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Reviews
Can't Get You Out of My Head (2021)
Mixed feelings
The good: The individual stories, especially in the first part, are superbly interesting. Many other montage parts are informative, some are mesmerizing to look at and listen to, and the overall feel of the documentary series is almost hypnotic. The issue I have with it though are its generalizations and some of the conclusions and supposed insights, which are sometimes obvious, and sometimes just derived out of flimsy reasoning, derived from somewhat dubious or arbitrary premises.
The individual/collective dichotomy is strained at best, and could be challenged by many alternative arguments in the context of history and sociology. The technology part is interesting, but there is nothing new there. The political commentaries are also standard issue and a bit all over the place. The conspiracies narrative, again, selective and based on certain opinions and aspects, ignoring others, which is the approach in the film overall. That's fine it it is supposed to show only the author's POV, but here it seems to aspire to reveal some deep universal truths, and in that it fails through a faulty - or deliberately tendentious - methodology.
Overall, it's a fascinating series, but I think the author overreached in his ambition to tell a grand narrative that explains everything.
Allure (2014)
Unseen Art
It amazes me how some extraordinary films receive so little visibility. Allure is one of those films. I don't understand how in the time of metoo and so much lip service to films about women, social justice et al. this film didn't get more recognition. Is it because it was made before metoo? Or it falls outside of the usual cliches? Or is it too political because of its OWS backdrop, a movement which has been studiously avoided by the mainstream, never to be mentioned ever since it happened? After seeing the film, when I read some of the reviews I had to laugh out loud. The reviews are not bad, but some of the reviewers obviously didn't understand the film and most didn't even attempt to dissect its layers of meaning. In any case. The film is streaming on several platforms, and I would strongly recommend it if you're into cinema as art, made for thinking adults.
A stylized documentary approach of several women's stories in NYC from different parts of the world dealing with complex live situation, it reflects on the political context of these stories, such as class: the lowly immigrant working several jobs vs. the upper-class French journalist, and race. I won't give it away but the story of the African girl, played through a fantastic monologue by Isaach de Bankole's daughter is mesmerizing. Then observe who will comfort whom in the end, and who will benefit from that story. The arc of the main character is maybe the most predictable but it's understandable why it is there. The juxtaposition of the opening shot of her getting ready to play the role she is paid for with the sound of the demonstrations as backdrop frames the discontent many still feel today.