Blue Velvet - 1986 - Dir. Lynch

I mean, as a weird jerk in high school, I ate this movie up. What weird teenage jerk wouldn't?! I had seen it so many times that I didn't need to watch it for well... a really long time. I completely forgot about the movie except for Dennis Hopper screaming which is engrained into our counter-cultural memory with a Dental Drill. A drill shaped like Dennis Hopper's head. And you know, even though I'm long familiar with the rants, seeing it again. That man is still shockingly fucked up in this movie. He's unendingly weird and loud. And then you have Kyle McLaughlin, who is basically a strange twelve-year-old boy in the movie. He's perfect... in a way that just feels wrong through and through. Like an aesthetically pleasing whitehead. And I'm going to say the he did it on purpose. Which makes him the best actor. Everyone is just great in this movie. I'll just say that. And I love Laura Dern. All of a sudden, I'm realizing that she's an awesome actress. Especially with Lynch. The movie is just a pretty straight-forward noir. Like, it's a story you would recognize, except Lynch adds all these details that skew it. And like Hopper, everything is amplified. It's hyper-suburban. I remember feeling like the movie was pretty slow back when, probably because Hopper was a kind of centerpiece and it takes a little while for him to show. Now, I don't think I got that. Considering some of his other movies, this is a jog through the park.

This guy...

Tree of Life - 2011 - Dir. Malick

Not my favorite Malick, but perhaps the one that most gets me excited about him. Partially because what he fails to do and partially what he does with flying colors. Firstly, it's undeniably beautiful. To the degree where you don't even mind that it is achingly slow. Small moments of a childhood in the 1950's have never been so gripping. The film's scope is practically boundless, with a chunk of it following the creation of the universe/world. To have that in contrast with the smaller (perhaps SMALLEST story) layers the film beautifully and gives me more than plenty to chew on. However, it should not be a surprise that the film at times dips into pretensions, the existential pleadings heard in the voice over are perhaps too on-the-nose. Often times removing me from the film. It's perhaps the first time where Malick didn't completely blow me out of the water with his voice over. Often times, I felt handed several pieces of a puzzle with no real idea of how to put them together. Or what I was expected to do with them. The film may be beautiful, but I can't say I'm driven to rewatch it in an attempt to put it all together. In some sense, just having them was enough. Rather, it leads to me want to watch something else of his. Still, there is something exciting about the scope of the film, that it has been tackled by a filmmaker during a summer of what seems to be pretty ordinary fare.

Stop playin' with all them Baby Feet, Brad!

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One - 1968 - Dir. Greaves

What I think is especially neat about this movie is that as you watch it, it does seem to be shaped as the movie goes on. Rather then there being a strong premise and we follow closely to that, there does seem to be an organic nature to the way the movie proceeds. Naturally, Greaves had an idea as to what he wanted to happen and seemed to plan ahead of time to a degree. And editing in the end shapes the story more than anything else. But the movie does kind of have an organic narrative that develops within this very free-form and experimental doc. It's also a pretty humorous movie. Greaves is entertaining to watch direct while trying to answer questions about what all these people are really doing in the film. While the crew ponder the meaning of the film, often times the pretentious language and high-handed explanations that occur are pretty amusing on their own. It's also just interesting to watch because of the way everyone is reacting as they are filmed. Greaves talks about how the Uncertainty Principle inspired the film and it is pretty clear. People's behavior DO change obviously when they are filmed, reality TV has long been proof of that, but it's neat to this late sixties take on it. The movie can be a little slow, even though it's under ninety minutes. But I feel like there's enough going on that I would definitely rewatch.

The Joys of Film making!

