#i recently watched oldboy and

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

i just watched Stoker by park chanwook i'm completely in awe with his cinematography, lady vengeance and decision to leave just went straight up my watch list holy shit. have you seen it?

If I remember correctly, I must have seen Lady Vengeance and Decision to Leave this year. I think I watched half of his filmography by now. You should try The Handmaiden too and recently, he also created and directed a few episodes of The Sympathizer.

I don't think there was any film of his that I didn't like and he has his own style and it's interesting to see how it evolves through the stories he chooses to tell. Nevertheless, if I had to choose, I'd pick his earlier filmography. Maybe because like many, my first contact was through Oldboy which is still a masterpiece until this day.

[isabelleadjani]

hi hiiiiii 💗 1, 2, 9, 16, 19, 31, 38, 39, and 42! 🫶🏼

omg hiiiiiiiiiii thank you for so many questionssss 🤭💖 i already answered 1 but the rest are coming riiiight now

what movie do you wish you could unwatch? honestly i wanna say nymphomaniac. there are a lot of films i dislike or even hate and deeply wish to never have to watch again but i think nymphomaniac stands out as the one that if i could only choose a singular film to erase from my memory it would be that one. like it's just so deeply fucking stupid and disgusting on many levels but more than that. it's so unbearably long that it's just an INSANE amount of time wasted on one film (well, one film in two parts or whatever). i neeeeeeeed to fist fight lars von trier so bad.

guilty pleasure movie? i don't believe in guilty pleasures as a concept really but i think maybe the closest i get is reservoir dogs. because i have such a deep disdain for tarantino as a person and as a filmmaker but i just can't ever shake the comfort movie-relationship i have with that film. tim roth as freddy newendyke made me who i am it just is what it is.

favorite book to film adaptation? i'm tempted to say both farewell my concubine and the handmaiden which are both adaptations of novels but since i have yet to read either of those books (they ARE on my tbr 😭) i'm going to say park chan wook's thirst! which is a loose adaptation of émile zola's thérèse raquin... it might be debatable whether it really counts as an adaptation but it counts TO ME.

name a movie so bad it’s good i don't think i'm really the kind of person who has this feeling about films often, mostly i sometimes think that movies can be fun to watch with other people if you can like comment and make jokes while you watch. like recently i watched deVour with jensen ackles and shannyn sossamon with my bestie and that was so fucking messy and horrible but i would still recommend it for a group watch because we had so much fun watching it as a social activity. do you remember the first movie you saw in theaters? well honestly idk if it was actually the first one i saw, but the first film i do remember seeing in the cinema was stuart little 2 jfgbdskjgb which i went to see with my mom and my sisters literally the day after my grandma died when i was 5, which was an unfortunate coincidence but we already had the tickets and my mom didn't wanna waste the money.

in your opinion what is the most overrated movie? oh MANY such cases.... let's go with uhhhhhh. call me by your name because i have to hear about that film SO fucking often and i am TIRED OF ITTTTTTTTT. god i hate that piece of shit film.

in your opinion what is the most underrated movie? once again there are so many one could pick here but i would like to highlight lady vengeance actually. because like, i'm a huge fan of most of park chan wook's work and it's not that i think that people don't appreciate lady vengeance. that's be a bit silly because pcw is such a popular and celebrated filmmaker on the whole. it's just that it does NOT get the attention it deserves within pcw's oeuvre and is always overshadowed by oldboy when people talk about the vengeance trilogy, when in fact it is easily the superior film in that trilogy, and in my opinion in the absolute top tier of his films to date.

show me a pic of your favorite movie poster alright in the interest of talking about a movie i haven't already gone on about in this post, i am going to pick the poster for in the mood for love! i have a lot of posters that i am a bit obsessed with and could choose from, but i definitely don't have one single fave. this is, however, one of them. so butch/femme realness tbh.

movie asks 🎥

[cosmichorrorsarestillnicerthanme]

Excuse me, but if you don't mind me asking, why have you been writing so many fight scenes recently? I am not complaining at all as I greatly enjoy how well they flow and descriptive they are but I am curious about this streak. (P.S. I loved the Oldboy reference in Yukong's part of the "Professional Street Fighter S/O" you wrote, I also wonder if you've ever seen other iconic action scenes from Movies like The Raid)

I don't mind at all Anon, and I am glad you enjoyed!

As for my reason for writing so many fight scenes recently, its because I've always been a big fan of martial arts but only really recently did I get an ask involving them that I felt actually could be used as a fighter and not a body builder (I've already gone into a rant on the subject in this post) and that kinda undid all the ideas that I was holding back for my writing.

As for the action movie scenes, I grew up on Old Boxing Matches, Action Movies and Fighting Games which is why I love them all so much. With my all time favorite being The Forbidden Kingdom which was my first real exposure to Wuxia and kinda served as my bridge into the world of anime. Is it a bit campy? Yes. Is the plot a tad messy? Yes. Do I love it to pieces? Also yes.

Now for if I've watched The Raid? No, but I have seen some of the scenes from both the original and the sequel The Raid 2 which have definitely piqued my interest in them and I intend to watch them one of these days.

[davidmariottecomics]

Week 86 - 8/28/23 - A BLUE BEETLE MOVIE???

Hi there, 

It probably isn't news as it's a pretty popular film in theaters right now, but there's a Blue Beetle movie out! And it's a lot of fun! 

If you didn't know, Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, is my favorite superhero. There's a pretty good joke in the new movie about the difference between Ted and Batman, and not to step on the punchline, but it boils down to Ted knows how to laugh. He's a character frequently written to have a sense of humor, to know a good joke, and to be the dramatic superheroic straightman when it counts. He is not exactly an everyman--he's a genius, he dresses up in a silly costume, and he's rich--but in a lot of ways, he's just a guy trying to do the right thing because he can. 

