An Attempt at Structure - Week 8 - Hope is Just Round that Infinite Corner

 An Attempt At Structure - Hope is Just Round that Infinite Corner


Ft. 'Get Out', 'The World', 'No Country For Old Men' 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople' 'In the Loop'

This was, by far, the quickest a week has gone by since I got to London, I'm in the thick of it in terms of work I need to do so a lot of my week is being trapped in my tiny University Accommodation room squinting at my computer as I desperately try to finish everything I have to do for the week. However, with this heavy workload comes monotony and repetition, by now the quick cycle routine of work makes these days feel indistinguishable and in a pre-covid world my studies would feel much more purposeful and fulfilling. One of the major things that I am missing out on is the weekly screenings, three times a week the entire year of film studies would pile into a private cinema and watch whatever film was being studied for the week but that isn’t possible now and instead I choose when to watch a terrible digital rip of the film. I really miss cinemas, hell I really miss having a TV, something about sitting down at my desk on my tiny little laptop watching a film in 240p doesn’t quite have the same power as that beautiful cinema experience. Being locked in a cinema room, lights down, immersive sound, no distractions, just you and the film is an experience that makes the act of watching a film extremely special. A lot of the films we study are slow burners, annoyingly we keep revisiting the 'realism' genre that is just slow depictions of people living their lives. Without much exciting directorial decisions or particularly adventurous filmmaking, I find myself not able to appreciate or really delve into the films I'm studying, perhaps it is the films themselves or perhaps it is just my terrible attention span, either way I just can't seem to connect with the majority of films I'm forced to sit through.

We are just about at the halfway point of Lockdown Two and too be honest it hasn’t been great, but it could have been a lot worse. Aimlessness is a frustrating luxury, having an hour free to get some fresh air and exercise is nice but I often find myself frustrated with the lack of direction. I have always like doing and planning things, organising a big day out or a party and letting it payoff is a feeling I appreciate but every day just seems to tick onwards.  There's that glimpse of good news from vaccine updates every now and then but after a year like this optimism isn’t exactly my main focus, if it is ready by the end of November as predicted, then we might be back to normal by next summer. Which is still 6 months away. Speculation is pointless and probably does more harm than good at this point. I'm still here, I'm still extremely lucky and I've got one hell of a party too look forward to once this is over. Anyway, here is what I watched this week:

Get Out

A film I knew I loved was a refreshing change of pace in my studies this week. I hadn’t actually revisited Peele's debut since it came out and although I loved it then, I adored it this time round. It is a hard film to talk about without spoiling, but it is a political satire disguised as an insane horror film with a concise and witty plot. I love a film with a clear idea and intention, I like a project that has a specific voice and point that it wants to get across in a clear way and 'Get Out' is one of the best examples of this. Peele has clearly wanted to tell this story for a while and one of my favourite things about the film is how concise it is, not a single scene is unnecessary or outstays its welcome, Peele clearly worked hard to perfect the pacing and structure to a tee. Of course, the best part of the film is a revolutionary front performance from Daniel Kaluuya, an extraordinary actor whose performance here is just stunning and unbelievably controlled. A delight to come back to. 

The World

Nothing hurts more than when you get excited about a film and it lets you down, I was super on board with the concept of Jia Zhangke's 'The World' but the final product just didn’t land. A pseudo-documentary perspective on the workers in a Beijing amusement park designed to recreate attractions from across the world. It sounded like a perfect analogy movie, using metaphors about globalisation to create a fascinating deconstruction of the lives of these people. But instead it really felt like a kind of unfocused and aimless film, Zhangke's intentions are clear and unambiguous with this film, squandering a fantastic idea with a bizarre focus on soap opera-esque characters and writing. It is a slow burn, 2 hours, and 40 minutes of basically nothing but people having conversations and so I kind of became detached from these characters, instead they came off as caricatures in a surprisingly quiet film. I don’t know, maybe I need to revisit and give it more time, but I was solely disappointed by this one. 

No Country for Old Men

So, I mentioned earlier how I struggle to concentrate and appreciate new films when watching them in terrible quality from a laptop. As a result, the three spare nights I had this week were spent watching films I already loved. Watching a film for the first time is a special experience, there are a lot of films I wish I could watch again for the first time, so I really worry about squandering that opportunity. Anyway, this is simply one of the best films ever made. I adore the Coen Brothers, in fact they are quickly becoming some of my favourite filmmakers ever (check out my other Coen reviews here) and NCFOM might be one of the best things they have ever done. An excruciating, slow methodical western homage masterpiece, following a simple premise in an unfathomable and confusing world. The Coen's signature enigmatic nature works brilliant in a plot like this, a cat and mouse tale without anything satisfying or tangible. I adore this so much.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople 

I have already written an entire review about this film and anybody that knows me will already know just how much I adore Taika Waititi on a personal level. He is a filmmaker who just appeals to me, his thought process and filmmaking style is something I really connect with and appreciate. Before he was swallowed up into Disney's gullet, he made an unofficial trilogy of New Zealand set Comedy-Drama coming of age masterpieces. 'Eagle Vs Shark', 'Boy' and this all share a devotion to growing up and finding yourself in a very personal setting of New Zealand, often touching on parts of Waititi's own life and experiences and the final results are just outstanding, Although I prefer the rougher and kind of unpolished feeling of the first two, this is still an absolute favourite of mine. A hilarious adventure film about identity, lost souls and companionship, imagine 'Up' meets 'Moonrise Kingdom' that is somehow better than both of those films. Check out my review and please give it a watch.  

In the Loop

And on almost the complete opposite end from the rest is 'In the Loop' the feature length sort of spin-off from 'The Thick of It' that is a biting and hilarious political satire. I consider Iannucci an undeniable genius, his work in comedy is fluent and refreshing, satirical in nature but never afraid to get silly. Translating the original show into a feature length setting is something I didn’t think would  work, especially with the idea of crossing the pond for the majority of it, but Iannucci uses this to make a fascinating deconstruction of the pathetic nature of British and American politics. He portrays American Political Officials as more outrightly evil than the British, who are often laughably incompetent in this universe. The perfect casting of Tom Hollander as the one-off bumbling minister is downright wonderful, I love Hollander in everything, and he gets to really flex comedically here. Capaldi and Addison return and are brilliant as always, seeing Tucker go head to head with American politicians is a wonderful refreshing step for this universe. Personally, the highlight of the entire thing is the late great James Gandolfini who steals every scene with his surprising comedic talents. A brilliant watch for fans of the show and British comedy.

And that about does it! A week of comfort films for sure. As always thanks for reading, the pictures are from the wonderful Rosella Turner and I'll see you next week!