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Reviews
Pusher (1996)
Push It To The Limit
I'd like to preface this review with a disclaimer. As of writing this, I have not watched either of this film's sequels (which I do intend to do shortly). This means that I currently lack the full scope of the Pusher trilogy, but with that being said this film still stood alone for 8 years before Pusher II's release. Not that it really matters though, as I find this to be an excellent stand-alone film regardless of what the trilogy as a whole might hold.
If anything I bring this up as I personally didn't love Winding Refn's Hollywood hit "Drive" (2011), and as such, did not expect to enjoy this movie as much as I did.
In latent terms, Pusher (1996) tells the story of drug dealer Frank who proceeds to experience one of the most intense downward spirals I've witnessed on celuloid. Both in subject and part in style Pusher reminds me a lot of Gaspar Noe's "Enter the Void" (2009), which is a good movie in its own right.
I draw this comparison to say that whilst this film is smaller in scope, it still reaches even higher levels of pure intensity. I say this not to mock Enter the Void, but to express just how raw the energy that pours out of every scene in this movie feels.
Anyway I probably shouldn't dwell on other movies anyone likely to read this hasn't seen anyway, but rather explain my thoughts on this film further.
Three things really help this specific crime thriller stand out to me, over so many other similar films. These are: the nuanced, well acted characters, the great use of music and the incredibly dynamic use of the camera.
In essence though, this movie is honestly pretty simple. In ways this is beneficial but it is also my biggest complaint, if you could even call it one. What I mean is that this movie lacks any major gravitas, and if you break it down, it is ultimately a relatively cut and dry thriller. Pusher is no emotionally potent analysis of life itself nor is it an epic, vast in scope and magnitude. What Pusher is, is a damn good boiling pot, of a crime thriller, which is also all I really need it to be.
Rating: 8-/10.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Third Act Syndrome
Mild spoilers ahead*
I'm just going to start off by saying 10 Cloverfield Lane is a truly frustrating film. Now I'm not talking about the simple frustration I feel when watching a truly bad film, I'm talking about something far more annoying. Simply put this movie is for the most part seriously good, but also unfortunately has a honestly plain bad last 20 minutes.
For modern horror movies I find this (a bad ending) to be a frustratingly common trope that affects otherwise good horror movies. It just seems like these films can't hold themselves back from transforming into lackluster miasmas of action, as soon as the ending starts to come into view. For this specific film though, this issue unfortunately runs even deeper than that.
10 Cloverfield Lane is actually adapted from the screenplay: "The Cellar". Somewhere along someone decided to force this script into being a part of the Cloverfield franchise which hugely retracts from this film. The whole ending is genuinely almost comically disingenuous toward the rest of the picture, and really does salt the overall experience.
Getting that off my chest, let us talk about all the things this film does well for a bit. The plot (apart from the ending) is a huge highlight and feels both fresh, as well as just promising in general. A story about someone waking up in a doomsday shelter not knowing if the world is ending or not outside, whilst feeling internal pressure from a psychotic doomsday prepper is awesome! What's more is that the movie for around the first 90 minutes is really exciting and thought provoking. It's not like only the idea is good, but it is very well excecuted to boot.
The good doesn't end there either as the acting is great, especially from John Goodman who delivers his very best performance to date. Now I'm not saying that the movie is a masterpiece aside from the ending, the music is quite generic and at times some scenes will feel a little cheesy. For every cheesy scene though, there is a great and truly memorable one. For instance that one scene with the barrel, is one I won't forget soon!
All this to say that the ending really hurts me. I very much liked most of the film, but it genuinely feels like the possibility of calling this film great is stolen away from me by the ending (that also happens to have very obvious, cheap franchising agenda). So whilst I want to love this film and give it something like a solid 7, I simply cannot when the whole unfortunately doesn't add up.
Rating: 6+/10.
V for Vendetta (2005)
"Beneath this mask there is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof."
