Recommended Films Watched In 2014

Alex's Recommended Viewings of Films Watched in 2014

I said I was out for 2014, right? Well, I thought it'd be interesting to look back on 2014 and mention some films I watched and highly recommend. I watched a lot more films than I reviewed, so don't be surprised if I bring up a film I didn't write about here. No particular order. They aren't necessarily from 2014 since I barely watched any films that came out this year, but hey, who cares if it's from 2014 or 1914 if it's good? Let's go!

A Clockwork Orange (1971)
I'll admit, when I first watched A Clockwork Orange many years back, I didn't like it. But it did intrigue me. After reading about the meticulousness of Stanley Kubrick and even reading about A Clockwork Orange itself, I knew the film deserved a second viewing. This time around, I totally got and loved every moment of it. Honestly, I recommend this one with proper reading on Kubrick's ideas behind the film. Without it, I find you're missing out in the film. The Ludovico technique? Did it really work? I'll leave it up to you guys.

Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
This one was really moving. I watched it on the plane on my way back home from Japan, and I was sad that I hadn't watched it earlier. Highly recommended. Also check out C'est pas moi, je le jure! if you really enjoy Monsieur Lazhar.

La cage aux folles (1978)
I don't usually watch comedies, but I was convinced to watch this one. It was totally worth it. It's different in its approach, and while it doesn't necessarily have you laughing out loud, it's pretty legit. Watch the original.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Guys? Guys. Seriously, this one is weird and I actually can't recommend it to everyone. But, if you're looking for a challenging, different, long, and pretentious film, this one is in. It goes through three days of a woman's life and how she's affected by the truths her son knows. This one is not for the casual watcher. And warning - it's over three hours. Legit if not crazy.

Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Another one of these weird films, but I really liked it. You'll be chanting "koyaanisqatsi" for days on end to piss people off. It's not about plot, but rather about images. I was told it was a stoner film, but I still hold it dear to my heart.

Paths of Glory (1957)
Another Stanley Kubrick film, but it deserves it. The shots. The story. The beauty. I watched it while I waited in Haneda airport in Tokyo and I was blown away. Not a casual viewing, but still great.

Il sorpasso (1962)
That ending, though. That ending.

Tokyo Drifter (1966)
Suzuki Seijun is a name for the books. That's both a good and bad thing. Tokyo Drifter is hilarious and colourful, but also quite pretty. Check out Branded to Kill (1967) if you end up liking Tokyo Drifter. Slightly different, but still pretty good!

Y tu mamá tambien (2001)
A film with two super horny teenagers, a lonely woman, and social commentary up the ass. I can't say I'd highly recommend it, but it's worth a watch nonetheless.

Harold and Maude (1971)
Any praise I gave this film deserves it wholeheartedly. It's a really cute film. At first, I wasn't sure about it, but as soon as the fourth wall was broken with I Think I See the Light by Cat Stevens playing in the back, I was won over. Worth a shot!

I racconti di Canterbury (1972)
Watch this film. I dare you. It's a Pier Paolo Pasolini film, the same guy who did Salo. Does that make the dare more real now?

Plein soleil (1960)
Do I need to justify myself again?

Get Carter (1971)
The third film from 1971 to be on this list! Must have been a good year! Definitely recommending this one. Alfie (1966) is also an interesting watch. Go Michael Caine!

Con Air (1997)
Only would you ever hear Nicolas Cage say, "Put the bunny down," in an action film and do it with grace. Love it even after multiple viewings!

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Deserves all the praise it has gotten. I wasn't crazy about the CGI, but it was still a captivating story. Definitely check it out if you haven't already!

I suppose there are more, but I think this is a pretty lengthy list. Should keep you busy for 2015 ;) All the best for 2015!

Review XCVI - Enter the Void

Review XCVI
Enter the Void (2009)

Well, I guess this will be my final farewell to 2014 on this blog. I work tomorrow, and then I'll hopefully head off for some festivities in town. So what film have I decided to say goodbye with? Gaspard Noé's Enter the Void. I heard about Gaspard Noé a while back after finding this list of "fucked-up pretentious films". I brought up this director with my ex, but he wisely put his films on a shelf in a basement locked away from human touch. But, well, I got curious. Plus, how bad could it be? ... Right?

Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) lives in Tokyo with his sister, Linda (Paz de la Huerta), and is enjoying a hit of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, also known as DMT. He's awaken by a call from Victor (Olly Alexander), who asks that he bring some pills to "The Void". Alex (Cyril Roy) ends up tagging along, but things quickly turn for the worst, with Oscar being shot. Now he'll finally be able to experience the ultimate trip.

