Savage

It's a New Zealand movie! From back in 2001... which contains the quote "This is America, you can't just shoot everyone!"

A young couple (very loosely in a relationship) drive around, and occasionally pick up hitchhikers for fun. But when they pick a cowboy, they also pick up his troubles, which includes a Maori drug lord and some skinheads. She wanted fun, but what will she have to do to earn the right to wear snakeskin?

This has a great lead performance by Melanie Lynskey...and about the only other person you might recognise is a younger Taika Waititi. That said, there are solid performances all around, and even the skinheads get something of an arc (even if they are still skinheads and get what's coming to them).

I'm not sure if this a classic NZ movie, but glad I saw it. It's really good!

[END]

Read more!

Sisters with Transistors

A documentary about early female pioneers in the electronica music industry? Don't mind if I do!

As it says above, this is about the female makers of electronic music, from back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. We hear from (and about) names like Suzanne Ciani, Elaine Radigue, Laurie Spiegel and Delia Derbyshire amongst others. We also hear plenty of their music, which basically is the entire backing track of this movie.

(And yes, of course they mention the Doctor Who theme.)

Given the range of music, it's not surprising that while I liked some, other music not so much. When even the subtitles say "drone" you know you are in for a tough listen. But hey, they were popular (in so far as they can be popular and still not well known, which is the point of the documentary) so it's not my tastes that mean anything.

If this sounds anywhere near your interests, give it a watch!

[END]

Read more!

Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

Certainly one of the longest titles for a movie!

Marta leaves America for Budapest, to meet up with a man she met at a medical conference. However, when she tracks him down, he doesn't know her. Oops! However, she decides to stay around, takes a job that's rather beneath her skills, all to track the guy down. Yep, she's basically stalking him, but it's a good thing. In the mean time she sort of hooks up with the son of a patient, and then when she does get her man, it's not easy going.

Especially as she isn't the most reliable of narrators. We find out (she talks to a therapist, and this is one of the few movies where that's a good thing) that she has a tendency to make things up and later believe they are real. So how was this first meeting really? And when she is with the chap later, is she really, or is it in her mind?

I'm sure the ending isn't as ambiguous as how I read it, but after that set up, how could I not? Not to mention it ends on an image that might mean something, but I could easily have missed it.

But my main take away from this movie... dang, director Lili Horvat really likes a close up! Back that camera off!

[END]

Read more!

The Killing of Two Lovers

It's a character piece about a man trying to get back with his family.

That man we see in the first shot is trying to shoot his (separated from) wife and her new lover. From there, he tries to get through the days while he can't really be with his children and his wife is with someone else, and his teenage daughter having her own problems with the family having issues...

To be honest, I'm not sure why this made my short list, but there we are. My main issue is that... I don't like the lead character. He's not a great guy, so him getting back with the wife and the family isn't something I'm rooting for. Which is the basic thesis of the movie, so...

Maybe I should refine my selections better...

[END]

Read more!

All Light, Everywhere

What we have here is a documentary about the camera, about what it sees, about what it doesn't see. And it's something else.

Take a good look at cameras. In particular, spend a long time looking at police bodycameras, where they are made, how the police are told to use them... but then make everything artier. Artier... ARTIER... now really JUMP up your own butt with pretentiousness... there you go, there's the movie we have!

This has some interesting points to make, about how we look at the world. The body camera sees what the observer sees, but not what the observer does. Technology isn't seamless, images can't get everything. Our own eyes have blindspots, and so do our cameras.

But that's not enough for this movie. We need to see beyond what the camera is pointed at. We need to see the camera itself. We see the documentary makers. We have a voice over tell us things. We have (sometimes) separate captions telling us things.

We get auteur up in this!

And we also get nearly two hours of this. It is a LOT. Myself, I would like this to be made in a more straightforward way, but this method may appeal to someone.

(All this, and nothing about Deep Fakes...)

[END]

Read more!

Riders of Justice

Hey, a Mads Mikkelsen movie!

A train accident is just an accident.. or is it? One person who was on the train can't stop thinking about it, and finds proof that it was an assassination attempt, and talks to the (military) husband of a woman who died, and they end up doing something about that against the people they find behind it. However, it escalates quickly, and goes in ways you wouldn't expect.

There are some very different performances, from Mads, who gets to do a range of different things, to the "geeks" to his daughter played by Andrea Heick Gadeberg. Despite the action moments of this film, this is more of a character piece as we see people reacting to events and find someone to blame.

That said, it felt a bit slow to me, just reveling in some of the weirder moments as if to go "hey, how about this then?" So... two hours is a bit long for my patience, but that doesn't make it a bad watch.

[END]

Read more!

Notturno

Documentary time (one of many), about living in the war torn Middle East.

As the line above says, this is about people living in war torn countries. I'm not saying they are living a joyous life, but they are surviving. We see a fair few different people, including patients at a hospital putting on a play about staying strong, and kids telling stories of being under ISIS.

Not a fun movie, but a rather stark portrayal of life. But while this is a crappy time for many, people are getting by, day-by-day. Some are doing better than others. This is like some places in that the people on the low rung are just doing their things and trying to get by, but a lot of other places don't have constant war and imminent death hanging over their heads.

Life endures. It's a shit hand, but life endures.

[END]

Read more!