ysbreker

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Ok, so Kusturica might not be for me. I saw When Father Was Away on Business and it had some good moments, but most of the movie had me yawning. I will also watch Underground, as that seems to be the highest rated one, and probably skip the others... I have downloaded Arizona Dream a while ago so might see that some time later.

 

[edit] confirmed that most of Kusturica is not for me. I didn't really enjoy Underground a lot, although it is his highest rated work and objectively I can accept that it may be an important movie, especially for viewers from former Yugoslavia. There are definitely some amazing moments in this film, but most of the time I found the scenery dull and two-dimensional (maybe I've been ruined by Bava now?), and the movie doesn't really justify it's length to me. There were several spots where I thought it could have ended, but it kept going for another hour, and maybe rather pointlessly.

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I was lucky enough to catch a screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on Halloween night. It was in a local independent, really tiny cinema. It was packed. And I tell you what friends that's a fuckin movie. Absolutely delighted to have seen it on the big screen. 

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I saw The Killing of a Sacred Deer last night and I'm actually pretty confused about it because it somehow failed on a fundamental level for me.  I didn't expect to like it, I only even saw it because some people I know really wanted to see it so I went along and I haven't seen any of the guy's other films so I didn't really have any expectations.  It was really weird because I guess I was supposed to feel some sort of reaction to seeing things in the movie and I didn't really feel anything while watching it.  I'm generally not great with thrillers, I get nervous at basically anything (I literally couldn't watch the trailer for Polaroid which seems to be an incredibly stupid movie but even still I had to look away), but Sacred Deer has some thing going on where everything is super stilted and stiff and awkward, but that just made it so I didn't feel like I was watching people and so nothing had any sort of impact on me.  The people I saw it with afterwards were saying they found it super intense and hard to watch at points which I found interesting because coming out of it I thought it was supposed to be a black comedy sort of satirizing Haneke type movies and that the non-reaction I had to everything was intended, but I guess I was just so disconnected it didn't work for me.  There was probably also stuff that went way over my head, there were a lot of repeated motifs like every main character except I guess one smoking cigarettes, or some thing with french fries, but I didn't get if there was a point to it (which I guess sums up how I felt about the film overall). 

 

I did like seeing Alicia Silverstone though even if it was only for a little bit.  Also it was the first movie movie I used my Moviepass for, another factor that motivated me to go see it.  It was pretty nice not paying $15 to see a movie.

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Tragedy Girls is a very very funny Heathers/Scream sort of black horror-comedy. It's entirely possible the self-absorbed social media-obsessed characters will put some people off, but I found both leads to be hysterical and the pacing of the film was perfect. My biggest fear going in was that it'd be another tired lecture about millenials and the narcissism of social media (the trailer definitely leans on this angle too hard), but luckily that's only the premise that allows the plot to happen, not the basis for most it's comedy. There's a really good mix of sincere character work and absurd cynical violence and if you are a fan of Jennifer's Body or Scream, this would be one to check out.

 

 

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It’s probably well known to most of you but I just saw Scarface for the first time, and there was a lecture about its influence on pop culture. It’s definitely good, and now I understand much better why the GTA games are like they are and where that all comes from.

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Lady Bird is an awesome movie, a very good extension of films writer/director Greta Gerwig co-wrote with Noah Baumbach like Mistress America and Frances Ha. It's a bit more standard and less overtly comedic than those movies but it has a lot of the same charm and Saoirse Ronan does very well capturing the off-kilter effervescent charm of Gerwig's performances in those films. Better than Edge of Seventeen even, which means we are in a new golden age of teen movies.

 

 

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43 minutes ago, Patrick R said:

 Better than Edge of Seventeen even, which means we are in a new golden age of teen movies.

 

This is all I ever wanted to hear

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Killing of a Sacred Deer is my favorite film of the year so far. Of the Yorgos Lanthimos films I've seen (Dogtooth, The Lobster and this) this one has the best context for his unique brand of stilted nightmarish black humor, essentially taking a Cape Fear/Hand That Rocks the Cradle sort of genre exercise and spinning it off into absolute absurdity to explore how shitty men are at emotional labor. If you haven't seen Dogtooth or The Lobster you should be prepared for some pretty intense and dark material (also it just opens with footage of an actual open heart surgery) but if you're familiar with Lanthimos's thing there is nothing here that is as shocking or transgressive as those other two films.

