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Midweek Movie Free Talk
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
The Devil Wears Prada 2
I watched the first film about five years ago now. Part of the explosive movie watching habit I had back then. I liked it, it’s a good movie. But it was part of a series of films from the 00s that were primarily aimed at women that people decided were going to be re-evaluated into “serious cinema.” Marie Antoinette and Jennifer’s Body were among these films. I think Prada is the best of these three, but still feels odd that that attempt existed when it’s really just a solid studio film from the time.
The sequel is terrible. There was a lot of kerfuffle around the way this looks with many videos popping up around the time of the trailer criticizing the look and favoring the older look. I don’t have an issue with it honestly, the first film only looks like that because it’s shot on 35mm. It’s look is still flat, it’s just utilizing a textured format, similar complaints were lodged at Ella McCay last year and how James L Brooks didn’t know how to make a movie look good anymore. None of these movies looked good, they were just shooting on film stock.
Anyways, the major issue with this film is how dull it is. Everyone is so nice to each other and loving and understanding. Moments of hostility or meanness are treated so big as opposed to the original film which treated all those moments as just the norm of the industry. It makes no sense why these characters are nice. None of the real people they were based on are nice now theyre all still the cold heartless people they were 20 years ago. Anna Wintour of course still is, but so is the person that Emily Blunt plays who recently did an interview. You kind of need those harsh personalities to handle an industry like this.
Everything in the first film felt lived in and alive. It felt like you were watching someone actually at the offices of Vogue. This feels overly polished like the sets are all brand new. Everything here is so big too, like big things are happening when in the first film it was just a normal work season. They also tried to make Hathaway an outsider again and it hits similar beats to the first film. They gave her a boring love interest that does nothing for the film when the relationship in the first film was almost central to the themes.
Most of the performances are honestly bad. I was shocked at how little most of them cared. Justin Theroux and Emily Blunt I think were the only ones having fun with this. Although none of the performances feel like they even track with the first, it does not feel like we’re watching the same characters 20 years later.
I think a more interesting film would have gone the meta route. Hathaway’s character writes a book, a movie gets made, and so on. That would have added more tension between the characters.
I put on Caught Stealing last night not expecting too much out of it (I planned to work while it was on in the background) but I ended up very much enjoying it, actually. If I hadn't known going in that it was an Aronofsky film, I don't think I would've ever guessed. I'm usually kind of put off by his style, but I didn't see much of that in here.
The story is wild but still somewhat predictable. It's not trying to be anything overly profound, but it's still a fun, darkly comic action movie. Kind of hit the same note for me as Bullet Train, which also had Bad Bunny in it
Aaranofsky wanted to do a fun thing after having directed The Whale. Also something where the camera moves like crazy while The Whale was shot in one location with a locked down camera.
I remember thinking the violence was still in line with Aaranfosky’s previous work, and all his films have a theme of self destructive behavior from their protagonists which this also fits.
Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda
This was my introduction to films by this director and I'm going to go down the rabbit hole, because this film was exceptional.
I stumbled across it when looking for something with a similar vibe to Parasite. I specifically wanted something set in East Asia, as I've become fascinated with the aesthetic and cultural differences to the west. This did tick the box, but without the thriller elements - which I was happy for.
The film explores what it means to be a family. The story is warm and cosy, but with a constant background dread that everything will inevitably go wrong. Not in a horrific way. Just knowing that a nice but tenuous situation just can't last. Nice is probably not the right word. From an outside perspective characters are in a very dire situation living in poverty. But they are happy.
It is a character lead plot, with superb acting and a tight narrative. Sakura Ando's performance, in particular, was stellar. There are several scenes with her that have stuck with me and left me pondering.
Strong recommendation to anyone who enjoys character driven stories.
Kore-eda is one of my favourite directors, even if his more recent movies are fairly lacklustre. You will likely enjoy Maborosi (his 1995 debut), After Life (1998), Nobody Knows (2004) and, my all-time favourite movie, Still Walking (2008).