Jul 24, 2015

I saw again A Serious Man, i first saw it when i didn't take films that serious. Now i obviously think it's great, i love it. It feels good to redeem myself

 

Jul 27, 2015

Christian Petzold's Phoenix was really, really good and easily one of my favorites of the year so far. It even reminded me in a number of ways of my top film, Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence. Phoenix utilizes its admittedly preposterous Vertigo-esque plot as a way to explore Germany's relationship with its horrific past in the immediate wake of WWII. The film ultimately succeeds, however, because it also works on a personal level, in depicting the emotional aftermath where one character is desperately trying to recreate the past while the other is doing everything he can to ignore it. Petzold's film is able to gel on multiple levels thanks to his finely tuned genre elements that generate an air of slow-burn suspense, but also thanks to the stellar performances, particularly from Nina Hoss in a masterful and nuanced turn.

In The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer takes on the perspectives of perpetrator and victim respectively and explores how a nation could just sweep a genocide of millions under the rug and, despite the surface-level silence on the subject, how that past nonetheless continues to weigh heavily on the present. In one scene in Phoenix, when one character is coaching another on how to pretend to be his wife, herself a victim of the concentration camp, he advises her not to worry about coming up with details from the camp, because he says that no one will even ask...that they would just prefer to see her appear as if nothing happened, happy and healthy. It's this unwillingness and stubbornness to face the past and its consequences that Phoenix (the title giving away its resurrection motif) so poignantly tackles and that Oppenheimer's films powerfully reveal to be more than just matters of fiction.

 

Jul 28, 2015

Definitely going to see Phoenix on the big screen for the second time next month.

@Twan when are you going to see Horse Money?

 

Jul 28, 2015

I'm not sure...It's only playing here until Thursday and I don't know if I'll make it. Have you seen Colossal Youth? I also wasn't sure if I should see that first.

 

Jul 28, 2015

No, actually. Ossos is the only Pedro Costa film I've gotten to. I don't think it's necessary to have seen that one before Horse Money though.

 

Jul 28, 2015

Gotcha, I don't think I'll be able to catch it in the next two days though.

The films for TIFF were just announced. @FilmAndWhisky , are you going this year? (I also saw that the new movies from Richard Linklater and Jeff Nichols were pushed back to 2016).

 

Jul 29, 2015

^probably not. It's an expensive flight out. I'd love to be able to go again as press. I will definitely attend VIFF as I did last year.

 

Aug 1, 2015

Movies on my radar for August:
August 7- The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Marielle Heller), Ricki and the Flash (Jonathan Demme), Cop Car (Jon Watts)
August 14- Mistress America (Noah Baumbach), Tom at the Farm (Xavier Dolan),
August 21- American Ultra (Nima Nourizadeh), Digging for Fire (Joe Swanberg), Sleeping with Other People (Leslye Headland)
August 26-28- Queen of Earth (Alex Ross Perry), Z for Zachariah (Craig Zobel)

 

Aug 1, 2015

I am gonna be doing The Martian's translations for the theatrical release. I did get to watch the movie last week. Seems like a fun movie from what I could see.

 

Aug 1, 2015

That's pretty cool! Ridley Scott makes me very skeptical, but with Damon, Chastain and the rest of the cast, I'll definitely see it.

 

Aug 1, 2015

if anything @Twan you should try to hit up tiff !

 

Aug 1, 2015

Yeah, what I watched was a pretty rough version without a coherent score and almost half of the vfx still undone.

 

Aug 1, 2015

My friend and I did talk about taking a week off from work and going, but it won't be this year. I'll hit up the NYFF again though!

 

Aug 2, 2015

I bought the Blu-ray recently and just watched this for the first time...It was a f---ing experience to say the least. I can't remember the last time I was so off balance watching a film. It's one of those movies where I can comfortably say I've never seen anything like it and likely won't again. It gets to such a fever pitch so quickly and sustains this unnerving and hysterical tone the whole way through. There are also so many WTF moments that come and go throughout with no explanation (that creepy ballet scene for one among a hundred examples), with the ending itself being the biggest WTF of all.

