#been thinking about gregg araki movies again

[techramonic]

what's your favorite film/what are your favorite films?

I love these kind of questions ... thank you Wisteria, you are a lifesaver.

I have been procrastinating in answering my asks but this question whispered into my ear and told me to answer it as soon as possible just so I can yap about my favorite movies. I purposefully left out Zero Day and Elephant because although those two are part of my favorite films because the characters and themes are really interesting to analyze, and yea sure I have analyzed them a heck lot, they haven't really profoundly impacted me as much as the one's below. Never really struck me on a personal, personal level. If the movie's good then it'll lead to an astral projection and you're suddenly hyper-aware of everything you feel me ... I'd say that the following are my favorite films, not in any particilar order:

Donnie Darko | This movie has been etched into my brain permanently and will be ingrained on it long as I stay awake. I could explain almost every detail behind it. From the religious symbolism, to the intricacy of the plot, to the nature of Donnie's character. I recall that the first time I watched it, the initial confusion sent me into a spiral of research and more re-watches. It's just that type of film where the more you watch it again, the more you find more small details that change the whole trajectory of the story. For my school projects that involved creatve writing, I always chose to talk about this film in my essays because of the themes. There's something about existential dread and religious tragedy that makes me so alive. The mystery of man's fate and existence keeps me up at night. Donnie's me and I'm him. When he said, "Every living creature dies alone." I felt that shit in skin, bones, viscera, and soul.

Dead Poet's Society | First ever movie that actually changed my life. My first viewing of it in 2019 made me feel so inspired but still left me empty after realizing that perhaps some people are born for their passions but because of the circumstances they're enslaved to, they are only left to dream. It makes me want to fight the air. Plus, I see myself in Todd. I love poetry and I know the burden of being pressured to follow the footsteps of success of an older sibling, even if all you want to do is exist and find the joy in doing what others consider to be useless.

Fantastic Mr. Fox | Wes Anderson is such a great director but when he makes animations it's like the world is slowly healing back into crescendo. This film makes me so happy for every reason there is. I love the themes of greed which is being told through the prespective of animals. Just reflects our innate human nature to be so attracted to greed and power that it slowly consumes then inevitably destroys us. Also, I love "different" characters... Ash save me, save me ash.

Mysterious Skin | Watched this once and it made me sick. I had to think about for an hour. Fuck, humanity is so morbid. So facinating. So hopeful yet decayed. I hope their coach died or something, sick motherfucker. Gregg Araki has an insane amount of skill in making the best emotionally complex and gut-wrenching queer films ever. I also liked the use of Aliens in the film because I personally love Alien things. Used to be a big fan of sStar Trek too when I was younger. I love you Brian Lackey, you are the world.

Azure et Asmar | I love Middle Eastern films. Brings me back to my youth. It's like it sends me back to the past and allows me to relive some of the memories I wish never passed. Wish I could've stayed there longer typa thing. This movie is so beautiful. So playful and childish yet grown and thoughtful at the same time. I love films about family too, can you guys tell ... Watching this film was such a happy experience and everything about it was pleasant. I even learned the lyrics to one of the songs just because I loved it so much.

Trainspotting | Fucking insane and brilliant. This film is so exhilarating and like DPS, so inspiring yet too fucked up that it just makes me question is life really worth it. Is living really something we should do or are we just killing the time and seeing it as an obligation rather than a will ... The monologue Renton gives during the start and end is so good that I need to get it tatted on my skin or injected into my veins.

[post-futurism]

4, 14, and 22?

4. Movie of the year?

I was talking about this with a bisexual babe the other day, I think it genuinely is Bottoms. Other than being so queer and funny, the absurdist reality that was set up so successfully executed the finale in a way I haven't seen done so casually well in a really long time, maybe not since Kaboom! By Gregg Araki. I am so keen to watch Bottoms again tbh.

