anon-15964 Reviews

Full River Red (2023)

Good acting, decent story, terrible and LOUD music

[7/10 · 6 August 2023]

What saves this story is the performance of the main cast. All actors play their roles passionately, and they are the only real strenght this movie has. The sets are limited but not holding back the movie.

The story is decently captivating. It starts as a whodunnit, that turns into a case of national security. Various factions are in the game, that don't know who to trust. Overall a gripping story, but it does get more nonsensical as it goes on.

The absolute worst part is the music, especially it's volume. Without exaggeration, the music is 10x as loud as the audio. I spent two hours holding the remote, ready to press mute. The music also fits the scenes it's played in poorly, but that would be forgiven if it was not 10x too loud.

The Square (2017)

Brutally honest and confrontational

[9/10 · 14 January 2023]

This movie absolutely does not bold back on confronting both the characters in the story and yourself with the situations we all try to avoid on a daily basis.

This level of raw honesty about how pathetic humans can be gets close to the masterpiece of Synecdoche New York. It's an absolute delight and the 2.5 hour runtime is over in a blink.

This movie takes a similar approach to Force Majeure, but with a more ambitious story and it absolutely pays off.

All acting performances are stellar, which helps to forget that you are watching a movie, which is ever more important as this movie is portraying the patheticness that surrounds us daily.

Ci chu yu bi chu (2012)

Unique look into 2000's suburban China that lacks a story.

[8/10 · 28 December 2022]

Tl:dr you will like this movie of you like an artsy and pretentious movie that captures the bleak outlook of poor young people in 2000's suburban China.

This movie isn't for every, and even for the people it is meant for it cannot be considered entertaining in the classic meaning of the word. Nonetheless, it does an excellent job at capturing a very specific vibe of hopelessness. It is essentially about poor young people who should be benefiting from a period of strong economic growth but are somehow missing out.

The movie doesn't really have a real story, it is more a collection of scenes, the most notable being the bus station dance scene. This is also what is holding it back the most. I think the director could have captured the vibe equally well without completely foregoing a conventional storyline.

Jia fang yi fang (1997)

A Chinese classic comedy that still feels modern

[9/10 · 28 December 2022]

Tl:dr this classic Chinese 1990's comic is still highly entertaining for modern audiences. The unique story is timeless, and since it was a high value production when released it doesn't feel dated.

The comedic story is about a small group of friends who run a company that lets other people have their dramatic fantasies come true, generally involving improvised historic setpieces and improvised solutions by the characters.

People unfamiliar with mainland Chinese cinema will likely not know this movie, even though it was a huge success and still considered a classic nowadays. It stars Ge You, who can be considered the biggest male star of his generation in China. It's one of the earlier truly popular Chinese movies from a time when most entertained was produced in Hong Kong or Taiwan.

The Chinese title "Jia Fang Yi Fang" refers to party 1 and 2 in a legal contract, which is used to set the expectations and limits in the reenactments in the movie.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

Flawless in scope and execution

[10/10 · 28 December 2022]

Tl;Dr you will enjoy this movie if you like crushingly depressive movies, if you like melancholic meaning of life stories, or if you like anything Charlie Kaufman has had a hand in before.

The best way to describe this is a sequel to Synecdoche New York. I only have 3 10/10 ratings out of ~500 movies and 2 of those are Charlie Kaufman movies.

The story is in principle simple but told in a bold and asynchronous way. It doesn't hold your hand at any point, but that just extends the enjoyment to rewatches. It is very large in thematic scope, and none of the performances are short of perfect. This is the kind of movie that scratches an itch deep in your person if you are open to it. Only complaint is that I personally don't care for the theatre references, as Mike Stoklasa said, Charlie is a little too smart for his own good.

If you loved Synecdoche New York or Adaptation you will love this. If you hated either you will hate this but that's ok.

Blue Jasmine (2013)

Gripping story with stellar performances

[9/10 · 28 December 2022]

The story itself is relatively constrained but doesn't fail to keep your attention from the first to last minute. Two adopted sisters who where in very different social circumstances seem to end up with more or less the same problems.

Every single character was portrayed excellently. Even actors who are generally not known for their dramatic talent really get to show their best here. The acting really carries this movie.

You will enjoy this movie if you like a good dramatic story with lots of cheating, backstabbing, and comebacks, or if you can be entertained by fantastic character acting in itself.

Private Life (2018)

Bold and uncompromising

[9/10 · 23 December 2022]

The movie took a chance on tackling a difficult topic in an uncompromising way, and doing it with Paul Giamatti for good measure.

The movie does an excellent job at portraying the conflicts and struggles, to the point where it becomes almost unbearingly uncomfortable.

The long run time is utilized well to let the dense plot points breathe. The story doesn't feel drawn out at any point. The only small drawback of the story structure is that it is obvious the story isn't over at several tension points, but it doesn't hold it back.

Paul Giamatti is a bit hit or miss sometimes but this might well be the best performance I've seen so far since Sideways.

James White (2015)

Very strong movie, drags a little at the end

[8/10 · 14 December 2022]

The story starts really strong. The main character James White struggles with himself and his surroundings, and strong acting performances from everyone make the highs and lows of this story impactful. The story is gripping, feels very authentic and nothing is sugarcoated.

It struggles a bit in the last third. The reason is related to the story: the other characters show up less and less, and we mostly see James talking to himself and his mother. The ending is fairly predictable from around 2/3 in, and as most other characters have left the story at this point there isn't really anything happening to look forward to.

Nonetheless very recommendable for people who like an authentic sad story.

Aloners (2021)

Show don't tell

[9/10 · 27 November 2022]

This movie about young working Koreans who are isolated from one another and society as a whole.

The movie excels at saying what it had to say without relying on dialogue. The main character Jinah hardly says anything, except at her job where she talks to customers all day. She is estranged from her father, her neighbors, and even from the energetic younger colleague she is supposed to train. She eats lunch at a place where you order from a digital kiosk, then enter where a faceless cook hands you the food without talking. This is mirrored in her own job, where she herself is a faceless interface for a company. She doesn't want to stay a minute more then necessary with her father, but spends hours observing him through his security camera.

Despite most of the movie taking place behind either the main character's tv screen at home or PC screen at work, the movie is shot in a way that is visually interesting and varied. All the characters are interesting and relatable, and the actors shine when the characters interact.

Overall, this movie took a huge risk with its concept, they put in the effort to properly do what they set out to do, and turned it into something unique that is more and more rare today. 9/10.

This Is Sanlitun (2013)

Unique mockumentary about expats in China

[9/10 · 13 November 2022]

This mockumentary caricaturizes the stereotypical "English teacher expat" in a highly successful and entertaining way. The story holds up a mirror to expats in China who often seem to be running away from something more than running towards it, finding solace in the (former) ease of finding odd jobs as a Caucasian person in China.

The story is written by someone intimately familiar with the common professional and romantic tropes of English-speaking expats in China. This know-how is channeled successfully into a highly entertaining story with characters that are very familiar to anyone who has lived in China.