Insomnia | The ALASKAthon

I've decided to finish the left-up work and continue the ALASKAthon as a final installment on this blog. Maybe it's because I cut my toe and am thus excluded from most fun summer activities or maybe it's because I just don't want to leave my blog as a half-baked mess. Better to end things neatly if you really have to end them. 

Blind Spot Fixed: Léon, The Professional

Life has taught me that it's always easier to just give your thumbs up to something than to back off and share your doubts on it. Add to that the fact that I can't really get angry - like, ANGRY angry - and think fighting is sort of useless, and you have me slightly afraid of the reactions to this post. Let's cut to the slack: I wasn't the biggest fan of Léon, my April entry to the Blind Spot series. It's a movie I've been aware of for a long time now and I've been close to picking it up several times on flea markets and the like. As all of the movies I chose for this blogathon, it's one of the highest ranked films on IMDBs Top 250 that I haven't seen until now - and this is a list I have only had good experiences with so far. Not that Léon was a bad experience. In fact, I acknowledge it to be a good, solid film with an unusual story and great characters. Still, I'm not a fan.

Blind Spot Fixed: American History X

I can't discuss American History X - which, just to give you an impression, should land somewhere up in my Top 10 films of all time - without discussing my initial expectations for it. Along with Once Upon a Time in the West, this was the movie from blind spot list that I expected least from, mainly because I knew the least about it. The title had always made me think of some slightly preachy yet solid, typical 'universally good movie' about Malcolm X and black oppression. At least I was slightly right about that last one, but surprisingly there is no trace of Malcolm X in this movie at all. Lincoln may have been mentioned, which brings me to my first point: Movie buffs have been talking a lot about racism in the last two years with Lincoln and 12 Years a Slave being released and overall cherished. These were two movies that left me very cold and didn't trigger much of the aspired emotional reaction in me, which has convinced quite a few people I talk to about movies that I am a racist (jokingly... I hope). For example, one of these people was very surprised when I told him that I had actually fairly enjoyed this year's Fruitvale Station, me being a racist and all. I can't wait to tell him what I think of American History X (hint: it begins with M and ends with ASTERPIECE)*.

Blind Spot Fixed: Memento

Memento was easily one of my blind spot films that I was most excited to watch. It's Stevee Taylor's favorite movie of all time, which in itself is worth a thousand reasons I should watch it, and in the top 10 of countless lists floating around the internet - including many an IMDB Top list. In contrary to many other of my blind spots, I actually knew about Memento a long time before I moved to the island of film lovers (as Ryan McNeil - sort of - puts it: the more movies you watch, the more blind spots you never even knew you had, you discover). I owe this knowledge to one of the sides of Indian cinema that I've always been critical of: it's affection for remaking films from other corners of the world (primarily Hollywood blockbusters). So Ghajini, a 2008 Bollywood hit remake of Memento, marked my first encounter with the Memento Mori story. Ironically enough, this movie was also a Hindi-language remake of the 2005 Kollywood (Tamil-language) film of the same name by the same director. At any rate, Ghajini was fairly enjoyable, mainly because of its cinematography and the man who turns iron into gold, Indian superstar Aamir Khan. However, it didn't ignite a burning desire to watch the original Memento in me.

WRITING ELSEWHERE #2

IS SHERLOCK STILL READABLE?

In the age of Johnlock, slow-mo boxing scenes and a female Watson, why should we actually read Sherlock Holmes?

@ THE ARTIFICE

Bully - Be Nice or Die

The embarrassing discovery of a misspelling on the banner for this months' LAMB MOTM, whose name I mistook for being "Buddy", could be seen as a foreshadowing of my experience of actually watching this movie. Bully, although only one consonant away from it, is anything but a movie called "Buddy".

Based on a real story and the book written by Jim Schutze, BULLY centers around a group of lazy teenagers that do little less than sleep with each other. One of the kids is Bobby, who treats his "friends" like s*it, especially his childhood best friend Marty. One day, Marty's new girlfriend Lisa decides that the Bully must die. No one disagrees.

