Quoting Boner M (view post)
Swingers, I guess...Quoting Lucky (view post)
Quoting Boner M (view post)
Swingers, I guess...Quoting Lucky (view post)
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And everybody wants to be special here
They call your name out loud and clear
Here comes a regular
Call out your name
Here comes a regular
Am I the only one here today?
This was really, really great. So great, in fact, that I'm willing to not dwell too much on its use of the indie-cliche Ambiguous Ending. I can understand the nitpicks, but as crafted, I found it hypnotic from start to finish. A very special combination of performance and form. Perfectly cast, eloquently shot by Jody Lee Lipes, and beautifully edited. One of the most memorable American indies in recent memory.
[]Quoting Briare (view post)
I don't think the death was on impulse but I agree with the rest of your comment.Quoting Kirby Avondale (view post)
The Princess and the Pilot - B-
Playtime (rewatch) - A
The Hobbit - C-
The Comedy - D+
Kings of the Road - C+
The Odd Couple - B
Red Rock West - C-
The Hunger Games - D-
Prometheus - C
Tangled - C+
I don't doubt priming, but it's all the same to me.Quoting Qrazy (view post)
Hello there Kirby! FIrst time I've seen you in these parts.
Hai. I get around!Quoting Ezee E (view post)
Would it have been less cliché to have a very conclusive ending? (Incidentally, there are lots of Hollywood movies that are fairly open ended--The Birds, Brokeback Mountain, and A Serious Man being the first three examples that come to mind.)Quoting DavidSeven (view post)
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
A conclusive ending in a critically lauded indie? Yes. That would be quite unexpected and a refreshing change of pace.Quoting baby doll (view post)
I'm mostly kidding. But I do think the Ambiguous Ending's prevalence in indie cinema is fast becoming cliche. Some of these modern films make it work. Some don't.
Brokeback Mountain and A Serious Man are curious examples to use. While they're both technically Hollywood productions, these are a couple films that I really think embrace indie sensibilities (beyond their use of the Ambiguous Ending). Brokeback Mountain is really unlike anything else in Ang Lee's catalog. Certainly less polished aesthetically and more methodical and unconventional in narrative than his other work (The Ice Storm included). A Serious Man, too, is sort of an outlier for the Coens. I would say it's definitely the least accessible of all their films and definitely the one that seems the least concerned with commercial appeal.Quoting baby doll
I'm a big fan of both.
Again, one could say the same about conclusive endings: some films make it work, and some don't. Generally speaking, art movies are less inclined towards conclusive endings because they often pare away a lot of the redundancies that you find in mainstream filmmaking; with regards to Martha Marcy May Marlene, rather than showing the heroine and her family [] the movie leaves it to the viewer to infer what happens next.Quoting DavidSeven (view post)
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
Still collecting my thoughts, but I found this to be a gripping, well crafted film. I'm not sure if I like the ending or not-I imagine a second viewing whenever I get around to it will clear things up. Review forthcoming, eventually.
BLOG
And everybody wants to be special here
They call your name out loud and clear
Here comes a regular
Call out your name
Here comes a regular
Am I the only one here today?
Very belatedly just got around to this before watching his next feature The Nest. If anything, MMMM could have pushed into abstraction even further, as the film's slippery structure reveals its precise method early on, and becomes less disorienting as it goes along, barring some sudden ruptures of violence. But Durkin's idea of PTSD as free-floating cinematic headspace is otherwise so potent and nightmarishly executed enough, and Olsen bridges her three identities of the title brilliantly, switching between the last two to imply a heartbreakingly confused search to get her first one back. 7.5/10
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5