[WraithApe]

Playground - 3/10
 
A bleak, detached film based on the tragic real life events of the James Bulger murder. The film eschews any real attempt to explain the motivation behind the boys' actions, preferring to merely hint in the tiniest of ways at possible causal links. Instead, the message of the film is about the banality of evil. Unfortunately, this makes for a very banal film - a day in the life of two school boys is unlikely to be captivating and so it proves here.
 
In Poland perhaps, the case is an obscure one but for a British audience, intimately acquainted with the details of it, this film offers nothing new. It's not exploitative, just not insightful or very compelling as a film. The whole thing is shot in an almost documentary style, which makes the one symbolic scene really stand out - a scene that foreshadows public reaction to the perpetrators. I wish there had been a bit more of this kind of intervention in what is an otherwise arid reenactment of events that could have been read about in any paper at the time.
 
The Wailing - 9/10
 
Memories of Murder meets The Exorcist, with a splash of Gu! Complex and sprawling, it's a weird and wild ride. It moves from quirky police procedural and murder mystery through to occult horror, going from comedy at the start to full blown darkness by the end, taking in questions of faith - both personal and institutional - along the way. It's not a straight transition though; even in Jong-Goo's darkest hour, some humour is allowed to seep through. I particularly liked 'rake-head' and the way the shaman, Il-Gwang, appears on Jong-Goo's mobile phone with caller ID "Shaman".
 
The significant tonal shifts in this movie might threaten to destabilize the whole thing if it wasn't so deftly handled. Great performances all round and the cinematography is excellent throughout - some spectacular scenes, particularly the parallel ceremonies of Il-Gwang and The Stranger (which is also an exercise in the fine art of misdirection). As the film picks up pace towards the end, the twists pile up and you're never sure which way it's going to go, keeping you on the edge of your seat right to the end. For such a long film, it fairly flies by!
 
I had thought Train To Busan might be the crowning achievement of Korean genre cinema this year but this one probably tops it. It's the second film I've seen from Hong-jin Na, following his impressively brutal debut feature The Chaser, and I think he's set a personal high water mark with The Wailing. I really want to check out his other film, The Yellow Sea, now as well.

 

[vwinter]

The Wailing - 9/10

Memories of Murder meets The Exorcist, with a splash of Gu! Complex and sprawling, it's a weird and wild ride. It moves from quirky police procedural and murder mystery through to occult horror, going from comedy at the start to full blown darkness by the end, taking in questions of faith - both personal and institutional - along the way. It's not a straight transition though; even in Jong-Goo's darkest hour, some humour is allowed to seep through. I particularly liked 'rake-head' and the way the shaman, Il-Gwang, appears on Joon-Goo's mobile phone with caller ID "Shaman".

The significant tonal shifts in this movie might threaten to destabilize the whole thing if it wasn't so deftly handled. Great performances all round and the cinematography is excellent throughout - some spectacular scenes, particularly the parallel ceremonies of Il-Gwang and The Stranger (which is also an exercise in the fine art of misdirection). As the film picks up pace towards the end, the twists pile up and you're never sure which way it's going to go, keeping you on the edge of your seat right to the end. For such a long film, it fairly flies by!

I had thought Train To Busan might be the crowning achievement of Korean genre cinema this year but this one probably tops it. It's the second film I've seen from Hong-jin Na, following his impressively brutal debut feature The Chaser, and I think he's set a personal high water mark with The Wailing. I really want to check out his other film, The Yellow Sea, now as well.

This one was very much on my list and sounds solid!

But, I'm not really a fan of renting movies to watch at home for $5 when I can buy them and they aren't unreasonably priced. I usually go for <$12 for blurays, but would you say this one is worth owning at $15?

 

[WraithApe]

This one was very much on my list and sounds solid!

But, I'm not really a fan of renting movies to watch at home for $5 when I can buy them and they aren't unreasonably priced. I usually go for <$12 for blurays, but would you say this one is worth owning at $15?

