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Please share with us which films you saw last week. It would be great if you could include some comments on each film. It would be awesome if you could also take some time to comment on everyone else's viewings (if you're like me, "real life" sometimes gets in the way, so no need to feel obliged).
This is what I saw:
Amazing week. The new year gets off to a good start with seven new favourites this week and only one dud.
★★★★ = loved it / ★★★ = liked it a lot / ★★ = has interesting elements / ★ = did very little for me
Die Puppe (1919). Uninterested in getting married, a young nobleman is persuaded to marry a lifelike animatronic doll in order to please his family and gain a lucrative dowry, but embarking on the ruse brings unexpected problems in this early career Ernest Lubitsch comedy, also known as The Doll. While bits and pieces of the film feel awfully silly (being chased Scooby Doo fashion by forty potential brides; dishes thrown around a kitchen), this is for the most part a droll and amusing comedy that takes a satirical stab at the institution of marriage and conformity to social expectations. Ossi Oswalda is terrific as the 'doll', the film is full of experimental editing and animated cutaways, and the whole film feels so inventive that it is hard believe that it is a pre-Keaton and pre-Lloyd production. Lubitsch makes an amusing appearance too at the start of the film. (first viewing, online) ★★★★
Zvenigora (1928). Hidden Ukrainian treasure, deep forest spirits and a superstitious old man come together in this first full length feature from Aleksandr Dovzhenko of Zemlya fame. The ins and outs of the plot are a little hard to nut out with limited exposition and title cards, but this remains a breathtaking silent film thanks to Dovzhenko's effective experimental visuals. Dissolve edits are used to excellent effect, especially as the face of a Devil character is plastered on top of those he has chased out of a forest. Rapid fire cuts are used very well too to tie reaction shots together a la Potemkin, with a firing squad scene and a theatre performance sticking out as particular highlights. Dovzhenko plays around thoughtfully with film speed too, opening the film with majestic slow motion shots. It is just a shame that the plot is nearly indecipherable. (first viewing, online) ★★★★
Cinderella (1947). Shot in vivid colour and full of simple but effective special effects, this Russian version of the classic fairytale is a pleasant if not especially remarkable film. The best thing that it has going its favour is the way the King is frequently played for laughs, constantly wanting to run away and join a monastery and bantering with his guards like something out of a Monty Python sketch. In fact, with both the title character and the prince coming off as quite lifeless, he is by far the most interesting character here. The costumes are pretty nifty too and the interior sets and not half-bad, though at least half of the exterior shots feature noticeably painted backgrounds that never once look real. The songs are not particularly great either, however if nothing else, this is a rare film incarnation that actually casts prettier actresses than the lead as the wicked stepsisters. (first viewing, online) ★★
Gamlet (1964). Filmed at an actual seaside Estonian castle, this Soviet take on Hamlet is perhaps the most cinematic version to date, never once feeling like a confined stage play. The filmmakers use the natural exteriors to perfectly moody effect as waves crash against shores and the father's ghost appears eerie against natural nighttime backdrops. The film's best aspect is the gorgeous black and white photography with the palace often shot from disquieting low camera angles and as Hamlet's face is cut partially off screen at times as he walks and ponders. The music is beautiful too. The performances sadly get a little lost amongst the audiovisual sumptuousness with none of the supporting turns making a mark. Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy is fine in the lead though, and his delivering of "To be or not to be" as an internal monologue in voiceover is an excellent touch. (first viewing, online) ★★★★
Vinyl (1965). Intent on avoiding jail time, a juvenile delinquent agrees to undergo an experimental process to cure his antisocial tendencies in this Andy Warhol movie. If this sounds a lot like A Clockwork Orange, it is because the film is based on the same novel as the iconic Kubrick film, though with a low budget and nonprofessional actors, it stands greatly in its shadow. The project has its virtues though. The vast majority of the movie fascinatingly plays out as one single unbroken take with a perfectly disorientating jump as the film suddenly cuts to close-up at around 48 minutes in at the height of indoctrination. Having the protagonist describe what he is being shown in treatment (rather than showing the clips themselves) is a neat touch too as we have to fill in the blanks. It is just a shame that Gerard Malanga does such a poor job adding emotion to his dialogue. (first viewing, online) ★★
Sportloto-82 (1982). Unable to find a winning lottery ticket that he placed in a book, a hapless young man tries to track down three train passengers who might know of its whereabouts in this late career comedy from Leonid Gaidai of The Diamond Arm fame. The plot is too coincidence-heavy to add up as it turns out that each of the passengers had the exact same book as him, all of which became mixed up. The gags also vary in effectiveness with some terribly unfunny moments involving stolen spoons, the lack of a can opener and bags falling on heads. Mikhail Pugovkin is very feisty though as the closest the film has to an antagonist and with zany bits like Pugovkin forcing his friend to eat oranges in order to coax the truth out of him - and popping out of a crate full of money in a dream sequence - the film comes with some creativity and a lot of energy. (first viewing, online) ★★