If you're searching for a discomforting and unsettling experience, with anything in it that could be described as sick, inhuman, immoral or similar - except cannibalism - you'll hit the jackpot with Bully. It's a story that has a lot of ingredients I love in movies, some I like, and some that make for interesting, challenging watches but I know will upset me in a bad way. The first group (ingredients I love) are the teens and the splash of coming-of-age. In this case however, they don't really come of anything, although they go through some typical coming-of-age phases and actions. There is also the crime element - who doesn't love a good crime story? In this case however, we already know who did what, why and how, so it's more of an insight scoop on the crime. Ingredients I like are the psychologically disturbing elements and character treats, the social commentary/ criticism and Los Angeles setting. But now to get to the core of it all: ingredients I do like but don't enjoy. These are thought-provoking and discomforting in a great way, something I need to experience once in a while but really rather wouldn't sometimes. That's hard drugs, a loooooooot of sex including rape (I'm not prude or anything, The Dreamers is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I don't think anyone would really enjoy the scenes in Bully), teenage pregnancy and prostitution. And we're not talking Pretty Woman prostitution, but the Mysterious Skin/ Christiane F sort of thing. 

So where does all of this leave me with Bully? This is not a movie I enjoyed. It's a movie that made me want to dig a big black hole in the garden and hide in it - either that or surround myself with sunshine, rainbows and innocent little children for a month. I would want to re-watch Bully anywhere in the vicinity of the next, say, 10 years. That being said, I do think it's a great movie, and in that way, it was an enjoyable experience. One that tested and probably crossed my boundaries and made me face some conflicts and perceptions of life that I don't usually consider. It's a well-directed, well-scripted, well-acted movie and I have nothing to complain about it whatsoever. So in the end, I appreciate the fact that this depressing and thought-provoking indie got chosen to be the LAMB Movie of the Month, because I got the chance to watch something I had never heard of and maybe would've never seen otherwise.

BULLY

2001 • USA/ France • English

dir. Larry Clark (1st watch of mine) 

written by David McKenna & Roger Pullis

★ Brad Renfro, Bijou Phillips, Rachel Miner + more (incl. Michael Pitt)

FINAL FRAME: STRAWBERRY

Hype: Deserved

1994, USA

Pulp Fiction

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary

★ John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson

            

 Pulp Fiction is an english description for "dirty" literature - this I just found out, and it makes me appreciate the movie even more.

What else is Pulp Fiction?
It was, to me, one of the biggest cult films, one of the 1001+ movies, one of the highest rated movies on IMDB - to put it shortly; one of the greatest blemishes on my List of Shame (which exists in my head only). Things like that kind of raise the expectations.
Many movies, ones I loved and ones I hated, have made me lower my expectations for movies to see - especially highly acclaimed ones. But whenever one of those cultural-heritage-movies crosses my path, all these precautions are wiped out of my head. And then there's only one thought left: "I've gotta love this movie, I simply must".

All this introductory rambling is supposed to build up to this important statement:
"I actually do love Pulp Fiction - STRIKE!"

Now I could say something like "Well, how can one not love Pulp Fiction?", but I won't because I actually know someone (ahem, not personally, it's a blogger) who didn't love this movie. And I'm sure there are many more. Why? Because Pulp Fiction is not a movie for everyone, it's just not a second Shawshank Redemption.
Surely, most people of our generation will love this movie, if only for the soundtrack and sudden outbursts of we're-so-cool-we-don't-even-care-we-look-stupid-being-it. But many I know, especially people that are less into intellectual films or art, will probably be confused by the non-linear narrative, the awkward characters and so on.
By the way, don't let me get started on parents - I tried watching The Graduate with my mom once. Although there must be movie-interested parents somewhere out there.

There is, however, one reason to watch Pulp Fiction, no matter who you are, and that I have already mentioned: cultural heritage.
If you haven't seen Pulp Fiction, you won't sound convincing quoting it nor will you be able to dance convincingly to the magnificent soundtrack. You won't understand many references in newer films, perhaps not even recognize them (I'm sure I've already unawarely passed hundreds)... you will have what we call a "Bildungslücke" in German - a gap in education. And not only if you're a movie buff, if only you just "like" movies, you will have this Bildungslücke.

Hopefully,  I have convinced you to want to watch or re-watch Pulp Fiction as soon as possible. For those who have already seen the movie, I guess I didn't make you wallow in sweet memories of its amazingness - the reviewer's classics-doubt has caught me. I simply feel that I have nothing interesting to say about Pulp Fiction that hasn't been said yet.
Hopefully this video will suffice to re-aflame the feeling of the strawberry explosion.

FINAL FRAME

The Cate Blanchett Essentials, #4 / 5

Read more about The Cate Blanchett Essentials

The Gift (2000) Sam Raimi

IMDB: 6.7 - RT: 56% / 56%

Why I selected this film as one of the Cate Blanchett Essentials

„Many people have recommended it for Cate's great performance (though this probably counts for all of these films), and... that's it, I think. I also like the title. My only fear is Katie Holmes, whom I've never liked in anything.“

Against the System

A Wednesday!

