a kiwi (currently having a discourse with a mellow about movies)
|| she/her, an alien from the black lizard planet.
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Mobile Suit Gundam 1979
There probably comes a moment to all those who decide to delve into the deep end of the 40+ year-old Gundam franchise, and want to start from the very beginning -
A moment realizing that there is something a little different about director Tomino Yoshiyuki's works.
Whethere this is compared to other entries within the larger Gundam franchise, to other anime works old and new, or even to much of the live-action cinema that Tomino drew inspiration from.
Some might…
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Landscape in the Mist 1988
(SIDE A)
1)
When, really, was the last time I felt like this? Full, total, complete awe, without a single moment of hesitation or reservation...
It was like I was watching something entirely new again.
A little more than a decade ago when I first started watching films, it was easy to be impressed: whether it was beloved fan favorites in Top 250 lists or 'essential' arthouse classics from critics' polls, it was easy or even required to be wowed…
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The Postman Always Rings Twice 1946
Basically watched this one just to fully comprehend how much superior "Ossessione" is in every way - in cinematic language, in sensibility, in style and in atmosphere and in depiction of gender and sexuality... this pair of films adapted from the same source novel made three years and two continents and one film movement apart really make for a perfect place of study: a side-by-side comparison between the two films at the same key story moments would make for a…
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Bitter Rice 1949
(a)
Rossellini's "War Trilogy" has long been the official 'face' trilogy of Neorealism. Alongside De Sica's "Bicycle Thieves" (1948), the trajectory of "Rome Open City" (1945) -> "Paisan" (1946) -> "Germany Year Zero" (1948) paints a picture focused on the culminating sensibility and burgeoning international influence of Neorealism in the immediate post-war years.
This is where I'd like to propose a different, far less official trilogy to also study:
"Toni" (Renoir, 1935) -> "Ossessione" (Visconti, 1943) -> "Bitter Rice" (De…
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Japan Sinks: 2020 2020
simultaneously very very good and very very bad. some decisions in it are absolutely brilliant (the atmosphere in ep1&2, onsen rap, haruo's run, kite's balloon), some decisions are just bafflingly bad (3 out of 10 eps on the cult???). some parts are great because enough time is spent on little moments that feel very real (sibling conversations in the lifeboat), while most parts - and esp. most deaths - feel so bizarrely rushed and jumpy. altogether it just all feels…
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Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn 2010
Basically, everything good about it comes from its UC connections/fan-services, but as such, everything bad about it also comes from its UC connections - by setting itself to be not just a sequel to the UC works, but a SUPER DIRECT one (merely 3 years after the events of Char's Counterattack), Unicorn ends up contantly inviting itself to be compared to Tomino's works, and very unfavorably in my eyes. Even Tomino himself would set his novel, 'Hathaway's Flash' - written…
