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Movies You've Seen Recently | February 2020
- Thread starter Divius
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The only opinion that matters here!
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is my MOTY 2019. I have been a Sciamma fangirl since Water Lilies, and she truly made magic with this one.
Parasite being 2nd on my list, the following photo thus made me incredibly happy:
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My wife and I rewatched the whole Before trilogy over the long weekend. Funny, as fantastic as I thought all three were to begin with (Sunset in particular I think is just a perfect film), every single one of them got even better this time around. This was actually the first time I'd seen Midnight since it was in theaters and I was wondering, given how many times I've seen Sunrise and Sunset, if it would hold up and hold its own against the other two, and it absolutely does.
I realized on this marathon that I also tend to relate more to the generation of Jesse and Celine older than me. When I first saw Sunrise/Sunset, I was around their ages from Sunrise but found their dynamic in Sunset so much more moving and relatable. Now I'm around their ages from Sunset and it was their dynamic in Midnight that felt so much more personal and real to me. Like, I don't have kids, but that exchange where Celine says he only packs his bag while she has to pack hers and the kids, and Jesse fires back that she would never want him to be in charge of the kids' bags anyway...I have definitely been in a version of that argument before, lol.
I still want a fourth film someday but the ending of Midnight feels like such a complete full circle way to end all three films, I would be completely satisfied with this being the last we see of Jesse and Celine. I hope not. But it works so so well as is.
I realized on this marathon that I also tend to relate more to the generation of Jesse and Celine older than me. When I first saw Sunrise/Sunset, I was around their ages from Sunrise but found their dynamic in Sunset so much more moving and relatable. Now I'm around their ages from Sunset and it was their dynamic in Midnight that felt so much more personal and real to me. Like, I don't have kids, but that exchange where Celine says he only packs his bag while she has to pack hers and the kids, and Jesse fires back that she would never want him to be in charge of the kids' bags anyway...I have definitely been in a version of that argument before, lol.
I still want a fourth film someday but the ending of Midnight feels like such a complete full circle way to end all three films, I would be completely satisfied with this being the last we see of Jesse and Celine. I hope not. But it works so so well as is.
Coincidentally I actually saw Uncut Gems with my mom and she unabashedly loved it lol
I saw Ikiru and Drunken Angel on Sunday, and unsurprisingly both films were really good.
I liked how Drunken Angel effectively used its set. Kurosawa really made great use of his small town as he approaches the same locales with different angles. I loved how he portrayed Matsunaga's fever dream, especially how he overlaid two running scenes on top of one another to show how Matsunaga's death was catching up to him. Speaking of, the final fight scene is excellent, too. I love the Dutch angles with only the sound of panting to soundtrack the goings on. It's also really tense with there being just enough hope that Matsunaga might just live another day. All in all, great film though I do wish it tied its loose ends up a bit more. 3.5/5
Ikiru was just amazing all around. The way you can almost physically feel the regret that Kanji carries in his stoop. The framing of scenes in Kanji's big night out. The third act where his dedication is revealed through his coworkers' recollections. Ikiru is great, and I am a clown for being so late to the Kurosawa party. 4.5/5
I also saw Birds of Prey and that was aggressively mediocre. Performances are nice, but the script is just not good. The timeline shifts, in particular, really do not work and ruin the movie's flow. The movie just doesn't has as much style as it thinks it has. Also, I find Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn voice kinda grating. 2/5.
I liked how Drunken Angel effectively used its set. Kurosawa really made great use of his small town as he approaches the same locales with different angles. I loved how he portrayed Matsunaga's fever dream, especially how he overlaid two running scenes on top of one another to show how Matsunaga's death was catching up to him. Speaking of, the final fight scene is excellent, too. I love the Dutch angles with only the sound of panting to soundtrack the goings on. It's also really tense with there being just enough hope that Matsunaga might just live another day. All in all, great film though I do wish it tied its loose ends up a bit more. 3.5/5
Ikiru was just amazing all around. The way you can almost physically feel the regret that Kanji carries in his stoop. The framing of scenes in Kanji's big night out. The third act where his dedication is revealed through his coworkers' recollections. Ikiru is great, and I am a clown for being so late to the Kurosawa party. 4.5/5
I also saw Birds of Prey and that was aggressively mediocre. Performances are nice, but the script is just not good. The timeline shifts, in particular, really do not work and ruin the movie's flow. The movie just doesn't has as much style as it thinks it has. Also, I find Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn voice kinda grating. 2/5.
It's maybe a bit of a cliche to say "that's the point", but that kind of is the point of the ending. The first two thirds of OUATIH appear to be heading to a stereotypical end of an era story where the Tate murders parallel Rick and Cliff's parting ways and the decline of Rick's career, before pivoting into the conspicuously "Hollywood" ending (similar to the end of Adaptation where all the cliches from Donald's screenplay suddenly take over the narrative), concluding with the wistful title card that drives home that what we're seeing isn't what really happened.
That's a great quote. Relevantly, I watched Coffy the other night, which, in the way it mixes crowd pleasing-genre conventions and sociology, almost feel like a proto-Wire. Excellent soundtrack and Pam is f i n e. 3/5.
