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brianberta
1/10 - 4/10 = Negative
5/10 = Average
6/10 - 10/10 = Positive
*Depending on the degree of the flaw, a film can be marked down more than one point.
1/10: No matter how hard I try, I can't think of anything I liked about these movies whatsoever.
2/10: Movies with this rating barely have anything I liked about them. Sometimes, the only thing I can say I liked are a few minor things. However, I can't say I liked nothing about these movies.
3/10: Movies with this rating have a couple solid aspects I liked. However, the bad outweighs the good quite a bit.
4/10: Movies with this rating have several things I disliked and a fair amount of things I liked. However, the bad slightly outweighs the good and I wouldn't say they're average or okay.
5/10: Movies with this rating may have a few flaws, but there are just enough things I like about them for me not to consider them to be bad films. I wouldn't say I liked them though.
6/10: I like movies which get this rating. They may have a few flaws, but overall, I find these movies to be pretty good. I have little issue with revisiting these movies as long as it's only a few spread out viewings.
7/10: I really like movies which receive this rating. Movies with this rating usually have only one thing I disliked about them or a few minor things I disliked. I'd be okay with revisiting these movies every now and then.
8/10: I can't find anything major I disliked about these films. There may be one or two minor issues I had, but they're usually insignificant when factored against everything I liked about them. These movies may not give me a feeling of "I couldn't have enjoyed this any more". However, I have no issue with revisiting them as my opinion may possibly grow.
9/10: Like films I give 8/10 to, I can't find anything I disliked about these movies as well. I also don't have any minor issues with them. However, what sets these films apart from films I give 8/10 to is that I find more merits with them and feel a far greater connection to them. They still don't give me a sense of perfection, but they sure come close to doing so.
*A film has to be at least one year old to receive this rating.
10/10: I can't think of anything I disliked about these movies. Not only do I think these movies are perfect, but I also think they're untouchable and awe-inspiring. I doubt I could've enjoyed them anymore.
*A film has to be at least five years old and I have to watch it at least twice for it to receive this rating.
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Messiah of Evil (1974)
A forgotten horror classic.
I decided to check this one out due to a few glowing recommendations over the past couple days. I was quite impressed, but I prefer the first half by a hair. Blurring the lines between which off-kilter behavior was simply the result of people being creepy and which was actually life-threatening got under my skin since there was a clear escalation to it. For instance, a gas station attendant randomly fires a gun into the distance, a creepy old man tells a disturbing story about his birth, and then a driver randomly bites the head off a rat. The characters we're introduced to should raise red flags, yet the ambiguity to their motivations and how they seem harmless makes it hard to figure out who to trust and who to fear. This caused the first notable character death to come as a surprise since, given the scene prior to that, I was ready to trust everyone at that point. That sequence is the climax to the film though. The mechanics of the Messiah become pretty clear after that, so I don't think the film was able to maintain this tension going forward. Fortunately, the second half still packed a strong punch by calling attention to the unpredictable nature of how the townsfolk operate and adding enough variation to their scenes to keep itself unique, with the obvious standout being the theater scene. Just thinking about all the monster/zombie/cannibal films I've seen over the years, I was impressed with how the film took elements from all three, yet something wholly original emerged out the other end. Again, I still prefer the first half since the strangeness of its tension-building is truly unparalleled, but the second half has also improved for me upon reflection. Overall, I'd definitely describe this as a forgotten classic and would recommend it to all horror fans.
Near Death (1989)
Close to being my favorite Wiseman documentary.
This was an excellent breakdown of the complex relationships between hospital staff, patients, and their families and how their mannerisms change around and away from each other. One could call the film a tragedy, but as we gradually realize over the course of its nearly six-hour runtime, the tragedy at the heart of their jobs is just a regular part of everyday work.
I was mildly saddened by the fates and situations of a couple patients shown early on, but like the doctors, I realized the survival rate of the patients was low and adjusted myself to that fact. Thus making every minute of its runtime necessary. One doctor, for instance, explained how her first week was the hardest since none of her patients were pulling through but she quickly realized most of what she can do is simply delay the inevitable and minimize their pain as much as possible, as opposed to save them. Other doctors occasionally vent their frustrations about the patients and joke about their situations behind their back, but a lot of this could very well be a coping mechanism they use to deal with the stress of their jobs. Because whenever the doctors are around the families, they always display an utmost sense of honesty and respect. They need to walk a fine balancing act with being honest about the dire situation at hand and the odds of the patients pulling through, while remaining respectful to the agency of the patient and the family in being the ultimate deciding factor of what medical procedures they're comfortable undergoing, being careful not to offend in the process.
The patients' situations being unpredictable and subject to change at any given moment is on full display throughout but perhaps most achingly exemplified through an elderly female patient who's clearly not all there given her constant uncertainty and variable responses to the doctors' questions on how to proceed. With her mental decline influencing her contradictory responses and constant requests to keep "thinking about it", one can feel each agonizing minute of her time slowly running out. Even with the other patients, the doctors consistently specify that any procedure they do comes with potential consequences and the patient will need to be constantly monitored throughout them every step of the way. The unpredictability of the future makes the present situation of the patients so finite. There's no way for them to go but forward.
Like the other documentaries I've seen from Wiseman so far, he doesn't need to spell out the themes of his work or include any voiceovers/exposition which outline them. The fly on the wall look at his subjects speaks for itself and says all that's needed. That said, I think I prefer Titicut Follies.
Utopia (1983)
Brutally honest with its political musings.
