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The Truman Show (1998)
A well presented commentary on freedom and societal reality.
The Truman Show is an interesting commentary on consumerism, power and freedom. In fact, it is one of the best examples of these in cinema. With its wide range of interesting cinematography that fits into the world of the film, it's interesting story line and its compelling acting, it is definitely a motion picture that will be remembered.
Now, an interesting argument is whether this is a film or a movie. I have had difficulties deciding where to stand on this, because it has both commercial interest and artistic integrity throughout. Either way, I think I would sway more towards the side of it being a film. Because of its swelling orchestral soundtrack that offers moments of peace and freedom, its cinematographical style and its commentary on modern society, I believe putting it under the category of a movie would be doing it an injustice.
I think this film was a good mix of technical elements and a good story, specifically how the two played into each other. The cameras inside Truman's world are mentioned, and we get many different shots that offer that sort of wide-angle type look which plays into the idea that Truman is being watched by the audience, and us subsequently. While it does this, it's still making it easy to understand and compelling to watch when it comes to the story. The reason this is the case is because of the characters, specifically Truman. His character is not only relatable but driven to overcome his fear and fulfill his dreams. This is inspiring and relatable to us because we empathize with him and we often feel trapped in society and consumer based living too.
Cristoff's point that "We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented" is true in Truman's world, but not in ours. Where as some may stay close minded, most of us have art to show us the truth and commentaries of our own reality, but Truman doesn't. He lives in his own world where everything is catered to him and dependent that he doesn't find out his life is staged, so of course he isn't going to question it. Therefore, I disagree with Cristoff's statement.
I would like to see the reality that most lives are run by products and the next consumable goods, whereas I believe we should live off of love, kindness, art and the simplicity of life itself.
I think there are quite a few positives to the current situation. For example, the world itself and nature is becoming healthier, most of us are able to reflect and enjoy the small things in life, and many other things. It's always important to be optimistic and I don't see why a shift in reality would change that.
I think many parts of society would consider him a villian, as it is obvious we are rooting for Truman, and so is the audience within the world of the film. However, many immoral critics and snobby artists would praise him for his "art" of showing Truman's life. Even though it is fake and all constructed, they may see it as a fascinating masterpiece of a TV show.
This film is definitely worthy of discussion and quite good at telling its story. I loved rewatching it and it was great to review.
Annie Hall (1977)
An interesting study of a toxic relationship that started with two broken people.
Although I believe Woody Allen's philosophy to be quite annoyingly pessimistic and desperate, this film shows how relationships start and end.
Through the lens of Woody Allen's character, we see how he sees the world, and the way he lives. Although his character is pathetic and sometimes annoying, we can sort of understand what he is going through.
The humor is the best part of this film, breaking holes in the facade of flirting and relationships themselves. Although I am not obsessed with the humor on sex or some of the other more obviously laissez faire attitude towards them, most of it is quite funny and honest.
Yôjinbô (1961)
An incredibly thought out and executed samurai film which is near perfect.
This samurai film is the staple for the american western genre, introducing the idea of a wonderfully silent ghost town with a wonderfully skilled traveler roaming its streets. The standoff scenes were also very iconic and carried onto the western genre later on with the Clint Eastwood films, and many others.
Akira Kurosawa's style is accentuated very well in this piece, with his telescopic wide shots, tight lenses and gorgeous framing.
The only flaw I could see is the sometime over-usage of humor through some of the characters stupidity, but this is a staple for any Kurosawa film anyway, and isn't new to his films.
One of the best and maybe the most iconic samurai films is worth the hype, and the analysis. Yojimbo is amazing.
Gisaengchung (2019)
A masterpiece.
The visual style and mood of 2019's "Parasite" is perfect. The editing, the cinematography and the story all perfectly coincide with each other. This film is the perfect example of every single part of a piece of art fitting with its other components. With the precision and perfect aspect of the rich family, is the perfectly omnipotent framing, camera movement and composition of every single shot.
The static nature of the camera for most of the film shows how normal and static the status of the family is, in contrast with the family that starts to work there. The family that takes the place of the housekeepers, driver and tutors are shot with more fluid and quicker camera movements, to convey their status and attitude.
I could talk about this film for days, so I will finish this review by discussing the ending. The emotional nature of the families connections to one another is perfectly encapsulated through the last line, and the last scene. The emotional relevance of such a run down family now down on their luck and half killed is touching, and perfectly fits with the beginning of the film. The very last shot conveys this perfectly, with the same shot at the beginning being the same one that is at the end.
8½ (1963)
One of the best films of all time.
This film is a staple for Italian neorealist cinema. The feeling of the films that were created in this era is enchanting, and exude a historical and artistic significance in the portrait of all cinema.