14. Favourite book you read this year?

I was really good at reading books in the first half of the year, my enthusiasm faltered when I was recommended a music biography of an artist I wasn't interested in and I seem to have forgotten all other books I've read since then. But before that, and I'm fairly sure it was still 2023, I read Kindred by Octavia E. Butler which was incredibly good. I had been looking for a copy of it in second hand book stores for years and when it was selected as a book club read, I caved and bought a new copy. No regrets, it was an easy read despite heavy topics and Americanisms, engaging, powerful and made me fall in love with Butler as an author.

22. Favourite place you visited this year?

Probs Brisbane. I'd been as a child but don't really remember it. It was cool to go to the art galleries and the river precinct around it, and I especially loved going to a record store called Black Cat Music which I had heard a lot about. Plus I'm still dreaming about this Asian fusion cafe I had lunch at where I had an okononiyaki chicken benedict. It blew my mind.

Ty for asking 💞

[beverage2000]

hey so after rewatching r1ct for the 19th time maybe i should actually get around to sendig asks abt it SO HEY i've been trying to make a more abstract sort of story and it seems i have trouble with ... being abstract in general. i usually can't come up with any sort of weird imagery or storylines without borrowing heavily from something else. it's highly inconvenient. How do you go about the concept process for your films ? any major takeaways from art school or things i should try ? :0

Wow. this is like the last ask i ever expected to get so first of all thank you for watching R1CT....19 times?!?? this may be hyperbole but either way thank you. its a project that went through a lot of stages and changes and difficulties and it means a lot to me

*puts my hands on your shoulders*i have to tell you something. there is no way you can come up with shit without referencing or borrowing from others' work. im working on a zine/book/thing about the entire journey of making it but basically my"concept process" was a 30-month mess that started out with 1 sketch on the train, which became an idea for a way too ambitious yet still half-assed fully hand-drawn second-year film..but put through the play-doh spaghetti machine of covid i started having a different relationship with myself, with my computer, with my computer-self.. and it morphed slowly and weirdly into wut it is i guess. i dont think i could recreate those circumstances if i tried lol. but yea im rambling too much so let me actually try to answer your question

so ya like i said its actually important and beneficial to borrow from other peoples works. i definitely have the privilege of going to art school to help with that cause i was exposed to a variety of different media and art and obscure films i probably wouldnt have seen otherwise. but i will say itll serve u well to branch out and look at art forms other than the one youre studying, even stuff that seems boring or not relevant. and combine the elements that inspire u the most and make something of ur own. some big inspirations that went into the melting pot early on were: the movie la selva oscura by carlos santa, the opening for the 1974 anime majokko megu-chan, the 1983 movie rock & rule, the matrix, movies by gregg araki, roberto rossellini, david lynch(sorry), elaine may, jonni phillips(to whom i owe so much), among many others; the animated series transformers: beast wars, sally cruikshank's quasi at the quackadero, the artworks of fernand leger and leopold survage (both part of the Cubist scene but had a conceptual interest in filmmaking)...... yeah i could go on for a really long time. (i guess i already did). if you look at this stuff you can probably see lots of elements of these things, in r1ct but it still ended up being something at least semi-original.. so yea go to the library look at art books watch old movies, find stuff u hate, find stuff u like. absorb shit and make shit. dont be afraid to do something way different than what youre used to. basically just go crazy

shoutout 2 any1 who managed to read through this whole thing LOL. i encourage you to check out at least one of the things or artists i mentioned here and yea.. thank you again:)i hope you can look forward to more works in the R1CT cinematic univere

[letterboxd]

Pop star.

Dominic Corry heads to the AFI Fest screening of Natalie Portman’s new film Vox Lux, then hears what the Oscar winner has to say about it.

In Vox Lux, late 2018’s other pop star drama, Natalie Portman gives one of her rawest ever performances as Celeste, a global superstar about to embark on a huge tour. Even among fictional singers, Celeste has a unique backstory.