House - 1977 - Dir. Obayashi

I've been excited about this movie for a really long time. I had hoped to make a screening of it back in NY last year but THE TIME JUST WASN'T RIGHT. When someone tells me there's a Japanese movie where the directors eight year old daughter helped out and the special effects are outrageous, I get pretty excited and skeptical. Preferring to watch it in the right frame of mind. And the movie is certainly a handful, beginning with hyper melodramatic sequences of schoolgirl's "normal" everyday life. Oh, and the girls names are just descriptions (Prof, Gorgeous, Sweet). The movie is so insistently innocent and cutesy, I think I was a little surprised when the horror aspects ended being somewhat gory. It's certainly more goofy than scary or violent, probably no one under ten would be intimidated. The special effects make no attempt to convey realism and are more of a tool to say "Look what we can do with film!" So they end up being fun. The movie is fun when you get right down to it. It's silly, unpretentious, and paced really well. I didn't find myself getting impatient, "waiting for the good stuff." It's all good stuff. About as genuine as you can get trying to translate a child's vision to film. I would certainly be on board to watch it again.

Check out this rope I found!!

Wild at Heart - 1990 - Dir. Lynch

I've seen this before back in high school, at which point I got a hell of a kick out of it. As a Nicholas Cage fan, there's still a ton about this movie to be crazy about. It's a perfect role for Cage. Super campy, violent, loud, and a little bit like Elvis. The opening scene is the perfect summary of Nicholas Cage. BURSTING AT THE SEAMS. And probably as a Lynch film, it's definitely one of the more watchable ones. It inhabits the campy space of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. Where Lynch was weird but still telling a straightforward story at the same time. It probably helps that the movie is based off of a book. Like any Lynch film, a chunk of the movie is just weird people saying weird things (Jack Nance.) and as usual, Harry Dean Stanton is awesome. He's the most restrained weirdo ever. And actually is kind of sweet. Willem Dafeo must also be mentioned. When I looked back on the first viewing of the film, I couldn't remember much... but I certainly could remember Willem Dafoe. That creepy sonuvabitch with his awful teeth linger long after the movie has ended. That and Cage and Dern's awesome dancing. Lynch slips a ton of metal music in the film which is just a ton of fun mixed in with the Wizard of Oz references.

Always good advice.

Last Year in Marienbad - 1961 - Dir. Renais

As Inception came out, I feel like Last Year in Marienbad kept popping up again and again. I had never heard of it before since I don't follow French cinema very closely apparently if it isn't going to rant about communism and have really bright colors... or have odes to film noir. ANYWAY. So this movie is fucking crazy. And it's a movie where there was plenty of warning that this movie was going to be real crazy... but they never end up being all that weird... (That reminds me... I wanna watch Inland Empire again. That movie was nuuuuts!) But this movie is pretty crazy. It's not David Lynch crazy. It's just a simple story that is told in the most difficult way possible. The editing and use of repetition in all aspects of the production make the film feel still very unique. And it keeps it interesting to be honest. The film moves by pretty... well... It's not slow. And you would expect it to be so. It's pretty fucking engaging, in fact. I was trying to put the pieces together the whole time. And it is filled with neat little touches in the way Renais works with sound and passage of time. And really... the repetition in this movie gives me boners. MORE THAN ONE BONER. If there was anything I struggled with, it was probably the music. It's a blaring organ. I guess it's okay... It made me very grateful for the silences... which is funny because I love loud blaring noises. Oh, and the acting is a little theatrical, I generally like really theatrical acting... and it fits in the movie. But man, nothing takes me out of a movie like people hamming it up. It's easy to understand why the movie is occasionally panned for being pretentious (It's sort of feels like the ORIGINAL Artsy foreign flick) but I certainly am more willing to get down with some "pretentiousness" more than most people.

Last Year in Marienbad: MORE THAN ONE BONER.

Trash Humpers - 2009 - Dir. Korine

I was pretty excited about Trash Humpers. Not TOO excited, mind you, being that I had a pretty good idea as to what the film was going to be like: grainy quality, loud noises, people dressed as old people humping, shocking transgressive type humor. It's not always tons of fun to watch. Everytime Korine let out that high pitched scream laugh... UGH! And he certainly does it a lot. So yeah, it can really test the patience sometimes. It runs under ninety minutes, though. You know, something I can appreciate. I can also appreciate the nocturnal urban/suburban landscape. There's some really engrossing shots that carry the mood of walking around at night. I feel like for me, sequences ended up being really terrific or dull/tiring. I definitely feel like the movie gets better as it goes on. As it skirts away from the psuedo conjoined brothers and heads more towards ridiculous type Gummo figures (Sleepy trumpeter being my favorite), I definitely got on the bandwagon. Also the sequence with the haggy prostitutes probably contains one of my favorite cuts in cinema of all time. Korine approached this movie in a way I really appreciate when he made this movie, whether or not it ends up being fun/easy to watch (which I hardly feel is what one should expect to begin with). Scenes were mostly off the cuff and filmed in a short period of time as he and the actors ran around vandalizing and being perverts. I mean, that's just an awesome way to make a movie! And then edit the bitch on a VCR!? As someone who dealt with VHS for most of my life, that's a look I can appreciate.

