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[sadgirlsfilmclub]

March Round-Up

Cure (1997)

The movie is painfully slow, I have to admit that at certain parts my mind wandered away and I had to to rewind to catch up on what I missed.

Apart from the slow pacing, the film itself is beautifully filmed. The smooth transitions between scenes and locations are surprisingly satisfying to watch. There is a repetition of frames within frames providing depth into the stories that added considerably into the dialogue but at times it felt like there was still something lacking.

The film has consistently appeared in many lists of top asian horror films. I can see the appeal but the movie poses many questions that the film itself seems to struggle when trying to answer them.

The plot itself is ingenious, how do you catch a killer with no visible motive or weapon? The film talks of hypnotism and mental instability, giving us chills in the concept that anyone of us could be susceptible to anybody’s ministrations. No one is safe. The film exploits this illogical fear within us and creates a chilling atmosphere to scare us. The acting strengthens the film in whole, especially the eerie performance by Masato Hagiwara as the creepy hypnotist.

The film also delves into the concept of control. Takabe loses control as he tries to get his life and job on track but the mental disintegration of his wife and the infuriating charm of Mamiya causes him to spiral into madness. The epilogue has him accept his new role as the missionary, a sign that he has surrendered to his fate.

Rampo Noir (2005)

This is a Japanese horror anthology film. Tadanobu Asano has a part in each segment of the film, playing several different characters. The stories are based off of Edogawa Ranpo’s mystery tales which is infused with graphic horror elements qualifying the film as a main player in J-Horror. 

There are four parts in the film. My personal favourites are the second and third segments. The first part is totally silent, by the way. 

The best part of the film is the body horror. The highly graphic, highly realistic mutilation of the human body is what horror fans live for. Warning: Do not watch the third segment while you’re eating. Or better yet, don’t eat while watching the film. 

The story telling itself is also very engaging. There are elements of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allen Poe in all these shorts. You get very involved in uncovering the story behind the ill fate that has befell these people be it in their murder or disfigurement. 

Then there are moments like the GIF above that presents you with very satisfying visuals. The ambience itself created through the presence or lack thereof of sounds also helps perfect this balance found in any solid film. 

I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017)

“What do you want?”

“For people not to be assholes.”

The movie starts off already with a dark note. A patient dies while Ruth is in the room and then everything goes to shit. A man spoils a major plot twist of the book she’s reading and her house is burgled. Exasperated with life in general and in assholes, Ruth teams up with her neighbour Tony to track down the perpetrators but things take a violent turn in the last third of the film.

This film was so much fun with never a dull moment in it. There were so many highs and lows, it was truly a rollercoaster that I as a person who hate literal rollercoasters love.

This is Macon Blair of Blue Ruin (2013) fame’s first directorial debut. The story was an amazing buildup to a real climactic ending with plenty of fun banter interspersed within. Ruth’s helplessness is truly brought out by her and Tony’s ridiculous confrontations with each antagonist. The search for her missing items becomes this almost fantastical treasure hunt that soon dissolves into violence.

Ruth, a simple post-op nursing assistant up against all these villains. The soft almost soothing voice of the amazing Melanie Lynskey plays a strong part in creating this mild yet highly determined character. Her gentle demeanour compared to Elijah Wood’s Tony’s abrasive persona itself creates this incongruity found mostly in comedic pairings. The transformation of Ruth from this subdued person to one that takes charge and takes revenge is a fun trip to be part of.

All in all, this is black comedy at its finest.

Maybe you can stop others from being an asshole by not being one. Maybe.

Hidden Figures (2016)

A movie about women working in STEM. A movie about women paving the way for other women working in STEM. A film about women of colour fighting their being oppressed, overlooked and excluded in a field that knows no bounds. 

Based on the lives of three amazing black women, the film has a clear message to share with the world and more importantly, girls of colour. Gender or race has nothing to do with your skills and even though reality is harsh and unfair, there is still something to fight for.  Fight for the future of science and for women everywhere. 

The film educates. It teaches you a pivotal point in America’s modern history, black history, scientific history and women’s history. Yet their tale has been omitted and now the light that was rightfully theirs has finally landed on them. 

I won’t divulge on the plot seeing that it’s as straightforward as any film.The story was well-paced, the directing was good and the acting is praise-worthy. (I’m tipping my hat at Janelle Monaé seeing this isn’t even her main job and she knocked it out of the park.)

