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psaygin
Reviews
Welcome to Marwen (2018)
Missed opportunity about layers of reality/unreality & ultimately disservice to viewer
The documentary Marwencol was fascinating and touching. This movie's main contribution could have been creating yet another layer of the whole thing - of a "set" and "characters" and "scenes"... From fact, to documentary to feature film.
But it didn't use that meta-layers that would justify this being made into a feature film. It leaves you not at an absolute worst bottom, but certainly noticeably complicit, or possibly feeling even "dirty" about this opportunistic approach. To remake a documentary about remaking a life of fiction following some real (documented) trauma. It could have been transcendent. Yet it is barely Ok as a film.
Exploitation may be a word that comes up, but this may arguably apply - even if clearly to a much lesser extent - to Marwencol. But if you can't see the difference in scale bw a modest independent doc, to its reiteration (with much loss, IMHO, as I have probably made clear already) in a Hollywood version, from director to actors.
It panders too much to the sort of viewer who "needs" to be spoonfed, even as most people actually don't need this...
Any human who had had to grapple with trauma and/or reinvention - and who doesn't at some point or another, in some way or another - can get this as therapy and as art and as microcosm and as representation, even if not in those particular words. They can get all this at the level of exploration from the level of the documentary. (Not perfect either, but good - althouth that's actually a side point.)
It is the fact that they tried to sell this easier - and compromised - version.
I mean why even change the title Marwencol to Marwen: Is this how they think of us, the viewers? As if we are not able and/or willing to handle and extra syllable? That's what I mean.
Taiyô no ko Esuteban (1982)
My first crush
Everything has been said before. I too loved this series as a child. The characters, the storyline, the words I will add to make this review long enough.
I just wanted to say I had a crush on Esteban. I don't know what it says about me that my first crush was a carton, but I did.
Thank you.
Rid of Me (2011)
Just be open minded, it's very interesting
You know what usually happens when you watch an indie movie with divided 1 star/5 star reviews on netflix... 90% of the time you watch it, it's a solid 2 star (rarely a 3) out of 5 and you don't even think about it again. The rest of the time it's something "interesting" - not necessarily great. Last night we watched "Rid of Me" a 2011 indie movie. I can't stop thinking about it all last night and today.
It totally touched me (mostly by creeping me out). The film is about Meris, a socially awkward, shy young woman who is in love and moves with her all American jock boy type husband to his home town in Oregon where a group of his frat bro buddies and their wives await. The friends are annoying and crass, and she has some mental conditions (depression, social anxiety). Things don't go well in terms of Meris fitting in. When an old flame of the husband moves back to town, the marriage is soon on the rocks. She goes through some difficult stuff and then the movie is about "finding yourself". Cheap movie and production is pretty bad and throughout the first half at least I felt incredibly uncomfortable, but this is the intention and possibly even the point of the film.
First it was interesting that the movie was about a woman and her journey. This woman was not presented as classically attractive, nor is she the life of the party by any means. It's rare to have this kind of character focused on. At the same time, the focus on this character is what makes the movie both uncomfortable and poignant.
Personally, I could not relate to the title character, the meek Meris. How can someone be so hapless and direction-less? It seemed she had no autonomy as she was being carried into further and further horrific situations that gave her no respite from herself or from the mean people she dealt with. I realise she was not meant to be a realistic character but the way the film is shot you are following her all the time and you feel like shaking her up throughout the first half of the movie. Meris, how can you not protect yourself from going to those places? Don't you grow a backbone girl?? I just found my mind in a logical bind that a person would let themselves get into situations like that. Perhaps I am forgetting how you can be so naive when you're in stupid young love and at that point in life when you have not yet understood that people are weak and disappointing and you should always protect your back.
And the backbone, she does indeed grow in her own way and with a lot of mess on the way, as we all do - well maybe a bit messier than average. We see Meris develop all the way to the act of extreme defiance she carries out in the opening scene of the movie, which where she walks up to a plastic blonde woman in a supermarket and does something shocking and defiant. (Side note: This act is probably one that is extremely feminine in some ways, but it struck me as a very male scene to write - I don't know if I am going to be able to explain this, it's just a subtle thing, almost like a man envisioned what Meris would do).
The finding yourself part, the main theme of the film, is not all blood. There is comic relief, plus some high school regression, friendship, 90s style girl power, smoking, aging goth characters ; and all that stuff works in the end and you have weird friends and you laugh and you learn to accept yourself and not to let a man have control over who you can and cannot be.
I find it a hard movie to recommend in an unqualified way because the movie is uncomfortable but if you want to try something different, it's worth checking this out.
The Botany of Desire (2009)
How interesting!
