ScarletLion's Movie Log

How can one of the least talked about films of the last couple of years - have such insanely good photography? It is truly beautiful. Frame after frame after frame - I couldn't look away. Anybody who is into cinematography should watch this movie, and you'll be dazzled.

The DoP is Jeff Bierman, who seems to have done a few music videos before this. The close ups, shots of nature, lateral camera movements, multiple aspect ratio changes, colour shcemes etc are breathtaking. It's like a Trey Shults movie photographed by Emmanuel Lubezki. That's not an exaggeration. It really is that well shot. Director AJ Edwards is another that has apparently worked with Mallick - and it really shows.

The cinematography is the best thing about the movie, which tells the story of an orphan trying to make a fresh start in life after being released from a care home. It's like the lovechild of Short Term 12 and American Honey with an indie crime movie element thrown in. Tye Sheridan is Tye Sheridan, and there are nice turns from Geoffrey Wright and Imogen Poots, but Caleb Landry Jones steals the show, so much so that I'm sure he's destined to be a huge star once he's given the right lead role. The guy can act.

The plot is a tad thin and somewhat predictable, which lets the movie down somewhat. The melodramatic 3rd act doesn't help. But the astounding cinematography bumps the rating back up again.

7/10

Merges the line between documentary and drama. Brilliantly done in a fly on the wall type manner. It's quite amazing to see primative life in Macedonia and the love between mother and daughter that keeps it going. Some of this is heartwarming and some is heartbreaking. A pretty extraordinary film.

You should watch Le Corbeau.

Added to watchlist, many thanks

You've been hitting quite a few 5 star movies lately. They look amazing!

It's been playing on my mind how highly I've rated some recent movies but they have just been really good. Can't remember the last time I watched a complete dud.

Typical slow paced Lee Chang Dong drama. Beautifully done. Explores grief, religious hypocrisy and fate. Do-yeon Jeon's central performance is amazing.


A tender look at PSD / addiction to prescription drugs. It's a pretty impressive debut from Annabelle Attanasio. There is a slightly weak character involved and some of the plot is a little hammy as a result. But it's well worth a watch if overly dramatic in places.

Camila Morrone is very good as the young daughter who has to care for her veteran father. She tries to not make the same mistakes as her parents and needs to start afresh.

Would make a great double bill with 'Leave no Trace.


Sweet little drama from New Zealand about a grieving farmer trying to make the right decision. It's got a lot of heart and some good performances. Ultimately it walks a well trodden path though.



A tinder date goes wrong when a black couple are stopped by a questionable police officer. Started well. Daniel Kaluuya is very good as he always is. There are some very good bits to this film, the first act was particularly thrilling. But after that the choices the characters make are so ridiculous that it really distracts from the movie.

I understand we wouldn't have THIS movie if the characters didn't do what they did, but the whole moral to the film is somewhat clouded by some of the subplots, periphery characters and actions. Which is a shame. There is also some rather cringey dialogue towards the end.

Possibly worth watching but feels like a real missed opportunity.

I really enjoyed Queen and Slim! I understand your criticism though...I might need to check out Mickey and the Bear

I've been on a binge. Get ready for some high ratings.

The White Ribbon (2009)

An analogy for the blame / guilt and enabling of the Nazi party perhaps? Haneke is a master film-maker. So many things happen off camera, leaving the power of suggestion to fill in the gaps for the viewer. A superb film.



Black Narcissus (1947)

Stunning film that borders on horror at times. Nuns unravel in a mysterious location and human elements test their faith. Jack Cardiff has to be one of the best cinematographers of all time. His ideas and techniques take us to a mountain top in Nepal, when we never left a studio in England.

Timeless cinema.



The Conformist 1970

Zoomed straight into my top 10 best looking films of all time. Vittorio Storaro's photography is beautiful. As is the rest of the film. Bertolucci explores facism, humanism and love. I may edit this review after digesting the film more....... as for now it's still living in my head, and will probably be there for some time.



Dead Man’s Letters (1986)

Probably not a date movie. It's like Tarkovsky directing Chernobyl. Dim light. Misery and death. Searching for life, meaning, loved ones. Pretty Horrific. Briefly put it portrays the history of mankind being wiped out, and is my first Konstantin Lopushanskiy film.