The final couple minutes add a brutally honest element of tragedy to the film which I haven't been able to shake since watching it. From the first scene, you're rooting for Heinz to be killed. The prostitutes discuss offing him at several points, make plans for running away afterwards, yet nothing gets done and they keep putting it off to the point you suspect nothing will ever happen. While I can't describe it as an inevitability, Heinz eventually is killed in gory, rewarding fashion. Yet, instead of giving us a fantasy scenario where all their problems are magically solved, we're given a bookend scene of them continuing to work in the brothel. They just escaped one hell for another (albeit a lesser one). One could dismiss the ending as an unnecessary reminder that the film doesn't have a happy ending, but I would say the film earns that scene. Given how caught up I was in yelling "Just kill him already!" and given how easy it was for the prostitutes to kill Heinz (I mean, the guy keeps a loaded gun in an unlocked desk in his unlocked office and regularly disappears from the brothel, leaving his gun behind every single time), I was tricked into thinking everything would end well for the prostitutes once they'd kill them. However, you can't escape from poverty that easily. By making the process of getting rid of the immediate threat so simple and by drawing it out so much, Shalid-Saless misled me into thinking otherwise and caused the ending to be a gigantic slap in the face.
As for the rest of the film, it's very depressing. One user described this as a toned down version of "Salo" and, while I recognize the emotional registers of both films are different since the characters in Pasolini's film make no attempt to break free from their harsh reality, "Utopia" is similar in the way the characters frequently seem unwilling/unable to act on their plans. Still though, instead of the externalized horrors of "Salo", the horror of this film is more internalized. Therefore, I would describe this as a slow-burn, low key extreme film in a sense. I hadn't heard of Shalid-Saless until a few days ago, but I'm definitely going to keep a close eye on him going forward.
Costa Rican Summer (2010)
A terrible teen comedy.
The filmmakers certainly intended for this to be a critique of the objectification of the female body, but I'd argue they didn't handle these points with a deft hand and lacked the maturity to go all the way on it. The portrayal of the unhinged characters is handled so obnoxiously, the nudity feels so exploitative and forced (to cut the film some slack, the men are sexualized a bit as well), and the dreamlike score whenever Pamela Anderson appeared onscreen made me check out entirely. While we're not asked to approve of the characters' behaviors, given the over-the-top direction of these elements, the intentions of the film weren't always clear. Whenever a film is critiquing nudity/sexuality, there's a thin line as to how much of that subject it can depict and how it portrays it before its commentary becomes muddled. The more it shows and the more emphasis it places on such, the more its points get diluted and the more it seems like depicting the "titillating" content is all the film wants to do. While I've encountered worse cases over the years (e.g. "Cuties"), this film still felt shallow. As for the rest of the film, it has the standard flaws I've seen in other terrible films, like bad acting, poorly-written dialogue, an overbearing and obnoxious score, poor cinematography, and an uninspired story. Of course, it's not like this is the only poorly made film out there which is disposable entertainment, but I think the reason this film bugged me so much was because it was pretending to be something else. At least "Jurassic Shark" and "Meet the Spartans", which I had watched earlier this month and last month, weren't trying to do this. I will grant that the second half is a slight improvement over the first half since it's more toned down, but not by much. Overall, this is horrendously bad on almost all levels and whatever undercurrents of quality are sprinkled in were ultimately overshadowed.
Double Down (2005)
Inexplicably great.
I feel I'd need to watch more from Breen to be confident on why I enjoyed this so much, but whatever Breen was going for here, I found it fascinating. Of course, the acting is atrocious, the narration is beyond overbearing, the nudity is awkward, the plot is nonsensical, etc. However, the further I got into the film, the more intrigued I was by whatever it was doing. Again, I'm sure people who've seen more from Breen will be able to explain his strengths better, but one thing I noticed was how the runtime felt nonexistent. Given how much introductory narration filled the first third and given how not much happened throughout that section, it felt like a prolonged first minute. When I checked how far in I was and saw it was over 25 minutes, I remember feeling a mix of emotions to that discovery. No movie I've seen moves like this. I also found Breen's character completely baffling. The narration portrays him as a genius who seems to have invented every single thing imaginable, has ties to all kinds of governments and higher-ups, and he might've cured cancer. On the other hand, he has a cliché tragic backstory, has frequent hallucinations and regularly wakes up on the road next to his car, he's a hacker who plans to take control of Las Vegas, and has a tuna addiction. Just...wow! How exactly am I supposed to even read this character? Breen clearly doesn't intend for this to be comedic and reveals all these details with a straight face, so am I supposed to like or dislike his character? I genuinely have no idea. The entire film just seems so inexplicable in its merits I have to be impressed. I had little interest in watching anything from Breen prior to watching this, but I'm now eager to check out some more of his filmography.
Jurassic Shark (2012)
As bad as this is, it's not entirely without merit.
It's a pretty clear bad film, but I'd rank it more as a trashy B-movie as opposed to "worst film of all time" material. Though yes, its flaws are blatantly obvious. The shark effects look godawful, the acting is terrible to the point it didn't seem like anyone was even trying, the dialogue is laughably corny at times, and the opening credits were clearly done with the default text option in Windows Movie Maker (I've used Movie Maker many times, so it took me about two seconds to identify this). It's clear that barely any effort was put into this film and I can't tell if the short running time is a positive or a further sign of laziness (since the credits lasted over 10 minutes, I'd say it's the latter). That said, while the story is nothing to write home about, I'd say it's at least decently competent for a bad film. They did at least some work with the characters and their morals to make them somewhat colorful, down to the oil driller who acts as the middle ground between both factions considering his regret over his illegal activity. Even the good and bad characters are given a bit of levity here and there considering the sibling relationships from both parties. I also found a couple scenes like the activist pretending to be asleep and her ensuing conversation with the art thief decently well-written. Or, at least, written with more effort than one may expect to find in other films of this ilk. While these strengths don't save the film, they at least count for a couple points here and there. As for other bad shark films I've watched over the years, I'd say "The Last Shark" and "Tintorera" were far more dreadful to get through. I'd also put this about on the same level as some Syfy shark films I've seen ("2-Headed Shark Attack", "Sharktopus", "Super Shark", "Sand Sharks", etc), in spite of the effects being much worse in this film. Again, this is bad. Just not THAT bad.
