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Only Lovers Left Alive - 2013
Watching this for the 3rd time I guess. One of the unique movies made by Jim Jarmusch. Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright among the favourite actors distributed by Jarmusch in his movies. Also thinking of rewatching Broken Flowers, but maybe in a few days !
Watching this for the 3rd time I guess. One of the unique movies made by Jim Jarmusch. Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright among the favourite actors distributed by Jarmusch in his movies. Also thinking of rewatching Broken Flowers, but maybe in a few days !
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"We enjoy the night, the darkness, where we can do things that aren’t acceptable in the light.
Night is when we slake our thirst."
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Night is when we slake our thirst."
~ William Hill ~
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WARNING: "Perfect Days" spoilers below
The 'finding beauty in small things' and 'being a diligent worker in a job that exploits him' are obvious critiques of capitalism, but I'm not as interested in or critical of capitalism myself, so I thought a much better part of the film was how his alleged optimism was just a facade.
There's something dark lurking behind the superficial happiness in that character, which is aptly portrayed in the final scene, where sadness and happiness are fighting with each other, both expressed by his face interchangeably. Many more factors support this thesis.
For one, I believe he was abused by his father and therefore ran away from his family. During the meeting with his sister, she asks if he's willing to pay a visit to his father who's now in an old people's home or an institution (maybe suffering from Alzheimer's). What stuck in my mind is his sister saying that the father "isn't like he was anymore" or something like that, but she said it in a way that suggested there might've been something terrible between the protagonist and the father. Another interpretation is that the protagonist is deadbeat and simply left his family, but I like the idea that he ran away from them far more. There's also the overarching idea that he isn't accepted by them. Like he told his niece about how some worlds never meet and he will therefore be never understood and accepted by his own family.
Another potent scene is the one where he meets the ex-husband of the woman he might or might not be in love with. They play the shadow game and at one point they're checking out if two people standing one behind the other make the shadow darker: "Do shadows get darker when they overlap?". I think this might be pointing to the sameness between the protagonist and the ex-husband who suffers from cancer, possibly implying that the protagonist is suffering from an illness, too, but probably a mental one AKA depression.
There are some other self-referential and authorial threads here that talk about Wim Wenders as much as about the protagonist (Wenders might even be projecting himself through Hirayama). Hirayama reads Faulkner (with Highsmith on his shelf - both Americans but the Japanese book he buys is on anxiety...) and listens to American music (except for that one time when he listens to a Japanese (?) song - I wonder if that's meaningful). This isn't surprising as many Wenders films talk about how American culture influences us, often subconsciously. This isn't unlike a film like Rhapsody in August by Kurosawa or even the films of Ozu like Good Morning that all explore the influence of American culture on the Japanese.
I'm not saying this film cannot be seen as life-affirming. But I think there's much more to it than that.
There's something dark lurking behind the superficial happiness in that character, which is aptly portrayed in the final scene, where sadness and happiness are fighting with each other, both expressed by his face interchangeably. Many more factors support this thesis.
For one, I believe he was abused by his father and therefore ran away from his family. During the meeting with his sister, she asks if he's willing to pay a visit to his father who's now in an old people's home or an institution (maybe suffering from Alzheimer's). What stuck in my mind is his sister saying that the father "isn't like he was anymore" or something like that, but she said it in a way that suggested there might've been something terrible between the protagonist and the father. Another interpretation is that the protagonist is deadbeat and simply left his family, but I like the idea that he ran away from them far more. There's also the overarching idea that he isn't accepted by them. Like he told his niece about how some worlds never meet and he will therefore be never understood and accepted by his own family.
Another potent scene is the one where he meets the ex-husband of the woman he might or might not be in love with. They play the shadow game and at one point they're checking out if two people standing one behind the other make the shadow darker: "Do shadows get darker when they overlap?". I think this might be pointing to the sameness between the protagonist and the ex-husband who suffers from cancer, possibly implying that the protagonist is suffering from an illness, too, but probably a mental one AKA depression.
There are some other self-referential and authorial threads here that talk about Wim Wenders as much as about the protagonist (Wenders might even be projecting himself through Hirayama). Hirayama reads Faulkner (with Highsmith on his shelf - both Americans but the Japanese book he buys is on anxiety...) and listens to American music (except for that one time when he listens to a Japanese (?) song - I wonder if that's meaningful). This isn't surprising as many Wenders films talk about how American culture influences us, often subconsciously. This isn't unlike a film like Rhapsody in August by Kurosawa or even the films of Ozu like Good Morning that all explore the influence of American culture on the Japanese.
