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juushikaThese are many months belated, and I am ashamed—but better late and incomplete than nothing, because what I don't record I'll forget I watched and never be able to recommend. The takeaways from this batch were: Ravenous, a cult movie that I'm surprised I hadn't encountered before because it is such fun—it feels like it should have overlap with the Saints Row and Repo! "not quite a fandom because it's so small, but there's so many feels in this intense aesthetic and bombastic themes" crowd; Weekend, which has some 201 conversations especially re: gay marriage and a lot of justified anger and convincing intimacy; The Falling, which—I remember watching Heavenly Creatures for the first time and being blindsided by the intimacy and aesthetic and the complex but identifiable themes, and Heavenly Creatures has been for me like The Secret History, a narrative so distinct and compelling that I revisit it frequently while constantly looking for something that satisfies the same hitherto unknown but now ever-present narrative desire—and The Falling does that.
Ravenous, film, 1999, dir. Antonia Bird
The gayest film about cannibalism not based on Hannibal. The humor can be overbearing, but it creates a surreal, overwrought tone which absolutely works. The pacing is strong, and while the second half is fairly predictable the content and character dynamic are so good—I love these themes, bodily intimacy and the taboo and power dynamics and coercion and cannibalism and homosexual overtones, and Ravenous fulfills them with bombast and dark humor and great imagery.
It's one of those movies I'm surprised it took me so long to hear about given the cult popularity in my peer group of Boondock Saints and Repo! The Genetic Opera. It too has morbid humor and a landscape of aesthetic replete with heavy-handed but compelling imagery—like Boondock Saints's ritualistic executions and Repo!'s costuming/makeup as a treatise on self-presentation/identity. The tropes at play, cannibalism as both power dynamic and intimacy, are so predictable but so effective because of the enthusiasm, the requisite cannibalism puns, the grotesque imagery, the overt overtones, the romantic final scene–the glorious excess of it all. It exceeded my expectations of a cannibal love story, in sort of the same way as NBC Hannibal (despite the difference in aesthetic and tone) because, like Hannibal, it literally exceeded what I expected, it was more literal and indulgent and id-driven than I thought it would dare to be, and because its initial approach is without restraint but under the bombast and monologues and grotesque imagery the dynamics at play are compelling and do have depth.
It has its flaws, some of the humor doesn't work for me, and it's absolutely a story about the meaningful relationship between two white dudes; but it went right on my list of thematic and visual aesthetic favorites.
#I should rewatch it soon because I've only seen it the once and I wonder how the humor/tone would work for me on a second viewing #but there's so much aesthetic stuff to watch right now what with Stranger Things and Penny Dreadful coming to Netflix #and they got the Sweeney Todd movie! and I need to catch up on Hannibal s3 b/c I haven't had the strength to face it yet #and I have a lot of yearly autumn rewatches and some more than I'm just feeling an urge for #am embarrassment of riches and not enough time #Juu watches #Ravenous #Hannibal #too many to tag #Juu's favorite (obscure) tropes #(insofar as aesthetic-as-approach-to-theme is a trope)
Tomorrow, When the War Began, film, 2010, dir. Stuart Beattie
An unquestionable waste of time. Everything is horrible, from the stock characters (and improbable overage casting) to the telegraphed relationships to the oppressive action sequences and soundtrack to the petty stupidity which fuels much of the plot. And that's to say nothing of the xenophobia and racism! This is awful, and I should have stopped watching at the midway point when I realized as much. (Great title, though.)
The Road Within, film, 2016, dir. Gren Wells
The acting is consistently good, the relationships work overall, and there some empathetic depictions of frustration without tipping the film into the territory of dour. But it's all too predictable, easy, even saccharine. I'm glad to see narratives about mental illness, and so would rather this than nothing, this doesn't contribute much to the conversation. Still, a watchable 90 minutes.
Weekend, film, 2011, dir. Andrew Haigh
A very close, somewhat rambling character study. There's not much movement or plot to speak of, and it manages to hit a dozen predictable gay story touchstones (coming out, gay marriage, infidelity) and indie movie clichés, but it's utterly convincing and often compelling: a lived, diverse experience, an intimate conversation with a stranger, exponentially more complex than many similar narratives—and the mumbled impromptu dialog never goes too far off the rails. I didn't always enjoy this, but it's unquestionably strong.
The Hallow, film, 2015, dir. Corin Hardy
Supremely mediocre. There's such potential in the imagery and setting, and I admire the unexpected lack of subtlety with the speculative elements, but the horror has extraordinarily predictable timing which makes the pacing feel manipulative and hollow (no pun intended). It leaves no lasting impression, and also fails to have any personal or metaphorical depth: characters barely exist and next to nothing is said about the changing social role of the fairies, despite the deforestation premise. An uninspired work with some great imagery.
Uncanny, film, 2015, dir. Matthew Leutwyler
The first half is promising, the second half a disappointment—because the narrative hinges on a plot twist which manages to be predictable without having any convincing foreshadowing or build-up, which undermines the otherwise interesting premise and destroys almost all character development. There's icky gender/rape issues at play here, too, and the final twist/sequel bait is laughably awful. I love android narratives but still wish I hadn't bothered: skip it.
