Seems to have accurately adapted the ambling depth and breadth of a novel; anchoring its social and artistic satire around a family dynamic. Wright and Brown are a scintillating pair and it’s a very funny movie. It reminded me of Adaptation, as the film uses the language of very white middle class cinema (whatever that means) with the Spike Jonze / Jon Brion aesthetic and music interspersed with stings of creeping jazz as the plot kicks in. The film seems…
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Bodies Bodies Bodies 2022
A well cast, acted and helmed “one room” play about a bunch of children who think they know everything. The trailers made it look quite silly and bubblegum and an out and out comedy but it’s much more of a steadily made character and dialogue piece, a dark black comedy with some edge and closer to The Descent than anything else. It’s a film that loves its characters even as they hate themselves.
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Lost in Translation 2003
Does what almost no other film I've ever seen does: Captures the very essence of the loss of a single-serving person. Every time I watch this movie I cry. I know what it's like to meet someone to get to know someone, for a day, for a week, for a month and then face the crushing realisation and the string of events culminating in a lacklustre goodbye and a lifetime without them. Coppola, building clearly from her relationship with her…
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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 2003
A film that manages to be brisk and punchy and simultaneously laden with character, quirks and quality. Peter Weir has made a meditative, visceral, chase movie that kickstarts hard and doesn’t let up. It’s clever and emotional and fun, a weighty adventure flick that lets you play catch up.
Russell Crowe solidified himself as a superb actor, delivering a unique performance as a man you can imagine is usually quiet and safe and unsure of himself until on the sea and His true calling comes out as an extraordinary seaman.
It’s a true shame that this underrated modern classic never got its sequel.