Midweek Movie Free Talk

I'd like to think that I'm pretty well versed in film history, but I don't know everything. I follow winther on letterboxd and saw that he logged a movie called The Right Stuff, which I hadn't heard of. I started reading more about it, before downloading and watching it. I don't know why I haven't heard of this movie, especially when it's been so influential on blockbuster filmmaking.

It's very entertaining, it does not feel like three hours, it does a great job juggling it's more dramatic moments and it's more comedic moments. It's a beautiful looking film with really incredible aerial sequences. A lot of it reminded me of Top Gun: Maverick, so I assume this was a big inspiration for both Kosniski and McQuarrie. I really love the editing of it, especially the sequence towards the end that cuts between a flight and a dancer. You can feel the influence this film has had.

More surprising to learn that this was a box office bomb. It feels like the type of film that was a huge crowdpleaser. It only became an Oscar success due to critics backing it. It reminds me of Mad Max: Fury Road. I'm sure someone that wasn't aware of Fury Road's box office performance would assume it was a box office hit and that's why it was a big Oscar thing, purely because of the nature of the film, but it didn't make it's money back theatrically. It was an Oscar success due to critics backing it, just like The Right Stuff.

Still plenty of Cannes movies for me with a WW2 theme the last week.

The Pianist from 2002 tells a pretty similar story as Schindler's List with a focus on the Nazi invasion of Poland and the Holocaust. This story portrays the real story of pianist Władysław Szpilman and his fight for survival in the ruins of Warsaw. It has a more realistic tone than Schindler's List but for me it created the paradoxical outcome of having less of an impact. I was too aware of it being acting, even though it is actually more naturalistic styled than Spielberg's manipulative filmmaking. Still a very impressive film.

Keeping with the WW2 theme I went all the way back to 1945 for two Cannes winners and resistance films with the Danish The Red Meadows and the Italian Rome, Open City. Both deal with a resistance group during the Nazi occupation in each country and both have elements of the struggle of staying out of sight of the Gestapo, big personal sacrifices for their country and a sinister Nazi commander administering cruel torture. Being Danish, The Red Meadows left the biggest impression on me, but it is also the most exciting of them. In Rome, Open City we don't really see the resistance movement doing anything, whereas in The Red Meadows we follow them plan and execute blowing up a factory.

From last year the winner of Un Certain Regard was How To Have Sex which deals with a young woman who travels to a party resort with a couple of friends - all of them with the intent of loosing their virginity. She ends bringing herself into a regrettable situation she can't control The general theme is very similar to a film I saw in sex-ed class more than 25 years ago, and while I think it is a great thing such movies are made that aren't shy of depicting the problematic parts of teenage sex culture, it is also sad that so little has apparently changed in the last decades on that front. Mia McKenna-Bruce gives a great performance here with a uncomfortable expression of non verbal body language that says more than a 1000 words.

In 2022 Close won the Grand Prix and it is a subtle low key tragic story of two 13 year old boys with a very close friendship. Whether they have feelings that are more than friendship aren't really important, because it is what their school peers think that sadly end up influencing their behaviour and friendship. Again a movie that hinges a lot on the great performances from the young actors. The directing is impressive with how precise it communicates emotions and situations with minimal effort. A few seconds of seeing someone talking in the background and you know exactly what is going on. That might also be a bit of a drawback for the film though. Everything is so accurate and precisely shown, that you are never in doubt of anything. It isn't manipulative, but it does make the emotional impact from the characters pretty narrow.

Watched The Zone Of Interest

The music is so, so creepy at points. It's fairly rare for a film's sounds and music to be so central to the entire film. Off hand, I'm thinking Baby Driver (theatre edition) and Scott Pilgrim....and that's about it.

If I were a highschool teacher showing a Holocaust movie I would pick this one because (1) the banality of evil and the easy, profitable decision for evil, (2) no sex or violence on screen, esp difficult for the subject matter, (3) the characters are humanized with obvious criticism of their actions, and (4) obviously "not all German citizens" but in practicality, how difficult it would have been to live against the ideals of each of our time.

