Rate the Last Film you Watched 2: Electric Boogaloo

[djw180 7,054]

Inglorious Basterds (2009) dir Quentin Tarantino

 

 

When putting together my list of favourite films from each year of my life I picked this for 2009, but until now I had never seen the whole film, all the way through in one sitting, just watched parts when it has been on TV. It's a WWII film, mainly, about a group of Jewish-American soldiers (name as in the film's title) operating behind enemy lines in occupied France, terrorising the Germans, and ultimately taking part in a mission to try and assassinate the entire n*zi leadership. But there is much more to the story than that with other plot lines. It is presented in chapters, each of which is almost like a short film in it's own right, that connects to the others, but they don't all feature the same characters, and some characters never meet each other.

It has a great ensemble cast, too many to mention all in detail. I guess you can just about say Brad Pitt plays the main character, Lt Aldo Raine, leader of the Basterds. Christopher Walz won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Col Hans Landa. Often the bad guy roles stand out, and this is no exception to that. Landa is a truly evil, virulently anti-Semitic n*zi, assigned by Hitler to find all remaining Jews France. Melanie Laurent is also worth a mention as Shosanna Dreyfus, the lone survivor of a Jewish family that Landa had found and killed, now running the cinema in Paris where different plot elements come together. The others in the supporting roles include Eli Roth, Daniel Bruhl, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger and August Diehl. There's also a couple of cameo roles from Mike Myers (almost unrecognisable as a British General, who refers to distances in kilometres not miles! - I think that must have been deliberate) and Harvey Keitel (voice on other end of a radio conversation). The soundtrack is great, from a variety of composers and performers, featuring quite a few Ennio Morricone pieces, from other films he worked on, such as The Battle of Algiers and various westerns.

It's a very well written script, as you would expect from Tarantino. It's not a comedy but not that serious at times, like most of his films. Similarly can be quite violent, not hard given the genre, but there are rather more graphic scenes than your average war film includes. There are a couple of scenes of intense drama. One that stands out is when Shosanna is forced to  meets Landa, she knows who he is but he does not remember her. The meeting is just about a film the Germans want her to screen for them. She just about manages to keep her composure before breaking down after he leaves.

 

9/10

 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,314]

My document with my reviews on it got corrupted and I can't be bothered to re-write them, so this one will be a bite-sized special.  Normal service will resume next week.

What I Watched This Week 157 (Dec 30-Jan 5 2025)

Sweet Smell of Success 

dir. Alexander Mackendrick/1957/1h37m 

 

Burt Lancaster plays a ruthless, influential New York columnist who manipulates sleazy publicist Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) into breaking up his sister's relationship with a jazz guitarist by any means necessary.  They both give amazing performances as totally contemptable *ssholes, with a moody jazz score matching the tone perfectly.  9/10

Two Adam Elliot shorts:

Harvie Krumpet

2003/23m 

 

 

Ernie Biscuit

2015/21m 

 

Less autobiographical than his other work, these two claymation shorts are character studies of two foreigners who inadvertently end up in Australia, a Polish man with Tourette's and a deaf French taxidermist.  Celebrating the beauty of life even when it's at its most bleak these are two very life-affirming films may lack the personal touch of his other films but are still very good.  A combined score of 8/10

Trailer of a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars

dir. Jean-Luc Godard/2023/20m 

 

A posthumous work by the legendary French director who passed away in 2022, this is an avant-garde collage essay film where he is in discussion with the very act of filmmaking.  Handmade and tactile, this is sometimes incomprehensible to a moron like me, but I love how this goes beyond experimental and shows how innovative JLG was right into his nineties.  7/10

I Saw the TV Glow

dir. Jane Schoenbrun/2024/1h40m 

 

Teenager Owen (Justice Smith) and his friend Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) are obsessed with an old TV show, The Pink Opaque.  Soon his reality starts to fracture and he believes that he is one of the characters trapped in another dimension.  A real soft burn of a sci-fi film, much like the recent The Vast of Night, this acts as an allegory for the trans experience that is never preachy.  A fantastic synth score adds to the nostalgic feel of the film.  8.5/10

Werckmeister Harmonies

dir. Bela Tarr/2000/2h19m 

 

Lars Rudolph  plays a postman in a small Hungarian village that is one day visited by a circus where the main attraction is a stuffed whale.  Soon after, the village sees an escalation in violence as society starts to break down.  Grimly beautiful and hypnotic, this is made up of very long shots with the camera roving and exploring the space, as is Tarr's trademark, some going for over ten minutes before cutting.  Ever since I watched Satantango and it became my favourite film of all time I've been scared to watch any more of his work because it couldn't possibly compare.  I was wrong.  10/10 Lime's Film of the Week!

Knock at the Cabin

dir. M. Night Shyamalan/2023/1h40m 

 

Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge play a couple with a young daughter who are visited at their cabin in the woods by Dave Bautista's Leonard and his crew, who have an improbable and impossible task for them.  Very Twilight Zone and pulpy, this is elevated by the lead performance from Bautista.  Being a Shyamalan film I was waiting for a huge shock twist at the end, and was left somewhat disappointed by the lack thereof, with the payoff not living up to the set up much like the recent Heretic.  Still a fun watch though.  7/10

A Countess from Hong Kong

dir. Charlie Chaplin/1967/1h47m 

 

Chaplin's final film (though he only has a cameo appearance here) stars Marlon Brando as a US diplomat in Hong Kong who is traveling back to America, but a Russian countess played by Sophia Loren, has stowed away in his cabin.  This feels cheap, with most of the action taking place in a couple of sets, and Marlon Brando, as talented an actor as he is, is just not funny.  Loren was fun, and Chaplin's son Sydney is very good as Brando's assistant, but this is a long way from his best work.  6.5/10

Finding Nemo

dir. Andrew Stanton/2003/1h40m 

 

Clownfish Marlin (Albert Brooks) has to go on an epic journey across the ocean after his son Nemo (Alexander Gould) is captured by a diver.  Pixar's streak of bangers continues here as this is one of their very best films.  It still looks amazing, with the underwater world looking bright and full of life, and their human characters no longer induce nightmares.  The script is funny and touching with not a second of wasted time.  10/10

Two Radu Jude shorts:

The Tube with a Hat

2006/25m 

 

Shadow of a Cloud

2013/30m 

 

Two films from the Romanian filmmaker here, including his very first, which is about a father and his son taking their broken TV to the local village to get repaired.  Shadow of a Cloud follows a priest who is asked to pray over a dying woman, but not all of her relatives are happy about it.  These films don't really feel like Jude films, as we know them now.  There's no sense of surreal absurdity but the style comes close at points, particularly Shadow of a Cloud.  Following the priest around feels like a prelude to the recent Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World.  A combined 7/10

Ostinato

dir. Sonia Furier/2024/7m

(no trailer for this)