The first third or so of the film chronicles how a young Celeste (played by English actress Raffey Cassidy from Tomorrowland and The Killing of a Sacred Deer) barely survives a high school mass shooting. At a memorial for her fallen friends, she performs a song with her sister, and it goes viral. A manager (played by Jude Law) takes notice, and Celeste is on her way to Taylor Swift levels of idolatry.

The film then jumps ahead two decades to 2018, with Celeste now played by Natalie Portman. In a high-concept casting gambit that ends up working extremely well, her teenage daughter Albertine is also played by Cassidy.

Like in A Star Is Born, there is a resentment-laden relationship with a talented older sibling, Celeste’s sister Eleanor, played in both time periods by the ethereally ageless Stacy Martin (Nymphomaniac).

But ultimately Vox Lux treads a very different path to Bradley Cooper’s smash hit. This is an intensely intimate film that culminates with a spectacular meltdown and an arena-worthy pop star performance from Portman, who absolutely kills it performing songs written by prolific pop music genius Sia. It’s rare that “fictional” hits sound so convincing.

Raffey Cassidy and Natalie Portman in Brady Corbet’s ‘Vox Lux’.

Vox Lux was written and directed by Brady Corbet, who first came to prominence as an actor in films such as Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin (2004) and Michael Haneke’s 2007 remake of his own Funny Games. Vox Lux is Corbet’s second film behind the camera, following the 2015 period drama The Childhood of a Leader.

With Vox Lux, he ties tragedy and celebrity together in a thorny character study.

Following a recent screening of the film in Los Angeles, Portman got on stage to discuss making Vox Lux. Here’s some of what she had to say:

On what drew her to the role: Natalie Portman: It was an incredible opportunity to play a character that I’d never had the chance to play before. And also to work with someone like Brady who I think is incredibly talented and interesting and full of great ideas. And then also, I think a lot of the themes are really relevant to the world we live in. It feels like a really accurate portrayal of what it’s like to live in this moment in history, which feels very specific in a way that I hadn’t seen reflected before.

On how she approached the character: The biggest part of the character was the writing. Brady wrote such a specific character that felt so rounded and just like a real human being. Sometimes she’s really authentic and sometimes she’s totally fake. Sometimes she’s cruel and sometimes she’s gentle. And sometimes she’s performing and sometimes she’s being. It was really just remarkable reading it. So I feel like that really provided a great blueprint.

On whether or not she discussed how to approach Celeste with Raffey Cassidy, who plays the younger Celeste: We actually didn’t and I think that was intentional for Brady because he really wanted them to be different characters. Because she’s really changed obviously from this innocent young woman at the beginning and then we catch her after twenty years of hard life and I loved the fact that he chose to skip that period because we all know how to fill it in, we know plenty of, you know, the hard times of a pop star, the rocky road until their resurrection, it’s such a familiar tale to us so we don’t have to see it.

On working alongside Cassidy, who also plays her daughter, Albertine: Raffey’s remarkable. We didn’t rehearse together, we just started working together. The first time I saw her as young Celeste was when I saw the finished film, so to see how she could modify her performance so subtly [as Albertine] and really be believable as two completely different characters. I really thought Brady was nuts, I was like, “Are you sure? You’re gonna make me stand next to the actor that played me in the beginning and try to make people believe that we’re the same character?” But Brady was really convinced about it, and I think it’s so powerful in the film. I think we still often see our kids as versions of ourselves, and how we relate to them with all the self-hatred and self-love, alternately, or sometimes all at once. And then I think it’s just so powerful to have it embodied, the entire time she’s with her daughter, she’s also with her younger self. Both as what that means for everyone experiencing parenthood, but also for the film to see both of these versions of this woman together. I think it works because it’s like a metaphor but it also works literally. She does such a great job of acting. You do always believe that both characters are different people, but she holds within her both characters, so there’s like a doubling of meaning all the time.