You know... Movies!

Even Dwarves Started Small - 1970 - Dir. Herzog

You know, I feel like when I started this blog, I didn't have a very strong idea as to what a Herzog movie was like. I had seen a few of his films but never really managed to connect the dots, so to speak. I think, just recently, and prolly through this year of movie watching and basically picking out a shit ton of Herzog movies. Now, I think I'm catching on. My point being, this film is pretty much what I would expect an early Herzog movie to be. It has next to no narrative, basically a premise of mental patients over running an asylum except everyone is played by a dwarf... or excuse everyone IS a dwarf. The movie is basically the patients doing various things. Most of them crazy. They look at a bug collection. Make a truck drive in a circle. Crucify a monkey. Torturing and I believe killing two blind inmates. They regularly try and attack the Warden, who is locked up in his office and holding another inmate hostage. It has a neat sense of humor throughout. There are some moments that are AWESOME and then some that are less awesome. The movie drags, which is what I expected. But it's kind of interesting to see an early Herzog film. The last shot is The Best.

How to make me Happy: Hold this shot for too long and have the Camel eventually poop.

Up and Down - 1993 - Dir. Moullet

AHHHH!!!! Up and Down was adorable. Basically covering a bike race up and down a mountain and the eccentrics doing so. Although the bulk of the film is just people biking up a mountain, it's pretty entertaining. Made up of mostly little jokes, visual or otherwise, the film has a good-natured feel that I was immediately attracted to. It's playful. Featuring a beautiful landscape of what I'm guessing is the French Alps, Moullet also lets us just take in the scenery. It's kind of like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World except the grand prize everyone is racing towards is the pride of getting to the top. Although, I must admit, it does drag. I began to multi-task as the film went on. It can be a little difficult to watch, after all, it's almost an hour and half of biking. An hour would have been perfect, but hey, I'm not complaining. I'd even watch the movie again. It's a shame it's not better known. So far, I think this might be easily my favorite Moullet film. Granted, it was made twenty years after all of the other ones I've seen and of a completely different tone, I feel like it highlights all of Moullet's strongest suits and puts them into a simple form, a film about bicyclists.

Le Velo!

The Tenant - 1976 - Dir. Polansky

This is my first Roman Polansky film in a long while. I think I saw Rosemary's Baby before I should have and the generally over-hyped The Pianist. I suppose The Tenant has everything I would like to see in a movie like this, it's paranoid, strangely humorous, consistant dips into the surreal. It's natural the pacing is a bit slow. Polansky actually makes for a great protagonist. He's a little wormy, a little shy, a little creepy. He's pretty capable of guiding us through this man's degeneration. The film is pretty open-ended as to what has gone on. I assume that the character was nuts as all hell. There's some fairly Kobo Abe-esqe implications in the ending. I always have a soft spot for finding teeth in mysterious holes in the walls, as well. We have a solid enough sense of reality with his friends to make up for the truly weird and suspicious actions of his house mates. Even his eventual transformation into the previous occupant is done pretty slyly. It felt like a gripping enough thriller. It may have been a little disappointing if I was looking for some solid hardcore answers as to why what was going on, and there may have very well been some answers hidden throughout the film. They weren't terribly apparent in MY opinion though.

YEEEAAAHHH ISABELLE ADJANI!

