Jackie. Well-dressed, much smoking, I couldn't mesh. Jackie K, we must remember, soon became Jackie Onassis.
Frantz. In effect a post-war film of Wilfred Owen's war poem, Strange Meeting. Character study of two nations, now uneasily peaceful.
The Olive Tree (see pic). Feelgood, best-appreciated Borderline movie (97% pro). Youth's tribute to age; rural Spain vs. urban Germany.
Julieta. I've always enjoyed director Aldomovar's special strangeness but found this too complex, slightly hysterical. VR and Ian liked it so who am I to belly-ache?
Return to Ithaca. Two or three long conversations by four middle-aged post-Franco Spaniards who all suffered. Grew on me.
A Quiet Passion. See post: The Surprise Factor
The Handmaiden. Luxuriant Oriental lesbian porn (sadism added) with awkward flashbacks. Don't take your grandchildren.
A Simple Life. Modern-day Tokyo realism at its best. Age as an ineluctable force. Characters you wanted to hug.
Personal Shopper. Séances, high fashion and young folks' misery. I'm too old for this, always was.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Youth buddie-bonds with age in NZ escape movie. Amateurish, less charming than it thought it was.
It's Only The End Of The World. Claustrophobic (too many close-ups) acount of Canadian family's failure to communicate. Stellar performances, though.
A Taste Of Cherry. Man in a car, on a mission in arid Iraq, puts dilemma-ish proposition to three others. Couldn't take my eyes off it.
I agree that Wilderpeople was lame. I've been watching collections of short films...one disc entitled "Seduction" and another "The World According to Shorts" (this may be one in a series) Notable films on the latter disc (so far) have been "We Have Decided Not To Die" and "The Antichrist". Both collections are generally excellent.
ReplyDeleteMikeM: I'll see if I can come by them. One of the irritations is that I find myself thrilling about movies which most people will never get a chance to see. I mean how often are you able to see movies made in (viz. list above) Iraq, Spain (several times) and Japan? Nor are you alone. Other than at the Borderline, how often may I see such movies?
ReplyDeleteNetflix!
ReplyDeleteI'm making notes (and have high hopes that the local independent cinema will be screening most of these).
ReplyDeleteMikeM: Perhaps Netflix in the US is different. I share a Netflix account (for free) with my grand-daughter's partner. It includes several hundred "international" movies but most are junk.
ReplyDeleteFor the real enthusiast the UK has Lovefilm, now a subsidiary of Amazon. The range is 80,000 titles, their boast being: if a movie's been publicly screened in the UK they have it. However it isn't as high-tech as Netflix. A monthly £7 gets you two or three discs sent individually, post-free, in a Jiffybag, with a post-free Jiffybag in each to return the disc. I'm looking into this.
I get Netflix via jiffybag, or as we call them, "envelopes". Under $20/month, the only limit on quantity is how fast one can watch and mail back movies. Very quick turnaround. I cancelled my streaming Netflix. Not sure you can sign up for discs only anymore, I may be grandfathered in.
ReplyDelete