Park Lanes (2015)
An accurate simulation on the tediousness of factory work.
I remember when my brother worked in a factory. Though the overnight hours were tolerable (for him, at least), the work itself wasn't. Having to do the same task over and over again had an incredibly short shelf life and, by the time he got out for the day, he was too worn out to do anything else in his spare time. He only lasted three weeks in that industry. While I can't say I understand what it's like to do that kind of work, Everson's film acts as an accurate simulation of such. Factory work is notoriously tedious and, by stretching the film out to eight hours and showing the workday in real time, Everson not only highlights the mundanity of the industry but also puts us in the worker's shoes. And that he's able to accomplish this via a fly-on-the-wall camera which simply documents a standard workday highlights how effortlessly he makes this point. Regardless of how intricate or involved the work is, the reality of the situation is that the contraptions produced aren't unique and are just numbers. Those who find this overlong or repetitive are feeling the full force of its slow-burning tragedy. The noticeable ratio of African American/Vietnamese workers to white employees also calls attention to the racial disparities which are engendered by capitalism/hierarchy without directly mentioning either subject.
At a couple points, the camera moves away from the machines and into the break room. Given the monotony of what we saw beforehand, their laughter and friendly relations here act as a relief. One worker even breaks character by jokingly acknowledging the camera's existence. These are the only moments where some semblances of joy disrupt the visual drone of their work. As brief as these moments are, they're about as much as one can hope for.
Meet the Spartans (2008)
Some jokes land but everything else drags it down like a rock.
Though I haven't watched them in years and am unlikely to ever rewatch them, I used to have a fondness for parody films. They're not the best and probably miss much more than land in terms of comedy, but I guess I just like the incongruity of seeing out of place celebrities/modern product placement intruding in on the film, especially with films like this which are set thousands of years in the past. While I appreciated the incongruity of what was being referenced in this film, when it came to the actual quality of the comedy of those references, they ranged from mean-spirited (Paris Hilton and Britney Spears) to overlong (the entire "This is Sparta" sequence) to forced (which is technically everything) and the parodies of those celebrities weren't remotely clever. As a whole, I don't think the film got any laughs from me in that department. Now, when it came to poking fun at the eccentricities of Snyder's film or exaggerating certain scenes/characters in it, I was somewhat able to get on board with the film since that's the idea to parodying something, correct? The training scenes of Leonidas beating his son up, poking fun at the nudity/sex scenes in 300, exaggerating Xerxes' piercings, or painting abs onto the Spartans worked well enough for me. While it's not hilarious per se, that's what I want from parody films. There was more potential with parodying the excessive slow motion which they didn't capitalize on though, aside from recreating some of the slow motion effects at a couple points. As a whole though, I mostly found this really boring to sit through and frequently dry of clever jokes to keep me on board with it. I'd still give it some points for the comedy which landed, but everything else dragged it down like a rock.
Curse of Bigfoot (1975)
One of the most bland and joyless films I've ever seen.
Horror films are a hard genre for me to hate since bad horror films can still be watchable, whether you're referring to so-bad-they're-good fare or camp/cheesiness, but what I can't handle is a horror film which is almost completely joyless like this one. Granted, I liked the first 30 minutes a bit more than the remaining hour, but this isn't saying much. A few of the bigfoot shots, while not good by any means, looked so ridiculous I initially thought this would be typical B-movie fare (I was on board with the film for the first 10 minutes). I also found the presenter's meltdown at a student during the classroom scenes to be pretty amusing to watch. As a whole, I wouldn't be surprised if the first half hour was put in just to pad out the length as if the filmmakers felt the 60 minute span for the main plot line wasn't enough to fill a feature length film, but awkward pacing aside, I didn't completely hate this section. That the remainder of the first 30 minutes were so unengaging though seemed to act as a warning sign for what was to come. I swear, the final hour has got to be one of the most bland and joyless things I've ever seen. To run through a brief list of its flaws, the characters have no personality whatsoever and they all blend into each other, the few bits of bigfoot action we got were super brief and poorly directed, and the meandering dialogue between the students was so dull to listen to. It's just a couple minutes of forgettable bigfoot scenes plus a ton of meandering conversations/bland characters to fill the rest of the hour. Again, the design of bigfoot looks super ridiculous, so you'd think this wouldn't be so joyless, but the few close-ups of bigfoot's face are about all the film has going for it in terms of cheesiness. That said, I will grant that one scene in the final hour was decently effective. Stumbling across the mummified remains of bigfoot in a mountain's hidden cave was an unnerving concept, but any potential the film had here fizzled out after five minutes. As it stands, this is in the running as my least favorite horror film of all time.
Robot Monster (1953)
Not good in a traditional sense, but a decent B movie.
