Ok lets break this down:
Major spoilers ahead.
Peele's new film is a clever, cerebral look at modern day US....A. I thought it was very good. It is such a layered film. I wasn't really a fan of Get Out, I thought that film was hugely overrated. But 'Us' is on another level.
There is alot going on in this movie in the background. So much foreshadowing and symbolism. So many nods to the socio-political landscape of America. The apocalyptic scenario we all face if we don't wake up. (11:11 is the rapture in the bible). Even the score in the baseball match is 11 - 11.
Right from the off we are given some easter eggs. There are are several characters wearing Black Flag t-shirts. Look up Black Flag records, what do you get:
https://i.imgur.com/8g518y3.jpg
With Scissors being the main motif for violence. As they're a symmetrical tool used to break things apart.
There is also a nod to 'The Lost Boys' in the opening scene as it's set in the mid 1980s on Santa Cruz boardwalk and we're told they're shooting another film there.
https://i.imgur.com/TDXxXQ1.png
Lupita Nyong'o's character wins a Thriller t-shirt early on. Then we see her doppleganger presented in this way, more than a passing resemblance:
https://i.imgur.com/yO6oleU.png
https://i.imgur.com/drHrXFs.jpg
The main theme is one of how society has been torn apart in recent times. This manifests itself in the way people that you think are normal, showing behavioural traits / opinion / beliefs you would never expect them to show / hold. Some people describe this as "the rise of the right" and "empowerment". They suddenly have a voice. This is shown in the movie by the tethered suddenly having a voice (literally as Red can now speak). They rise up and challenge.
It's no coincidence then, that the main moment of the movie happens when the central figure looks into a mirror. We need to take look at ourselves sooner rather than later.
The ending (humans linked in a barrier) also has large connotations with 'a wall', we all probably know what Peele was alluding to there.
https://i.imgur.com/mvkCyaV.jpg
There is also a very strong link to those tethered underground being the underclass. Eating raw meat. Underground. Peele may be alluding to the poverty gap widening.
There are also a load of nods to popular culture. I loved the beach scene reminiscing Jaws. I loved the car on the road reminiscing the Shining opening sequence, plus the twin girls paying homage to that movie.
https://i.imgur.com/vBN8bFG.png
The VHS tapes on the shelf at the beginning are a nod to popular culture (the Goonies etc) . And if you think about it - there is also a character in the Goonies that is tethered and can barely speak. I wouldn't be surprised if this is another of Peele's tenuous but clever links.
https://i.imgur.com/Tjy46bY.png
The music is also used brilliantly, especially towards the end with a stripped down version of 'I got 5 on it 'adding to the tension. A comedic NWA moment hints at Peele saying that popular culture and consumerism is for the privelaged and has effects on us a sit seeps into the public consciousness.
There's also a hint at Peel's Hitchcockian influence with the birds on the beach.
https://i.imgur.com/MdsmIWJ.jpg
I just enjoyed the intelligence of this film. The thought process gone into it. I wish all horror films were this cerebral.
Us tries to make us look at our shadows and reflect on who we are and whether we have best intentions or are complicit in something that will undo us. Whether we let the tethered prevail as they rise is the question left unanswered by Peele. Hopefully not.
Great film.
Tremendous film. If you're the type of person who gets annoyed at migrants arriving at your country in boats or over walls - you should be made to watch this film. And if you're still annoyed after watching it, chances are, you're an absolute c**t.
I've finally managed to watch it. A truly horrific portrayal of war. The character of Florya looks constantly mortified , and the Director used live ammunition on set and terrified him throughout filming so that must have been a factor. His transformation on screen is something to really savour, although probably not ethically sound. The sense of impending doom and dread is thrust into the viewers face. Even the noise of the planes overhead sound sinister. I'm not sure I'll be in a hurry to watch it again as it is a traumatizing experience but it's quite clear when watching it, that it is a massively important film. I saw 'The Ascent', made by the Director's wife Larisa Shepitko recently and thought that was superb, but this is a step up. It's surely one of the most harrowing, realistic tales of the brutality of war put onscreen. I haven't rated a movie as 10 out of 10 for a number of years. But this is a 10 out of 10. Unforgettable
Superb. This was exceptional. Peter Jackson and his team painstakingly took 100 year old archive footage and somehow rendered it into HD. An absolute triumph. Very emotional to hear what the soldiers were going through. Should be compulsory viewing in schools or something. 9/10
Fantastic film. Riz Ahmed plays a metal drummer losing his hearing. Olivia Cooke plays his girlfriend. One of the best of the year. Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place beyond the Pines) co wrote the script, and his fine balance of drama and tragedy shines through.
The performances are noteworthy, Ahmed giving an absolute blinder. The sound design is predictably stark given the subject. Hard to review without spoilers but the themes of rehabilitation and self destruction are evident. Marder also wrote 'The Place Beyond the Pines', so it's clear that this team are a tight-knit group who believe in each others work.
It's a film that would have been overly melodramatic and sentimental in the wrong hands, but the direction is absolutely pitch perfect, and the last 15 minutes or so had me in bits.
Absolutely phenomenal film. Terrific villain performance from Robert Mitchum. Amazing that this was the only ever film directed by Charles Laughton. The battle between right and wrong, shown by how far a man will go to get what he wants, juxtaposed by the innocence of childhood. What a film.
But the cinematography..........just wow. I'd go so far as to say it's one of the best looking movies I've seen
A film of two halves. The first hour is a very watchable tangled web of deceit, betrayal, crime and greed. It features some really impressive cinematography and a direction that is clearly inspired by the Coens and Tarantino. The (almost) single location setting works, and the air of mystery adds to the adequate performances by Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Cynthia Erivo and Dakota Johnson.