Branded to Kill is the embodiment of the rule of cool and style as substance. I don't think any of the weird shit means anything, but when it's so entertaining and so gorgeous, who cares? (I feel the same way about Lynch most of the time, honestly). 3.5/5
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Home on the Range: To think this was going to be the last hand-drawn movie before Disney switched to CGI. The premise of cows running off to save their family is uninteresting enough. None of the characters are interesting in the slightest. The villain, Alameda Slim, can hypnotize cattle by yodeling. He doesn't have a magical voice or anything, and it just feels stupid. There's a plot twist that falls flat because you assumed it in the first place. There's other things I wanted to talk about but I can't remember them, and I just saw this. This movie sucks.
God's Own Country (2017): Josh O'Connor, one of the highlights of the third season of The Crown, has a starring role here as a gay Yorkshire shepherd whose soul is as barren and stunted as the landscape in which he dwells, until a handsome Romanian migrant worker enters the picture. A nicely told, if somewhat minimalist, story. There are a lot of people who loved this movie more than I did, and the director, Francis Lee, has been predictably invited to do another LGBT love story film, but this time it's a period drama with movie stars (Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, due out later this year; please get Saoirse the Oscar!).
The Darjeeling Limited (2007): I'd seen this once before (Letterboxd tells me it was four-ish years ago) and rated it as a middling film in Wes Anderson's filmography (though emotionally raw in a way that I hadn't seen in a number of his earlier films), and I decided it was time for another viewing (this time I bought the Criterion edition) to see if my opinion had changed. In the intervening span I had, among other things, seen some of the films of Satyajit Ray, whose body of work (along with James Ivory's, as the extras on the disk make clear) was an inspiration for making the movie; though Anderson has such a distinctive style that he's not exactly trying to copy Ray's way of moviemaking (their approaches are...very different, to say the least). This is probably Anderson's quietest movie since Bottle Rocket in a lot of ways, though it's still more stylized and colourful than most other filmmakers' work. This rose in my estimation the second time around, though I'd still rate it below his very top tier of films.
The Darjeeling Limited (2007): I'd seen this once before (Letterboxd tells me it was four-ish years ago) and rated it as a middling film in Wes Anderson's filmography (though emotionally raw in a way that I hadn't seen in a number of his earlier films), and I decided it was time for another viewing (this time I bought the Criterion edition) to see if my opinion had changed. In the intervening span I had, among other things, seen some of the films of Satyajit Ray, whose body of work (along with James Ivory's, as the extras on the disk make clear) was an inspiration for making the movie; though Anderson has such a distinctive style that he's not exactly trying to copy Ray's way of moviemaking (their approaches are...very different, to say the least). This is probably Anderson's quietest movie since Bottle Rocket in a lot of ways, though it's still more stylized and colourful than most other filmmakers' work. This rose in my estimation the second time around, though I'd still rate it below his very top tier of films.
lmao JC you're my fav. Take me back. I'll never make fun of SG again
OP
OP
The Wandering Earth (2019): After the average trifecta of "MURICA, FUCK YEAH!" movies I watched a few days ago, I indeed needed a palate cleanser. It came in the form of this Chinese Sci-Fi movie, which scenario caught my interest, if only for the fact it's based on a novel from Liu Cixin. For one: I fucking love Science-Fiction, probably my favorite genre overall. For sure, I love it way more than movies about mafias and boring white male-centric navel-gazing American mythology based on merely 300 years of existence which causes a lot of repetition in Hollywood movie production. But that's another debate (yes, I'm still petty about those movies, sue me). ANYHOW! It was a damn breath of fresh air to watch a movie in which Americans are absolutely non-existent, and not taking part at all in the "saving the world" bit. You have Russians, French, and so on, it's a worldwide effort and it's made clear, although Chinese are in the main driving seat, and it's quite interesting to discover that perspective for once. The acting was lacking a bit though, and while they tried hard to make the science part make sense beyond that, you have to suspend a lot of disbelief in order to agree to the initial pitch of planet Earth finding enough fuel to exit its gravitational field. That been said, it's still an overall enjoyable movie, and I really liked the aesthetics and artistic direction. It felt like it had an original visual identity, and that was pleasing to discover. Other than that, the movie is a fairly regular blockbuster movie, lacking flavor at times. But boy was it still a breath of fresh air when I watched it, and I'm thankful to it for that!
6/10
The Farewell (2019): I heard nice things about this one, and I quite like Awkwafina, so I was in. I was surprised at her range, she really embodied this role, and showed a new side of her, so fragile and vulnerable, that I had no idea was there yet. This movie touched me a lot, it's rare to have the point of view and insights of Asian American, and hear their stories. This movie is a story about immigration, about being torn between two cultures, about belonging to a family when you're all scattered around the globe, and about growing up, too. It made me cry a bunch, it made me smile too. It was balm to my soul. It also was a great opportunity to see Chinese neighborhoods that you rarely see, filmed through such an intimate and loving lens, with pretty photography. It was a unique experience with a unique perspective, and I'm glad I watched this, it stayed with me after I was done watching it too, and I kept reading up articles about it.
8/10
To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020): A good fluffy romantic comedy is what one needs at times. I enjoyed the 1st one enough (I gave it a 6/10 at the time), so I thought, why not give this one a try too, right? After all, I'm also in it because Lana Condor is very endearing in that role. So this sequel does the job too. It's a bit dumb and contrived, let's not lie about it, but it still nails the fluff part well enough, and sticks its landing. And that's all I was asking for here.
