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Dark Obsession (2023)
Quite bad.
I don't think many people are going to get past the main actress's terrible acting. The script is barebones and boring but no worse than a Marvel movie. The plot is predictable but the setting is secluded and spooky. Unfortunately nothing happens plot-wise for the first hour and without any interesting characters or intelligent dialogue a lot of people are going to end up turning it off before the finale. There are hints of schizophrenia and domestic violence brought in toward the end, I repeat, hints, they have no depth. Mena Suvari is apparently doing the voice over for the main character Anne's alter ego, which I see absolutely no point in. I would not recommend this film to anyone.
Relic (2020)
Choker :-(
Atmospheric, slow-building horror that can't decide if it's psychological or supernatural. With genre-blending becoming the new norm, this is not a bad thing, but needs to be done properly by a skilled writer who knows how to blur the lines for audiences. Given that this is heavily character driven, it should have contained more dialogue to be effective and understandable. Sense may be less necessary in a horror but I like at least a bit of fundamental reason or point for what's happening. Was the scene where she's caressing her mother by peeling her skin off supposed to be tender and compassionate? Fail - it was straight out gross. I was disappointed to see it added no unique Aussie touches - if it weren't for their accents, this could have been boilerplate American stuff. When Australia releases a respectable horror (a rarity) I like to see some of the landscape, hear some of their in-your-face dialect and other idiosyncrasies particular to the down-under culture. Relic doesn't take advantage of any of these things, but maybe some viewers prefer that. My conclusion is that this film has no flow; if it was supposed to be about a daughters guilt at neglecting her mother, its message was not presented well.
Darkness in Tenement 45 (2020)
No light at the end of this tunnel.
A film that requires a large amount of suspension of disbelief. The end was predictable - not too much of a problem for me, since the journey was an interesting one. It's a simple story and so much more could have been done with the characters, especially with regard to dialogue and conflict. I saw a lot of unfulfilled potential. Overall this is my kind of film, and in an objective sense, it is very well done for its budget. It produces emotion in its audience (for me, primarily the urge to blow Martha's face off) and that's always good. But as a study into human behaviour, it lacks any psychological accuracy or point - there was no real insight or meaning. My problem with the end wasn't that it was predictable, it was that they had to make it depressing as well. Still, 6/10.
NS404: Provenance (2020)
Mysterious, dark, prophetic.
A film beautiful and brilliant in its mystical suggestion of apocalyptic proportions. I suppose some might find it confusing or frustrating, for me that is the reality of metaphysics, questions don't get answered and conclusions can't be reached. Not with our current understanding, and as someone who reads a lot on philosophy and mysticism, this is a realistic representation far superior to anything blockbusters offer. Loved it - very happy to know these films are getting made.
In Paradox (2019)
Confusing right till the end.
This film is not about time slips or alternate realities, it's about a man who creates alternate personas in a dissociative episode, largely driven by guilt from the death of his father. As with a lot of writers, Hamad AlSarraf fails to deliver said sci-fi paradox and falls back on mental health - easier and more realistic but less interesting (were he to pull it off, which very few could). Having got that out the way, it's still a decent watch, the setting's dystopian feel is beautiful.
El Watar (2010)
Surprisingly good.
I watched my first Egyptian film a few weeks ago on Netflix, a horror called 122. It was one of the worst films I've seen in a while so I didn't have high expectations for this, my second Egyptian film. Glad I gave it a chance, it was a huge improvement. It is well acted and written, riddled with cryptically beautiful lines and symbolism (though parts were a little flatulent). The murder mystery is intriguing and the sharp but tormented detective is alluring. I very much liked the unpredictable end, strong female characters and overall style of this film. Conclusion: 8/10
Rys (1982)
A nice change.
A strange, haunting film set during the German occupation of Poland. There are no Nazi's or much action, it's a reserved and emotional study of morality in an immoral world. It is quiet, analytical and foreboding. While not a film that crashes into you, it creeps up and breathes down your neck - the dreary, hopeless atmosphere it creates is top-notch. I liked it but many might find it dull.
Bad Girl (2016)
5/10 is generous.
