-
4 votes
-
TÁR | Teaser trailer
7 votes -
The Woman King | Official trailer
5 votes -
Amsterdam | Official trailer
4 votes -
Thirteen Lives | Official trailer
5 votes -
See How They Run | Official trailer
3 votes -
Hocus Pocus 2 | Teaser trailer
2 votes -
Persuasion | Official trailer
5 votes -
Gifted helmer Hlynur Pálmason interrogates the role of religion in Iceland's past – but it's really colonialism that's at question in his new film 'Godland'
5 votes -
Three Thousand Years of Longing | Official trailer
6 votes -
Broker / 브로커 | Movie trailer
5 votes -
Crimes of the Future | Official teaser
6 votes -
Top Gun: Maverick | New official trailer
3 votes -
The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic / Sokea Mies Joka Ei Halunnut Nähdä Titanicia | Exclusive trailer
1 vote -
Margrete: Queen of the North / Margrete Den Første | UK trailer
3 votes -
Against the Ice | Official trailer
2 votes -
Elvis | Official trailer
7 votes -
After Yang | Official trailer
5 votes -
You should see Belle
It's fairly rare to get the opportunity to get to watch a Japanese animated movie in theaters in the US, and earlier today I watched Belle in IMAX. It's honestly really hard to talk about the film...
It's fairly rare to get the opportunity to get to watch a Japanese animated movie in theaters in the US, and earlier today I watched Belle in IMAX.
It's honestly really hard to talk about the film in it's entirety. It's a really deeply layered film, and even with how extensive the previews for this film have been they don't really do a very good job of describing what the film is about. Even after saying that I don't really want to explain it because I think that it's best to just jump in and enjoy it - and frankly I'm not sure I could explain it very well without spoiling it. That being said, because it's so layered and there's so much content it talks about it can be hard to grasp the deeper meanings. I saw this movie with my husband and I can tell you that he definitely didn't get it. After reading a handful of reviews it looks like a number of critics didn't get it either. The good news is that you don't have to be a film major to enjoy it; it's still going to be plenty enjoyable even if you miss those meanings. It helps that the production on this film is utterly fantastic, and the sound design and music are particularly fantastic.
From an academic perspective this film literally pulls off every trick in the animation and filmmaking books. It uses traditional style 2D animation, it's got 3D animation, some scenes use a mixture of the two. It has computer-generated tweening at times, and in other times the 2D drawings are morphed to animate them and create the illusion of life. The director Mamoru Hosoda has a pretty long track record at this point and this film has aspects that show off his signature aesthetics and unique techniques that he has developed over the years. And he does so to a great effect; I found myself being strongly emotionally affected by several of it's scenes. Of those highly affecting scenes, not all of them evoked tears; there were also plenty of times where I found myself almost laughing because the scenes were full of positivity.
While it's tempting to consider this a retelling of Beauty and Beast from the previews, the film is so much more than that. Even the most basic understanding you could take from this film would not support that position. In fact the "beast" of this story is not even a romantic interest.
The thing that endears me personally to this movie so much is that there are two dramatic scenes that are handled so realistically and naturally it felt like I was reliving portions of my own life. There is a scene early on where the main character tries to sing quietly to herself when she's all by her lonesome but is so overcome with emotions that she not only can't hold a single note, the act makes her throw up. And in the last act there is a scene where a boy is suffering from emotional abuse from his father and is completely unable to trust people who are trying to help him. He's been too hurt by people who promised to help but eventually left him in the same situation, allowing more abuse to happen.
There are many reasons that I would recommend watching this movie, but I wanted to recommend this movie to this community in particular because I think that some of the messages this movie was made to tell will resonate with the people here. The film is a struggle to answer the question "why should we help other people?" The film also has a lot to say about how we treat each other over the internet, as you may have already surmised.
10 votes -
Drive My Car | Trailer
5 votes -
The Northman | Official trailer
8 votes -
Licorice Pizza | Official trailer
2 votes -
The Tragedy of Macbeth | Official trailer
4 votes -
Ninjababy | Trailer
3 votes -
Don't Look Up | Official teaser trailer
10 votes -
C'mon C'mon | Official trailer
8 votes -
Enforcement / Shorta | Official trailer
3 votes -
Cry Macho | Official trailer
2 votes -
Lamb / Dýrið | Official trailer
6 votes -
The Last Duel | Official trailer
8 votes -
Mia Hansen-Løve pays tribute to Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman with Cannes film 'Bergman Island'
5 votes -
Compartment No 6 review – meet-uncute train romance is a Finnish 'Before Sunrise'
3 votes -
How David Fincher’s ‘Dragon Tattoo’ marked the end of the big-budget adult drama
7 votes -
tick, tick... BOOM! | Official teaser
8 votes -
Pig | Official trailer
10 votes -
Bergman Island | Trailer
2 votes -
Betrayed review – This account of the internment of a Jewish boxer from Oslo packs an emotional punch, but pulls back from displaying any real horrors
5 votes -
The French Dispatch | Official trailer
10 votes -
Göteborg Film Festival to kick off gender-balanced programme with Maria Bäck’s Swedish drama 'Psychosis In Stockholm'
6 votes -
May el-Toukhy's Sundance prize-winning 'Queen of Hearts' has been selected as Denmark's Oscar entry in the international feature film race
3 votes -
A Hidden Life | Official trailer
4 votes -
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Breaking convention
5 votes -
Virus | Official trailer
6 votes -
Preview of the Downton Abbey movie
5 votes -
Vice | Official trailer
6 votes -
Natalie Portman set to direct, star in Dear Abby-Ann Landers drama
4 votes -
Bel Canto | Official trailer
3 votes -
King of Thieves | Official trailer
4 votes -
Mid90s | Official trailer
3 votes -
Leave No Trace | Official trailer
2 votes