I haven't, so I'll check out Aniara. Interesting it's an adaptation of a sci fi poem. I really liked High Life though mainly for Binoche/Pattinson and psychosexual hijinks reminding me of Cronenberg.Anyone else seen both High Life and Aniara? They both tell similar stories, but I found High Life to be surprisingly dull and frustratingly obtuse, while Aniara was haunting, evocative, unnerving, thrilling. Probably going to be my favorite sci-fi film of the year, watching it evoked the same feeling I get when I read a really good sci-fi short story
Aniara
★★★★½
I've seen this compared to High Life, a movie I found to be an impenetrable chore to watch. Fortunately, my experience with Aniara was the polar opposite. This is a tale of humanity breaking upon the endless void of space, presented in a hauntingly evocative and bleakly existential fashion. The budget was clearly modest, but those limitations are rarely felt, the movie never seems cheap or as if it's trying to tell a narrative too ambitious for its means.
Aniara is a movie both epic in scope and harrowingly, intimately human. During what should be a routine journey from Earth to Mars, an errant screw sends the titular vessel drifting into the abyss. Days turn to weeks, then years. The vastness of space has rarely seemed so dreadful. Soon the only thing keeping hearts and minds from shattering is Mima, an AI-controlled virtual reality that allows passengers to escape into their memories of Earth. The caretaker of Mima is our viewpoint into the gradual societal breakdown within the ship, the epicenter of its inhabitants' frustrations, fears, and other base emotions.
"Literary" is such a nebulous adjective, but it's apt for how I felt about Aniara when the end credits finally rolled. Apocalyptic backstory, futuristic technology, and uneasy consequences are often presented through implication and visuals rather than exposition. Chapters divide Aniara into a chronicle of agonizingly prolonged doom, each title priming us for a thoughtful vignette set another day, week, year later. Aniara was thrilling like the best sci-fi short stories or novellas, where fascinating ideas work as both concept and allegory, where a daring ending evokes a gasp and reflection
Late Night is a really funny and socially relevant comedy. The only female late night show host is losing relevance in the current age of trend chasing and outside-studio virality. Delves into sexism, misogyny, #metoo, diversity hires, inclusivity, white privilege, and more. Can't believe Mindy Kaling wrote it, great job. The cinematography is nothing to write home about, very standard for a comedy. It's all about the dialogue and performances delivering. Surprised by the late night cameos like Seth Meyers and Bill Maher. Emma Thompson is brilliant as she navigates work and personal crises with her acerbic personality and technophobia (very much evoking Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada). Never seen the director Nisha Ganatra's other films but this was really funny, so will keep her future films on watch.
Exceptions aside, movies I saw before I was ~22ish might as well have been seen by a different human.As a question of curiosity, do you, and if so when, count a rewatch as a pseudo-new watch?
I haven't kept up with film in recent years aside from new releases mostly, but as I try to get back into sorting my Letterboxd account and kind of reflect on things I find it impossible to rate films that don't have an absolute, immediate hold on my brain if I think back to them. This was compounded by trying to create a 31 Days of Halloween list in which a lot of movies are ostensibly rewatches (The Shining, The Others, Poltergeist) but that I may not have seen in a decade or more.
To contrast, my girlfriend and I watched Cabin in the Woods for her birthday yesterday as it's her favorite film and one of the first we saw together. Now that is a clear rewatch to me, one I can easily sort mentally because we probably watch it 1-2 times per year.
I realize this is an entirely academic question; it has no value beyond my own principles. But I'm curious what others think or do.
As a question of curiosity, do you, and if so when, count a rewatch as a pseudo-new watch?
I haven't kept up with film in recent years aside from new releases mostly, but as I try to get back into sorting my Letterboxd account and kind of reflect on things I find it impossible to rate films that don't have an absolute, immediate hold on my brain if I think back to them. This was compounded by trying to create a 31 Days of Halloween list in which a lot of movies are ostensibly rewatches (The Shining, The Others, Poltergeist) but that I may not have seen in a decade or more.
To contrast, my girlfriend and I watched Cabin in the Woods for her birthday yesterday as it's her favorite film and one of the first we saw together. Now that is a clear rewatch to me, one I can easily sort mentally because we probably watch it 1-2 times per year.
I realize this is an entirely academic question; it has no value beyond my own principles. But I'm curious what others think or do.
This looks awesome. Have you seen The Breadwinner, if so what did you think of it? I loved that.Les Hirondelles de Kaboul (The Swallows of Kabul)
Beautifully animated and heartwrenching portrait of life under Taliban rule anno 1998. It follows a young, progressive couple trying to cope with the restrictions placed on women and the prohibition of art, music and displays of affection. Another plotline follows a prison warden who works for the regime. The story takes it time to set the scene trough small sequences of daily life, that often turn pretty chilling (the opening scene is a great example). Around halfway the movie starts to focus more on a straightforward plot, which on the one hand tells a beautiful story about compassion and humanity, but also becomes a bit predictable towards the end. Because you have figured everything out before the characters do, the final stretch starts dragging a bit. It's only a small annoyance in what is a truly great film though...
Oh, and every frame is a gem.
Yup, I saw the Breadwinner a while ago and I really liked it. If you liked that one, you'll love this.This looks awesome. Have you seen The Breadwinner, if so what did you think of it? I loved that.
Don't get me wrong. At a moment when anti-Semitism, neo-Nazism and white supremacy are enjoying a hideous global resurgence, I'm hardly opposed to the notion of an accessible, entertaining movie that advances a warm-hearted, child-friendly message of tolerance, humanity and Hitler-dunking. Nor am I against the idea of confronting children with something genuinely dark and audacious, especially given how quick the film industry usually is to infantilize its youngest consumers.
But "Jojo Rabbit" is not that something. Set to open Oct. 18 through an under-new-management Fox Searchlight Pictures, it may fit a Disney executive's notion of edgy, but its so-called audacity smacks of calculation and emotional cowardice. That's especially true with regard to the sentimentalized character of Jojo's mother (Scarlett Johansson), whose every onscreen moment exists only to vacate your tear ducts at movie's end — right down to a single camera movement that, if I may borrow a few words from Jacques Rivette, deserves nothing but the most profound contempt. I began this piece noting that there are few things more potentially alienating than the sound of an audience's laughter, but if "Jojo Rabbit" has anything to teach us, it's that sniffles can be an even greater divider.
Awesome. I'll seek this Kabul film out. Doesn't seem to be out in UK but will keep an eye on it.Yup, I saw the Breadwinner a while ago and I really liked it. If you liked that one, you'll love this.
Lol he was hilarious. Even Wolcott took time to make fun of him.Closing in on the Deadwood movie and this exchange late in Season 3 killed me.
Hugo Jarry:
Perhaps then, rather, at this moment—having had in fact no connection to the regrettable incident involving Mrs. Ellsworth—you are Socrates to my Alcibiades, taking it upon yourself to edify me?
George Hearst:
Are you saying you want to fuck me?
Hugo Jarry:
[confused] What?
George Hearst:
Well, you keep calling yourself Alcibiades to my Socrates. Are you proposing some sort of a homosexual connection between us?
Hugo Jarry:
I'd forgot that part of the story.