Sunday, June 30, 2013

Week 26 in film

Killer Joe (William Friedkin, 2011)
Matthew McConaughey directed by the guy who gave the world The Exorcist. And yes, this is somewhat haunting and Mr. Sixpack deserves credit. He chooses better movies lately (Magic Mike) and appears to be a better actor than what I took him for. Bye Bye Surfer Dude...here's Killer Joe.   7/10



The Hangover Part III (Todd Phillips, 2013)
Felt like treating myself with some light Hollywood entertainment. Even with low demands far from sufficient. Not as bad as Part II but the franchise should have stopped somewhere during the first film already. I smiled a couple of times, never really laughed.   3.5/10

Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)
Fictional tale about a handful of girls who disappear after the title event. Not so much a film about the mystery and how and why behind it but more about the effects of their disappearance. Beautifully crafted and could have inspired a film like The Virgin Suicides or Dead Poets Society (Oh wait, who directed that one again...). Both films mentioned above had more depth if you ask me. This one has more poetic undertones.  7.5/10

Il deserto rosso (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)
I think the first time I saw this film is about a year ago and I thought of it as a good film, but nog mind-blowing. After a while I realized this film came to my mind on a number of occasions, associations go a long way in my film world. Time for a second viewing (on blu-ray). Much better than the first time could I recognize Antonioni's trademarks and choices in composition. In addition to his previous trilogy (L'avventura, L'eclisse and La notte, all great films) this film has a colour composition fitting perfectly to the mood of our female lead who has a hard time dealing with her environment. Some claim the film to be a statement against industrialization, but my feeling is that our protagonist would be unstable everywhere, that's partly the point. Antonioni uses his choice of environment very subtle to add to our 'heroin'. Include a mood-indulgent soundtrack and everything adds up. Near to perfection for me.  9.5/10



Suzhou River (Ye Lou, 2000)
Perhaps best summarized as how Wong Kar Wai's take on Hitchcock's Vertigo would have looked like. Sounds a bit lame maybe, and since I am not a big fan of Wai (for as far I have seen) could have been a bad choice for a lazy sunday afternoon but turned out to be pretty good, better than any WKW so far anyway.  8/10

No comments:

Post a Comment