Recommend a movie

10 posts

Roody

"Big Wednesday" is a good movie best watched when you're in a pensive mood. It's a surfing movie by John Milius, set in 1960s California and focused on a group of pals, but it's really about growing up. Occasionally it touches sentimentalism, but all in all it's quality. At the very least its beach sequences are a BAP-like depiction of surf fascism. Fair warning: it might give you some sympathy for Boomers.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/BjicPwDOm14

Antipodean

Sicario.

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A 'narco' thriller/politics/action hybrid set along the US-Mexico border against the backdrop of the 'War on Drugs'. It is a really well made film, great visuals, soundtrack is goood and there are a handful of really compelling scenes in there too. I was surprised not many people saw film this when it came out.

johnboy
Programming note: A Brighter Summer Day will be airing on Turner Classic Movies in the United States and Canada on the night of Sunday, May 21st at 2:00 AM. Good opportunity to see (and record) this film in its restored, high-resolution state!

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/n4pHZ_IrKDk
Random logic

Nocturnal Animals

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There is a recurring theme in modern cinema, one which (unsurprisingly) came from literature. That is, that of the vacuousness of upper-middle-class life, affluent yet dysfunctional families which feature high-roller intellectuals whose nihilism pricks at them while they chase cheap thrills through sex and drugs. If you want an example from this very thread, see perkunos' recommendation 'The Ice Storm' (a film I quite enjoyed). Rarely are these films gripping enough, in any way, to leave you with any response other than "So, what?" Truthfully, many of these attempts at portraying the vapid rich are so tepid, boring and emotionless that you would be better reading a non-fiction book on the issue; you will get the same amount of emotional stimulation but at least this way you'll learn some new trivia facts that you can say at dinner. So, what makes the film Nocturnal Animals any different?

The film came out last year and is written and directed by famous fashion designer Tom Ford, and based off of the novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright (a novel I've been meaning to read ever since watching this film, but still haven't). Tom Ford had success with his 2009 film debut 'A Single Man', another book adaptation, which I found to be unenjoyable. The repetitive manipulation of colour was so gimmicky and reminded me of when I was young and edited videogame clips for people's 'montages'. The plot was another overused film trope, the life of the tortured and lonely intellectual (this intellectual, an effete gay British professor in 1960s America, was so unrelatable that he remained alien to my sympathy). This time however, with Nocturnal Animals, it is safe to say that, by-and-large, Tom Ford nailed it. The film follows Susan Morrow, an artist and gallery owner, who is in a loveless marriage with handsome husband Hutton. She receives a manuscript for a novel, dedicated to her and written by her ex-husband, Edward. When she begins to read it, we are transported to another world, and watch the novel's narrative take place as a film of its own, a world away from the sterile Los Angeles life of Susan Morrow, deep into dry and arid Texas where we watch the Hastings family driving on a road trip, led by dad Tony. It is in this world that the film becomes gripping, and when we sense things start to go bad for the family the suspense snowballs into a uncomfortable feeling of hopelessness and dread. After a point, we are drawn out again, back to Susan, as she relieves herself, and us, from the novel's tension, but not for too long...she becomes as interested in the fate of the Hastings family as you are, and we dip in and out at mini-cliffhanger moments. Without exaggeration, the suspenseful scenes here have to be some of the best executed in recent film. It is the use of the exciting false story to comment on the boring real story, which it has parallels to, that gives the film great momentum, because ultimately it twists a film about a bunch of rich faggots into a 'Taken' style thriller.

The film has three strands: real present, the novel, and the real past. The first two I have touched on, while the third shows Susan and Edward together as a young couple, revealing what happened in their life before all this. All three worlds have the aesthetic quality you would expect from a dandy fashion designer, and the film is slick and polished; yet the aforementioned suspense, the deep emotional feelings that are touched upon, and the great acting from the star-studded cast (Amy Adams, Jake Gylenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Johnson, Isla Fisher) carry the film well and make it more than a simple experiment in aestheticism; other films renowned for their visual splendour can sometimes have little else going for them and they turn out to be a bit of a drag.

I won't go into too much detail about why this is a critique, verging on satire, of oh-so-refined faux-liberal elite society, as it is quite obvious when you watch the film, from things like the Jeff Koons piece at the Morrow household or a woman talking about the benefits of having a gay husband. Tom Ford quite obviously belongs to this world, yet he undeniably portrays it in a bad light. Much was made of the opening scenes of the film, morbidly obese and naked women acting cheerleaders. Yet, this turns out to be one of Susan's art pieces that she gets praise for, rather than your initial assumption that it is some grotesque nonsense part of the story's plot. The gritty story of Edward's novel reflects and amplifies the dynamics of his real life relationship with Susan, and we are left with a rare and welcome advertisement for fidelity and commitment. I was surprised to see all of this from Tom Ford, but it's perhaps not so shocking if we take a look at him. Uncharacteristically of a gay man, he has been with his partner in a monogamous relationship since 1986, and they married as soon as it was legal. His fashion work, while firmly in the region of luxury goods and so in this way divorced from the everyday man, cannot be dismissed like the garish silliness often seen from haute-couture designers. He seems to take everything seriously and has an eye for detail (if that wasn't clear from his fashion work it becomes brilliantly so in this film) so why would it be so shocking that he is sick and tired of the pretentious blowhards he is probably surrounded by daily? Regardless of his views or intentions, this is a fun watch, a great date night choice...check it out.
RedHand
[SPOILER ALERT]

Red Dragon

Forensic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter must help Will Graham of the FBI track down a killer known as The Tooth Fairy.

The killers real name is Francis Dolarhyde (my avatar). He has an alternate personality known as the Great Red Dragon (derived from a painting by William Blake). Dolarhyde believes he is becoming in flesh the beast already bound to his soul. One avenue for "changing" is his bodybuilding another is his murder.

High points include Dolarhyde tearing the lips of a journalist who implied he was an impotent homosexual and shooting the office playboy in the face.

There are some very beautiful scenes as well. Dolarhyde befriends and then seduces a beautiful, blind coworker, Reba McLane. Dolarhyde is handsome but very shy (the newfound confidence comes from "the dragon"). In their first meeting she tells him how much she, as a disabled person, hates false pity. He softly responds "I have no pity".

All round good film even though they left out some of the depth of Dolarhyde's alternate personality that is fleshed out in the book
(I guess there is only so much screen time). 8/10

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/v62EflJTGoY
Cornelio
Horrible movie. Best SWAT ever is a girl - ok, at this point in history you have to accept this kind of thing. She fucks a nigger, who, of course, is the second best SWAT ever - yeah, ok... When you think that's all you are gonna have to put up with, when you think you might make it, there it is: Josh Brolin leading a massive SWAT raid in flip-flops. FUCK YOU.
Jude
None of that happened in the movie lol
Cornelio
I was admittedly slightly inebriated when I watched it. You are right, she didn't fuck the nigger. But the flip-flop scene fucking happened!
Local Daimyo
the problem with sicario is that a lot of plot difficulties are resolved by people shooting with improbable speed, accuracy and stealth. It's really dumb upon a second watching
Cornelio
I agree, you have to be really dumb to watch it twice.