6/10
Jojo Rabbit (2019): I had some expectations about this one, and it delivered. I just love me some Taika Waititi, and this man keeps on being great, he just can't help it. I loved the humor, so funny, but in a clever way. The satire works well here, because Nazis and their aesthetics aren't glorified at all. They're ridiculed, and are deserving of it. The movie also nails the moments of drama, even though one of them was pretty obvious it was coming. But it does it in a simple and real way, there's no unnecessary pathos here, it wouldn't fit. It goes straight to the point: war is a coldass motherfucker. This movie nails the perfect balance between joy and sadness, and does it in a meaningful way. All the characters are so vibrant and remarkable, and the acting is pretty good. It was very pleasant to see Johansson in this role, her comic side is definitely underrated. I enjoyed this movie throughout, and I got out of it with a little bit of hope too. And that's nice.
8/10
Ok now I'm ready to make my 2019 MOTY list, yasss!
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The Spy Who Came In From The Cold: 8/10. So cool. Stark black and white 60s spy thriller with lots of talking and documents and shit. One of those stories where you're like maybe 60% sure you're following what's happening but you know with 5 or 6 rewatches you'd get it for sure. Like you just know the whole thing is gonna turn on how many lumps some guy takes in his tea or something. Totally awesome.
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Jojo Rabbit: A powerful movie indeed. On the surface, it's a "antisemitism is bad", but it's the execution that makes it well done. Elsa isn't just some helpless girl, she's intelligent and can outwit Jojo at every turn. There's also his mother, who wants peace and happiness in a time of war. There's the Gestapo scene, the gallows scene, and the city invasion scene. It's all great. Even Hitler himself is done well, appearing less and less as the movie goes on.
Finally saw Joker. Let's just say I'm really glad that I decided to see Miike's First Love in theaters instead back in October.
Like even if I don't like a movie, divisive or not, I can usually understand why others like/love it. There's clearly something to Joker that appeals to people, that resonates with critics, but I don't get it. I am left baffled by the film. Why is it even called Joker?
Like even if I don't like a movie, divisive or not, I can usually understand why others like/love it. There's clearly something to Joker that appeals to people, that resonates with critics, but I don't get it. I am left baffled by the film. Why is it even called Joker?
I thank you mentioning First Love. Ive seen it pop up recently but thought nothing of it. This post though made me look it up at RT and its 97% certified. Will watch soon.
Because making film critics endlessly debate the merits of a shallow """"intellectual""" film with idiots on the internet is the kind of evil that could only come from the Clown Prince of Crime.
Blanketyy: Intriguing short that focuses on hard science fiction as a clearly demoralized think tank run out of ideas on how to get the artificial intelligence that they're developing to progress past a certain story prompt. And I do mean "hard," as we catch glimpses of the focus groups that are being pooled to create the database our title intelligence needs in theory to inspire it to start creating stories, programming of the most non-glamorous sort and having to handle unscheduled visits from the boss and explaining to them why all your progress looks like no progress at all. It all builds to a quietly sinister conclusion as we get to see the kind of conundrum that the programming has to deal with, creating genuine existential dread as it ponders infinite possibilities and being unable to advance beyond the paralysis of equally infinite choice. Definitely the kind of subject matter that works well in a short format, giving you just enough information to draw your own conclusions while offering up something that likely wouldn't have the strength to go on for much longer than this does.
Ride Your Wave: Maasaki Yuasa brings his patented "everything matters" approach to storytelling to something a bit more conventional. Lest you think that we've completely fallen off the kind of animated mind-bending brilliance that made Yuasa's name with the likes of Mind Game and Night is Short, Walk on Girl, this bittersweet tale of love found, lost and what it takes to move on from tragedy when a love is too intense does find itself here with a distinctly supernatural twist that is exploited to its fullest potential throughout. Truth be told, the fact that there are just enough tropes for the average viewer to hold onto with the bond that's tested between Hinako and the dearly departed though not entirely gone Minato helps to give this story a really pleasant and lived-in feeling, with the scale kept so intimate that you never once feel like you're missing out on some important event during the various montages or that the film feels like it's in a particularly big hurry to get to the kind of beats that you know will occur, if not exactly how and in what way. The setting and the nature of Minato's newfound status as a kind of sea ghost helps to lend an air of excitement and humor throughout, the latter of which certainly has its zany moments (an inflatable finless porpoise will certainly be hard to forget), though it's always gentle enough to never undercut the passion between our leads and the realizations that they each need to come to in order to move on. Tempting as it might be for some to call out how obvious the visual metaphor is for getting back on one's surfboard, Yuasa is just so talented at what he does as a storyteller that even familiar ideas seem so new and exhilarating with the confidence in which he's able to convey complex ideas visually while maintaining a firm grasp on the drama that's necessary to the emotional center of the story. No, this isn't the kind of madcap screwball energy that his other films have been, but frankly, that approach would be out of place here with its mellower vibes, proving Yuasa is just as terrific when he's strolling down the road as he is going Mach 5.