Let's make this clear, from the outset this is not a pleasant or enjoyable movie. It's about a supposedly bad (hates her adoptive parents, usual rage-against-life stuff) teenage girl meeting another teenage girl who turns out to be an out-of-control psychopath. On the surface the story shouldn't be terrible, it could work, it has worked. But not here, not for me anyway and I can understand people who give it a rating of 1 or 2. The characters are one-dimensional and ugly; there are no quiet moments explaining behavior or motives and absolutely zero relationship development. I didn't care what happened to any of these people and wanted to turn it off by the thirty minute mark. I hung in and watched the psychopath kill and attempt to kill numerous characters but found myself rolling my eyes too many times to count.
Dumb characters, dumb script. Silly, silly movie. To each their own and some people might like it.
Mata Batin 2 (2019)
Oh dear...
I disagree this was as good as the first one - I think they sacrificed quality for quantity. Here we have a man who has a daughter to his wife's sister, kills the sister when she threatens to expose him, then kills his daughter as well. Yet, the 3rd eye girl, Abel goes straight to him with her evidence and asks him to confess to the police. A young girl reasoning with a multiple murderer? Alone. Naturally, he then kills Abel. When the man becomes possessed by his own angry daughters spirit who tries to kill her fathers body, the remaining 3rd eye women think, for some bizarre reason, that he needs to be saved. WTF? They all get injured or die in the process of trying to save a psychopath; this is a horror film not some confusing, screwed up lesson in morality. The whole movie all I thought was, someone please just kill the cckscker. And the murdered daughter, why was she condemned to Hell? An eye for an eye I say. There is a line at the end 'the truth will always be told, no matter what', which was pretty amusing, I think human nature dictates very little truth is ever told.
The sound effects were over-the-top, gore is not scary and this film was quite silly. I did like Bu Windu - she was a good actress and the only character who seemed to know what she was doing.
Concl: Indonesia is more capable of producing a horror movie than China.
Spirala (1978)
Atmosphere without story.
The Spiral, a 1978 Polish film has nothing particularly wrong with it; the acting is decent, the writing didn't make me wince, which places it above 70% of old films and 90% of new ones. I tend to avoid 60's and 70's films because they are often dominated by sex or gore, this one wasn't. It's a slow-burner about one man's descent into hopelessness and suicide. It will no doubt frustrate Hollywood action fan types (unless they've run out of Ambien).
It's hard to pinpoint what's wrong with it, it's like a Bergman film without the genius. A Fassbinder film without the daring dialogue. I felt the makers were holding something back, something important.
At the beginning, I kind of wanted to step in an talk to the main character (and occasionally to smack him) which says something about how provocative it was. But my interest in him lapsed as the film progressed, and just as well. since no answers or explanations ever eventuated.
In the right mood, it could be relaxing, in the wrong, dead boring.
Kung Fu Vampire Killers (2001)
Ancient Chinese-Kiwi vampire film -good for amateur
The fact that this scored over seven out of ten up to now doesn't count for much since it's only had eight votes. For a D-rate Kiwi vampire film with a budget of $16,000 it's actually pretty accurate though.
It's extremely amateur but not so naturally without talent that you 'need' to turn it off. I found it progressive and kinda amusing. "Kung Fu Vampire Killers" shows a decided lack of effort but it transcends the belief that it meant to do that, and that's what's provocative about it. The sound, the picture, and the dialogue appear so cheaply effective it actually seems genuine. I liked this movie. A lot. But I fully realize that most people won't, especially general American audiences.
This is totally true, if you're from the us, you don't like independent or foreign (or cult) films, don't bother. You'll think it's the end of the world. Everyone else (probably the minority) I recommend it, even if it's just so you can say you saw it all the way through. Even if it's just the title that attracted you.
It's a journey boys and girls.
Domestic Violence (2001)
A raw look at the abuse, battery, and fear that lurks within many families.
The 3hr 16min film opens with a police car cruising through the streets, arriving at a domestic disturbance and arresting a man who claims innocence. It goes on after this to show a mixture of arrests and questioning in households which have reported domestic disturbance. A large part of this important documentary also consists of women in group sessions and discussion with counselors in a shelter for battered victims. Bruised and angry women (many of whom have small children) recount their horrific pasts of sexual, emotional and physical control. Interestingly enough, the main reason the women gave for eventually leaving the batterer (usually a husband or boyfriend) and coming to the refuge for help, was not to protect themselves, but to protect their children.
