Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Whaaaaat?

Have you seen Good Time or High Life? I've found over the last 10 years or so that he's doing good work in interesting films.

Whaaaaat?

Have you seen Good Time or High Life? I've found over the last 10 years or so that he's doing good work in interesting films.

I'll add The Lighthouse and Tenet to awesome RPatz performances. The former has him sparring with Willem Dafoe, the latter has him doing a super fun knock off James Bond.

Michael Bay movie directed by Michael Bay

By http://www.firouzanfilms.com/images/...loseUp_DVD.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36836902

Close-Up - (1990)

That was pretty unusual. Close-Up is a little bit like a reconstruction of an event, using all the real people playing the part of themselves - but parts are straight up caught on camera as they happen. Hossain Sabzian cons a family into thinking he's famous Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and goes so far as to recruit them to be in his next film - but when caught out must go through the humiliation of being exposed, and stands trial with his fate uncertain. The unusualness of the case attracts director Abbas Kiarostami, who records (and participates) in his trial - and sets him up to meet Makhmalbaf after being released. Cinema has had such an effect of Sabzian's life that he's most lucid and open when talking about that subject, and this is what mostly comes out when people at the trail continually ask him why he did what he did - it's as if he wanted to disappear from his lowly poor life into cinema itself. Iranians make some pretty interesting movies, going way further back than Asghar Farhadi. I also watched Close-Up Long Shot after this - a short doco focusing on Hossain Sabzian.

8/10

Foreign Language Countdown films seen : 80/100

Whaaaaat?

Have you seen Good Time or High Life? I've found over the last 10 years or so that he's doing good work in interesting films.

By http://www.firouzanfilms.com/images/...loseUp_DVD.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36836902

Close-Up - (1990)

That was pretty unusual. Close-Up is a little bit like a reconstruction of an event, using all the real people playing the part of themselves - but parts are straight up caught on camera as they happen. Hossain Sabzian cons a family into thinking he's famous Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and goes so far as to recruit them to be in his next film - but when caught out must go through the humiliation of being exposed, and stands trial with his fate uncertain. The unusualness of the case attracts director Abbas Kiarostami, who records (and participates) in his trial - and sets him up to meet Makhmalbaf after being released. Cinema has had such an effect of Sabzian's life that he's most lucid and open when talking about that subject, and this is what mostly comes out when people at the trail continually ask him why he did what he did - it's as if he wanted to disappear from his lowly poor life into cinema itself. Iranians make some pretty interesting movies, going way further back than Asghar Farhadi. I also watched Close-Up Long Shot after this - a short doco focusing on Hossain Sabzian.

8/10

Foreign Language Countdown films seen : 80/100

C'mon C'mon - Joaquin Phoenix has gradually become my go-to performer. Even after tallying all the performances that made an impression and stuck with me he still sort of snuck up on me. The Master, Joker, You Were Never Really Here, Inherent Vice, We Own the Night. Even his earlier, smaller roles like 8MM or ones in movies that so many seem to disparage like Signs.

Here he plays Johnny (no last name) a radio journalist working on a wide ranging project interviewing younger people in different parts of the country. His estranged sister Viv (Gaby Hoffman) is having to deal with her husband Paul's (Scoot McNairy) mental illlness and asks Johnny if he can look after his nine year old nephew Jesse (Woody Norman). Viv and Johnny haven't spoken for a year following their mother's death from dementia. After a few days Johnny's work assignment can no longer be ignored and he asks Viv if he can take Jesse back to New York with him.

This story of two strangers gradually forming a bond has been done before with Wim Wenders Alice in the Cities springing immediately to mind. But it's the strength of the three main characters that sets it apart from so many others. Phoenix continues to impress the hell out of me and Gaby Hoffman is just note perfect as an overwhelmed but still loving and supportive mom. And there wouldn't be a movie without it's most integral part. Kid actor Woody Norman is actually British and he's either a star in the making or director Mike Mills really knows how to coax naturalistic performances out of young actors. I think Hoffman and Norman nearly steal the movie from Phoenix and that's really saying something.

I liked the black and white photography and the choices made with the soundtrack. I know it's been used countless times before but what can I say, I'm a sucker for Clair de Lune. I also liked the little vignettes from essays and articles and books. There was a chautauqua kind of feel to them. Really liked the whole vibe of the film and makes me want to check out Mills' three other movies.

90/100

The Visitor, 1979

A long-ago, intergalactic/interdimensional conflict results in a vast conspiracy to embody an evil creature in the form of children born to certain women on Earth. Jerzy (John Huston) is sent to Earth by the head of his order to do damage control around a little girl named Katy (Paige Conner) who is displaying both telekinetic powers and a tendency for cruelty/destruction. Katy's mother, Barbara (Joanne Nail) is put through the ringer as both her husband (Lance Henriksen) and Katy try to persuade her to have another child.

This movie is a bit of a mess, but it's an absolutely lovely one. I can genuinely say that I was never bored, and the mix of outlandish visuals, bizarre dialogue, and plain ol' WTF moments is exactly what I love in a late night movie.

I'm not usually a fan of "evil kid" movies. I don't find them to be engaging, and the child performances are often bad in the wrong kind of way. But I thought that Conner was pretty good in her role as the diabolical Katy. Huston's performance is pretty understated, but I actually thought that his zen vibe gave the character a nice, borderline eerie otherworldly quality. Nail is also good as a woman who loves her daughter but also realizes that something is very wrong. Her character could have felt really shrill or overly "damsel in distress", but she brings a nice degree of depth and sympathy to the role. I also really liked the part where .

The whole movie is littered with bizarre sequences, and while they don't all necessarily cohere, there are multiple memorable moments. A strange event at Katy's birthday party where a gift turns deadly; Katy and Jerzy showing their true selves during a game of Pong; a creepy part where the evil cabal decides that if Barbara won't agree to get pregnant, they will offer "intervention".

There are some technical elements that aren't the strongest, and I'm sure someone who disliked this film could write a multi-paragraph essay listing its faults. I'm aware of them, but only sort of peripherally. I mainly tend to care about faults when they ding my enjoyment of a film, and that just wasn't the case here.

A pleasant surprise, surely bolstered by low expectations and intergalactic Christ.

I have not seen anything recent so I may have to remedy that.

Close-Up - (1990)

I loved this one. I watched it after a bit of a binge of Iranian cinema, so having seen The Traveler and some Makmalbaf family works (his daughter and I think his wife also direct), it really resonated with me. One of the most unique works around and likely my favorite from Kiarostami.

Great film! Very meta, as often with Kiarostami.