Johannaaaaa Reviews

Conversations with Friends (2022)

I didn't care

[4/10 · 14 April 2023]

I have not read the book so I am just basing my review on this movie alone. The whole title is "conversations with friends" but honestly I have no idea after watching the whole thing as to why they are friends. All the dynamics seem cold and the main characters Francis literally gives nothing but an awkward smile, even to her mom. I get that she is shy but as a character I was not interested as to what was happening to her, because she just was a piece of toast being thrown around in situations. I think some sort of inner dialogue would have been needed, because like the people around her I have no idea what was up with her. Worse was Nick. He is a grown man with the communication skills of a 16 year old. Bobbie spoke how she could not picture Melissa and Nick doing stuff together and honestly nether could I, because he just awkwardly laughed and talked about he was bad at speaking and he just annoyed the heck out of me, because I wanted the characters to somehow "evolve" but it was just painful to watch them interact with each other most of the time.

House of the Dragon (2022– )

I don't understand the charaters

[5/10 · 25 January 2023]

I was really looking foward to liking this but after the time jump I kind of fell off the wagon. The scenes are really long and i think the dialogue is too sparse. It's a lot of looks with atmosphere music but I honestly don't understand where the characters are coming from or how they feel. I have to wait so long for them to open up that as a viewer I don't understand what's happening in some scenes. Raenyra irritates me. She said she cared about duties and that she "is the crown" but makes out with her uncle in her own wedding in front of everyone and is shook when the children of men who don't look like her husband raise questions but yet it wasn't just one and after that some reflection about how it's going to effect her. She kept going to the point where it's absurd for her position as next heir to the iron throne. Daemon is at least consistent as a character but he also just kind of does things and then the plot just jumps in time again.

Kimi (2022)

Male gaze in the reviews

[9/10 · 13 July 2022]

I honestly really liked this movie and the character. She went through alot and I craved to see more of her when the movie ended. Kimi touched upon sexual assault topics and dealing with mental illness but I honestly have not seen a lot of representation in a female perspective. The sexualization of Kimi and filming her face in activities felt a little intrusive and I don't think it was neccecary for the movie. It kept me on my toes and I liked the dystopian realism in it.

Inventing Anna (2022)

Intrigued but wished for more

[6/10 · 14 February 2022]

Im on the fence about this. As I was watching it I honestly wanted the story to only focus on Anna. All the parties, glam, art, lies, fame it seems like such a fun setting. I feel like they didn't go crazy when it could have been a "catch me if you can" small town German girl turned femme fatale con-artist who eventually hit rock bottom. She could have been an iconic villan with a vivid backstory and aesthetics. It's NOT a docuseries so they could have fabricated Anna so much more and make the story just loosely inspired so we could have more depth to a character that kind of felt empty. I have no idea what she is thinking. Everyone watching this was propably intrigued by Annas story but the concept that pieced it together made it a bit incoherent. By trying to keep it "realistic" it's confusing.

I did enjoy it but I wanted more watching it and didn't really care for the pregnancy of Vivian, because I wanted to watch a psycho stealing money from people born into wealth who do stuff us middle class people rarely experience. We see her looking at a bill for 27000 , people on yachts and we do get some dialogue about class from Todd (Annas lawyer) about feeling like a fish out of water but his wife is just like "so sorry you were poor". Anna slithered into a world she didn't "belong in" and I feel like thats a feeling alot of us relate to but that aspect of her story was just not visible. I just wanted more depth.

Pähkähullu Suomi (1967)

A gem to watch

[8/10 · 28 November 2021]

I rarely watch finnish films but I stumbled upon this and it seemed intresting and Im so glad I did. It's made as a parody "commercial" to finland and the movie tries to find itself on the way. The narrative is great and the switches from the Njurmi tackling in the mud with moose hunters to which the "tax-payer" comments that we need to romatizice the forest not do whatever that was doing and it cuts into random ladies dancing in the forest with a grape bundle hanging from a pine tree. In the end they sing a song in english saying "please come to finland its cheap for you". The whole movie was fun to watch.