Funny Games - 2008 - Dir. Haneke

Synecdoche, New York - 2008 - Dir. Kaufman

MAN! I had a pretty good hunch that Synecdoche, New York would be depressing and dreary... that still didn't really prepare me for it though. I suppose expected something along the lines of Philip Seymour Hoffman putting forth tons of effort into something that inevitably fails but the film isn't terribly interested in failure, in fact, it seems to chalk it up to that being awfully small scale. I also didn't factor in how friggin weird Charlie Kaufman could be. I don't really know how I forgot how quirky that sonuvabitch could be. Or I don't think I forgot. I didn't realize that he would also be such a friggin' quirky director as well. And pretty damn capable if you ask me. He plays a ton with the passing of time, never in a flashy way, with the same deft hand that writes all those screenplays. It also helps that he has a pretty incredibly cast. I mean TOM NOONAN!? No, seriously though, he's got some great people on board. Samantha Morton was just awesome (and perhaps my favorite) as was her somewhat doppelganger Emily Watson. Hope Davis has a few scenes of complete ridiculousness. And Tom Noonan is pretty bitchin'. Daniel London even has a tiny role as a doof. But naturally, the movie is all about Philip Seymour Hoffman and the bastard can play a sad, neurotic man whose falling apart like nobodies business. The film has a lot going on, and I'm not going to act like I understood it all like say, the house that's constantly on fire. But I can certainly appreciate it, even if it's DREARY AND FULL OF DREAD!

AWWWWW!!!! A precog!

Gozu - 2003 - Dir. Miike

One of my long forgotten (as much as one could forget a film like Gozu) film loves, I unearthed Gozu as an attempt to explain my tastes at a certain point in my life. MAN! I feel like as much as I remembered about this film, I forgot all kinds of things (ie. soup ladle). Slowly, as I watched the film, it all seeped back. Apparently, the film has a lot like Miike, being unsupervised on such a low budget film, running wild. I'm hesitant to believe all the stories but things like improvised scenes and giving the writer only a week to write it give the movie a neat little touch. It is unflinchingly outrageous, but doesn't always feel like its trying to be shocking like Miike's Visitor Q. The film flowed much faster than I remember it. In fact, in retrospect, it probably moves a lot faster than Miike's shorter films. Impressive considering it's two-hour plus (barely) length and what I feel is films like this tendencies to drag. It does have a very satisfying feelings of having traveled a very long way. As the film ends, I remember how it begins and am surprised to have been watching the same movie. Although, I do think perhaps the film could have been edited quite a bit. I'm rather surprised at the films length considering how... well... unnecessary some scenes are. But the films has a distinct feel, and I wouldn't want to touch it.

High five!

A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness - 1977 - Dir. Suzuki

OH MAN! MAN OH MAN! This movie reminded me why I'm such a friggin' diehard fan of Seijun Suzuki. It's been a while since I've seen a new movie of his and I think this was a really good re-introduction. At first, I had no fucking clue as to what was going on. The movie has a really strange way of telling an even more strange premise, which only becomes more bizarre as the movie goes on. It's about a model who is offered 3 million to become a professional golfer in the process of which she gets her own TV show and a crazy stalker. It's basically about this woman who is being molded by almost everyone. If I've gotten anything across to you, it should be that this movie is strange and confusing. In fact, it's nearly nonsensical. NEARLY, being the key word. I feel like Suzuki never gets too abstract. He seems to just want to tell a normal story in a weird way. The movie gets stranger and stranger and visually, Suzuki is just a master. I dunno, I'm gushing. I know. I guess, when a movie takes the kind of twists and turns that this one does and ends in such an explosive climax but still manages to grip tightly on a spirit of playfulness, it's an achievement. Nothing looks like a Suzuki movie when he's on his game. And more importantly, nothing feels like a Suzuki movie.

Enjoy Golf!

Barton Fink - 1991 - Dir. Coen

Another movie I've seen before. But it's been a while. Even so, Barton Fink has always held a place in my heart and mind. Often time, since I started watching movies I viewed from back in the day. I'm starting to see little trends and how these films fed over into my writing, which I think is terribly interesting. Barton Fink, I think, must have been SUPER inspirational. I dunno, the way they handle story-telling and atmosphere. SIGH. They're just pretty damn neat is all. Even though I remembered chunks of the movie, like the Fiery ending. I forgot the little touches. Like Chet! And his crazy entrance. The movie isn't terribly interested in answering many questions and the Coen's have come out and said that there isn't exactly an over-reaching message, at least, one they planned out. But everything feels connected in a sense, the movie flows naturally. And also much faster than I remember. I had distinct memories of it dragging but as I'm a bit older and perhaps more comfortable to slowly paced films, it felt pretty light. Although, I'm not sure light is really a word you should use to describe Barton Fink. Although, at the same time, the movie is terrifically entertaining. :D

Man, John Goodman is just the coolest.