India, 2008

Directed and written by Neeraj Pandey

★ Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergill

 The first half of A Wednesday seems like a mixture of the most basic, well-known, mainstream terrorism thriller elements; a police officer receives a call from a stranger telling that he has planted bombs in various places of a big city (Mumbai). The police officer wants a proof, he gets it. The stranger wants some terrorists with muslim names to be released.
And that's where the film gets interesting. I don't want to say much about the plot from that point on, except that this is not your typical Indian terrorism film at all.

Blood. Music. Ryan.

USA, 2011

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Written by Hossein Amini

★ Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston

        

Even though DRIVE has only been a moderate success at the box office, it's already considered a cult classic by its fans. Once they saw Ryan Gosling driving around in L.A. at night time to the blooming electronic beats of Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx, they were hooked. So was I.

While few films truly live out their ideas, DRIVE has its own spirit that shines through in every single scene. The extreme brutality may seem arty to some viewers, to me it was just perfect. A little shocking at times, but nevertheless perfectly right.
The complete contrast to the brutality is existent in many calm and slow scenes, and both sides are connected in the character of the Driver, who is a quiet yet two-fisted person. If you haven't been falling for Ryan Gosling yet, this movie will certainly make you. Ryan is the greatest star of the movie, taking the spotlight from every single one of the excellent supporting actors and actresses. His character is best described in the lyrics of one of the hyper-cool songs of the soundtrack: „A real human being, and a real hero“.
Though he shows traces of humanity by falling in love with Carey Mulligan's character and being wounded a few times, the Driver is an invincible hero. Maybe it's this utterly cool hero that I've been missing in many films of the recent times, at least he's one of the main reasons why I loved DRIVE. The way his silver jacket with the golden scorpion shines in the light, the dark sunglasses that hide his beautiful blue eyes, and his calm smile... absolutely everything about him is so perfect it hurts.

It is hard for me to write about a film I love, and therefore, this review isn't very long. I want to apologize for this, but the words just won't come... it's only emotions, sounds and images in my head. The pink letters, the short yet always perfectly fitting dialogue, the moment when me and my mum couldn't bear the absurd brutality anymore and were caught by a fit of laughter in the theater... which, in case you would like to know, was after one of the gangsters hit a fork into the eye of another gangster.

The haunting alternation of silence and slaughter, and the moment when everything was over and I realized how outstanding this movie is.

I always fear to be too impulsive rating movies, therefore the rating is a bit lower than I  would actually like it to be.

Why Does Shit Always Happen To Us?

A comedy about friendship, Burqa-snogging and... shit.

Delhi Belly (2011)

Directed by Abhinay Deo | India

Written by Akshat Verma

★ Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunaal Roy Kapur

    

Aamir Khan can today be called one of the trailblazers of the Hindi comedy film landscape. After the immediate and huge success of 3 Idiots (my very first post on this blog), Aamir decided to produce an even blacker comedy, this time starring his nephew Imran, among others.

More men who hate women

But still just one cyber-punk who hates men. Fincher is bringing Lisbeth back.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Directed by David Fincher | USA

Written by Steven Zaillian & Stieg Larsson (novel)

★ Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig

          

When I first heard that Hollywood had plans about producing its own version of the Swedish surprise hit, like many people my only thought was: "Why?". Is this about money, do they want to exploit the fame of the books and previous books? There is nothing you can improve, is there?
Moreover, I could not in the slightest imagine an other actress playing Lisbeth Salander than Noomi Rapace.

I then found out that it was Fincher, the creator of some of my favorite films of the past few years, who was going to direct the remake. Not fully convinced, I watched the leaked trailer some weeks later - and at that point I was finally hooked. Hooked by an unexpected amount of style, cool music and most surprisingly (seeming) originality. I was sure then, that I was going to love the film.

The IMDB Tops: 10 thoughts on... The Shawshank Redemption

Dir. Frank Darabont | USA

★ Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bon Gunton

    

Current IMDB rank - rating - votes

1. Who would have thought that the currently most popular film would be such a softie? I'm not a frequent cineweeper, but the final sequence touched something very deep down - as corny as that sounds.

It was nothing I had expected, not even a few seconds before the tears started falling. It was like somebody had suddenly turned on some magnificent music that you hadn't heard before, but that still sounded familiar (sounds corny again).

2. Speaking of familiar, The Shawshank Redemption is a very good film, but there was something familiar, well-known about each and every scene. It was like all the good "mainstream" films put together, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering its cinematic position. 

Watching this film, I feel, has helped me understand cinema and cinematic taste more, and how hard it is to hit the right notes for the audience in fusion with your own artistic standards... and what an example of that can look like.