Wow, pretty cool.
I watched this on netflix and have not read the book.
This movie takes a journey through the history of our world through a view you likely have not taken before.
Although the focus switches from plant to plant (and even acknowledged throughout, such as the tulips in the background at the Amsterdam coffee shop), the concept is the same throughout, the plants' eye view of the world. They are mirrors to human nature, and have evolved around us, and in doing so, have had us evolve around them. If you don't like this theme, this movie is not for you.
A bit uneven in parts but it is a compelling concept. That view of nature and humans' role in it is refreshing to see represented.
Lynch (2007)
Lynch interesting as always, but as a film, uneven
I am a huge Lynch fan and enjoyed many scenes in this movie. I always find it interesting to find out about his process and this movie will surely interest his fans. This shows him during the filming of Inland Empire. I loved that movie, though I did feel it could have done with a bit tighter of an edit. And this film is kinda similar. In that sense, this is a good complement to IE. I also agree with previous reviewers who mentioned Lynch on Lynch, there is a similar tone.
The movie has much Lynch style with buzzing lights, flicker, strange sounds... Youtube parodies have done it too, so you know what I mean. I got annoyed with it, but then I also kinda liked it.
I found Lynch likable, creative and interesting, as always. It's interesting that it can be so easy to enter the mind of director often called incomprehensible or surreal.
Inception (2010)
Felt like a 14 year old read about Descartes, Plato and Aristotle on wikipedia while stoned and wrote this movie
I don't think there are serious spoilers but just to be safe it's marked.
Not bad, but disappointing if this is the most intelligent movie Hollywood is making.
I suppose if you haven't read or seen anything like this before, it may seem innovative. It is not an original idea... But then again, so many ideas are not. It could still have been a fine movie. But alas, it's a mess...
Lets start with the obvious: The "action". So boring and pointless... I wish the money spent on all that could be sent to Haiti, or donated to fight climate change. It not only made the movie a mess, it was such a waste... Why do they feel every movie needs so many car chases, gunshots, blood, death, and general mayhem? I am disappointed that people today are not only assumed to not be able to deal with intellectual material without dumb, violent, presumably hedonistic fodder, but worse, that this perception is correct, based on the reviews this movie is getting.
If you found this movie over the top and annoying try Moon and Primer, for recent examples of "intelligent" movies, the latter made for only a few thousand $.
The dreams were not dream-like, at least as I experience them. My dreams are much less about crumbling buildings but at the same time, way more mysterious and weird. Too much talking in this dream world. It's almost always more effective to let the imagery haunt the viewer rather than spell it all out (think about the diner scene in Mulholland Drive, truly chilling and dream-like)... They did not capture the dream mood at all IMO...
The ending was predictable from the very beginning. I sat there thinking "really? I thought this was supposed to do a mind-bender". Felt like a 14 year old read the wikipedia pages for Descartes, Plato and Aristotle while he's stoned and wrote this movie... Maybe it's not the movie's fault that media reports got my expectations geared towards a surprise ending... The ending is the most obvious thing that is possible in the context... I hope that doesn't ruin the movie for you!
Possible spoiler: BEGIN
Huge plot holes. Insults to your intelligence left and right. "Limbo" was such a cop-out. In one context (the job they're on), inception has to be super complicated (for no convincing reason), in another (Cobb & his wife) you simply tell someone something and there it is... Uneven mess.
To me the movie was the ramblings of a junkie, the whole entire thing was a "dream". They didn't do much with the drug seeking and addict behavior the characters displayed (girl gets hooked first time, Cobb guy's "doing it one last time"). If they layered that on, maybe it could have made it a bit more interesting. Minus the bomb and gunshot-fest though...
Possible spoiler: END
Finally, the other reason this fails: Who are these people and why do we care? Cobb is supposedly motivated by seeing his kids and cleaning up his act. Didn't work. I half expected the kids to have Rosemary's baby faces when they turned around (hell, it would have been a little bit dream-like, more so than all the annoying ski chases and such). I can't get engaged by flat characters no matter how many millions worth of CGI you pour on. The Matrix, a decidedly non-highbrow movie in this genre, had better developed characters.
For the record, we don't use a small percentage of our brains. I can't believe this movie blatantly put that cliché in there in the 21st century. Again... Now I have to explain this even more at random parties... Joy! (I am a neuroscientist)
Verdict: OK implementation of interesting idea (though not at all original). I wish I had not rewarded the studios who feel fine about spending millions on repetitive ideas implemented without grace, while the whole world is in the middle of a recession. Feels like Hollywood's too high on testosterone and cocaine these days...
46-okunen no koi (2006)
I had to see it..
