Ahhh the joys of getting home from work and throwing on a horror movie about children coming under the control of a very sinister parasitic witch, or a Ken Russell banger (literally) that involves nuns having a lot of explicit sex, or a 2.5 hour Kurosawa classic about class disparity. It’s good to have range, ya know?
09/01 - 09/15
Y2K - (2.5/5) The few things I liked about this movie were Julian Dennison’s charming performance as Danny, the soundtrack full of songs from my young teenage years, and the creativity of some of the kills. Otherwise, this was an hour and a half of nothing too special. The story revolves around a group of high schoolers partying on the eve of Y2K. Our main character, Eli, is crushing hard on Laura, a “popular” girl. Everyone fits neatly into common high school stereotypes. After midnight, the lights go out and the electronics go haywire and start killing everyone. It’s an end of the world scenario, with our plucky teenagers up to the task of saving their town. The character development isn’t all that great - I wasn’t attached to any of the characters except for Danny, and I think that was more due to the performance than the script. It’s supposed to be a comedy and there were a few moments that got a guffaw out of me, but otherwise I didn’t find it all that funny. I think the music was my favorite part? I was 10 in 1999, so I very much enjoyed the inclusion of “Praise You” and “Tubthumping” and “Candy.” Nostalgia’s a hell of a drug. Also, there’s unexpected Fred Durst! He was pretty fun! Recommend if you : were a teenager in the early 2000’s, enjoy when music sets a tone for a movie, and set your expectations low. (new) (watched via HBO)
House - (4/5) It took me such a long time to watch this one and now I’m a little peeved I waited so long! This is quirky and sumptuous and oddly funny and so, so bizarre. There is a plot to the movie, but it’s definitely one that you come to for the vibes. Gorgeous, our main character, and six of her friends travel to her aunt’s home for their summer vacation in the Japanese countryside. Upon arriving, the aunt seems quite sinister and supernatural spooks begin to infiltrate both the house and the girls. I don’t really know how to describe this because it is so visually outlandish, you kind of need to watch it to fully experience it. There are dream sequences and psychedelic perspectives and interesting camera angles galore. The deaths are silly and the blood is so red it’s almost neon. I had fun just giving myself over to this for an hour and a half. Recommend if you like : weirdness, different kinds of haunted house stories, and fluffy white cats. (new) (watched via Criterion Channel)
Trouble Every Day - (4/5) Claire Denis is pretty singular in her directing and writing. Her movies are nearly always visceral and weird and polarizing. This is a cannibal story of sorts, with a couple seemingly on their honeymoon in Paris, only the husband is trying to track down a renowned doctor and his wife, a cannibal. The doctor’s wife, Coré, has sex with men and then violently kills them via consumption. Something I find interesting about this movie is that there’s very little dialogue - so much is telegraphed via long scenes of mostly silent acting. That choice definitely makes me feel more present in watching it and, honestly, this isn’t a movie that demands dialogue. It’s a very vibe-y movie. Gross and gory! But vibe-y, for sure. Denis does vibes so well. Recommend if : you don’t mind bloody films, you frequently get existential, and you like your erotica with a little cannibalism. (rewatch) (watched via Criterion Channel)
The Devils - (4/5) I’m going to start this out with a complaint : this is not the uncut version! The uncut version is unavailable anywhere! Warner Bros get your shit together! Knowing that this is a cut version, different from the director’s vision, always dilutes the viewing experience a little bit. The story revolves around a priest, Father Grandier, with unorthodox views on sex and faith, and all of the nuns who become devoted to him, specifically a sex-obsessed nun, Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave, never better). Cardinal Richelieu, requiring the elimination of Father Grandier in order to take control of 17th-century France, accuses Father Grandier of satanism and leads a campaign to impugn (and kill) the Father. Recommend if you : aren’t easily offended, like movies that go off the rails, and are fine with a little blasphemy. (rewatch) (watched via Criterion Channel)