Road to Roma: I get the feeling that despite this acting as a surprisingly comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at making the film, the way the interview with Cuarón plays out feels as much tied to his decisions why he made the film the way he did as it is an attempt to make it easy for someone with an interest in filmmaking to get a better idea of the process for themselves and start developing their own process if they so choose to pursue the profession for themselves. It's an informative documentary that winds up being genuinely educational, as even though it doesn't go into how to make a film per se, it does explain why someone does and how that shapes your vision, thereby making the technical aspects come by easier. And even if that doesn't tickle your fancy, you still get a chance to see how some of the most astonishing sequences in the film were captured from the perspective of the filmmakers themselves, revealing some surprisingly simple yet satisfying tricks of the trade that went into pulling them off. Very rewarding on all fronts!
Wrinkles the Clown: A viral video sensation gets a rather baffling documentary, filled with interesting tangents throughout (the demonization of clowns over the years, the impact of viral videos on young, developing minds, how folklore has evolved in the digital age), only to do nothing with them, serving to make the title subject all the more uninteresting to discuss, even with the bold play it makes in its last 30 minutes to re-contextualize all that came before then. Truth be told, I'm not even sure why they bothered to go feature length with this, as there's barely enough material with Wrinkles himself to cover a half hour, leading to a rather padded experience that livens up when it finds more interesting subject matter that you'll wish this was about instead. Some things are better off in easy-to-digest Youtube video form.
Ride Your Wave: Maasaki Yuasa brings his patented "everything matters" approach to storytelling to something a bit more conventional. Lest you think that we've completely fallen off the kind of animated mind-bending brilliance that made Yuasa's name with the likes of Mind Game and Night is Short, Walk on Girl, this bittersweet tale of love found, lost and what it takes to move on from tragedy when a love is too intense does find itself here with a distinctly supernatural twist that is exploited to its fullest potential throughout. Truth be told, the fact that there are just enough tropes for the average viewer to hold onto with the bond that's tested between Hinako and the dearly departed though not entirely gone Minato helps to give this story a really pleasant and lived-in feeling, with the scale kept so intimate that you never once feel like you're missing out on some important event during the various montages or that the film feels like it's in a particularly big hurry to get to the kind of beats that you know will occur, if not exactly how and in what way. The setting and the nature of Minato's newfound status as a kind of sea ghost helps to lend an air of excitement and humor throughout, the latter of which certainly has its zany moments (an inflatable finless porpoise will certainly be hard to forget), though it's always gentle enough to never undercut the passion between our leads and the realizations that they each need to come to in order to move on. Tempting as it might be for some to call out how obvious the visual metaphor is for getting back on one's surfboard, Yuasa is just so talented at what he does as a storyteller that even familiar ideas seem so new and exhilarating with the confidence in which he's able to convey complex ideas visually while maintaining a firm grasp on the drama that's necessary to the emotional center of the story. No, this isn't the kind of madcap screwball energy that his other films have been, but frankly, that approach would be out of place here with its mellower vibes, proving Yuasa is just as terrific when he's strolling down the road as he is going Mach 5.
Road to Roma: I get the feeling that despite this acting as a surprisingly comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at making the film, the way the interview with Cuarón plays out feels as much tied to his decisions why he made the film the way he did as it is an attempt to make it easy for someone with an interest in filmmaking to get a better idea of the process for themselves and start developing their own process if they so choose to pursue the profession for themselves. It's an informative documentary that winds up being genuinely educational, as even though it doesn't go into how to make a film per se, it does explain why someone does and how that shapes your vision, thereby making the technical aspects come by easier. And even if that doesn't tickle your fancy, you still get a chance to see how some of the most astonishing sequences in the film were captured from the perspective of the filmmakers themselves, revealing some surprisingly simple yet satisfying tricks of the trade that went into pulling them off. Very rewarding on all fronts!
Wrinkles the Clown: A viral video sensation gets a rather baffling documentary, filled with interesting tangents throughout (the demonization of clowns over the years, the impact of viral videos on young, developing minds, how folklore has evolved in the digital age), only to do nothing with them, serving to make the title subject all the more uninteresting to discuss, even with the bold play it makes in its last 30 minutes to re-contextualize all that came before then. Truth be told, I'm not even sure why they bothered to go feature length with this, as there's barely enough material with Wrinkles himself to cover a half hour, leading to a rather padded experience that livens up when it finds more interesting subject matter that you'll wish this was about instead. Some things are better off in easy-to-digest Youtube video form.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019): Curse you, France, for not submitting this for Best International Film. Granted that, as things turned out, probably nothing was beating Parasite that year, but this could at least have been more in the conversation for nominations; once it didn't get the International Feature boost, its distributor basically left it for dead. Ah, well.
As modern society has gradually discarded many of the constricting social conventions of prior eras, I'm more and more convinced that filmmakers draw great inspiration and creative freedom from returning to those stifling conventions and social norms of the past. It's so very effective as a means of establishing dramatic stakes and restrictions on individual behaviour that would be hard to replicate in a contemporary setting. As a depiction of intense and yet also restrained emotion, Portrait of a Lady on Fire has few recent equals. In addition to director Celine Sciamma and her actresses, one would be remiss in omitting to mention cinematographer Claire Mathon, who with any justice will be in high demand in the years to come; this is a fabulous-looking film.
Reference is made within the film to the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, becoming a significant thematic and visual motif, but I would also make brief mention of Héloïse's name, which surely must be meant to call to mind Héloïse and Abelard.