Fellini primarily created this film off of his own experiences not just as a filmmaker, but a person. It is a perfect reflection of who he was at the time, and his philosophies. Fellini was a man constantly afraid of becoming a bad person, and straying from who he truly is, and this film primarily shows this struggle. I like to think of this film as the example of just that: the confession of an artist and a filmmaker.
It is just that too, and an excitingly entertaining one at that. With the camera constantly moving, and the dreams and dialogues dripping from this films very core, it is a perfect film.
Fellini is a master of the craft, and I look up to him as an artist and a fellow filmmaker. This is a film every artist and person should see, and should be watched for centuries to come.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
One of the best love stories put to film.
Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind is one of the most beautiful and sad love stories of all time. The characters are relatable, the situation is realistic, and most of all the relationships feels real. Every single line in this film is realistic, logical, and oftentimes beautifully truthful. You can tell Kaufman takes inspiration from his own life through the honesty of each characters insecurity, memories and moments that they observe, which is inspiring as an artist, and even more as a writer.
The story is interesting and gripping, while still being honest and slow, while it offers interesting set design, cinematography and other directorial expressionism that is unique and technically interesting with its effects.
I think Joel and Clementine will stay together, and finally accept that they need to be together because of how colossal this event is. If Joel didn't care and really don't want to be with her, he would have listened to the tape and moved on, but he clearly did, because he came back.
I think it is moral to release the tapes because the patients should know. Everyone has a right to know what or who was in their lives, and I think that's the whole point of the film, that you learn from those memories and experiences.
Serpico (1973)
The perfect action film.
An incredibly well structured, perfectly made action film. This is the staple for story, acting and production for an action film. It has many coinciding themes that work so very well together, and fit so well in the look of the film.
Amongst the high budget Hollywood action films that combine crazy special effects with wacky one liners, this blossoms and is a real pearl. It combines so many perfect filmmaking techniques to make more than a film; to make an experience. Which is what film always should be.
Donnie Darko (2001)
An incredible twist on the typical American drama
When watching the Donnie Darko Directors Cut for the second time, I was surprised of how much more I was getting from the second viewing. Not just does this film offer many layers and aspects, it is also just an interesting, fun to watch film.
This is why it is a film and not a movie, it mixes incredible concepts and ideas with good presentation and simple, not exaggerated visuals. In my opinion, this is what makes a film good. It presents its ideas in a way that isn't complicated and over the top, while still being entertaining.
Which leads into another well done aspect of this film: the pacing. It is exciting, but not too intense, it is slow but not too slow, it is gripping but not too massive. It uses slow, sensual piano pieces to show the innocence of Donnie, while still having tense, strange pieces during the sadistic events where Donnie is being manipulated and controlled by Frank. This helps express how the pacing is so well planned out, and what Donnie is feeling, and the darkness of Frank that is trying to control him.
Now, the big question, why didn't Donnie stay in bed in the tangent universe? My answer is that Frank was already controlling him. The film does this really well, it shows the visual of Donnie lying down in the middle of the road, so we instantly assume that he has been sleep walking and fell asleep in this spot, when really this isn't what happened. The filmmakers use the absence of seeing what Donnie sees to make you think that it was just him sleepwalking, when really, it was Frank controlling him. This is also one of the incredible ways they take advantage of how much information they give you through the film, or don't give you. While we know that Frank is going out of his way to turn Donnie into his evil puppet, we don't really know when he started to. I believe it was either a little before the plane crash, or the night that it did, as this is the only time he needed to control him.
In conclusion, this film takes advantage of the typical family drama, and flips it into a film about love, trust, hatred and crazy science fiction elements.
Vox Lux (2018)
A vibrant telling of celebrity life
A vibrant and intriguing film, with interesting editing choices and great cinematography. Strange casting choice with the daughter though.
Furankenshutain no kaijû: Sanda tai Gaira (1966)
Hilarious monster movie
A hilariously camp monster movie with charming yet funny practical effects.
Yume (1990)
One of the best portrayals of dreams
An incredible visual experience that is raw and very Kurosawa. The cinematography is simple and in the trademark Kurosawa style, with these great wides that perfectly frames the characters, and simplistic symmetrical extreme wides with colours that pop.
It is also one of the most pretty films I have ever seen, with incredible set pieces and locations, and beautiful, introspective characters.
It achieves all of this while also still feeling like a dream, and almost the artistic venting of Kurosawa's soul.
Viskningar och rop (1972)
An honest and touching film
Depressing but honest portrayal of death, with incredible dialogue contrasted with the always great cinematography of Sven Nykvist. They are an incredible combination of artists, who should be praised for generations to come.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Absolute modern masterpiece
In a dystopian, sad reality we are introduced to our new main character, Officer K. This is a similar but more conflicted character than Harrison Ford's character from the first film, because the events of the film lead him to believe he is more than he believed. Although he is a similar character, he is also entirely different, and his emotions are portrayed through small emotions and facial expressions, which is different than Rick Deckard from the last film.