This animated short is about a composer trying to write a piece on the piano, but her tinnitus keeps getting in her way, until she finds a way to make the discordant noise a part of her composition.  This is a very vibrant film, though the animation does feel a little cheap at times.  Decent enough but it feels insubstantial.  5.5/10

Edited January 7 by LimeGreenLegend

[djw180 7,054]

Wifelike (2022) dir James Bird

 

 

 

 

There have been quite a few films in the last few years about life-like, AI, android companions, and they are nothing new, think of Ridely Scott's' Bladerunner (1982) and Steven Spielberg's AI (2001). This is another, and it's a really badly made film. I was almost tempted to turn it off and find something else, but I haven't given a film a really bad rating for a while, so I thought I would persevere. Set in not that distant future a company, Wifelike, is making artificial wives for those very wealthy men able to afford them. These are basically very expensive s*x toys and, not surprisingly, there is a vocal protest movement campaigning against them. Some of the protestors steal and “liberate” the artificial wives, others have found a way to hack into them and turn them into weapons to use against their owners and the company. So there is a special police squad who's job it is to find and return the missing ones. The main character, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, is one of these agents and the best there is. So following the death of this human wife the company has provided him with an artificial version of her played by Eleanor Kampouris, who also plays the human wife in flash back scenes. She then starts to have strange dreams and appears to be getting contacted by a group of the protestors, who her husband then tracks down.

Rhys Meyers's acting is truly awful in this, as is that of most of the rest of cast. Kampouris is OK, but the way she plays the artificial wife, I assumed instructed to do so by the director, is very silly. They over accentuate the artificialness of her movements and speech at first before she learns how to do those things properly. This made no sense to me. If the company has the technology to design and build these things then surely they can train them to walk and talk in the factory. There are other plot elements that are similarly nonsensical or highly implausible too.

I cannot work out what sort of film this was meant to be. Maybe it was a terribly executed attempt at a serious film looking at the ethics of this sort of thing if / when it ever becomes possible, i.e. when does a machine become so intelligent and aware of it's own existence that it should be granted human-like rights and be allowed to decide who it lives and sleeps with? Or maybe it was just meant to be a cheap thriller, an excuse to show lots of scantily clad, sometimes naked, women and have a few fight scenes for some action? Either way it's a bad film.

If you think you might like this, watch Bladerunner instead,

3/10

Edited January 12 by djw180

[LimeGreenLegend 4,314]

What I Watched This Week #158 (Jan 6-12)

The Taste of Things
dir. Tran Anh Hung/2023/2h15m 

This French drama is set in 1899 and stars Benoit Magimel as renowned chef Dodin Bouffant who lives and works with his lover of over twenty years, Eugenie (Juliette Binoche), who has repeatedly rebuffed his proposals of marriage.  This is a gentle and understated romance that shows how much real love and care goes into a meal, and in turn how the process of preparing those meals is a way for Benoit and Eugenie to display their emotions for each other.  This is a sumptuously shot film that revels in the food on display, really taking its time in making it look as delicious as possible, and they've succeeded on that front.  There's not really a plot that propels the film, it's more a study of this couple, but it does hit some big emotional beats yet never strays into melodrama.  Magimel and Binoche are wonderful here, you can really feel the decades of affection between them just in the way they are able to share the space in the frame so comfortably.   I was also impressed by the young Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire as Pauline, a girl who has a talent for cooking and becomes an apprentice to Dodin, and almost a daughter figure to him and Eugenie, bringing them even closer together.  A feast for the eyes and the soul.  9.5/10 Lime's Film of the Week!

Smoking Causes Coughing
dir. Quentin Dupieux/2022/1h17m 

When the world is threatened by the Emperor of Evil, Lezardin (Benoit Poelvoorde), who are you gonna call?  Tobacco Force!  A cigarette themed team of five superheroes – and their robot assistant Norbert 500 (Ferdinand Canaud) – but not before they've gone on a team building trip to boost morale on the orders of their chief, a rat puppet that drools green goo.  Imagine Power Rangers but weird and French and you're halfway there.  The other half is made up of a handful of stories told by the characters – and a barracuda at one point – that escalate in both surrealness and grotesqueness.  What I love about the weird worlds of Quentin Dupieux is that when he has an idea, no matter how strange it is, he goes all in.  What really makes this film work is how seriously and sincerely the characters are, especially the leader of Tobacco Force, Benzene (Gilles Lellouche).  A brilliantly bizarre anti-superhero film.  8.5/10

Police Story
dir. Jackie Chan/1985/1h39m 

Jackie Chan directs and stars as Hong Kong cop Chan Ka Kui who is tasked with protecting the star witness in the trial of a major drug-lord, the gangster's secretary Selina (Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia).  The plot here is very simple and predicable, but that's not what you're watching this for.  You're here for the amazing stunt set-pieces and innovative and intricately choreographed fight scenes, and this film has an abundance of both.  It starts off with a car chase that destroys an entire shanty town and finishes with a fight that trashes a shopping mall.  These scenes aren't just about the action but are also packed with personality thanks to Chan.  He's like a silent-era comedian at times with his slapstick style and it makes him so endearing.  He owes as much to Charlie Chaplin as he does Bruce Lee.  The supporting cast are fine but none really match up to Chan, and the final third feels rushed and ends abruptly, but this is still an exciting and entertaining ride.  8/10

Pandora's Box
dir. G.W. Pabst/1929/2h15m 

Pandora's Box is a hugely influential silent drama that stars Louise Brooks as Lulu, a woman so captivating and beautiful that men can't help but fall obsessively in love with her, leading to the downfall of all involved.  Her four main suitors are newspaper publisher Dr. Schon (Fritz Kortner), his son Alwa (Francis Lederer), seedy old man Schigolch (Carl Goetz) and circus strongman Rodrigo Quast (Krafft-Rasching).  They spend the film acting as both ally and enemy to each other as they all vie to possess Lulu.  And, controversially for the time, there is an implied l*sbian relationship between Lulu and Countess Anna Geschwitz (Alice Roberts).  This is an excellently shot film with great use of shadows to set the mood and some really eye catching compositions.  Brooks, with her iconic bob hairstyle, is captivating in the lead as she's not just a femme fatale leading men to their doom but a victim herself, and she goes through a wide range of emotions that are conveyed more subtly then you would normally expect for this era.  It is a bit slow to get going, but once we're introduced to our main cast of characters it becomes a real tragedy of near epic proportions.  9/10

The Foul King
dir. Kim Jee-woon/2000/1h52m 

This is a Korean comedy starring Song Kang-ho, who has gone on to become one of the countries most respected actors, as a hapless loser of a bank clerk who suffers the ultimate humiliation of being head-locked by his boss (Song Young-chan) in the bathroom.  In response he starts training to be a wrestler under the tutelage of Jang Chil-sam (Jang Hang-seon), becoming a popular heel – bad-guy wrestler – and more confident in his personal life.  This is a really endearing film with a quirky and offbeat sense of humour that never feels zany or over the top.  Song is excellent in the lead, and he looks like a pretty decent wrestler, he has a very nice drop-kick.  In fact, all of the wrestling scenes are really well done and gives a pretty good insight into what the business is really like.  This is a classic underdog story but with a punchline at the end of every scene, even the very last one where you think he's going to get some measure of revenge on his boss.  Just like you don't need to be a fan of boxing to like Rocky, you can have no interest in wrestling and still have a blast watching this charming and funny film.  9/10