Morocco (1930): Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg were on a mission to bring sexy back to Hollywood, and they wouldn't let Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou's blandness stand in their way.
In addition to the boring male actors (a recurring problem in Hollywood in much of the early sound era; thank God that Grant, Stewart and Bogart arrived by mid-decade), the script is a bit underdeveloped in places, but Dietrich is such a magnetic star that she carries the whole thing, and von Sternberg's dreamlike vision of Morocco is quite striking, especially when compared to most other studio films of the period -- remarkable ending visual, especially. And then there's Dietrich's famous cabaret numbers, one of them so indelible that it's still a common reference point for cinephiles almost ninety years later (including making an appearance as Rue's Halloween costume in Euphoria).
As modern society has gradually discarded many of the constricting social conventions of prior eras, I'm more and more convinced that filmmakers draw great inspiration and creative freedom from returning to those stifling conventions and social norms of the past. It's so very effective as a means of establishing dramatic stakes and restrictions on individual behaviour that would be hard to replicate in a contemporary setting. As a depiction of intense and yet also restrained emotion, Portrait of a Lady on Fire has few recent equals. In addition to director Celine Sciamma and her actresses, one would be remiss in omitting to mention cinematographer Claire Mathon, who with any justice will be in high demand in the years to come; this is a fabulous-looking film.
Reference is made within the film to the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, becoming a significant thematic and visual motif, but I would also make brief mention of Héloïse's name, which surely must be meant to call to mind Héloïse and Abelard.
Morocco (1930): Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg were on a mission to bring sexy back to Hollywood, and they wouldn't let Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou's blandness stand in their way.
In addition to the boring male actors (a recurring problem in Hollywood in much of the early sound era; thank God that Grant, Stewart and Bogart arrived by mid-decade), the script is a bit underdeveloped in places, but Dietrich is such a magnetic star that she carries the whole thing, and von Sternberg's dreamlike vision of Morocco is quite striking, especially when compared to most other studio films of the period -- remarkable ending visual, especially. And then there's Dietrich's famous cabaret numbers, one of them so indelible that it's still a common reference point for cinephiles almost ninety years later (including making an appearance as Rue's Halloween costume in Euphoria).
The Seventh Seal
"I shall remember this hour of peace: the strawberries, the bowl of milk, your faces in the dusk. Mikael asleep, Jof with his lute. I shall remember our words, and shall bear this memory between my hands as carefully as a bowl of fresh milk."
My initial takeaway from this was a curious sense of bemusement at its status as a canonical piece of quote-unquote "serious art". Not to undermine the philosophical and religious quandary at the heart of the film, which is handled with appropriate depth, but I mean look at this poster for goodness' sake—a solemn Max von Sydow draped in darkness—you'd never guess a playful and humorous spirit inhabits such a large portion of the film. This isn't some bleak vision of the world ala Tarkovsky, but a work that rejects the fear of death and makes you cherish life's pleasures, or as the homie Squire Jöns says, "the triumph of being alive!" There are plenty of goofy moments, like when Skat fakes his death or the cuckold drunkenly blubbers away (though the scene does transition into something darker); hell, Bengt Ekerot is practically giggling with amusement at his role and the absurdity of the scenario he is placed in. The juxtaposition of the plague and the innocence of Jof, Mia, and Mikael only heightens the joy, at least for me. One look at that cute baby is all the proof you need that life is worth living, even with all the strife it contains. It's quite miraculous for a film where the majority of the cast dies to feel so generous and uplifting. And man, that flagellant procession scene sure is something, huh?
"I shall remember this hour of peace: the strawberries, the bowl of milk, your faces in the dusk. Mikael asleep, Jof with his lute. I shall remember our words, and shall bear this memory between my hands as carefully as a bowl of fresh milk."
My initial takeaway from this was a curious sense of bemusement at its status as a canonical piece of quote-unquote "serious art". Not to undermine the philosophical and religious quandary at the heart of the film, which is handled with appropriate depth, but I mean look at this poster for goodness' sake—a solemn Max von Sydow draped in darkness—you'd never guess a playful and humorous spirit inhabits such a large portion of the film. This isn't some bleak vision of the world ala Tarkovsky, but a work that rejects the fear of death and makes you cherish life's pleasures, or as the homie Squire Jöns says, "the triumph of being alive!" There are plenty of goofy moments, like when Skat fakes his death or the cuckold drunkenly blubbers away (though the scene does transition into something darker); hell, Bengt Ekerot is practically giggling with amusement at his role and the absurdity of the scenario he is placed in. The juxtaposition of the plague and the innocence of Jof, Mia, and Mikael only heightens the joy, at least for me. One look at that cute baby is all the proof you need that life is worth living, even with all the strife it contains. It's quite miraculous for a film where the majority of the cast dies to feel so generous and uplifting. And man, that flagellant procession scene sure is something, huh?
Just watched Gaspar Noé's Climax. I didn't care for it much. At the risk of sounding like a psycho, I was hoping to see some horrible people die horrible deaths, but the whole movie was pretty tame. The first 45 minutes were complete garbage, just irritating people being irritating (I loathe dance-culture) but when the second half starts it get pretty decent at times, but I was really expecting more intense and more disturbing stuff to happen than it did. By the end it felt like I kinda wasted my time.
