Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
On FB, I was talking about how this reminded me of a Vittorio De Sica film, where an ordinary protagonist is caught in a situation where they are slipping away due to a lack of social support. Excellent performances all around. Beautiful cinematography. One of the year's best.
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
Yeah, isn't it great? Sean Baker is one of my fav directors right now. I love that he's now made three films in a row about sex work and each one is so different from the last, showing the variety of the perspective and the richness of it that is still largely unexplored in films.
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
I was absolutely floored to learn that Bria Vinaite had never acted before. And I'm still not sure how they captured some of that stuff with the kids that feels so honest. That speaks to an extraordinary director. I'll have to catch up on the rest of his work.
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
I didn't realize he made Starlet (which I still have to see). Tangerine, while not exactly my cup of tea, was still gripping all through the run time. My biggest gripe was, as usual, characters make decisions I didn't like. Still a checklist film. Especially because (correct me if memory serves me wrong) it was shot entirely on an iPhone.
Trailer for TFP looks great.
Just one (key) scene, I believe.Quoting Skitch (view post)
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
Damn the internet.Quoting Spinal (view post)
Yeah, in the last five minutes I kept asking myself, "How do you direct a little girl to get THAT emotional of a performance?"Quoting Spinal (view post)
This was an emotional rollercoaster for me with a lot to process. I'll have more developed thoughts after I see it for a second time.
Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5
615 Film
Letterboxd
Are you talking about this movie? Skitch is referring to Tangerine, which was shot entirely on an iPhone 5S.Quoting Spinal (view post)
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
This is why he's one of my favorite filmmakers right now. Baker's entire filmography are films with first time actors. The co-lead of Starlet was an 85 year old woman who'd never acted before that they just saw working out in a YMCA. The stars of Tangerine were actual trans sex workers that Baker found by visiting the LGBT center in LA. All of their performances were extraordinary.Quoting Spinal (view post)
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
I was. Maybe I misunderstood his post.Quoting number8 (view post)
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
This is pretty incredible, though I'm not sure I agree with all the reviewers touting Dafoe's performance as some kind of career peak; I suspect that people are responding more to seeing him portray a character who is unimpeachably virtuous for once instead of a creep.
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
Agreed that it's a strange performance to single out. Dafoe is solid, as usual. Maybe it's also because he's one of the only recognizable faces in an exceptional ensemble.
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
These people clearly did not watch John Wick.Quoting baby doll (view post)
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
Or Platoon...or The Last Temptation of Christ...or...Quoting number8 (view post)
Ratings on a 1-10 scale for your pleasure:
Top Gun: Maverick - 8
Top Gun - 7
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 8
Crimes of the Future - 8
Videodrome - 9
Valley Girl - 8
Summer of '42 - 7
In the Line of Fire - 8
Passenger 57 - 7
Everything Everywhere All at Once - 6
This was totally heartbreaking but, like Tangerine, has a really unique loving tone that feels very therapeutic. Whole cast is great--am I sensing Dafoe backlash in this thread? Movie would've been a lot harder to get through with about anyone else in that role. Also, he's clearly not a saint. At least when it comes to birthdays Halley was the better parent.
Not sure how I feel about that overly-abrupt ending, but otherwise, this was phenomenal.
Loved the heck out of this, and it's way of introducing elements to a story that eventually lead to a subplot. Reminded me of Fish Tank.
Dafoe's recognition is fine, although as mentioned, it seems mostly because he's the only recognizable name of the group. But, hey, if that's what it takes to get the movie seen, then more power to it. There's not enough movies like this.
There's a scene where Moonee is on the bed watching TV, and I couldn't figure out what the show was but it looked really familiar (something with puppets), so I sat during the credits to find out and yeah it was Greg the Bunny, like what a random blast from the past. So when I got home I had to google it because now I'm thinking about it and oh wait these are actually the guys who did Greg the Bunny!?!?! Mind blown. That was the most random, unexpected connection imaginable.
Hell of a film, though. One of the year's best, for sure. Really excited to see Sean Baker's other films now.
Giving up in 2020. Who cares.
maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
Night Hunter (David Raymond) *
I loved this lots.
It's hard for me to really know how to approach it to talk about, because it is a pretty tremendous piece of work that feels so distinctive that it feels like it's occupying spaces in my brain more as a series of childhood memories I never had, a trip to Florida I took that I'm just got back from and don't have enough distance from, and a weirdly detailed and perfectly recall-able dream. But by golly, it's a movie. One that we all get to experience, talk about, and even return to. And it's one of the best ones in years.
Wait WHAAAAATTT.Quoting Stay Puft (view post)
I absolutely recognized that it was Greg the Bunny but had no idea the connection was that Baker created it. I just thought it worked perfectly as the sort of thing that an unaware parent would put on the TV because it appeared to be something for kids that's actually not for them at all. Wonder Showzen or most Adult Swim animation would've also worked on the screens in this respect.
I guess I've been a fan of his for way longer than I thought.
Last 11 things I really enjoyed:
Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
Diva (Beineix, 1981)
Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)
Not a hundo on how I feel about the final moments; that'll take some processing.
But otherwise, yeah, gotta cop to everyone else, this is some peak 2017-ing. I didn't realize the lead wasn't an actress. Figured maybe some sort of indie journeywoman. Because, Jesus, absolutely perfect work. There's a self-contained sequence here with an old man that's as suspenseful as anything in a movie like Dunkirk (in its own deeply worrying way). And Dafoe was fantastic. His burnished humanism was carried so carefully throughout the film. But he also doesn't stand out or punch above his belt. He gives the film exactly what the role and character requires. Worn-out decency. Kids crushed it, too, not just in those final moments (my God, those tears), but in the small moments of joy and humdrum inanities of being young and having nothing to do. "What're you breaking?" "A wall." "...good luck." Spinal's comparison to Vittorio de Sica is sharp.
After seeing this again yesterday, I think I may have underestimated Dafoe's contribution. He is absolutely perfect in each moment, ranging from compassion to frustration to anger. Man, I love this movie.Quoting Spinal (view post)
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
Eh its good but I think both Tangerine and Starlet had better slice-of-life takes of forgotten, ignored human subjects (Starlet is probably my favorite by Baker). I wouldn't mind watching an entire film about Willem Dafoe's character and all the crap he has to deal with.
Wow. As evidenced by that short lived TV shows thread I did years ago I love Greg The Bunny.Quoting Stay Puft (view post)
Dafoe was excellent in this. The man can flat out act, but I thought everyone knew that already. The others were great, too. Incredibly sad movie, that is for sure, and I was very moved by the ending.
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?
Really found this one quite affecting; the subject matter is smartly handled--it doesn't preach about what these parents did prior to getting here nor about what awaits them afterwards, but it's just rooted in their present moment. It's quietly humane throughout, even when Halley is showing nothing but her worst behaviors.
I wish the film had cut to black right when Moonee visited Jancey at the end--the switch in film style and antirealism feels too disruptive for a film that elsewhere greatly benefits from its naturalism. Still, it's a clear reminder that Baker is a thoughtful director, and that this one makes me want to revisit Starlet.
The Boat People - 9
The Power of the Dog - 7.5
The King of Pigs - 7