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Reviews
Papurika (2006)
A Bit of a Letdown
I recently watched this director's movie, "Perfect Blue", which absolutely blew me away, in the process winning my "Favorite Animated Film Ever" award. Obviously, because of this, I went in with pretty high hopes. Unfortunately, the film just didn't live up to my expectations. The animation is excellent, but the creativity wanes after a while, as there is a very large amount of repetition; repetition can be a useful cinematic tool when each iteration brings new revelations, but for the most part, that doesn't happen here... it's just the same image over and over, except for now it takes place in a city street instead of an old village! What we are left with is a lot of self-important psycho-babble that sounds like it is coming from the lips of an overeager college freshman, and characters out of Anime 101 whom you never end up caring about.
Overall, not a horrible movie, but do yourself a favor and watch "Perfect Blue" instead. Please ignore those who compare this to "Inception", as they are not even in the same league.
Cutting Moments (1996)
Unbelievably Overrated...
I'm almost at the point where I'm going to start ignoring "The Most Disturbing Movie Ever Made!" lists. For every gem like "Irreversible" and "Salo", there are twenty turds like "Men Behind the Sun", "Aftermath", and, disappointingly, "Cutting Moments". What do these all have in common? Abysmal acting that totally undercuts any feelings you might have about the plot. The "actors" in this film are horrible, to the point that I think they were recruited by grabbing Kentucky Fried Chicken customers on the afternoon of filming. I don't care how gory something is... if it happens to a cardboard character, it does nothing for me. By the way, the "crazy gore" that everyone raves about is laughable... how is Tom Savini attached to this? I guess he ran out of crack that week and decided, "Sure, I'll put my name in the credits for $500!" With one small exception, there is nothing here that couldn't be done by your local cosmetologist; the "effects" are done by showing a body part in closeup, cutting to blood splattering on the floor, then cutting back to the body part, which now has lots of fake blood smeared on it.
The only reason I'm not giving it one star is that there is a brief period, about ten seconds long, that is kind of cool. But it doesn't make up for the fact that the rest of the movie is sub-"First Year of Film School" bad.
Afterschool (2008)
A Masterpiece of Restraint
I can certainly see why some people wouldn't like this movie; the pacing is slow to the point that people raised on "Cloverfield" (which I happened to enjoy) and the like will probably be slitting their wrists. But, having attended a school like the one in the movie, I can tell you that the level of realism is startlingly accurate; each character could easily be someone who I knew in high school.
If you enjoy restrained directing and acting, this is an absolute must see. It is one of the few movies that almost makes you forget there is a camera involved; it is like your own private lens into the world. I rarely give a movie a perfect score, but this one earned it.
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
So Overrated
I was really expecting a lot from this movie, so maybe this has something to do with my low rating of it.
As far as it being shocking--well, yeah, sort of. It's certainly disturbing to see animals killed in horrible ways for no other reason than to convince the director that he is furthering his "art." Killing the cow in Apocalypse Now probably qualifies as essential to the movie; the killing of animals in this movie just looks like a perverted mind getting off on how "edgy" he's being.
Other than that, I didn't find this movie to be shocking as much as boring. It's really hard to be shocked by the violence as you have zero emotions invested in the characters, mostly because they are so wooden. It's saying something that the most convincing actor in the cast was mainly known as a porn star.
The plot is almost non-existent; it feels like the things that happened did so only because there was no other way to get to the end of the movie.
Also, I have no idea why anyone thinks the cannibals are scary. Basically, the scenes with the cannibals looks like somebody went to the local Home Depot lot, found some undocumented workers, threw a bit of paint on them, then told them to run around in a field and scream a lot.
I can think of so many better movies for people who might be interested in this garbage due to stuff you've heard on the net. If you're looking for something that is just flat out disturbing, watch Salo or Irreversible. If you want gore, get a good copy of Day of the Dead. If you want to see natives acting like natives, see Aguirre.
The only reason I gave this a 2 instead of a 1 is that I only give a 1 to movies I know I will forget. You're not going to forget seeing these animals violated, although you'll probably want to.
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975)
Brutal but Necessary
I'm still reeling from this movie. It is one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen, the rare film that can still affect me this way. Watching this film is like being hit with a sledgehammer, having salt rubbed in your wounds, and then finding out that the only way to get the salt out is to have someone wash it out by pissing on you.
This is not a cheap snuff film. It is a work of art. The set pieces and costumes are flawlessly beautiful, which only makes the depraved violence in the film stand out even more. I've seen a lot of posts critical of the acting; I couldn't disagree more--it takes a lot of talent to smile ecstatically (and convincingly) through a long narrative about the most horrible child abuse you can imagine.
So why would someone want to watch a movie that is this punishing? Because evil is a part of the human condition that needs to be acknowledged. In my opinion, watching movies like this doesn't make you desensitized to violence, it makes you hate it even more. Watching a Hollywood action movie where you are supposed to clap every time the perfect hero kills a perfect bad guy desensitizes you to violence. You will not smile when someone in this movie dies to "get what was coming to them," because nobody in this movie could possibly deserve anything that happens to them.
There are two final points I'd like to make. The first is that I've seen a couple of posts where people complain about the gay sex in the movie. If you watch this entire film and THAT is what offends you, you're a twisted person. Even if you are the most homophobic person in the world, there is so much in this movie that should offend you a hundred times more. I'm straight and found that the gay sex is almost a footnote to the other things that are going on. The second is that the similarities between some of these scenes and what happened at Abu Ghraib cannot be dismissed. The fact that this movie could have easily been filmed in Iraq, with real footage, should be a very cautionary point about where we, as a country, are headed.