In 1982 acclaimed writer Alan Moore published his comic book "V for Vendetta". 23 years later this film adaptation, going by the same name, was released. In short V for Vendetta is an Orwellian dystopia that culminates in a now ever more important satire of the dangers a lack of democracy can bring forth.
On a personal level this film haunts me a little... On one hand it does so many things so well, but on the other, there are more than a few issues I have to take into consideration.
The biggest of the issues unfortunately is the protagonist Evie. Without spoiling anything I can say that she basically boils down to your typical vessel into the film's universe. Her personality frankly isn't strong enough especially when compared to a certain other character this movie contains. Furthermore there are some at times rather goofy action sequences that do pull me out of the film a little. In connection to these scenes, but also just in general, there are some odd editing choices as well as some overblown sound effects.
Getting that off my chest though I can finally talk about the substantially bigger amount of things this film does very well. One thing that shines as bright as the sun when it comes to this here picture, is the central character V. Zed character is a sort of terrorist leader played eccentrically by Hugo Weaving. V not only gives the film something of a backbone in the first place, but also makes the viewing experience a hundred times more enjoyable than it would be without his unforgettable inclusion.
Speaking of V his mask is one of the most iconic in film history and as such leads us to the movie's remarkable set and costume design. The bleak version of London we see in this film (which undoubtedly is inspired by a certain German movement) sets the perfect scenery for a story such as this.
Now the story being told here is also obviously phenomenal which in my opinion is the most important factor to be considered about a film in the first place. Then there is the villain played by John Hurt who acts as striking critique on dictators overall, and so on, so forth.
There is truly so much to love about this film and while there are also unfortunately some quite noticable issues that redact a little from the experience, this is still at the end of the day a wonderful and genuinely important satiric sci-fi/action film.
Rating: 7+/10.
Halloween (1978)
Transcending independent cinema.
Now Halloween (1978) isn't a perfect film. In fact it really does have a lot of problems. For one the acting is at times just plain bad, the story has more than a few cheesy turns and of course round and about every horror trope can be found here. Okay so I was joking about that last one. I know very well that Halloween helped create these tropes to begin with.
As i got to mentioning a little just now, this film is indeed incredibly influential and a true classic of the 70s. The slasher genre would undoubtedly not be what it is today, without this here film. So ingenuity is one-hundred percent not missing here.
There might be quite a few issues to be had with the movie, but to be completely honest I really don't care that much. This film has an incredibly large ammount of charm and the way the cast and crew worked around their budgetary issues via for example painting pieces of paper, so they look like leaves, is just so inspiring. Another example is how they used a Star Trek mask for the now world famous mask used within the film. These are just a few instances of exactly what I find so inspiring when it comes to filmmaking. In other words the love and care is for us all to see here, and I love that.
Anyway let's stop beating around the bush. The score that Carpenter created for this film is among the ten most iconic scores ever composed. It is not only memorable, but also incredibly stimulating and haunting. A perhaps lesser talked about aspect of this film is the expert cinematography, which helps immensly to create the thick, dark atmosphere the film has.
If Halloween it came out today, I might not be as leniant toward it, but I mean it came out in 1978 which all things considered is pretty damn impressive. I really like this film and I honestly really miss these incredible 70-80s horror films that defined the genre.
7+/10.
Unfriended (2014)
Symphony of excrement
Horror as a genre has undoubtedly been suffering for a long time now. It seems more and more as if there is no artistry or passion to be found within 90% of the genre any longer. Unfriended (2014) contrary to what some will say is not only a perfect example of this notion but also disastrously incompetent on quite literally every single level.
Now let's begin with the positives! The idea of a horror movie entirely on someone's computer isn't inherently bad. Okay that's that, now the negatives. So okay the idea is fairly exciting and Unfriended should if nothing else at least be unique. Still even with this going for it, the film manages to create the most basic, contrived story of "oh no ghost in computer make everyone kill themselves".
