Movies I've seen since my last posting:
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The Great Buddha +
I went to see this one for the heck of it. Reviews I'd seen beforehand called this a "dark comedy" of sorts, and it was indeed very funny in some parts but in a tragic sort of way. Still, I felt like the story and all of its characters were really, really tragic, and in a couple of scenes I really got the feels, which I wasn't expecting at all from this film going into it.
Really glad I watched it, it really surprised me in a lot of ways.
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An Elephant Sitting Still
Easily one of the highlights of the year for me so far.
The movie is 3 hours and 50 minutes long.
I was a little worried at first because I'd never seen such a long film before (especially in a theater, although it's pretty much only 25mins longer than
Andrei Rublev which I saw in theaters) but I was glued to the screen for the entirety of it.
I know not everyone would want to sit in a theater and watch a 4-hours long film, but if by some miracle you get the chance to see this film, I think you should give it a shot.
This was the first and last film made by the director, a 29-year old guy who killed himself shortly before finishing (I think?) the film, which is really, really tragic (and dare I say ironic?) because the whole film is about the selfishness of human beings.
The whole film was really something else, quite the experience. I mean, with 4 hours total, you end up getting sucked into these characters' lives and become engrossed in their story.
It's such a shame that Hu Bo (director) killed himself... this was easily one of those films that made me (or rather, would HAVE made me) go "I definitely want to watch anything else this person might do in the future".
:/
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Grass
First film I've seen from this director.
It was alright, then again it was only 66mins long.
Easy watch, good ideas and some really good dialogues, but ultimately I wish the movie was longer.
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Pororoca
Damn this film felt like a real kick to the gut (in a good way).
The premise is very simple, and similar to oh so many films that have come before:
A family of four (husband, wife, son and daughter) is torn apart after the daughter vanishes from the park, where she was with her father and brother (this whole scene was done in an 18min-long take).
Yeah, not exactly "new", but the film is 2 and a half hours long. It's a LOT of time, and there's a lot of "repetition" throughout (like the father visiting the park over and over and over again and staying there for hours on end), but this is all done so that we may experience the destruction and downward spiral of the father (main character), who is eventually abandoned by his wife/son who moved to her parent's home.
You can see the poor dude slowly lose his mind, as well as his weight... I really feel like his transformation was incredible to witness.
In most films with a similar plot, you get thrown into the investigation and shit like that... not here.
Here, you get to feel the desperation and the pointlessness of it all. The daughter is gone and that's just it, nothing anyone can do about it.
My friend who saw it with me was a bit sleepy throughout the whole thing, but I enjoyed the film.
Especially the last 10-15minutes... holy shit. I kid you not, the entire theater GASPED when something happened, no one (myself included) was expecting something like THAT to happen, especially the way it was depicted.
The ending dropicked everyone in the nuts and ovaries out of nowhere. It was fucking crazy.
In the end, this isn't a film about an abduction/conspiracy/mystery of any kind... A kid has gone missing, and we get to witness the devastating effects this event has on a family.
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24 Frames
Did you see the trailer? Good.
When I first saw it, I thought to myself "
okay, there's 24 uninterrupted shots, this could really be interesting and the shots look kinda sweet" and I was under the impression that all it was "natural".
No.
The movie was pure ass and a pain to sit through, for both my friend and I. Thankfully I won a couple of tickets so we didn't waste any money on it, but still.
In case you couldn't tell - because I sure as hell couldn't - most/all of those shots have been edited in post-production, and the effects are TERRIBLE.
That deer at 0:26? Fake.
That snow? Fake.
The crows, deer and snow in the next shot? Fake.
That car window going down at 0:50? F-A-K-E.
Everything about this film was fucking painful to experience.
All the "nature" elements such as snow, rain and thunder were CLEARLY not there. I mean, they didn't even bother adding snowflakes/rain on to the animals/characters in those very same scenes.
And the audio effects? It's almost as if someone googled " wind sound effect" and used the first result that came up. I would and have done better works in the past, at least in the audio department. This was just embarassing, as was the quality of the CGI.
Terrible, from start to finish with the exception of maybe 1-3 shots. The only "good" thing about this whole experience is that every shot only ever lasted for roughly 4 somethin minutes... but still... pure ass.
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A Quiet Place
Finally got around to seeing it, and at this time I don't think there's much else to be said. Yes, it was good overall in part due to the directing.
