Blender 2.82 dropped late while I was working on this latest batch of scenes, too late for me to update and learn it so all this was done in 2.81. That was a bit of a pity as well as one of the new key features is that it incorporates a completely new fluid simulation system called Mantaflow. I could have used for the fire in this first scene, but oh well.
Continue reading Still playing with Blender
So this just won the Oscar for Best Documentary but got somewhat lost amidst the fuss over Parasite. Yet it’s quite remarkable in its own right. Taking its subject as the opening of a factory in the US owned by a Chinese company, it tries to present itself as equal parts an American and a Chinese film. American directors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert were assisted in this by Chinese filmmakers Yiqian Zhang and Mijie Li, resulting in extraordinary access to the Chinese side of the story.
Continue reading American Factory (2019)
We loved director Sergei Loznitsa’s previous work A Gentle Creature despite not understanding many parts of it so I was looking forward to this newer film. However this turned out to be less of a coherent film than a series of unrelated vignettes, many shot in a way as to suggest a documentary style. This one may be even more difficult for foreigners unfamiliar to the region to understand but the expressive power and sense of outrage present here transcend language and culture.
Continue reading Donbass (2018)
I bought this purely because of word of mouth on Broken Forum and apparently it is commonly considered to be an underappreciated gem. It wasn’t so successful upon first release outside of Japan but it seems that sales have slowly picked up as more people grew to understand what it’s about. One thing I didn’t realize how old the original game was. This means that although the PC release wasn’t all that long ago, the graphics still look very dated by modern standards.
Continue reading Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
We’re dipping back into Woody Allen’s extensive filmography. This one isn’t particularly well known but I’ve heard that it’s underrated and it marks the first collaboration between the director and Scarlett Johansson. This is also a British film though Allen originally didn’t mean for that and changed the locale for the sake of raising money. This does matter as it feels like he doesn’t quite know what to do with the British setting.
Continue reading Match Point (2005)
A lighter watch today in the form of a musical, actually a British musical film that focuses on American country music. This falls solidly under the familiar genre of aspiring singer reaches for stardom and this is not an ideal playground in which to search for great cinema. All the same, this is good enough entertainment with a dramatic arc that is decent enough.
Continue reading Wild Rose (2018)
This is one of the higher profile Hong Kong films of recent years and the only wonder of it is that I took so long to get around to it. This is especially cogent for us as the film deals with bipolar disorder with which we are both familiar. As is so often the case nowadays, it was directed by a young and virtually unknown newcomer Wong Chun and immediately racked up a whole slew of awards.
Continue reading Mad World (2016)