Julien Donkey-Boy - 1999 - Dir. Korine

As I watched Julien Donkey-Boy, I enjoyed myself. Rambling characters, rambling scenes, rambling everything. No problems so far. Nothing really seemed to be coming together exactly, but I got the impression the movie was ending soon. I had been watching it for a while, after all. I paused the movie and saw I was a third through. Hrm... maybe this would be trickier than I thought. So yeah, the movie felt a little slow. Maybe not as slow after the first "act." But I remember feeling like Gummo breezed by. I think it was a little more engaging in general. However, Julien Donkey-Boy did get me raise quickly raise my hands to my head in horror/anxiety. Then I wanted to stop watching it. A movie rarely does that to me. But you know, Werner Herzog, Ewan Bremner, and Chloe Sevifsihggrey are all fantastically intense in this. I like to think that Herzog just came on the set with a gas mask and just improvised all his scenes. And there's definitely some sequences that are just incredible. The movie even features some Oval, whose chopped up glitch goes well with the glitchy editing of the film. I especially liked a scene where Julien feeds his brother Chris like a dog but we only speed through it getting seconds of it. So, the film can be pretty slow at times, and not as generally interesting as Gummo but the film certainly has its moments.

Julien, on the set of his rap video with his posse.

Simon of the Desert - 1959 - Dir. Buñuel

Man! I love Luis Buñuel. He's just the best. Did you guys know he's the best? So, yeah, I was a little disappointed with Exterminating Angel, I'll admit it. It was still a great movie and all, and I look back upon it fondly. But Simon of the Desert totally came out of nowhere for me. I didn't really know anything about it apart from it being about a guy living on a pillar. But it's easily one of my more favorite Buñuel movies now, and clocking in at a sveldt 45 minutes (short film!) only makes me happier. It's like having a really satisfying snack. I was enjoying the movie through and through, what with the strangely cynical depiction of religion. Simon performs a miracle of restoring a man his hands and everyone loses interest very quickly, the Man's first act with his hands is to give his kid a healthy whack. The film is filled with quirky asides where Simon consistently mutters unrelated thoughts. What really hit it home for me was the end. I LOVE WEIRD ENDINGS! The film seems to project a real enjoyment for everyone involved. Pinal said it was were favorite film to work with Buñuel on and it shows. Although, I immediately feel like anyone playing Satan in a movie like this must just have a ball. It's like having permission to run around and act like an asshole channeling modern day Al Pacino of Nicholas Cage (yes, they now always play their roles as if they will suddenly be revealed to be Satan). The film is just incredibly satisfying and functions as a really good mark between later Buñuel and his earlier work as well. It's like a 45 minute synthesis.

Simon of the Desert? More liek Simon of GETTING IT ON! YEEEEAAAAAHHHH!!!!

The Exterminating Angel - 1962 - Dir. Buñuel

All right, so when I first learned of the man Luis Buñuel, I looked him up on the Internet. The first picture of his that I was interested in? The Exterminating Angel. Easily, I wanted nothing more than to see this picture. Naturally, it was impossible to find. At least, impossible for a young college student who knew next to nothing about getting his hands on hard to find films. So now... almost six years later (Jesus Christ)... it sneaks up behind me and is released on DVD. I had exhausted my interest in Buñuel about a year after it began, watching EVERYTHING I could and reading what I could/his autobiography. Sometimes I forget how heavily he influenced my writing and my idea of film and art. So I'm a little pissed I've seen Exterminating Angel so many years later, I can't appreciate it the way six years of waiting has built it up to be. Anyway... Angel is classic Buñuel, around Viridiana where he really started to create a form, this is Luis sharpening his knife. You can see bits of his later work. The quiet surrealism. The upper class (although really that was his whole career). It feels reminiscent of his Discreet Charm era or I suppose that should be reversed. The story? Dinner guests find themselves trapped in their Host's Living Room. As hours become days, they fight for their survival and their humanity. Buñuel plays a lot with repetition. Perhaps most noticeably when the dinner guests arrive twice and have the same set of dialogue, but the script is peppered with repeating sets of dialogue. And I fucking LOVE repeating dialogue. Almost as much as I love a pack of sheep wandering around the mansion. SHEEEEP! While Exterminating Angel might be a disappointment for those of us who have waited six years. It's still Buñuel doing what he does best, taking a dinner party and making it weird as all hell. ;)