Not my idea for "worst film ever" territory as I'd put it firmly in the B movie pile, but I did find it more joyless than I remembered. While Ro Man is the clear standout, the human characters are utterly bland by comparison. Even with my expectations lowered, they had little to no personality, were stuck in Ro Man's shadow, and frequently got in the way of what I liked about the film. The wedding sequence, for instance, felt particularly forced and came out of nowhere. Not sure why that was included. Ro Man (as well as the stop motion/disaster photography in the opening and ending) is where this film shines though. Yes, he's more cute than scary, but those are the film's B movie charms. Watching his actor struggle to move around in the suit when traversing the cliffs is amusing to watch, especially with the idea that he has to chase the human characters down. Fortunately for him though, everyone either stands still instead of running away or trips and falls after a few steps. While his schtick began to overstay its welcome, particularly with the walking shots, Ro Man's arc in the final act saved the day since the film finally capitalized on the potential of his cuteness. They could've done more with it had they stretched the ending out further, but it still made for a pleasing slice of humanity which the rest of the film lacked. Also, while the twist ending doesn't fix the absurd plot points/character decisions, it at least mitigates my criticisms to a degree by providing a justification for them. Overall, while I liked this a bit less throughout this rewatch, I still wouldn't call it bad. You just need to approach it with the right expectations.
Across the Universe (2007)
I couldn't get into this film at all.
As much as I love the Beatles, I couldn't stand the covers of their music in this film, with almost no exceptions. The choices to modernize their songs, include some distractingly obvious auto tune throughout a handful of the musical sequences, fill them with some horribly dated CGI, and to insert cringe-inducing scenes of the characters acting out certain lyrics turned me off real quick. The covers from Dana Fuchs and Martin McCoy were the least insufferable since their singing talents were the strongest from the group, but for the most part, the film just had me wishing I was listening to the original songs instead. Aside from the music, the characters were mostly bland from start to finish to the point it frequently seemed like the film wasn't going anywhere. Even the attempts to develop them didn't do much for me either. Lucy and Jude's romance certainly doesn't bring anything new to the table, Max's anxieties over being drafted, though this had quite a bit of potential, only shone through in a couple points of the film, while Sadie, Jo-Jo, and Prudence seemed to mostly disappear from the film throughout large stretches of it. As a whole, I was barely left with anything to grasp onto. It was just a handful of mostly bland and uninteresting characters wrapped up in a constant barrage of awful musical sequences.
Oh! Uomo (2004)
A truly powerful film about the after effects of combat.
I've met a handful of war veterans throughout my life and, though none of them (to my knowledge) sustained permanent injuries in combat, I've heard about plenty of other soldiers they fought with who weren't as fortunate. Even after a war ends, its impact on those who survived it will still be felt for years to come. And for the soldiers depicted in this film, throughout the remainder of their lives. Throughout the film, we see numerous soldiers with missing limbs, missing eyeballs, and deformed facial features. Though it's not an easy watch, my main takeaway was how it found poetry amidst the grotesqueness. While the footage of the soldiers and children is obviously far from uplifting, Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi illustrate the ways those people can go through surgery to either reconstruct or replace what they lost and make the best with what body parts they have left, even if they can't be made whole again. One particularly powerful sequence was a montage of close ups of various soldier's deformed faces. This sequence really tested my endurance as, not only were the deformities quite graphic to look at, but each face was focused on for an uncomfortably long time. The film followed up on this though with various close ups of soldiers who presumably went through facial reconstruction surgery as they hold up a plaster of what they originally looked like. Their scars are still visible if you look closely, but given the prior montage, this one comes as a relief. Other powerful sequences included characters performing everyday tasks, like a farmer tending to his crops with a robotic arm, while another powerful sequence showed a close up of a man having a fake eye put in place of a disfigured eye. After his procedure, I honestly couldn't tell the difference between his real and fake eye at all. I finished the film over an hour ago, yet I'm still trying to make sense of the emotions it made me feel. In spite of the constant barrage of graphic injuries onscreen, it strangely felt hopeful. The people onscreen lost so much in the war, yet the worst is over for them and things will start to look up. If I had to nitpick something, this might've been better had Stan Brakhage directed it. Some of the music choices seemed jarring and unnecessary. This is the kind of film where the emotional resonance of the imagery speaks for itself, so I don't think it needed a soundtrack. Aside from this, however, I quite enjoyed this film and may return to it sometime in the future.
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
A pretty good musical, in spite of its flaws.
It has the look and feel of a filmed stage play, yet it lacks the deliberate artificiality of Henry V and The Ballad of Narayama (the 1958 version) which made both of those works so aesthetically unique. Fortunately, it successfully captures the darker sides of patriarchy and extreme devotion to religious customs and how both clash with marriage and intrafamilial relationships. While there's a cap as to how likable Tevye is, his growing stubbornness to give up everything he stands for, in addition to his family's reaction towards his behavior, places him somewhere being tragic and pathetic. It did feel 3 hours, but I don't mean this as a criticism since it offered plenty to keep me on board. Also, while most of the songs didn't do a whole lot for me, I did appreciate a couple of them here and there and the nightmare scene was easily the stand out moment in the film.
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Unconventional and not to everyone's taste, but I really enjoyed it.