On working with Jude Law again: Jude is just one of the greatest actors. His voice in this is different than I’ve ever heard. It has such amazing resonance. He is again also one of the kindest most wonderful people I know, a real major talent. It was very lucky ’cause this is the fourth film I’ve been in with him. We worked together for the first time on Cold Mountain almost twenty years ago, and then Closer, and we both were in the Wong Kar-Wai film My Blueberry Nights, [but] we didn’t have scenes together. So I’ve known him over the course of like, twenty years. We’ve never been like buddies or hanging out or anything, but I’ve worked with him and so it was lucky going into this that we had a history and comfort level to play off of, so like day one, I already felt at ease.

On performing songs written by Sia: It was incredible when I received the script to have the Sia songs with it, I remember getting an email with these attachments of the songs, and she sings them herself on the demos so of course they’re just gorgeous. Beautiful, beautiful songs, really great pop songs so I knew that it was realistic, because if you read a script and it says “and then she writes a hit pop song” and you don’t see the song, you’re like: okay good luck getting that. But it was clear from the beginning that it had this incredible music. And then getting to record it was really fun, because I got to work with [longtime Sia collaborator] Chris [Briade] who’s incredible and just the loveliest person. To see what they can do, they’re the real artists, they can do so much magic to make things sound like what we’re used to hearing.

On how she prepped for the lengthy song and dance performance finalé: Physically it was a lot of preparation, I worked with [movement coach] Raquel [Horsford], I worked with my husband on the choreography, across like a month. I actually prepped the film twice, because the night before, I think I was on my way to the airport, the first time, and they were like, “Turn home, the financing has come apart”. The movie was cancelled and I had prepped everything. When everything got pulled back together again it was a few months later, even though of course it was relatively recent in my memory, I had to kind of start over. So that was kind of nice because it gave me a longer time to prep, and a longer time to sit in my head and my body and all that.

So physically, it was dance training, physical training to have this endurance, and then emotionally I kept asking Brady if I should be kind of ‘off’. She’s had this massive breakdown, she’s had this drug experience, and he was like, “No, she’s out of it but she’s a professional, and she’s done this a million times…”.

She can handle it to the point where the audience isn’t aware that she had a drug-fuelled meltdown minutes earlier. So that was really informative in terms of the headspace, that she can kind of enter a space and leave everything behind her. Which is an interesting key to the character too because there’s a certain kind of erasure that I think must have to happen.

‘Vox Lux’ is in US theaters now.

[lminfo]

5th July 2018

IN REVIEW #6 JUNE | Coming of A..liens?

HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES (2018) Directed by John Cameron Mitchell

One of the most polarising indies of the year, I went into How to Talk to Girls at Parties thinking I wasn’t going to like it but instead found it to be absolutely and utterly charming. It’s a thoroughly weird and over-the-top coming of age tale with the comic energy of a 90′s John Waters flick and the heart of a Gregg Araki film. Elle Fanning gracefully plays a alien in love who wants to learn the ways of punk, and Nicole Kidman has the most fun she’s had in years playing the alpha punk leader. This film is very corny but if you’re willing to accept it for what it is it is very fun and greatly endearing. It isn’t the incredible romantic coming of age film that many people hoped it would be but it definitely doesn’t deserve to be shelved, so don’t miss out completely if it initially interested you.

★★★★

UNSANE (2018) Directed by Steven Soderbergh

I didn’t have a lot of interest in seeing Unsane but I’m glad I did. Soderbergh’s follow up to last year’s Logan Lucky is a psychological thriller shot on an iPhone starring the queen of England herself Claire Foy, and it’s great. The movie has an eerie tone to it, equally intriguing and unnerving. Watching the film you’re filled with a lot of moments of doubt and mystery, and as the movie unfolds it is extremely satisfying to say the least.

