Monthly culture: October 2021
Friday, November 26th, 2021 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthz14OCT21: Midsommar (Aster, 2019) -- NetFlix
The folkloric elements intrigued me, so I suggested this (with some trepidation) to the virtual film club. A couple of the others indicated that wild horses, et cetera: but those of us who did watch were pleasantly surprised by the lack of horror tropes, the positivity, and the sheer craft. The soundtrack is full of breathing -- gasps, inhalations, hyperventilation -- and the colours (and, in some scenes, absences of colour) are beautifully shot, with the occasional distortion (hallucination?) to keep things weird. Florence Pugh is awesome as Dani, who self-emancipates and welcomes her new role: technically she's the final girl, but she has agency.
One of us described this as a First Contact movie, which works: this is an alien society to the young American incomers. Midsommar has paganism without gods, nudity without male gaze, and a blood eagle coupled with elaborate floral arrangement. I liked it very much.
15OCT21: No Time to Die (Fukanaga, 2021) -- Greenwich PictureHouse
Really quite long. I worked out the denouement early on. Great soundtrack, with a hearty splash of fanservice. Some very good lines, too: "Two old men in a hole, trying to work out who's playing tricks on us." ... "Nanobots aren't just for Christmas" ... Increasingly reminiscent of the Marvel films (some Winter Soldier vibes here): a tale of ageing Cold Warriors and science turning to the dark side. Lashana Lynch was excellent, and I hope we'll get more of Ana de Armas' work-experience CIA agent.
21OCT21: Freaks: You're One of Us (Binder, 2020) -- NetFlix
German superhero film with a more realist vibe than most: Wendy works in a diner, with socially awkward colleague Elmar, but when she meets apparently-a-tramp Marek she discovers that she has superpowers. Quite fun, especially Elmar (who is a superhero fanboy), and with a nicely downbeat ambience.
23OCT21: Dune (Villeneuve, 2021) -- Greenwich PictureHouse
Villains are ugly: good guys are pretty, but mostly doomed unless they see a talking mouse: there are very few women, though one character who's male in the novel is played by a female actor.
I liked the dragonfly 'copters, and the marvel of green, so rare and so welcome. I did not think bagpipes were necessary.
One of the most humourless films I've watched lately. Though this kind of comment will get you slammed on Twitter.
28OCT21: The Green Knight (Lowery, 2021) -- Amazon Prime
I'd hoped to see this in the cinema, but I blinked and missed it ... Starring Dev Patel as a rather sleazy Gawain, who's the son of Morgan le Fay rather than her nephew, and who is somewhat less pure of heart than in canon. (Yes, there is canon, which meant I could post "stifly strike a strok for an oþer" in the group chat when discussing whether non-beheading was canonical.) There is also an appearance from St Winifred (possibly?) and a friendly fox, neither of which I recall from my long-ago studies. And the host/hostess kiss subplot seemed to be forgotten near the end of the film. But hey: art. This was beautifully filmed and thought-provoking, but ultimately felt rather thin on meaning, though I did like Gawain's vision of what would have happened if he'd fled.
30OCT21: Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Serkis, 2021) -- Greenwich Odeon
Not as charming as the first film, which was classic romcom. Venom and Eddie are in a rather abusive relationship, though Venom turns out to also be very useful at image search and reproduction. Some good lines ("I am out of the Eddie closet") and some funny scenes: best bit, though, was the mid-credit scene in which the universe changes. (Should 'universe' be capitalised?)
Nice version of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', too.
The folkloric elements intrigued me, so I suggested this (with some trepidation) to the virtual film club. A couple of the others indicated that wild horses, et cetera: but those of us who did watch were pleasantly surprised by the lack of horror tropes, the positivity, and the sheer craft. The soundtrack is full of breathing -- gasps, inhalations, hyperventilation -- and the colours (and, in some scenes, absences of colour) are beautifully shot, with the occasional distortion (hallucination?) to keep things weird. Florence Pugh is awesome as Dani, who self-emancipates and welcomes her new role: technically she's the final girl, but she has agency.
One of us described this as a First Contact movie, which works: this is an alien society to the young American incomers. Midsommar has paganism without gods, nudity without male gaze, and a blood eagle coupled with elaborate floral arrangement. I liked it very much.
15OCT21: No Time to Die (Fukanaga, 2021) -- Greenwich PictureHouse
Really quite long. I worked out the denouement early on. Great soundtrack, with a hearty splash of fanservice. Some very good lines, too: "Two old men in a hole, trying to work out who's playing tricks on us." ... "Nanobots aren't just for Christmas" ... Increasingly reminiscent of the Marvel films (some Winter Soldier vibes here): a tale of ageing Cold Warriors and science turning to the dark side. Lashana Lynch was excellent, and I hope we'll get more of Ana de Armas' work-experience CIA agent.
21OCT21: Freaks: You're One of Us (Binder, 2020) -- NetFlix
German superhero film with a more realist vibe than most: Wendy works in a diner, with socially awkward colleague Elmar, but when she meets apparently-a-tramp Marek she discovers that she has superpowers. Quite fun, especially Elmar (who is a superhero fanboy), and with a nicely downbeat ambience.
23OCT21: Dune (Villeneuve, 2021) -- Greenwich PictureHouse
Villains are ugly: good guys are pretty, but mostly doomed unless they see a talking mouse: there are very few women, though one character who's male in the novel is played by a female actor.
I liked the dragonfly 'copters, and the marvel of green, so rare and so welcome. I did not think bagpipes were necessary.
One of the most humourless films I've watched lately. Though this kind of comment will get you slammed on Twitter.
28OCT21: The Green Knight (Lowery, 2021) -- Amazon Prime
I'd hoped to see this in the cinema, but I blinked and missed it ... Starring Dev Patel as a rather sleazy Gawain, who's the son of Morgan le Fay rather than her nephew, and who is somewhat less pure of heart than in canon. (Yes, there is canon, which meant I could post "stifly strike a strok for an oþer" in the group chat when discussing whether non-beheading was canonical.) There is also an appearance from St Winifred (possibly?) and a friendly fox, neither of which I recall from my long-ago studies. And the host/hostess kiss subplot seemed to be forgotten near the end of the film. But hey: art. This was beautifully filmed and thought-provoking, but ultimately felt rather thin on meaning, though I did like Gawain's vision of what would have happened if he'd fled.
30OCT21: Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Serkis, 2021) -- Greenwich Odeon
Not as charming as the first film, which was classic romcom. Venom and Eddie are in a rather abusive relationship, though Venom turns out to also be very useful at image search and reproduction. Some good lines ("I am out of the Eddie closet") and some funny scenes: best bit, though, was the mid-credit scene in which the universe changes. (Should 'universe' be capitalised?)
Nice version of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', too.