The Fast and the Furious
dir. Rob Cohen/2001/1h46m 

The first film of the long running series stars Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, leader of a gang of street racers who are also suspected of being behind the heists of several trucks carrying DVD players (they really raised the stakes in subsequent films).  Paul Walker is Brian O'Conner, the undercover cop sent to infiltrate them.  This is such a time capsule of the early 2000s from the music to the fashion to the cinematography and editing – once I heard Limp Bizkit's Rollin' playing at a car meet early on I knew it was on.  None of the performances are bad but none really stand out either, but I did like the sincerity with which everything was delivered, particularly in the scenes between Diesel and Walker.  It's become a meme that these films are all about “family”, but you really do believe that these characters care deeply about each other.  If you're into cars then you'll get more out of this – most of them look ugly as hell to me – and there are a couple of nice chase scenes, but a lot of them suffer from the choppy and hyper kinetic editing of the time that makes it hard to see what's actually going on.  6.5/10

Legend
dir. Ridley Scott/1985/1h34m 

Ridley Scott's fairy-tale fantasy stars a young Tom Cruise as Jack, a forest dwelling lil fella who must go on an heroic quest to rescue Princess Lili (Mia Sara) and save the world from the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry).  The plot here is very basic and predicable, full of all of the usual fairy-tale tropes and cliches – unicorns, goblins, fairies, etc – but, as with The Fast and the Furious, the sincerity of Cruise's performance really sells it and gets you invested.  He's kinda perfect as this pure and innocent fairy-tale hero.  Curry is as wonderful as he always is and even though he doesn't show up until late in the game he still manages to run away with the film.  He's almost unrecognisable under layers of incredible looking makeup that is genuinely intimidating, and he lets that makeup do a lot of the work, giving what is for him quite an understated performance, though there are still a few choice cuts of ham in there.  The production and costumes also nail that fairy-tale aesthetic, with everything covered in glitter.  Not quite on the level of contemporary family-friendly fantasy films like Labyrinth, this still has its share of charm and magic.  7/10

The Green Man
dir. Robert Day, Basil Dearden/1956/1h20m 

Alastair Sim stars as Hawkins, an unassuming watchmaker who is also a professional assassin whose speciality is explosives in this quaint and charming British black comedy.  His latest target is sleazy politician Sir Gregory Upshott (Raymond Huntley) who he plans to take out at the titular hotel where he has gone for a weekend rendezvous with his secretary Joan (Eileen Moore).  Getting in his way are new neighbour Ann (Jill Adams) and vacuum cleaner salesman William (George Cole) who team up to play amateur detectives.  Sim is excellent in the lead, able to switch from charming to malicious with the slightest change of expression or tone of voice, and I really like the pairing of Adams and Cole, who was particularly funny as a bumbling but well meaning salesman.  Terry-Thomas and his iconic gap-toothed smile also makes a memorable appearance as a hotel guest.  The gentle yet dark comedy is right up my aisle, though it's not quite as dark or as funny as the Ealing films of the time like Kind Hearts and Coronets and most famously of all The Ladykillers.  But that's not a fair comparison as those films are out and out masterpieces.  Not quite a classic, this film is still a blast.  8/10

[LimeGreenLegend 4,314]

David Lynch, my favourite filmmaker of all time, died yesterday aged 78.  Not only did he make some of the best films I've ever seen - Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive - but was also, by all accounts, a wonderful person who was just as strange as his films.  

I think this video sums him up perfectly and, if you've never seen any of his work, will make you want to check them out (I'd start with The Elephant Man).  

[djw180 7,054]

Babylon (2022) dir Damien Chazelle

 

 

 

This is a lavish, epic story (3hr + run time) with a great ensemble cast set in late 20s - early 30s Holywood. Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie get top billing as silent movie mega-star Jack Conrad and new comer Nellie LaRoy respectively. But the star is really Diego Calva as Manny Torres, a Mexican immigrant who just wants to work in the film industry in any type of job can get for a production company, and turns out to have a real feel for what people want to see. The supporting characters also include Jovan Adepo as Jazz trumpeter Sydney Palmer, Li Jin Li as cabaret artist and screenwriter “Lady” Fay Zhu and Jean Smart as movie journalist Elinor St John. There is also cameo late on from Toby Maguire as a very sinister LA gangster who thinks he has some great ideas for new films. It has some great, big. colourful scenes set to music, such as where it starts at a lavish party being thrown by Manny's studio executive boss, complete with drugs, booze, strippers and a performing elephant. It charts the change from silent films to talkies and beyond, showing how some thrive on this whilst for others it ends their careers. It also shows how certain attitudes were at that time, in particular with respect to Sydney, who plays in a black-only Jazz band, because mixed race performances and films were not allowed. It has similarities to a number of other films set at a similar time; Cabaret, The Cotton Club, The Artist, and even Cinema Paradiso in a way. The acting is good all round but Calva and Robbie stand out. Some of the sets and cinematography are stunning. It's maybe a little too long and maybe tries to include too many characters, some of which just disappear from the story later on. But it is still a very good film.

 

9 / 10

 

Edited January 19 by djw180

[LimeGreenLegend 4,314]

What I Watched This Week #159 (Jan 13-19)

The Incredibles
dir. Brad Bird/2004/1h55m 

Pixar's take on the superhero film stars Craig T. Nelson as Bob Parr, formerly known as Mr. Incredible before superheroes were outlawed due to the massive damage they cause.  Now a middle aged insurance adjuster, he lives with his wife Helen (Holly Hunter), fka Elastigirl, and their children.  But he soon gets a mysterious invitation to pull his tights back on and he can't refuse.  This isn't just one of the best superhero films ever made but also a quite emotionally heavy film about mid-life crises, marriage issues and the responsibilities of having a family.  Nelson and Hunter have fantastic chemistry together, and there are some solid supporting turns from Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee, who plays the antagonist of the piece, Syndrome.  While Lee gives a good performance I do think that the villain is the weakest aspect of this film.  The retro-futuristic aesthetic looks fantastic, and the bold, brassy and bombastic score matches it perfectly.  9/10