Definitely an impressive film from a film-makers standpoint though; lots of really long takes and apparently most of it was improvised and there's hardly any actors in it, so kudos for that.
Yesterday I watched Knives Out, which was also a bit disappointing. It's a very solid, well-made film, but I was hoping for more of a whodunnit than it turned out to be. I wasn't much invested in the central mystery and the movie dragged a bit as a result. Lovely cast though, they clearly had fun making it.
edit: Might as well keep going because I also saw Midsommar some days ago and that one I flat-out loved. I was hooked from the start and was completely invested in everything that happened. Without spoiling, I must say I loved how the movie was structured, it became less about plot and more about customs. Really fucking good, but then I have a weakness for movies like this that focus on a community where things are clearly not all there. I also really liked 2018's Apostle.
/edit 2: oh right I watched more this week (I usually don't watch many movies these days). I saw Memories of Murder. Really good film. Very funny and interesting watch. Beautifully shot and the central mystery was very compelling. Loved the ending too.
Definitely an impressive film from a film-makers standpoint though; lots of really long takes and apparently most of it was improvised and there's hardly any actors in it, so kudos for that.
Yesterday I watched Knives Out, which was also a bit disappointing. It's a very solid, well-made film, but I was hoping for more of a whodunnit than it turned out to be. I wasn't much invested in the central mystery and the movie dragged a bit as a result. Lovely cast though, they clearly had fun making it.
edit: Might as well keep going because I also saw Midsommar some days ago and that one I flat-out loved. I was hooked from the start and was completely invested in everything that happened. Without spoiling, I must say I loved how the movie was structured, it became less about plot and more about customs. Really fucking good, but then I have a weakness for movies like this that focus on a community where things are clearly not all there. I also really liked 2018's Apostle.
/edit 2: oh right I watched more this week (I usually don't watch many movies these days). I saw Memories of Murder. Really good film. Very funny and interesting watch. Beautifully shot and the central mystery was very compelling. Loved the ending too.
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I saw Bad Boys for Life today. Lots of fun, loads of quality action, both Smith and Lawrence were great. I think it's my favorite in the franchise now. Made me want to go back and watch the first two again. It's not going to win any awards but it did what these films do well.
Joaq 100% throwing himself into something is just a good ol' movie time!
Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
Pretty dreary. Harry Belafonte's send-up of Brando-as-Vito-Corleone was by far the most amusing bit, and that's not saying much. Quite a fascinating time capsule, though.
Pretty dreary. Harry Belafonte's send-up of Brando-as-Vito-Corleone was by far the most amusing bit, and that's not saying much. Quite a fascinating time capsule, though.
I watched Bad Timing (1980) over the weekend, and it was fucking great. Are all Roeg films this stylish? I love all the zooms and how the camera is constantly moving yet it doesn't feel careless. Plus the costuming for Theresa Russel is amazing. Also amazingly edited, it seamlessly cuts between time periods and locations. Definitely gonna try to seek out the rest of his stuff.
Also curious if anyone has Godard recommendations. I've seen Contempt and Breathless and found stuff to like in both of them, but wouldn't say I loved either.
Also curious if anyone has Godard recommendations. I've seen Contempt and Breathless and found stuff to like in both of them, but wouldn't say I loved either.
Kinda felt the same way about Climax, I was expecting something a lot more over the top given the name and his reputation lol. But yeah I much preferred Enter the Void.
The Last Thing He Wanted
A Netflix film, absolutely garbage, like some actor/director obligation. Don't check IMDB, let's just go with it, political thriller, decent cast, oh how I wished I checked. It's nigh on incomprehensible including the dialogue sound quality, did the mix person have a day off or the microphone person. The story is told in such a bizarre nothing way, is it trying to be clever or just god awful. Avoid this film at all costs.
A Netflix film, absolutely garbage, like some actor/director obligation. Don't check IMDB, let's just go with it, political thriller, decent cast, oh how I wished I checked. It's nigh on incomprehensible including the dialogue sound quality, did the mix person have a day off or the microphone person. The story is told in such a bizarre nothing way, is it trying to be clever or just god awful. Avoid this film at all costs.
What did you like in them—the more intellectual and essayist parts? Or the fun genre experimentation?
For the former I'd try 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her. For the latter either A Woman is a Woman or Band of Outsiders.
You're gonna enjoy his whole filmography (well, The Witches for other reasons, maybe.)
Get right to Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Inside (À l'interieur). Had heard good things about it, but it was shit. So many dumb decisions.
The Lighthouse. Really liked it. Willem Dafoe deserved the Oscar.
The Lighthouse. Really liked it. Willem Dafoe deserved the Oscar.
Dishonored (1931): The second of Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg's six American film collaborations, and immediately notable for telling a World War I story focused on Austria-Hungary (perhaps not such a surprise coming from an Austrian director) and its rivalry with Russia. Dietrich plays a military widow/prostitute who is recruited to serve as an Austrian intelligence agent, which she proves to be remarkably qualified for, even when her assignments rapidly escalate from minor stuff in Vienna to actually being sent into the field to infiltrate Russian military headquarters. Dietrich is pretty much the coolest person alive onscreen, and even when, as she so often is in these movies, her male lead is a non-entity, she singlehandedly keeps things go. Dishonored ends up having a really fascinating viewpoint on the war, with a bleakly amusing denouement one can't imagine seeing under the Hays Code a few years later (this is a recurrent thing with the Dietrich/von Sternberg films).
