#Ujarneq Fleischer

[crystallizedkingdoms]

Fancast question: who would you cast to play Inuk Avi in a live action adaptation of taz, and then who do you think could voice act as him? :)

Oh man, voice cast is EASILY Paul Nutarariaq. I really love his voice, a nice equal split between really chill and easily excitable. Nutarariaq be the Avi of my dreams. him speaking ! plus, a visual of him for funsies.

as for a live action fancast… man, i honestly really suck at applying real faces to characters! but as I’ve thought about it, im gonna have to steal Ipeelie Ootoova! while he could totally play Kuruk, i think he could also play someone as chill and goofy as my Inuk Avi… he certainly looks good in long hair. plus im biased, he’s from my hometown.

However, I think Ujarneq Fleischer would also be a good match! He’s very funny and so so silly. I loved him in Alanngut Killinganni and Minori! plus, look at his hairrrrr

(yes, Inuk Avi having long hair is very important to me, how could you tell?)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Nuuk (2019)

Nuuk does what I wish more movies with dark revelations would do. For a major chunk of it, you’re going to think I’m crazy for calling this Filipino film a thriller. It's a romantic drama, isn't it? You’ll be shocked when what this movie is really about is revealed. While ultimately, some of it doesn’t hold up, I kind of want people who wouldn’t see Nuuk just so they can ape what it does well.

In Nuuk, Greenland, Elaisa (Alice Dixson) is still mourning her late husband. His death has driven a wedge between her and her son, Karl (Ujarneq Fleischer), a relationship already strained by her alcoholism and prescription drug abuse. After a nearly lethal combination of pills and alcohol, she befriends and begins falling for another Filipino, Mark (Aga Muhlach).

It’s never explicitly said but with Greenland's crippling suicide rate and Karl's anger towards his mother, it’s heavily implied Elaisa somehow contributed to her husband's death. We meet her when she’s at her worst, which makes the random encounter that brings Mark into her life seem like divine intervention. He doesn’t divulge much about his past but you can tell he’s also wounded. He and Elaisa are two broken people whose cracks line up perfectly. Watching them together, you feel that rush of a great first date. As she improves, so does her relationship with her son. You’re filled with hope.

And then, something goes wrong. You’ve spent so long imagining what kind of happy ending we’re headed for that when the darkness slithers in, you don’t know how to react. Most films with a twist tell you there’s a shocking reveal coming with ominous shots or bits of information that have no bearing on the decoy plot. This film has those but they’re so minimal I brushed them off or assumed they meant something other than what they really meant.

Once the revelations come pouring in is also where the film is at its weakest. We’re shown how all of these little things lined up and… it’s simultaneously too clean and complicated. We get too many explanations, the worst of which is the film’s final shot, a long uninterrupted aerial view that’s impressive and disturbing but only reiterates what we’ve been told twice already. You cut that out, you’ve got a better movie.

If you’re reading this review, what Nuuk has in store won’t be nearly as surprising as it was for me because you’ll be able to “see it coming” much more than I did. While acknowledging this, I have to give the film credit for the way it affected me. I was surprised, partially because of the film’s seemingly random quirks - like the cast, which is comprised almost entirely out of Filipinos. You don’t expect that out of a film set in Greenland. While the bait may be ultimately more mouth-watering than the catch, Nuuk is effectively romantic and disturbing depending on what lane it’s positioned in. (Original subtitled version on the big screen, March 3, 2020)