Catfish

Documentaires are difficult to review because in terms of story there is not way to review it, and in terms of editing the footage acquired could have been limited. However, Catfish incredibly manages to stumble upon an incredibly poignant commentary of our time. Contrary to its falsely advertised 'Blair Witch-esque' horror documentary I felt nothing but admiration for the protagonist and sympathy for the supposed antagonist.

Stylistically the theme of virtual reality vs. actual reality is implemented perfectly. The exploded pixels at the start are such a nice touch reminding us of the fact EVERYTHING in the virtual reality we have created for ourselves IS fake; a collection of intangible, floating data that is easily manipulated. There is also a very nice contrast between the beauty but also sterility and superficiality of the virtual world of Facebook and the gritty, grimy shitness of the world we live in.

The film is documented using pointers such as google maps/sat-nav/iPhone maps/Facebook and it all goes to show to what extent virtual reality has integrated itself into our lives. It documents itself with the very thing its criticising (or however you want to interpret it) and that is a beautiful contradiction.

The Illusionist

I'm going to do another larger post on Animation as a whole triggered by this film but first things first.

Sylvain Chomet is an animation God, so fluid and so absurdly detailed. I wish I had the talent to draw just a single frame in this film. I study animation for my A-level art project so I think it helped see just another level of pain and effort in every second; it nearly reduced me to tears in the first few minutes. Once I got used to how incredible the animation was the story kicked in and it is relentlessly cynical, maybe I have some sort of prejudice towards animation but the fact that it was so soul crushingly depressing unnerved me a bit. There was a complete absence of closeups and tracking shots, Chomet likes his movement to flow without any distraction. The single 3-D show was completely out of place and didn't belong in the painstaking hand made process.

Watching incredible artists is so soul-crushing, morale-shattering, motivation-breaking and utterly depressing but in the end it's so worth it.

Dune

This film was pretty much a summary of events that happened in the book but the amount of stuff it covered didn't leave it enough time to talk about any of the substance behind it. I feel for Lynch though because the story was so tightly woven that altering it would make it collapse under it's own weight. The entire second half of the book was reduced to a montage in the film. Visually the film was perfect for Lynch but you can really see that the technology held him back. Now, I have read the book so it acted as a sort of guide book when watching the film. For someone who hasn't I can imagine the film would be utterly baffling.

I'm listening to: Another Diamond Day by Vashti Bunyan

I'm Still Here

I'm going to say that this film was really confused with it's message. If it was trying to paint a picture of a society obsessed with celebrity why pick such an asshole to use as an example, why make the film a comedy, people were just treating it as a 1 and a half hour Letterman defeating the point of the satire. Why show other celebrities that are shown to be absolutely capable of dealing with the situation they're in and making use of their celebrity status for a good cause? I had no idea what to think whilst the film was playing was I meant to cry or laugh, it just ended up with me sitting there confused. As an added point this film was really artlessly put together with a pretentious editor.

I'm listening to: The Girl in Byakkoya by Susumu Hirasawa

L.A. Confidential

I didn't like it, now this might shock people by the fact I have my own opinion but I generally don't like films that are this absurdly polished. I can appreciate the level of skill involved in making it but it didn't really have anything valuable to say it seemed just to be begging for oscars. I have never been able to like a film solely for the the performance of an actor, apart from a few notable exceptions. Everyone seemed to speak to each-other in one-liners which I find a really odd cinema convention. It felt like it needed to please everyone with its mixture of humour, the action shot out and the female exploitation. I dunno it just doesn't appeal to me.

I'm listening to: Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks

I'm reading: Atlas Shrugged

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Films about maths are tricky because most of the maths involved is really dull. So the challenge the director faces is making a film about maths without any maths in it, this usually gives a feeling of detachment like an advert that has nothing to do with what it is advertising. Things got a little less compelling with the increasingly frequent and lengthy 'I'm going mad scenes', I mean they get their point across really quickly but they span like 5 minutes. The high contrast black and white was also super-awesome.

Role Models

Role Models: The true test of any comedy is if it makes people laugh and it that sense Role Models scores very high marks because it was genuinely hysterical. Comedy often loses it's humour according to time so the challenge is in making something timeless and in that sense Role Models will be forgotten in a few years. I liked the fact that it showed the 'nerd world' in such a good light, I defy anyone who says LARPing doesn't look ridiculously fun. I also feel sorry for the actor who played McLovin because that will forever be his label. Did the movie have anything valuable to say? No. Did it want to say anything? No.

I'm currently listening to: Bombay - El Guincho

Reading: Kafka's Metamorphosis