On a surface level, this is a hard film to recommend since it makes a handful of questionable choices which most other historical dramas would get dismissed for, whether you're referring to the severe lack of historical context towards the state of France throughout Antoinette's reign or the mix of a contemporary and classical soundtrack. Heck, I was considering dismissing the film myself partway into it, but the further I got, the clearer it became that these directorial choices fit the film very well. Coppola displays Antoinette as living in a bubble from the outside world. Thrown into a position which demands a high responsibility at such a young age, given little guidance on what to do, and ignoring the advice of those around her, she ultimately chooses to isolate herself from politics and is insular of her duties. Therefore, just as Antoinette exists in a bubble as to what's occurring around her, we do as well. Whatever historical insight we're given is brushed aside in service of numerous lavish parties and personal drama. Of course, this tone is disrupted in the final 20 minutes once reality begins to intrude more significantly (in all fairness, I don't think there was any way around that), but one gets the impression that Antoinette wasn't mature and experienced enough to fully understand the consequences of her behavior and what led her to her fate by the ending. As for the contemporary soundtrack, it took me longer to gel with it. I generally find that does more harm than good to period dramas and breaks the illusion of the film taking place in the past. In the case of this film, however, while its undoubtedly malapropos for the 16th century setting and while I initially scoffed at it, its awkward contrast added to Antoinette's desire to exist out of time and the aforementioned bubble she separated herself from the outside world with. Though sure, it might've been better to either stick with contemporary or classical soundtracks all the way through instead of dabbling in both territories. Still, while I imagine this film won't be to everyone's tastes, I enjoyed it quite a bit and felt its unconventional choices worked quite well.
Home from the Hill (1960)
A powerful breakdown of toxic masculinity.
This is one of the most interesting breakdowns of toxic masculinity I've seen in a long time. Part of the reason it packs such a punch is how cleverly it tricks you into warming up to Wade. What initially starts off as a silent battle between a married couple to have their son grow up under their influence soon fizzles out once the film fixates more and more on Wade while Hannah is pushed further and further to the sidelines. Seeing how Wade's influence causes Theron's reputation to grow amongst a group of hunters who initially didn't think much of him and how his life is improved from spending time around Rafe leads one to have faith that everything will turn out well and that Theron made the right choice after all. Wade's reputation amongst the town and the first scene though are hard to ignore and, the more hints which pop up (Albert's strong distrust of Theron), the clearer it becomes that the bubble we built up around Wade is about to burst.
Once the inevitable mid film reveal comes along, the film turns from really good to excellent due to a couple reasons. First, it fully realizes its critique of masculinity. Being a skilled hunter and the wealthiest person in town, Wade appears to have it all at first glance, but learning about Rafe's familial ties and Wade's cruel rejection of him due to his inability to commit to the consequences of his mistakes makes him seem like a pathetic person deep down who has all kinds of insecurities. Wade's points of "pride" are limited to him being a womanizer and the best hunter in the town. The group of hunters he spends so much time around don't have much to show for themselves either and largely exist somewhat in his shadow.
More significantly though, the second half reveal allows the film to branch out and explore the scope of the people Wade impacted. Because instead of just touching on the jealous husbands out to get revenge, it expands its scope to Wade's immediate family (and even his hunting dogs to an extent, given the boar hunt). The impact Wade has on Theron involves his hesitancy to commit to his relationship with Libby and progress up the social ladder since he'd have to leave Rafe in the dust in the process, who's far less fortunate than him. Their scenes in the final act contain a ton of humanity and the final couple conversations between them are especially powerful since it's clear throughout them that Theron wants Rafe to enjoy the life he initially had little chance of getting. At first, Hannah didn't stick out to me that much, but upon reflection, I was struck by how rough her situation is. Due to her strained relationship with Wade, saving Theron from his influence is all she can hope for, yet she lacks the strength to breach the barrier her husband has built up. Her best effort to fix everything only serves to cause more problems for both Theron and herself. There's also a lot to be said about the sheer contrast between Wade and Rafe. In spite of his lack of wealth and consideration for his well being, Rafe has a degree of nobility and genuine compassion that's sorely lacking in Wade. Financially speaking, Rafe lacks everything Wade has, yet is still twice the man he is on almost all levels.
Once the constant framing and reframing of the characters is all said and done, we get a nuanced ending which is hopeful only to some of the characters we rooted for. It's tragic in a sense, yet it gives another character a much better outcome than one might've expected. It's somehow the happiest ending one could expect from this setting.
The Zone of Interest (2023)
Though I have some issues with it, it's still very interesting.
Does the zone of interest refer to the top or the bottom half of the screen? This is the question I started asking myself halfway into it and I still haven't found an answer. While I'm not as down on this film as some people are, so much of the environment Glazer creates boils down to the contrast between the two halves of the screen. On the bottom half lies a paradise. The vegetation is lush, the small swimming pool in the backyard and the frequent trips to the lake provide a great dose of fun to Höss's children, and the interior of the house looks rather pristine. The top half of the screen is where the reality of their surroundings peaks over the edge. Occasional sounds of screams and gunfire, smoke rising from the incinerators, and steam from arriving trains complicates the serenity down below. Any intrusions the top half has on the bottom half (human ash accumulating on flower petals, unseen dead bodies floating in the river, and concentration camp prisoners working/marching in the background), though fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of the environment, are hard to ignore (for us, at least) whenever the camera fixates on them. A weaker film would've given us a glimpse or two of what goes on over the walls and would've showed the human suffering up close, but Glazer is really careful at how he compartmentalizes us from the Holocaust, linking us aurally through sound rather than visually. With this, he's able to put us in the headspace of Höss's family fairly well, as if we're experiencing his house from their viewpoints.
That said, I felt I got the idea of the film fairly early on. The further I got into it, the more I was beginning to feel diminishing returns as the repetition was growing clearer and clearer. Which isn't inherently bad, but mixing repetition with the abundance of static characters who didn't react much to Auschwitz's intrusion on their lives didn't do it much favors. Hedwig Höss's mother reacting negatively to the burning crematorium was the only time the repetition came close to wearing me down and even that sub-plot was somewhat brief. I also took issue with a significant portion of the final act being set in Berlin and a SS party. Since I had grown largely tired of the film by that point, I initially welcomed the change in scenery only to find the new scenery to be comparably less atmospheric. Also, while I admired the bizarre soundtrack and the uncommon visual abstractions as a curiosity, I'm not sure they fit the tone of the film that well (someone may be able to convince me otherwise for this point though). I don't know if the film will grow on me if I sit on it for a couple days, but as it stands now, I found it to be a fairly mixed bag and I wish I could've responded to it better.
