The first season of True Detective was rightly hailed as being groundbreaking but when reviews of the follow up were disappointing, it was easy to just drop the show due to it being an anthology. I heard that the third season is a fantastic return to form and so added it to my watchlist. I’m pleased to report that it is indeed excellent while being sufficiently distinctive from the first season despite sharing some common features. This time around there is really only one lead character with his partner being only a supporting character and the show is as much about the case as how his life has been warped by it across the span of decades.
Kathryn Bigelow keeps doubling down on making these military thrillers which I think is a bit of a shame as I preferred her earlier, weirder work. I already knew going in that this wouldn’t be very good but I had to watch it anyway as it’s being talked about so much. Indeed, it is a very detailed procedural on how the US would respond to an unexpected nuclear missile so a lot of research must have gone into getting all of the agencies involved and the jargon right. Unfortunately the entire premise is unrealistic, it wastes all of its tension by showing the same set of events from three perspectives and in the end ducks out of having to say anything substantial at all.
This very old French film is so influential that it has been remade several times and even inspired a Looney Tunes character. Its setting of the Casbah of Algeria is exotically attractive thought unfortunately it’s mostly shot on sets made up to look like the real thing. It’s a rather simple plot but the setting as well as the sleazy charm of the Pépé character who actually longs after Paris all along, both make it work.
It’s hardly possible not to have heard of this film given how blatantly it sexualizes the bodies of its female stars. But that’s alright, because it was made by a female feminist director Coralie Fargeat and all that titillation soon turns to disgust as this is after all body horror at its goriest. The imagery is striking in a very visceral way and setting in a strange hyperreal world was certainly the right choice. Yet it’s psychologically very simple with the character having no backstory at all and drags on long past the point that we get all that the director has to say.
During the last years of the Second World War, the remote village in northern Italy boasts of gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains but its inhabitants are dirt poor. Centered around a large family led by stern teacher, this film does have a plot but mostly it serves as a way to remember their way of life. Director Maura Delpero says as much as her father was from the region and takes great care to depict their lives as authentically as possible. I don’t think the main story is anything special but I do love the film itself and its setting.
This animated film winning multiple awards should be reason enough to get it added to my watchlist but there’s also the fact that it was made using Blender. It’s a relatively short film but it still took the team more than five years to make it. With beautiful visuals, pleasant music and no dialogue, this sure is an easy film to watch and who could dislike its animal characters? It’s nice enough but there’s no plot, no world building and not much meaning at all. As its title suggests, it’s just one scene flowing into another with no direction so I’m not that impressed.
Based on the title and the poster, I’d thought that this was a supernatural horror film. But I should have known better, given that it was directed by Kaneto Shindō who was responsible for the excellent and very grounded The Naked Island. It is indeed horror but the evil is born from the hearts of people themselves. It’s a powerful retelling of a classic Buddhist parable set in so dystopic a world that it’s almost hell on Earth. My only complaint would be that it drags on a little with too many repetitive shots but it truly is a unique film with few contemporary peers.