 
I would say so - it was a lot to take in on the first sitting so warrants at least one re-watch I reckon. I plan to buy a copy myself, probably for a similar price. Worst case scenario, you don't like it, blu rays tend to have a decent resale value on eBay or Amazon Marketplace.

 

[BuddyVanDoodle]

Backstroke of the West

10/10

 

[metalsonata]

 
I really don't know why Japanese casting agents do this. I picked up on the same thing in the recent Psycho-Pass movie. There seems to be no reason, other than a lack of effort or resources, why they couldn't hire a native speaker to play the role of a foreign diplomat.
 
I might have to seek this one out. I actually wasn't impressed at all with the 2014 Godzilla - a combination of bad acting, bad plotting and the fact that most of the movie focuses on other monsters rather than Godzilla - so a return to a more primitive style is appealing.

 
I can't speak to Psycho-Pass, but at least in Shin Godzilla I think it was obviously lack of effort, as they did go out of their way to hire several non-Japanese English and German-speakers--either that or the actress in question is a recognizable face or a 'name' actress that they just wanted in their movie (I'm not familiar with modern Japanese actors at all). From interviews I've read, I do know that she was frustrated with having to speak English and really struggled with the scenes that required it. Said scenes didn't add anything to the movie, and with the movie already sitting at 2 hours and getting pretty draggy here and there (especially towards the end) I think the movie would have been stronger with them cut.

 

[Hutnicks]

   
I really don't know why Japanese casting agents do this. I picked up on the same thing in the recent Psycho-Pass movie. There seems to be no reason, other than a lack of effort or resources, why they couldn't hire a native speaker to play the role of a foreign diplomat.
 
I might have to seek this one out. I actually wasn't impressed at all with the 2014 Godzilla - a combination of bad acting, bad plotting and the fact that most of the movie focuses on other monsters rather than Godzilla - so a return to a more primitive style is appealing.

I'm getting more and more ambivalent on this issue as time goes by. Given Shin was intended for Asian release only (hence why it's only in NA for a week) I can understand the casting choices. I don't agree with it, but I understand the Japanese doing this as a rebuttal to actors like John Wayne, Mickey Rooney and Joel Grey portraying Asians in Hollywood films.
 
 Fly in the ointment here is the publisher of GITS coming out in favour of Scarlett playing the role of Kusanagi. Odd that they would say they never envisioned an Asian actress in the role. The actual author has been rather silent and meanwhile the Asian web has been inflamed over the casting choice.
 
 In anime I think it is a different issue. It would be easy to get native speakers there as Japan is loaded to the gills with expat voice actors and the physical presence is not required. That would make it a very easy choice to put in a non Japanese.
 
At least with Shin, they have not shot scenes with an American and cut them into the film to make it marketable.

 

[WraithApe]

 
I'm getting more and more ambivalent on this issue as time goes by. Given Shin was intended for Asian release only (hence why it's only in NA for a week) I can understand the casting choices. I don't agree with it, but I understand the Japanese doing this as a rebuttal to actors like John Wayne, Mickey Rooney and Joel Grey portraying Asians in Hollywood films.
 
 Fly in the ointment here is the publisher of GITS coming out in favour of Scarlett playing the role of Kusanagi. Odd that they would say they never envisioned an Asian actress in the role. The actual author has been rather silent and meanwhile the Asian web has been inflamed over the casting choice.
 
 In anime I think it is a different issue. It would be easy to get native speakers there as Japan is loaded to the gills with expat voice actors and the physical presence is not required. That would make it a very easy choice to put in a non Japanese.
 
At least with Shin, they have not shot scenes with an American and cut them into the film to make it marketable.

 
That's a rebuttal spanning a few decades then. 

 Times have changed, and you wouldn't get away with doing it now in an English language film so shouldn't the same standards apply for Asian cinema? I'm pretty sure the likes of Toho and Shochiku will have occasionally used Japanese actors to play Western characters back in the 40s and 50s too  - they just have less exposure to a Western Audience than the films of John Wayne et al.
 