I honestly don't know yet if I have anything coherent to say on it overall. As the essay in the Mondo Blu-ray suggests, the "Possession" in the title may be more aptly applied to the film itself than any of the characters. Isabelle Adjani also gives an absolutely incredible performance in a role that is simply as challenging as they come, deservingly taking Best Actress at Cannes. Possession might just be a horror masterpiece or maybe an overcooked mess...I'm still mulling it over for the time being, but it's definitely not a film anyone would forget.

 

Aug 6, 2015

I saw Cassavetes' Faces (1968). I liked the film but i still can't decide how much i liked it. He did accomplished what he was trying to do but there were things i didn't appreciate, the multiple cuts within seconds were distracting at times and i as read in another review, the film felt redundant. Cassel's character was quite annoying also. I'd rate this somewhere between 7-8 out of 10 probably. I do know i liked it more than Shadows which i honestly didn't like. These two are the only Cassavetes films i've seen

 

Aug 6, 2015

Watch more Cassavetes asap!

 

Aug 6, 2015

watched yesterday... lost my s--- at the banana scene.

which Mondo you got? Need that limited edition in my life ASAP.

 

Aug 6, 2015

What did you guys think of Coppola's Palo Alto? i find it surprisingly good.

 

Aug 6, 2015

That moment is so good. I laughed but was also really scared because I honestly had no idea what was going to happen from one moment to the next. .

I bought this Blu-Ray. It's out of print but I got it from an external seller on Amazon.
http://www.mondo-vision.com/possessionle.php

Haven't seen it! I still also have to check out Wild Tales.

On another note, I guess I'm not that original. Variety put out an article yesterday on why The Look of Silence and Phoenix, my number 1 and 2 respectively so far, are among the best films of the year. It echoes the points I was making previously, but does so far more eloquently (spoilers for both).

http://variety.com/2015/film/columns/phoenix-the-look-of-silence-best-films-of-2015-1201556457/

 

Aug 7, 2015

It's dope, I wrote something on it last year:

Gia Coppola’s feature film debut has its problems but it’s one of the most honest films about high school life to come out of America in a long time. Palo Alto is an adaptation of the book “Palo Alto Stories” by James Franco, which is a series of short stories loosely based on his high school experiences. Coppola’s film feels like a series of vignettes intertwined to tell a story about high school teens experimenting with sex and drugs, facing legal troubles and pondering about what they’d like to do for the rest of their lives. April (Emma Roberts), who is quiet and a bit rebellious, is the central figure of the story; she has a crush on her friend Teddy (Jack Kilmer), who feels the same about her but both are too scared to confess their feelings for each other. Teddy is heavily influenced by his troublemaker friend, Fred (Nat Wolff), who tries to “live life dangerously” at all times. The last of the four teenagers on which the film focuses is Emily (Zoe Levin), the class “slut” who all the boys take advantage of. April is on the soccer team and on the weekends she babysits for her coach, Mr. B (James Franco), who manipulates her into pursuing a sexual relationship with him. Using each of these characters, Coppola explores several different themes surrounding the high school experience which can at times feel aimless and while the film keeps you interested, I’m not sure that there’s anything being said that will make a lasting impact.

The film isn’t breaking any new ground and the situations are a bit underdeveloped but Coppola’s sensibility toward each of her characters makes it all work. She’s not interested in making a social statement about anything, she truly cares for each of these teens and takes the time to try to understand them and what they’re going through. Instead of sending a message, Coppola would rather create a mood that lets the audience connect with the characters on an emotional level; this is done through some stunning cinematography from Autum Durald and a wonderfully fitting score from Dev Hynes. The film features notable performances from the likes of Emma Roberts and Nat Wolff as well as an impressive turn from first-time actor Jack Kilmer; the young actors accurately portray these troubled high school teens and give the film the natural feel that it depends on. It doesn’t seem like Coppola has developed her own style yet as her influences are on full display here, but that’s often the case with first time directors and at least it shows that she has great taste and technical skill. Overall, Palo Alto is a solid debut and while I wouldn’t call it a great film, it shows that Gia Coppola has lots of potential and we can expect to see exciting things from her in the future.