Shanghai Express (1932): Dietrich and von Sternberg's third film, in which she plays Shanghai Lily, a notorious courtesan who travels around China in style, accompanied on the titular train by a Chinese compatriot played by Anna May Wong, an actress I had read about for some time but never seen on film (the first Chinese female star in Hollywood, though obviously her career was never what it could have been if she'd had the opportunities of white actresses -- such as being allowed to play the lead in The Good Earth, even though the story was about a Chinese family). The male lead is another forgettable dude, but whatever. This is simpler (and shorter) than a number of their other films, and in particular no room for musical numbers, but it's a nicely-structured thriller.
Blonde Venus (1932): The fourth of their six collaborations, and quite an oddball one, as it was apparently the result of a request from the studio to do a story that would make Dietrich's standard European ice queen persona more relatable to Depression-era audiences. The result is quite a mashup of sensibilities. Dietrich plays Helen, a German actress who marries an American professor (Herbert Marshall) after he stumbles upon her and several other actresses bathing in the nude in a forest. They move back to America where she becomes a housewife, but after he gets sick, she gets a job as a nightclub singer, then ends up as a kept woman for a rich guy (Cary Grant) who pays all her husband's medical bills. Things spiral from there. Dietrich does some of her most emotive acting here, and she's finally been given some male costars who are worth a damn; Grant, just on the cusp of stardom, is particularly a lot of fun. Perhaps to make up for Shanghai Express, Dietrich has three musical numbers here, one of which involves arriving onstage in a gorilla costume and then stripping it off. This was the first financial disappointment of their collaborations, but it's kind of awesome, even if the ending is an obvious copout.
Isle of Dogs (2018): Second viewing of this, for the first time since the theatrical run almost two years ago. As has been the case with Wes Anderson's filmography apart from The Life Aquatic (which continually resists my efforts to love it), Isle of Dogs went up in my estimation the second time around. At the time of release there was discussion about the use of unsubtitled Japanese for the various Japanese characters and more generally how they were presented in the narrative; I can see some of the concerns people had, but in the end I'm still largely a fan of the movie, particularly the central boy-and-his-dog dynamic that is so well-realized, particularly thanks to Bryan Cranston's excellent vocal performance. I'd love to see Cranston get a live-action Anderson role at some point, and one imagines we will, given how Anderson tends to handle casting his movies.
Foreign Correspondent (1940): The channel guide has listed Foreign Correspondent as airing on TCM a couple of times in the past, but when I set it to be recorded it was always an error and I got some other movie; well, not this time, this time I actually did get to see it, one of two films Alfred Hitchcock released in 1940 after arriving in Hollywood. It's less famous than Rebecca, but I think I like this one more. Dedicated to frontline journalists in the then-emergent European war, Joel McCrea stars as a crime reporter with no experience or knowledge of international affairs whatsoever who is sent overseas by a New York paper to cover a peace conference on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. He rapidly finds himself enmeshed in a sinister conspiracy, as you'd expect from Hitchcock. This is one of the spate of anti-Nazi films that Hollywood started churning out in 1940-1941 to try to rally public support of Britain and for American entry into the war. McCrea, an actor I've always felt was a bit of a weak link in the Preston Sturges films he frequently headlined in the years after this, ends up being quite good in this more dramatic part. Herbert Marshall kind of walks away with the picture, though, giving a really excellent turn as the main villain. The climactic sequence involving a passenger plane being shot down by a German destroyer and ditching in the ocean is an absolute technical marvel, one of the best sequences I've seen from Hitchcock, certainly the most technically elaborate (there's also a great shot transitioning from a model of an airplane through the window into the cabin that you wouldn't have thought they could pull off).
Shanghai Express (1932): Dietrich and von Sternberg's third film, in which she plays Shanghai Lily, a notorious courtesan who travels around China in style, accompanied on the titular train by a Chinese compatriot played by Anna May Wong, an actress I had read about for some time but never seen on film (the first Chinese female star in Hollywood, though obviously her career was never what it could have been if she'd had the opportunities of white actresses -- such as being allowed to play the lead in The Good Earth, even though the story was about a Chinese family). The male lead is another forgettable dude, but whatever. This is simpler (and shorter) than a number of their other films, and in particular no room for musical numbers, but it's a nicely-structured thriller.
Blonde Venus (1932): The fourth of their six collaborations, and quite an oddball one, as it was apparently the result of a request from the studio to do a story that would make Dietrich's standard European ice queen persona more relatable to Depression-era audiences. The result is quite a mashup of sensibilities. Dietrich plays Helen, a German actress who marries an American professor (Herbert Marshall) after he stumbles upon her and several other actresses bathing in the nude in a forest. They move back to America where she becomes a housewife, but after he gets sick, she gets a job as a nightclub singer, then ends up as a kept woman for a rich guy (Cary Grant) who pays all her husband's medical bills. Things spiral from there. Dietrich does some of her most emotive acting here, and she's finally been given some male costars who are worth a damn; Grant, just on the cusp of stardom, is particularly a lot of fun. Perhaps to make up for Shanghai Express, Dietrich has three musical numbers here, one of which involves arriving onstage in a gorilla costume and then stripping it off. This was the first financial disappointment of their collaborations, but it's kind of awesome, even if the ending is an obvious copout.
