An Attempt at Structure - Remember Good News?
It may surprise some of you, but I often get called out for being a cynical
person, especially from my family and I can’t really blame them. But in all honesty,
I think it is kind of impossible not to be incredibly cynical at my age right
now, I tend to consistently reference how this generation seems to be one of
the angriest. The cynicism comes from an undeniable connectivity, an
impossibility to stay naive about the problems going on thanks to social media
and the way said social media broadcasts any opinion right in front of you.
This is all obvious set up to say when I read the headline 'U. K to begin
distributing vaccines by the end of next week' my first response was suspicion
and cynicism. Good news so is so uncommon these days and after 8 months of
hopelessness and feeling like we might never get out of this pandemic, news
like this just doesn’t seem real. I just kept waiting for that sudden reveal of
bad news but instead, for the time being there is light at the end of the
tunnel. I get that people are sceptical but there has been an insane amount of
work put into this and maybe things won’t be back to normal quite yet, but
there is hope that it will start to go back to normal. It will be a long time
before I get it due to my age and the fact that I am not really high risk, but
I'll feel much safer going out and not worrying about passing it to those
actually at risk when the vaccine begins distribution. This is good news. Don’t
forget that, it may not be the instant change we crave, but it is certainly a
step in the right direction.
Weirdly in a week with the best news possible, came a soul crushing decision
for an industry I love. Warner Bros have decided to release their movies next
year in cinemas and on streaming services simultaneously. This is so disappointing,
it makes sense due to the pure uncertainty of how cinema distribution is going
to work, but for the cinema industry this is a dangerously inconsiderate move.
I love going to the cinema, I think it is one of the great pleasures of life
and I will try to go see as many films as possible because no other experience
than a cinema can make you really appreciate a film. However, this decision is
going to really punish some smaller cinemas who gain so much revenue for
showing the latest releases. When they are available in a more convenient way
at home, people simply aren’t going to go to the cinema which is such a shame
because we need to look after the arts, whether that be live music, theatre or
cinema it is unfair to dismiss them for the most profit convenience. Seeing the
light at the tunnel for the pandemic is one thing, but the fight then starts
for how we rebuild, don’t let them dismiss the power of the arts, as they have
been trying so hard to do.
Vice
I didn’t go out of my way to see 'Vice' when it was first released because
I've grown extremely tired of biopics and especially ones directed by someone
like Adam McKay. But out of the blue this week I thought I would give it a go.
And my god was this film a mess. It's so all over the place and just such a
vapid attempt at being a 'cool' film about Dick Cheney, McKay is ambitious, and
I give credit to the man. The film tries to break the mould of so many biopics
by using humour and some interesting breaks of style, but all this results in
is an utter mess of focus and a film so overblown with showy off moments that
eventually comes off as extremely unmemorable. For a biopic, it hardly builds
Cheney as a character at all, Bale's performance isn’t brilliant even if he
really disappears, the character of Dick Cheney is bland and inconsistent. The
political statement is thin and underdeveloped, there are far too many moments
stuffed in to show how cool and edgy McKay is and I really didn’t get on with
'Vice', in fact I basically forgot about most of it straight after it finished.
The Headless Woman
I've already wrote about another Lucrecia Martel film on here: 'La Cienega'
and it’s fair to say I didn’t love it. It is part of that 'Arthouse' film genre
that frustrates me, the idea of making a heavy Realist film where nothing
really happens, and you are meant to dig apart the metaphors between the lines.
I enjoyed 'The Headless Woman' a lot more because it felt like it had much more
intention, Martel clearly put effort and care into the clues throughout the
mystery. The difference between this and 'La Cienega' is that this is a film
with a central question that uses the mysterious pacing and lack of events ton
unravel the mystery and then to make a political point. I enjoyed it, I like a
film that is mediative with interesting ideas, but it can be tough to really
enjoy and appreciate when the whole purpose behind the construction is trying
to be elusive.
Snowpiercer
Unbelievably it took me to be forced to study 'Snowpiercer' before I finally
got around to watching it and I had a lot of fun with it. You can’t go into a
film like this expecting subtlety and nuanced storytelling, what you can expect
is a lot of fun and some absolutely crazy pacing and structure. I really
enjoyed my time with 'Snowpiercer' mostly because of the over-the-top performances
and the incredibly creativity Bong Joon Ho injects into his action. This unique
flavour of south Korean cinema within an American blockbuster results in a
pretty standard dystopian film brimming with creativity and energy, not afraid
to break tone for moments that strive for entertainment. I also found myself
really loving the political side to this film, it is surprisingly nuanced and
subverts a lot of my preconceived gripes. A really entertaining watch that
might suffer if you aren’t willing to let go of logic for a bit.
Wild Strawberries
An upcoming essay on auteur ship inspired me to finally watch more of the
work by iconic filmmaker Ingmar Bergmann and I was lucky enough to catch 'Wild
Strawberries' at BFI Southbank this week. After watching 'Persona' I knew I
would probably love this film, Bergmann's creativeness and thematic consistency
is something I really appreciated, however I didn’t expect to absolutely fall
head over heels in love with this film. A film about the anxieties of death,
about the past confronting your future and the legacy of your life staring back
at you. Yet it is a quiet film, a melancholy but beautiful piece that
absolutely stunned me, Bergmann breaks out similar themes but chooses to put a positive
and emotional take on them. I don’t really want to say much about this film
without spoiling it or writing an essay about it, but 'Wild Strawberries' is a
beautifully shot and gorgeous experience that I fell in love with
The Social Network
I closed this week off with watching a David Fincher classic I'd never
actually seen before. And it was just.... fine? I honestly don’t quite
understand why this film is held to such high regard, people are absolutely obsessed
with this film and in all honesty, it didn’t really do much for me. It felt
like a pretty typical biopic with a very tight script but awful pacing and
performances, genuinely a structural mess in some places. I think the idea of
putting it as a sort of court room drama with flashbacks is nice, but the
payoff is inconsistent and in reality, it doesn’t need it. I can really
appreciate just how formidable the script and direction are, it is hilarious in
places and fascinatingly tense in others, but these are just small moments that
don’t really bridge together that well. Eisenberg and Garfield aren’t brilliant
in this, I don’t know if it is intentional, but I couldn’t take either of them
seriously and they seem to be trying way too hard to do "serious
acting". I don't know, maybe I missed the meme culture behind it, and I don’t
worship everything Tarantino says about film so that's why it didn’t quite work
for me.
And that about does it! Thanks for reading as always and keep holding onto
that light at the end of the tunnel.