Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Zombieland" (2009)
A nerd (Jesse Eisenberg), a bad ass (Woody Harrelson) and two conniving sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) form an unlikely bond as they travel across a zombie-ravaged USA in search of an undead-free zone. A funny ultra-violent action horror comedy that's held up well to repeat viewings.

[M.10rda]

if you haven't seen it and are reading this, check out Dinner in America.  It's probably my favorite film of the 2020s, great stuff.

DINNER IN AMERICA (2021):
My first viewing but I think Madame's third. She really likes this one, which is somewhat surprising though I'm a-okay with it. This is a highly (uhhh) "frank", abrasive, vulgar, rather uncompromising comedy... usually my wife hews towards more pleasant and genteel laughs, so it's good to know she can still handle some crudity. Even in the first five or ten minutes I pegged DINNER AS AMERICA as a Hal Hartley screenplay after a pass by John Waters... like vicious 70s John Waters, not the kindly old gentlemen we know today.

As it turns out, DINNER IN AMERICA follows exactly the same major plot beats and central relationship dynamic as Hal Hartley's TRUST, against a similar suburban/dystopian backdrop. Again, I ain't quite mad about that, as TRUST is my second favorite film of all time. DINNER IN AMERICA switches out TRUST's nerd protagonists for punks and the acting, dialogue, direction, music, and thematic impact are all of a less intellectual and generally less persuasive quality than that of Hartley's film... but then I could say that about pretty much every other film I've ever seen, as well. TRUST had an incredible impact on me on me when I was 15 (evidently, per my user image!). It didn't sell me a bill of goods about life's challenges magically evaporating, but it did assure me that I might maintain my sense of integrity, refrain from blowing myself or anyone else up, and possibly meet a nice redhead in the process............ all of which indeed came to pass! So, I'm all in favor of DINNER IN AMERICA repackaging that affirmative message for a younger generation.

4/5    Seriously though, faint praise aside, writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeier is admirably clear-headed about his self-destructive protagonist on one hand and still capable of lulling the viewer into some swoony romance on the other. Adorable female lead Emily Skeggs helps a lot! 

[lester1/2jr]

Hagazussa (2017) - I wrote a review before but forgot to click post. Here is my drunken best recollection of that review:

The VVitch was a bit of a stretch for some horror fans. Hagazussa is way more of a stretch and will probably mostly appeal to indy movie fans. If VVitch was Black Sabbath, Hagazussa is a slower and even weirder band. I was annoyed because I couldn't figure out what was going on for the first 30 minutes, but ultimately enjoyed the glacial pace because it's different than most movies and I'm always starved for variety. Also, it's winter and the movie has a lot of snow.

A girl lives in the mountains above a village in the 15 century with her weird Mom. I bring up the VVitch because others have and because it has some similar things: goats, religious weirdness, and intense isolation for starters. Anyway, horrible dark turmoil and stomach churning grossness are soon on the menu. When she's double crossed by someone from the town, she gets revenge in a way that I will never forget. I liked also when she goes to the local church and they have a huge pile of human skulls.

I went to wikipedia and read the summary and there were definitely things I missed. If you are going to have 4 things in a movie, you should explain those things pretty well. I liked Hagazussa enough that I remembered how to spell the title, I just wish everything had been a little clearer plot-wise.

4/5

[zombie no.one]

If VVitch was Black Sabbath, Hagazussa is a slower and even weirder band.

The Osmonds? 

I was put off seeing THE WITCH when I found out Ralph Inneson is in it... not cause I don't like him, but because he was so perfect as 'Finchy' in THE OFFICE that I know I wouldn't be able to un-see that character in any other character he plays or movie / tv show he's in

[M.10rda]

I think it's okay to skip THE WITCH. I know many admire it a great deal and I dig the effort that went into it, but I was very underwhelmed when I got to its destination. I was prepared to chalk that up to my own user error, but then I had a quite similar response to NOSFERATU so maybe I'm just not a Robert Eggers guy.

[zombie no.one]

I think it's okay to skip THE WITCH. I know many admire it a great deal and I dig the effort that went into it, but I was very underwhelmed when I got to its destination.

yeah one of my brothers loves it. I'm really not a 'new horror' guy for the most part.... I did recently pick up HEART EYES (I think you actually recommended that one?) but the damn disc won't load in my bluray player!

[M.10rda]

That was a mild recommendation, iirc... maybe a 3/5. It is surprisingly gory!

[zombie no.one]

found it cheap anyway, will not lose sleep if it doesn't do it for me when I eventually watch it. 

[lester1/2jr]

If VVitch was Black Sabbath, Hagazussa is a slower and even weirder band.

The Osmonds? 

It's not THAT crazy

[M.10rda]

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (2025):
This is my first Wes Anderson in quite a while, which is no slight against Anderson. I haven't watched any new Coens or Hartleys in the last decade or longer, either (or Miikes, of which there surely have been two dozen or more). Basically I watch nothing new anymore unless Madame 10rda suggests it, so I thank her for this one. I gather the critical response was muted and PHOENICIAN SCHEME rec'd no major Award nominations (Anderson usually does well in this dept) but for all its glibness, vagueness, and equivocality, I quite enjoyed it and actually it might be my third favorite Anderson (of the old ones) after RUSHMORE and LIFE AQUATIC.

It is very Anderson-y and thus perhaps I benefitted from a vacation. (I like it more than GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, which I liked fine and which is very similar in plot and somewhat in theme, and which did nicely w/ Oscars.) But on the other hand Anderson seems to be wearing his influences more baldly on his sleeve, which gives TPS a distinct flavor from old Andersons. The influences he's acknowledged are Bunuel and Renoir (which are clear) as well as Powell/Pressberger (which I don't see though apparently those guys are ingrained in the DNA of all white male directors). But in TPS I also see a lot more of Greenaway and Kubrick than in older Andersons; also Guy Maddin and maybe Jean-Pierre Jenuet; and most bracingly: Jodorowsky. That old maniac is inescapable in the final act, but also in Anderson's incredible application of relatively meager resources. Remember that THE HOLY MOUNTAIN cost $750,000 in early 70s dollars but looks like  a hundred million onscreen. PHOENICIAN SCHEME cost $30 million, in dollars which don't go as far today as they used to, but every cent of it and then some are in the frame. (It also grossed 133% of its budget, so it performed a lot better than errr some recent films I could mention.)

On that note, I'm tempted also to read some political criticality in TPS which I've largely found absent from other Andersons. Benicio Del Toro's Zsa Zsa Korda is a gruff, graceless cypher, and initially appears spiritually hollow. He's essentially estranged from his many children (at least emotionally) and has no visible relationship to any community besides the functionaries on his payroll. Korda's closest relationships appear to be w/ a network of foreign plutocrats who are at best amused by him but most often shocked and incensed by his ignorance, recklessness, and refusal to function logically or transparently. The global community largely wishes death upon Korda, who represents to them an existential threat. Korda's stupefyingly intricate, perhaps willfully impenetrable plotting are motivated by shifting and counterintuitive motives which may be opaque even to Korda himself. That sounds like absolutely no current world leader I'm familiar with. 

But, particularly unlike any such current figure I'm familiar with, Korda comes to Jesus during the course of THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME. He finds true humility and selflessness in the senseless pageantry of his campaigning. This turn of events seems especially unlikely to be reflected in similar real-world affairs (okay, impossible). But instead of seeming naive, Anderson's fantasia is one of those fabulous funhouse mirror acts that left me wishing I could keep living on Planet Anderson as the credits rolled.

5/5