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Happiest Season (2020)
humorless and dysfunctional characters supposed to be funny?
The writing of the characters was incredibly poor. There is not a single likable character except for abby. Family is too white, too middle class, too annoying. Nothing harper says or does feels genuine. I could go on forever. I really wanted to enjoy this film but god you cannot just throw in a bunch of weird, mean characters and hope that the absurdity of their interactions will make your film comedic.
The Neon Demon (2016)
refn lacks incredible insight into womanhood and is childishly self-righteous
Refn clearly has no idea what goes in the modeling industry, does a terrible job in general at setting an unsettling tone. Everything comes off as straight up inaccurate, unrealistic. The worst part is that it has this self-seriousness about it which makes it even more painful to watch. I hate to say it but the film feels as though it was made with the intellect of a middle schooler: grand critiques with no substance, everything is black and white, fabricated characters to fit a certain narrative.
Oh and the casting was terrible in my opinion. I understand the protagonist had to look plain and innocent etc. But god, it was almost funny how every woman that she's supposedly superior to was infinitely more interesting and attractive.
Druk (2020)
predictable plot with one-dimensional character arcs
As a huge fan of Hunt, I had huge expectations for this film. Although it was charming and overall somewhat enjoyable to watch, it did not give me enough of a story to invest in any of the characters. Martin had marital issues. But what were they exactly? Why doesn't he ever talk to his kids? What made him loose faith in himself? We basically don't know anything about Tommy except that he teaches soccer? Nikolaj has marital issues too and he's just an exhausted father, i guess? And the last guy? Did we ever even see his house? It felt like a super long trailer for another film in which they actually address who all these characters are. I don't actually think you need a dialogue heavy film to make the audience invest in your characters, but you can't show snippets of a handful of guys getting wasted continuously and expect me to remember their names.
Stray (2020)
feels like made by tourists for tourists
I understand the reason behind the film's appeal to the international audience. It's interesting, if you've never been to turkey. you don't know there are strays roaming? cool, interesting. you don't know there are syrian kids out on the streets, making ends meet? this film is a starter. but other than that, what is there really? and most importantly, what does it really say about either dogs or the refugees? does it even try?
the film really feels as though an outsider found themselves in a completely new environment and they were so shocked that they had to observe everything before they could say a word. there are no risks taken, just a camera following the same dogs and kids for an hour and half.
if the film's supposed to be about the kids we follow, why not talk to them or get to know their families or give them a chance to speak for the situations they are in? if it's about the strays as it claims, why not interact with people, volunteers, communities that feed them every single day. as it is, it feels like an exotic framing of the most mundane situations for the people and animals that are actually in them. it does not try to learn more, it is just there to film it.
as someone who resides in turkey, i thought it was bittersweet to see the kids with their beloved dogs but i can't help but feel a bit betrayed by how lazy both the concept and production were overall.