Ryan Gosling's acting, and the rest of the cast for that matter is incredibly subtle, but impactful. With everything being a reaction to the actions and dialogue spoken in the film, it matches the mood and visual storytelling of the film, instead of everything being spoken and told through dialogue.
That is why I love this film so much. It has a meaning and a distinct message, but it still has an incredibly interesting story and world.
The cinematography is perfect, with some traditional rules applied, but also Roger Deakins' own touch and style applied. The colours pop and portray the world in a different way, instead of making the whole film grey and brown, it delivers a contrast between the massive world of Los Angeles and the smaller world of Las Vegas.
Finally, on the action. The fight scene at the end is realistic but still stylized with its set piece. It is not a massive Hollywood style battle with the whole city blowing up, it is a small but significant fight scene that is suspenseful and delivered very well. The cinematography perfectly matches it too, with the lighting being very dim and drastic, but keeping it still stylized.
The truth is, I could talk about this film all day, so I will finish with this. If you love film, and you love science fiction, watch this film. For your own sake. It is one of the only big films today that stays true to using practical effects, telling an interesting story, and delivering a meaningful and shocking message all at the same time.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
A fantastic experience of a film
What an incredible film.
This film is an experience, not just something you go and see in the cinema. Much like other films like American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused, it feels like you are right there with the characters. It feels like this floating, beautiful piece of poetry almost, with how everything is perfectly put together and crafted to create a perfectly paced film.
With its interesting and inner conflicted characters that feel so rich in depth and raw emotion, it offers something that will keep you interested throughout the whole experience. With this, comes one of the best casts put together on film.
I feel as if Tarantino is doing what Kubrick did, he is reinventing the way you look at films. Not only this, but he is also making something entirely different each time he writes and directs, offering a large array of interesting range and stylistic quality to his films that nothing else can or ever will match.
This is now one of my favourite Tarantino films, and I will watch it again and again.
Belle de jour (1967)
An interesting character piece
This character driven, complicated and dream filled film is quite exciting but confusingly human and raw. Upon first watch I grew to love and understand the characters, even though they were complicated and strange.
Much like David Lynch, the dreams in the film are quite vivid and visceral in tone, and offer a lot of explanation of how Séverine is feeling, and the inner conflicts she is facing.
Unlike a lot of the other french new wave films, this one doesn't focus on the filmmaking, with interesting edits and stylistic choices, but focuses more on the characters. I find this to be a very interesting film, and definitely worth dissecting and watching more than once.
Network (1976)
An interesting take on capitalism and network TV
Beale is an interesting protagonist who isn't exactly likeable and not unlikable at the same time. With an interesting, different point of view on the world, people don't find him to be credible or even sane.
I think Beale is in between a state of insanity and bliss. He is done with society generating sheep who follow TV as their gospel, and people being fuelled by money. He isn't exactly enlightened, but is so finished with society that he has become this charismatic force not to be reckoned with.
I think this film is especially relevant today, as we are dealing with issues even more fatal to humanity that are being decided by capitalism, like global warming and a lot of political issues.
I think this is just about, pretty much a film. The reason for this is because it has a clear message and something to say about society, but it is in many ways a movie because it is quite formulaic like a traditional Hollywood product film. The cinematography isn't exactly stylish, and doesn't hold any difference to any other Hollywood film. It is also quite boring and not gripping at many points in the film, which suggests it isn't exactly filled with inspiration.
I gave this film a 6 out of 10 because of those reasons mostly, and also because a lot of the acting was also stale and boring, with the best actors being Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch.
Brick (2005)
An interesting take on a noir film
This is a fantastic noir film centred on teenagers dealing drugs. If this film wasn't a noir, and was just a regular action film about teenagers dealing drugs, it still would be fantastic.
There are many reasons for this, but the main ones are the editing, sound mixing and cinematography. These things make the film so unique and gorgeous to watch and listen to, and give a defining style to the film. They also all mix together to give a new sort of post punk feel to noir that I haven't seen before.
The dialogue was also interesting in the way they used the lingo, which you could understand pretty easily even though it wasn't simple and was quite rapidly presented.
As a filmmaker, this film shows how a low budget film can be presented and done very stylistically and beautifully, and that is what I live the most about this film.
Black Mirror: White Christmas (2014)
Probably the best Black Mirror episode
Wow. Just wow.
Like many other reviews are saying, the first time I watched this I didn't fully realize its brilliance.
This episode of Black Mirror perfectly shows the effect that technology could and possibly will have on society. Unlike many other episodes, it takes the world of another episode and uses it to tell it's narrative. This is a fantastic idea, because it is able to tell the narrative without spending a lot of time on explaining the ideas that the technology is trying to express.