Weapons - (4/5) Zach Cregger makes simultaneously funny and heart-breaking horror movies. Weapons is about solving the disappearance of a classroom of children who run way from their homes one night at 2:17 a.m. The structure of this is interesting and kind of different - we get six perspectives - the teacher, Justine; the father of one of the missing boys, Archer; a police officer who formerly dated Justine, Paul; the principal of the school, Marcus; a drug addict who makes a startling discovery, James; and the lone remaining student in Justine’s classroom, Alex. Each perspective ends up overlapping and we’re seeing a few days in time from all of the characters’ perspectives. Amy Madigan, playing a malevolent aunt who is actually a parasitic witch (is this spoilers? She’s in the trailers? Sorry, if so) is so goddamn fun in this. She balances sinister and silly perfectly and I hope she gets an Oscar nom for this performance. The last 10 minutes of this moves from the funniest scene I’ve watched this year, involving Aunt Gladys and the disappeared children into a devastating voice-over read by a child, and that kind of explains the movie to me. It moves from funny to sad in a way that doesn’t feel tonally dissonant. Recommend if you like : multiple perspectives, bad wigs, and great performances. (rewatch) (owned)
High and Low - (5/5) I was certain that I had watched High and Low for the first time a few years ago. Like, I would have bet money on it. But watching it this week, it felt entirely new to me. I’m not sure if I was getting it confused with a different movie or, when I watched it previously, I didn’t pay nearly enough attention. The movie starts with Gondo, a wealthy executive at a shoe company. He is meeting with board members of the company regarding a wish of theirs to wrest control from the current president in order to change the way the company makes the shoes they sell. Gondo is uninterested in being on the side of these board members and instead has privately arranged a buyout that will allow him to gain control of the company. Amidst this, Gondo receives a phone call from a man stating that he has kidnapped Gondo’s son and will return him once he has received his ransom. However, the kidnapper has erred and has instead kidnapped Gondo’s driver’s son. The kidnapper still demands the ransom, and while Gondo initially was prepared to meet the ransom for his own son, he balks at paying it for his driver’s boy. Eventually, he does pay, and from there, the movie follows both the investigation to find this kidnapper and also Gondo’s position within his company, which is now weakened due to his loss of funds. The movie is tense despite largely being made up of conversations. It’s a long one, two and a half hours, and it is so well-paced. This is a flawlessly executed film, taut and oppressive. The first half feels like a bottle episode of sorts, with the movie centered in Gondo’s luxury home, among a small cast, focused on Gondo’s choice between saving himself or saving his chauffeurs son. Then, the second half is world’s best police procedural. The movie has a lot to say about class divides, about social and economic inequality, about a person’a morality being tested. At what point do we hold our social norms responsible for the massive divides between the “high” of society (Gondo and his ilk) and the “low” of society (the kidnapper)? I could talk about this movie forever. Kurosawa made such sublime films. Damn. Recommend if you like films that : are conversational, have something to say, and reward attention. (rewatch) (watched via HBO)
Oldboy - (4.5/5) The plot to Oldboy is so wild and kind of convoluted that doing a summary is a little tough. The basic story follows a man who is imprisoned in a room for fifteen years, and then is released with no concept of who imprisoned him. The rest of the film is him being taunted into finding out who exactly imprisoned him. The ending is shocking and memorable (and pretty upsetting, tbh!). There are such memorable sequences in this including one that involves a live octopus and another that involves a hallway fight scene with our protagonist taking on multiple men. I love Park Chan-wook’s directing style - his films are frequently focused on dark themes and vengeance and his style is extremely atmospheric and frequently lush. His attention to detail makes his complex narratives easier to follow. I love Oldboy, even though (or maybe because) it’s extremely fucked up. Recommend if you like: anti-heroes, well-choreographed fight sequences, and solving a mystery. (rewatch) (owned)
I feel like I watched a fair number of heavy hitters this week! These were a lot, but in a good way. It had also been ages since I had seen most of the movies I rewatched this week (Weapons being the exception), and I was reminded of how demented and unsettling all three of them were. A lot of naughty behavior!
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Until next time.