I wasn't a fan of some of the characters' choices throughout the film, and there might be a plothole or two, but overall it was a good and solid experience.
With the confirmation that a sequel is already in the works, all I can hope for is that this franchise(?) becomes what 28 Days/Weeks should've been.
There's a lot of things they can do with this threat/world they have built, and a lot of different settings/situations that could be explored in a lot of interesting ways, so let's just hope they don't fuck it.
I'm still hoping for
Hereditary to be better though. I want to believe that the hype is real, but with horror films you just never know.
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Rosemary's Baby
An oldie, I know, yeah, but I never saw it before and there was a free showing at a library nearby so I thought to myself "why not?".
I've wanted to see the Apartment Trilogy for a while now, a friend of mine even got me the 3 films last year but my external hard drive died with all the films in it so I never got around to seeing them... well, only 2 to go.
It wasn't exactly spectacular or anything like that, but it's one of those that I can finally cross out of my watchlist. I mean the whole thing was extremely predictable but then again the film is 50 years old (holy shit!).
Mia Farrow was really cute in it though.
Also I finally figured out where the dialogue was sampled from in this track that I love!
Should've figured that out by the title though...
And finally, I saw a post-apocalyptic "trilogy" of sorts by Konstantin Lopushansky, who was the protégé of Andrei Tarkovsky (who directed
Stalker, my all time favorite film).
The 3 films are:
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Dead Man's Letters;
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Visitor to a Museum;
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Russian Symphony (which I saw today).
Visitor to a Museum is definitely the best one and the one that's more similar to
Stalker, but all films are worth the watch for what they are and how they look.
The imagery is simply astonishing and I found myself wondering time and time again how they could achieve such things back then. It's mind-blowing.
I will definitely watch the rest of his films, but
The Ugly Swans should be next on my list.
And with that, I'm currently up to 48 films seen this year so far
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Has anyone else been paying attention to the reviews/trailers for the upcoming films that are currently premiering at Cannes?
I'm looking forward to Noé's "
Climax" (which comes after "Love" pffftch
)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDDeCOarFtU
But I was wondering what everyone else thinks about the recent "controversy" regarding
The House That Jack Built, by Lars Von Trier?
In case you aren't up to date, here's a quick summary:
‘The House That Jack Built’ First Reactions: ‘Lars Has Gone Too Far This Time’ As 100 People Walk Out — Cannes
Mass Walkouts for ‘Vomitive,’ ‘Torturous’ Lars von Trier Serial Killer Movie ‘The House That Jack Built’
- Lars von Trier’s ‘The House That Jack Built’ was one of the most unpleasant movie-going experiences of my life.
- The House That Jack Built feels like a suicide note.
- Walked out on LarsvonTrier . Vile movie. Should not have been made. Actors culpable
- Not surprised. Lars has gone too far this time. Guess he will be banned again lol.
- Just left Lars Von Trier's The House that Jack Built.
Gross. Pretentious. Vomitive. Torturous. Pathetic.
- Sadistic murder porn that inspired more than a few walkouts. But such is usually Von Trier’s MO
- Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built is an ordeal of gruesomeness and tiresomeness, quite as exasperating as I feared, but leading to what I have to admit is a spectacular horror finale.
- why can’t Lars von Trier just make a normal fcking movie for once. pushing limits is one thing but he’s just a complete sadist expressing his narcissism and contempt for the world through his art.
Here's the (nsfw?) trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TOBHa71SXw
I already had an interest in seeing the film prior to these reactions, but I know very well what kind of director Lars Von Trier is.
Should I really give him my money to see a 2h35mins long film where a guy gets away with something some very, VERY bad things and that's it?
That's exactly why I have absolutely no interest in seeing crap like A Serbian Film. Horror and gore and stuff isn't a problem, but trying to be edgy and shocking the viewer just because you can and want to upset them... to me that's kinda cringy and pointless.
With that being said, the trailer is quite strange and enticing (altough some shots look like shit, almost as if they aren't done being colorized properly) but I think I would feel kinda dirty giving him my money, especially with the recent allegations against him and whatnot.
When it comes to this sort of thing, how do you proceed? Do you always draw the line between the creator and their work?
I think it's a very interesting topic.
(sorry for the long post
)
isn't Von Trier avant garde? Dogville was interesting though, took away the illusion of seeing movie, but by the end it didn't feel like the fourth wall was torn down.