YEEEAAAAHHHH!!!! SHEEP! DO YOU SEE THOSE SHEEP!? GUYS! LOOK AT THOSE SHEEP!

Gummo - 1997 - Dir. Korine

I am puzzled by Harmony Korine. And I'm sure he doesn't mind that. I'm not really sure where I get tripped up. Somewhere between his attitude of a project to the final product... I get confused. You see, he seems pretty great. I REALLY JUST CAN'T TELL! I can't always tell if I think his sort of surreal trashy shocking aesthetic is really something I get behind. I think I do. He seems a little pretentious. But I dunno, I've grown tired of disliking someone because they're pretentious. And I don't even know if he is. Generally, when he talks about his movies, I'm kinda like: "Hey, guy. That's a pretty reasonable thing to say and I just might think I agree with ya, ya know?" But wait, I haven't really said a thing about Gummo. Although, indirectly, I really have. But Gummo is basically a series of vignettes of a town still reeling from the effects of an F-5 Tornado (THE FINGER OF GOD!!!). The film is basically everything it wants to be, I imagine. I enjoyed watching it. I'm not going to act like I didn't. I thought it was a delightful. That's right, that's the word I'm going to use. It runs around, showing us the crazy things it's doing. It looks good. It sounds good. It's edited good. It's even under 90 minutes long. I have no complaints about the movie until I start thinking of how I fear that Korine is a huge asshole. I realize he doesn't have real intents in much of what he does. A lot of it is in the persuit of an image which is SO FUCKING COOL. But then I get all Old School on the thing and I feel a little torn. He's like John Waters but... I dunno, artsy. That's not exactly true. He doesn't work with camp really as much. I suppose I like him. I don't feel like my shame of pretension is really grounds to badmouth the film. He really does manage to create some gripping images. I'm sort of ashamed that I even bothered to mention the pretension thing here. But hell, what can ya do? Make out with two sorta weird looking/attractive girls in a pool while wearing bunny ears, I guess. Oh yeah, and the music was awesome.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! THERE IS BACON TAPED TO THE WALL!

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - 1972 - Dir. Buñuel

A movie I actually owned and remained unwatched except for the initial VHS copy I rented, I ran out and bought it on DVD making sure to never watch it again for whatever reason. Back in the days when dropping Forty bucks on a movie (CRITERION!!!) was more of a gesture more than a desire to actually own the movie. I dunno. I seemed to buy a bunch of movies I never bothered to watch. This was followed by a prompt refusal to purchase ANY DVDs at all. My purchases function in extremes apparently. ANYWAY, a later Buñuel film, meaning the days of eyes being sliced open and scorpions killing themselves are over, The Discreet Charm is distant and paced slowly (perhaps even politely). Letting us sink somewhat in the world of our Bourgeoisie hosts. Despite the restrained exterior, the film bursts with strangeness. The film while often remaining a respectful distance general, will close-in to inspect the world. Pulling from a purse, Fernando finds some lettuce, other vegetables, an old key to dreams, and a handgun. You know, she's a TERRORIST. Upon receiving urgent orders, soldiers take the time for their sergeant to relate an amusing dream to them. The film only gets weirder as characters begin dreaming their get-togethers. Or dreaming get-togethers FOR each other. It becomes an amusing mishmash. I must admit, though, my attention wandered as the film went on. The film manages to maintain a fairly quiet tone and goes on some pretty out there tangents, it's bound to happen this would make the film drag a little. But I suppose, when I get right down to it, it doesn't stop me from enjoying or appreciating the film.

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