Some might say I shouldn't think about it too hard and just enjoy the story being told. Unfriended however disagrees with them and makes it completely impossible to take anything that happens remotely seriously. Why? Well because the universe the film builds up is entirely without any sort of consistency. An example of this would be how all the characters suddenly are muted when it benefits the script when other times we can in fact hear everyone in the Skype call talking even when our protagonist isn't interacting with them (like it should be all of the time).
Anyway aside from the countless "not how computers work" plotholes everything feels incredibly fabricated and becomes painfully predictable. For example one goofball gets possessed at one point and shoves his hand into a blender. Coincidentally around twenty minutes earlier he for no apparent reason decides to show off his common household blended to everyone in the call? This indeed happens to happen for every death in the film and is so unsubtle that I have to wonder if not this film is actually meant for chimpanzees instead of human beings.
Another time the computer ghost forces these idiots to play a game of "never have I ever" in which they of course start arguing with each other instead of, oh I don't know, worrying about their entire lives that are at play!? Oh and then there is of course the fact that the filmmakers decide to slap on "scary sound effects" to I guess try to scare you. Contrarily however these sound effects completely shatter the crumbling illusion that everything that happens in the film actually happens on the computer screen.
Finally whilst on the subject of the plot I have to mention what has to be the most unintentionally hilarious sequences in a film ever. What I'm talking about is when our protagonist decides to log onto Chatroulette in hopes of getting someone to call the police for her. Aside from the insane stupidity of the concept of this scene it is just hilarious to watch her ridiculous ranting (that no real person on a chat site like this would ever take seriously). If this were indeed a comedy this would have been a pretty funny scene but no this is in fact supposed to be a "scary" and "serious" movie. Finally some horrible actress actually calls the police for her which the film naturally completely forgets about as soon as the scene ends.
So anyway, the whole story sucks. What's more is that everything else also happens to suck. The acting is so bad that I at times had to wonder if the actors were human or just aliens pretending to be human. The script clearly doesn't know how a human (especially a young one) acts. All I really need to prove this point is this fabulous line "Dude, this glitch just typed".
What really angers me though is not that the film is incompetent, it's the fact that this movie decides to waste your time with some of the longest, most boring and slow "typing a message" sequeces ever imagineable. This horrendous excuse for padding the length reaches such depths of terrible to the point where the protagonist writes out a message for about a minute only to delete it and start all over again, or when she sits and fumbles with copy+pasting a message for like an entire minute. All this for what? To help the "film" hit the popular 90-minute mark? I suppose so but even then the film fails that too which at least makes this piece of garbage a fairly short experience.
Finally I'd like to conclude this review by talking about the gloriously awful ending we have at play. So basically what happens is that the computer screen we've been watching is shut which leads to the most obnoxious jumpscare imaginable. This then leads to the credits which are accompanied by the default text font on a plain black background, with some awful dubstep song slathered all over it.
I don't like having to be this critical towards art. In this ase though I can't feel even a little bad as this clearly is a huge, cheap and very commercially succesfull cash grab which even at one point parodies a real pre-suicide video whilst at the same time trying to promote an anti-cyberbullying agenda.
Don't watch this movie!
Rating: 1/10.
Agora (2009)
Decent biography about an interesting historical figure.
Agora (2009) tells the story of cirka 300AD philosopher Hypatia and does so fairly well. Overall though while the film is by no means bad it suffers from a varity of different issues that hold its relatively good screenplay back.
Now Agora is a biography but as there are no sources around from Hypatia herself (which the film direclty adresses) most of what is being shown comes from what others have written about the person as well as just pure speculation. The historical inaccuracies don't end there either as for example the central character Davos is entirely made up. Just one other example of pure fantasy within this historical film are the leather wristpads the christians in the film wear (which there are no historical president for ever existing). At the end of the day though I honestly don't think having these kinds of "artistic inputs" degrade the film that much, but I still feel as though they are worth pointing out.
