27: Kick-Ass (2010)
First, I’m just going to leave this here, because it’s all true. Second, let’s acknowledge that Kick-Ass is a thing that happened, and perhaps it’s best to see what insights can be dredged out of this film, which is a study of sociopathy — not for the obvious ultraviolence and casual disregard for human life [...]
26: The Secret in their Eyes (2009)
In the 1970s, much of South America was tormented by political strife: the CIA-sponsored overthrow of the democratically-elected Allende government in Chile, a series of brutal massacres in Argentina, and the culmination of state-sponsored terrorism in the US-backed continental system of political repression and assassination known as Operation Condor. Over this timeframe, the juntas and [...]
25: Enter the Void (2009)
Enter the Void is the movie that Gaspar Noé wanted to make but was told that it wasn’t commercially viable enough and why don’t you do something a little more mainstream? so he went and made a more “commercial” film first which was Irreversible with its fractured chronology and nine-minute-long rape scene — “less commercial than Irreversible” [...]
24: Please Vote For Me (2007)
Please Vote For Me is a documentary that could easily be used as ammunition in the great debate about the disparity between China’s economic and political spheres: as a case study that the “free markets lead to free people” argument will legitimately bear fruit in the future, or that there’s something in the Chinese cultural [...]
Chua in Other Forms
The Amy Chua parenting phenomenon goes international! The Wall Street Journal, originators of all this insanity, reports that a Chinese translation of Chua’s book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” has been released in China. The title in Chinese is “Being a Mom in America” and on the jacket flap below Chua’s picture are the words, “This story proves: when it comes to parenting, Eastern parents are more successful than Western parents.” For reasons why this is in violation of any and all logic, please refer to my previous post about Chua.
23: Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Godfrey Reggio’s defining film Koyaanisqatsi (from a Hopi word roughly meaning “life out of balance”) stands at the crossroads between realism and formalism, the two grand “projects” that define a classical way of looking at cinema, at attempting to assign filmmaking and film watching a purpose. Realism conceives of cinema as a window to the world [...]
22: Let Me In (2010)
(I tend to be unconcerned about SPOILERS in these things, but since this film does have some element of a twist, SPOILER ALERT) I admit that when I heard a remake of the 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In was in the works, my first thought was, “Does this really have to be made?” [...]
21: Broken Flowers (2005)
From Broken English to Broken Flowers. In this Jim Jarmusch film, Bill Murray stars as Don Johnston, a wealthy retiree who embarks on a journey to visit a series of former girlfriends after receiving an anonymous letter claiming that he has an adolescent son he’s never met. The confrontation with the ex is a common [...]
Air Doll (2009)
It’s hard to think of a director other than Hirokazu Koreeda who could tell the story of an inflatable sex doll come to life with such aplomb and tenderness. Takashi Miike maybe, but then film would be something else entirely. Nozomi (Bae Doona) awakes one day to discover that she is alive and wanders around [...]
20: Broken English (2007)
I don’t write these entries thinking they’re reviews; it’s a bonus when they turn out to be. Even though they’re here for public consumption, I write these journal entries mostly for my own benefit in piecing together my own cinematic experiences. Because of that, they tend to be hastily cleaned-up versions of the random thoughts [...]
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