I’ll write this with emotion. I cried a few times watching this film. There was this sense of pride that I as a woman experience. Most films have the audiences going on a journey with heroes but rarely with heroines and now there’s three? I was overwhelmed by their disappointments, outrage, exasperations and was most affected by their personal victories. There’s this surge of pride when the movie ended and the tears were still fresh on my face. 

 - Courtney

PS. Hazel and I are working on writing a long review on Moonlight and Carol!! 

PPS. Sorry for the slight change in format, Tumblr’s being “sensitive” again. 

[sadgirlsfilmclub]

February Round-Up Part I

Back again for February. Part 1 is my review for some February films. Part 2 is a longer version of the review of some movies we’ve both watched which may overlap.

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Shockingly as a fashion designer, this is my first Tom Ford film. Let me beg for his forgiveness albeit this being his second feature.

There is A LOT going on in the movie. Essentially, it is a film within a film. A literal story told in a story. Symbolism, imagery and metaphors are in abundance here. Pro tip: This would be great for any film theory assignment.

Susan is down in the dumps but still manages to fake balance. She receives a manuscript from her estranged ex-husband that reignites this spark she had thought lost. She submerges into the fictional plot trying to escape the very harsh real world she’s living in but the story itself presents a bleaker outlook. The film cuts between reality and fiction, allowing both Susan and us to take a breather. 

Okay, so obviously characters in reality are reflected in the novel. Our job as the audience is to figure it out but the hard part is there is someone in everyone. I see Susan as Tony, a person who was too weak to protect her child; I see her as Ray, manipulating and hurting people. Bottom line, this is a film that is up to your own interpretation. Who is Susan? Are the Jake Gyllenhaal characters mirror images? If so, isn’t that too lazy?

If you like: Revenge flicks, Michael Shannon, Texan Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Tom Ford or love paying too much attention to the littlest details to dig out obscure metaphors that only you can discover them. 

XX (2017)

This was one of my long awaited films to watch this year and I was pleasantly surprised. As you guys may know in my previous reviews, I was generally displeased with current anthology films, ie: Holidays (2016) (I still hate it with every fibre of my body) but this film has proved me wrong. 

I enjoyed every section although St. Vincent AKA Annie Clark’s segment was more on black comedy I feel. Each short film was strong it it’s own way, no story the same. There is no continuity here, just some female directors having fun making horror films.

I will not dissect each and every part but here is a synopsis of sorts in bullet form:

The Box: A family suffers from an unknown eating disorder and the mother begins to obsess over the cause.

The Birthday Party: A well-meaning mother plans a surprise birthday party for her young daughter only to find out that the hardest part was not the planning but hiding her father’s corpse. 

Don’t Fall: A group of friends stumble onto a cave painting which provokes an ancient evil spirit.

Her Only Living Son: A mother struggles to hold on to her 18 year old son as he goes through a rebellious phase but comes to a realisation that perhaps he is not truly her son.

My personal favourite was the last segment. It had so much potential to fully develop into a full-length feature and I do hope it does. 

If you like: St. Vincent, good horror anthology, something different for everybody, body horror, black comedy, female horror directors. 

PS. I know there should be two more film reviews but Hazel and I are doing them together so do wait patiently for that.

PPS. Sorry for being a week late to post this, life’s busy. 

- Courtney

[sadgirlsfilmclub]

January Round Up - Horror

Back at it again with the horror. Don’t judge me. I do watch other genres but again, I watch horror more than anything else. 

So… a movie every week. I’ll probably do this every month. It gives me motivation to write and watch films even if I’m super busy. Here’s to me hopefully writing more consistently. Cheers!

TW: Nudity, Gore, Sex, Blood, Violence (you know, the usual *shrugs*)

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

I was mostly motivated to watch the film because of the recent premiere of the sequel. 

Surprisingly for a movie that relies heavily on narrative and less on actual visual scares, it’s solid. There was always this underlying notion between the three of them that one of them was at fault or perhaps hallucinating. How long will logic prevail before the insistent nagging of superstition haunts you until you can’t differentiate what’s real or imaginary?

Do you see the titular witch? Not at all. But does that mean there aren’t any monsters in the film? There are, and maybe one more familiar to us. Perhaps the real scare is how your mind turns you against the ones you were supposed to cooperate with. Or maybe the real monster is the one in your head. 

If you like: Everybody blaming everything on everybody else, people getting lost in the woods, found footage films, REC (2007), Paranormal Activity (2007), The Witch (2015).

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

It gets creepier every minute, you know why? The movie is doing its jobs, that’s why.

