Change Your Image
jephtha-64865
Reviews
Ragmork (2019)
Gorgeous and disturbing
I had never heard of Eric Widing before, so when I noticed this film while scrolling through Tubi, I was intrigued and decided to give it a try. Boy, am I glad I did! How have I not encountered Widing's work up to now? This is one of the richest, densest, most rewarding films I've ever seen. I won't discuss any plot points, not only to avoid spoilers, but also because, like Argento's Suspiria, plot takes a back seat to not only the imagery, which alternates between truly frightening and poetically beautiful; but also to the atmosphere, which is disturbing and seductive simultaneously. When the film had ended, it seemed as if I had witnessed the final images rushing through the consciousness of a dying soul who was destined for Hell. I am ecstatic to have discovered such a magnificent auteur, and I intend to see every film of his that's available. I've already started Primordial, and while it's quite different from this film so far, it already seems to be of the same superlative quality. And I will definitely be rewatching Ragmork as soon as I'm able to. Don't miss it!
The Mandela Effect (2019)
Self-important drivel
This is an entire film that gives the impression of having been generated by an after-midnight conversation had by two undergrads after getting high and watching The Matrix, except that every syllable is uttered as if it is conveying something of universe-altering importance. The lead 'actor' breathes through his mouth, and darts his eyes back and forth a lot; the guy playing the professor delivers every line as if it had been written by Aeschylus, and every few minutes the story stops dead so a character can deliver yet another interminable lecture on string theory, or procedural generation, or whatever buzzterm gave the screenwriters a thrill that day. Somewhere along the way, the filmmakers forgot they were creating a story about actual human beings with emotions and souls. An insufferable waste of time.
Rewind (2019)
Incredibly brave film
Harrowing and beyond disturbing. At first I thought it was a sort of 'found-footage mockumentary', but learning that this is 100% real has made it even more shocking. I salute Sasha for bringing this all to light. May he and his sister continue to heal from the horrors they experienced.
The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1982)
Like stepping into the 1840s
Perhaps I am biased by first impressions, but this BBC rendition of The Barretts of Wimpole Street, which I saw prior to viewing the Norma Shearer film, strikes me as superior to the MGM effort in nearly every way. While I am second to none in my admiration for the lovely Shearer, to my mind Jane Lapotaire embodies Elizabeth Moulton-Barrett to the life: gentle, melancholy, loving, somewhat self-absorbed (at least prior to her meeting with Browning), possessed of inner strength and idiosyncratically attractive. She also conveys a warm sincerity, which Shearer, good as she is, sometimes fails to do. With Jeremy Brett there is, as with Lapotaire, casting perfection: dashing, passionate, seductive, and, as Elizabeth calls him on their first meeting, 'overwhelming'. In fact, nearly every role in the BBC rendition is ideally cast, not least Joss Ackland, who bestows unheard-of depths of loathsomeness upon Edward, the paterfamilias of the Barrett clan. Charles Laughton for MGM, veering wildly from robotic cipher to bellowing martinet to lachrymose clown, cannot hope to compete with the subtlety and power of Ackland's frightening portrayal. Virtually the only character which I feel is more vividly played at MGM is Wilson the maid. Una o' Connor's warm-hearted and eccentric rendition is far preferable to that of the BBC's rather palely anonymous actress. A beautiful version of an enchanting play.