I'm not saying this film cannot be seen as life-affirming. But I think there's much more to it than that.
But that's probably what you meant when you said there was much more to the film than it just being some empty life-affirming bit of fluff. There's a lot of darkness in Hirayama for sure, and it was a big part of the whole this film was offering. He wouldn't have been a beautiful character without it.
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Last edited by PHOENIX74; 04-04-24 at 12:27 AM.
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By Wham! (2023) impawards.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74152726
Wham! - (2023)
I knew next to nothing about Wham! before I watched this documentary about the pop duo. It's kind of sad Andrew Ridgeley didn't have the songwriting or singing talent George Michael did (most of the members of most of the pop groups in the world didn't) and so to see him slowly get left behind while George Michael's star grew brighter and brighter left me feeling a lot of sympathy for him. It seems even worse when you watch just how much he accepted that, and was happy for his friend "Yog" - most people in show business would have been furious, and fought the other one until the bitter end. Then, as if this wasn't sad in an "aww" way enough, we see the group's history through the lens of the scrapbooks Andrew's mother made up as her son became a member of one of the biggest music sensations around at the time. Aww. I hope George Michael looked after his friend, and didn't drop him after becoming a member of that exclusive club. Anyway, now I know all about Wham! I wasn't into popular music at the time, but I obviously heard all of their hits - there was no avoiding them. How strange it must feel, becoming famous and meeting famous people. Really fun and enjoyable documentary.
7/10
By C@rtelesmix, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48656858
Oslo, August 31st - (2011)
Recovering drug addict Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie) gets a day release from rehab and spends it trying to connect with past friends, revisiting old haunts, having a disastrous job interview and reliving his life up to this point in this confronting film about despair based on Pierre Drieu La Rochelle's novel Le feu follet. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.
8/10
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Oslo, August 31st - (2011)
Recovering drug addict Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie) gets a day release from rehab and spends it trying to connect with past friends, revisiting old haunts, having a disastrous job interview and reliving his life up to this point in this confronting film about despair based on Pierre Drieu La Rochelle's novel Le feu follet. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.
8/10
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The Beekeeper - (2024)
Action packed, you hardly get a moment to breath.
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You don't remember me? We spoke on the phone two days ago. I told you I would find you.
(MILLS, 2008)
You don't remember me? We spoke on the phone two days ago. I told you I would find you.
(MILLS, 2008)
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (2023) I watched this today. It's a documentary from Estonia about women in a sauna talking about their lives and experiences. This is a beautiful and compelling film. Highly recommended.
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Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces
This could easily be the best set of documentaries made about any recent celebrity in recent years; the two feature-length parts are both engrossing and fascinating no matter how much you thought you knew about Martin.
I'll be honest - despite having seen all of his movies, I knew surprisingly little about the comedian's early days and had no idea how incredibly popular his act had become even before he made it to the big screen. And the first part of the documentary traces his roots in exquisite detail, all the way back to his early days working at Disneyland as a young kid - when he still was thinking he wanted to be a magician.
The second part is equally noteworthy because of the considerable output that Martin has produced outside of motion pictures; I'll bet not a lot of people are familiar with his plays, novellas, and other written works. Martin is understandably protective of his daughter (who appears in the film but is "blacked out" with an animated stick figure) and seemingly very happy with family life.
If you appreciate his work as an actor and comedian, this documentary is a must-see.
Popular Theory (2023) Charming and likeable performances from Sophia Reid-Gantzert and Lincoln Lambert are the highlight of this cute and amusing film.
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5th Rewatch...Just love this sweet and silly romantic comedy that still provides laugh out loud entertainment. Ben Stiller plays a risk investment analyst named Ruben Pfeffer who is much like his job...buttoned up, tightly wound, germaphobe, unwilling to do anything that's not safe. Ruben marries his longtime girlfriend Lisa (Debra Messing), who has sex with a scuba instructor (Hank Azaria) on their honeymoon, so he leaves her there and soon reconnects with Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), who, of course, is the polar opposite of Ruben...a flaky airheaded slob who runs from anything that even smells of commitment. Stiller and Aniston are great together, but if the truth be told, the film is stolen by the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Ruben's BFF, who made a movie a million years ago and hasn't done anything since and has hired a film crew to film his E True Hollywood Story. Stiller proves to be a master of physical comedy here though, watch him in Polly's bathroom, or when he's learning how to Salsa. Very underrated comedy.
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April 2, 2024
CABRINI (2024)
IMMACULATE (2024)
Well, this was certainly one of the most schizoid nights out at the movies I've ever experienced!