Saint Omer (2022)
Somewhat of a missed opportunity but still interesting.
This was a fairly interesting courtroom drama about alienation and clashing cultures where certain parts of Coly's life were reflected in that of Rama's. Both women are Senegalese, are in interracial relationships, and have complex relationships with their mothers. Aside from a couple brief scenes here and there and a few quality close up shots, the film doesn't do a whole lot with Rama's connection to Coly. The scenes which occur outside of the courtroom which give us a personal look at how the court hearing is affecting Rama feel rushed through as the film is constantly eager to cut back to the lengthy courtroom sequences. Fortunately, what we get in that regard is quite thought provoking and layered. While watching it, I frequently thought about my experience reading "Native Son". While neither works attempt to apologize for the crimes of the respective characters in each, they instead portray the various factors which led to the crimes taking place and recontexualize the violent criminal trope which is used all too often and instead portray them more as everyday humans. The more Coly opens up throughout the film, the more we begin to understand the various factors which shaped her and led to her actions. The most telling bits for me was when her boyfriend (who's noticeably much older than her) was revealed to have gone through great lengths to hide Coly from his family and ignored her distress when she needed him the most. While understanding the nature of a crime is interesting though, so were the parallels between Coly and Rama. Given how much Rama's character existed on the outside edges of the film and how it kept seeming like we'd finally be given more to latch on to with her, there were some noticeable missed opportunities involved. The film had quite a lot of potential and capitalized on maybe 2/3 of it at best. Still though, the film sat decently well with me upon reflection and thinking about its themes and strategies later on was enjoyable. I think I preferred that over watching the film.
Eo (2022)
A highly subjective and transcendental experience.
Looking at how my Letterboxd friends have responded to this film, it appears that nobody has rated it above four stars. And yes, I know my rating is also a four, but I also haven't rated any films from the 2020's over four stars yet (a few rewatches are in order though). This isn't the most subtle film around and I can see someone walking away with "it's just a lesser Au Hasard Balthazar", but I was really enamored with it and figured I'd make a few points in defense of it. I was initially curious if it would be a poor man's version of Bresson's film, but I like how it found its own unique voice, as opposed to following in its footsteps. Bresson's film is largely characterized by mirroring Balthazar's life with Marie, while EO takes a different unique approach with the characters. EO is (almost) always at the center of the film. The camera stays by his side from beginning to end and, even when he's not in the frame, it finds various ways for his presence to loom in the background or hang over the shot to keep him at the forefront. For instance, a recurring style of subjective camerawork which captures the somewhat blurry motion of other figures (a group of horses running through a field and a soccer match) appears to be occurring from EO's point of view given the shooting style. Or take another lengthy scene of a truck driver transporting a group of animals which is bathed heavily in a bright red, a color which is associated with EO due to its prominence in some recurring hallucinatory sequences. The human characters in the film fall somewhere between secondary characters and background scenery (granted, a late film sequence with Huppert and Zurzolo briefly ruins the tone). The decision to zero in on EO makes this film a highly subjective experience. EO wandering through the landscape by himself is truly something else due to how the alien photography feels reminiscent, as a few other reviewers I've come across have noted, of Under the Skin. The film also turns transcendental when it bathes certain sequences in the aforementioned bright red color or includes a couple scenes which feel caught between fantasy and reality. And at the heart of all the technical craft lies the emotional core of EO's desire for freedom and perhaps to be reunited with his original owner. It's not the most complex of messages, but the film takes it in so many interesting places along the way I couldn't help but be fascinated.
Anyways, now I'm more eager to revisit Au Hasard Balthazar.
Le gamin au vélo (2011)
The Dardenne's have done it yet again.
This is the fourth film I've seen from the Dardenne brothers and, while they're all somewhat on the same level of (high) quality for me, this film has dethroned "La Promesse" as my clear favorite. Like "La Promesse", while a central character in both films certainly causes problems for other people (Roger in "La Promesse" and Cyril in "The Kid With a Bike"), the insecurities which engender their actions are able to complicate and mitigate their bad behavior enough that they don't quite reach unlikable status. With "The Kid With a Bike", Cyril's betrayal by his father and his wish to be loved, albeit by the wrong people, got me to hold out a slight bit of sympathy for him, as challenging as he could be. He clearly felt isolated and lost with Samantha and the avenues he turned to as a last resort to get his life back on track were the culminations to his alienation. Since Samantha was a good person at heart though and genuinely had the best intentions for Cyril (contrary to the characters he turned to for comfort), retaining your sympathy for him can be quite the challenge. Ultimately, the final scene was a brilliant way to end the film. For a bit, I suspected it would end on a tragic, albeit somewhat contrived note, given it occurred directly after things started to look up. Fortunately, we instead get a more nuanced ending. Comparing Cyril's and Samantha's newfound good relations with the newsstand owner and his son (two characters you initially sympathize with) planning to cover up a potential murder highlights the moralistic difference between the two families and the changes they've both gone through. As Cyril rides away, you get the sense that all will be well going forward. I don't know if the Dardenne's will be able to top this film, but I'll keep tabs on their filmography regardless.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Pretty good, albeit somewhat muddled.
This won't read like a positive review since I'm going to be illustrating an element which I found unsatisfying for both this film and (to a lesser extent) the 2021 Dune, so before you read ahead, I'd just like to point out that I enjoyed the film on the whole and found it to be visually and technically impressive. It's definitely one of those "see it in the theater" movies which we rarely get nowadays.