And he casts a long shadow over the new movie, which is about Jaime Reyes--fantastically played by the dreamy Xolo Maridueña--who I don't love quite as much as Ted, but who I think is himself a great and important character. He's a very different hero. He's got a sense of humor, he's got a good heart, but his relationship with his family, with his friends, with the scarab, and with the Blue Beetle legacy allows him to be something totally apart from Ted. The movie takes a lot of liberties--it's part Spider-Man, part Ant-Man, part Green Lantern (though... honestly probably better than the past few recent film adaptations of those characters)--but it doesn't run from the truth of who Jaime is as a character, which I think makes it all the better. The best superhero movie projects don't try to be just an adaptation, but to take what makes the hero great, understand it, and share it in a way that makes them more accessible and loom larger as a hero. 

I don't want to spoil anything, but there was one extremely stupid part that made me tear up (out of just finally getting to see a thing on-screen and knowing there's some practical version of it out there and honestly, a little bit jealousy). If you see me, or want to reach out and ask about it, I'll gladly tell you. 

But there's a Blue Beetle movie. And even though I saw it and really quite liked it... I kinda still can't believe it. 

Next week: No blog on the website/newsletter! There is a Patreon post scheduled if you need your fix, going out to all backers at $5 or more a month! But I'm outta town and will see you when I return. 

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Craig of the Creek (Cartoon), Honkai Star Rail (Video game), My Adventures with Superman (Cartoon), The Broken Room by Peter Clines (Book), Dumbing of Age (Webcomic), Solve This Murder (Podcast), The Venture Bros: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (Movie--which my pal Phil Murphy worked on!), Kaiju No. 8 (Manga), Kaguya-Sama: Love is War (Manga), Blue Beetle (Movie--duh), Oldboy (Movie), Witch Watch (Manga), Becca playing a little more Persona 5, Tangled (Movie), Jurassic Park (Movie), D.E.B.S. (Movie) 

New Releases this week (8/23/2023): Godzilla Monsters & Protectors: All Hail the King TPB (Editor--on the latter half)

Final Order Cut-Off next week (8/28/2023--last day to get your preorders in): Sonic the Hedgehog #65

New Releases next week (8/30/2023): Godzilla Rivals: Vs. SpaceGodzilla (Supervising Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog: Endless Summer (A very silly credit) Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island TPB (Editor) 

Announcements: Becca is at Cartoon-a Palooza in Temecula on 9/15 & 9/16. It's a cool free all-ages little con, so come on out and see them!

Wanna support me? Consider joining my Patreon! I've got a bunch of cool stuff coming up and already on there. As well as some silly stuff like a tour of my desk, so you can see where the comics magic happens! I've got a bunch of stuff scheduled for September already and there'll always be more! 

I have a webstore! It does look like I'm going to get a small supplement to my Beast Wars Vol. 3 stock, which is nice, but most everything else, I am not going to have more of anytime soon! Maybe give it a look! 

I've still got a few things on my eBay, if you're looking for stuff! But obviously, anything that would get shipped out won't until I'm back!  Pic of the Week: It was National Cinema Day yesterday, which is why Becca and I went to Blue Beetle ($4 tickets to the movies!). But they had to work, so I went and saw a second film, the 20th anniversary screening of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy. And the theater that was showing Oldboy had a special Cinema Day deal on the Blue Beetle backback popcorn bucket, so I did pick it up because that with a popcorn and a drink was still significantly cheaper than the bucket usually is by itself. So here's a photo of Becca modeling it. 

[besarelcielo]

do you have any movie recs?

thank u for asking this im sooo thrilled to answer! though whenever im asked questions like this i literally forget everything i have ever consumed hahaha. i just watched kamikaze girls and i loved it i know im like 20 years late as a tumblrina but it’s so cute and campy and cheesy in a very endearing way. suspiria (1977) is one of my favorites, oldboy (2003)..fantastic planet and belladonna of sadness are 2 animated ones i love. moonlight is also one of my favorites, so if u haven’t seen that definitely watch it. im realizing how much a tumblr ho i am after thinking about my favorites lmaoo but i wish i could remember more films i have watched >_< honestly the most recent film i watched and loved was my friend’s short film that isn’t released anywhere yet -_- i need to watch more films cause lately ive just been watching queer dating shows which is fun but it doesn’t inspire my creative brain at all. i just checked out gregg araki mysterious skin from the library as well as cremaster 3. i feel like im gonna like those so i want to recommend those even though i haven’t watched yet :)

[doubleaspectrum]

Oldboy Hallway Fight Analysis

So, I recently watch Oldboy. The 2003 version, not the remake. Seriously, why do people even make those anyways? Remakes only make sense if the original creation sucks and you’re giving things another try to fix it. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Right? Well, OLDBOY AIN’T BROKE!

Sorry about the tangent, I just really don’t get why media outlets keep trying to improve on something that already worked. Most of the times they make things worse. Heck, if anyone can find an example that improved on a success, let me know.

Okay, I’m done this time. So, the reason I was pointed to Oldboy is because my eldest sibling showed me the famous hallway fight scene. At the time, I didn’t see how it ended, they stopped at the first moment Dae-su is knocked down and the gangsters start to crowd him.

So, of course, I figured the obvious answer, no matter how skilled Dae-su could be he’d lose the fight. Skill doesn’t account for much if you’re overwhelmed. Imagine my surprise when I was told that he wins. My jaw dropped. How could he win with those odds?! Only someone like John Wick could win and even then, he’d being using a gun! Well, when I saw the scene itself in its full glory I understood why, and my goodness I loved it!

Now, to go with the beginning parts I saw, they were good, but they were also rather par for the course when it comes to action movies.

There’s a degree of martial arts with Dae-su dancing his way into the crowd.

There’s a part where he fights pragmatically by taking a human shield.

And when he first gets crowded, he gets right back up and starts charging the crowd.

And while this is great, I’m sad to say this isn’t unique. Any other action movie character can do this. There’s no shortage of martial arts films, and we’ve seen heroes like John McClane and John Wick (there’s no shortage of Johns either) tank plenty of hits and manage to keep walking on both feet before the movie ends. So, what is it that makes Oldboy so unique? Don’t worry, I’m getting there.

The first part that really impressed me was Dae-su getting knocked down the second time. You know what he does?

He slams his hammer into his opponents’ feet!