I swear, though, I did not plan it that way. It just so happened that these were the two most interesting movies playing at my local theater, and I figured that Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire would probably have enough staying power that I could wait at least another week. But watching these two movies back to back proved to be quite the... interesting experience. And like I said, more than just a little schizoid.[in Strother Martin voice] "What we've got here..." are two stories. Both of them have lead characters who are nuns. Both of them are fish out of water. And speaking of water, both characters nearly drowned when they were very young. But beyond that, they could not be more different!
Cabrini was directed by Alejandro Gómez Monteverde, who also directed the controversial Sound of Freedom (which I haven't yet seen). Taking place in 1889, it tells the true story of the Italian Catholic missionary Francesca Xavier Cabrini (movingly and powerfully played by Cristiana Dell'Anna), who is suffering from lung disease and has only been given a few years to live by the doctors of that time, but is nevertheless determined to establish a missionary order in China. Her proposals are rejected by her immediate superiors, so she goes directly to Pope Leo XIII (Giancarlo Giannini), and while he is intrigued and impressed by her ambition he suggests that she start off with something a bit smaller... namely, New York City. The Italian-American immigrant community is living in a state of abject poverty, its people having few opportunities aside from prostitution and petty crime, and with orphaned children inhabiting the sewers. Shocked and appalled by the living conditions, she and her fellow nuns establish an orphanage, and the rest of the story consists of her uphill yet determined struggle to aid the poor and desitute, attempting to establish a new hospital, and battling against the anti-Italian bigotry from people within the New York establishment, among them Mayor Gould (John Lithgow).
While this is the kind of story that could easily be made into something worthy yet boring, Cabrini is anything but. The story is told with simplicity and emotional directness without lapsing into sentimentality, and it almost never steps wrong. One might say that its virtues are "invisible," meaning there's nothing in the storytelling technique to draw attention to itself, but Alejandro Monteverde's direction is quite confident and assured, visually striking at times but not preoccupied with aesthetics purely for aesthetics' sake. I would recommend this one without reservation to anyone, and I don't think they'll be disappointed.
Immaculate, on the other hand...
Before watching the movie, I was imagining that this would represent some sort of halfway house between the recent The Nun II and the upcoming The First Omen. But it's actually a bit different from the usual run-of-the-mill contemporary satanic franchise horror. It has much more in common with the "body horror" subgenre, with a sci-fi cloning element. Stylistically, it's something of a weird throwback to '70s horror, but not in any overtly obvious way. It actually reminds me a little bit of Dario Argento's original 1977 Suspiria, with its American heroine abroad in Europe. That heroine is Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney), a very young nun who has been invited to Italy to work in a convent which specializing in tending to the needs of elderly nuns in their final days. She starts noticing very odd occurrences in the convent, and eventually she discovers that she is pregnant - even though she is a virgin. Everybody starts to treat this as some sort of divine miracle, but everything is not as it seems and there are sinister machinations afoot! As I stated before, the movie kind of reminds me of Dario Argento, but the story kind of feels more like Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby filtered through the fractured-fairytale sensibility of Argento's supernaturally-themed work. Things get seriously bloody in this film, as well. It is what they call a "Hard R," truly not for the squeamish. The climax of the film, with Cecilia making her ultimate escape and finally giving birth, feels like a throwback to the heyday of Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven at their most ruthless.Ultimately, however... Immaculate is not even half as good as any of the aforementioned horror classics. That's certainly no sin in and of itself. Anything half as good as Rosemary's Baby or Suspiria would still have to be pretty good. It's certainly quite eccentric in certain places, with a particularly amusing music cue (courtesy of Will Bates) playing during a montage of Cecilia learning the ropes and gradually getting into the day-to-day routine of the convent. The movie has a truly offbeat and off-kilter mixture of brutal horror with a somewhat warped sense of humor that mercifully avoids sliding into self-referential camp. (It's also got what is probably one of the funniest uses of the expression "Godd----t!" in a horror film.) Would I recommend it? Well, sure... But don't expect the next religious horror classic. Provided you've got a strong stomach and modest expectations, and if you're a fan of the genre, you'll probably find it reasonably entertaining.
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"Well, it's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid" - Clint Eastwood as The Stranger, High Plains Drifter (1973)
"I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours" - Bob Dylan, Talkin' World War III Blues (1963)
"Well, it's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid" - Clint Eastwood as The Stranger, High Plains Drifter (1973)
"I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours" - Bob Dylan, Talkin' World War III Blues (1963)
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Imaginary - 6/10
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Last Movie Watched: Morbius (2022).
