This book seems to be something of a sleeper hit that I’d only learned about from a forum. It’s the first novel by Scott Hawkins whose day job is a technical writer of computer-related books. His success feels like it came out of nowhere but of course it’s really the result of decades of hard work and innumerable failures. Many others have described this book to the work of Neil Gaiman but I also detect some similarities with Susanna Clarke. The genre is ostensibly horror or fantasy, yet this is such a strange book that it eventually morphs to something like science-fiction.
I would never have thought to add this to my list except that whenever people discussed their favorite comedies online, it invariably pops up. Indeed the film’s reputation has grown over time. My initial impression of it were bad. It seemed like the usual story of graduating high school kids wanting to lose their virginity. In the end, I still can’t see the greatness in it. But I concede that the duo of Jonah Hill and Michael Cera works and they manage to soften the raunchiness with the cuteness of the characters so the comedy is never mean-spirited.
The films of Robert Bresson haven’t disappointed me so far but I must confess that this one is tough to swallow. As it is literally showing snippets from the diary of a priest, the scenes are very episodic, not allowing us to dwell in the moment. Then there is the cultural and religious gulf and indeed the film probably has little meaning for those who have no religious faith at all. I’m pretty sure I’ve more or less understood what it wants to say but that’s not at all the same as being moved by it. I can see how ahead of its time it is and how it must speak to those who are religious but it’s not for me.
Kelly Reichardt teams up with Michelle Williams again in another delightfully understated film. Once again it’s set in Portland, Oregon and being centered around the Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC), just about everyone in it is an artist of some stripe. But as this film shows, not all artists get to be famous or rich or successful. As usual, Reichardt’s work is so subtle that it might not seem like it has much of a point. But the soft rivalry between Lizzy and Jo, highlighting how the latter is just ever so slightly closer to the artist that the former aspires to be, is good enough for me.
I came upon this game because this has a fair number of recommendations and indeed a mostly text-based adventure game is something I’d normally love. The setting aboard a decrepit space station and the player being a sort of slave within a robot body make for an intriguing and the writing is mostly solid. However I soured on it pretty fast once I realized that the desperation of the setting is mostly narrative fluff as it’s actually a rather safe game. Furthermore all of the stories in it stand alone so it’s not so much a world but simply a loose collection of independent stories.
A documentary made by an American director about the underground nightlife scene in China sounds exactly like something the Chinese government would frown on and that I’d love. The vibes, the images and the sound are all incredible, adding up to a powerful portrayal of a side of Chinese society we rarely get to see. Yet while there is no doubt that director Benjamin Mullinkosson is a friend of the queer community, I sense a certain wistfulness in it. The people in it don’t seem so much to be enjoying life to the fullest than using the nightclub as a way to cope with depression and the stresses of life. It doesn’t seem healthy at all and so this documentary isn’t an altogether sympathetic view of their lifestyle as I would expect.
This isn’t the kind of film I’d catch in the cinemas at all but I had expiring movie club points so here we are. Liam Neeson seems like unlikely successor to Leslie Nielsen and I have to say that while I appreciate the effort and his straight-faced Frank Drebin, he doesn’t have the comedic timing to pull it off. To me this was good for some giggles and I’m flabbergasted by some of the very weird segues. But I wouldn’t say this was very good. Its gags are neither very original nor very clever and the time is long past when police in America were seen as allies to the people.
