An overly positive cynic
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Madadayo 1993
It seems only fitting that Madadayo, Akira Kurosawa’s final feature, should open in 1943, the year his debut film Sanshiro Sugata released. Rather than attempt to put into words what it is that makes this film, and Kurosawa’s career by extension, so wonderful, I would instead prefer to take this opportunity to talk about myself (of which very few of you will read to the end and in such a way that I’m sure I’ll cringe later and delete this…
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Wings of Desire 1987
I'm not going to go on one of those classic personal rants that is so common on this site, but I would be amiss if I didn't mention that 2021 has been pretty awful. This isn't a particularly unique feeling of mine, I know, and sometimes I feel selfish for feeling this way, but I just feel unhappy all the time these days. I thought, perhaps, Wings of Desire might be a good way to close out this unhappy year…
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Where Is My Friend's House? 1987
In a word, precious. Something I've observed in my short time as a soccer referee is that younger kids are just, well, nicer to each other than anyone else. That's what you see here: a boy who wants nothing more than to help his fellow man, but he can't because no one bothers to listen. This massive observation of live is captured through a small-scale story, but that makes it all the more real. Kiarostami clearly saw the good in humanity, even in its smallest form.
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Men 2022
I felt like I was an intruder, like I wasn't supposed to be seeing these intimate moments. Which is why, when those moments really are intruded upon, I was so affected. This is a startlingly beautiful, unsurprisingly sinister portrayal of trauma, which seems to be Alex Garland's trademark at this point. The feeling of needing to get away, to be alone and to heal, but not being able to escape your own head is an overwhelming one, and in case you forgot, Men was here to remind you.
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 2022
Forgive me for the scattered thoughts, but this movie left me with a lot to think about. Mostly negative, although a few positives which really make those negatives worse rather than softening my opinion.
1. There is some of Raimi's flair here, with fun cuts, fades, camera movements and whatnot, but its all bogged down in the "Marvel" of it all. Every exciting thing that happens that feels like it was a creative decision made by a person is preceded…
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Police Story 1985
A pretty boring movie bookended by two excellent set pieces. While its always fun to see crazy people do crazy things like this, its always a quandary for me because I have to sit through a lot of stuff that I genuinely don't care about to get to the fun part.