Take your point on Anime being a different kettle of fish to live action in terms of only having to find the right voice actors for a part.

 

[Hutnicks]

   
That's a rebuttal spanning a few decades then. 

 Times have changed, and you wouldn't get away with doing it now in an English language film so shouldn't the same standards apply for Asian cinema? I'm pretty sure the likes of Toho and Shochiku will have occasionally used Japanese actors to play Western characters back in the 40s and 50s too  - they just have less exposure to a Western Audience than the films of John Wayne et al.
 
Take your point on Anime being a different kettle of fish to live action in terms of only having to find the right voice actors for a part.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Examples_of_yellowface
 
The times have not changed all that much and we have not even touched on "Whitewashing"

 

[WraithApe]

Una - 6/10
 
Not being familiar with the play on which the film was based, I have no comparisons to offer. All I can say is that the whole thing felt quite lightweight, given the subject matter. Una returns to visit Ray at his place of work to confront him about events which happened 15 years earlier. Their past relationship is gradually revealed through a series of flashbacks, which are quite nicely intercut with the present and do break up the sense that it's merely a stage play relocated to the big screen - more so than in films like Bergman's Autumn Sonata or Polanski's Carnage. Unlike these examples however, the script is prosaic and the performances too restrained. For a dialogue-heavy piece, that's a fatal cocktail. I do quite like the film's understated examination of how certain events in peoples' lives, certain interactions, can leave psychological damage they have to live with for many years to come - both characters are looking for some kind of closure that's destined to elude them - but it's almost too understated: except for a loud blast of P. J. Harvey during the opening title sequence, everything from the colour palette to the performances is muted. It's a polished film, it just doesn't sparkle.
 
Callback - 8/10
 
Hinges on an outstanding central performance from relative newcomer Martin Bacigalupo - in Larry De Cecco, he creates a character that will not easily be forgotten by anyone who sees this film. From the outset, it's clear there is something jarringly 'off' about aspiring actor Larry. His manner of speaking is strangely stilted and his eyes never smile, fired instead by an incessant inner rage. His interactions with other people betray a lack of empathy and interest - it's almost as if he's just imitating being human. Imitation is a major theme in the film. Bacigalupo pulls off the trick of playing a character playing at being someone else (literally, as he's an illegal immigrant in New York with a fake ID, but also figuratively - it's apparent early on that Larry is psychologically disturbed, so his imitation of American idiom isn't just his struggle to master a foreign language but a struggle to present the face of normality to the world, which often fails alarmingly.)
 
It's a film with a great sense of place, presenting a grimy, down-at-heel New York, far away from the bright lights - this is the New York he inhabits and strives to transcend. The classic shot of Manhattan across the water is always an unreachable, distant utopia of wealth and power and I think in that sense, the film deals with the damaging influence of the American Dream as a psychic blueprint - a twisted version of which drives Larry to do what he does. One powerfully symbolic scene captures the point of annihilation.
 
Not an easy watch by any means, but the darkness is leavened by some hilarious dialogue (as well as starring, the screenplay was written by Bacigalupo), mostly centered around Larry intoning catchphrases from commercials he's auditioning for with his hollow-voiced deadpan delivery. The end is cleverly timed and finishes on just the right note, but I still felt cheated! As loathsome as De Cecco is, he's also utterly compelling. The film scooped best film, actor and screenplay awards at Malaga and it's not hard to see why.
 
Here's a suggestion for a twisted double bill: Audition and Callback 

 

 

[tdockweiler]

13th - 9/10
 
Think this is Oscar worthy material. Probably one of the best documentaries I've seen in awhile.
Lots of information overload in here and I'll probably be reading up on the material in this for a long time.
I don't instantly believe ever word they said

 
Free on Netflix. I also liked the Netflix movie "White Hats" but too bad it was so short. They should have won the nobel peace prize (rather than for a failed peace deal).

I imagine it all came down to politics. Apparently saving 60,000 people these days is just propaganda and not enough!
 
