backwardsuit

Retrograde Americana as a Freudian coming of age fairy-tale. The tone can be hard to handle if you think about it too much since Lynch's absurd and surreal style seems to play with horrific psycho-drama, cheesy satire and sincere melodrama all at once. If you can just let go of these distinctions and sink into its boundless dreamlike world it's an exerience like no other in cinema.

85 _91%

Threads (1984) - Rated 29 Jan 2018

And this was actually shown on TV? Damn... About as bleak & horrifying as any fiction film ever. The rudimentary but ferociously well implemented docudrama style works to hammer home this severely nihilistic & miserable narrative about the utter colapse of society. Although generally well made it has some issues mostly inherent to the TV docudrama format itself. None of them really hinder its immediate power though & I can pretty much guarantee it will make you feel profoundly upset & insecure.

64 _31%

Marriage Story (2019) - Rated 04 Jan 2021

A decent separation drama that hit some major hurdles for me. I often dislike films about actors/directors, film/theatre & LA/NYC & here these dynamics somewhat derailed the core of the story about the dehumanizing legal process (or at least distanced it from how most people experience it). Works best with its comedic beats while the mandatory shouty bits were a bit too much. Good but sometimes mismatched performances (Driver & Dern were the standouts). Please don't reference Bergman movie.

68 _41%

American History X (1998) - Rated 12 Nov 2014

It's well made, finely acted and has the best of intentions but sadly the story gets way too contrived and loses its sense for authenticity pretty early on. In the end it feels too much like a fairy tale and the morals of the story are forced down our throats pretty awkwardly. Still a solid Hollywood movie that I would recommend. I know it's not a fair comparison but "This is England" does a similar concept with much more impact and authenticity.

94 _99%

Ballad of Narayama (1983) - Rated 20 Aug 2015

As beautiful as it is bleak. Maintains a cool anthropological perspective that's both spectacular and emotional without turning cheesy or sentimental. The narrative is slightly all over the place and some of the symbolism a bit heavy-handed but the naturalistic style holds everything together brilliantly. It paints a brutally human picture of the everyday struggle for survival in physical, social and spiritual sense. Breathtaking visuals and Sumiko Sakamoto is absolutely transcendent.

67 _38%

Promising Young Woman (2020) - Rated 23 Sep 2021

Due to its industrial fringe-position, exploitation cinema holds a precarious potential to cut through (some) BS & address difficult topics in a more direct confrontational way. Attempting to bring something like this into the acceptable mainstream seems to engage a curious struggle within its own premise. The fact that this is a well crafted entertaining movie very aware of the issue does little to quell the feeling that it's afraid of its own ideas & adds little to what's already out there.

86 _92%

Farewell My Concubine (1993) - Rated 18 Aug 2021

Richly textured, fiercely acted & lavishly presented epic melodrama with almost unbelievably ambitious thematic breadth. Explores the dynamics of rebellion & oppression, love & betrayal, fantasy & reality, ambition & fulfillment, sex & power, addiction & trauma, sacred & profane, tradition & modernity, art & politics, identity & persona, on & on. Almost effortless cyclical structure (almost) in which roles & stages are constantly repeated & switched around. All the world's a Peking Opera house.

85 _91%

Wanda (1970) - Rated 15 Aug 2021

Absolute powerhouse freight train from the now alternate universe called the 70s. So fiercely anti-bullshit in its stylistic and thematic conceit it still makes most modern productions seem like all kinds of bad jokes.

80 _80%

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) - Rated 04 Jan 2021

Delirious revenge-fueled road trip through masculine self-destruction into some kind of violence-crazed redemption. Basically competes with Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant for the sweatiest movie ever. Besides the whole psychotic masculinity this contains many of Peckinpah's familiar themes about the dynamics of freedom & exploitation (expressed also within the dynamics of USA & Mexico) & like the best of Peckinpah's films it comes out with a desperate poignancy that's quite without equal in cinema.

87 _94%

Goodbye Dragon Inn (2003) - Rated 14 Sep 2021

What the hell movie. How is nothing happening very slowly this poignant? Nothing keeps on happening until nothing stops happening and then nothing ends. There's a lot of high-level conceptual shit going on here but none of that really accounts for the lingering evocative punch (of nothing happening). Lingering unfulfillment, lingering gaze, lingering longing, lingering stream of piss. Poetry is a bitch. This movie haunted my brain. Would not recommend to anyone.