My first regret when I started this film was that it was over two hours and a half. A film better be damn good if it's that long. And guess what? It wasn't. Okay, so, first impressions. As I said, I mistakenly didn't pay attention to the length of the film. And this is was advertised as a messed-up film. I was already doomed. The film starts with a huge, neon sign reading "enter". I thought that was pretty cool. You soon realise that the film is captured through Oscar's eyes. We are Oscar. All right, that's innovative... A bit nauseating, but Oscar'll die and then we'll get normal shots, right? We'll get to that. So the film is through his eyes. I mean, it's unique, I'll give it that. But you'll notice something as soon as Oscar opens his mouth - Nathaniel Brown can't act for shit. Neither can Paz de la Huerta, but at least she has some life in her voice. Nathaniel Brown sounds like a fifteen-year-old filming a movie in his backyard for school - which is something I totally did and my acting totally compares to this guy. Okay, so I got some cool sign and innovative camera work, but I don't care for the acting. Now we get a psychedelic trip, which loses my attention quickly. But thankfully Oscar gets waken up rather quickly. Then we meet Alex - yep, this guy's acting is just as atrocious. And he has a huge hard-on for Linda. Never have I seen a brother so chill in listening to his drug dealer talk about how he wants to nail his sister. The two discuss what it's like to die according to some Buddhist book - I don't know. Foreshadowing has never been so strong.

Skipping ahead, we meet Victor, and, oh shit, Oscar's been set-up! Alex totally called it! And now he's been shot! Well, all right, no more first-person perspective. ... So now we're replacing this with a bird's eye view? And it's blurry? And swishing around like a drunk? Never have I been so aggravated while watching a film. Or sick. And the rest of the film is basically this view. But what about the plot? What do we get to see now? Well, Linda's a stripper and proceeds to bone her boss before she finds out her brother is dead. The irony! Oh, man, that was good, wasn't it? Guys, I could continue, but seriously, the plot is predictable as hell. We find out that Oscar and Linda's parents died in a car accident and promised they would never be separated. They discuss how their parents would "one day bring them to Tokyo", hence why the two are in Tokyo in the first place. Everything is explained with the use of crazy zoom-ins, epileptic-inducing flashes, and annoying, annoying shots. Can you tell I disliked the film? The ideas of the camera work were interesting - and we do get a break from the bird's eye view when we get some shots from behind Oscar's shoulder - but it gets old really, really fast. Had this been a short film, I would have thought it was cool what they were doing. But for a feature-length film, forget it. It gets annoying fast. If the plot and characters were any good, it would be forgivable. If the acting was fine, I could maybe forgive it. But the plot was shit and self-explanatory, I hated the characters, and the acting was probably the worst I've seen in a good while. I find it difficult to pinpoint good acting at times, but here, the acting is just garbage. And you know what? Gaspard Noé doesn't speak English, and his scenes are improvised. So he had to have someone tell him the dialogue was coherent while he filmed. This explains the really shitty dialogue, the really predictable dialogue from subpar actors and actresses. It could also explain the really shitty acting. And guess what? Because this is a messed-up film, we get some really pointless sex scenes. Here's a spoiler for you, but at the end, Linda has sex with Alex after she gets an abortion from her boss (did I mention I hate every character in this film?). She proceeds to say, "Cum inside me." Next we get some digitally-animated penis in a vagina. I know porn videos do this sometimes (granted, it's real, not animated), but... why. WHY. And then Oscar is reborn. This connection between mother, sister, and lover is shown throughout the whole film. Let's Freudian it up some more, guys! Honestly, the last ten minutes are probably just of people having sex. I can't remember because I was reading comics at the same time because I couldn't wait for the film to end. Honestly, these weird films and their sex scenes. Please, guys, stop.

This film was too long for nothing. The acting was shit, the characters were shit, and the plot was uninteresting. Any good thing the film had going for it was defenestrated within a short period of time. The crazy, tripped out ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey had a point to it. This film was just crazy for the sake of being crazy. And you know what? It wasn't even that crazy. Everything was spelled out to the viewer. So I'm not satisfied in any regard. Avoid Enter the Void. I'm sure this won't be the last we hear of Gaspard Noé.

Review XCV - Purple Noon

Review XCV
Plein soleil (1960)

This review will be a bit different. Instead of the usual written format, I thought I'd post some pictures of why this film should be watched. Warning - your heart may explode.

This alone should tell you you're in for a ride.

Alain Delon's character, Tom Ripley (with a France French accent), inspecting a watch. All right, I can handle this.

After delivering O'Brian to the studio, everyone has their eyes on Delon, as expected.

The portrait of this man is just... Sigh.

The mirror play in this scene... Alain Delon in this scene.

See? What did I tell you about the mirror play and Alain Delon? Shit, man.

Tom Ripley can't steer this ship, but I'm sure he's good on other ones, if you get my innuendo, hehe.

This scene with Marge as they discuss him leaving is particularly titillating. But yeah, Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) is a pretty big romantic too!