The Falling, film, 2014, dir. Carol Morley
There's little plot to speak of here, and much of it is buried under the intense school girl/English countryside/coming of age/sexual awakening/psychosomatic illness/mental illness in (young) women/intimate relationships/lesbian/incest aesthetic—and I don't care, because every one of those descriptors is phenomenal and this film fulfills them. The ending is too neat, undermining a lot of early work done to explore the inextricable relationship between the socialization of young women, concepts of illness, and proscribed/natural/enforced behavior. But all the rest is pretty fantastic. This reminded me a lot of Heavenly Creatures and Cracks.
Ravenous, film, 1999, dir. Antonia Bird
The gayest film about cannibalism not based on Hannibal. The humor can be overbearing, but it creates a surreal, overwrought tone which absolutely works. The pacing is strong, and while the second half is fairly predictable the content and character dynamic are so good—I love these themes, bodily intimacy and the taboo and power dynamics and coercion and cannibalism and homosexual overtones, and Ravenous fulfills them with bombast and dark humor and great imagery.
It's one of those movies I'm surprised it took me so long to hear about given the cult popularity in my peer group of Boondock Saints and Repo! The Genetic Opera. It too has morbid humor and a landscape of aesthetic replete with heavy-handed but compelling imagery—like Boondock Saints's ritualistic executions and Repo!'s costuming/makeup as a treatise on self-presentation/identity. The tropes at play, cannibalism as both power dynamic and intimacy, are so predictable but so effective because of the enthusiasm, the requisite cannibalism puns, the grotesque imagery, the overt overtones, the romantic final scene–the glorious excess of it all. It exceeded my expectations of a cannibal love story, in sort of the same way as NBC Hannibal (despite the difference in aesthetic and tone) because, like Hannibal, it literally exceeded what I expected, it was more literal and indulgent and id-driven than I thought it would dare to be, and because its initial approach is without restraint but under the bombast and monologues and grotesque imagery the dynamics at play are compelling and do have depth.
It has its flaws, some of the humor doesn't work for me, and it's absolutely a story about the meaningful relationship between two white dudes; but it went right on my list of thematic and visual aesthetic favorites.
#I should rewatch it soon because I've only seen it the once and I wonder how the humor/tone would work for me on a second viewing #but there's so much aesthetic stuff to watch right now what with Stranger Things and Penny Dreadful coming to Netflix #and they got the Sweeney Todd movie! and I need to catch up on Hannibal s3 b/c I haven't had the strength to face it yet #and I have a lot of yearly autumn rewatches and some more than I'm just feeling an urge for #am embarrassment of riches and not enough time #Juu watches #Ravenous #Hannibal #too many to tag #Juu's favorite (obscure) tropes #(insofar as aesthetic-as-approach-to-theme is a trope)
Tomorrow, When the War Began, film, 2010, dir. Stuart Beattie
An unquestionable waste of time. Everything is horrible, from the stock characters (and improbable overage casting) to the telegraphed relationships to the oppressive action sequences and soundtrack to the petty stupidity which fuels much of the plot. And that's to say nothing of the xenophobia and racism! This is awful, and I should have stopped watching at the midway point when I realized as much. (Great title, though.)
The Road Within, film, 2016, dir. Gren Wells
The acting is consistently good, the relationships work overall, and there some empathetic depictions of frustration without tipping the film into the territory of dour. But it's all too predictable, easy, even saccharine. I'm glad to see narratives about mental illness, and so would rather this than nothing, this doesn't contribute much to the conversation. Still, a watchable 90 minutes.
Weekend, film, 2011, dir. Andrew Haigh
A very close, somewhat rambling character study. There's not much movement or plot to speak of, and it manages to hit a dozen predictable gay story touchstones (coming out, gay marriage, infidelity) and indie movie clichés, but it's utterly convincing and often compelling: a lived, diverse experience, an intimate conversation with a stranger, exponentially more complex than many similar narratives—and the mumbled impromptu dialog never goes too far off the rails. I didn't always enjoy this, but it's unquestionably strong.
The Hallow, film, 2015, dir. Corin Hardy
Supremely mediocre. There's such potential in the imagery and setting, and I admire the unexpected lack of subtlety with the speculative elements, but the horror has extraordinarily predictable timing which makes the pacing feel manipulative and hollow (no pun intended). It leaves no lasting impression, and also fails to have any personal or metaphorical depth: characters barely exist and next to nothing is said about the changing social role of the fairies, despite the deforestation premise. An uninspired work with some great imagery.
Uncanny, film, 2015, dir. Matthew Leutwyler
The first half is promising, the second half a disappointment—because the narrative hinges on a plot twist which manages to be predictable without having any convincing foreshadowing or build-up, which undermines the otherwise interesting premise and destroys almost all character development. There's icky gender/rape issues at play here, too, and the final twist/sequel bait is laughably awful. I love android narratives but still wish I hadn't bothered: skip it.
The Falling, film, 2014, dir. Carol Morley
There's little plot to speak of here, and much of it is buried under the intense school girl/English countryside/coming of age/sexual awakening/psychosomatic illness/mental illness in (young) women/intimate relationships/lesbian/incest aesthetic—and I don't care, because every one of those descriptors is phenomenal and this film fulfills them. The ending is too neat, undermining a lot of early work done to explore the inextricable relationship between the socialization of young women, concepts of illness, and proscribed/natural/enforced behavior. But all the rest is pretty fantastic. This reminded me a lot of Heavenly Creatures and Cracks.