And another one I'm not sure I'll finish: Past Lives - I made it to the part where the boy comes to visit the girl in New York and they hang out for a bit, then she goes home and tells her husband he was right about the boy coming specifically to meet her. I fast forwarded to the end and watched bits of it. I just .....can't.....find the film interesting somehow. Perhaps because the premise for the film resembled so much of my own experiences, but my own reunion with my childhood friend went so, so very differently, that the story in this film just becomes your standard Distracted Boyfriend meme. "You're married and you imagine an alternative choice" is boring: it makes no difference whether it's a past life's love or childhood crush or new boss or new virtual reality bot -- emotional infidelity begins in the heart and grows with indulgence and justification. Boring boring boring tale as old as time. Especially when I believe there is no such thing as One True Love™, only fidelity, dedication and growing intimacy. If I do go back and watch the dinner scene it will specifically be to watch the Husband's performance. Cheating people look like cheating people look like cheating people, and there's zero interest for me there.

Next movie on my list to watch: American Fiction

A History of Violence - 7/10

This is one of the most well structured movies I have ever seen, the story beats are perfectly paced and it is overall impeccably well made. Spoilers below.

With that, you'd think I'd give it a 9 or even a 10, but I just can't do it. I am not a "legitimate" critic and so the way I rate movies is not solely about the art or measurements of cinematic technique that other critics might use to approach objective criteria when they review movies. I could point to a couple of things that drag it down a tiny bit, like the sideplot with the bully that while breaking cliche's by having the victim utterly annihilate his bullies on the first try, it still felt like something I'd seen before. The fight scenes also felt quite dated, like a 90's movie despite it being from the mid-00's. The final scene in the mansion with the brother was lackluster because of his Stormtrooper level aiming for example. These are nitpicks though.

In any case, my ratings for what I watch are subjective - techniques and artistry and skill plays into it, but it's mostly about how it made me feel. So the main reason I just can't rate it higher than a 7/10 is because of the second sex scene. Friend who loves the movie says it's her favourite example of "how sex scenes can be used narratively to phenomenal effect" and I absolutely agree with it and recognize it. But for me it was just too hard to watch. I know that it's meant to be ambiguous, but for me it was clearly assault/battery/abuse to begin with and then rape to follow. It is very well known that victims of SA often play along to get it over with (I would know). So when we see Edie on the bed afterwards, sitting in the dark all alone with some gnarly bruises on her back and shoulder, trying to comfort herself by rocking back and forth as she cries.. this to me is a very obvious depiction of a rape victim. The ending, too, is meant to be ambiguous and I don't have as clear a read on it as the other intended-to-be-ambiguous scene. This is the last frame where we see her. Is it the face of forgiveness or of hatred? I really can't tell but I'm leaning towards the latter.

Again, that scene was just too hard to watch for me. Only the scene in Wind River surpasses it. The dead-eyed one in Orange is the New Black is up there as well. So yeah, it's safe to say I am not going to ever watch A History of Violence again, but I also do not regret watching it, however I abhor it while also appreciating it for all the things it did well.

Naissance des pieuvres - 7/10

English title Water Lilies. Directed by Céline Sciamma, the woman who would later direct the masterpiece that is Portrait of a Lady on Fire. To put it bluntly, Naissance des pieuvres is a very French movie. It is about adolescent girls/young adults exploring their newfound sexualities which was at times really creepy for my sheltered sensibilities. But at the same time, I have never before seen a lesbian girl's sexual awakening represented in any tv show or movie so that alone made it well worth the watch. Reminded me a lot of Fucking Åmål - English title Show me Love - however that one has no nudity as I recall, and is more about the romantic aspect and not sex. Both are important subjects though and while I am biased as a queer woman myself, I do feel there aren't anywhere near enough films about lesbians in general.

I just got back from a late showing of Furiosa, and I just wanted to record my thoughts on it! What an incredible experience, especially in a Dolby theatre. I missed Mad Max: Fury Road in an "enhanced theatre" (freshman year of college = could only see cheap movies), but I'm sure glad I got to experience this one, at least. The cars really felt as alive as in Fury road, they felt really close and powerful.

Disclaimer, I never watched the original Mad Max movies, (I really should though tbh) but do think Fury Road is one of my favorite action movies in the last 10 years. George Miller has an incredible mind for car combat, there were some sequences that I couldn't help but stare open mouthed at, like seriously so good. Fury Road was a non-stop chase sequence, but this definitely wasn't, and that's okay. I liked the feeling of start stop every once in a while and it definitely made the movie a bit more easy to process afterwards. Even if you know the ending of where the movie will be, the whole journey itself was such a blast.