The most positive thing about the film was how the victims eyes were opened to their own self-worth at the refuge. A lot of the women reported that they didn't even realize that what their partners were doing was wrong, and if they did, they forgave them and let them do it again and again. There is a tragic scene early in the film where are blood-soaked woman whose teeth have been punched through her cheek screams for the paramedics not to take her away.
Statistics showed that 650 adults and one thousand children arrive at the shelter annually. 50% of these children have been abused prior to admission and 50% of which are under 5yrs old. 15% of batterers are women and about 12 men each year go to the refuge for help. Domestic violence crimes take up a third of all police time, (Tampa, Florida).
Each different story/clip is separated by drab images of six-lane traffic and the desolate buildings of the shelter, I don't think the sun was shown once.
Domestic Violence is an excellent reminder of the cruelty a large proportion of the population still has to live with from day to day and and cyclic nature of family abuse. Despite the depressive nature of the material, it is both real and hope-giving.
Spellbound (1945)
Just to give a different opinion
I thought this movie was boring and a complete waste of time and money. It was pretentious and the soundtrack didn't suit the scenes. It was melodramatic and the acting sucked. It was a damn romance not a thriller. Admittedly the last 15 minutes were a slight improvement, but that doesn't change my rating of 4/ 10. Sorry to people who are Hitchcock fans or people who actually liked this film. I don't understand why he developed amnesia when he was about 30 years old as the event that originally initiated it happened when he was like 10. Aside from Ingrid Bergmans characters old analyst all the characters were pathetically weak and painful to watch. Ii reminded me a lot of Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Die Buchse der Pandora. His characters were also weak as hell, irritatingly so. To give a good example of precisely what I didn't like is the relationship development between Constance and John. There was none! It may have been lust, infatuation or something, but love? They didn't know anything about each other, at least it wasn't portrayed in the bulk of the film. Maybe I'm being too harsh, Hitchcock was a very good writer. I did like Rope.
Dogville (2003)
Utterly depressing crap.
This is one of the most disgusting portrayals of humanity I've ever seen (totally in sync with Dancer in the Dark). I don't doubt that the acting, the cinematography, the direction -all brilliant. But the fact that someone could create this story of absolute cruelty and betrayal (without the adjunction of guilt, remorse or apology in any form) is repellent and sickening.
The presence of an inventive and original setting involving a delusive town with imaginary doors, walls and chalked gooseberry bushes doesn't make up for the disconsolate nature of the pathetically narrow-minded antagonists.
In conclusion I loath this director and I HATED this film.
Manji (1983)
A remake of the 1964 original version.
An older married woman, Sonoko, catches the beautiful Mitsuko watching her shoplift one day. Afraid of being turned in to the police she follows the younger woman home. After hanging about outside for a while feeling nervous Sonoko rings the doorbell and introduces herself. She offers Mitsuko money to keep her mouth shut. Mitsuko, as emotionally unstable as Sonoko herself is insulted and tells her to put her money away. This is where the interaction takes a more bizarre turn. Sonoko, apparently feeling like she owes Mitsuko something gets flustered, this catches on to Mitsuko and the women begin to physically struggle with each other. Some milk is spilt. Mitsuko suggests Sonoko lick it up off the floor. She does so, then they get aggressive again and start trying to hit each other. They tire of that eventually and Mitsuko herself takes a drink of milk from off the floor. I guess this strange sequence of events was supposed to mark their meeting for the bizarre relationship that follows. The whole film has weird, kinky scenes scattered all the way through, including a lot of role-playing games and random smacking on the face. The plot however is fairly simple. A married woman falls in love with a young and beautiful girl. Girl comes between woman and husband. Girl has affair with husband. Older woman kills herself. The ending was very confusing, and it wasn't made clear how Sonoko died or why she did it, since Mitsuko had already tried to get back together with her. However, I believe Mitsuko's character was meant to be unemotional, and the story about emotional reactions to her.
Boulevard (1994)
Really very sad when you look past the dreggy style skin.