Now this is a stroke of genius! From what I’ve seen of hydraulic press videos, everything likes to hold its shape before enough force makes the substance break in its weakest spot. This applies to the process of hammering a nail. Now, you may get those situations where the nail proves to be the weaker substance and you’ve got a bent nail, but ideally the wooden board is the weaker substance and it gives way when slammed. Now with these principles in mind, tell me what happens when a human foot is stuck between a swinging hammer and a concrete floor.

Now, if a hammer was hitting a floating limb, it would hurt but would go with the swing, but with the concrete floor as a brace, where does the force go but into the foot? It was at this point I realized that Daes-su wasn’t just fighting harder than a gang of thugs, he was outsmarting them!

On a slight side note, I have read a copy of Sun Tzu’s the Art of War, specifically without commentary. So, I remember the advice that you should know both the enemy and yourself to judge your capacity for victory. So, when I say that Dae-su was outsmarting his opponents, I made sure to judge their intelligence accordingly.

The next key part of the fight is that Dae-su gets stabbed in the back and collapses.

This lulls his opponents into a false sense of security, and they start to wonder if he’s dead. One important thing to mention, they don’t take the knife out. Now, if you have basic medical knowledge (or in my case, have read the Worst Aid page on TV Tropes) then you’ll know that what kills someone isn’t putting the knife into the body, it’s the blood loss when the knife is removed. So, when the thugs start wondering if they’ve killed a guy without removing the knife, you can assess how smart they are.

This actually plays into the greatest part of my analysis. You see, Dae-su takes everyone by surprise when he gets up and keeps fighting; from there the atmosphere changes. Suddenly, the gang doesn’t rush him all at once anymore.

They keep their distance, they back away more often, and push each other.

All around, they don’t want to get close to him. And that’s when I understand, none of them are particularly smart so as far as they can tell, some guy they just killed has come back to life and is still kicking their asses! To put it simply, they’re scared. And that makes all the difference. Suddenly this isn’t a simple fight anymore, Dae-su has engaged several opponents at once in psychological warfare, and he’s winning.

Thus, my question was answered. How did Dae-su win the fight? He wasn’t just a juggernaut or a martial artist like any other action hero; he won through tactical genius. He turned unfavorable situations into brutal counterattacks, he used his enemy’s lack of intelligence to catch them off guard, and most of all, he terrified the crap out of an entire group. Normally, we’d be worried about how much sense a fight scene can make, but when I saw this fight, it clicked together and I loved it all the more.

[watchmorecinema]

I've seen people complain that there's no good art being made anymore and everything is just bland. I believe it comes down to two reasons:

The mainstream is fairly bland (arguably not more than usual)

It is really hard to find the unique, interesting stuff if you aren't looking for it.

Like yeah it's easy to get burnt out by superhero fatigue but there's over a century of cinema from around the world to explore. Branching out can be hard but I think if you go in with an open mind you'll find a lot of great films. And it's not too hard to ease into it.

Popular films from the past are easy to get into, while still being different. They aren't making action films like Robocop anymore, where the whole thing is a dark satire of corporatism. Lots of franchises that are still running got started in the 70's and 80's and the original film(s) usually still hold up!

Going back further, silent comedies are timeless. If you've ever loved Mr. Bean then you're going to have a great time with Safety Last or Modern Times. Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were doing looney tunes level stuff before looney tunes even existed.

Going foreign means you can experience new cultural perspectives. Korean thrillers like Oldboy are made differently than American ones. Kurosawa made samurai films but the adaptions were made into wild west films.

There are just so many kinds of films, but the assumption is that movies are either mainstream or arthouse shit for pretentious weirdos. It's a bad assumption and it's holding a lot of people back from watching a lot of really great films.

Exploring cinema absolutely means you'll find a lot of films you hate. They don't appeal to you, they're poorly made, the cultural dissonance is too much, whatever. But it also means finding new kinds of films that you might really love.

There's over a century of cinema from around the world. What's the likelihood that the only movies you'd ever like are recent ones from your home country?

[fleshadept]

sorry if you've been asked this before but i'm curious: when and how did you get into film? i've followed you for some time and you mention being in film school, did you always know you wanted to study film? what/who inspired you? how close are you to graduating? i hope these questions are okay and not intrusive!

i only got into film pretty recently actually!! for the longest time i thought i didn't like movies. i went to uni to major in film primarily to take editing courses because what i wanted more than anything was to be an editor for any of the youtubers whose stuff i liked (which tbf would still be a lot of fun). i dabbled in making videos myself for a while, then kinda fell off.

i had a moment in 2020 when i sort of realized what film could be for the first time and watched a lot of great ones: oldboy (2003), fight club (1999), pride (2014), 13th (2016), portrait of a lady on fire (2019), parasite (2019), us (2019), really 2019 was a fucking great year for movies tbh. and i kind of realized that the reason i had said i didn't like movies was because 98% of what i watched was marvel/family movies and i didn't really look for anything else.

but i never REALLY got into the whole analysis thing or fell in love with film until i watched boy (2010) in april of last year. my letterboxd diary before and after that movie is crazy. something snapped in my brain idk. before that i couldn't really sit through movies very often but after that i just couldn't get enough of it and wanted to see everything movies could do because boy hit so hard and was so, so gorgeous. so i did a deep dive into taika waititi's work (i had seen thor and jojo rabbit and what we do in the shadows before but never really cared who made them) and just went a little bit insane. and started watching every other movie i had even wanted to watch a little bit

and it's funny, because looking back at my letterboxd after this, i realized the moment back in 2020 where i started watching more films for a little bit was kicked off by jojo rabbit. so something about this guy's work was just so effective for me, even when i didn't know who he was, and part of what got me so interested in film was trying to figure out why the hell that was and how he did it. and in the process of that i discovered a love for so many other things i didn't realize i had--filmmaking as well as analysis, production as well as postproduction, even writing! i love it all. but taika's work will always have a solid place in my heart because of that.

