Swedish: Låt den rätte komma in
An anti fairy-tale (for grown-ups not averse to gratuitous blood). It's also the anti-Twilight in my view! The focus on child protagonists symbolise a profound innocence amidst abject horror and atrocity. Subverting expectation at almost every turn, deeply moving, and powerful in it's minimalism. Loved it, and felt like I could identify with it.
Saturday 28 August 2010
Saturday 14 August 2010
Venus (2006)
Any movie that makes you 'think' and 'feel' is a good one in my view, and worthy of seeing. It's a bonus if it's entertaining, and if it manages to engage you, as well as maintain your interest.
To that extent of thinking and feeling, I really liked Venus.
If you can get past the seeming lechery, and the rather inappropriate/taboo subject matter - this really is a movie that tries to engage and explore something very valid and meaningful. Perhaps you wouldn't have expected anything less from Film4, which always seems to aspire for something edgy, contemporary and powerful (Trainspotting, The Last King of Scotland). Venus is no different.
Jean-Luc Godard's 'Cinema is Truth' echoes omnipresent for me whilst watching this: How does one cope with old age?... What does one do about lust, and desire in advanced years. Is it wholly wrong to 'want' that which seems out of reach?
To have gone for something full-on and explicit would have been profoundly distasteful. The Direction is more subtle, not shy about adressing the issue (with it's rather brash and abrupt dialogue delivered by old codgers!), but with a necessary reserve that's both comedic (at first), and tragic at the same time.
There's an air of sophistication about the movie that is persistently dismantled by Jodie Whitaker's presence - a certain balance that feels just about right. Found her initially quite annoying, with a rather fabricated exaggeration of the teenage chav/townie... But we become more sympathetic towards her, as she becomes more humbled throughout the movie...
Perhaps distinct from the male protagonist in 'Lolita', Peter O Toole plays a rather endearing and sympathetic character, and we, as an audience, feel a most definite affinity for him by the end of the movie.
Love the art/imagery of the movie too - that seems very deliberate, and not at all overly contrived. The closing scenes for Peter O Toole I found particularly powerful in a subtle way: showing someone who was a sensual and sexual being to the end.
I wonder if death would really have such a profound effect on me. I have known people who have died, but never anyone close, or someone who I was personally close to. What legacy would be left, what legacy would I leave behind?... Yeah, i know, pretty damn depressing - but something that I thought about during and following the movie. Powerful stuff indeed.
Other notes to add:
- Romantic love being all-too-consuming.
- The Christian notion of forgiveness
- Punishment for sin?...
Rating: 8/10
To that extent of thinking and feeling, I really liked Venus.
If you can get past the seeming lechery, and the rather inappropriate/taboo subject matter - this really is a movie that tries to engage and explore something very valid and meaningful. Perhaps you wouldn't have expected anything less from Film4, which always seems to aspire for something edgy, contemporary and powerful (Trainspotting, The Last King of Scotland). Venus is no different.
Jean-Luc Godard's 'Cinema is Truth' echoes omnipresent for me whilst watching this: How does one cope with old age?... What does one do about lust, and desire in advanced years. Is it wholly wrong to 'want' that which seems out of reach?
To have gone for something full-on and explicit would have been profoundly distasteful. The Direction is more subtle, not shy about adressing the issue (with it's rather brash and abrupt dialogue delivered by old codgers!), but with a necessary reserve that's both comedic (at first), and tragic at the same time.
There's an air of sophistication about the movie that is persistently dismantled by Jodie Whitaker's presence - a certain balance that feels just about right. Found her initially quite annoying, with a rather fabricated exaggeration of the teenage chav/townie... But we become more sympathetic towards her, as she becomes more humbled throughout the movie...
Perhaps distinct from the male protagonist in 'Lolita', Peter O Toole plays a rather endearing and sympathetic character, and we, as an audience, feel a most definite affinity for him by the end of the movie.
Love the art/imagery of the movie too - that seems very deliberate, and not at all overly contrived. The closing scenes for Peter O Toole I found particularly powerful in a subtle way: showing someone who was a sensual and sexual being to the end.
I wonder if death would really have such a profound effect on me. I have known people who have died, but never anyone close, or someone who I was personally close to. What legacy would be left, what legacy would I leave behind?... Yeah, i know, pretty damn depressing - but something that I thought about during and following the movie. Powerful stuff indeed.
