved a trio of bizarre librarians: Anna May, Florence, and Madeline, three former accomplices of Scarlet, played respectively by Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, and Carla Gugino.
Easter eggs and references
Gunpowder Milkshake makes use of a series of recognizable reminiscences: John Wick and Kill Bill, but also Atomica Bionda or the films of Nicolas Winding Refn for aesthetics, scenography, and soundtrack.
The female characters dominate the film with their stubbornness and intuitiveness; they are the active and decisive characters, while the male counterparts are presented as not very skilled, ridiculous, and absolutely capable of being trampled on by these women.
It is the female hand that thematically dominates the film, as the references to iconic characters also suggest ( Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin as the backbone of the narrative) and classics of women’s literature as containers of firearms and conservators of a knowledge that can only be transmitted by those who are aware of the power of the work and, therefore, of the weapon.
The whirling force
The Diner is configured as the nerve center of the action, a place of judgment where the predominance of the female figure will always be reaffirmed, first of all through the symbolism of the figure of the waitress.
The women in this film are not taking on the role of judges, in a dilapidated urban landscape, but also of instructors in struggle and forgiveness, as happens with little Emily, who finds a new family in the group of women. Angela Bassett, Carla Gugino, and Michelle Yeah, while not occupying an integral part of the playing time, still manage to characterize the characters of the film in an optimal way, giving us humorous and emotional interpretations.
The strength of Gunpowder Milkshake lies in the fact that the film promotes its own style, well recognizable, in its mixture of action, splatter, unlimited sarcasm. Through an excellent work of direction, with refined shots and commendable work in the assembly, he accompanies the plot of the feral and affable female protagonists.
The spectacularity of the narration is therefore combined with visual suggestions and a centered characterization of the characters, which unfolds with a musicality that goes to the rhythm of the bullets. Some directorial flashes already recognizable in the first act of the film are undeniable, with a camera that follows Sam’s choreographic movements and makes the viewer understand the hierarchy of narrative roles.
Conclusion
The viewer will be fascinated by the visual organicity of the film, by the incisiveness and validity of the characters presented to us, but above all by the entry on the scene in the action scene of a group of unexpected astute hitmen, master of the scene in an impeccable way and which bodes well for a bright future for female genre cinema.