There are plenty of other issues too. The set and costume design looks somewhat cheap and for instance the antagonists of the film are visually painted evil in a way that feels rather tasteless, especially when the film is indeed trying to be a historical account of a real person. Side note I woudn't care as much about the historical values in play if the film didn't on numerous occasions present itself as history (with text snippits and etcetera).
Anyway both the music as well as the acting are fine, really nothing special in either the direction of good nor bad. The one point the movie shines the most in overall is probably (if not maybe the decent enough story and pacing) the at times genuinely beautiful cinematography.
So I overall find this film rather lacluster with some things that outshine others. For the most part though it is a fairly satisfactory experience that I would only really recommend to someone who finds the subject particularly interesting.
Rating: 5+/10.
The Others (2001)
Visually stunning / Internally predictable
Once in a while I stumble across a film that I have a harder time judging overall than others. This usually comes down to the picture having some aspects that clearly outshine others. The Others (2001) is a perfect example of this. Put briefly the film is shot VERY well but has a somewhat lacking, goofy storyline, with aspects such as the acting finding a sort of middle gorund between those other two.
Now usually I try to make my reviews entirely spoiler free, but for this one I want to make an exception. Reason being that this is one of those films that in the end boils down to a "surprising" plot twist. In general I am not much of a fan of plot twists. Now don't get me wrong they can be great (Psycho) but they often end up a gimmick that lessens the importance/impact of the rest of the film. The Others is by no means the only offender and I do also take offense by other plot twist films considered great by many (Fight Club). The plot twist in The Others feels extra offensive though, and it genuinely comes of as an only slightly better version of the "it was all just a dream" twist.
So the plot twist is in essence the point of the film (other than scaring you like usual in horror movies) but that still doesn't completely disregard the rest in this case. First off there are some genuinely interesting ideas at play here, and when it comes to "haunted house movies" this one feels somewhat more inspired than usual. There are cool scenes too, especially the one where the little girl is transformed into an old woman, which is seriously chilling. However for every cool scene or idea there is something silly (such as the whole father returning subplot) that take me out of the genuinely rather creepy atmosphere the film lays out.
As I mentioned earlier though the highlight of the film is the gorgeous cinematography. The use of shadows and lighting overall in this movie is hugely impressive. This goes beyond just the camera work too, as the set and costume design furthermore is pretty outstanding. So overall I really think this could have been a great horror film if it werent built around such a silly plot twist. As it stands though The Others is just a slightly above average film that is nonetheless at least a little enjoyable.
Rating: 6/10.
Mid90s (2018)
Small but entertaining vibe film.
It's always interesting to see actors try to make a movie of their own. In this case we have Superbad actor Jonah Hill making his directorial debut. This information really doesn't do much though as Mid90s feels just as well made as really any other indie flick.
Plotwise like you might expect this movie isn't very complex. Essentially it's just a kid who happens to like skateboarding, living through the 1990s in L. A. The movie is aiming on being a time capsule as well as just a good vibe. This it does well enough, I especially like how the film really looks like it was made in the mid 90s, which is further emphasized by the period authentic soundtrack.
Still I don't think the film is anything that special. It's not like the acting is bad or anything. It's more of a case of the film feeling so canned within itself, making the movie pretty small scale. I mean to the point were it doesn't really do anything especially ambitious what so ever.
Obviously no film has to be anything special. This movie does what it aims to do pretty well, however for me to really love a film, I need more than just an authentic time capsule. I don't want to be too cruel here though. For a directorial debut this is a good start and it is probably for the better that Jonah Hill went for something relatively simple and unassuming here. Altogether Mid90s is a nice film, one that might not be exceptional, yet worth watching, just not rewatching.
Rating: 6/10.
Tickled (2016)
Adept documentary covering a strange topic.