[wndaswife]

A little embarrassing but you're the reason I got into Elizabeth Olsen Lol. I was literally just scrolling on my tumblr sometime last year and came across one of your wanda fics and ended up reading them all 😭 I am not into marvel at all and I don't like those movies but I have been recently watching some of her other films (Martha one, wind river and will probably force myself to sit through the american remake of oldboy for her too) and I wanted to ask if you have a favourite film of hers so I can watch it. also thank u for that Jane banner fic literally lifechanging.

that’s not embarrassing at all!!! that’s actually so cool :3

yeah lizzie is soooo talented i just feel so lucky to look up to her like she has so much range n her artistic vision is always so beautiful, her projects r always amazing

very good girls is comforting because i love gerri but i just watch it for her

martha marcy may marlene is probably my favourite from hers, in secret is fun to watch because the movie is beautiful, and tho she’s not a big big character in kodachrome that movie is also just incredible

xddd you’re so welcome im glad ur first experience was with daddy jane <3333 i hope u have been enjoying urself liking lizzie :DDDD it is fun here

[automatismascrive]

Non intitolerò questo post “Dall’Oriente con furore”: The Red Shoes e Incantation

Se qualcuno si prendesse la briga di scorrersi tutte le segnalazioni presenti fino ad ora sul blog, si accorgerebbe ben presto che c’è un medium specifico la cui assenza spicca particolarmente. Vorrei poter fornire a questo ipotetico lettore una spiegazione del tutto legittima di questa mancanza, tipo che la mia religione mi impone alcune costrizioni inaggirabili, ma la verità è molto più piana e soprattutto meno lusinghiera: guardo quasi solo film che hanno visto tutti. Il cinema è sicuramente la forma d’arte mainstream con cui ho meno dimestichezza, se non altro perché è quella in cui sono stata meno immersa sia nella mia infanzia che nella mia adolescenza; so pochissimo di regia, composizione cinematografica e recitazione e quando decido di guardare qualcosa finisco sempre a recuperare un grande classico piuttosto che una produzione sconosciuta girata con due euro e tanta voglia di innovare che potrebbe meritare un posto su questo blog. In questo triste appiattimento dei miei gusti cinematografici verso quello che mi propinano le liste top 50 movies of all time o, più raramente, il cinema della mia città, spicca però una lodevole eccezione nata ai tempi delle superiori: il cinema coreano.

Per nessun’altra ragione al mondo se non quella di aver visto Save the Green Planet! ad un’età formativa e aver immediatamente dopo sturato i miei dotti lacrimali a dovere con Mr. Vendetta, in questi anni ho visto un bel po’ di quello che il cinema coreano degli ultimi due decenni aveva da offrire – rimanendo piuttosto impressionata. Mi pareva dunque interessante dedicare un articolo a tutte quelle persone che si sono viste Parasite quando ha vinto l’Oscar, hanno recuperato Oldboy e Pietà sull’onda dell’entusiasmo e ora vorrebbero qualche consiglio che non si possa trovare semplicemente cercando 10 korean movies you should be watching right now (sì, consulto spesso le liste sull’internet, fight me), ma l’impresa è riuscita solo a metà: per quanto uno dei due film della segnalazione di oggi sia davvero coreano, il secondo è diretto da Kevin Ko, regista taiwanese che ha collaborato addirittura con Netflix per la distribuzione della pellicola. Perché cambiare piani all’ultimo minuto? Be’, uno, perché Man in High Heels si è rivelato una delusione, e due, perché The Red Shoes e Incantation hanno qualcosa in comune che li rende perfetti per condividere lo stesso spazio sul blog: sono entrambi horror paranormali che si focalizzano sul rapporto tra una madre single e una figlia a cui, per non essere troppo specifici, succedono cose. Cose sovrannaturali, terrificanti e a dirla tutta anche un po’ schifose.

The Red Shoes

Questo poster sta gridando con tutte le sue forze “sono un mediocre horror orientale dei primi anni duemila”, ma voi non credetegli.

Il primo dei due film che si sono meritati uno spazio sul blog è il meno recente – uscito nelle sale coreane nel 2005 – e anche il meno conosciuto dei due. Anche se dovrebbe prendere ispirazione dalla famosa fiaba di Andersen Le scarpette rosse, in pratica condivide con la fiaba giusto l’ispirazione per l’oggetto al centro della trama: un bel paio di scarpe che la protagonista del film, Sun-jae, trova abbandonate in un vagone della metropolitana in un periodo della sua vita particolarmente difficile; ha appena divorziato dal marito, colto in flagrante mentre la tradiva, e si è ritrovata a dover prendere in affitto un orribile appartamentino a basso costo per rientrare nelle spese che devono affrontare lei e la figlia, Tae-su, appassionata di danza classica. Il fortunato ritrovamento sembra davvero l’unica cosa ad andare per il verso giusto negli ultimi mesi – tranne forse l’interesse che In-cheol, designer giovane e carino, dimostra nei confronti di Sun-jae – ma forse proprio per questo anche Tae-su s’invaghisce subito di quel bel paio di scarpe, provocando una serie di incidenti che ben presto mettono Sun-jae in allarme… Da dove vengono quelle scarpe, ed è stato un caso che siano finite proprio nelle sue mani?

Indubbiamente la prima cosa che colpisce di The Red Shoes è l’utilizzo brillante che il regista fa dei colori: come i più perspicaci di voi avranno avuto modo di notare, infatti, le scarpe al centro della storia non sono affatto rosse, bensì di un rosa acceso un filo pacchiano; è rossa però la traccia di sangue che queste scarpe si tirano dietro, una scia di piedi mozzati, cascate sanguinolente e ossa tranciate che pur non essendo particolarmente esplicita per gli standard degli horror di questi decenni è assai ben girata e permette a tutte le scene che dovrebbero suscitare tensione di raggiungere perfettamente lo scopo prefissatesi. Più in generale, si tratta di un film dai toni spenti e grigi, che pur essendo sempre ben leggibile anche nelle scene più buie ha come unico elemento di forte contrasto proprio tutte quelle scene in cui è il sangue a farla da padrone – assieme naturalmente alle scarpe, che accendono tutte le inquadrature in cui sono presenti e catturano l’occhio dello spettatore, esattamente come succede a tutti i personaggi che vi entrano in contatto.