El Sur (1983). Fascinated by an attic that she is not allowed in and her father's mysterious hobbies, an impressionable girl becomes convinced that her dad is leading a double life in this moody Spanish drama. With wide expressive eyes, Sonsoles Aranguren is well cast as the preteen protagonist and with several exquisite shots (dangling pendulum beside her face), the first hour of El Sur is pretty solid stuff. The last half-hour is sadly less interesting as it jumps ahead to the protagonist as a young adult, more cynical and less filled with wonder about the world, and then the film ends on an abrupt note that even director Victor Erice apparently disliked. Add in sometimes intrusive narration that spells out more than it should, and this is a fairly flawed production, if one with several magical moments in its first hour and some very nifty elapsing time dissolve edits. (first viewing, online) ★★★
Dr. Caligari (1989). More of a tribute to Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari than a direct sequel, this horror-comedy has the granddaughter of Caligari conducting unethical sexual experiments on her asylum patients. Full of crooked lines and captured in expressionist lighting, the sets feel just like those in the silent classic and the dialogue-free first nine minutes are breathtaking as we simply bask in the asylum's weirdness. The overall film is very Cronenbergish, with extra orifices growing, a character glued to her television screen, tongues protruding from walls and so on. Bits and pieces are overly theatrical with the actors and actresses talking to the camera (rather than across to one another) and some of the drag performances are a little campy, but this remains a very interesting look at the ramifications of trying to repress one's sexuality through treatment. (first viewing, online) ★★★★
Go Further (2003). Canadian documentarian Ron Mann (of Grass fame) follows Woody Harrelson and a bunch of activist friends here as they go on a road trip all across the North American continent to promote vegan lifestyles and environmental sustainability. A charismatic individual, Harrelson is always fun to follow around, and the trip has quite a few highlights as Harrelson makes public speeches, visits a specific action training camp for activists and spends time with a woman whose factory is producing paper out of hemp as opposed to wood. Mann's frequent attempts to inject humour into the proceedings are less successful. Harrelson being mistaken for Woody Allen is only funny the first couple of times and it is far more silly than funny when one of his friends uses a megaphone to speak to cows about not letting farmers inject them. (first viewing, online) ★★
Night Watch (2004). Vampires, shapeshifters and other ghoulish creatures surface as a battle between good and evil wages in contemporary Moscow in this Russian thriller. The film features some really out-there imagery and pure WTF moments as, for example, a group of shapeshifters shoo away a doll with spider legs while they stop a witch from casting a spell with a frying pan. Unfortunately, all of this makes relatively little sense. Based on a 500 page novel, the story is built on a mythology that is too complex to properly flesh out in a film running under two hours, and what can be nutted out feels overly simplistic in terms of good and evil. The special effects are at least pretty decent, and some of the action sequences are well-filmed too, though the filmmakers' favouring of frenzied and constantly moving camerawork does the story a disservice. (first viewing, Blu-ray Disc) ★
Kaboom (2010). Plagued by bizarre visions and recurring nightmares, a college student has trouble determining where he sits on the sexuality spectrum in this characteristically offbeat Gregg Araki offering. While the imagery is more outlandish and artistic with blue, pink and purple hues used to superb effect, the film is very reminiscent of Araki's earlier Nowhere and its protagonist who begins to have visions of the universe collapsing as he realises his latent homosexuality. The big difference here is that Araki focuses more on the visions and a resulting conspiracy, which makes it less character-based than Nowhere - and leads to a far less memorable final note. Still, there is lots of interest going on here with Araki successfully paralleling the mysteries at hand to the student grappling with his sexual fluidity, and his recurring nightmare is amazingly visualised. (first viewing, DVD) ★★★★
Elena (2011). Desperate to see her layabout grandson attend college, a retired nurse hatches a plan to get the funds denied to her by her wealthy second husband in this drama from Loveless director Andrey Zvyagintsev. While it never quite enters full thriller mode, this is a surprisingly intense ride with Nadezhda Markina excellent as title character who finds her morals and nerves tested. There are also some interesting dynamics at play in how ungrateful the grandson is, how much his father (her son) sponges off her, and how she still feels compelled to support them. Zvyagintsev's extremely long takes are not always advantageous here, full of shots that dwell for a long time on minor characters performing menial tasks. With Philip Glass on hand, the film has a perfectly moody, throbbing music score though and the ending kind of works despite odd loose ends. (first viewing, DVD) ★★★
Your Name. (2016). Caught in an inexplicable paradox in which they wake up in each other's bodies on alternating days, a teenage boy and girl agree to help each other out in this fascinating anime. The film is beautifully animated with vivid colours and moody skies and writer-director Makoto Shinkai successfully milks the dilemma for both its comedic and dramatic potential. This is noticeably a film with two halves though and while the second half is more curious as Shinkai reveals an unexpected twist, the mystical way in which it is dealt with leaves a bit to be desired, and therefore the first half stands stronger. And yet, the overall project is riveting from start to finish. The two protagonists are developed in ample depth and the film makes a case for them being kindred spirits, rendering their quests near the end gripping and only ever occasionally overly sappy. (first viewing, online) ★★★★
