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The Neon Demon (2016)
Wonderful scenery but weirdly executed plot
The first hour was a four star film, the last hour a one star. So I'm not even sure what to rate it now. Nothing saddens me more than when the first half is no less than amazing and the second is bleurgh.
The light in this film is stunning, and so is the scenery and cinematography. Actually I have rarely seen such beautiful work. The music is haunting and ethereal, and the whole set is like a mix between Twin Peaks and the glossiest fashion show ever seen. The quiet scenes are the most effectful, while the dialogues are often stiff and unnatural. I read that director Nicolas Winding Refn asked Elle Fanning to revise the female spoken dialogues - can't really say it helped. It did really sound like a writer not knowing how woman speak to each other.
So, the first half. I was so amazed. Elle is really great in her role as Jesse, I could really feel her loneliness and strong wish to achieve her dream of being a model. The framing in every scene is so well thought out, like when Jesse first meet the famous photographer and the scenery is almost covering the entire frame with first it's light and then it's darkness. When Sarah is rejected by the fashion designer, who is completely ignorant to her, and smashes the mirror in the bathroom her pain blazes through the camera. And when Jesse hurts her hand and Sarah drinks her blood - that's horrifying and shows so well her desperation to get what Jesse has.
And that leads me to the second half. Sarah drinking Jesse's blood was horrifying enough and perfectly captures what the film wants to say. But then it went downhill. From the second Jesse stepped into the mansion the scenes were strange in a really creepy way. Unsettling can be great, and in the first half of the movie, it really is.
But in the second half those scenes are downright disturbing. The last forty minutes felt sensational and voyeristic with it's lesbian predatory trope. And the necrophilia scene was too much, crossing it with the scenes of Jesse touching herself put extremely disturbing equal signs between being lesbian and necroromantic, no matter what the actual point with it was. This film would have been a lot better without the ritual thing.
There are ways to tell the same story about our society with it's obsession with beauty and doing everything it takes to achieve it - without sexualizing the hunt.
(Oh, and frankly the movie would also have been better without Dean, he's such a typical "good" photography guy who just want to take pictures of pretty girls. It was disturbing how he was somehow depicted as being righteous in the "beauty is the only thing" scene. It felt like that was his only purpose.)
I hope someone will take this idea and make a new film from it, but without over-the-top elements shown in this film. The obsession with beauty is always current and interesting.
Camp X-Ray (2014)
Poignant about friendship and power imbalances
"Give me Azkaban instead"
"Is that one of the Arab books?"
This very first short and amazing conversation between the soldier Amy Cole and the intern Ali Amir starts something heartfelt all lasts all the way to the end.
"Camp Xray" is a complex movie with complex characters. Neither is good or bad, they're just ordinary people in difficult circumstances. Sometimes Amy and Ali are unsympathetic and sometimes they're the absolute opposite. They're human. At all these different times, their reactions are understandable.
It can be toxic to be in such a hyper masculine environment as the army. Especially as a woman. Or, in any working place with just male colleges, to be real. It affects us all, man or woman, but as a woman you may face sexism, be distrusted, not be acknowledged like your colleges, and not believed to be able to do your job as good as a man.
Kristen Stewart's character faces these things, and she's also conflicted between her army duties and her friendship with Ali, and their slow mutual understanding. There are several power imbalances - the male soldiers have power over Amy, and Amy has power over Ali, by the structures that our society exists by.
i love Kristen Stewart, and I think she gets too little credit for her acting. It might not be very variated, but she has a way of acting that is unlike other actors, something I cannot quite put my finger on. Many of her characters suffer in silence, and how she portrays that in this film works so well. She's just so great and convincing as Amy Cole.
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007)
A beautifully animated and cleverly written fairytale adventure
This is the one Disney sequel that surpasses all of the other!
It's like it's given all the care and love the previous Disney sequels lacked (especially the too many "Aladdin" ones...) "Cinderella III" is beautifully animated, with clear colors and lovely scenery. As for the story it's creative and well-crafted - I'll always love an alternative version of a fairytale ending!
While the characters are still being true to their portrayals in the original movie they're given more depth in this sequel - most significantly Cinderella who is more active and takes matters into her own hands. Anastasia is given more dimension than just being the other half of a step sister duo: she's insecure but deep down a sweet girl who is by no doubt formed by her upbringing in a vicious household. Yet, as shown in the first film (and well, the second one, not to neglect), dreams of love.
Oh and the prince is given a personality!
The only con for me is that it's _too slapsticky_. I know comparing does no good, but something that made "Cinderella" so wonderful was how graceful and elegant it was, something this film lacks, being more fast-paced. Perhaps it's just a sign of times, children's movies nowadays are usually very rapid, especially in comparision to older films. However while some scenes were too much "fun" for me, I still feel there's heart in even the goofiest ones. Albeit the music was... forgettable.