In their harsh world, the regulars on the Boulevard engage in a minute to minute struggle against each other. The story presents action and reaction, with no intellectual depth or analysis. The Boulevard boasts a selection of hookers, drag queens, junkies, pimps, cops, murderers and rapists, all mistrusting each other, all dangerously defensive. Despite this, the most violent and sexually explicit scenes are those of Jennifers flashbacks to her messy past, before she came to the Boulevard. Jennifer lands homeless after a series of traumatic events; she's just given birth, adopted her baby out, run away from her abusive partner, and given up all her money for a bus ticket to Toronto. A local working girl feels sorry for her so takes her in. Performance ranks as one of the better features of Boulevard. I've never seen Kari Wuhrer play a part so well. Lance Henriksen and Lou Diamond Phillips were damn memorable. Hahah. The quality of the film crashes when it comes to relationship development. Broad insults, verbal abuse, sex and physical violence sum up almost all character interaction. Even the budding 'love' between Jennifer and Ola seemed more like a convenient, mutually-rewarding 'arrangement'. The ugly ending only exemplified Boulevard as one of the cheaply effective 90's-classic tragedy genre. But still, quite good.
Blessed (2002)
Interesting and amusing look at life and prostitution in Wellington, NZ
Blessed follows several regular peoples everyday lives, their struggles and their boredom. Nadine is the wife and mother, whose husband is out of work. She puts on a pac 'n' save uniform every morning and leaves for her job at the grocery store. In reality she is working as an escort for a whore-house in central Wellington to pay the bills. When her husband finds out she must reconcile with him and their financial troubles.
Josephine is an asian university student also in economic deficit -she is over-handy with her credit cards. She also arrives on the doorstep of the brothel and has to come to terms with selling her body.
By far the most amusing character was the director herself, Rachel Douglas, who played Hannah, the one who governs the appointment book at the brothel. I heard her speak at the Wellington Film Festival and she said Blessed was chosen for a fest release in Spain... or was it France? Since as a first film I think it a damn good accomplishment.
The setting was the drab inner city of Welly with nothing at all to recommend it, the characters rather bored and restless with their lives. If it were a person Blessed would be a hunchback with a trench-coat in the rain, but still possessing the ability to laugh at his own circumstances.
The worst thing was the flying woman. I did not get that bit at all, it kinda ruined it as a reality check.
Black Sea 213 (2000)
Enjoyable trash really does relieve the burden of true drama
An extremely arrogant male photographer (Anthony Addabbo), an old, scraggly ships captain who constantly bleats about how to tie a rope knot, an American babe who doesnt like to be rejected and a whole gang of gorgeous bad-ass models. So what is wrong with this film? Since Black Sea doesnt really have any artistic quality to it it would be stupid to say that the feeble and inconsistent plot ruined the movie. Admittedly, the plot and the acting are lacking, but the babes are unmissable. Thats really the only good thing about it, the women. Their strength, their determination, their triumph, their beauty, their legs ...
Imagine a group of models soaking in an enormous hot tup, arms around each other, bodies naked, wet and steamy, discussing a huge scam they are about to pull in international arms dealing.
But then wait... Gabe who is the male chauvanist photographer and only screws whores must be otherwise amused while the girls are loading the cargo onto the ship they are about to leave in. So Ursula (Jacquiline Lovell) is sent to occupy him. This, of course, means she has to get him into bed. But since he only does whores she has to go to his regular shagging pub and switch places with the real prostitute. How logical. They should have just admitted that Ursula liked his ass instead of trying to work it in to some kind of weird conspiracy. As if Gabe is going to be spending his night hanging around the docks peeking at peoples private business anyway. Except for Lovell the model/terrorists are mostly Russian recruits. Sexy Vera Sotnikova is the supposed leader and the girlfriend of thug Dean but unfortunately she gets blown up in the end. There is an ironic scene where the girls are playing cards below deck with their little sailor boys sitting submissively behind them.
But then they ruin that by showing them all shagging in a mass orgy later on. It would have been much better if their werent so many men in it, and if Gabe didnt play quite such a major role -by the way he doesnt turn out to be the pig with the heart of gold in the end. On the contrary, the last scene implies that Ursula becomes his regular lay at the whore-house (was he paying for it, she takes a step down in the world... "hmmm... should I be a terrorist slash model, ....or should I be a prostitute?")