I've asked and have seen other people ask variations of the question "Is Paul intended to be a power-hungry villain or a noble protagonist who genuinely wishes to help the impoverished people?" a handful of times and have seen a variety of responses across the board. I've seen some people say he is intended to be selfish and villainous, while some other people have argued that, though he betrayed Chani in the process of reclaiming his leadership, he's still a good person and wants the best for his people.
Where do I stand on this? I'm honestly not sure. I think his betrayal of Chani for one of the Shaddam's daughters is a main point of contention regarding his motivations as this is where I've read a great deal of arguments for his selfishness. As Paul explained in the 2021 Dune though, his reasoning for marrying one of the Shaddam's daughters was to hopefully prevent a civil war once news of the Shaddam's treachery would be widely known, so I don't think his actions here can be summed up in a black and white good or bad metric. They're far more nuanced.
Fair arguments can be made that being more upfront with Chani about his intentions would've been the noble way to go about it since she wouldn't have been given false hopes then, but this would've also introduced the threat of her turning on him much earlier and Paul potentially losing the support of the Fremen. Either way, don't the benefits of potentially preventing a civil war and saving countless lives outweigh the disappointment he caused to a single person along the way? For a second, I was confident this was how to read his character, but then the film ends on a cliffhanger where Paul intends to have the Fremen attack the Great Houses for opposing his ascendancy to the throne. So, he is intended to be power hungry after all? What does this say about his prior actions then?
This is my issue with the film. While ambiguous character motivations aren't bad by any means, this is a case where Paul's motives are so muddled to the point they seem to contradict each other. If he is intended to be a villain and if he is intended to become a dominator in the ending, that would cancel out my interpretation of his relationship with Chani and, to be honest, I don't know how I'd read their relationship at that point. If he'll be revealed to have noble intentions by the time (or if) part 3 comes out, that will make a bit more sense but then the film could be argued as a white savior trope of sorts. Still though, I think the latter alternative would be the best option provided they include enough moral ambiguities in his process of saving the impoverished people (like his aforementioned betrayal of Chani, even if there was an understandable reason why he did that). As it stands right now though, that people can't seem to agree on whether he's good or bad says a lot about how unclear his motivations are.
Having watched part 1 less than a week before part 2 was released played a part in my enjoyment since I held out some confidence that part 2 would resolve my unanswered questions but it instead did the opposite. If they do manage to resolve everything in a seamless way, then kudos, but the journey leading up to it feels so muddled right now. Like I said at the start, I still enjoyed the film quite a bit and, if part 3 gets released, I'll probably be in the theaters for it. Hopefully, they're able to resolve this.
Memoria (2021)
A sensual dream.
This is a tough one to rate as, while I was certainly blown away by the time the credits rolled, I felt I didn't get fully on board with it until the final half hour. Before that, while I appreciated the unexpected, albeit uncommon moments of sound design (the recurring sonic booms) and the outstanding framing in certain scenes, its style still felt fairly standard for such an extended period of time (or, at least, less dream like than I was expecting given my experiences with some of Weerasethakul's other films). That said, a few scenes still stood out to a degree here and there, like a dog following Jessica around or her walking into an ensemble quartet. Once the action moved to the countryside though, it became one of the most sensually powerful films I've seen in a long time. With the inclusion of the fish scaler's motionless and extended 'sleep', the hand holding connection, or a particular genre changing set piece at the end which I won't dare reveal, the snail like pacing and gorgeous photography grew so surreal that the film became a sensual dream which froze time down to almost a standstill (as has been said of Joe's films numerous times in the past). Mixing audial and visual ambience with prolonged empty space won't work for everyone since the "nothing happens" crowd tends to trash these kinds of films (and to throw those people a bone, while I think their arguments are completely naïve, I will admit that I've struggled with a couple of Joe's films), but if you're able to get on board with the ethereal rhythms his films offer, you'll get such pleasing and unique results. Again, it wasn't until the final half hour where the film fully won me over. Given how moved I was by the final act though, I feel confident enough on this being improved by subsequent watches down the road to not mark its rating down. As an aside, if you don't think you'll be able to watch this in a theater, you should definitely watch it with headphones at the very least.
Narayama bushikô (1958)
Caught Between a Film and a Staged Play
This is the second film I can recall seeing which feels caught between a film and a staged play (the first one is Olivier's "Henry V"). Given the reactions I've seen from some of my Letterboxd followers, not everyone will click with its incorporation of Kubuki theater, but I was very much on board with it. Given the narrative and the kinds of themes it covers (mortality and the questionable treatment of the elderly villagers), this could've easily fallen into schmaltziness or misery, but the visual abstraction of its style prevents it from dipping into those territories. Putting aside the artificial sets and the obvious handmade backdrops, probably the most divisive element of it is the voice over singing as I've seen plenty argue it grew tiring fairly quickly. That said, I found it to be the most unique element of the film. In spite of the dialogue describing what normally would've been emotionally blunt minutiae and character asides, I rarely got the sense it was trying to manipulate my emotions. In the context of the visual style, it fit very well in the film and helped the story find the right balance between alienating you from the proceedings and properly conveying the inner thoughts of the characters and the customs of the village really well. In spite of what I said though, the final act still managed to devastate me. It's hard to watch it without being moved in some way. The remake is pretty good and might click with people who couldn't get into the style of this film, but I prefer this one by a decent margin.
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
A compelling character study.