O.C.D. (Obsessor Coercio Deus)
dir. Luca Pizzoleo/2025/12m 

This comedy short stars Raz Fritz as Owen, a man trying to shop at a grocery store while on the phone with his girlfriend (Ariel Martin) planning an exposure therapy dinner date to try to cure his OCD.  But it is his OCD that will end up averting the apocalypse.  Throughout all of this he is antagonised by a fellow shopper played by Steven Ogg, who you will instantly recognise as Trevor from GTAV.  A real fun and inventive little film, this really nails that feeling that if you don't observe all of the peculiar little rituals you have the world will actually end.  Fritz is a solid lead, really nailing the escalating panic of his situation.  However, it is Ogg who steals the show, just as he did in GTAV.  He's basically playing the same type of character here, just a little less psychopathic and cannibalistic.  He's just so good at delivering this type of violently aggressive yet unnervingly funny dialogue.  8/10

Romeo Must Die
dir. Andrzej Bartkowiak/2000/1h55m 

Loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, this action thriller stars Jet Li and Aaliyah as Han Sing and Trish O'Day, two eventually star-crossed lovers who are on opposite sides of a gang war, each vying for control of Oakland's dockyards.  Working together, they uncover a conspiracy that has been playing both sides for fools.  Jet Li is an incredible martial artist and his talents in that regard are wasted for the most part here, with only a handful of fight scenes in a two hour film.  He's not a bad actor, and he has charisma, but you really want to be seeing him kicking *ss for a much higher percentage of the runtime than you get here.  Aaliyah is sweet as Trish who is outside of her families criminal activities, but I never felt any spark between her and Li.  Delroy Lindo is, as usual, excellent as Isaak O'Day, her father.  I always love seeing him pop up in films and he's a real threatening presence here as a crime lord.  Cut out about twenty minutes and add some more fight scenes and you'd have a much better film.  6/10

Raffles
dir. Sam Wood/1939/1h12m 

David Niven stars in the lead role of A.J. Raffles, first class cricket player and gentleman thief, in this light and breezy crime comedy.  After reconnecting with an old flame, Gwen (Olivia de Havilland), he spends the weekend at her parents manor where a diamond necklace proves too tempting, especially when his friend is in need of some quick cash.  But as well as her parents, also in attendance is Scotland Yard detective MacKenzie (Dudley Digges).  The majority of the film plays out in the manor house with lots of running in and out of rooms, miscommunications and close calls, classic farce.  Despite the short length this does become somewhat tiresome, with the whole thing being carried by Niven, whose trademark charm and raffish wit are on full display here.  He just glides through this film effortlessly.  de Havilland is good but she really has nothing to do here despite being a big star at the time, appearing in Gone With the Wind the same year.  Fun but forgettable 6/10

The Straight Story
dir. David Lynch/1999/1h52m 

David Lynch, my favourite filmmaker of all time, died on the 16th of January at 78.  In his honour I watched one of only two feature length films of his I've yet to see, The Straight Story.  Based on true events it tells the story of Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth), a man in his 70s who drives a ride-on lawnmower over 300 hundred miles to visit his estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) who has recently had a stroke.  This is unconventional for Lynch in that it's so conventional yet is still unmistakeably one of his works.  It's there in the camera movements, the slow dissolves between shots and the awkward and stilted humour.  There are moments when he teases a movement towards something stranger and darker, but he never does, this is a film about light.  The shots of Alvin slowly making his way through the countryside are beautifully lit with gorgeous golden sunlight that is full of life yet bittersweet as it's also the sun going down for Alvin, Lyle, Lynch and all of us.  These moments are given time for Alvin to think about his life, his regrets, and for us to contemplate these things too.  Farnsworth is amazing in the lead which was his last performance, one he gave while dying of cancer.  A beautiful film that is the perfect way to send off one of the great artists of our time.  The sky sure is full of stars tonight.  10/10 Lime's Film of the Week!

The Big Boss
dir. Lo Wei/1971/1h39m 

The Big Boss is a martial arts action film, the one that made Bruce Lee a worldwide star just a couple of years before his death.  He plays Cheng Chiu On, a man who moves to Thailand with his cousins where they all get work at an ice factory.  When factory workers start going missing he uncovers a heroin smuggling ring and he vows to take down the titular Big Boss (Han Ying-Chieh), breaking a promise to his mother never to fight again.  This is a promise he takes seriously as it's nearly forty five minutes before he starts throwing fists, and it's worth the wait when he does.  The fight scenes are the main attraction here and it's always incredible to see Lee at work.  The plot is fairly simplistic, with most characters being rather one dimensional and is obviously a vehicle to showcase Lee's talents, but that's not that much of a negative considering how mesmerising he is whenever he's on screen.  7/10

Eastern Promises
dir. David Cronenberg/2007/1h34m 

This London set crime thriller stars Naomi Watts as Anna, a nurse who delivers the baby of a brutally beaten and r*ped teenage girl who dies in childbirth.  Finding her diary, which is written in Russian, she sets out to find out what happened to her, making her cross paths with a “driver” for the Russian mob, Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen).  This makes something of a double bill with the earlier Cronenberg/Mortensen film A History of Violence, with some facets inverted.  I won't say any more as it would be very spoilery, but it is interesting.  There's not really much of Cronenberg's trademark body horror here, but there are some shockingly violent scenes that feel right at home.  Mortensen is brilliant in the lead, seemingly solidly stoic but with a lot more happening under the surface.  Watts is also good, and I liked the surprise appearance of Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski – watch his film EO which follows the life of a donkey, it's incredible – as her Russian uncle.  A lot of the smaller roles feel quite stereotypical and cliched, but the propulsive pace of the film makes that less of an issue.  8/10

Caught in the Rain
dir. Charlie Chaplin/1914/11m 

This very early Chaplin – only his second film as director – sees the little tr*mp hit on a married woman in the park before following her and her husband to their hotel where he causes his usual havoc.  This is very simplistic compared to his later shorts with most of the gags in isolation and not leading one into the other in a series of escalating events.  Chaplin's performance is good, with his character feeling pretty fully formed even this early in his career.  He also has a good handle on the fairly new medium of film with one moment standing out in that regard.  He's drunkenly staggering around in the lobby before we cut away to an unrelated shot.  When we cut back he's now arguing with the receptionist while wearing a ladie's hat.  It's totally left up to our imagination how he got that hat and it's a joke you can only make on film.  Using editing to get laughs is something that I doubt really happened before Chaplin, and that's why he's considered an all time comedic genius.  Apart from that, this is fairly standard fare for the time.  6/10

[djw180 7,054]

The Discovery (2017) dir Charlie McDowel

 

 

Jason Segal stars as Will, a doctor and son of a scientist, Thomas (Robert Redford), who claims to have proven there is an afterlife. Will fell out with his father sometime before this, is sceptical of the claims and particularly concerned by the suicides they have encouraged. The film starts over a year since Thomas went public with his findings, with Will on his way to see him. Thomas now lives in mansion on a island somewhere just off the coast of an un-named US state. The mansion serves as a research centre and home for Thomas' cult-like followers, including his other son Toby (Jesse Plemons). On the way Will meets Isla (Rooney Mara) who later ends up joining them at the mansion. Then over the next few days / weeks, things happens, Will learns more about the nature of his father's work, the relationship between Will and Isla develops and there's some drama I won't spoil by saying more on, and the ending is quite interesting. It is, just about, sci-fi. Given the nature of the science Thomas is researching it is not surprising that there is nothing plausible in the fairly vague explanations the film attempts use. To be fair to the writers, they do not try to explain things too much, but the little they do include is, for a viewer who is a scientist, a bit silly. But if you can overlook those small plot flaws, the rest is reasonably decent. The acting is OK but no performance really stands out.

