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Thread: Her Smell (Alex Ross Perry)

  1. #1
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    Her Smell (Alex Ross Perry)

    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

  2. #2
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    As expected, Elizabeth Moss is an absolute powerhouse in this. But I really did not expect from the first minutes of her abrasive self-destruction (and from that title) that this will turn out to be the most moving film of the year so far for me, especially on regarding how much rewarding but hard work it is to gain love and trust back. In retrospect, I love that the switch from the first three sections to the last two is reflected in that title itself, which feels like a naming used for maxium unpleasant, off-putting threat of confrontation when the film starts, but then reveals its true meaning in an incredibly gorgeous and poignant final frame. 9/10
    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

  3. #3
    Guttenbergian Pop Trash's Avatar
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    I attempted to watch The Color Wheel on prime last night... holy shit that is one smug, irritating film. Maybe it gets better, but the half hour I watched is terrible.

    ANYWAY... it's only interesting to see how far ARP has come since then. He still kinda irritates me (his interview with Marc Maron recently is cringey), but hooking up with Elisabeth Moss is the best thing he ever did. If Perry chopped off the last act of this, it would be top five of the year for me. As it is, it's still very good.
    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



  4. #4
    Quote Quoting Pop Trash (view post)
    I attempted to watch The Color Wheel on prime last night... holy shit that is one smug, irritating film. Maybe it gets better, but the half hour I watched is terrible.

    ANYWAY... it's only interesting to see how far ARP has come since then. He still kinda irritates me (his interview with Marc Maron recently is cringey), but hooking up with Elisabeth Moss is the best thing he ever did. If Perry chopped off the last act of this, it would be top five of the year for me. As it is, it's still very good.
    The Color Wheel gets more smug and irritating and other awful things, it’s great!

    What was your issue with the last act? I find it a clever inversion and yet still repetition of the first part... everything that seems triumphant is tinged with an overwhelming sense of fragility and mistrust. I find it very unique...

  5. #5
    Guttenbergian Pop Trash's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting PURPLE (view post)
    The Color Wheel gets more smug and irritating and other awful things, it’s great!

    What was your issue with the last act? I find it a clever inversion and yet still repetition of the first part... everything that seems triumphant is tinged with an overwhelming sense of fragility and mistrust. I find it very unique...
    I've attempted to watch The Color Wheel twice now, and can never get past the awful first half hour.

    I'll c/p my letterboxd review of Her Smell:

    "I would give it an extra star if it ended with a smash cut to black after Moss walks out of her house towards the camera with a crescendo of droney noise on the soundtrack. Such a perfect, more ambiguous ending, but instead we get the cloying "Behind the Music" reunion. I get that Alex Ross Perry wants to give this character peace and closure, but it still feels perfunctory from a film that certainly isn't perfunctory. The edit would also cut down a rather lengthy film.

    All the moments at her house are great and I love that Perry's filmmaking becomes relaxed and formal to juxtapose the somersaulting first half. The unbroken long take of Moss singing a Bryan Adams song to her daughter left me in tears."
    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



  6. #6
    ...but it’s not cloying. She’s a barely functioning person, and her bandmates don’t trust her to be alone for five minutes. She ends the film being too weak/overwhelmed to play another song - someone who has played thousands and thousands of songs in cities around the world. If you watch the film and see it as a story about an out of control singer and a flawless band, as most awful films that would end with a cloying ending are, then that makes sense. The other bandmates may be fed up with her, but they also fed into her problems and used her for their own gains. It’s not a happy ending, it’s a pathetic one.

  7. #7
    Guttenbergian Pop Trash's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting PURPLE (view post)
    ...but it’s not cloying. She’s a barely functioning person, and her bandmates don’t trust her to be alone for five minutes. She ends the film being too weak/overwhelmed to play another song - someone who has played thousands and thousands of songs in cities around the world. If you watch the film and see it as a story about an out of control singer and a flawless band, as most awful films that would end with a cloying ending are, then that makes sense. The other bandmates may be fed up with her, but they also fed into her problems and used her for their own gains. It’s not a happy ending, it’s a pathetic one.
    You can say that all you want, but I obviously disagree with you. I still think it should have had a smash cut to black as she walks to the camera outside of her house with the droney noise on the soundtrack. The ending as is, is redundant. Plus the film doesn't need to be the length it is. 2 hours and 15 minutes? Yeah, no. You're not Tarantino dude. It also has some lame "I'm done" or "I can't go on" type of final line ala There Will Be Blood's "I'm finished" or Inglourious Basterds "this is my masterpiece" ... people need to stop with the cutesy final lines. It just makes me go "oh PUH LEASE."
    Last edited by Pop Trash; 07-30-2019 at 04:23 AM.
    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



  8. #8
    Quote Quoting Pop Trash (view post)
    You can say that all you want, but I obviously disagree with you. I still think it should have had a smash cut to black as she walks to the camera outside of her house with the droney noise on the soundtrack. The ending as is, is redundant. Plus the film doesn't need to be the length it is. 2 hours and 15 minutes? Yeah, no. You're not Tarantino dude. It also has some lame "I'm done" or "I can't go on" type of final line ala There Will Be Blood's "I'm finished" or Inglourious Basterds "this is my masterpiece" ... people need to stop with the cutesy final lines. It just makes me go "oh PUH LEASE."
    ARP is a much, much more talented and creative filmmaker than QT, to me. As for the redundancy of the final episode... sometimes if it doesn’t make sense to you it’s an indication that you’re missing the point, not that one of the most acclaimed young American directors who makes his living being paid for his non-indie scripts doesn’t know how to write...

  9. #9
    Guttenbergian Pop Trash's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting PURPLE (view post)
    ARP is a much, much more talented and creative filmmaker than QT, to me. As for the redundancy of the final episode... sometimes if it doesn’t make sense to you it’s an indication that you’re missing the point, not that one of the most acclaimed young American directors who makes his living being paid for his non-indie scripts doesn’t know how to write...
    Sure, Alex.

    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



  10. #10
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Whoa. Did not expect this, and I really wish I saw it in a theater with loud, booming noise because the sound design and background music is a character in itself.

    It may follow some predictable tropes, but the performance from Moss works throughout, and the supporting characters aren't quite perfect, which makes it different enough. And again, the madness of the direction that goes on as this progresses really makes the last two acts pay off. One of the better movies about addiction, and those that try to help (or gave up trying).

    Barbarian - ***
    Bones and All - ***
    Tar - **


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