After hearing about the controversy over the Bruce Lee scene, I held no great enthusiasm for watching this but I always knew I would get around to it eventually. As it turned out I did find the scene to be kind of insulting, but it’s a relatively minor part of the film. As for the rest of it, after a bit of a slow start, I found it thoroughly entertaining and yet bereft of any meaningful theme or deep insight.

I actually really liked the first Frozen and could immediately tell while watching it in the cinema that Let It Go would be a huge global phenomenon. It’s obvious that Disney struck lightning in a bottle with it and didn’t quite understand how that happened. The subsequent Frozen-based shorts that were released were truly awful and reinforced the impression that Disney had no idea how to replicate that initial success. The failure of any song in this sequel to make any lasting impression is proof enough that it isn’t as good as the first film but watching it now, I realize that it is far worse than I thought it would be.

After the crazy trip that was My Own Private Idaho, I thought I should watch this earlier film by Gus Van Sant. Oddly enough while this does begin as literally a drug-fueled trip, it is actually a much more conventional film than I expected. Perhaps one of the most interesting stylistic choices is the use of slow, moody music as the soundtrack to reflect the main character’s contemplative nature even as he lives a fast, dangerous life.

Onwards as we move through the filmography of Hou Hsiao-hsien, we have this exquisitely crafted Flowers of Shanghai. My wife recounted to me how she’d tried to watch this multiple times over the years but failed to finish it every time. The reason is that the predominant language used in the film is Shanghainese which made it quite incomprehensible. But this time, we watched it all the way to the end, thanks to the power of English subtitles.

Mike Leigh is another British director of some renown but I don’t believe we’ve seen anything by him before this. Similar to Ken Loach, he is known for championing the working class in his work and the subject of this historical epic is indeed about the struggle of the British people for their voting rights in the early 19th century. Unfortunately while beautifully shot, this is a dreadfully boring work that even the most hardened of film connoisseurs will struggle to keep awake for.