Also quite unlike the other Black Mirror episodes, the multiple stories perfectly weave into one another, and establishing things that were used in the other stories.
Like I mentioned earlier, it shows the terrible nature of technology, and how it can destroy people. It does this in such a perfect stylized way too.
Go and watch this now people.
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
A Fantastic Portrayal of Hollywood
This film noir shows the twists and turns of being an actor, and behind the world of Hollywood productions, and the guidelines and restrictions behind them.
Unlike most film noirs, there isn't much of an antagonist, and it is more of a film focused on chracters and the interactions between them. The character of Norma shows perfectly the corruption and egotistical attitude an actor can portray if they allow themselves too, and is the first film I have seen that has done it so well.
Unlike many of the traditional cookie cutter films at the time, this film decided to be different in its perspective, looking behind the scenes of the productions and people behind them at the time.
The only thing I found wrong with this film was the pacing, the beginning of the film was quite slow and sort of felt like it was beginning to become repetitive. Apart from that this was a very interesting film, and everyone should watch it.
Chaplin (1992)
Interesting story, but not very well delivered
This was a good film, don't get me wrong. The way it was presented in a visual and writing sense was just quite disappointing.
I have two points to support my pony with this. Firstly, the cinematography is quite bland, apart from the first scene of the film with Chaplin in the doorway with the silhouette.
Secondly, the writing was quite obvious with the exposition, especially with the biographer character. The biographer character was so obvious, because he would literally say something or ask a question to Chaplin, and it would go onto a flashback for it. For me, I fee that is poor writing.
Now, the good thing about the film, the subject. I thought this was an interesting idea for a film, as Charlie Chaplin is a major film icon and generally a well known person. It was interesting to explore his history, and the film history along with it, and that is why I gave it a 6, and not something like a 4 or 5.
The acting from Robert Downey Jr. was also very well performed and performed, which helped carry the film a lot, especially considering how good he is at doing a British accent.
In conclusion, it is a film worth watching, just for the history, but it definitely isn't a masterpiece.
The Artist (2011)
A fantastic modern film, perfectly capturing the times of silent film.
This was a fantastic film, and almost perfect in every aspect.
Firstly, this film is very well written, even though it is a silent film. With every movement perfectly planned, and every scene looking gorgeous and interesting.
Unlike a lot of Hollywood "product" films, this was purely made from love and passion, and it was very clear throughout the entire film. The set pieces and costume design was absolutely transforming, and captured the world so well.
The character motivations and arcs were very well done too, which I find difficult to find in a lot of cinema I watch. I felt for the characters, and related to the main character a lot, and I could tell exactly what he was going through throughout the whole film, which is beautiful, and highlights the amazing acting.
The character arc of George Valentin is a perfect example of this, because it makes perfect sense why Valentin would be going through this, as the whole business and structure was changing into talkies. Which, illustrated the time in parallel to the character, especially considering everyone around him was surpassing his witty and charismatic talent simply because they were in talkies, and no one wanted him in them, and left him in the dirt.
Symbolism and deeper meanings were also perfectly done as well. The cinematography showed how Valentin and Peppy were growing apart, and she was growing much higher than him, even though she was previously adoring and admiring his talent and fame.
There were two shots in particular, in which the two characters were split, both symmetrical shots beside them, as they were on either sides of the screen, and in the first shot divided by a railing that was perfectly in between them. I have big respect for these shots, because symbolism in films, especially in cinematography is very important and interesting to me.
The symbolism through the dream sequence was also very unique, in which Valentin can't speak, but sound is starting to erupt, as symbolism for him not in talkies, and everything else is prominent in sound.
In conclusion, this film was perfectly constructed with love, and a great homage to cinema in general, and the silent era of film.
Les garçons sauvages (2017)
A fantasizing, interesting and unique experience.
This is a beautiful film, which explores sexuality, gender and beauty in strange things.
The whole film is presented in such a visually pleasing way, and offers a new experience of cinema, with the vibrant colours, and the adventurously experimental characters and interactions.
Flatworld (1997)
A fantastic animation, and a fantastic story.
I really enjoyed just about everything about this film, the pacing was perfect, with every single action not feeling out of place or badly written. The characters were very interesting and different to one another, especially considering they all were expressed through their actions. The world was different and made the most out of the fact that the film itself, the characters, and some of the objects and the environments were made out of paper, and above all it was fun.
Why I think this is very important is because unlike many other types of films, animation is something that you can do virtually anything with, and it gives the filmmaker a chance to make the experience something unique and bizarre to watch and enjoy that isn't just the normal 3D world with normal people, and I think this filmmaker did a fantastic job. This is someone who clearly is very inspired by Aardman and Wallace and Gromit, and he is very creative to make something quite similar, but very unique to him and his vision. Great film, please watch it.