 

 

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Damn, Killing of a Sacred Deer didn’t fit into my festival schedule, but I hope it will be in cinemas later.

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Let the Corpses Tan ★ ★ ★ ★

I expected something as weird as The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears, but found a movie with a very easy to follow plot that revolves around the aftermath of a robbery. Let the Bodies Tan still goes pretty weird on the audio-visual level, but it's more or less easy to understand what is going on in the narrative level. I really appreciate this combination of weirdness and normality. Non-linear editing is used in an excellent manner that helps the viewer understand the action and every character's current position; suspense is kept high throughout the movie. Occasionally some of the characters remember back to previous sexual encounters in the same location probably a few days earlier, which gives short pauses from the tension. The sound focuses on the little details, and overamplifies things such as lighting a lighter to a roaring fire. Overall, I think this is my favourite movie so far from the director duo Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani.

[edit] Also I must add that in any given frame, there is *nothing* superfluous. At least that's what it felt like to me, that every tiniest object visible and every sound audible, are there for a reason, curated.

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The Florida Project ★ ★ ★ ★

I have previously only seen one Sean Baker movie - Tangerine - and this was such a contrast technically. The Florida Project is shot with what I assume are big cameras with anamorphic lenses, instead of iPhones, and on 35mm film. Most of the time it looks gorgeous, but in at least one scene I noticed what seemed to be technical problems like focus hunting. Anyway, this movie is amazing at portraying the life of a community dealing with poverty, mostly through the eyes of a pre-school girl Moonee and her friends. It's hard for me to say much about it without using spoilers, but I also advise not reading the following spoiler if you want to experience the movie the way I think the director intended to make you feel. And it spoils the ending also.

 

 

There are some really devastating moments in this movie. I just figured out why Moonee was taking so many baths by herself right before it was revealed. Throughout the movie, there are a few hints that this is taking place somewhere near disneyland, and that final scene really hits you hard when you realize that this was all going on basically right across the street from it, so that they could just run there in a few minutes when they really needed a place to escape. I cried a lot during the last few minutes. There is also no real hope presented for these characters, but I'd like to think that there is some. Really makes one think about how people who come to Disney World from all over the world and ceeelebrate good times come on, probably have to drive by and look away from this neighbourhood where people can't really even afford to go out to eat once a month or at all.

 

I would compare this to American Honey - both movies deal with similar issues, just the characters are in somewhat different stages of their lives.

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I saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and I can't tell whether it's bigoted garbage or a decent attempt at black comedy. It certainly has some things very right - every character is believable, well played. The story flows in a satisfying manner. There are some good jokes. And then there are portrayals of racism, sexism, sizeism, homophobia, that are just part of the jokes, with usually the bigot getting away with it and the victim having to be the one to make concessions. I'm curious what others here think, don't know when it will be in cinemas.

 

[edit] Also go read the New York Observer review and then look at the metacritic mathematics and realize that they counted it as positive and never trust metacritic again.

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On 8/6/2017 at 9:56 AM, Patrick R said:

Yesterday I discovered that Martin McDonagh, the Irish playwright who wrote and directed the films In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, directed a short film with Brendan Gleason (one of the best actors around) in 2004 that won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short. It's called Six Shooter and it very much operates in the pitch black tone of In Bruges, mixing a witty script with absolutely horrible things happening to already emotionally devastated people. The humor gets pretty dark but it's also really really funny, and if you liked In Bruges I'd recommend it.

 

 

 

I think it's in theaters now in America and I'm anxious to see it. Dark, even mean-spirited humor is definitely Martin McDonagh's thing, and moralistically giving awful people their comeuppance is definitely not. A lot of his stuff (that I've seen, I'm pretty unfamiliar with his theatrical work) is very much about the ways people are nasty to each other and I'd be shocked if he put all that discriminatory humor in the film without at least trying to make a point about it.

 

That said there's something to be said about trying to have your cake and eat it too and some of the jokes in In Bruges (especially the dwarf/fat American stuff) rubbed me the wrong way. Above is my post about his Oscar-winning 2004 short Six Shooter earlier in this thread and I think it's a pretty good indication of his bleak worldview.

