Dastardly dilettante.
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Ghost in the Shell 1995
The best reason to watch the dated flopper of 1988's Appleseed OVA might be just how much more appreciative it'll make you of this masterpiece. Both are anime projects adapted from Masamune Shirow's cyberpunk police manga, but this one is elevated to high art by post-Akira ambition backed by a cinematic budget and (I think most importantly) the mind of Mamoru Oshii, who's haunted flair inflected by a fascination with Christianity truly makes the film and was already firmly established…
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off 1986
Ferris is the dark lord of all 80's protagonists, always bending reality toward the most 80's protagonist outcome possible. There's no surprise then that, while he's a delightful driving force, the real heart of the film isn't in Bueller but the supporting cast. Cameron is the obvious one, who's creeping existential awakening builds up to what's likely to be the audience's own Stendhal syndrome moment, but there's also Jeanie, equally trapped under Ferris' shadow, exhibiting similar behavior to her brother…
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Purple Noon 1960
I don't get it, why would they make a whole film about the world's least trecherous Frenchman?
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The Shawshank Redemption 1994
The film that got me into films. Having caught about two-thirds of it on TV probably about eighteen years ago (puts Andy's sentence into perspective) and being left with this electric swell of positive emotion that at the time felt alien to me.
You can scoff and denigrate all you want for it topping IMDB and being lauded by fledgeling cinephile dudebros - ie people who have nothing to prove with an esoteric Letterboxd top four and just love their…
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The Quiet Girl 2022
I'll be honest, the early parts of An Cailín Ciúin had me bracing for a tedious 90 minutes. The sparse dialogue, trendy 4:3 aspect ratio and shots that intentionally linger on after any other film would have cut, it amounts to a distractingly ersatz-arthouse feeling, voguish veneer without the distinct voice to back it up. Or so I thought.
As it goes on its total commitment to illustrating slow rural life and spotlighting the near-inarticulable minutiae of childhood experience becomes…