There is a really sexy lesbian scene between a gorgeous but mute model and Gabriels assistant, Annie. The only actors I recognised were Brion James (his usual type of trash) and Timothy Bottoms. I liked it that the girls were Russians, the accents made the whole crime thing seem more dramatic.
I wont lie, the film is trashy and cheap. But perhaps with the right mood (and a J or two) a lot of people could see the beauty of it's simplicity, not to laugh at it but maybe to become inspired by its ambiguity and to smile at its raw amatuarishness.
Butterfly Kiss (1995)
Controversial art in the love OR hate genre.
If you generally don't like murder films you'll hate this movie, never mind the fact that it's actually very good. Very little heed (if any) is paid to the numerous victims, their bodies falling to the side of the storyline as the obsessed female lovers move on, taking the plot with them. Butterfly Kiss introduces two startlingly distinctive, unique women, opposites drawn together by loneliness and a need for balance. Eunice is a dispairing, tortured soul who searches the bland, grey motorways of England for the ever-absent Judith (does this abstract individual really exist or is she another figment of Eunice's amazingly complex and unstable psyche?). People who turn out not to be Judith tend to end up the victim of Eu's homocidal wrath (note though that Judiths importance to Eu was going to end up in mortal sacrifice also). Eunice has no inhibitions, no scruples; her behaviour is repulsive, obnoxious, sexually promiscuous, extravagantly moody. She acts purely on impulse and instinct, rarely using her devastated mind, for Eunice actually wants to be caught, and wants to be punished. In fact, she consistantly pushes her luck in aggravating people, beleiving God (and I guess the rest of the world) has forgotten her. Consequently she is forced to punish herself, wrapping her scrawny body in chains that hurt and bruise her. It is quite possible that a lot of her other actions throughout the film, which are illogical and cruel up front, are more attempts by Eu at self-punishment though that is left for the audience to mull over. Miriam, by contrast, is water to Eu's fire, a metaphor even she explains in her black and white interveiws dotted throughout the film, as she tells their story to a camera. Miriam at first looks to be dim, naive, childish and ineloquent in her speech. Reading between the lines this version of Mi fails to convince, instead giving the image of perceptive, open-minded in the extreme, generous and angelicly kind. Whether this was supposed to be Mi or was Saskia Reeves' true intelligence mistakenly worming its way to the surface is unknown, and it doesnt really matter -the character was nontheless, adorable. As lonely and love-starved as Eunice, their similarities end there. Mi is totally honest and forthcoming; her love for Eunice is complete and unconditional. Along with being painfully direct, Eunice is also implicitly dishonest. When Miriam discovers Eu's homocidal nature she is already in love. She disposes of the body without encouragment from Eu and sets out to support Eu and make her a better person. Rather she becomes a murderer herself, though through more subtle indications she retains all the original beauty and kindness of her placid personality. People who may dislike this movie are being subjectively incorrect in saying that it isn't good. Truly it is not a pleasant film to watch but it is still a worthwhile peice of artistry riddled with talent.
Tystnaden (1963)
The words abandonment, loneliness, longing, neglect, selfishness and miscommunication spring to mind.
Sisters Ester and Anna are vacationing in a strange town with Anna's ten year old son, Johan. The story begins after a change has occured in Anna, her patience with the stifled life she is implied to have led has imploded, leaving all participants lost and empty. Academically overshadowed by her older sister, Anna has reache her limits in being controlled and obsessed over by the domineering Ester. This control has apparently been sexual as well as psychological. The Silence, (which is not so much a story about emotion and interpersonal relationships as it is about the lack thereof), operates a lot through context and circumstances unseen by us, but which are expressed by the conflicting characters. Sickness of body and mind ooze their way into the themes, inescapably dominating them. None of the characters understand each other, or even seem to care about anyone but themselves. In order the distract themselves from the emptiness of their relationships, they each search hopelessly for interest elsewhere. Ester in her bottomless glass of vodka, Johan in the vast hallways of the unchartered hotel, and Anna in the arms of a stranger who's language she cannot understand. The elder sister Ester has a disease of the lungs which is slowly killing her, probably tuberculosis. Her death imminent, she is destined never to return home. A translator, she attempts to communicate with the hotel waiter via. French, German, English and Swedish, none of which the locals understand. One has to wonder why the distanced family has travelled to this orifice of isolation at all. But this is not a film that answers questions, it simply presents a psychological horror story, a breakdown of communication on every human level. Looking out the window Ester watches a ragged, skeletal horse heave an enormous carriage full of furnature up and down the cramped, dusty streets below. While a stopwatch ticks restlessly in the background, the bored Johan searches the corridors for something to do, stopping to urinate against a wall. The ancient waiter shows him a bizarre collection of photo's he has of corpses in coffins. Aside from a dazzling pair of eyes, Anna has very little of interest about her. She is selfish, cold, shallow and desperate for admiration. Disturbing movie. The usual Bergman brilliance.
Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
Impressive, pure atmosphere.
Filmed in pre-National Socialist Germany when the economy was at a true low. The girls at this Catholic boarding school are slight, pale, hungry creatures -for food and comfort. Daughters of soldiers, they are taught discipline and deprivation, not luxury. The girls, however, have more personality and strength of character than those in the majority of movies produced nowadays. Manuela is a highly emotional 14 year old 'new girl' who has no mother. She, like the rest of her classmates, yearns for the attention of the fair and beautiful Fraulein von Burnberg. Ilse is the school trouble-maker, leader, and clown. Witty and outspoken, she repeatedly entertains the other girls, binding them together in secret comradery against their oppressive elders. At an after-play function Manuela is the only student who can tolerate the taste of the punch given to them as a reward. Her friends pass their cups on to her and she soon gets herself quite drunk. In a semi-conscious state she announces her feelings for the popular Fraulein von Burnberg to the entire school along with the infuriated Headmistress. These girls are not all lesbians, they are merely children starved of human contact and love. As a result they throw their hearts at the open mind and kind heart of Frau von Burnberg. I found it surprising and beautiful how loyal the girls were to each other. There is very little rivalry or conflict among the students, a vast contrast to the modern representation of teens. Even when Manuela embarrasses herself horribly in front of the school, her classmates stick by her without hesitation. That's cool.
Bitter Harvest (1993)
A cruel, sexy tale.
Women are such cold, calculating and clever creatures. Here, Patsy Kensit teams up with Jennifer Rubin giving a lonely, troubled young farmer (Stephen Baldwin) the blackest of favours. He has vengeance, seduction, excitement but is also corrupted and eventually murdered. Meanwhile the two women acquire money, rare coins, a fall-guy for their crimes, and most importantly, they get their kicks. Its beautiful. Its provocative. But it is on the unrealistic side. There is little verbal communication between the characters. Jolene, the temptress, is the most direct in her dialogue, though she prefers codes and lies. The others communicate almost exclusively through context, body language and sex. I actually really enjoyed this film, but I can see how the general audience could be disappointed. It rents pretty well in NZ, but maybe thats because of the suggestive cover (?).
The Haunting (1999)
A badly directed remake of the 1963 Robert Wise film.
There is characterization here but it only touches base and dwells on one trait only, making each character fit better into their part, but one-dimensionally. The Hauntings simple 'skeleton in the closet' plot depends heavily on the pitiful but uncomplex personalities of its characters. The makers seem to want to compensate for this by adding extra, clutter scenes. One of which consists of Mary, (another of the insignificant organizers of the trip to Hill House), freaking out and saying that the house is evil for no apparent reason -Marys character seems to have been moulded purely from the original Theodora, as psychic, and Julie Harris' original representation of a scared and neurotic Eleanor. Catherine Zeta-Jones turns Theo's character into a wise, artistic, bisexual love goddess, from Clair Blooms jealous, bitter, and beautiful lesbian witch. One thing I noticed is that its very hard to tell, if your not looking for it, that Eleanor is actually a social, psychological and emotional alien amongst her peers, this I think would've been a good thing to develop better. Liam Neeson seems almost bored in his part of Dr. Marrow, while Owen Wilson carries his character through pretty well from thirty years ago. With better direction, a more thought out ending, and a less inhibited script a remake of The Haunting could have worked well.
As it was, this one didn't. Pity.