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On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 2:54 PM, Patrick R said:

Lady Bird is an awesome movie, a very good extension of films writer/director Greta Gerwig co-wrote with Noah Baumbach like Mistress America and Frances Ha. It's a bit more standard and less overtly comedic than those movies but it has a lot of the same charm and Saoirse Ronan does very well capturing the off-kilter effervescent charm of Gerwig's performances in those films. Better than Edge of Seventeen even, which means we are in a new golden age of teen movies.

 

 

My husband and I saw Lady Bird this weekend and it was as good as Patrick said. It's a truly fantastic movie and seeing it in Davis, CA was a singularly magical experience.

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We saw Mudbound on Netflix and I thought it was terrific. The sense of place is very strong and the way it portrays intertwined lives was very interesting to me. Characters felt more lifelike than in any film I've seen in a while. 

 

We also saw Raising Arizona and it's a good dose of Cage (how have I missed it until now?) but not the Coens' best work. 

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On 11/26/2016 at 2:06 PM, Erkki said:

Kelly Reichardt has made another great movie Certain Women. My favourite from PÖFF so far.

 

I saw Certain Women last night and was blown away by it. Rarely is such gentle subtlety paired with such absolute emotional clarity. And it's so gorgeous!

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Glad to hear you liked it. I want to see it again soon, might try to find it after I'm done with the ongoing festival here.

 

In the past few days I saw Thelma, Loveless, A Fantastic Woman, which are all almost-great, but to me lacking something.

 

Thelma is about a lesbian girl who is dealing with breaking away from bad parental influence. Good movie, but had pacing issues where the psychological puzzle in the movie consistently revealed itself 10 or so minutes ahead of what was on screen. Maybe if I was paying less attention I would have found it better paced :/

 

Loveless is a very powerfully acted movie about how not very loving parents about to divorce deal with their kid running away from their Moscow apartment. But there are some things that seem pretty ridiculous and almost unrealistic to me. Such as the husband (and his co-workers) believing that if he gets divorced, he'll be fired (because of very religious boss) and how some colleague took a fake family to the Christmas party due to this belief. I dunno, it didn't convince me. Also there are some references (through news playing) to Obama and the war in Ukraine is just starting - did not see the relevance.

 

A Fantastic Woman is the best of the three, about a trans woman who loses her partner to a sudden death and encounters some serious antagonism from the family of the deceased. I can't put my finger on it, but again I thought pacing issues stop it from being great, but visually it's great and the main character is mostly convincing.

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On 22/11/2017 at 4:41 AM, Patrick R said:

 

I saw Certain Women last night and was blown away by it. Rarely is such gentle subtlety paired with such absolute emotional clarity. And it's so gorgeous!

I love it a lot too. So beautiful. Favourite Reichardt for sure. 

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On 11/19/2017 at 11:47 PM, Patrick R said:

 

I think it's in theaters now in America and I'm anxious to see it. Dark, even mean-spirited humor is definitely Martin McDonagh's thing, and moralistically giving awful people their comeuppance is definitely not. A lot of his stuff (that I've seen, I'm pretty unfamiliar with his theatrical work) is very much about the ways people are nasty to each other and I'd be shocked if he put all that discriminatory humor in the film without at least trying to make a point about it.

 

His plays are pretty similar. The older ones are set in Ireland, mostly in the west. The spoiler is a tale from a play called the pillowman that I saw last year and the play and that play was a chance for him to but together his own fucked up fables.

Spoiler
The Pillowman

Told in II.i. The Pillowman is a being made out of pillows who visits people on the verge of suicide because of the tortured lives they have led. The Pillowman travels back in time to the person's childhood and convinces them to commit suicide, thereby avoiding a life of suffering. This task saddens the Pillowman, however, and he decides to visit his own younger self, who readily commits suicide. This relieves the Pillowman's sadness, but also causes all the children he saved to live out their miserable lives and eventually die alone.

 

 I also like his brothers movie (starring Brendan Gleeson) - Calvary  about a priest in the west of Ireland who in confession is told he will be killed in a week by a man who was abused by a priest as a kid.

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