Honestly, I was very impressed with the mirror play in this film. Here is a great example!

Now that Greenleaf is dead, Ripley will prey on his love, Marge. Check the look in his eyes.

The portrait! The portrait!

Italy really is beautiful. The film captures it well!

Speaking of things this film captures well...

Here is another example of the preying. Note the eyes again.

Because those fish were on camera a long time. They look very happy!

It's blurry, but this portrait. Oh my goodness. That smile. That face.

Handling three heads in one shot. And Delon's face.

The mirror play of this scene. The Alain Delon of this scene.

The way Delon- I mean, Ripley grabs a woman.

THE PORTRAIT. THE PORTRAIT. ABORT. ABORT.

Marie Laforêt has beautiful eyes. Great portrait. But seriously, how can she be calm when she's looking at THIS:

I'm out. The sensuality is too much. Ripley has Marge.

And how the film ends. A beautiful view and Delon handcuffed away.

The end.

But seriously, the film was interesting. It's adapted from The Talented Mr. Ripley written by Patricia Highsmith (I never read it, unfortunately, and never saw the 1999 film). It was interesting and the shots were beautiful (see above). René Clément did a good job! I didn't like the ending, and neither did Patricia Highsmith apparently. However, she did praise Alain Delon's performance. I can't agree more. In Le samouraï, Le cercle rouge, Un flic, and even L'eclisse, you don't really see Alain Delon act. This was the first time I saw him actually going about on screen, and I enjoyed it. Granted, I did watch this film for eye candy alone, but hey, I got a good film out of it too. So heterosexual men and homosexual women, don't push this film away - it really is great. And for the rest of you, see above.

Review XCIV - No

Review XCIV
No (2012)

Hello folks! I reach out to everyone in a better mood than last time after having a nice Christmas dinner - though it really doesn't feel like the holidays, for whatever reason. Either way, I'm back and I'm here to review a film that I couldn't find back in 2012 when I was trying to review all the foreign films nominated. I also met someone from the country in question in the film and, well, what can I say? I'm a stalker in a sense, so I figured, hey, let's check it out! The film is, of course, Pablo Larrain's No starring Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, and Néstor Cantillana. But first, let's talk history briefly. I read about Pinochet's regime on wikipedia, so take it as you will.

President Allende was elected in 1970. He was a Marxist and, from what I read, Allende had issues governing, leading to an inflation of 300 percent. The United States also played a role in discrediting Allende given his left-wing status. In 1973, there was a coup d'état, and Chile ended up having Augusto Pinochet as their leader. While the United States was initially thrilled with having a more right-winged leader, it would result in a dictatorship that would last until 1990.

Pinochet was not any better in handling Chile's problems. Poverty rose to, I believe it was 33% or 36%, and millions who resisted the regime went unaccounted for. After international pressure, a referendum, or plebiscite, was planned for 1988 in which it would be determined whether or not Pinochet would rule the country for another eight years. A month prior to the election, the "si" campaign and "no" campaign were each given fifteen minutes of air time to help citizens choose which option was best for them. No depicts the people who filmed and put together the "no" campaign.

The movie was organic in its feel. It made you feel like you were standing there, and I liked that. After watching the film, a common complaint was that the events leading up to the plebiscite were simplified, and while I'm sure this is true, I like the ideas behind the film. A film doesn't capture every aspect of history - it just takes one part and puts it in the spotlight. While I'm sure the campaign was not the only thing that led people to vote no, it simplifies it for someone who only knew the name Pinochet prior to the film. I was able to casually follow along, and it interested me enough to read up on the regime. But anyway, about the actual film. I think the acting was pretty good with Gael García Bernal doing a great job as René Saavedra. Antonia Zegers' character seemed a bit... pointless to me - in fact, the whole romance did - but she did a good job. I find I don't really have much to say since I just took the film as telling me a part of history, but it was an interesting watch. Like I said, it makes the story accessible to outside viewers, though trust me when I say the whole story is even more interesting. But it captures a little bit at the end and how the people in the "no" campaign really believed that Chile was going to see happiness in the future. I can't really speak about its current status, but from I've read, it has definitely improved since Pinochet's time. But again, I don't really know much about Chile, so I can only put my hands in the air with this one and say, hey, check it out if you want to get a little piece of Latin American history.

By the way, that song the women sing at one point? The No me gusta, no/ No lo quiero, no? Catchy as hell.

Review XCIII - Naked

Review XCIII
Naked (1993)

Hey everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? I can't say I've been that busy, but I haven't had time to sit down and watch films in a while. Plus a bunch of personal issues rose while doing examinations, so everything went crazy. Now it's almost Christmas and I haven't watched a single Christmas film! It's okay - instead I offer you a film that, well, is nothing like Christmas. Ladies and gentlemen, here's my review of Mike Leigh's Naked starring David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge, and Greg Cruttwell.

