Take some Plympton from early MTV, spice with obvious heavy-handed speech about advertising and capitalism, and mix it with a boring sound design from a 1970s student film. There, I saved you one hour and a half of retro effects and furry customes. Since I'm in 2021 and I have seen Satoshi Kon movies and Mind Game by Masaaki Yuasa this film feels pedestrian and undeveloped.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Humanity and Paper Balloons
(1937)
Real people battle against power
21 March 2021
Master filmmaker Sadao Yamanaka died at 28 years of age during the early 20th Century Imperial Japanese wars, but he left us with this beautiful ode to the common folk, living in a poor street in Edo (today's Tokyo).
Before watching an old film, I always worry that it will be antiquated and boring, but it feels modern instead. Why? Because people were not very different back then, and good naturalist acting shows them as our neighbours. Portentous or stilted acting is not exclusive of black and white movies, but technology and rapid editing techniques masks the inadequacies of contemporary directors. The characters in "Humanity..." are not actually modern, they're real.
Much is implied instead of shown, but what appears on screen is entertaining and depressing at the same time. This slice of life tells a simple story of low class people confronting their social superiors and trying to get ahead in life, while maintaining their honor and their sense of agency.
Recommended.
Before watching an old film, I always worry that it will be antiquated and boring, but it feels modern instead. Why? Because people were not very different back then, and good naturalist acting shows them as our neighbours. Portentous or stilted acting is not exclusive of black and white movies, but technology and rapid editing techniques masks the inadequacies of contemporary directors. The characters in "Humanity..." are not actually modern, they're real.
Much is implied instead of shown, but what appears on screen is entertaining and depressing at the same time. This slice of life tells a simple story of low class people confronting their social superiors and trying to get ahead in life, while maintaining their honor and their sense of agency.
Recommended.
The Invisible Guest
(2016)
The misandrism of copycat Oriol
1 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
All Oriol movies are the same. Men are bad, women are good. Men are violent murderers. A bad upper middle middle aged man causes a woman to be killed. Men cheat, men lie, and women are strong. There is a twist, and the bad man gets what is coming for him. Well, not really, depends if he is really hot and young or not. It seems that a businessman crossed Oriol when he was in the US, and since then he writes elaborate revenge movies that copy from De Palma, Hitchcock and even Shyamalan without reaching any heights related to these directors. His movies "seem" good (especially this one), but don´t resist a few seconds of analysis. Locations are nice, especially the train trip and hotel in Nuria.
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