Infatti il canovaccio che segue il film è piuttosto solido ma relativamente convenzionale, almeno fino a tre quarti del film: un oggetto su cui grava un qualche tipo di maledizione viene acquisito da un’ignara protagonista causando danni a non finire a causa della spirale di ossessione in cui precipitano tutti coloro che vi posano gli occhi sopra; è infatti nelle scelte di sceneggiatura e di regia un po’ più peculiari che The Red Shoes riesce a ritagliarsi uno spazio in un genere già piuttosto ricco nel suo anno di uscita, che oggi è tragicamente saturo. In primo luogo, la scelta di una protagonista femminile che ha un rapporto ben lontano dalla zuccherosa perfezione di cui certi film ammantano la relazione madre-figlia e che in un horror del 2005 era quantomeno inusuale (lo stupendo The Babadook è del 2014, per intenderci); Tae-su è pestifera e seccante, come ci si aspetterebbe da una bambina che vive una situazione famigliare complessa, mentre Sun-jae è tesa, irritabile e sotto l’influsso delle scarpe diventa sempre meno paziente nei confronti della figlia. Per quanto si tratti un film che non è capace di scavare a fondo nella relazione familiare disfunzionale come è stato in grado di fare il sopracitato film di Kent, rimane comunque abbastanza abile da mettere in scena una protagonista con cui è facile empatizzare e per cui ci viene naturale fare il tifo, pur rendendo fin da subito chiaro quanto complessa e sfaccettata sia la realtà della sua situazione – e quando alla fine del film abbiamo il quadro completo della situazione, nulla di ciò che accade è inaspettato o costruito dal nulla: riguardandolo per la recensione mi sono divertita a notare tutti i piccoli pezzi del puzzle che possono condurre alla conclusione naturale del film prima che si arrivi ad essa. Anzi, forse un rimprovero che si può muovere al film è proprio quello di essere un po’ troppo didascalico; sarà che l’ho visto di recente ricordandomi molto bene il finale, ma mi è sembrato che in certi punti il film calcasse un po’ troppo la mano sugli indizi che possono portare lo spettatore a svelare l’intreccio prima della fine.

Tae-su, interpretata da un’attrice piuttosto abile per la sua giovane età.

Insomma, pur essendo un film assai godibile, specialmente per gli appassionati del genere, The Red Shoes ha qualche limite: pochissimo interesse per la sottigliezza (… quando i personaggi afferrano le scarpe parte una melodia inquietante di poche note), qualche nodo logico e spazio-temporale poco credibile per permettere inquadrature e scene più d’impatto – come nel caso di quelle girate in metropolitana – e in generale il poco interesse ad innovare, specialmente sul lato del sovrannaturale. Complici anche gli anni che si porta sulle spalle che hanno visto fiorire ogni sorta di paranormal horror con approccio molto simile, difficilmente quello che si vede in scena sorprenderà, sia per livello di brutalità che raggiunge sia per concept innovativi: rimane in ogni caso un buon film che è un ottimo modo per iniziare a guardare produzioni coreane un po’ diverse da quelle dei soliti noti.

Incantation

Rassicurante. Fun fact, il regista si è ispirato sia ad alcune correnti buddiste sia all’induismo per creare i simboli e gli oggetti associati al culto al centro del film.

Il dubbio che continuerà a perseguitarmi ben dopo la pubblicazione di questo post sarà: ma c’è bisogno che io scriva di Incantation? Wikipedia mi informa che è stato l’horror taiwanese con gli incassi più alti mai registrati, è stato distribuito da Netflix ed è tutt’ora disponibile sulla piattaforma… Eppure io l’ho visto per puro caso spulciando i consigli di una scrittrice che apprezzo, i400calci, il mio personale riferimento per il cinema soprannaturale e di menare (cit.), non l’ha recensito e in generale la stampa italiana non è rimasta particolarmente colpita da questo film che si è invece guadagnato immediatamente un posto tra i miei horror preferiti. Quindi, sempre per la legge per cui alla fine su questo benedetto blog scrivo un po’ di quello che mi capita sottomano, ho deciso che se anche fuori dalla mia bolla personale l’hanno visto tutti e parlandone faccio come l’utente che entra in un forum di videogame indie e spaccia Undertale per l’equivalente del libro dello scrittore polacco morto suicida, io ne voglio parlare lo stesso perché l’ho adorato.

E il fatto che io abbia adorato un film found footage, categoria di pellicole che in circostanze normali mi irrita terribilmente quando non mi induce direttamente il sonno, è già di per sé un ottimo termometro di quanto Incantation sia abile nel gestire questo formato e nell’utilizzarlo per aumentare ulteriormente la tensione in un film che fin dal minuto uno è già teso come una corda di violino: Li Ronan, una giovane donna di fronte ad una telecamera, implora chiunque stia vedendo il girato di recitare con lei una preghiera per salvare la figlia Dodo. Apprendiamo infatti che Ronan aveva in passato fatto qualcosa che la aveva convinta di essersi attirata addosso una maledizione dalle conseguenze nefaste per chi le stava intorno, costringendola a dare in adozione la figlia appena nata; dopo un percorso psichiatrico e la ferma sicurezza che le sue convinzioni erano dettate dalle esperienze traumatiche vissute in precedenza, decide di riprendere con sé la bambina iniziando un percorso di affidamento. Ma quello che sembrava essere solo un residuo della sua paranoia inizia a manifestarsi in maniera sempre più reale attorno a Dodo, portando Ronan a fare scelte sempre più disperate per salvare la figlia dalla condanna che sembra incombere su di lei – e svelando allo spettatore a poco a poco ciò che le è successo davvero sei anni prima, quando il suo cammino si è incrociato con quello di un bizzarro culto rurale dalle usanze stravaganti ma pericolose.