Other notes to add:
- Romantic love being all-too-consuming.
- The Christian notion of forgiveness
- Punishment for sin?...
Rating: 8/10
Buffalo '66 (1998)
An raw expressionistic fantasy set in grim, real-world, post-industrial suburbia (Buffalo). Has an early 90's minimilism, with a small cluster of ingeniously surreal moments. The club scene alone, makes the movie worthy of a viewing.
A depiction of Depression, Familial disillusionment, Isolation and Revenge comprise the elements of the movie's formuala. Christrina Ricci's love interest role, helps to bring a softness and innocence to the movie in spite of her rather illogical and baffling motivations.
Vincent Callo commands our sympathy, discovering bitter-sweet solace from rage-fuelled violence, even though a touch late. We overlook, for a moment, the narcicissm and the egotism of the Director/Writer/Music Credit, for something that boasts moments of originality and achingly pure heart - a disconcertingly welcome addition to the Indie genre.
A depiction of Depression, Familial disillusionment, Isolation and Revenge comprise the elements of the movie's formuala. Christrina Ricci's love interest role, helps to bring a softness and innocence to the movie in spite of her rather illogical and baffling motivations.
Vincent Callo commands our sympathy, discovering bitter-sweet solace from rage-fuelled violence, even though a touch late. We overlook, for a moment, the narcicissm and the egotism of the Director/Writer/Music Credit, for something that boasts moments of originality and achingly pure heart - a disconcertingly welcome addition to the Indie genre.
Saturday 7 August 2010
Bronson (2008)
Not the most enjoyable film. A difficult watch. But I liked it.
I like the way it depicts a man who's struggling to find a place in the world, but doesn't even know it. He struggles to cope with life in the real world (irrational bouts of extreme violence, not knowing the niceties of relationships and his standing in them) and confused about his motivations (if any) in prison.
The mental asylum is Bronson's most tangible prison: the ability to 'feel', 'do', even to 'think' is denied him, drugged beyond all sensation. Beyond that, rampant recklessness and chaos is his true freedom, in whatever capacity available to him. The imagery of babies, and being naked is a pertinent one: he's just being himself, purely, unashamedly, and ironically, quite innocently... The metaphor of his life being like a stand-up comedy act is also apt. Comedy and tragedy are often not too far away from eachother... And it seems he enjoyed a notorious celebrity status amongst the UK press, much to their salacious entertainent.
Like Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, it questions the role of State, and it criticises the more established hierarchies of 70s Britain (and to a certain extent today). What do you do with someone who is prone to violence and refuses to comply, over a period of 26 years? Being set free was a shocking response, considering his apparent cost to the taxpayer... What would you do?
Reminds me of a line in Robert Rodriguez's 'Sin City': "He was just born in the wrong century. Would have been at home on the battlefield, wielding a battle-axe in war" - or words to that effect.
An astonishingly brave and courageous performance from Tom Hardy (a personal favourite actor of mine). Seems to have undergone a transformation akin to Christian Bale in The Machinist - only the other way...
I like the way it depicts a man who's struggling to find a place in the world, but doesn't even know it. He struggles to cope with life in the real world (irrational bouts of extreme violence, not knowing the niceties of relationships and his standing in them) and confused about his motivations (if any) in prison.
The mental asylum is Bronson's most tangible prison: the ability to 'feel', 'do', even to 'think' is denied him, drugged beyond all sensation. Beyond that, rampant recklessness and chaos is his true freedom, in whatever capacity available to him. The imagery of babies, and being naked is a pertinent one: he's just being himself, purely, unashamedly, and ironically, quite innocently... The metaphor of his life being like a stand-up comedy act is also apt. Comedy and tragedy are often not too far away from eachother... And it seems he enjoyed a notorious celebrity status amongst the UK press, much to their salacious entertainent.
Like Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, it questions the role of State, and it criticises the more established hierarchies of 70s Britain (and to a certain extent today). What do you do with someone who is prone to violence and refuses to comply, over a period of 26 years? Being set free was a shocking response, considering his apparent cost to the taxpayer... What would you do?
Reminds me of a line in Robert Rodriguez's 'Sin City': "He was just born in the wrong century. Would have been at home on the battlefield, wielding a battle-axe in war" - or words to that effect.
An astonishingly brave and courageous performance from Tom Hardy (a personal favourite actor of mine). Seems to have undergone a transformation akin to Christian Bale in The Machinist - only the other way...
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