Gerald's Game (2017). Handcuffed to a bed frame at a secluded cottage, a housewife finds herself in dire straits when her husband collapses of a heart attack during BDSM activities in this Stephen King adaptation from Oculus director Mike Flanagan. The film takes its unnerving premise and milks it for all the suspense and thrills it is worth -- the threat of a hungry neighbourhood dog in particular. Where the film succeeds best is having her rationalise and talk out what to do by conversing with both her husband's ghost and a more cynical version of herself. These conversations really get at her psyche while at the same time painting a mind driven mad by lack of food, water and exercise over several hours. The final fifteen minutes are sadly a bit of a drag (and actually entirely superfluous) but this is generally very well done if a little gruesome in the third act. (first viewing, online) ★★★
The Purge: Election Year (2016). Surviving the annual purge proves challenging for a senator with an anti-purge stance in this third film in the horror franchise. While the plot dynamics are very similar to the second film as the senator scours the streets with a recast Frank Grillo to guide her, writer-director James DeMonaco still includes new material, as well as some very vivid and memorable images, from street-side guillotines to cars covered in Xmas lights, as the year's purgers go insane. Particularly interesting this time round is the concept of "murder tourism" with young people travelling from overseas specifically to purge. The film also addresses insurance questions that the first two films left hanging. What really resonates about the movie though is its portrait of humanity among rampant inhumanity with underground triage units; human decency still survives. (first viewing, DVD) ★★★
The First Purge (2018). As per the title, this prequel to James DeMonaco's Purge trilogy imagines what the very first Purge might have looked like. It is an interesting idea as the "experiment" gains media attention with proponents calling it a necessary "societal catharsis" and the film looks at how the very first guinea pigs of Staten Island were bribed to participate so that certain interested parties could documentary desired results. While this offers a fresh and new spin for franchise, it is unfortunately far less interesting. The never-ending talk about ramifications leads to the purge action not occurring until a third of the way in, and when it does occur, the film never manages to up the ante on purge behaviour as each subsequent entry in the initial trilogy was able to do. All the talk also leads to the film being pretty blunt and unsubtle about its messages. (first viewing, Blu-ray Disc) ★★
Mute (2018). Set in near-future Berlin, this neo-noir follows a mute bartender on a quest to find his missing girlfriend. The film is mostly of note for being directed by Duncan Jones - the creative genius behind Moon and Source Code - but this is a much more muted effort. The biggest issue is that the protagonist is fairly dull and his unrelenting search is one-note and formulaic. The future setting does not really affect the plot much either, though it does provide some amazing visuals and ample comic relief with sex robots and voice activation technology. The main supporting characters (two black market American surgeons) are also far more interesting than our hero, with Justin Theroux terrific as the more sinister one. It takes a while for their plotline to collide with the protagonist's though, making this an uneven affair, if not an uninteresting one. (first viewing, online) ★★
The Meg (2018). Living at the bottom of the ocean and thought to be extinct, a prehistoric shark struggles to defend itself against scared scientists who are intent on killing it in this big budget Jaws variant. Jason Statham brings a nice dose of sarcasm and dry wit, the special effects are very decent and the underwater labs interiors are magnificent. The film expects us to sympathise with Statham and his team though, who want to kill the aquatic beast out of spite and revenge, rather than study it. This may have worked if the film had characters as three dimensional as those of Jaws, but sadly they are mostly stock types and standard horror movie fodder. The overall film is moderately entertaining with some really spectacular set pieces in the mix, but it is hard to really warm towards a film that encourages the killing of what we do not understand. (first viewing, Blu-ray Disc) ★★
Eighth Grade (2018). Nervous about entering high school without a boyfriend or any close friends, a socially awkward teenager faces a challenging final week of middle school in this comedy starring Golden Globe nominee Elsie Fisher. It is a very dynamic performance with Fisher conveying the most when diverting her eyes away; her fuller figure and imperfect complexion render her down-to-earth too. Josh Hamilton is Fisher's equal as her befuddled father; his reactions also lead to some of the film's funniest moments. Bits and pieces here misfire (Jake Ryan's character; interruptions for Fisher's video blogging) but the overall concoction is great. The 80s style music and bursts of Enya's 'Orinoco Flow' add plenty of mood and director Bo Burnham captures so much with the smallest touches, such as a gradual zoom-out to convey her anxiety at a pool party. (first viewing, cinema) ★★★★
I never felt like Solaris ventured deep into anything, it was really like a shallow list of ideas that it didn't know how to explore so thought some exposition would do (and they are interesting ideas, but I just kept thinking the book would be more interesting since this film is pointless visually). Hari was the most explored and interesting character (as you say, her confusion and coming to terms with what she is) but I didn't care about anything else, and since she was supposed to be Kris' memory personified I really needed to care more about Kris and I didn't feel he was developed enough. The imagery probably looks more cheesy because it looks really dated, and when I think of how beautiful and timeless 2001 is, it just makes Solaris look even sillier (and I know it's unfair to keep comparing it to 2001, I didn't even think of it when I was watching it but after reading the trivia I started comparing). I thought the court scenes were dumb too because I was like why did they make a film out of court proceedings, we don't need all these angles. The ending probably looked cool in its day but it just made me laugh. 
