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interpreting "last night" generously, I just watched Marrowbone (2017), a tonal oddity that's more understandable if you've seen The Orphanage (2007) by the same director, J.A. Bayona. it's a bit fairy tale, a bit psychological drama or even horror story, a bit of a troubled romance in the vein of something like edward scissorhands, very lushly shot. the narrative skips around and introduces what seem to be important developments only to let them drop for much of the movie, with a lot left to be tied up/explained at the end . . . or not, as the case may be, but I don't think it's too much of spoiler to say that the film doesn't leave too many important things dangling. again, if you've seen The Orphanage you have a sense of the kind of movie this is. I liked it but found it, I guess the best word would be uneven; I felt a certain degree of whiplash as the movie careened from the conventions of one genre to another. but for that same reason I feel like it brings an unusual vividness to the (loosely defined) fairy tale genre, which often gets sanitized in certain ways especially when, as here, children/adolescents are the focus.
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Jun 6, 2022 19:23
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 11:57 |
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I didn't realize during the first few minutes of I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) that it was a Charlie Kaufman film, but this is the kind of movie that prompts you (well, me) every so often to pause and think or look something up so I figured it out pretty quick. and of course it is; ultimately it shares a lot thematically and stylistically with his earlier films, although notably missing is the manic playfulness he cultivates elsewhere. it's a long film, the sets are spare and much of the pacing is slow, and a lot of screen time is dedicated to scenes with dark wintry backdrops. the hints that the onscreen reality is not the full picture come subtly and fleetingly at first, yet they still manage to catch your attention and maybe prompt you to question whether you just saw what you think you just saw. and the characters are certainly arrestingly idiosyncratic, with solid performances, especially by the lead (Jessie Buckley). I'm generally a fan of Kaufman's style, he is certainly distinctive, often unexpected, sometimes shocking in a way that can be piercing. still at the best of times his stories don't resolve to uncomplicated endings, and in this one in particular I feel like a darker mood prevails, at times generating a feeling of palpable dread as in a horror movie or psychological thriller. for me, the ending was not unexpected, but right up to the end the film kept open a number of possibilities that would have made interesting stories in their own right. if I wanted to spend more time with it, I do feel that certain questions, predominantly dark ones, are hinted at but not explicitly resolved (perhaps the book the movie is based on sheds more light on these matters),. I don't know how helpful this is, but ultimately I think what you make of the film depends to an unusual degree on what you bring to it. It's a good movie, but not the kind I want to watch all the time.
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Jun 15, 2022 14:09
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beer pal posted:the black phone trip report?
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Jul 25, 2022 20:13
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too bad but thanks for the report!
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Jul 25, 2022 21:09
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twenty-year-old strip club promoter Johnny (Heath Ledger) is just scraping by in the red-light district of chicago when he discovers to his horror that one of his hands is actually australian
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Aug 3, 2022 22:58
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beer pal posted:mulholland drive couldn't stay away from the lynch eh
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Aug 8, 2022 18:47
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beer pal posted:i hadnt seen it in 10+ years and i dont think i really got it at the time. what a good as hell movie. we love lynch dont we folks it is a good movie (and lynch rules). I keep coming back to the dumpster demon scene specifically because it gets me every drat time even though I know exactly what's coming. how does he do that.
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Aug 8, 2022 22:09
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beer pal posted:i didnt get jumpscared this time but its such an eerie scene. i think on rewatch theres a lot of tension in how many times it switches perspective from the white brick wall corner back to the guys, i found mself thinking oh this is the shot where the dumpster man will pop out. no this i the one. etc yeah it builds anticipation perfectly. every time I see a lazy jump scare in a movie I think "y'all need to take lessons from the master"
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Aug 8, 2022 23:19
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Prof. Crocodile posted:Bodies Bodies Bodies ah neat, I am a sucker for a good A24 flick. hopefully comes onto streaming soon!
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Aug 22, 2022 23:42
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 11:57 |
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Last Night in Soho
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Mar 21, 2023 17:06
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