Jordan Peele’s latest had much more of a mixed reception among critics and now that I’ve seen it, it’s obvious how much of a mixed bag it is. It’s some kind of horror science-fiction film with a Western aesthetic and is full of references to Hollywood. In fact, there are so many references that I’m sure I missed most of them. Peele does make it all work, somehow, and I found myself thoroughly entertained. I can’t even imagine what kind of a twisted mind he has to put this particular combination of elements together. The result is fascinating to contemplate but not something I personally like very much.
This Catalan film has such a strong sense of place that it almost feels like it’s cheating. It features scenic shots of a beautiful farm, a cast of characters that spans multiple generations of the same family, and is absolutely crammed with cultural details specific to the region of Alcarràs. In short, it’s a prime exemplar of my previously stated dictum that films should be as local as possible. It can feel a little underwhelming given that there are no great insights on offer here. It’s all about showing what daily life is like to the farmers of the region and what their contemporary concerns but that’s just how I like it.
With its title, this sounds like it should be a truly terrifying horror film but it’s really a samurai drama. What’s more, it begins with plenty of action, a depiction of the real Heiji rebellion 1160, yet that only serves as a preamble to the real plot. In fact this is actually a story about a samurai who falls in love with a woman and becomes obsessed with her to an unhealthy extent. This is a surprisingly colorful and good looking film. I don’t care for how terribly the Lady Kesa is treated here, but I have to concede that it does portray the demands of honor of that period in an artistically pleasing manner.
As to this summer’s choice between Oppenheimer and Barbie, I’m definitely in the latter camp. Even disregarding how grueling it would be to watch a three hour biopic in the cinema, I think this is obviously the richer and more artistically interesting of the two films. Indeed, director Greta Gerwig delivers not only an eye-searingly striking visual fest, but a powerful social commentary that encompasses the themes of gender relations, existentialism and even fits in a critique of Mattel itself. I’m not sure how much most people who watching this only due to the Barbie brand name are getting out of this, but to me, this is a very adult, very serious film.
Like most people I watched Disney’s version long ago but I don’t remember much of it. I do remember enough to tell that this version is different in many ways and as far as I’m concerned, they’re all good changes. As we’ve come to expect from Guillermo del Toro, it’s darker in tone and I loved Pinocchio looks like a crude, unvarnished wooden puppet. It seems that del Toro was inspired by one particular artist’s, Gris Grimly, illustrations. Instead of taking place in a fantasy version of Europe, this is set in World War 2-era Italy. Most importantly, whereas the original was all about telling children to be good and to be obedient towards their parents, this version subverts that lesson to have Pinocchio learn and decide what it means to be good on his own.
I add many films to my list from many different sources and now that we’ve watched many of the great classics, we’re moving on to films that aren’t quite universally acclaimed but may be notable. This one turned out to be a very competent noir of the period with a contrived twist and seems to have been beloved enough to inspire several episodes of popular television shows. Unfortunately it’s not anything that I would call great and not really worth going back for.
We watched the original classic quite some time ago and loved it. Since an updated version couldn’t possibly top it, my first instinct was to just skip it. But this did end up winning multiple Oscars and it is easily available on Netflix so I thought I should watch it to be part of the conversation. Unfortunately my instinct turned out to be correct as this veers too close to being an action movie to be treated seriously as a critique of the war and the changes director Edward Berger made leads me to question if he even understands the point of the original. This one is a cromulent war epic I suppose but it falls far short of the 1930 version.