I saw this at the London film festival if I am remembering correctly.
BEFORE seeing it: I read Miike now explores "faith in a godless universe and the intensely queer focus on all colours of 'masculinity'". OK I have to see this!!
AFTER seeing it: Good but I like Miike's other films much better (Gozu, Visitor Q). This is not a bad film. It is a bit too indulgent and slow. Visuals are nice. The visible heartbeat, the smile of the warden (too many times repeated though)... And I can't get over how amazingly cool the prisoners' uniforms were!
But while enjoyable, it didn't do much for me.
Match Point (2005)
I don't care if I get every bit of negative commentary on IMDb
Look, I have seen good film and quite a few by Woody Allen. This had the potential to be a better movie... It was just thin.
Scarlett Johansson! Every scene she was in, her acting was so bad, I had to be aware I was watching a film. I just could not "buy" her character -- just as Bruce Willis is Bruce Willis in every movie he is in (or used to be in), Scarlett is also unable to take on character. This is really a killer for a movie. I'm not coming to watch an actress, I am here to see a film. Same happened to me with Lost in Translation. (Please! Has anyone seen Hiroshima mon Amour??? but that's another rant...) It's not bad, I gave it a 5! But it's not brilliant...
Ms Johansson is certainly gorgeous and seems reasonably intelligent. But this is not a photo shoot... She just cannot take character.
Bijitâ Q (2001)
The key is in the movie itself
Amazing movie playing around with the idea of reality TV, voyeurism and even the nature of reality itself.
Among all the scenes -- of which there are many many memorable ones -- I thought the one which has the key to the movie is when the father is frantically taping the attack on his house and speaking at the same time and among a frenzy of "reporter-talk" he says,
"What are we supposed to feel?"
The key to the movie is, you are never allowed to know what you are supposed to feel. These days, in movies and TV, we are frequently "told" what to feel. Takashi Miike takes this and pulls the carpet from under all of us. he builds his film around the phenomenon of TV/media, emotion-building, exposing, exploiting... Yet keeps this tension through the movie and does not allow us for a moment to settle in our armchairs, does not for one moment let us get into that comfy zone of being told what to feel.
And hence watching this movie becomes this eerie, stressful process as noted by everyone else. Am i disgusted, indignant, amused, sympathetic, angry, confused? You are never told. You have to go through it on your own. And that is the point.
Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu (2003)
topped it
i did not know anything about Miike when i saw Gozu. i read about Gozu in a magazine randomly and it sounded like something i had to see. then i waited a few weeks until it was in the theatres here. i told my fellow David Lynch fan officemate "hey, here is this movie which sounds cool, i think we both need to see this".
so we went. afterwards we left the theatre in a state of amazement. we had seen and enjoyed "weird" movies all our lives, Lynch, Cronenberg, whatever. we both enjoyed surrealism in general. even so, Gozu was really a peak experience.
but you can't just be weird for the sake of weird... is Gozu good? definitely. it is well-made, beautiful,... and it speaks to a deep visceral part at times. and then turn ridiculous and made you laugh... but even in the weirdest movies you have seen, there is probably more linearity and perhaps some symbolism you can conjure up. i think with Gozu, the way to see it is, just watch and let it take you. open your mind a little more than usual. otherwise i don't know what effect this movie can have on someone. for me, it was very significant. i immediately went and saw it again the next night (which was the last night it was playing) and my appreciation grew.
Miike is amazing. very talented director. good use of sound as well as the great visuals everyone talks about. i am looking forward to more of his work.
Rushmore (1998)
Recipe for Wes Anderson movie
What makes this sad is that I was told I would love this movie by so many people ... :-(
Recipe for Wes Anderson movie: Invent quirky characters. Invent many many of them. Now make them incredibly flat, paper thin, someone you could summarize in a line or two... Now have lots of stuff happen. Finally make everything look retro cool. Take great care to make the movie have "look" and "feel".
The look and feel go a long way. I respect the care Anderson puts into his movies. But movies also tell a story. And with Anderson, something just doesn't work at this point. It's because either the story, or the characters need to not be paper-thin. Quantity of events, "stuff happening", number of quirky characters doesn't a story make. What or who are we supposed to care about?
In Anderson's movies this is where the films just fail us. It is such a pity too, because we are so close to a good film.
Rushmore had a good premise, some characters who, if developed would have been powerful. But halfway through I found myself not caring about what happened to anyone. Pity because it could have been a very nice movie about friendship. But instead it fizzled and faded and all was sort of this nice looking thing about a large number of quirky but still flat characters.
Sorry but this is not good. Just hype. I had to watch some Fellini after this to get a fix of both characters and story. It can be done.