In many ways Tickled (2016) is a pretty standard documentary. That is not to say that the film isn't well made. In fact the storytelling is very precise and we as viewers are taken through the intricate webs the documentary spins, in a very coherent and pleasant manner.
Now I don't really want to say too much about the plot of the film. All I'll say without spoiling the experience is that it is about tickling, and that it is rather strange indeed. Frankly put the film whilst well made, would not be as good if the director/narrator wouldn't have stumbled across such a mystifying narrative.
One other thing that stick to mind is that the director feels very invested in the subject and that he seems ready to go out of his way to make the film as good as possible. In other words our guide through this strange world feels very down to earth and comforting, which helps make the film only a slightly uncomfortable watch.
There really isn't that much more for me to say. Nothing necessarily speaks out to me as bad about the film, it really just is a well made documentary. Still it doesn't do anything super special and remains as a nice ride that you might not end up thinking about too much after a couple of days or so.
Rating: 7-/10.
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Tremendous tale of war and the life it robs.
Michael Cimino's seminal war themed masterpiece is an oft overlooked film. Well not really, but it is not nearly as frequently praised as say The Godfather. Now my opinions might not be worth all that much, but I can without a shadow of a doubt say that The Deer Hunter is a perfect film and one of the best of all time.
Hundreds upon hundreds of stories have been made around the subject of war. Many of these have a tendency to be really good but I'd argue that this is the best one ever made. Why? Well it mainly boils down to just how human it is. Unlike say Saving Private Ryan this film does not really dwell on the war itself. Instead The Deer Hunter is about the people who are placed in these horrible circumstances and how their lives are affected by what they have to endure.
None of this would matter though if the characters weren't as genuine and well crafted as they are. This film truly makes you care for these simple working class men in a way few other films have every managed to do before or since. These characters are in essence the backbone of the film and watching them grow throughout the course of this film's three hour runtime is profoundly beautiful.
Structurally the film has three major segments. Each of these provide a different purpose and feeling and makes the film fly by even though it is inarguably very long. To help with this the score that has been assembled for this picture is also one of the most gorgeous and emotionally powerful ever created. The acting as you might expect is also superb and not for one second does anyone in the film feel remotely unrealistic in any way.
Apart from all the artsy emotional stuff the film is of course also very entertaining. The Deer Hunter sports some of the most memorable and effective scenes ever put on the silver screen, to the point where i genuinely have a hard time refraining from spoiling them.
There frankly isn't much more reason to keep writing more praise for this movie, I mean you get the point. If anything I just want to say that from someone who adores film as an artform I find The Deer Hunter to be one of the best works of art ever created and places as my 4th favorite film ever.
Rating: 10/10.
After Hours (1985)
Hilarious disturbing fever dream.
Imagine starting a conversation with someone at a café, agreeing to meet up with them and then having the worst experience you could ever imagine. Well that is essentially what this film is about.
Mainly After Hours is a comedy and ultimately it doesn't provide much of anything deeper than a good laugh. However the way in which the story is told gives After Hours a very uniquely dark vibe, that makes the film stick out from your typical 1980s comedies. Structurally the movie has a very repetative flow that might turn some people off, but for me the captivating energy is more than enough to keep the film entertaining throughout. Besides the repetative nature is rather effective at conveying the nightmarish experience the protagonist is confronted with.
So the jokes work well and the atmosphere is endearing, but what else does the film offer? Honestly not that much, overall After Hours is pretty simple and straight forward picture. Yet that isn't to say that it isn't well made, the acting is good, the editing is nice, there are some really cinematically interesting shots and the music works well enough. Overall there isn't anything particularly exceptional about Martin Scorcese's After Hours but there isn't all that much to criticize either. At the end of the day I'd say that it is a worthwhile film for anyone who can appreciate a darker comedy.
Rating: 7/10.
