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Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry 2012
Another content over form documentary but Chinese artist-dissident Ai Weiwei is an interesting/inspiring enough figure to carry proceedings. His situation also suits/justifies the sometimes 'guerrilla camera' aesthetic.
Where art practice and ideology meet reality.
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Beautiful Girls 1996
More heavily stereotyped than I remember and with a few slightly under par performances ("Superb, Tracy") but overall Beautiful Girls is a nicely formed small town ensemble drama about a group of friend struggling to grow up, and in some case be a sane individual. A young (15 year old) Natalie Portman is excellent as 13 year old neighbour to central character Willie Conway and their equal parts sad/disturbing/ridiculous banter provide some of the best parts of the film. Interesting…
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Safety Not Guaranteed 2012
Excellent indie rom-com with more feel-good factor than I expected but it carries it well. Ostensibly a time-travel piece (genre flavour of the month!) the film's primary interest is in subverting mainstream rom-com tropes and character stereotypes; a goal which it achieves most admirably. Fun, funny, and possessed of an honest warmth lacking from many Hollywood productions of this nature, even the broad, physical comedy in this worked for me. Well worth seeing. Also, Aubrey Plaza...swoon.
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My Neighbor Totoro 1993
Finally watched this much lauded Miyazaki classic, and with my two almost 3 and almost 5yr old girls no less! It went down with resounding (literal) squeals of delight – particularly the Catbus whose major sequence required instant repeat upon the end of credits.
While not being as enamoured with Totoro, perhaps, as some of my friends this is quality viewing imbued right through with a lovely warmth of feeling but without the usual cheese. What struck me most whilst…
