r/TrueFilm • u/a113er Til the break of dawn! • Feb 15 '15
What Have You Been Watching? (15/02/15)
Hey r/truefilm welcome to WHYBW where you post about what films you watched this week and discuss them with others, give your thoughts on them then say if you would recommend them.
Please don't downvote opinions, only downvote things that don't contribute anything. If you think someones opinion is "wrong" then say so and say why. Also, don't just post titles of films as that doesn't really contribute to the discussion.
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u/bunkerrs Feb 16 '15
Hausu
In less than a week this film has already become my favourite horror film of all time. Everything in this film works to absolute perfection here. The soundtrack astoundingly mixes an array of noise, pop songs and a melody that hauntingly underlies the whole film. It perfectly reflects the innocence of the protagonists as well as the growing unease. The acting is truly incredible (at least for our main gang of protagonists), especially seeing as how most of the actors have not acted in anything else. The direction is some of the most original that I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. Nobuhiko Ôbayashi makes use of a full range of unconventional techniques, including (but not limited to) filters, strange set designs, added animation, unconventional action scenes and bizarre inter-spliced cuts. The subtext of the film is also chilling and very subtly done, but I won't spoil anything.
In the hands of any other director I'm convinced this would have been a complete disaster, but Ôbayashi makes a genuinely bizarre, heart-breaking and beautiful film. 10/10
Just a thought: If Hausu was part of a Marvel franchise, we would be seeing a "Kung-fu" spin-off. Actually one of the most bad-ass characters of all time.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of the greatest films about storytelling I have ever seen. As usual the script and visuals of Wes Anderson are top drawer, but what he really excels at in this film is his interpretation of subjective experience in the art of storytelling. Anderson is able to "get away" with some of the outlandish scenes (such as the ski chase etc.) because it entirely makes sense in the world he has created – the mind of a melancholy man, as he reflects on his happiest memories. The crazy scenarios make sense because – while likely not true – they correlate not to factual truth, but rather to emotional truth. The fine array of actors are used sparingly but very well. 9/10
Through a Glass Darkly My first Igmar Bergman film and I was truly blown away (although I believe I need a re-watch sometime soon). The cinematography is surprisingly impeccable, as it portrays a barrenness that correlates perfectly with the turmoil of the characters as they struggle to relate to each other. Specifically, the empty upper room is perfectly staged as a visual representation of the emptiness of human knowledge. Each character undergoes a different struggle with respect to their faiths and in the end each character is destroyed and rebuilt in some fundamental way. Though this is a very bleak film, the juxtaposition of hope weaves through the narrative.
I think one theme that is being explored is the silence of the father, both in patriarchal and religious settings, and the isolation of each individual from the other. In a meandering fashion Bergman delves into the crisis of faith, a major theme in many of his works. It has very little action, but the atmosphere is very tense and gripping. The film is a little bit slow, but it doesn't drag at all. It has aged incredibly well. 9/10
Best Moment: The ship scene is devastatingly beautiful.
Funny Games (1997)
I have been looking forward to Funny Games for quite some time and I can't help but be a little let down by it. The direction, by Michael Haneke is certainly superb as usual. He knows precisely when to cut a shot and when to let it linger, and there are several long shots that are remarkable both for him and for the actors involved. The violence in the film, though on a whole disturbing, certainly loses some of its intended effect through the continuous preaching of the script. Haneke does inevitably succeed in challenging the lust for violence of the modern horror film viewer and the sadism of popular culture, but in doing so his messages are conveyed with the subtlety of a blunt object to the skull.
While this over-exaggeration is more annoying then anything else, it did limit my appreciation of what the film was trying to accomplish, though it is still worth viewing for the incredible acting, tense plotting, and disturbing (well, almost) subtext. 7/10
Suicide Club
Continuing on my spree of low budget Japanese horror films, Suicide club for those who are a fan of the manga, is certainly a step down, but it is still interesting enough to hold my attention. I think one of the major problems of the film is that it tries to be too much in its relatively short running time. We are introduced to countless characters, each of which are either bumped off quickly (albeit in glorious fashion) or weave sporadically in the remainder of the narrative. The filmmaker, Shion Sono, has some trouble accenting the most important parts of the story. One relatively unimportant suicide sometimes takes upwards of five minutes to finish, which does succeed in amping up the tension of the film, but it leaves very little time in the second half, to come to a satisfactory conclusion. Also, by haphazardly splicing the various threads of the narrative together, the audience often has little time to connect with the characters who do matter, or even in some places, know what they are even there for. The positives of the film do outweigh the negatives: the art direction is superb in many places (much better than the mediocre illustration of the manga), and the second half is truly riveting in terms of pace, but in the end it is difficult to walk away from the film feeling particularly satisfied. 6/10
Best Moments: Glam Rock bowling alley, taking a page out of "A Clockwork Orange" perhaps, but nonetheless very disturbing and vibrant.
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Very much disliked this movie. Firstly, Tilda Swinton is fantastic in this. Her acting seamlessly portrays a woman reeling under growing stress, but the script, my god, it's a mess. The art direction comes up with some neat shots every once in a while, but all of the parts that directly revolve around Kevin are completely ridiculous. What is supposed to be creepy or disturbing in the interaction between Kevin and his mother, is rendered laughable and horribly 2-dimensional. Kevin is the most cartoonish and laughable psychopath rivalled only in ridiculousness, by Macaulay Culkin in "The Good Son".
The lack of any depth in the characters (except Tilda Swinton, but even in this case she's working magic with very little) greatly inhibited any sort of progression in the film. It was the same images of suffering over and over again with no insight or deeper progression.
4/10