Rev-ewe 17: This Is England

This Is England
England (duh)
Shane Meadows

This film. Dizzam! I was really surprised when I first watched it because I suppose I was expecting some sort of light-hearted British humor something or other. What I got was a pretty intense look into a bit of English history I had no idea existed. Though I saw this film about 2 years ago, it is still a movie I love going back to from time to time.

A young 12-year-old boy, Shaun, is having trouble at school but meets some older skinheads who take him in. Through that group he meets an even older skinhead, Combo, who has just gotten out of jail (Tommy the Tit from SNATCH! I know you've seen that movie..) and then Shaun chooses to follow Combo.

I don't want to give too much away in terms of plot but the fact that it's about skinheads and their sortof social origin was really, REALLY interesting for me. Very beautiful visually, music choice was on point, and it uses violence to just the right purpose--which is usually an issue for me. I'm not fond of violent films if they're over-the-top violent for no reason.. but this film definitely gets it. I truly love films that put faces to socially taboo issues and give them dimension. Similar to one I reviewed earlier (Paradise Now), it really deals with how people were feeling at the time and why it happened the way it did.
This movie really gets me into the punk vibe and even inspired me to buy my first pair of doc martens, though they're the ridiculous steel-toed ugly-red-that-goes-with-nothing docs.. oh well, ebay wins. ANYWAY, IT'S A GREAT MOVIE.

rev-ewe 16: Dogtooth

Kynodontas (Greek: Dogtooth)
Greece
Giorgos Lanthimos


uhhh... yeah. This film was a whole lot of weird. The only movie I could think of while watching it was Napoleon Dynamite. But, a darker way creepier version. It had the same awkwardness as N.D. but used it in a way different manner. There was no plot, there was really no conflict, and then it just ... ended. While I will give credit to the film that I did not turn it off and was compelled to see the thing all the way through, at the end I was just unhappy and disturbed. If its point was to do that, it wins. But, for what purpose?

The film focuses on a family that shelters its 3 children to the point where they have no idea what the outside world is like (at ALL) and have stayed only on the premises of their house. When the eldest daughter acquires films from the real world, things begin to change.

I usually like weird, but this was intensely creepy weird and didn't really work for me. Though I may need to see it again, and usually seeing it again makes me like it more, I'm not so sure how long it'll take me to watch it again. It was really, really intense! And just.. crazy. Mindfuck, for sure, but I suppose its point was something along the lines of "don't shelter your children" but.. I don't know. I'd say watch it, but know what you're getting into.. I certainly didn't, and got a whole lot of opened-mouth scenes and NO, NO, NO!! moments.

rev-ewe 15: A Town Called Panic

Pannique au Village (French: A Town Called Panic)
France
Stéphane Aubier


WOW. I loved this movie. It is as out there as possible, but absolutely hilarious at almost every moment of the film. I was absolutely blown away! I turned it on and thought 'gee this is cheesy animation' then right away I was laughing hysterically! The animation fits perfectly for the type of film and humor and everything that it is. While nothing in it makes sense, within its own world, it makes perfect sense. The voice acting was exceptional and beyond entertaining. The characters were so cute, the situations outrageously bizarre, the movie...awesome. Very funny and totally and absolutely worth watching.

All I can say about the plot is it is about a Horse, an Indian, and a Cowboy. And their adventures.

An absolute masterpiece. If you like strange, out there animated films, this is the one. The Mecca of WTF-dome. The Holy Grail of WHY-ianity. The third coming of LOL-esus! 102091 thumbs up!!

rev-ewe 14: He Died With a Felafel in His Hand

He Died With a Felafel in His Hand
Australia
Richard Lowenstein


Another film I'm not so sure about. Its good points were its sense of humor, aesthetics, and character development. Its low points were (for me) a meaningless story line, and a bit too slow. I know pace is not usually something I would complain about, but its lack of a story or even character conflict in addition to the slow pace makes it hard to watch without doing something else at the same time (I was doing laundry while watching, so I was able to keep going). Though, it does have quite a few points that are funny and interesting. The film felt influenced by Guy Ritchie style Snatch or Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels. The humor was quite unconventional but just the way I like it. The small story lines that exist are quite strange, but I can dig it.

