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MikeyB1793
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American Rust (2021)
A labyrinth
The first season was OK. Got a good view of the characters with a reasonably straight-forward plot.
The second season just descended into a mire of sub-plots and I gave up mid-way thru. Some of it was implausible, like Jeff Daniels stumbling and searching through the woods at night and finding the dead detective - as if. I got tired of the cigarette lighter, with the recording device, constantly changing hands. I lost track of who had it.
It was like reading a book with one hundred chapters, with each chapter having nothing to do with the previous one. It led to confusion and then simple disengagement - as in, I don't care anymore.
The mood throughout was sombre and grim with very little comic relief. Kind of a waste.
Io capitano (2023)
Unique film
On migration from Africa.
This is both an entrancing and visceral film on migration from Africa, in this case from Senegal. The two main actors give convincing and wonderful performances filled with humanity.
This film brings right to the surface the harrowing experience of migration in this part of the world. The cinematography is overwhelming and takes right into the dynamics and hard decisions that these two young men had to make in their journey to Italy.
The film stops abruptly upon reaching Italy, and I felt this was the right decision. The film is on the journey going there, not on their adaptation to a new country.
I watched the DVD outtakes and it is based on the true experience of a refugee who spent three years incarcerated in Libya. One can only imagine how awful that was.
Drift (2023)
About PTSD
This is a slow moving and original film - and you have to be patient with it. It does have a culmination, and you begin to sense what has happened to our main actor about mid-way through the film.
You can start to feel the anguish and the reticence of our protagonist. Something has occurred to entirely disrupt and shatter her life. The young American tour guide she encounters is initially oblivious to all of this - but there begins to be a revelation.
There is a juxtaposition between the idyllic Greek scenery and coast-line with the tormented world that our protagonist has escaped. This is the great strength of the film - this difference of two separate but colliding worlds that are not so far apart.
King Coal (2023)
Bland
I was expecting something much more incisive about these troubled coal producing regions. There is just an inkling of that - with some funerals and the historical animosity towards unions. But most of the time the film just drifts along with children walking in the woods and sauntering by streams. It's all very lyrical and poetic.
Nothing is said about the current opiate addiction problems. Little about the health problems of miners. Everybody looks reasonably content and happy. Not a hint of how the decaying coal industry has ravaged the lives of these people.
Looking at the homes shown - they all look middle class with not a hint of poverty. We are viewing a Potemkin village in rustic West Virginia or Kentucky.
Invisible Beauty (2023)
Riveting!
I am not one to be very interested in the fashion industry - but this was a wonderful biography of. Bethann Hardison.
She is a remarkable woman who was an activist and trailblazer. She made the fashion industry recognize and utilize the talents of Black people (mostly women). This documentary really captures very well her vitality and resilience. She overcame so many obstacles.
The film points out so well that she had to persist in pursuing her cause of putting Black women into the forefront of the fashion industry. There were times during when it would regress back to an all-white viewing industry.
I found her portrayal in this biographical documentary captured Bethann Hardisons' energy. I knew nothing of her prior to watching this film - but now get a feel of this phenomenal human being. What a life she lived!
Les filles d'Olfa (2023)
There is potential
But the story-line becomes so muddled up in aimless dialogue.
This is about a very dysfunctional mother and her four daughters. The two eldest join the ISIS (DAESH) cult - but the two youngest become secular. It all takes place in Tunisia.
This would have been far more effective as a straight-forward documentary - rather than having long, tedious re-enactments of what took place during their lives. These re-enactments seemed much more of a catharsis for the actors - and imparted little to us, the audience. These scenes were so artificial with a director standing by telling the actors what to do.
Overly long, and requiring substantial editing.
The Last Bus (2021)
Too much pathos
It just goes on and on. His wife dies, then we find out his baby died - and later learn that he too is dying after a brief stay in a hospital.
There is an overload of clichés - bad hotel rooms, rude people on buses, arguments with racists... People helping him out - and even this became maudlin.
Even though the film is about an hour and half - it seemed too lengthy. How many times do we have to see our hero stumbling on lonely country roads and sitting in dilapidated bus shelters.
He dances and he sings - its' all a little too much. The director uses every trope in the book to coax us into laughing and/or crying. And there's a complete lack of humour.
The scenery is nice.
Mon crime (2023)
Boring
Was this made by AI? The script was banal. The jokes insipid.
I realized after about 20 minutes in that I couldn't care less about any of these characters - who were really dull, dim-witted caricatures.
It reminded of a high school play.
It had no energy, no originality whatsoever.
Don't waste your time on this supposedly comedy melodrama about actresses in Paris in the 1930s.
Was it suppose to be a costume drama, a comedy, a who done it ...? It constantly used tropes that have been used in other movies. It was sterile nonsense.
Why do I have to keep writing to meet the minimum word count to make a review for this stupid movie?
What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears? (2023)
the politics of entertainment
Even though I was never a big fan of Blood, Sweat, And Tears (BST) this movie did capture my attention.