Anche la premessa di questo film è piuttosto convenzionale e non è difficile immaginare la piega che prenderà la vicenda: Ko è però abilissimo a suscitare curiosità circa l’incidente scatenante dell’intera storia e a dosare i flashback che ce lo raccontano con millimetrica precisione, alternandoli a scene che sono già da sole terribilmente inquietanti poiché scavano a piene mani in quel terrore che si prova nel non sentirsi al sicuro a casa propria, nel proprio stesso letto e soprattutto nel non avere un posto dove fuggire; la maledizione che insegue Ronan è pervasiva, letale e senza volto, esattamente come il culto in cui si è ritrovata invischiata prima di avere Dodo. Indubbiamente il livello di attenzione per i dettagli delle cerimonie, dei vestiti e delle sculture che sono al centro della misteriosa religione è l’altro grandissimo punto di forza dell’intera pellicola, che comprende benissimo quali sono le dinamiche davvero spaventose su cui vale la pena calcare la mano e si avvale quindi di un’estetica che rinforza l’atmosfera grottesca e oppressiva di cui si nutrono questo tipo di movimenti religiosi. Rituali intricati e violenti pur nella loro tetra sacralità, che in ultima istanza pretendono la totale sottomissione di tutti i loro adepti e sono famelici di nuovi proseliti; pur senza addentrarmi eccessivamente nelle vicende del film, che vale la pena di essere visto senza spoiler, è evidente che tutto, fino alla rivelazione finale che spazza via ogni dubbio sulla reale natura della maledizione, è orchestrato in maniera perfettamente coerente rispetto a ciò di cui il regista vuole parlare: lo schiacciante potere che conferiamo all’adorazione del divino che mastica, consuma e sputa intere vite solo per estendere il suo dominio sullo spirito umano.

Avrei potuto scegliere frame più interessanti, ma a) sono pigra e b) il programma che uso di solito per fare screenshot avuto qualche problema. Giuro che il film è bello da vedere.

Certo, per quanto Ko sia abile ad utilizzare il found footage per calcare la mano sulla natura ubiqua e pervasiva della disgrazia che segue la protagonista, si tratta di una modalità narrativa che per sua natura si presta più di altre a rompere la sospensione dell’incredulità (quante telecamere accese potranno mai esserci in queste situazioni al limite?); è anche vero che il ruolo del filmato è fondamentale per la rivelazione che ci verrà fornita sul finale, nonché essenziale per supportare il tema portante della narrazione, ed è dunque stata indubbiamente una scelta vincente e non un mero vezzo stilistico che molti registi contemporanei adottano giusto per riscaldare una vecchia minestra in un nuovo microonde. Ed è davvero l’unico appunto che mi sento di fare ad Incantation – tranne forse una mancanza di spazio data alla relazione tra Ronan e l’assistente sociale che verrà coinvolto nelle vicende, che porta ad una decisione un filo improbabile – poiché per il resto si tratta di un film capace di utilizzare elementi orrorifici per nulla rivoluzionari per raccontare una storia carica di tensione che lima lo spettatore fino ad arrivare ad un finale capace di mettere a nudo il cuore pulsante dell’orrore che la protagonista deve sfidare.

Anche questo consiglietto giunge al termine! Forse con un film un po’ più mainstream rispetto alle storie segnalate di solito sul blog, ma la verità è che ho visto Incantation a febbraio e ci sto ancora pensando, quindi ho dovuto esorcizzare il tarlo in qualche modo; confido comunque che almeno uno di questi due film abbia stuzzicato il vostro interesse, se non altro per la curiosità di conoscere il destino delle due protagoniste e delle loro rispettive figlie. 

[sharpth1ng]

Thank you for saying no I need restraint from bad decisions

I’m assuming you’re the questioning Serbian film anon, and lmoa no problem friend we all need limits sometimes.

Some slightly less fucked up (still research these out before you watch them to see if they contain anything that’s a no-go for you) movies I would actually recommend off the top of my head are Excision, American Mary, Oldboy, and the house that jack built. They vary in quality and fucked-upness but I actually got something out of watching them for some reason or another.

OMg also, kinda different type of rec but I watched Braid recently and it’s this wild, semi-surreal psychosexual murder (?) Game between three women and it’s so much fun I had a great time watching it (less disturbing for sure just a great movie I watched recently)

[torhues]

do you have any dramas or show recs? i’m currently watching the glory and how to get away with murder on netflix ^^

i do anon omg i do & i love talking ab dramas / movies !! here r some that ive watched recently and enjoyed :

the witch s1 and 2 — it's a good change of scenery if you've watched our beloved summer bc the same leads r here !!

little women — if you haven't watched this masterpiece yet, please do

somebody ( m18 ) — if you're a minor, please overlook this, and if you're not then I guess you'd like this since it's thriller + im ab to start this too ( please check the warnings since this might be a little graphic )

alchemy of souls s1 & 2 — if you're looking for some good old ( literally, bc this is historical drama ) fantasy romance plus angst, please watch this

midnight — wi ha jun strikes again !

the call — this will have you by the edge of your seat, esp if you're watching at night !! the plot is so intricately woven, my all times fav definitely ^^

i saw the devil — another one on my watchlist !

tale of two sisters — i won't say this like, mind-blowing or something, but it definitely is amazing. a good start for those who want to get into psych thrillers / need a break from extreme thrillers

memories of murder — just watch this.

the handmaiden ( nsfw, lgbtq ) — again, if you're a minor, please ignore. this is something that will bore you put and just when you'd think of dropping, it'll pull you back in. yes.

Oldboy — this deserved oscar

parasite — what are you doing if you haven't watched this?

[postmoderntongues]

Hey can you recommend any disturbing movies aside from the usual ones that appear on all the lists (Salo, Cannibal Holocaust, Serbian, Vomit gore)?

First off Serbian Films, Salo, Cannibal Holocaust, and Vomitgore have about an hour and ten minutes of interesting watchable footage between all of them and are overrated because fratboys can stand to consume their violent content when chocolate-coated in 90% of the film being sex scenes.

Im giving these recommendations under the assumption that they are both legal in your place of residence and that you are of age to view them. If you are a minor do not watch any of the following films:

Right now I would say 'Nothing Bad Can Happen" is the most disturbing horror movie I've ever watched, which dethroned "Eden Lake". "Last House On The Left" (the original) is a close 3rd place. Im also an evangelist for the glitchcore robotussinesque classic "Where The Dead Go To Die".