Honestly after seeing Chris Hemsworth do over a decade of Thor basically, I didn't realize he was actually a good actor. There was a bit of Thor in his acting for sure, but it was incredible seeing him go just a bit deeper than that. I'm also genuinely surprised on how little Anya was physically in this movie, considering that it was supposed to be her movie. And even in the places she does show up, she's not really talking either. They both act the crap out of each other by the culmination of the movie though, and I do think the payoff is sooooo good.

I definitely enjoyed the movie a lot, and I'm glad I've been pushing myself to go to the theatres more. The rest of the summer doesn't look too exciting for me though, so we'll see!

I watched the animation film Robot Dreams. It has a suspiciously high Rotten Tomatoes rating, currently 99% for critics and 90% audience, which just screams "astroturfing" to me. Also, I suspect I'm not the target market for this type of film, but despite all that, it wasn't bad.

Complete coincidence that it's the 2nd film in a row I've watched that has an 80s theme. Last week was Totally Killer, where the protagonist traveled back in time to 1987, whereas Robot Dreams is set in 80s Manhattan, with the dog character always slurping on a can of Tab. (I was just a kid in the 80s, I'm going to feel really old when we start getting 90s and early 2000s nostalgia movies)

There are a few moments that drag on longer than necessary, but the film was mostly a series of random vignettes so if you didn't like one, then it'd change to something else in a short while. The overall story was bittersweet, and the animation was really good. I liked the way it animated everyday occurrences in a sort of exaggerated realistic way. The mac and cheese popping in the microwave, or the condensation dripping in the bus window, for example. The ending was sort of unexpected, but also fitting to the overall vibe of the film.

This week's movies are Howl's Moving Castle and Doctor Zhivago Fall Guy (Thursday.)

Howl's was neat. I went in blind and wasn't expecting any of that. I went with a dub and the subs. The combination of the two was good, but I think the subs had far more detail.

My wife and I watched "Behind the Candelabra" a few nights ago and liked it. It was really surprising that this movie had existed for years and we had no idea.

I stumbled on it totally blind because I was just going back and watching soderbergh movies I had missed. Within a few minutes I was hit with: Scott Bakula! Matt Damon! "Is Michael Douglas playing Liberace?!". I had to stop there and tell my wife and we started over together.

I've been pretty bored with biopics lately. But I think doing a "slice of life" is a great way to do it. This movie just focuses on one era of his life. Based on a book by an ex "boyfriend". It makes for an interesting original story and I still felt like I got a vague picture of his whole life through context.

Good performances from everyone. Michael Douglas is hit and miss for me, but I feel like this was my favorite role for him, at least since "the game".

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

I wasn't hotly anticipating this the way all of film twitter was (or what's left of them anyway). None of the trailers did anything for me except for this one TV spot. I was always gonna watch this, but I wasn't absolutely waiting for it to come out. I saw Mad Max Fury Road in theaters when I was 15, dragging my mom to it cause I couldn't go alone due to the R rating. I even binged all the Mad Max movies the day before. I liked it a lot at the time, if I remember correctly I think it was my pick for Best Picture that year. Although it's fallen for me a little bit after a rewatch I did in 2020, nothing in specific I just didn't go googoogaga for it the way everyone else still feels about it. And I would rank it below Mission Impossible: Fallout in terms of action films from the past ten years.

With that background, I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would. I think the beginning is quite slow, and perhaps could have been cut down. But as soon as Anya Taylor Joy pops up the film gets a lot better. The two big action sequences are incredible and there were moments in this where I liked it more than Fury Road. What I also liked were the quiet moments. Right after the first major action scene involving the big rig we immediately get silence. There's a pondering beauty to that moment, as well as the silence we get after the second big action scene.

The performances from Anya and Hemsworth are great. Anya is able to communicate so much with just her eyes, which is very useful in this role considering she doesn't speak for most of it. Hemsworth gives the best performance of his career, I knew he was talented although he hasn't had much chance to show his skills. He showed comedic range in Ghostbusters (this was before Thor was funny) and he gave solid performances in Cabin in the Woods and Rush (I haven't seen Blackhat though I've been meaning to).

I think the ending underwhelms though. It's anti-climactic. And that dampened the excitement that had built up in me throughout the film.

Still though, pretty easily the second best film of the year for me.