I don’t think I can watch movies that are “brutal” anymore. I love comedic gore but that’s about it. But movies that ate just downers I can’t watch anymore. I went through a phase where I was curious so I watched movies like A Serbian Film, irreversible, murder set pieces, etc. but none of it did anything for me.
I crave a good horror movie once in a while but it’s so rare to watch something I actually enjoy. I think I might just be too old...?
I feel very similar. By the time Irreversible came out I was already way past my "have to watch everything that's extreme" phase; I skipped through most of the rape scene that in my opinion couldn't have added anything to any movie and then soon lost interest and switched dvds. What little I gathered from it, Irreversible is a fake arthouse exploitation movie that pretends to be about futile, literally mis-directed and impotent male revenge dishing out similarly blind rage and violence as the perpetrator, yawn, what else is new? Serbian Film, which came out 8 years later, I ended up watching in full
simply to be able and voice the informed opinion that this was
pubescent, pretentious garbage with shit effects and a predictable,
pointless "story". The only shocking thing was that there were some
idiots out there who took this limp provocation attempt serious.
Violation is an entirely different movie, written and directed by two women and even though it's a grueling watch for some sequences it's as much of a character study as a realistic depiction of what it takes for and maybe takes away from a person to follow the urge of deadly revenge. There's disturbing violence but very little "gore" given the subject matter.
Maybe check out this short and fitting review with no spoilers:
Anybody watched this one yet? For sure demands a repeat viewing... phew...
I don’t think I can watch movies that are “brutal” anymore. I love comedic gore but that’s about it. But movies that ate just downers I can’t watch anymore. I went through a phase where I was curious so I watched movies like A Serbian Film, irreversible, murder set pieces, etc. but none of it did anything for me.
I crave a good horror movie once in a while but it’s so rare to watch something I actually enjoy. I think I might just be too old...?
I am the same. I guess when you have a lot of demands on your time with the "Complete catastrophe" of Mortgage, wife and kids, your leisure time is probably best invested in not feeling like your eyes have been shat in. I can remember a load of darker stuff with a circle of friends who all kind of wanted to out-do each other (I wonder why we were all single...) but I wouldn't pay good money to see such at the cinema now.
Real life presents enough of this shit to deal with.
Possessor was a recommendation by MarcoFunk. I think I have to re-watch both.
i've been wanting to see both of those. thanks for the encouragement.
Saw Possessor on the weekend - great acting, bizarre concepts, thoughtful enough, and about as bloody as I care to watch these days. Very original and yet, clearly owes a debt to his father and Inception. The ending left me unsettled.
Anyone seen his first one, Antiviral? I'm going to czech it....
Thanks for bringing this up, I remember the og to be semi-boring and underwhelming and would have never checked this out otherwise. Really entertaining and funny with surprisingly good dialogues.
Yeah, the original never left a mark on me either. The reason I checked is that Jordan Peele produced it. Get Out and Us are both worth multiple viewings if you haven't seen them.
Yeah, the original never left a mark on me either. The reason I checked is that Jordan Peele produced it. Get Out and Us are both worth multiple viewings if you haven't seen them.
I've seen and enjoyed both of those. Good idea, I should at least watch Us for a 2nd time.
Candyman could make for an interesting franchise if it's handled by the same team.
The Green Knight - I really liked it. It's a pretty simple "knight's quest" story, but told in a way that doesn't hand-feed you much. i found that really satisfying because most of these types of movies are created as pure (dumb) entertainment. it reminded me in style/tone of The Fountain... walked a line between accessible/captivating and a quite a bit out there.
Watched The Brutalist (over three days!) and... didn't love it. It's well made with good acting... and given that it's fiction, it's a hell of a story. Feels like a bit like if Daniel Plainview was broken down into two characters in There Will Be Blood. Might just be because I had to spread it out over viewings, but it felt underdeveloped plot-wise in a few respects (won't spoil anything). And the main character is so unlikeable!
I had no idea about the DeBarge doc, let alone that it screened in LA earlier this week. I don't have any streaming platforms, but it's likely that it will be shown at one of the American Cinematheque theaters (Aero, Egyptian and Los Feliz) eventually.
Speaking of which, I saw the LA premiere of "I'm Still Here" at the Aero a couple of months ago with Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello and Walter Salles in attendance. It will probably win at least one of the three top categories it was nominated for, as it should. The soundtrack alone would be of interest to the Strut.
the oscars are whatever, but so glad that Flow actually won for best animated film! saw it with my kids, and really enjoyed it. it's a nice little story that's quite profound and realized to perfection.
The animation category was pretty balanced this year - not just full of the usual suspects (Dreamworks, Pixar, Ghibli). Flow is one of only a few from the Oscars that are on my to-watch list.
I think I watched all of the animated features this year (daughter-related), I liked Wild Robot better than the others. I get why Flow won it, but to me it felt like I was watching an indie adventure quest video game from 15 years ago.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Bonus points for Repo Man references. Tempted to download Suburbia next, these would made a great triple feature.
Hadn't heard of that....and then I looked it up and Too $hort is actually in it?! Looks like fun.
The last new-ish movie I saw was The Old Oak, Ken Loach's finale from a couple of years back. Really engaging and well planned out. It was like putting on an old, comfy shoe. Typically sad ending that felt a bit abrupt. Oh well. I'll miss his filmmaking.