It sortof follows one man named Danny and the various shared houses he lives in throughout Australia. There are 3 consistent characters beside him; Flip, an endearing drug addict.. Sam, his best female friend.. and another girl whose name I can't remember, but is some sort of ethnic European "chaos-freak". That's about as much as needs to be said about the plot.

While I enjoyed the humor and visual story-telling, I still don't know how I feel at the end of it all and it seemed a bit too unfulfilled to make me feel like it was worth watching. But, for the sake of seeing something visually interesting and having a film to laugh at, this film does the job. I recommend watching while having something else to do, and it will keep you going.

rev-ewe 13: Paradise Now

Paradise Now
Palestine
Hany Abu-Assad


Well. I am still contemplating this film but I feel like writing a review about it without completely coming to a conclusion (alliteration ftw). What I did like about the film was it showed how hard the lives are of Palestinians and how suicide bombing would seem like a logical solution. It made people who (especially in America) seem heartless and insane appear as human and loving people. This created such a dark contrast that made one question ethics all together. While it did follow a sortof expected path of a film about suicide bombers, it did it in such a way that it really made me think, which I truly appreciate.

Two men, best friends, have been chosen to execute a suicide bombing mission together in Tel Aviv. The two are ecstatic to make such a sacrifice for a movement they strongly believe in. When the plans face a sudden change, the two men become separated and suddenly their paths seem invariably altered.

The characters are interesting, camera work is beautiful... predictable, but probably worth watching anyway. I did not love it, I may grow to love it, but currently I'm at a 'really liked it'.

rev-ewe 12: The Maid

The Maid (Spanish: La Nana)
Spain
Sebastian Silva


Well this film was much more than what I was expecting! I'm pretty sure Netflix categorized it as a comedy, so when I started watching it I thought it would be funny.. Either the Spanish have no sense of humor, or Netflix never actually watched the film. I may just need to watch it again.. I guess looking back on it, it's sortof silly.. but at the time, it feels super intense. There's no exact plot line, but there is tension that builds and is sometimes released but at the end you feel good and fulfilled. It kept me really interested and it offered interesting little perspectives into power and family relationships.

There is only one setting, the house of a family where a maid works and has worked for 23 years. When she starts suffering major headaches and fainting, the family decides it's time to hire help -- but when the maid misinterprets this as an attempt to get rid of her, she pulls all sorts of antics to get rid of whoever is hired.

While talking about it with my dad, I realized this film is the complete parallel but opposite of the film Happy-Go-Lucky (incase you've seen it). More of a climactic understanding of the character rather than the plot. While I suppose the film can be looked at in a humorous way, for me it felt really psychological and intense.. but still really interesting! I'm going to tag it as a comedy incase other people get the humor, but it's not exactly the type of humor that is outrageously funny. Just in-your-head funny.

Oh, and plenty of boobs.

rev-ewe 11: In the Mood for Love

In the Mood for Love
Hong Kong
Kar Wai Wong


What a beautiful composition! Almost every shot, angle, and composition was extremely thought out. The pace is veeery, very slow... but I would not say boring, because it visually captures you, and the story itself keeps you interested enough. This is very French in the sense that there is no actual plot or typical conflict-resolution story. You just sortof follow the two main characters and then suddenly it's over. You still think about it long after it has finished and think 'wait.. was there a point? there must have been.. did I miss it?' and you think and think about it, which I think is successful for a film if it can keep you thinking. Definitely the strong point of the film was the aesthetics and visual story-telling. Much of the composition added to the development of the story, probably in ways only my AP literature teacher would recognize.

Set in 1960s Hong Kong, two couples move in next to each other and soon Mr. Chan and Mrs. Chow find out their respective spouses have started seeing each other. Sharing their loneliness, they spend much time together but vow to never act the way their spouses have been. Though the time they spend together is mostly innocent, they are more concerned about not being seen by others than their actual cheating partners are.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film, the costume designer was FANTASTIC, and the characters are immediately known. Everything is very subtle and slow, but to the point. Definitely recommend watching it!