 

6 / 10

 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,314]

What I Watched This Week #160 (Jan 20-26)

Talk to Me
dir. Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou/2022/1h35m 

Talk to Me is an Australian horror about a group of teens who mess around with the embalmed hand of a spiritualist in order to talk to ghosts, but when Mia (Sophie Wilde), who is grieving the loss of her mother, takes it a bit too far things get out of hand.  What could have been a stereotypical teen horror is elevated by a few things.  Firstly the premise, though just a variation on the Ouija board, is visually interesting, with the characters having to literally shake the hand of the dead.  This comes into play in the brilliant ending that you don't see coming until just before it happens.  There's also some unexpectedly shocking violence which feels even more brutal as it's mostly self harm.  The scene where Mia's younger brother Riley (Joe Bird) gets possessed was particularly intense.  Wilde is a great lead, you can really feel her descent into madness.  I did find some of the supporting characters to be rather grating, but they were supposed to be so I can't take away too many points for that.  Probably the best film made by YouTubers.  8/10

2 Fast 2 Furious
dir. John Singleton/2003/1h47m 

The Fast and the Furious becomes a franchise with this first of many sequels, the hilariously named 2 Fast 2 Furious.  Paul Walker is the only returning cast member, with his former police officer Brian O'Conner teaming up with old friend, ex-con Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), under the command of agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes).  Their goal is to go undercover and bring down drug dealer Carter Verone (Cole Hauser).  This is more stupid, brainless fare with some of the ugliest cars I've seen, but I still had fun for the most part.  It's better directed for a start, with Singleton, most famous for his debut Boyz n the Hood, making the races actually coherent and watchable.  The best thing about this film is the homoer*tic tension between Walker and Gibson.  I'm sure Vin Diesel felt like a jealous ex watching this.  Totally throwaway and forgettable once the credits roll this still has a slight edge over the original in my opinion.  6/10

My Favourite Cake
dir. Behtash Sanaeeha, Maryam Moghaddam/2024/1h37m 

This Iranian drama stars Lily Farhadpour as Mahin, a lonely old woman living in Tehran who meets by chance taxi driver Faramarz (Esmail Mehrabi).  Sparks immediately start flying and the two spend the evening together.  This is a wonderfully gentle yet powerful film that's not only a sweet romance but a scathing tirade against the Iranian regime and their treatment of women.  Farhadpour is an amazing lead, it feels like a privilege to see her come out of her shell and grasp life for what must be the first time in decades.  Mehrabi is equally good as a man who can't believe anyone could possibly be interested in him.  The second half of the film is all set in Mahin's home as they talk and dance and drink and it all feels so natural and just lovely.  My big negative here is with the ending which I won't spoil, but it's a bit of a downer and not at all what Mahin deserves.  In reality the directors, who are also a married couple, are in a lot of trouble for this film for things like showing a woman's hair!  In December they were put on trial for propaganda against the regime, breaking Islamic rules by making a vulgar movie, and spreading prostitution and libertinism.  They were banned from working, making films and their passports were confiscated.  That is why films like this are important.  8.5/10

The First Slam Dunk
dir. Takehiko Inoue/2022/2h5m 

An adaptation of a popular manga – directed by the creator of the manga in his film debut – this is a basketball drama about a high school team of scrappy underdogs who haven't always gotten along but can work together when it counts.  This all sounds very typical, but it's the structure of this film that really makes it unique.  The film is entirely set during the big final championship game against the heavy favourites, with flashbacks giving us backstory about the characters.  This framing device is something I've not seen in a sports film before and it really works for the most part.  At the beginning it's a bit strange because we're at what would usually be the climax of any other film like this right from the start, meaning we don't know any of the characters yet so don't have much of an incentive to cheer them on.  But once those gaps start to get filled in I couldn't help but get invested in the drama happening on the court.  The direction is really exciting, getting you involved in all of the action like you're a part of the team and even though it does get rather melodramatic at times I still found all of the characters endearing, particularly the fiery Skauragi (Subaru Kimura).  If you're a fan of sports films this is one you need to put on your list.  9/10

Cars
dir. John Lasseter/2006/1h57m 

Cars stars Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen, a selfish, egotistical race car who gets stranded in the slow and sleepy town of Radiator Springs on the way to the big championship race.  While there he learns that there's more to life than going fast and coming first.  In my opinion this is the first big miss in Pixar's filmography.  There are some things I like - it looks gorgeous with some beautiful landscape shots of the desert, and the stuff about bringing new life to a forgotton town that's falling into decreptitude – but for the most part I found it boring and overlong.  That's partly due to my indifference to motorsports, particularly NASCAR, which this film is all about, and partly due to the incredibly annoying characters of McQueen and mostly of all the rusty tow truck Mater (Larry the f*cking Cable Guy).  I get that McQueen is supposed to be annoying at the start so he can experience some growth, but it happens way too slowly for my liking.  Larry the Cable Guy is just an unfunny c*nt and I actually hate him and his stupid fake f*cking voice.  5/10

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
dir. Kazuhisa Takenouchi, Hirotoshi Rissen, Daisuke Nishio/2003/1h5m 

This sci-fi anime tells the story of a massively popular band on an alien planet who are abducted and brought to Earth where their memories are wiped, their appearance altered, and their brains reprogrammed to play soulless corporate pop as part of an evil scheme to rule the universe.  Only a lonely space pilot, who's in love with the band's beautiful bass player, can rescue them and save the day.  This was made as a visual accompianment to Daft Punk's 2001 album Discovery, which features songs such as One More Time, Digital Love, and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.  There is no dialogue, the whole story is told visually and through the music and it's one hell of an experience.  Just on its own the album is a trip, but in combination with the incredible visuals, which also gives off big nostalgic vibes for 80s morning cartoons, it becomes something totally new.  It's like the Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz experience for the 21st century.  9/10 Lime's Film of the Week!