Isle of Dogs (2018): Second viewing of this, for the first time since the theatrical run almost two years ago. As has been the case with Wes Anderson's filmography apart from The Life Aquatic (which continually resists my efforts to love it), Isle of Dogs went up in my estimation the second time around. At the time of release there was discussion about the use of unsubtitled Japanese for the various Japanese characters and more generally how they were presented in the narrative; I can see some of the concerns people had, but in the end I'm still largely a fan of the movie, particularly the central boy-and-his-dog dynamic that is so well-realized, particularly thanks to Bryan Cranston's excellent vocal performance. I'd love to see Cranston get a live-action Anderson role at some point, and one imagines we will, given how Anderson tends to handle casting his movies.
Foreign Correspondent (1940): The channel guide has listed Foreign Correspondent as airing on TCM a couple of times in the past, but when I set it to be recorded it was always an error and I got some other movie; well, not this time, this time I actually did get to see it, one of two films Alfred Hitchcock released in 1940 after arriving in Hollywood. It's less famous than Rebecca, but I think I like this one more. Dedicated to frontline journalists in the then-emergent European war, Joel McCrea stars as a crime reporter with no experience or knowledge of international affairs whatsoever who is sent overseas by a New York paper to cover a peace conference on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. He rapidly finds himself enmeshed in a sinister conspiracy, as you'd expect from Hitchcock. This is one of the spate of anti-Nazi films that Hollywood started churning out in 1940-1941 to try to rally public support of Britain and for American entry into the war. McCrea, an actor I've always felt was a bit of a weak link in the Preston Sturges films he frequently headlined in the years after this, ends up being quite good in this more dramatic part. Herbert Marshall kind of walks away with the picture, though, giving a really excellent turn as the main villain. The climactic sequence involving a passenger plane being shot down by a German destroyer and ditching in the ocean is an absolute technical marvel, one of the best sequences I've seen from Hitchcock, certainly the most technically elaborate (there's also a great shot transitioning from a model of an airplane through the window into the cabin that you wouldn't have thought they could pull off).
Vivacious Lady (1938): A post-Astaire Ginger Rogers signed on for another film with her Swing Time director George Stevens, opposite a not-yet-a-star Jimmy Stewart. Rogers' nightclub singer impulsively marries Stewart's smalltown professor after knowing each other for less than a day, and they head back to his aforesaid town; you might have thought from the opening segment that it was going to be about Rogers trying to fit into life so different from NYC, but instead it's one of the those screwball comedies where people keep putting off having a fairly simple conversation that could resolve everything. That being, in this case, Stewart attempting to inform his parents that he has gotten married, thwarting a union with a different woman that his father seems determined to push him into. It's silly stuff, but there's a lot of good slapstick, and Rogers and Stewart turn out to have very convincing chemistry (so much so that it's kind of surprising they were never paired again onscreen). Also a surprise standout is Beulah Bondi, playing Stewart's mother for what would be the second of four times (ending with It's A Wonderful Life). Bondi's character initially seems like a totally thankless role, a generic nice lady with a very plot-convenient heart condition that flares up any time Stewart starts to try to explain the situation, but there ends up being a lot more to her role in the final act, and Bondi has a lot of fun with it. In terms of actual thankless roles, Hattie McDaniel has a bit part as a maid in one scene.
Caught up with two movies I have had on my to-watch list for some time:
Bad Times at the El Royale: Excellent little movie with great performances from its entire cast. Jeff Bridges is the king as always, I could seriously watch him eat a carrot and be captivated. A bit on the slower side, but I like how the director takes his time to set a mood; the scene with Jon Hamm in the tunnels while the rehearsal song is played is awesome.
Hostiles: Also really liked this one. It's a bit uneven tempo-wise, with long stretches of nature/travelling scenes and occasional bursts of violence. But the core story is simple yet captivating, and the performances are generally very strong, especially from Bale (as always) and Studi. Also fun seeing so many famous actors popping up in side roles. The only thing that I assume can rub people the wrong way is how unrelentlessly grim the entire movie is all the way to the end. If you can swallow that kind of stuff and like Westerns, this one's a good watch.
Bad Times at the El Royale: Excellent little movie with great performances from its entire cast. Jeff Bridges is the king as always, I could seriously watch him eat a carrot and be captivated. A bit on the slower side, but I like how the director takes his time to set a mood; the scene with Jon Hamm in the tunnels while the rehearsal song is played is awesome.
Hostiles: Also really liked this one. It's a bit uneven tempo-wise, with long stretches of nature/travelling scenes and occasional bursts of violence. But the core story is simple yet captivating, and the performances are generally very strong, especially from Bale (as always) and Studi. Also fun seeing so many famous actors popping up in side roles. The only thing that I assume can rub people the wrong way is how unrelentlessly grim the entire movie is all the way to the end. If you can swallow that kind of stuff and like Westerns, this one's a good watch.
Men: fellas it's time to respect women 😎
Woman: I hate michael Mann 😌
Men:....bitch
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