Christiane F. (1981)

You feel like your in it with her

[7/10 · 26 November 2021]

The characters were kids and they don't really have critical thinking fully developed so what is "fun" usually can lead to a downward spiral. She meets her first crush and acts out. I just kept thinking where are the parents, her mom was worried but kind of fades into the backround. The kids were all likable and believable. She found a community, but the community all slowly started dying together.

Thumbsucker (2005)

It was fine

[6/10 · 26 November 2021]

I thought the girl he was into in the debate club was so cheesy and because of that the love aspect seemed forced. I cringed at the "why cant you open up and tell me all your trauma", she was so insensitive. As a person with adhd I didn't really get why he stopped the meds (because of rebecca?) but I liked that the film showed him boarderline getting addicted to everything that bought him dopamine.

Nimic (2019)

How we view gender

[9/10 · 26 November 2021]

Im going thru zizek right now and i thought about how female agression is often repressed and that off-putting vibe of her was her literally doing things the same way. The off-putting vibe about her was eye-contact, which has to do with the male gaze and thinking being looked-at is the passive role of the female, but not the active perpetrator.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)

Cute gay story that highlights the horror of conversion camps

[8/10 · 24 November 2021]

I really liked the film and how it captured tension between the girls, friendship and hearbreak. Its shocking that the camps are still an ongoing thing and makes you think about how harmful a christian interpretation of same sex love can be.

Shiva Baby (2020)

Good created athomsphere through directing

[9/10 · 19 November 2021]

I really enjoyed watching this film. It was chaotic and felt like real life. It doesn't really need to explain too much, the shots make the narrative and feeling of the characters really clear.

Spring Breakers (2012)

I think people don't understand the film ( the female gaze)

[10/10 · 18 November 2021]

It's so much fun to watch a movie that seems realistic and the shots seem to have an intention. I think the reviews might be a bit gender biased, but not in the way you think. From the girls randomly stroking each others hair as a sign of affection, to the nervous laugh they have around men, to the fake forced sounds that they have to make , the elongated zoom on the man touching his lips when looking, the cameras pretatory gaze and how it starts from a shaking ass from a party to the girl randomly being filmed while unconcious. It starts to not feel comedic anymore but thats how the girls feel too. The movie is disturbing to watch but also feels like a drunk night out at the same time.

The movie is satire, but, It did not romanticize a very real "party" lifestyle if you're middle class or under. It is those places and "trashy" parties, that you usually find the drug problems, that even the girls developed during the film. I've been to that beach party, where the artist sings off tune and people yell. Most girls have propably met these men and i kept so much tension in my body when looking at the rooms filled with predatory stares.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Really well written and I liked the characters

[8/10 · 18 November 2021]

It was bleak and I normally don't really watch old movies but I grew to be really invested in the familys story and I found the film really facinating.

The Fountain (2006)

I didn't really like the main character

[5/10 · 18 November 2021]

I think for a romance film the characters relationship was based on struggle more than connection. She usually speaks something about mayans and Tommy keeps asking why she brought the topic up. I found it funny. We didn't really get that much romance , even in the more "ancent" times.

It's just mostly Tommy being aloof and not accepting the situation enough to actually be present with Isabelle. Isabelle was gives me manic pixie vibes with a slightly toxic boyfriend who constantly dismisses her personal growth. She keeps trying to accept her fate in the backround and Tommy does not want to hear about it and goes back to work.

My Fair Lady (1964)

As a female its a bit of a bruh moment

[6/10 · 18 November 2021]

I like Audrey and usually i try not to think too much into it with old films but this wasn't that much fun if you relate to Eliza . The status and power dynamic of Higgins relationship to Eliza was made pretty apparent within the fist 15 minutes of the film when he thew her coins saying "a reminder" in a cold voice and dismissed her. Higgins at one point proceeds to sing a semi-homoerotic song about how he wished women were more like men that I found quite funny to watch as a he sounds a bit like a reddit incel on a rant.