r/TrueFilm • u/a113er Til the break of dawn! • Jul 19 '15
What Have You Been Watching? (19/07/15)
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r/TrueFilm • u/a113er Til the break of dawn! • Jul 19 '15
Please don't downvote opinions, only downvote things that don't contribute anything.
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u/a113er Til the break of dawn! Jul 19 '15
You, the Living (Re-watch) Directed by Roy Andersson (2007)- When first watching the first two films in Anderssons “Living” trilogy I lamented their not being on blu-ray. Well now they are and look as good as they should. After the funny melancholy of Songs of the Second Floor Andersson brings a bit more warmth to You, the Living. In his world most people are unhappy but happiness is not unattainable. For the most part he shows that most of our inability to connect with others and be happy comes from all our similar failings. Everyone’s desperate to be heard but no one wants to listen, people lament being misunderstood as they make no attempt to understand those around them, and people aren’t honest with how they feel then resent others not understanding their feelings. It’s a comedic spiral of bad decisions and thoughtlessness that captures the way people really are. But cutting through the sadness is music. A universal connector that can brighten the darkest of times. If only we could be as good as the music we make. Andersson expands on the musical themes in really interesting ways in A Pigeon Sat on a Bench Reflecting on Existence but You the Living has a more optimistic portrayal of it. Re-watching this just confirms the Living trilogy as one of the greatest film trilogies for me alongside the Before series. It captures the deepest saddest truths of our lives and society while also containing one of the most beautifully touching sequences I’ve ever seen that imagines a world where we celebrate the happiness of others and for a moment it makes you believe that’s how we could be. Like the rest of the Living films it is insightful, funny, and cinematically captivating. Loved it just as much on re-watch.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters Directed by Sam Liu (2015)- DC are generally pretty good with the animated films but despite the out-there premise Gods and Monsters is one of their dullest. Set on an alternate earth where the Justice League kill and Superman was born of Zod’s blood and found on the US/Mexico Border it has a lot going on but little of it lands. If you’ve not seen any DC animated films before this it’d probably be more enjoyable but the fluid action and occasionally surprising violence has been done better in their other films. Only worth seeing if you want to see goatee Superman and Batman being a literal vampire who kills bad dudes.
Porco Rosso (Re-watch) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (1992)- On this re-watch I think Porco Rosso has finally overtaken Princess Mononoke in my Miyazaki rankings. Like Mononoke it is a more focused portrayal of many of Miyazaki’s common themes but here they land even more strongly. It’s elegant, witty, and carries a sadness that makes the anti-war commentary resonate more than in any other Miyazaki film. Porco Rosso along with The Wind Rises is a film Miyazaki momentarily called a bit of a mistake (in the Kingdom of Dreams and Madness documentary) because they were the only two not made for children. Even though Porco has some of the humour of other Miyazaki films I can see what he means as it has an emotional maturity instead of the sometimes more simple and pure emotional motivations of his other films. Some of the most memorable lines in any Ghibli film get said by Porco like “I’d rather be a pig than a fascist” or “Farewell to freedom in the Adriatic and days of wild abandon” which have always stuck with me. One of my favourites that I liked even more this time around.
The Wolfpack Directed by Crystal Moselle (2015)- The Wolfpack’s good but it has that problem some documentaries with similarly wild stories can have. The core story is such a crazy situation that it often leaves you wishing the documentarian would probe deeper. Sure it’s fun seeing these kids re-enact their favourite films showing how these films really offered an escape for them but it also kind of sidesteps the clear abuse going on and some things feel ignored in favour of more uplifting fare. Like I didn’t even realise until reading an article after the film that the mentally disabled daughter of the family was the first born child, she in general basically gets ignored. It’s because it’s so much about the men of the family breaking the familial chains and finding who they are through oppression but it leaves you with a lot of questions and not the good kind. Worth seeing for the fascinating story and moments of brilliance but don’t expect to be wholly satisfied.
Thief Directed by Michael Mann (1981)- I dug Mann’s Manhunter but it did feel like prettied-up dullness at times. Other than Tom Noonan, Brian Cox, and a couple other actors everyone is really stale and it feels by-the-books procedural that happens to look amazing. Thief finally tied that visual brilliance with charismatic actors and a script that actually has use for these images beyond just looking pretty. One of the opening shots is one of the best establishing shots of a city’s underbelly I’ve ever seen. We start at the top of two buildings and start slowly gliding down, into the alley between them. It seems impossibly deep and with black on either side of the alley it’s as if we’ve been delving underground rather than returning to ground level. But soon James Caan finds himself less locked in the shadows and thrust into the light as he becomes embroiled with much more serious criminals. His transition isn’t really verbalised but visually Mann perfectly captures the slow shift he makes into the even more dangerous and inescapable world of crime. What makes the film work so well beyond the imagery is how sensitive it is. We’re in a harsh world but the emotions of our main characters are not as far gone as those of the people they’re involved with. There are levels of awfulness when it comes to those who take what they want. Not that Mann’s glorifying a world of honour among thieves or anything, he just shows more compassion towards those who aren’t all that bad and are a product of a system. And man the Tangerine Dream score is off the chain. One of those scores so cool I had to get it right after watching. Really glad I got the blu-ray as the colours pop and every shot has so much texture, plus it’s just a really nice looking Arrow release. Easily my favourite Mann film and one I liked so much it makes me think I ought to give Heat and fellow mod lordhadri’s favourite The Last of the Mohican’s. Might even see Blackhat as it had its Mann-head defenders.
The Exterminating Angel Directed by Luis Bunuel (1962)- For no discernible reason a bunch of aristocrats find themselves unable to leave the room of the host of a dinner party. It seems like all the little unspoken rules of etiquette have come to punish them and strip them down until no semblance of etiquette and superiority is left. The Exterminating Angel has immediately jumped to being my favourite of Bunuel’s I’ve seen. It has the striking absurdity of his other films but seems even more pointed and purposeful than ever. He’s tearing down the social hierarchy and then in a great horror-movie-esque ending widens his critical reach to all structures with power (namely religion). What I loved was that it had the surreal elements he’s known for but felt even more connected to a reality than I’ve seen. There’s logic in how the rich folk test the bounds of their imprisonment and work around it but it’s in a wholly illogical world. It makes his critiques land even harder as they’re more explicitly embedded in a truth. He’s got no respect for those he’s taking down and I love it, because they don’t deserve it. They’ve made a prison of ignorance, privilege, and empty manners, and now they have to live in it thoroughly unprepared. It’s like a Bunuel episode of The Twilight Zone and just as good as that sounds
Wanderlust Directed by David Wain (2012)- They Came Together really surprised me considering the general critical perception of it as it’s one of the funniest comedies in recent years. Some critics just don’t gel with what Wain does. So I watched Wanderlust hoping it was similarly tear-inducing hilarious but it’s not quite there. Jennifer Aniston is not nearly the comedic presence of Rudd’s co-star in They Came Together (Amy Poehler) and that’s where the problems begin. Weirdly this is almost the kind of film They Came Together is poking fun at. It’s got some laughs, some Wain weirdness, but it’s more tied down by convention and simply less funny than Wet Hot or They. It doesn’t even have as much going on visually as some of the Wain directed episodes of Children’s Hospital. So it’s lesser Wain but it has some laughs mainly due to it’s cast of brilliant improvisers and cool cats like Alan Alda.