I'm not sure I enjoyed this more than The Heartbreak Kid, which blew me away when I watched it a few years ago, but this film still lived up to my expectations. It chronicles a dying friendship on its last legs at the worst possible time for one of the two involved in it. Though Nicky initially comes off as panicked and not thinking straight due to his fear of being killed, the more you learn of his behavior (that he cheats on his wife, is openly racist, and assaults or threatens to assault most people he comes across), the clearer it becomes that he's a toxic individual who Mikey has been stuck with for years. Bearing witness to Mikey putting his own safety on the line to keep him out of trouble and putting up with his antics over and over again creates tension as to whether he'll finally reach his breaking point and betray his friend. Given the clear abuse and disloyalty Nicky shows to Mikey (as well as to the women in his life), it constantly seems like the film is about to build to this inevitable climax, yet in typical abuser fashion, Nicky appears to restore his relations by smooth talking and begging for forgiveness (and this pattern has likely gone on for years). But how long will these ingenuine apologies work? Since Nicky lacks empathy, the film could've just been a case of rooting for an inevitable ending from the start, but since Nicky's fate is basically in Mikey's hands, it puts him in a rough spot. He can either swallow his pride and stick by Nicky or sacrifice his morals and cause his death. Neither option is good and that Mikey is considerably more empathetic got me to hold out a bit of hope that he wouldn't lower himself. All these elements made Nicky's fate quite compelling to the point I was genuinely curious as to how the film was going to end. Overall, it was a really good character study and I'm glad to have finally watched something else in Elaine May's unfortunately small body of films.
La pianiste (2001)
My favorite Haneke film.
While I've enjoyed most of what I've seen from Haneke so far, my appreciation of his films mainly boils down to enjoying them more on a technical level rather than an emotional level (Cache and The White Ribbon have their moments though), so I was definitely not expecting this film to resonate with me as much as it did.
My initial takeaway was how well Huppert communicates the sexual repression and loneliness of her character. Erika's mother is domineering and expects perfection from her (interestingly enough, this behavior has strong parallels with her teaching style), yet she's unable to meet her high expectations. Since Erika has likely spent her entire life with her mother, her repression comes out in the form of porn addiction, paraphilia, and sadomasochism. With minimal contacts outside of work though, her tendencies turn out unfulfilled all too often, so there's no place for her to direct them but inwards. This leads to some disturbing set pieces of her urinating outside a car where a couple are making love and cutting her vagina with a razor. They tell you all there is to know about why she grows to latch onto Walter and demand so much from him.
Speaking of which, the love-making scenes between Erika and Walter are disturbing for reasons including but not limited to the paraphilic and sadomasochistic aspects of them. One thing which stood out to me is how Erik and Walter pursue their relationship at the expense of other people. The first half scratched the surface of this with the aforementioned urinating scene, but the second half shows the sheer lengths which the two of them go to satisfy their tendencies. Leaving a bathroom door wide open during a love-making session and having sex while Walter's hockey team members are right in the other room represent the lower end of extremity with this aspect. A more disturbing scene is a climactic scene of Walter forcing Erika's Mom into her bedroom so he can make love with Erika. Though Erika was clearly in a state of hesitancy at that point in the film, it's worth noting how she doesn't protest or speak up against Walter's rough treatment of her Mom at all. The most disturbing scene though is when Erika causes one of her students to cut her hand on broken glass for socializing with Walter. Though she clearly displayed a hard personality with her students prior to that, it's still a shocking moment, albeit one which feels true to her character.
What gave me the most anxiety though was how their hesitancy to commit to their sadomasochistic relationship gave a sense of escalation to the film. Erika and Walter are never on the same page on how to proceed with their relationship. Initially, Erika is the one eager to go along with it while Walter is hesitant. But then Walter begins to take Erika's role while she takes his, thus keeping an impasse between the pair. The frustration this causes them adds a sense of escalation to their relationship and gives the sense the film is building to something where either one of them or someone around them will be hurt. What we do get as a culmination may come off as abrupt, but the ambiguity it left gave me a couple disturbing outcomes to ponder over.
Overall, this is definitely my favorite Haneke film by a long shot and, given how well I responded to it, I'm tempted to revisit some of his other films to see if I'll warm up some more to them.
Gycklarnas afton (1953)
One of the Best Depictions of Human Suffering I've Seen
Bergman depicts human suffering better than just about every director I'm familiar with and this is yet another reminder of his talents. I've seen the opening vignette argued as being the best part of the film by some reviewers and, though I wouldn't quite agree inasmuch to the extent I've seen some people argue this point, it's certainly a terrific sequence. In spite of the human suffering it depicts, Bergman also interjects humor into every frame of the opening, given the prominence of a clown bearing part of the blunt of this suffering. This doesn't overshadow the disturbing elements of it but rather acts as an ironic counterpoint. Though the tone of the succeeding film changes somewhat (in the sense that the humor is placed mostly in the background), the conflict between Albert, Anne, and Frans still maintain a handful of similarities with the opening, beyond the surface level pessimistic tones of both. In a vacuum, the emotional register of various scenes in the film should be blunt, but Bergman throws other contrasting elements into the mix which complicates what they get you to feel. For instance, Anne's mid film encounter with Frans should act as a euphoric release from her financial and relationship problems with Albert, yet his rough behavior confirms that he won't provide her with a way out. Also, the fight between Albert and Frans would normally be your typical "romantic hero beats up his lover's abusive partner" trope, yet the knowledge that Frans is just as bad, if not worse than Albert makes their fight surprisingly emotionally muted to the point you're not sure who to root for. Finally, Anne returning to Albert and giving him a faint smile seems to be done out of quiet resignation to her fate. Overall, it's an excellent film which I would rank pretty highly amongst Bergman's large body of films.