It's pretty extraordinary but not for the faint hearted. It's a horrific cautionary tale. Surely The most haunting depiction of a post apocalyptic world ever put to film.




'Manhattan' (1979)

Woody Allen's most beautiful looking film? New York is almost a character. Very funny in places, quite close to the line in others. Glad I watched it.




'Pixote' (1981)

Hector Babenco's account of life on the streets of Sao Paolo. Disturbing, gritty and sad. A very tough watch - grabs the viewer by the throat and doesn't let go until the end. Feels like a must watch for any film fan.




'Greener Grass' (2019)

Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe direct and star in this completely zany comedy about suburban life, the instagram generation and parenthood. It's like Tim Burton directing a Todd Solondz script. Beautifully bizarre. A play on the self entitled "everything now" culture with bright, overly saturated colours and artificial behaviour. Great to see films like this being made. Got cult classic written all over it. And Jim Cummings makes an appearance.




'Dragged across concrete' (2019)

S. Craig Zahler's Bone Tomahawk was an interesting movie in terms of style and content. This one doesn't quite match up to that - mostly because I didn't get the overall message of the movie. The ending must give us some morality or key to unlocking why what happens happens - but it's not immediately clear. That said, I liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would - mainly because Zahler doesn't resort to cheap explosions or needless action sequences. I actually really enjoyed seeing Vince Vaughan and Mel Gibson sitting in cars eating and talking. It made for a more tense movie.

Exquisite. Beautiful. Heartbreaking. The photography is stunning. The performances are tender. The script is mesmerizing. Everything is perfect.

It's a perfect film. No other words needed.

A film I've been meaning to watch for years. I can see why it splits audiences. Carax' movies tend to lack a narrative from what I understand. This was no exception. It's like performance art mixed with an existential homage to cinema (lots of intended sequences borrowed from classic films). Some of it is grotesque, some funny, some touching, but all of it is hugely intriguing and very visceral. Denis Lavant is exceptional, and gives us a surprise or 2!

What's Carax trying to tell us? Are we all just actors acting our best to try and fit in with society's narrative? Or is it a rumination on the medium of art and how we consume it? I'm still not totally sure. But it was a heck of a ride.

Holy Motors is great and Levant certainly puts in a heck of a performance

He's pretty extraordinary in it. I need to check out the rest of Carax' movies now. There's a box set of his on BluRay I'm tempted to get.

I've only seen his Boy Meets Girl and Mauvais Sang as well as Holy Motors thus far but am hoping to run across more of his at some point. An enigmatic director for sure.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

I loved that scene. "Trois, douze, merde!"

Apparently this, and other scenes were similar to a serbian film called 'Underground' from 1995. Directed by Emir Kusturica. Don't suppose you've seen that?

Nice, thanks.

There's something very alluring about this film. Something really mystical and intriguing. It might be the opening 20 minutes which is more Lynchian than some Lynch films. Or maybe the fact that the viewer really needs to know what happens to these reclusive, aloof conjoined twins that are central to the story.

The last 30 minutes doesn't really match the rest of the film and it ends with a bit of a whimper but it is quite beautiful in parts, and definitely has the feel of a B-Movie cult classic to it. Glad I watched it.

6.4/10

Otherworldly, ethereal and poetic. Bi Gan was just 25 when he made this stunningly shot film. (That is sickening). There are clear Tarkovsky references and shimmers of light that remind the viewer of Kieslowski films. It's a film without a traditional narrative, and one that seems to meld different timelines of a man's life with his other family and experiences. That man is Chen who is searching for his nephew in China, because his father (Chen's brother) has sent him away.

On Chen's journey we see broken vehicles, rickety bridges and traditional Chinese medicines that may or may not work. We learn that Chen was in jail and has suffered more than his fair share of tragedies. All the while there are clocks, watches and mentions of time everywhere. And all given to us via a gigantic tracking shot that must have taken meticulous planning (the camera moves on motor vehicles, boats, across bridges and up stairs). The dialogue is sparse in parts but in others, people discuss their lives and losses and Gan seems to hint at the decay of parts of China. The acting is so on point it feels like a fly on the wall documentary at times.

This is a hugely impressive arthouse film, that is the beginning of prolific career for Bi Gan. 'Long Day's journey into night' is up next for me.

8.3/10