In the 1970s they went on a tour of what was then Yugoslavia, Romania, and Poland (Warsaw). They had different degrees of success in each country. And it was the first time a Rock band went on tour behind the Iron Curtain. They did cause a turmoil in some places. I can only imagine what the reception of the Stones would have been like!!! The audience and government found BST a little bit too much, what would they have thought of Mick and the gang!
BST was against the Vietnam War - and had similar "left-wing" positions. But after the tour, they had the effrontery to say that the West and U. S. were still far more liberal and tolerant than these Iron Curtain countries. This brought them criticism from the left (like "Rolling Stone" magazine) who called them pawns of the State Department, the CIA... - and they were still criticized by the conservatives for their anti-Vietnam war stance. So they became the enemy of many disparate groups.
The political parts of the documentary were of interest, but all the praise of BST as being the best rock group since the Beatles was hyperbolic and over the top. It made the documentary overly long.
The Stones & Brian Jones (2023)
a troubled man
This is an unblemished look at Brian Jones and the band he helped to create.
It shows Brian as a very troubled individual who abused women, was a substance abuser - and essentially lost control of himself.
It was like he couldn't compete and adjust to the fast-paced changes that were part of the Stones during the 1960s.
This is a very personal documentary with many interviews - of the band members, of Brian's wife and girlfriends, plus of his parents. With his parents, he could never find acceptance, and this is very sad indeed.
The documentary also high-lights the musical contributions he made to the band.
Aftersun (2022)
More than mundane
Poorly filmed, useless dialogue leading nowhere.
Long scenes of people snoring, sitting by the pool, the beach.
It's amateur night - as in this is my summer vacation with dear old dad
Why would anyone care??
There is not much feeling conveyed. There was one nice scene of them buying a carpet. Did they even bargain - this is Turkey after all.
There is absolutely no sense of location - it could have been filmed anywhere . Did Dad bother to take her to see any cultural sites.? No mood is imparted through-out with no sense of character development - except to be cute
Thank God for the fast-forward button. A real bore-fest. Had nothing to say.
Little Bird (2023)
Significant History
It is high time that Canadians be exposed to this part of their history. The ignorance and extreme hostility displayed by the Canadian government towards First Nations people is not only appalling, but criminal.
In this film, we see government officials (police) virtually kidnap and remove children from their parents in the province of Saskatchewan, and give them to government adoption agencies
One fortunately had a decent upbringing in Montreal - and she wants to come in contact (like anyone would) with her ancestral roots in Saskatchewan. We follow her journey there as she unravels the puzzle of what happened to her siblings and parents. It's an emotional and cathartic experience.
Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (2008)
Moving story
A very tender and moving story of an Inuit man, who in the 1950s goes for treatment of TB at a hospital in Quebec City. We view his cultural shock at this new environment where he cannot speak the language (French) and barely understands what his treatment is.
There may be some who object to the benevolent hospital and religious attendants, but this may be missing the point of this beautifully told story of how an individual survives and copes under new circumstances.
It is wonderfully filmed, and we feel the emotional side of his plight and those who are in the hospital with him. We need more films like this.
So-seol-ga-ui yeong-hwa (2022)
Blah-Blah-Blah
There is just so much talking that goes on and on and on. Our main character is having a writer's block and wants to make a film.
She (the writer) meets up with old and new friends, and they chat endlessly, with little being accomplished.
The initial setting is in bookstore cafe - then she goes to a lookout in a skyscraper where she meets with a film director, after they wander in a park where they meet an actress. There are a few subdued insults now and then. With the actress she goes to have lunch - and after they return to the bookstore. The actress gets drunk. Towards the end there is a screening of the writer's film of which we see and know nothing. That's about it.
Yangguang puzhao (2019)
Epic Family Journey
We are taken on an intense trek through this family's many ups and downs.
Their son is sent to juvenile prison and he becomes the pariah - more so for the father, who almost denies his son's existence. The son has also made his young girlfriend pregnant - and she comes to live with them. So there are many complications that are all intertwined.
When the son is released from prison he is slowly pulled backed into his previous lifestyle. He is unable to resist.
All this is done in a very nuanced way. There are no heroes here, and all are portrayed as vulnerable human beings. Just people who struggle on life's path. The ending does have resolution.
Land (2018)
On the Reserve
This is authentic enough with no glamorization.
The scenery, though interesting, is forlorn, and we feel the isolation of this reserve.
It is slow-paced, the characters sometimes don't have a great deal to say. Don't look at this if you are an action movie fan.
It's far more about character interaction and relationships, and the struggle to overcome alcohol abuse and poverty
It's also about the death of a son in Afghanistan. And to some extent it is about revenge and frustration with a slow fuse burning.
It is a glimpse of life we seldom bother to think about. Overall, this was worthwhile.
Yin ru chen yan (2022)
Rural
How often does one see movies portraying rural China? This is decidedly rural and poor. The two protagonists - husband and wide - are both illiterate and barely eke out an existence on the Chinese soil.