Letter from an Unknown Woman
dir. Max Ophuls/1948/1h27m 

Set in Vienna in the early 1900s this romantic drama stars Louis Jourdan as Stefan Brand, who at the start of the film accepts the challenge of a duel with the intention of fleeing.  Before he can he recieves a letter from a woman who he doesn't remember, but who has loved him for most of her life.  In flashbacks we see her story.  Joan Fontaine plays Lisa who was only a teenager when Brand, then a famous pianist, moved in next to her and her mother.  She instantly falls in love but he doesn't notice her.  Not long after, her mother remarries and she has to move away.  We learn what happens to her over the next couple of decades, but I won't spoil any of that here.  This is a real traguc romance that's made all the more worse for the fact that we, the audience, can see what's coming long before the characters.  Fontaine is an excellent lead, encapsulating that inexperience of youth that transforms into a bitter yearning that only hurts.  Jourdan is just as good as a charismatic *sshole who'll make you feel like you mean the world to him.  In many ways it reminded me of a darker version of Brief Encounter, which is an all time classic, so that's not an unflattering comparison.  8/10

Nosferatu
dir. Robert Eggers/2024/2h13m 

One of the most interesting filmmakers working today returns with his version of the silent horror classic Nosferatu, which itself was a legally distinct adaptation of Dracula.  Nicholas Hoult plays Thomas Hutter, the clerk sent to Transylvania to finalise a property deal with the reclusive Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard).  Orlok soon becomes obsessed with Hutter's wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) and is set on posessing her and destroying anyone who gets in his way.  While this is fairly faithful to the original, and also tips its hat at the Werner Herzog version from the 70s, Eggers also makes this his own.  This is most obviously evident in the look of Orlok, which is a far departure from the pale, bat-like creature that we all know and fear.  Here he's more like the rotting, undead corpse of Vlad the Impaler, replendent with a big, bushy moustache.  He has a much more physical presence here than in other versions, using his stature to intimidate, not just his creepy otherworldliness.  This is excellently directed, with great use of camera movement, particularly slow pans to seemingly empty parts of the room, to emphasise the mounting dread.  Skarsgard is great as Orlok, continuing his legacy of playing horror icons after his Pennywise in IT, with Hoult and Depp also giving good performances.  There's also great support from Willem Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Ineson.  A brilliantly atmospheric gothic horror.  9/10

[djw180 7,054]

Inheritance (2024) dir Sylwester Jakimow

 

 

 

A Polish comedy about the relatives of recently deceased millionaire, gathering at his remote, mysterious mansion for the reading of his will. The only member of the cast I recognised was Maciej Stuhr, who I have seen in a Polish crime drama, as nephew Dawid. He is probably the main character in that we meet him first and the film ends with a scene of him and his wife and kids. Dawid plus a another nephew and niece are expecting to share their uncle's fortune. Obviously, since its a film, it doesn't quite work out as expected. The uncle, an inventor and former TV game show host, has left a series of puzzles for his relatives to solve in order to claim their inheritance, It's OK, nothing bad or poorly made about it, just nothing that special either. It's more of just a light hearted drama than a laugh-out-loud type of comedy.

 

6/10

 

[djw180 7,054]

The Forgotten Battle (2020) dir Matthijs van Heijningen

 

 

Dutch WWII film, in Dutch, German and English, about three people involved in the The Battle of the Scheldt (and that is what the original Dutch title translates as, so not sure why they changed that for the English tittle). It was a battle in late 1944, going on whilst Operation Market Garden (as in A Bridge Too Far) was happening and continuing after that. It was crucial to the Allied war efforts in order for them to be able to make use of the port of Antwerp, to bring in supplies on much larger ships than they otherwise would have had to rely on. The problem with Antwerp was to get to it, ships had to navigate through the many islands of the Scheldt estuary, which were all still in German hands. The story follows three main characters. Teuntje (Susan Radder), a young Dutch civilian living in German occupied Vlissingen on one of those islands, Marinus (Gijs Blom), a Dutch born soldier in the German army assigned to a desk job assisting the German officer in charge of Vlissingen, and Will (Jamie Flatters), a British glider pilot, shot down on his way to Arnhem during Operation Market Garden, who makes his way back to Allied lines and joins in the assault on the Scheldt.

I have to criticise the character of Will a bit. Given most of the Allied soldiers involved in this battle were Canadian (as the film makes clear), why not have the allied character one of those, rather than a British soldier who gets involved by accident? If they had made more of relationship of this battle to Operation Market Garden I could understand it, but they don't. It's as if they wanted a British, not Canadian, main character. Why? But apart from that small aspect, it's a good film. It feels real, not that I would know what real battle is like of course, but I mean it does not over do the action. It shows the full horror of death and injury in battle (from both sides), nothing is glamorised at all, and nothing seems to done be just for the sake of special effects. The acting is good without any particularly outstanding performances. There's some good cinematography. It includes authentic looking aircraft (for those interested in that sort of thing, Horsa gliders towed by a mix of Halifax and Dakota planes). It starts with a great summary of the state of the war at that point using an animated map showing the allied advance from the Normandy landings.

 

8 / 10

Edited February 9 by djw180

[LimeGreenLegend 4,314]

What I Watched This Week #161 (Jan 27-Feb 2)

Rattle of a Simple Man
dir. Muriel Box/1964/1h32m 

The wonderful Harry H. Corbett stars as Percy, a shy and quiet man in his late thirties who has no experience with the ladies.  While down in London to watch United play in the FA Cup final his loutish and laddish mates dare him to try and chat up a beautiful woman in the pub where they're drinking.  This is Cyrenne (Diane Cilento), a prostitute with a heart of gold who takes pity on him and invites him back to her flat, in which the film is mostly set.  What follows is a excellently written and performed two-hander between Corbett and Cilento that is very progressive for its time – exploring themes of masculinity, gender roles, and the class divide.  But first and foremost this is a comedy and I think it's still hilarious today.  Corbett was well known for the sitcom Steptoe and Son (later remade for the US as Sandford and Son), which had only begun a couple of years earlier, and his comic timing and delivery is near perfect here.  But he's also a very good dramatic actor, bringing genuine pathos to this role, making him feel like a real person and not just a joke.  Cilento is also very good, with her character going from pitying Percy, to being intrigued by him, all the way to falling in love with him.  I went into this expecting a cheeky s*x comedy, something like a tame, British, 60's version of American Pie, but this is much deeper and more meaningful than that, which I think is thanks in part to having a female director.  Corbett's Mancunian accent may be a bit dodgy but that doesn't detract from this charming, funny, and surprisingly touching film.  9/10 Lime's Film of the Week!

