Shyamylan is just insane, his style and extremely empathetic storytelling just shines in every facet of this, very different from his previous outings being a lot more subdued and
Gettng the chance to see this on the big screen was such a treat (which is a trend for this month) Welles creates images and an enusing atmosphere that completely envelops you into the world of Kakfa's imagination and scale. That's the big word here when it comes to this, "scale", everything feels literally and figuratively larger than life in every little scene, have not been breathtaken by brutalist archectecture lining background and sky in anyhting else in the same way. This goes along with the theming and general impressiveness in the existance of this in the first place, scenes like those that take place in the completely open space office contains such a sea of people that directing and acting in thosse must've been a nightmare, can only imagine having to direct that many people in such a large place for long dramatic scenes, insane. The blending of space and spacial awareness is also so unique, you'll follow Josef into a random hole in a wall of a seemingly abandonded warehouse or chapel and end up outside of a gaudy and beautiful large statue lined museum or palace of sorts, the insanity of this is that it never feels jarring in a way that takes you out of it, the nonsensical rules of the world and how one place leads to the next feels weirdly natural, almost organic as it shapes itself around Anthony Perkins' existential journey. In general the photography of this feels so much more modern than most things that came out around this time, not a lot of things look like this on this large of a scale. Maybe Welles' best highly highly recommend.
"How do you kill the soul?" This shot-on-betamax gem takes the idea of a zombie apocalypse and expands it into a larger scale political narrative of class solidarity and the all consuming dread which living under the systems of the US often incurs. Zombies here are not just mindless corpses, they're people who died but are forced to continue to exist and live out the rotting of themselves without any way to stop. The tone and atmosphere of this story is just so unique and odd impart due to the uncanny juxtoposition between the dreary and bitter character drama and the fun little spurts of typical goopy SOV gore. This whiplash isn't necessarily a bad thing as it adds to the almost dream-like quality to the whole thing, the journey that flows through dingy suburbs and small town streets.
This is such a great little thriller piece, the pacing is just immaculate with each little escalation feeling like a pinch of a needle, completely hopeless and degenerate cinema. At times this feels almost neverending, the griphold that David Hess' Alex has on not only the characters but the audience just gets tighter and tighter, this is really his time to shine and he's putting on one hell of a show. Hess is also so fucking sexy it is insane, that man's body is just beautiful, not to mention Giovanni Lombardo Radice with his ridiculously tight long sleeve that almost looks like a crop top, his performance is so great as well and very sad especially with the way he's able to play off of Hess. Loved this one a lot, if you can stomach some real sleazy, fucked up and tense shit highly recommend. People suck.
I must admit that I've had something of an obsession with director Hong Sang Soo's filmography as of late (have two of his films on this list), his work is just so consistently raw and self-critical they are just endlessly fascinating to watch. On The Beach marks a bit of a turning point in his films, with it being maybe his most guilt filled piece as it's a character study/drama based on the real life and incredibly public affair he had with actress Kim Min-hee, with her practically playing herself in this as an actress navigating life and her thoughts after having a relationship with a married director. The lines between fact and fiction are gleefully blurred as this revels in being so self-critical with the penultimate scene featuring a stand-in for Hong Sang Soo himself in his best getting drunk in a restaurant scene yet. But looking beyond Hong, Kim Min-hee's character and performance is so depressingly relatable in her frustrations with love and relationships with one particular scene (surprise surprise another getting drunk in a restaurent scene) hitting close to home with "But you cant love. You know? You're not capable of love or dont deserve to love. But we all sing about love. Have you ever really seen a person qualified for love?" in an emotional rant on the justification of and qualifications for love and how to come to terms with and accept yourself as someone who is able to and deserves to be loved as much as others believe you are, especially with the unknowable future looming around you at all times.
Now what a treat of a movie this was, there's not too much I can say but I just wanted to sing this one's praises because god damn does this deserve it. Have not seen something so gory and fun on a big screen like this ever, almost verging on the edge of extreme horror with it's violence not only being gory but so so mean and cruel in their brutality. The first Terrifier really didn't do too much for me, outside of the one great kill and genuinely upsetting ending stinger it was mostly a pretty boring slog with such uninteresting characters that you spend way too much time with. Now that is the complete opposite of this one because to top the amazingly brutal effects this displays it has a really cute and depressing family drama/coming of age story for Art The Clown to interupt like a storm. You pretty much like most of the characters in this by the end and that only makes their deaths that much more mean and scary especially the bedroom scene. I don't think I can understate how insane it is that I saw this on a 50 ft screen in a huge popular multiplex with a decently sized crowd and this was on it's third week, just crazy I literally could not stop smiling the entire time almost didn't want it to end. Really really hoping this sets a new precedent for people to start putting out dirty and gory horror in the theaters again, so sick of how clean wide release stuff has gotten this was a breath of fresh air, special little movie, give me Art or give me death.
I didn't have as many first watches this month as I was hoping but what I did watch was mostly really really great with some really interesting surprises. Half of these are from a the "12 Hours of Terror" marathon at a local theater of mine which was so much fun, really neat getting to see this stuff on a big screen with a huge crowd. Overall this month was really fun with the marathon plus "Cinema Wasteland" which we go to twice a year it was a real treat.
I've been meaning to watch this for a long time and feel so lucky that I got to see this in a theater, I've seen Ernest Dickerson's other big horror flick "Bones" which just oozes style and love for the genre within every one of it's folds and that shines through here as well. The mythology and almost surrealness of this is so fun and the vibes are just infectious, with neon colors flooding each corner of the screen paired with the colorful and lovable cast. Of course Billy Zane gives it his all, his take on a demon drifter trying to get a job done is so ridiculous and mean and fun, he's almost like a cartoon at time with how animated and scenary chewing he gets particularly in the climax. But in speaking of actors Jada Pinkett also gives this her all, for one can I just point out how cool and unique for the time it is to have a black female butch main character in a horror movie, especially one who becomes a knight of jesus by the end, that must've russled some feathers. Highly reccommend this one to almost everyone, it has just about everything you'd want in an horror/action/thriller, it's just a great ride and especially fun with a crowd or a group.
Feel kinda embarassed that I'm just now seeing this, I'd seen the first like 20 minutes of it before but never anything past that, so even though everyone has talked about this movie let me just say, oh my god. The aesthetic and visuals of this movie are just insane, I want everything I make look like this, I'm obsessed with the look of early digital consumer cameras and even older video tape cameras used in SOV's, having such a cheap camera gives this really unique sort of documentary style with the contrast of how high budget everything else around that is it's really cool. Was a real treat seeing this on a big screen, such a special experience and highly reccommend seeing this in a theater if the chance ever arises.
Great little passion project that put such a smile to my face, way more atmospheric and genuinely uncanny and creepy at times mostly early on but gradually gets really fun and crazy. Super cute just a little evil dead fan film that took over a decade to finally be finished and released, is worth the wait for sure!