"Happiness" is not a horror in the traditional sense, and neither is "Requiem For A Dream" or "Pixote", substituting drooling hungry monsters for unflinching examinations of social issues that nobody wants to acknowledge. "Unicorn Wars" and "Birdboy The Forgotten Children" are fantastic and emotionally devastating examples of animated horror. Another animated film not billed as a horror movie but that hits all the beats devastatingly is "Grave Of The Fireflies" and also "Barefoot Gen". "Oldboy" is more of a thriller but its a cant-miss. "Human Centipede 3" is one of my favorite modern splatterpunks and you do not need to view the previous two in order to understand it. "Funny Games" is another must-see, Im of the minority that likes the American version because I had a big crush on Mike Pitt as a teenager.

For true crime inspired I'd suggest "Concrete", "Juvenile Crime", "The Girl Next Door", "Bully", "Boys Dont Cry", "An American Crime", and "Henry Portrait Of A Serial Killer". Again while not traditionally considered a horror film, "The Plague Dogs" is a must watch for horror lovers as is "Fat Girl". Girl Hell and Eraserhead are also good (Id recommend taking DXM or some other dissociative with psychedelic properties like K or dust to watch Eraserhead). "Antichrist" is pretty extreme, as is the French film "Martyrs" and the historical piece "Philosophy Of a Knife".

Some Troma Studios favorites are Toxic Avenger, American Nightmare, Dumpster Baby, Redneck Zombies, Honkey Holocaust, And Beware Children At Play.

Visitor Q and Audishon by Takahashi are worth watching but he tends to write with his erection and insert unnecessary scenes filling his incest and lactation fetishes.

"Tumbling doll of flesh" is a good gore flick as is "suicide club". "Victim" is weird and not gorey but was controversial. The short "Cutting Moments" is unforgettable.

Again not horror but the suffocating escalation of tension and catastrophic climactic blowout of both "do the right thing" and "when the wind blows" may appeal to you.

If you like horror that is a little more psychedelic, I cannot recommend "Pink Floyd's The Wall" highly enough.

If you are just looking for gore/special effects showcases I would recommend the series Guinea Pig, American Guinea Pig, August Underground, All Night Long, Amature Porn Star Killer, Angel Guts, Faces Of Death, Men Behind the sun, tokio gore police, or compilation series like MDPOPE, Orgrish Collection, How To Clear A Room In 90 minutes, Stars of TheYNC, fist pig, Gusomilk, Fetus Munchers, or SNuff r37. Due to recent legislation some popular compilations such as Amber Alert, Scream Bitch, and Suffer The Little Children are no longer legal to own or distribute in the united states so check the laws regarding both crime footage and obscenity in your area before viewing compilation collections.

For documentaries if you're really feeling saucy: Imposter, The Act Of Killing, Face On A Milk Carton, Paradise Lost (all 3), Just Melvin Just Evil, Swansea Love Story, Afghanistsn's Secret Shame, Rare: A Dead Person, Traces of Death, Child Of Rage, The Cove, Blackfish, The Bridge, The Barbie And Ken Murers, The Toybox Killing Audio, The Lesley Anne Dauty Audio, Children of Leningradski, Angels But Not Angels, Children underground, Jesus Camp, Afghanistan's Child Heroin Addicts, Black Metal Vains (although much is staged), Mondo Cannes, Invisible Children, The Jonestown Death Tapes, The audio collage "Buyers market" by Peter Sotos, And Who Killed Pixote are all real life examples of horror too horrific to feel true.

I would also recommend on a much lighter note small independent animators like Lee Hardcastle, Happy Tree Friends, Alfred's Playhouse, Jack Stauber, Dont Hug Me Im Scared, The Sad Man, Salad Fingers, The short animated films of Product, The Mandella Catalog, Whos Hungry, The Operator Series, or the work of Trent Shy just to name a few easily found on youtube.

Finally, if you're really nasty, I would recommend the following gore clips to anybody involved in the consumption of that stuff: Unknownrussiansoldiers.avi, Checlear, The Gurraro Flaying, Funkytown, The Russian lathe Incident, The Russian Daschcam Brick, 3 guys 1 hammer, Isis Human Slaughterhouse, Isis High Definition Headshot Montague, Killer Children of Isis, The Mexican Cartel Chainsaw Murders, Ghostrider, Porsche Girl, The Demigorgan Dive, Sponcered By Addidas, The Dagestan Massacre, The Morocco Backpacker Beheadings, The Body Cam footage of the first responders to the Travis The Chimp incident, and the Post-Arrest Interrogation Footage of Andrea Yates. These clips contain real footage of real death so please look them up at your descression. I will not be linking anybody to any of these clips of actual footage. They are perfectly legal for an adult to view and easily findable by googling the name of the clip on the surface web with no IPN or tor browser needed and I am violating no law or term of service by acknowledging their existance.

Other "famous clips" like Dafu Love, baby Burger, Green Ball, and the "extended cut" of Snuff r73 as well as "lost horror movies" like The Full Directors Cut of Last House On The Left or titles like "The Grifter" are urban legends perpetuated almost entirely by a single guy named Takedownman who was a predecessor to channels such as DisturbedReality, ColdravensNest, and PlaguedMoth without the proof of sources. The only confirmed footage to have been "exposed" by takedownman was a mostly inaccurate description of Daisy's Destruction that painted it as a snuff film (The little girl known as Daisy is alive and well, healthy, and cared for by loving adoptive guardians. She is receiving extensive trauma therapy. Due to injuries sustained during her abuse, she is infertile but otherwise in good health. Her abuser will never see the outside of a jail cell).

I would advise, for moral reasons, against looking up suicide footage like the death of Ronnie Mcnutt whose family has clearly and politely asked for their loved ones death to stop being circulated or aftermath footage of the 9/11 jumpers but also I'm not your mom or your priest and you owe me no display of morality.

Im more well-versed in transgressive/splatterpunk literature than in films Im a pretty normie edgelord with cinema but I'm in the Mariana Trench with books.

[extinctiondebt]

haii id like a number three, a number twenty one and a number thirty four from the ask game please!