Love Affair
dir. Leo McCarey/1939/1h28m 

This classic romantic melodrama tells the story of two strangers, Michel and Terry (Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne), who meet and fall in love aboard a cruise ship.  The only problem is that they are both already engaged.  They make a vow to meet again in six month's time at the top of the Empire State Building if they are able to end their current relationships.  Starting off very sentimental and typical, there is a pretty shocking twist at the mid point that presents an obstacle to our star-crossed lovers.  It also shifts the tone in a way I wasn't expecting and allows Dunne to show off a different side to her character and to go through a substantial arc.  Her performance is what really drives the film in this second half and she does a great job of eliciting sympathy without coming across as pitiful, quite the opposite in fact as she gains a determined self-sufficiency in this part of the film.  Boyer is also good, though his character isn't nearly as interesting, being just a typical lovestruck Frenchman for the most part.  There's some nice direction here, I particularly liked the shot where Terry throws open the door of her apartment to reveal the Empire State reflected in the glass.  Not on the same level as Brief Encounter, which is my measuring stick for this genre, but this is still worth a watch if you're in the mood for love.  7/10

Boiling Point
dir. Takeshi Kitano/1990/1h36m 

An early film from Takeshi Kitano, this stars Yurei Yanagi as Masaki, a young man who plays for a pathetically bad baseball team that is coached by a former Yakuza.  When the coach is threatened by current Yakuza Masaki decides to travel to Okinawa in order to get a gun.  While there he meets the psychotic gangster Uehara (Kitano), who has his own plans for revenge.  This has a very strange tone for a crime film in that it's very relaxed, almost shambling.  There's no effort to build any tension, with events coming and going with ease, punctuated by dry, dark humour and occasional moments of violence.  In that regard this reminds me of the French New Wave of the early sixties where the plots were so unimportant they were practically ignored.  Yanagi is good in the lead, someone who is both passive and active at the same time, he feels impotent.  That's in contrast to Kitano's performance, you can't take your eyes off of him, he has such an imposing presence.  This is very well shot, Kitano having a great eye for interesting compositions.  Not your typical gangster film and it's all the better for it.  8/10

Three Ages
dir. Buster Keaton, Edward F. Cline/1923/1h4m 

This silent comedy from Buster Keaton sees him vie for the romantic attention of The Girl (Margaret Leahy) with a brutish bully (Wallace Beery).  The unique selling point for this very standard plot is that we see it play out over three different ages of man – the Stone Age, the Roman Age, and the Modern age.  The different gags he comes up with for each age are what makes this worth watching over the threadbare plot, and he's got some great ones here.  My favourite comes during the Roman period where he has a dog-drawn chariot, and when he needs to replace one of them he pulls a spare out of the trunk.  Keaton was also known for his death-defying stunts and there's a very impressive one here where he falls down the side of a building, his life saved by some conveniently placed awnings.  Keaton gives a great performance here, his style quite different from Chaplin.  His slightly bemused yet stoically unchanging expression never betraying more than the slightest emotion makes all of his stunts and pratfalls even funnier.  Not as substantial as his later films like Sherlock Jr. or The General, this is still an entertaining watch.  7.5/10

The Second
dir. Taylor Ramos, Tony Zhou/2024/16m 

This short is set in a modern world where 18th century duels are still the preferred manner of settling disputes and stars Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Phillip, a man who must act as the second – the person on each side of the duel who tries to negotiate a peaceful resolution before the pistols are pulled out - for his son Danny (Ethan Hwang).  This is from the couple behind the excellent YouTube channel Every Frame a Painting, which used to make video essays about filmmaking and what makes particular directors unique, so it's disappointing that this film is pretty bland visually.  Most of it is just people stood in a field talking and they're unable to inject any life into proceedings through camera movement of framing.  Sun-Hyung Lee is a good lead, bringing a lot of personal history to his character, who made his name as a young man by participating in a duel himself, and I would've liked the film to focus more on the relationship between himself and Danny.  6/10

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
dir. Justin Lin/2006/1h44m 

Tokyo Drift is like the Halloween III of the series in that it's trying to turn the franchise into an anthology where the only connection between each film is the fact that people are driving ridiculous cars fast and in a furious manner.  In this instalment Lucas Black plays middle-aged high schooler Sean who's sent to live with his military father in Tokyo after getting into car related trouble involving one of the kids from Home Improvement.  While there he inevitably gets caught up in the underground drift racing scene (the montage of Sean learning how to drift is the highlight of the film).  The Tokyo setting is interesting and makes it visually distinct from the previous films, but I found this to be pretty boring.  Sean is such a nothing character that I forgot he exists every time he's not on screen.  My knowledge of this series is that it gets really over the top and insane – apparently they go to space in the tenth one – so at this point I'm just hanging in there waiting for that madness to start, which I hope is soon.  4/10

Pepi, Luci, Bom
dir. Pedro Almodóvar/1980/1h22m 

The debut feature length film from Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, this stars Carmen Maura as Pepi, a woman who is r*ped by a policeman (Felix Rotaeta) and decides to take revenge.  This comes in the form of befriending his shy and retiring wife Luci (Eva Siva) and corrupting her with the help of her friend, punk singer Bom (Alaska).  This starts with Bom pissing on her, unlocking Luci's masochistic tendencies.  This is a transgressive, vulgar, sexually frank anti-authority film and one of the most punk movies I've ever seen.  I don't think there's ever been a male filmmaker who can write and direct female characters like Almodóvar, something he proves time and again with films like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and All About My Mother.  This isn't as refined as his later films, but that rawness adds to the feel of the piece.  That also goes for the performances, they are good but in an amateurish way.  It all feels very DIY, right down to the pop art style intertitles.  8/10

[LimeGreenLegend 4,314]

What I Watched This Week #162 (Feb 3-9)

The Servant
dir. Joseph Losey/1963/1h56m 

James Fox plays rich Tony who is looking to hire a manservant.  Enter Hugo Barrett (Dirk Bogarde), who seems perfect for the job.  Things get even better when Hugo insists his sister Vera (Sarah Miles) be hired as maid.  But things soon get dark as Hugo becomes more and more malevolent towards Tony until finally the servant becomes the master.  This is a brilliant slow-burn of a thriller with an incredible central performance from Bogarde as the insidious Hugo, slowly breaking down Tony with scary precision.  He is one of the most slimy, scheming pieces of sh*t I've seen on film.  There's a strong theme of the class divide being flipped here, with the working class Hugo dominating the upper class Tony.  There's also a strong homosexual subtext to their antagonistic relationship, with Hugo using his sexuality like a weapon at times.  The direction really adds to the atmosphere, especially in the use of a round mirror which is prominently featured in several shots, distorting and twisting reality.  9/10 Lime's Film of the Week!