The original Cinderella will always be #1, I mean no sequel will ever live up the original Disney lineup, but this film makes me happy, and that's enough for me.
Judy (2019)
A tender portrayal of an icon
Judy Garland was my first idol. Throughout the years I've probably watched "The wizard of Oz" more than a hundred times and read everything I could find about Judy. So of course I wanted to watch this film.
However when I heard Renee Zellweger was to portray Judy, I was not thrilled. I only knew her from Bridget Jones, and thought her to be a quite shallow actress. How wrong I was! Renee portrays Judy with a lot of tenderness, melancholy and humour.
The set-up of the story is quite typical for a biographical film, but it works well, the strength of it however is in the smaller moments. A big theme is friendship, and the portrayal of it in this film really moved me. Moreoever, the photography and coloring was beautiful and felt well thought out, especially in the "young Judy"-scenes, with the clarity only Hollywood can give.
I truly recommend this film to all Judy Garland fans, and to anyone who wants to see a moving biopic about a most human and brilliant woman.
The King (2019)
Slow burning and beautiful with strong performances
Quite frankly, long battle sequences is like the most boring thing. And this film basically revolves around a war. But it's not what stays with me after it's over and essentially not really what I think it's about - to me it's more about family. Solitude. Responsibility. I take with me the silence between the lines. The facial expressions. The suppressed emotions. "The King" is a slow burning and beautiful film. Timothee Chalamet is brilliant in the leading part and Robert Pattinson has great comical timing in his unexpected role.
Paradise Hills (2019)
a feminist fairytale with important themes
Okay so first off: I loved this movie. The visuals! The costumes! The setting! The story!
"Paradise hills" is a feminist fairytale with so many important elements that's just so valid and can never be shone upon too many times: sisterhood, pressure from family and patriarchy, society's female ideals, same-sex love and admiration, rebellion towards authorities, self respect, and not being afraid to stand up for yourself. Many of these are classic themes, but they're classic for a reason, and that's because they'll always be relevant.
I liked how the women really carries this story. The men are there and some of them have plot-vital parts, but they're not leads, they're not central, they don't even have that many lines. It's not a film about them, not even for them. It's refreshing for a change. The cast is stellar, and they complement each other.
Sure, there are a few things I would've loved if this film dug a little deeper in, like the characters backgrounds and more about the island. I realize I'm contradicting myself about appreciating how men are not that important in this film but I actually would've liked to know just a little more about Son (Arnaud Valois). I can't really grasp his person(ality)? perhaps he's a symbol for toxic sociopathic masculinity? If he's meant to be a person and not a symbol, I would've liked to know just a little more about him.
I've read reviews that were not too impressed by "Paradise hills", even disliked it, but when I left the cinema I felt inspired, and as a young woman I even felt empowered, in all of the little messages that at least I need to hear again and again as a reminder: I'm enough just the way I am.
Does it sound cheesy? I don't care.
I need more beautiful films with female leads and female director and feminist themes. And quite frankly: even if this film didn't have a great storyline I'd be enamoured because of the visuals. They're simply stunning.
The Blue Lagoon (1980)
A sweet and dream-like film, but with some issues
A really sweet and dream-like film with beautiful music. The acting was over-the-top for the first hour, but for the rest of the movie I thought it felt more genuine and considerated for the most part. I think it worked particularly well at the sequence when Emmeline has just had the baby and they have no idea _why_ she has had it and tries to feed it fruit. I'm thinking perhaps their acting was meant to be a bit exaggerated to emphasize how they sort of remain children since all they have is each other with no other contact with other people or impacts, apart from their memories. However, the dialogue came off as clumsy at times though.
Further I would've thought it would be interesting to see Emmeline and Richard in "the real world", the civilisation, because surely these crucial years on the island affected them in many ways. How would they differ from other young adults? How would they perceive a world that they were never really part of? Maybe that was what they ending was trying to tell – that Emmeline and Richard would never be able to fully adapt to the society, considering it was so far from what they knew. As viewers we actually don't know know if they do die, if the berries are _that_ poisonous, although that is what we can assume, but still – the last lines are: "are they dead?", "no sir, they are asleep". They remain in the dreamlike state in which they have lived in most of their lives, leaving the outcome a bit open.
Fröken Frimans krig (2013)
Swedish TV history at its best
Miss Friman's War is a clever, well-written och beautifully exercised story about a group of women from various parts of the Stockholm class community in the early 20:th century. Mainly the characters are well-developed and each of them has a story to tell. It's main theme is women's liberation movement but it also brings up class issues, the food industry and relationships without feeling excessive or wanting to take on too much.
Being equally empowering, joyful and sad Miss Friman's War reminds us about what it took to get to where we are now, how hard these women fought to give future female generations the right to vote and live a life outside of their homes.