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Went to write notes for something I just watched, discovered I'd never edited the last batch of notes. Oops.
Blue Car, film, 2003, dir. Karen Moncrieff
Agnes Bruckner is so good in the lead role, and her emotions so accessible as a result, that I can forgive the lack of a meaningful story, the banal and unconvincing predictability of her brother and father figures. Blue Car isn't awfully dramatic, despite its lean towards melodrama; it's quiet, sad, and gray—but in a way I appreciated, that had a sort of grim but not hopeless authenticity. It left me with mixed feelings, but more good than bad; it just manages to pull off its bittersweet coming of age.
Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, film, 2012, dir. Andrew Adamson
I wanted this to have more narrative, less humor, more internal logic, more profundity—because "straight people fall in love" fails to (ever) feel profound. What it has in droves is creativity, delightful and beautiful creativity. That isn't always effective, but it's distinctly compelling. What this could have been, if it were less piecemeal and more cogent, haunts me. But as it is? it's Cirque: of course it's breathtaking.
Broadchurch, series 1, 2013
Well cast, phenomenally acted; as a character study of grief, this is superb—but as a murder mystery, it's underwhelming. Top of the Lake was better, for all its melodrama: it had a more united story and better sense of progression. Broadchurch is too episodic, putting each red herring and the whodunit in separate episodes—and the fact that all the white people in this small working- and middle-class English town have secrets fails to make for compelling storytelling. Still watchable, for the aforementioned cast and emotional register, but not recommended.
Horns, film, 2013 dir. Alexandre Aja
I wanted to like this—who doesn't love the casting, the stylish character design—but it was miserable: hamfisted rather than incisive, without the benefit of humor; predictable, sexist, its mythos ill-defined, with disappointing characterization. Avoid this steaming hot mess of a film.
The Descent, film, 2005, dir. Neil Marshall
A rewatch—I saw this in theatres on release. I liked it better then. What's good about this is great: the all-female cast, the literally claustrophobic premise, the setpieces (especially the blood pool). But its pacing is reliant on genre standards, a heavy soundtrack, cat scares, fake-outs, all of which taint the film. Perhaps worse, as a "descent" into madness I find that this fails: the protagonist only grows stronger and more competent until her sudden break with reality, which seems out of place. Still worth watching, but I regret that this film isn't as good as it could be.
The Fall, season 1-2, 2013-2014
This was everything that Broadchurch failed to be. The writing can be shaky, even reactionary, dumping its plotlines at will; it's thematically heavy-handed, prone to Hannibal-esque psychoanalytic soliloquies. But it's so intentionally discomforting, seductive in tone but confrontational in content, never allowing the viewer to idealize its tantalizing evil while at the same time lingering, longingly, in its depictions of violence. The cast is great, and Gillian Anderson is peerless; I loved this hugely.
Blue Car, film, 2003, dir. Karen Moncrieff
Agnes Bruckner is so good in the lead role, and her emotions so accessible as a result, that I can forgive the lack of a meaningful story, the banal and unconvincing predictability of her brother and father figures. Blue Car isn't awfully dramatic, despite its lean towards melodrama; it's quiet, sad, and gray—but in a way I appreciated, that had a sort of grim but not hopeless authenticity. It left me with mixed feelings, but more good than bad; it just manages to pull off its bittersweet coming of age.
Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, film, 2012, dir. Andrew Adamson
I wanted this to have more narrative, less humor, more internal logic, more profundity—because "straight people fall in love" fails to (ever) feel profound. What it has in droves is creativity, delightful and beautiful creativity. That isn't always effective, but it's distinctly compelling. What this could have been, if it were less piecemeal and more cogent, haunts me. But as it is? it's Cirque: of course it's breathtaking.
Broadchurch, series 1, 2013
Well cast, phenomenally acted; as a character study of grief, this is superb—but as a murder mystery, it's underwhelming. Top of the Lake was better, for all its melodrama: it had a more united story and better sense of progression. Broadchurch is too episodic, putting each red herring and the whodunit in separate episodes—and the fact that all the white people in this small working- and middle-class English town have secrets fails to make for compelling storytelling. Still watchable, for the aforementioned cast and emotional register, but not recommended.
Horns, film, 2013 dir. Alexandre Aja
I wanted to like this—who doesn't love the casting, the stylish character design—but it was miserable: hamfisted rather than incisive, without the benefit of humor; predictable, sexist, its mythos ill-defined, with disappointing characterization. Avoid this steaming hot mess of a film.
The Descent, film, 2005, dir. Neil Marshall
A rewatch—I saw this in theatres on release. I liked it better then. What's good about this is great: the all-female cast, the literally claustrophobic premise, the setpieces (especially the blood pool). But its pacing is reliant on genre standards, a heavy soundtrack, cat scares, fake-outs, all of which taint the film. Perhaps worse, as a "descent" into madness I find that this fails: the protagonist only grows stronger and more competent until her sudden break with reality, which seems out of place. Still worth watching, but I regret that this film isn't as good as it could be.
The Fall, season 1-2, 2013-2014
This was everything that Broadchurch failed to be. The writing can be shaky, even reactionary, dumping its plotlines at will; it's thematically heavy-handed, prone to Hannibal-esque psychoanalytic soliloquies. But it's so intentionally discomforting, seductive in tone but confrontational in content, never allowing the viewer to idealize its tantalizing evil while at the same time lingering, longingly, in its depictions of violence. The cast is great, and Gillian Anderson is peerless; I loved this hugely.