Stalker (1979)
Mesmerized by The Zone
Let me just start out by saying movies like these don't come out often. Stalker by the genius director Andrei Tarkovsky is an absolutely fantastic Sci-Fi film that combines one of the most fascinating concepts for a fantasy/sci-fi film ever with a thought provoking philosophical core.
So what's it about? Simply speaking it's two men accompanied by a "Stalker" who escorts them to the middle of a mysterious dangerous phenomena called: The Zone. The world Stalker presents feels so extremely detailed and is worthy of a thousand pages of worldbuilding. But in an ingenius twist Stalker is really about three men exploring their true desires and true selves.
In fact I don't think there is a single other film that builds such and incredible world just to use it as a vessel for a character drama. Don't get me wrong tho the fantasy elements are still very present and are easily some of the most interesting ever created.
Technically the film is also just straight up perfect. Most importantly the film is ridiculously beautiful and the environments have an unrivaled mystique to them to the point where I find it astounding that the director even could find locations this perfect for the intended effect. Speaking of the cinematography Tarkovsky also went with the stylistic choice of having "the real world" be sepiatone which for one is a very unique and pretty look but also makes "The Zone" feel even more marvelous when it suddenly introduces color.
The three main actors have an incredibly big responsibilty on their shoulders as they pretty much single handedly have to make up the entire dialogue of the film. Luckily though all three of the actors do absolutely fantastic jobs, to the point where there never is a second of dialogue that doesn't feel true and genuine.
I haven't even mentioned the music in the film yet but I think I think you get the gist at this point. Stalker is an absolute masterpiece and only just falls short of being utterly perfect.
Rating: 9/10.
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
Everything and everyone in a mere stickfigure.
It's Such a Beautiful Day is in practice a very simple tale. A tale of a man who gets sick and has to deal with his incoming demise. The way this story is told is however far from simple and should make you think about your very existence by the end.
The film is actually built up from three seperate short films but this is hardly relevant as the three segments flow in a way that makes it obvious that they were intended to be as one from the start. Even so the movie is only slightly over an hour which is hugely impressive for what it accomplishes on a cinematic and emotional level.
The animation style must of course also be mentioned. At first it looks as though the style is just simple pencil drawn stick figures a five year old could draw, but it soon gets clear that the film is actually very well animated and that the simple style just further works as a contrast to the larger than life themes the film tackles. The animation is also intermixed with real world images as well as very surreal imagery which helps the film's look and feel stick out further. Oh and the music and voice acting are of course also really well done.
The film visually is very far from reality yet it manages to feel more "real" than most other regular drama films. There is a ton of super relatable and realistic feeling dialogue that makes it all feel very genuine even though we're essentially just looking at stick figures interacting with each other.
The pacing is incredibly sharp and quick to the point where I really ended up wishing that the movie would have been longer as I genuinely think it could have been a real masterpiece if it were twice as long. As it is, it is still a wonderful experience, it just could have been even more larger than life. At around the midpoint there is also a sequence of events that feels weirdly out of place (though this segment is made a little less distracting through a referential scene toward this scene later on in the film).
Other than those few mishaps the film is really good and when my biggest issue is that I wanted more of the product, you know that it is good.
Without spoiling anything the film has a few scenes that feel tremendously powerful and these scenes really solidified the film as a monumentally unique but albeit somewhat gimmicky film. So it's Such a Beautiful Day is not perfect, but it sure as hell is worth your time!
Rating: 8-/10.
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)
Love through vibrancy.
Amélie has become something of a universal classic at this point and is a film that seems to be almost unanimously beloved, but why is that? Is it because of it's uplifting energy, the loveable cast of characters or perhaps the simple escapism of innocent untarnished love? I personally think that it is all of these things and a hundred other ones on top of that.
The point I'm trying to express is that Amélie truly is a vibrant piece of cinema that has an almost undeniable charm. All this to say that I by all means understand the love this film about love has garnered. I love it too of course, otherwise I wouldn't be saying all this. However in the end the film's strengths also simultaneously work as weaknesses for me in a few ways.