Seldom have I seen two people working so hard as in this film. They, and their donkey - are always working - planting crops, building a mud-house, harvesting, loading their buggy which is pulled by their donkey. There is no engine powered machinery in this movie - just muscles.
It also becomes a romance - as the couple initially endure each other (it was an arranged marriage) and then become respectful and then loving of each other.
It's visually interesting - and a look into another culture and way of life. There is not much of a story arc.
To Kill a Tiger (2022)
Harrowing
This is a documentary about a 13 year old girl who was gang-raped by three men.
The father wants to have legal action against the rapists who live in the same village. Most in the villagers are opposed to this - and do not want to have outside investigators involved. Their solution is for the girl to marry one of the rapists and get on with her life. Such is the moral code in rural India.
The girl and her family are having none of this and get assistance from a gender rights group in India. They pursue the case and assist the family in getting legal processes against the three rapists. Eventually they do succeed, despite many obstacles in the girl's community.
This is harrowing film showing us the many road-blocks that exist in India for gender equality.
Girl Walk: All Day (2011)
So Much Fun
Feeling low, a little depressed, under the weather - then watch this. It's vibrant, exuberant, highly creative, and full of energy.
Add zany and funny as well. What's there not to like!
There's no real story here - just dancing in the streets, sidewalks, subways, Staten Island Ferry in New York City - and even in some stores. Some people interact, some smile, some pretend not to see.
There are three main dancers, but mostly Anne Marsen. Her smile and dancing are contagious. She fills the screen with her flamboyant energy.
It's a GREAT advertisement for New York City. Highly recommended - more so for dance fans.
A Town Called Victoria (2023)
Superb documentary
This was a superb investigative documentary of the deliberate burning of a mosque in the town of Victoria, Texas.
We view the town and its attitude to the mosque from many different perspectives. There is a long history of racial prejudice - of Black, of Hispanics, and now of Muslim people. It is also a town imbued with a strong conservative mentality,
Another strength of this documentary is its focus on the personal. We see how this hateful act affected the people who worked to build up and attend this mosque over the years. And also those in the community who were genuinely shocked and showed great empathy to the Muslim community. This gave a very positive aspect to the film. Also, the fact that there was an investigation and a trial for justice of those who made the fire, helps this community to rebuild itself - hopefully to be better and more understanding.
Swan Song (2021)
Highly Original
It just goes to show that you don't need a whole bunch of special effects and explosions to make a great movie.
This is such an original story of an older man who was a hairdresser, escapes the.home for the elderly he is living at - to do one last hair dressing job. He returns to the small town that he worked at - and encounters some of his old acquaintances.
All this unfolds in a very unique way.
There is sadness and comedy. We get to know his past life and what he endured as a gay man in a small town - Sandusky,Ohio.
A most enjoyable film - that stays with you after the credits go down. Udo Kier is outstanding in the main role.
La nuit du 12 (2022)
Intense detective thriller
This was a superb and grimly realistic detective story. It follows the investigation of a woman who was brutally murdered by gasoline poured on her and then being set afire.
We follow the detectives as they attempt to unravel this mindless crime - and themselves become victims of it. They are immersed as they interview various friends of the murdered woman. They try to unravel who could possibly have done such a horrendous act. Years pass as the detectives desperately try to find the guilty person. The crime does not leave them
The dialogue is thoughtful and penetrating. At one stage we are simply told that the woman was a victim not because of her past, but because she was woman.
Susie Searches (2022)
Fun Movie
This was pleasant to watch. Don't think too much about the plot - there are loop-holes (like how did Susie manage to kidnap Jesse??!!)
All the characters are a good fit, with lots of comedic moments. It's a movie that got better as it went along, with good twists and turns.
The music was also apt - very Hitchcockian. Susie is very endearing - and so are most of the other characters, like her friends, the police, professors. Co-workers at the fast-food joint... It never takes itself too seriously, with even the tense moments in the basement being rather tongue-in-cheek.
Definitely worth a watch!
892 (2022)
Strong performance
This was a masterful performance by John Boyega. It is very nuanced and complex. This film could easily have disintegrated into histrionics of a long hostage siege in the bank, but it doesn't.
It's tense and thoughtful through-out - more so the relationship between Boyega and the two bank tellers, and between Boyega and his wife and daughter.
His acting gives a very strong feeling of an individual who has been forced into a position he does not really want to be in - but was propelled there by long frustrations with veteran's affairs and the bureaucracy. This is a very strong character film. If you are looking for sustained, loud action scenes, do not watch this.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)
Wonderful!!!
Great coming-of-age story.
It covers so many themes and does it so well! A perfect performance by Abby Ryder Fortson in the lead role.
It covers school cliques (from a girl's perspective), menstrual period, puberty changes, religious indoctrination, adjusting to a new school. All kinds of stuff about growing up! The role of grand-parents - and conflict with your own parents. Probably quite true to life.
The whole process of fitting in (or not) and the meaning of friendship. It does take you on a turbulent roller-coaster - and it's never dull, with some funny scenes sprinkled in!
The young girl is searching for the truth. A wonderful film for all ages.