★★★★

FLOWER (2018) Directed by Max Winkler

Sigh, it was hard to not shut this off. My boyfriend gave up halfway through but I insisted to keep watching “just in case it gets better!”. Zoe Deutch is very good, it’s just a shame her role is so obviously written by straight white men that it becomes quite gross to stomach it. The film isn’t bad on a technical level, it’s actually quite pretty and I like the music, but it’s the writing that does it for me. Eugh, it's just a gross movie. Next time you want to make a film about a confident and outspoken sexually charged teenage girl please get a woman to write it, I’m begging you. Zoe Deutch deserves better!

★★

ALEX STRANGELOVE (2018) Directed by Craig Johnson

I know it’s a controversial opinion, but I didn’t like Love, Simon very much - perhaps I was let down by my high expectations, or perhaps the movie just isn’t really for me - it was just too safe and plain for me to fully get into. Alex Strangelove however ticks most of the boxes I hoped Love, Simon would. It’s less of a medicore attempt at making a queer story mainstream and it feels more authentic and true to personal experiences than. There are a few moments where the film suffers from being a bit of a tonal mess, and at times the jokes don’t land at all, but for the most part I found it to be a very compelling [gay] rom-com.

★★★½

YOUR NAME (2016)

Directed by Makoto Shinkai

This film! Oh man! I hope I never see a body swap plot ever again because it has reached it’s full potential. Disney is cancelled by the way.

★★★★★

EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960) Directed by Georges Franju

The first movie I watched from Georges Franju is also the first movie to leave me feeling grateful for having a face. It’s a piece of psychological terror that honestly feels so fresh over 60 years later which only proves how timeless this film is. It’s a grand, sometimes funny piece of horror that I only grow more and more fond of whenever it crosses my mind. It’s a definitive classic and it’s already one of my favourites in the genre.

★★★★★

BRANDED TO KILL (1967) Directed by Seijun Suzuki

Another bizarre, visual feast from Seijun Suzuki. I was extremely captivated by this film, despite it clearly lacking a cohesive narrative and script. It all surprisingly works really well, mostly due to Suzuki’s killer direction and visual eye. It’s an utterly original and unpredictable romp with ridiculous action sequences, amazing visuals all round and a chipmunk-cheek Joe Shishido being sexually attracted to rice. 

★★★★

A WOMAN IS A WOMAN (1961)

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

It’s hard to critically analyse how I feel about this film. I mean, Godard is a genius, yes, and what he did here only helped build his legacy. But for some reason this film left feeling a bit ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  (Shrug emoji is there for me when I’m stuck for words). I liked it for the most part but come on tell me it’s not just Breathless lite.

★★★

OCEAN’S 8 (2018)

Directed by Gary Ross

I never know whether or not I am going to enjoy big Hollywood movies or not, so as a broke student I use a mental checklist to narrow down whether or not I want to see one in a theatre. First is if the director interests me, if not I will look at the cast. In this case, the cast sold me on a ticket. Cate Blanchett? Rihanna? Sarah Paulson? Anne Hathaway? This movie has to be good right? Yes, actually. As a friend said to me prior to seeing it, “you get your money’s worth”, and he’s absolutely right. I got to see Rihanna smoking a blunt, Sarah Paulson and Anne Hathaway using their comedy skills and Cate Blanchett speaking in her normal accent. The cheesy transition effects really annoyed me but apparently they’re a part of the Ocean’s franchise so you know, I can’t complain. Ocean’s 8 really is a fun film, even if it falls a bit flat at times.

★★★½

FANTASTIC PLANET (1973) Directed by René Laloux

Disney should have been cancelled in 1973 actually, because this weird surreal alien nightmare is one of the most creative and interesting animated films I’ve seen. My only complaint is that certain elements of the story were kind of abandoned and put aside for another story - which you know, wasn’t necessarily bad, I was just very invested in the first story! Either way, it is a fascinating and beautiful film that I can’t wait to rewatch when my criterion copy arrives in the mail.

★★★★