Loach and Haneke appear to have made their last films... so it's nice to see that the Dardennes have a new one at Cannes this year, and I still haven't seen Hard Truths by Mike Leigh. Who are the other filmmakers you rate who bring the social realism?
I wouldn't put his movies in the same category of social-realism as your dudes you mention, but Kore-eda Hirokazu is one of the best living directors in my view and has some great films along that line.
This movie ruled. I don't know anything else about Eric Gravel though.
b/w Finally saw and enjoyed Flow. But yeah as you guys were saying before, pretty slight thematically.
"Nobody Knows" was the first one of his I saw and yeah, I was blown away by how good it was and also totally shattered by it, with no interest in ever seeing it or anything like it again. His work since (minus what appeared to me to be a cash-in Netflix manga adaptation, which was IMO very lightweight) has NOT been so extremely heartbreaking, even though, for example, "Shoplifters" covers some of the same themes as "Nobody Knows".
Stuff of his since "Nobody Knows" that I can recommend:
Still Walking
Air Doll (but this one is odd, not like his other stuff, but still very heartfelt and affecting considering the subject matter)
Just watched this for starters, well made and genuinely moving. So glad to have caught Lee and the gang in the 90s, even though, for personal reasons, I revisit those times with very mixed feelings today.
Coincidentally (because I have been to NYC once in my life for like 4 days), I saw Doubt in its initial run on Broadway. It was good. I dunno, I'm not a legitimate theatre guy. Illegitimate maybe. PSH seems a good fit for the film adaptation.
I knew nothing about that Lee Fields documentary, I gotta check that out, maybe after Freaky Tales. I have an eternal soft spot for the Desco/Soul Fire days, it was my introduction to records/music that wasn't on the radio. I know his work dates to the 60s but the revival days were so exciting to discover when I was 15.
Comments
I feel very similar. By the time Irreversible came out I was already way past my "have to watch everything that's extreme" phase; I skipped through most of the rape scene that in my opinion couldn't have added anything to any movie and then soon lost interest and switched dvds. What little I gathered from it, Irreversible is a fake arthouse exploitation movie that pretends to be about futile, literally mis-directed and impotent male revenge dishing out similarly blind rage and violence as the perpetrator, yawn, what else is new? Serbian Film, which came out 8 years later, I ended up watching in full simply to be able and voice the informed opinion that this was pubescent, pretentious garbage with shit effects and a predictable, pointless "story". The only shocking thing was that there were some idiots out there who took this limp provocation attempt serious.
Violation is an entirely different movie, written and directed by two women and even though it's a grueling watch for some sequences it's as much of a character study as a realistic depiction of what it takes for and maybe takes away from a person to follow the urge of deadly revenge. There's disturbing violence but very little "gore" given the subject matter.
Maybe check out this short and fitting review with no spoilers:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/mar/27/violation-review-a-brutal-and-brilliant-debut
I am the same. I guess when you have a lot of demands on your time with the "Complete catastrophe" of Mortgage, wife and kids, your leisure time is probably best invested in not feeling like your eyes have been shat in. I can remember a load of darker stuff with a circle of friends who all kind of wanted to out-do each other (I wonder why we were all single...) but I wouldn't pay good money to see such at the cinema now.
Real life presents enough of this shit to deal with.
Saw Possessor on the weekend - great acting, bizarre concepts, thoughtful enough, and about as bloody as I care to watch these days. Very original and yet, clearly owes a debt to his father and Inception. The ending left me unsettled.
Anyone seen his first one, Antiviral? I'm going to czech it....
Thanks for bringing this up, I remember the og to be semi-boring and underwhelming and would have never checked this out otherwise. Really entertaining and funny with surprisingly good dialogues.
I've seen and enjoyed both of those. Good idea, I should at least watch Us for a 2nd time.
Candyman could make for an interesting franchise if it's handled by the same team.
This new DeBarge documentary looks interesting - hope it's not exploitative. Anyone in LA catch it? There's a trailer on the site:
https://slamdance2025.eventive.org/films/6761ae61df3a3b5ff5484629
Speaking of which, I saw the LA premiere of "I'm Still Here" at the Aero a couple of months ago with Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello and Walter Salles in attendance. It will probably win at least one of the three top categories it was nominated for, as it should. The soundtrack alone would be of interest to the Strut.
i still haven't seen Wild Robot but have read the books with the kids. they're great so have high hopes for the films
The last new-ish movie I saw was The Old Oak, Ken Loach's finale from a couple of years back. Really engaging and well planned out. It was like putting on an old, comfy shoe. Typically sad ending that felt a bit abrupt. Oh well. I'll miss his filmmaking.
Loach and Haneke appear to have made their last films... so it's nice to see that the Dardennes have a new one at Cannes this year, and I still haven't seen Hard Truths by Mike Leigh. Who are the other filmmakers you rate who bring the social realism?
Okay but - walk with me now - we don't know what goes through the mind of a cat, so whose to say whether the movie is thematically rich or not?
Oh I've seen Shoplifters a couple of times now! Loved it but I never dug deeper on the director, so thanks for the list and for that Eric Gravel one.
Thanks for the recommend, lined up for tonight
Doubt.
Streep, Seymour Hoffman. A novel take on an all too familiar Catholic scenario. Quality.