Ratatouille
dir. Brad Bird/2007/1h51m 

This Paris set film is the second Pixar movie from Brad Bird, after The Incredibles, and stars Patton Oswalt as Remy.  Equipped with an almost supernaturally sophisticated palate he dreams of becoming a chef, spurred on by the words of the world famous Gusteau - “anyone can cook”.  This is especially meaningful for Remy as he also happens to be a rat.  Teaming up with the incompetent Linguini (Lou Romano) the duo become a lean, mean, cooking machine, which they'll need to be in order to impress misanthropic restaurant critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole).  A big step up from Cars when it comes to story and character, this does however feel overlong, with several plotlines vying for space.  I like the central pairing of Remy and Linguini, and the way Remy controls him – sat on his head and pulling his hair like a crane operator – is always funny, and led to one of the best payoffs for a joke in a totally different film from over a decade later, Everything Everywhere all at Once.  It should go without saying that the animation is exceptional, and Pixar still has that magic when it comes to sincere emotional moments.  Here it's when Ego tastes the titular dish and is transported back to his childhood.  7/10

The Stranger
dir. Orson Welles/1946/1h35m 

The legendary Orson Welles directs and stars in this post war noir thriller about a war crimes investigator, Agent Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), hunting down a n*zi hiding out as a professor in a small American town, Franz Kindler/Charles Rankin (Welles).  Only Welles's third film, this is quite different from his first two in that it's fairly straightforward narratively and structurally with none of the formal experimentation of Citizen Kane or The Magnificent Ambersons.  But that's not to say that this isn't a masterfully crafted film.  The use of shadows really adds to the tension and there are some long takes lasting several minutes that are so well staged you hardly notice that there's not been a cut.  Robinson is a good lead as the persistent investigator feeling his way around town, but it's always Welles who steals the show, his commanding presence filling up the frame.  Not the masterpiece like Citizen Kane or his later films like Chimes at Midnight and F for Fake, this is still an enjoyable thriller that had me on the edge of my seat at the end.  8.5/10

The Face on the Barroom Floor
dir. Charlie Chaplin/1914/12m 

This very early Chaplin short is quite unique in his filmography in that it's an adaptation of a poem, with the lines of the poem used as the intertitles.  He plays a heartbroken artist who has just been dumped by his girlfriend Madeleine (Cecile Arnold), and is now drinking himself to oblivion in the local bar, drawing her portrait on the floor with some chalk.  This may be the first time in his career where he focuses more on the melodrama than the gags, though there are some of those here too, mostly involving drunken pratfalls and arguments with the other patrons of the bar.  Well made compared to other films of the era, and Chaplin's charm always shines through, this still feels underdeveloped with some polish needed on both the dramatic and comedic elements.  I do appreciate the originality though.  5.5/10

Perfect Blue
dir. Satoshi Kon/1997/1h22m 

The debut film from Satoshi Kon – who went on to make the absolutely bonkers Paprika, a major influence on Christopher Nolan's Inception – Perfect Blue is an anime noir thriller about a young popstar, Mima (Junko Iwao), who leaves her famous girl group in order to forge an acting career.  But soon she suspects she may have a stalker and the people who have been helping with her new career start turning up dead.  This gives off big David Lynch vibes, from the dread-filled atmosphere, the unconventional narrative that at times refuses to give answers or explain things clearly, but especially in the theme of split identities.  Mima struggles with the disconnect between her real self and the idealised version that her fans obsess over.  The animation is excellent here, with some really effective sequences as Mima spirals further into paranoia.  An excellent thriller that feels quite unconventional for an anime film.  9/10

Golden Eighties
dir. Chantal Akerman/1986/1h36m 

The director of Sight and Sound magazines greatest film of all time, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, brings something I wouldn't expect from her, a poppy, pastel-coloured musical centred around a hair salon in that epicentre of 80's social life, the mall.  The plot concerns a love triangle between Lili (Fanny Cottencon), the flighty salon manager who's having an affair with the owner, an older married man, Mado (Lio), who works in the salon, and Robert (Nicolas Tronc), the son of the owners of a clothing store across the mall from the salon.  Vibrant and full of life and energy, this reminded me of the Jacques Demy musicals of the 60's like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.  The use of colour and the costuming is amazing, and I love the artificiality of the setting, really matching the vibe and the time period.  The music is excellent, though I wouldn't call them songs, it's more like sung dialogue, again like the Demy musicals.  The performances are all good, but the standout is Delphine Seyrig who plays Robert's mother and gets a substantial subplot of her own.  If you don't like musicals then you won't like this, but I do, and I think that this is a lot of fun.  9/10

The Dark Tower
dir. Nikolaj Arcel/2017/1h35m 

Stephen King's Dark Tower is an epic seven book fantasy saga set in a bizarre world that's a mash up of western, sci-fi, horror and everything in between and tells the story of the last gunslinger, Roland Deschain, and his quest to find The Dark Tower, a structure that stands at the centre of all worlds, in order to protect it from the embodiment of pure evil, The Man in Black.  I've read it and I love it, and this film, which attempts to adapt all of that in a single 90 minute film, is a f*cking abomination.  Imagine Lord of the Rings, but it's an hour long and they cut out all of the characters except Frodo, Gandalf and Sauron, got rid of ninety percent of the story and locations, and don't tell it from the perspective of the main character.  Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey would make a good Roland and Man in Black in a totally different film with different writers and most definitely a different director.  I am hopeful for the Dark Tower TV show though, because it's being helmed by Mike Flanagan, who made the much better than it should be sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep.  One thing this film did do well is that it made me want to re-read the books, so I'm off to find my copy of the first volume, The Gunslinger.  1/10

Edited February 13 by LimeGreenLegend

[djw180 7,054]

Emilia Perez (2024) dir Jaques Audiard

 

 

A multi award-nominated musical about a Mexican drug baron who always felt they were a woman born in a man's body. She fakes her own death and has gender reassignment, plus a lot of other plastic surgery, to start a new, better, life in a new identify. She is assisted in all this by her lawyer, Rita and tries to re-establish some sort of relationship with her wife Jessi and kids. Emilia is played by Karla Sofia Gascon (a trans woman) and has been nominated for best leading actress in the Oscars and Baftas. But I would say it is Zoe Saldana, as Rita, who is the main character. Both she and Selana Gomez, as Jessi, have picked up (supporting actress) nominations, as has the director, makeup artists, composers, producers, writers and others in technical roles. It could win all of those. I don't think it will, but I haven't seen that many films released last year yet. It seems to be one that you either love or hate. I suspect a lot of the hate is coming from people who are anti-trans and can't see past that aspect of the film.

I liked it, the music and cinematography in particular. The acting was good, but I'm not sure if it was award-winningly good. I also think the script could have been better. It's just over 2 hours long but because it has so many musical scenes that, as is usually case in musicals, don't advance the plot the way spoken dialogue would, it felt to me like it ought to have been longer to fill in some missing details. The musical numbers were good though, sort of similar to a Baz Lurhman film, in that the actors singing them do not necessarily have a great singing voice but also with some scenes that just burst into a massive dancing and singing show that then goes back to dialogue afterwards. And a lot of it is not musical at all. There were a couple of cheesy scenes; one in-particular in a Thai gender reassignment clinic that Rita is checking out before finding the right one, did not make much sense to me. Maybe they were trying to say “this is the popular image of a s*x-change clinic, but in reality it's something far more serious”? Another slightly weak plot element is that Jessi does not recognise her former husband after the surgery. Of course that surgery has made some massive physical changes, that was the point, but even so, would you not pick up on some characteristics of a person you have been married to for years and had kids with? I can forgive that though, put it down to artistic license, in the same way I forgive William Shakespeare frequently making his characters unrecognisable to their friends and family just by doing their hair different and wearing a hat!

8 / 10

Edited Sunday at 05:22 PM by djw180