A father-son coroner duo (dynamic, really) gets a late night call from the sheriff to perform an autopsy on a jane doe. No outward trauma was visible until they cut into her. Supernatural phenomenons present themselves as the examination continues, threatening them both.

The story itself was very well written with an interesting premise. It’s about a dead body, not one that’s been brought back to live or anything (ie. Re-Animator or Frankenstein) but a dead dead body. How much damage can a dead thing cause? Apparently more than enough.

Stellar performances from the always amazing Brian Cox and also Emile Hirsch but the real MVP here is definitely Olwen Kelly who played the jane doe (I imagine I’d be stiff as hell playing a corpse (it’s a terrible pun that I’m not apologising for)).

An interesting take by combining forensic logic with superstitious irrationality. It creates this obvious incongruity that makes us hard to separate hard facts from vague beliefs, forcing us to fully immerse into the subject matter to better understand it. 

If you like: CSI (I know, shocking), corpses that should stay dead, Re-animator (1985), The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014).

Shivers (1975)

How disgusting can human bodies be? Apparently, pretty darn nasty. 

For some context, there were a few other titles to the original, including The Parasite Murders, They Came from Within and Frisson. My personal favourite was the second one. Naming it Shivers is like trying to make it sound classier but you know deep down They Came from Within is both a marketing and title-naming win while staying true to the era appropriate manner of naming horror films as they are.

There’s no need for a synopsis right? Context. Read between the lines. Basically parasites that unleash your inhibitions wreak havoc and things finally escalate into an orgy. I will also dissect some fun parts of the movie though. The film is shot choppily. Scenes don’t really match, the movie starts with one scene and jumps to another but in the end it all connects. The film itself revolves around an apartment building thus providing a frame for all the stories that unfold within to flow freely. 

Cronenberg isn’t just a connoisseur of the vile but also a defining filmmaker. 

PS. The film naming thing reminds me of this website I once visited that randomly generates campy horror film titles and I love it. 

If you like: things coming out of other things specifically the human body, disgusting visuals, anything Cronenberg, Aliens (1986), The Thing (1982).

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

I might call it a family drama or a sitcom, seeing as half of it was how the Sawyer family get along. There is a sense that these five unlucky trespassers are just trespassers and maybe that’s why they were punished.

The choppy cuts of scenes, the sporadic close ups of Sally’s eyeball (pretty much when you knew she’d gone all bonkers), the metallic grating sounds, the highly convincing prop design, it’s a mess. A hot mess. Balanced with the slow build up of the story in front with the jam-packed last few minutes, everything works, surprisingly. That last ten minutes. It was like a new hell was unleashed every minute (that part when that damned grandpa can’t even hold a hammer). It was horrific. I loved it.

I have to admit shamefully that I watched the 2003 reboot before the original. I watched snippets of the original when I was too young, that much I remember but not much of the movie (traumatised maybe). Imagine my surprise when I realised that the original scared me more than the reboot. It’s a reboot in an era with much improved technological advances and more realistic visual effects but it fell so short, halfway through the movie I was so skeptical why the franchise was so famous. Then I watched the original, and I understood. I felt enlightened. I get it.

It’s iconic. The mask, the chainsaw, the blood. I get it and I love it. 

If you like: Lots of gratuitous violence, blood, gore, you know, the usual. Rob Zombie, Saw (2004).

Black Sunday (1960)

(Italian: La maschera del demonio), aka The Mask of Satan

Horror fans undoubtedly know the game changer films that debuted in 1960 - Psycho and some may also include Peeping Tom. Yet there is another film that has succeeded in reviving, particularly, the Italian movie scene - Black Sunday or also known as The Mask of Satan. While the Americans and British have already departed from folklore, Mario Bava embraces it. Retelling this Nikolai Gogol short into a masterpiece. Shot in black and white, the dramatic flairs of the setting itself already hints to the Bava-esque giallo trademark. 

Acting aside, the storytelling was rich and smooth. Although the movie is already 40 years old, there are still scares that were better executed than some modern takes seen on the screens of today (that scene when they show the decayed corpse of the witch). 

If you like: A new form of torture? See above gif. Women coming back to live for vengeance, Dario Argento, classic 60s horror, folklore horror, Viy (1967).

Additional Notes:

Mark Gatiss of Sherlock fame actually made a three-part documentary on his take on the history of horror, aptly titled A History of Horror. Two of the movies listed above Shiver and Black Sunday are two of his choice picks for his highly informative documentary. Do watch it if you are interested. 

Okay, I realise there’s five movies. OOps.

- Courtney