Last TV Show Watched: MARVEL's What If?...(S3:E7).
Last TV Show Watched: MARVEL's What If?...(S3:E7).
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By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2408243.../?ref_=tt_md_3, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74859164
20 Days in Mariupol - (2023)
For those about to watch 20 Days in Mariupol, make sure you're ready to feel extreme pain. One of the most unbearable things to sit and watch is parents grieving over the death of their children, especially after they race in to a hospital emergency department with their wounded baby in their arms. The professionalism of Mstyslav Chernov, and his bravery, are simply up to a standard that deserves international recognition of the highest order. To film from within Mariupol with the Russian army closing in during a siege is terrifying, and hope-draining. What is this war in aid of? Nobody can say. It seems utterly pointless. It seems, like all unjust wars, that it's for the benefit of one man. This documentary is relentless, and an effort I commend wholeheartedly.
9/10
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74859164
The League - (2023)
My interest in baseball is peripheral, and close to zero - but I am interested in the history of integration in the United States - and I am determined to watch all of the documentary nominations in this years MOFO FILM AWARDS so I can vote in an absolutely fair manner. Make sure you peek in and vote - get the movies you want to win up there. You need not have nominated, or seen every film. Anyway, this documentary kind of went forward in a very conventional style - so while it was interesting that fact along with it being about baseball made it so-so for me personally.
6/10
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073722/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28285572
Smile - (1975)
A very intelligent, clever and incisive satire of beauty pageants that takes a close look at American culture and values much as a Robert Altman film would. Was very impressed with this. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.
8/10
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Girls State (2024) This is available now to stream on Apple tv+. I watched it today. Some really effective moments and I thought the girls were very interesting. I liked this one a bit more than Boys State.
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By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2408243.../?ref_=tt_md_3, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74859164
20 Days in Mariupol - (2023)
For those about to watch 20 Days in Mariupol, make sure you're ready to feel extreme pain. One of the most unbearable things to sit and watch is parents grieving over the death of their children, especially after they race in to a hospital emergency department with their wounded baby in their arms. The professionalism of Mstyslav Chernov, and his bravery, are simply up to a standard that deserves international recognition of the highest order. To film from within Mariupol with the Russian army closing in during a siege is terrifying, and hope-draining. What is this war in aid of? Nobody can say. It seems utterly pointless. It seems, like all unjust wars, that it's for the benefit of one man. This documentary is relentless, and an effort I commend wholeheartedly.
In WWII hospitals were generally left alone. Seeing the Red Cross was sufficient protection. No longer the case in Ukraine and Gaza & wherever else there is a war. Anything goes now.
The world is going bonkers.
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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.
Regrouping (1976) Directed by Lizzie Borden. I watched this today on Criterion Channel. It's an experimental type of documentary about women, feminism, art and sexuality in the 70s. I thought it was interesting the way it was filmed and edited. This wasn't what I expected, but it worked well for me. I was surprised by the nudity, but I enjoyed it. Highly recommended.
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Smile - (1975)
A very intelligent, clever and incisive satire of beauty pageants that takes a close look at American culture and values much as a Robert Altman film would. Was very impressed with this. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.
A very intelligent, clever and incisive satire of beauty pageants that takes a close look at American culture and values much as a Robert Altman film would. Was very impressed with this. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.
1st Rewatch...David O Russell and his muse, Jennifer Lawrence followed up their smash Silver Linings Playbook with this melodramatic docudrama about a single mother who invents a mop and finds initially success with it on QVC but once, obtaining a modicum of success, finds unscrupulous businessmen crapping all over her success. The story is a little formulaic, but Lawrence's Oscar-nominated performance in the title role has the viewer routing. The supporting cast is solid, include Lawrence's Playbook co-stars, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, and an icy turn from Isabella Rossini as Joy's nasty stepmother. It's an entertaining film, even if it does wrap up a little too conveniently in a pretty little bow.
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1st Rewatch...David O Russell and his muse, Jennifer Lawrence followed up their smash Silver Linings Playbook with this melodramatic docudrama about a single mother who invents a mop and finds initially success with it on QVC but once, obtaining a modicum of success, finds unscrupulous businessmen crapping all over her success. The story is a little formulaic, but Lawrence's Oscar-nominated performance in the title role has the viewer routing. The supporting cast is solid, include Lawrence's Playbook co-stars, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, and an icy turn from Isabella Rossini as Joy's nasty stepmother. It's an entertaining film, even if it does wrap up a little too conveniently in a pretty little bow.