The movie of course doesn't strive for realism, but when a film goes to these extreme levels of experimental fairy tale-ism if you will, I end up not being able to fully invest myself into the emotions the story presents. What I'm trying to say is simply that the film doesn't reach any peaks on a dramatic level which it in ways certainly tries to do. Now is this a flaw? No not really and it really just boils down to me needing something that the film doesn't strive to deliver.
Otherwise the film is very sharp, the editing is truly striking and exciting in it of itself, the music is memorable and delightful, the cinematography is gorgeous in a sort of storybook manner and the acting is purposfully quirky throughout.
To conclude: the film is really good and absolutely worth seeing by practically anyone. The sheer style that Amélie exudes is truly remarkable and while I myself feel the film lacks some fundemental roots to keep it grounded enough for me, it is still quite the wonderful film.
Rating: 7+/10.
The Big Sick (2017)
A clever modern romcom.
The Big Sick is in many ways a pretty formulaic romantic comedy. The characters do however feel genuine, as well as there being enough fresh and quirky story beats in here for the film to feel rewarding by the end.
In short the story follows a man who falls in love with a woman who soon falls into a coma. Later on we see see this same man form bonds with the girl's parents and so on, which makes for some of the best content the film has to offer.
The acting, cinematography, editing etc. Is about what you'd expect: nothing special but good enough for those aspects to not cause any harm to the film. The score is unfortunately a little too bland for my personal taste though
As a comedy the films succeeds in being funny for the most part which is of course very important. Though I'd say the fact that the film tells the story of the main actor who plays himself left me feeling a little cold toward the film, even making me ask myself: is this film merely made to glorify this guy's own story?
Oh well whatever the case may be this is still a well made and likeable romcom, with good character-development, that I expect fans of the genre will enjoy greatly.
6+/10.
Kaze tachinu (2013)
"The wind rises... We must try to live."
Miyazaki's as of now, final masterpiece takes a different approach to most if not all of his other films. Instead of it being one of his usual fairytales (which are amazing in their own way) The Wind Rises is an adult-animated film that focuses on the real life aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi.
The film has a rather regular structure in that it follows our protagonist from childhood well in to his adult years, eventually ending on one of the most important moments of the man's life. One thing that sets it out from the crowd structurally though are three crucial dream sequences which add a level of heart/soul to the film which frankly make the whole film feel just that much more mesmerizing.
The story itself also doesn't focus on telling the true story beat for beat but instead focuses on conveing the spiritually important parts of Jiro's life and the emotions associated with his way of living. Some people might be upset by the inaccuracies of the film but I at least personally find almost all of the best biographies delving into the human experience of the protagonist rather than dwellin on their accomplishments and the like.
Apart from all that the film is also fantastic on just a technical level. The voice acting is superb and the film happens to have one of the greatest film soundtracks I've heard in quite a while. The animation is of course worth mentioning as it is not just gorgeous (which it is) but also serves to make the story more dreamlike and expressive in ways that would have felt cheap if it were a live action film.
Now not many movies are perfect and this film does have some minor flaws, perhaps the most glaring of which being some pacing issues, á la the film could easily have been 10 minutes shorter without it at all affecting the experience in a negative way. This is still just one of a few nitpicks of an otherwise almost flawless film. The film also does not really go that extra mile to being on of the best of all time but that should never really be expected of any film (however in the end, this will still affect the score to an extent).
The Wind Rises remains one of the lesser talked about films Miyazaki has made which i find to be a crying shame. In my humble opinion it is seriously one of his best (2nd favorite of his) and I genuinely wish we had gotten more adult centric films from the auteur director.
To summarize, The Wind Rises (2013) is a stunning heartfelt biography that will hopefully leave you feeling like you're right up alongside the film's airplanes as it did with me.
Rating: 8/10.