3 films I could watch and never get bored of?

goodfellas (funny), char’s counterattack (I’ve watched it four times already and it’s only been a few months since I saw it), oldboy (awesome). I’m a very simple woman. im honestly not much of a movie nerd anymore idk, I like to watch new stuff that ppl recommend a lot no matter how bad it is. i watched repo: a genetic opera recently. that was. something

are you a spiritual person?

i honestly don’t know. i think I’m becoming one? suddenly, there’s a sigil on my wall. suddenly, i pray sometimes. i didn’t consider myself spiritual for a long long time but was mostly just deeply paranoid and esoteric, and not in. idk. a marketable way. and idk I thought it was logical to think ppl can read my thoughts, to think everyone else is speaking to eachother in their heads, to think things rot faster around me, to see signs and synchronicities everywhere. I’d try to explain it with poorly thought out metaphysics. i don’t really understand myself. id like to own it but it honestly bothers me. i think, though, im becoming….

any pet peeves?

people who only respond to the last sentence of a paragraph long text. people who don’t ask me how I’ve been doing at all and don’t seem interested in my existence in general but expect me to be their friend. so, I guess I don’t like people a lot of the time lmao.

[madsmilfelsen]

Have you seen the film Oldboy by any chance?! I watched it recently and I immediately was like user madsmilfelsen would write porn abt this

the Korean film Oldboy (2003)? I have not but poking around I saw a reddit thread tilted “Oldboy (2003): An Analysis in Foreshadowing” so I was already intrigued before I read there’s incest in it

[yessadirichards]

Catering to the food movie, 'The Taste of Things' serves up a mouthwatering feast

NEW YORK

Think of food and movies and your mind could quickly whip up a five-course meal. Maybe a few hard-boiled eggs, to start, from “Cool Hand Luke.” A side order of toast from “Five Easy Pieces,” followed by the soup from “Ratatouille.” A main course of octopus from “Oldboy.” And let’s wash all that down with a $5 shake from “Pulp Fiction.”

Since before Charlie Chaplin made bread rolls dance in “The Gold Rush,” cinema and cuisine have been as intertwined as the spaghetti of “The Lady and the Tramp.” But a real food movie — one that doesn’t just stop for noodles (“In the Mood for Love”) or take a trip to Katz’s (“When Harry Met Sally…”) — is a rarer delicacy.

Those movies that fully invest themselves in the making and consuming food are more all-your-eyes-can-eat buffets. Films like “Tampopo,” that wildly erotic ode to ramen; “Babette’s Feast,” with its sumptuous banquet; and “Eat Drink Man Woman,” Ang Lee’s nourishing family meal.

It’s a rich and savory tradition that gets a delicious new serving in Trần Anh Hùng’s “The Taste of Things.” If ever a film was a feast, it’s Hùng’s. The movie, starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel, opens with a glorious 40-minute scene set in a late 19th century French country kitchen where a meal is being prepared.

Butter is sizzling. Loins of veal are roasting. Fresh crayfish are peeled. A fish is gutted. Soup bubbles. Few words are said but the kitchen hums. Utensils clank. Merengue burns. Steam rises.

There’s no music but it’s a symphony. Eugénie (Binoche), the right-hand woman of top chef Dodin Bouffant (Magimel), works with quiet, assured mastery. It’s as riveting as any action-movie set piece.

“I told my crew: This is my car-chase scene,” says Hùng.

Hùng, the 61-year-old French-Vietnamese filmmaker, traces his love of cinema to his father, who would come home in South Vietnam with detailed descriptions of movies he had seen at the cinema, riveting Hùng. But his mother’s kitchen, he says, “gave me my first feeling of beauty.”

“The Taste of Things,” which opens in select theaters Friday, isn’t just about cooking. Like most movies about food, its appreciation of cuisine has as much to do with love and art as recipes and ingredients. Loosely inspired by Marcel Rouff’s classic 1924 novel “The Passionate Epicure,” “The Taste of Things" unfolds as a later-in-life love story, one with added poignance since Binoche and Magimel were, themselves, a couple 20 years earlier.

To Hùng, who recently spoke by phone during a trip to Vietnam (he lives in Paris), his mouthwatering opening scene, in all its sensory pleasures, is a paean to cinema.

“In musicals, it’s about harmony and the expression of love and pleasure,” says Hùng. “All of this was inside of me and I wanted to express it in this first scene in the kitchen where people move a lot. The level of gesture is enormous. How they move combined with complex camera movement, that came from musicals for me.”

France selected “The Taste of Things” as the country’s Oscar submission over the much-celebrated “Anatomy of a Fall." At last year’s Cannes Film Festival, it won best director for Hùng.

Hùng’s 1993 Oscar-nominated breakthrough “The Scent of Green Papaya” was likewise lush in atmosphere and sensuality. But while he admires some of the classic food movies — “Eat Drink Man Woman” especially — he doesn’t often feel they express what he wanted to accomplish with “The Taste of Things.”

“Today, I think films are really poor in cinema. Most of the time, it’s a theme of an important topic of the world today and then wrapped in very poor cinema. It looks like an illustration of a story,” he says. “To me, there is nothing to eat in that. I don’t feel full when I watch that type of film. There are too many like this. You can win the Palme d’Or with a very poor quality of cinema in the movie.”

Many reviews of “The Taste of Things” have come with a warning: Do not see this film on an empty stomach. But Hùng supplies no such caution.

“No, I think it’s interesting to be hungry, and waiting for the next meal,” he says, chuckling. “I never get panicked when I get hungry. I like to listen to it and wait so that what I have later is more delicious.”

Foodie photographs of a perfect plate have long been popular fodder for Instagram — the kind of gastronomy lampooned in the 2022 haute cuisine satire “The Menu.” But “The Taste of Things” is earthy and grubby. The food — none of which was artificially enhanced to look better — was all real. Famed French chef Pierre Gagnaire designed the dishes that were cooked on location by Michel Nave. For the film’s final meal, in which a triumphant pot-au-feu is prepared, some 90 pounds of meat were used.

Suffice to say, the cast and crew of “The Taste of Things” ate well.

“Everything we did was real,” says Hùng. "So at the end of the day, we had to eat everything. No waste at all.”