Johnny (Thewlis) is a cynical (and probably depressed) Mancunian man who is on the run after raping a woman. He heads to his ex-girlfriend's house, Louise (Sharp), where she rooms with Sophie (Cartlidge), a lonely woman, and Sandra (Claire Skinner), a nurse who is overseas with her boyfriend. However, his mannerisms and thoughts do not get him a particularly warm welcome, except from Sophie, and he finds himself exploring a degraded city and meeting its degenerates, at least according to him. All the while the tenants' landlord, Sebastian Hawks (Cruttwell), is coming to visit.

I watched this film in three parts with quite a distance between each viewing, so my review will be lacking a bit given that I had a bit of difficulty in trying to catch everything when I had forgotten some parts at the beginning. Nonetheless, I will try for you guys. I can tell you that, overall, this film is one depressing piece. I'm not really sure I get the "black comedy" Wikipedia is selling it as since I didn't find it particularly funny. In fact, there was no part in the film that made me laugh out loud - and I can have a pretty morbid sense of humour at times. But anyway, back to the film. I'm not from England and I've never even been to England, so I think part of the film's meaning is lost on me. Apparently Mike Leigh (the director) was aiming for a realistic piece of cinema, depicting the decaying culture and people of England that emerged following the sixties and what it was in the nineties. Again, I can't really comment since I was not present in this time.

David Thewlis' character is a ruthless protagonist, a drifter who wants human connection, but rejects it the moment he gets it. He rants to Lesley Sharp's character, Louise, about how happy she must be having left Manchester in order to work some trivial job. Did she abandon Johnny by leaving Manchester? Did she try to leave her past behind? Is she simply following the norm of pursuing something bigger and better by moving to the capital? I don't know much about the history of England and I'm feeling too lazy to look into it, but it would make sense to me that these questions are all part of the film's plot. Johnny, on the other hand, is a drifter - he has never settled. Could it be that he can't find a home anymore, or that he never had one? Has Manchester, London, and all of England simply become a wasteland? It would fit into his apocalypse theory. The world will continue, but humans cannot. We have reached the point where our culture has faltered and is abasing fast. Nonetheless, Johnny tries to find some sort of companionship along the road - settling on a man who is looking for some girl named Maggie, only for the two to meet and fight (romance is dead? Relationships are down the drain?). He also meets a security guard who is convinced he will be reincarnated in the future. This guy... Hmm... Could it represent the ignorant people who accept their situation and believe that a higher power is looking out for them? That the future is certain and they have time to fix up their problems? I'm not too sure. Then Johnny meets a girl who works at a diner. After asking if he can stay the night, tears stream down her face, and asks if Johnny ever had a dog. The conversation continues with the woman asking Johnny questions, until he asks her what is the matter. She storms out of the room and proceeds to tell him to get out. Perhaps Johnny hit too close to home with her, tried to get to know her too well. Again, the death of relationships and getting to know people. I mean, it certainly is a central theme in the film. Any type of relationship displayed on screen is perverse. Greg Cruttwell's character is... wow. That man is wicked (and not in a good way). Sophie falls in love with Johnny, but he tells her to get lost. Louise and Sophie end up comforting each other when Sebastian takes control of the house, but prior to that, Louise can only bad mouth Sophie. And, in the end, Sophie runs off when Louise and Johnny share an intimate moment on the floor of their bathroom (oh god, no! Not in the way you're thinking! Johnny was just throwing up! ... Please, get away emetophilics.). Relationships in this film just do not exist on a normal, healthy level. And this could be a criticism of today's mentality about relationships - I'm not one hundred percent sure. All I can say is, with Johnny's last encounter with a man who puts up posters, we get a huge poster advertising Megadeth's latest album at the time, Countdown to Extinction (headlining with Pantera!). Again, this idea of extinction, human beings dying. It probably isn't real extinction, but the extinction of a culture, of a people that had a meaning.

I could go on, but seriously, this film is just one depressing scene after another. People wear black and white, navy blue and grey. London itself is a grey place to be. It's not a happy film, showing how everything has gone down the drain. I didn't think the film was bad, but it wasn't all that spectacular. I thought Sebastian's character was a bit... random. I mean, I liked that scene where Louise comes in and he appears, but you only get a shot of his penis (in his underwear) right at her face. That's creativity right there. And the nurse character, Sandra? She also seemed a bit randomly placed. This film is interesting it what it tries to get across, but I wouldn't highly recommend it. It's an interesting psychological piece, but let's all watch something a little less grey for Christmas, okay? Maybe some Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 5: The Toy Maker! Am I right? ... Okay, I'll be quiet now.

R.I.P. Piratebay.