PS White Hats is about volunteers in Syria who rescue air strike victims. Sounds like one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
 
Trailer for 13th:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66F3WU2CKk

 

[oqvist]

Leviathan 4/10
 
Not much in term of story here. Thought there would be a movie about a small guys fight against a corrupt society but there never is a fight he just takes to the bottle.

 

[oqvist]

13th was really good.

 

[Hutnicks]

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children      6/10
 
 
     Wherin Tim Burton tries a return to form and almost makes it. The problem here is he winds up aping himself right down to a blonde Christina Ricci  knock off and thereby spoils the overall mood of the film in a lot of places. Some over simplified plotting does not help and the talents of Eva Green and Sam Jackson go a withering on the vine. The set up was really excellent  and the film had a lot of potential and then when the exposition starts rolling it just gets childish. It was at that point that I began thinking that if del Toro had done this film it would have been more coherent. A thought that haunted me the entire rest of the film. The scariest part of this exercise is the over obvious set up for a string of sequels.
 
 This is a wait for it on TV watch and I suspect you will not have to wait too long.  The best I can do here is say it was better than Dark Shadows, then again so is a root canal.

 

[WraithApe]

Nocturnal Animals - 9/10
 
Multi-faceted revenge drama that doesn't follow the beaten path in terms of storytelling, structure or chronology. Gripping, thought-provoking, nuanced and symbolic, this is film-making of the highest quality. Shot selection and composition is stunning throughout and there are some strong performances, particularly from Michael Shannon as the quirky, chain-smoking cop, who is Tony's guide through the wilderness, and Jake Gyllenhaal, playing dual roles in the stories within and without the manuscript.
 
Trespass Against Us - 7/10
 
The Traveller community is a British subculture that hasn't had much screen time before and has generally only supplied peripheral figures in movies, usually to be demonized. In this one, director Adam Smith presents a film entirely from that viewpoint, with Michael Fassbender in the role of Chad Cutler; father, son and heir to the Cutler dynasty. The plot feels a little unfocused at times but that doesn't seem to hurt it - the film's insight into a hidden minority and what happens when people reject the morality and culture of mainstream society is never less than interesting. Fassbender really inhabits the character of Chad, and obviously put a lot of work into making the subcultural vernacular and specific regional accent sound very natural.
 
The Void - 2/10
 
A huge disappointment, given this was one of the films I had been looking forward to most prior to the festival (admittedly, mainly on the back of the poster!) I don't think it has an original bone in its body, liberally ripping off Hellraiser, The Thing and Phantasm among others. There's a fine line between homage and pastiche and this one falls decidedly the wrong side of that line. It's like the film-makers had a bunch of ideas for cool scenes and hoped if they just threw them all together it would somehow work. Sadly it doesn't. There are numerous loose ends, nonsensical plot points and poorly drawn characters who you don't care a jot for. It's also tiresomely conventional as a horror film, recycling well-worn tropes without coherence or invention, before dragging itself like one of the mad doctor's blasted creations to a risible conclusion.
 
Phantasm - 8/10
 
An old master shows the apprentice how it's actually done. Endlessly quirky and inventive horror sci-fi... death by flying silver ball is especially entertaining! We saw the new remaster, restored from a 4K scan of the original film and presumably (hopefully!) tied to a major blu ray release. Like a number of the audience, it was my first time seeing Phantasm - and my introduction to Don Coscarelli, who was there in person for the Q&A and seemed like a thoroughly nice guy - but it definitely won't be my last! Just a trip from start to finish with a fantastic soundtrack, that seems like the lovechild of John Carpenter and Goblin.

 

[Zojokkeli]

Saw Train to Busan and The Wailing yesterday.
 
Train to Busan was a solid and entertaining zombieflick with nothing really wrong with it, but didn't really strike me as worthy of all the hype built around it.
 
The Wailing was something else though. Like mentioned above, it started out as a crime thriller with some comedic undertones, but slowly twisted to something really dark and supernatural towards the end. Left me speechless and feeling uneasy after it ended.