The second half however is just a mess of sillyness, poor scriptwriting and "how do we end this while stretching it out long enough".
A missed opportunity.
SciFi B Movie based on a short of the same name. The first 30 minutes whipped me up into a frenzy. The visuals and slow pace were perfect. From then on it declined a bit, mainly due to the clunky script, weak characters and use of a few tropes (tripping over a branch in a forest while being pursued etc). The third act rescued it slightly, as did the gorgeous cinematography, which must have been on a limited budget, so fair play to the film-makers for producing something so interesting looking. Sophie Thatcher was fine as the lead, and I would have liked to see more of Jay Duplass.
Overall, a fine effort, just lacking in a bit of invention.
Exquisite. Beautiful. Heartbreaking. The photography is stunning. The performances are tender. The script is mesmerizing. Everything is perfect.
It's a perfect film. No other words needed.
10/10
Superb show. Mysterious, good looking, odd but brilliant music cues. Esmail is a huge talent. Shea Whigham also proved he has the acting chops when given the material.
Did NOT expect to ugly cry at a magic show.
Decent. But nothing more. There were some very funny moments - and the two leads Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein are more than fine. But at the end of the day it was a movie that just wanted to be 'Dazed & Confused', 'Superbad', 'Edge of seventeen' and 'American Graffiti' too much. And didn't really succeed in any aspect of those movies.
Some audiences will no doubt relate to the characters - realising they should have partied more etc. But there are way too many slightly cringeworthy moments that spoil any depth.
I don't normally comment on movies but I'll make an exception for this because it was astonishing. Chan-wook normally makes you sit up and take notice of his work and this was no exception. I think it's a masterpiece. I was open mouthed at both the beauty and the way the plot unravelled. An absolute must see. 9/10
Sidney Flanigan is absolutely brilliant in this playing a troubled teen with a secret to keep. It's hyper-real at times. We can feel her pain. Some utterly heartbreaking scenes including one single take piece of quality cinema.
It's downbeat, sombre, melancholic and moody. And those are it's best qualities. The viewer is reminded of British cinema in the vein of Andrea Arnold and perhaps Cristian Mungiu's '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'. It's not over scripted, and it has a lovely washed out colour palette to ram home the "realness". Eliza Hittman is an extremely talented film-maker - Beach Rats was good, this is even better.
8.2/10
It's hyped as one of the classic movies this one, and while there were some fantastic elements of noir and murder mystery, I think I have seen better. It looks lovely (I don't think I've ever seen so many Dutch angles in one film), and the performances are solid, but the middle segment of the movie slightly lost my interest a little. I can imagine it was a real eye opener back in the day though
This film made me weep like a 4 year old girl who just dropped her chocolate bar into a puddle. Mark Duplass has nailed it. He wrote it and got the brilliant Sarah Paulson to co star with him. And she delivers. Big time. Every once in a while, a movie comes along that rips your guts out. Derek Cianfrance's 'Blue Valentine' did this to me a few years back, and Blue Jay has done the same. The couples' relationship just feels so candid and exposed. It just got to me. It's not dis-similar to Richard Linklater's 'before' trilogy, although it's more of a neatly packaged powerpunch and it works. I just hope lots and lots of people get to see it.
Well that film broke me internally. Damn you manipulative string music!!!
I made noises I didn't know I could make. Seriously though it's a must watch. The Directing here by Lukas Dhont is absolutely formidable, he has got an absolute worldy performance from young Eden Dambrine.
A very close friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi gets tested to the limit. It's almost unreviewable due to spoiler risks.
Cry tally : 6
It's not often a film comes along that is worth the hype. But Hereditary is one of them. It has flaws, and some of the plot is quite derivative, but the direction, execution, visual experience and central performance from Toni Collette is where it shines. One of the most terrifying movies from the last 10 years.
Hirokazu Koreeda's work has been recommended to me by a few people, and I'm ashamed to say this is the first of his movies I have seen. Based on 'Like Father, Like Son' I am now in a rush to see a few more. It is an excellent film that deals with raw human emotion. But the genius is the way Koreeda shows us that emotion. There are beautiful looking films and then there are just beautiful films. This falls into the latter category.
This story centres around receiving the inexplicable news that your child was swapped at birth and your real child lives a few miles away ion the next town. That's a horrific thing for anybody to deal with but Koreeda doesn't show us the hysterical scream fits that both mothers would have no doubt had, he instead deals with the inner turmoil and pain that anyone in this position would no doubt feel. Questioning yourself to understand if you could have done something different. Examining your morals and your judgments on others.
The main protagonist is Ryota, expertly played by Masaharu Fukuyama. Through his journey we see that he has to learn alot about his role in the family even though he thinks he has made it as the main breadwinner with a high powered job. The use of pianos, kites and robots are all fantastic mechanisms to enable us to see how he views his "son", and the level of expectation placed upon him. In one scene towards the end in particular (you could very loosely call it a reveal scene) the emotions become too much for Ryota and we finally see him learning and accepting what his role in the family should ultimately be. How Koreeda manages to weave this into the plot is just masterful film-making.
It's such a simple concept - child swapped at birth = tragedy. But not many people could write a screenplay and direct a 2 hour feature on the turmoil and upheaval of family life based around it. Koreeda manages it, and also enables every single actor in this movie to nail their roles. Great film
This is Macon Blair's directorial debut. Given he produced and starred in 'Green Room' and 'Blue Ruin' I was really keen to see what he could do.
The problem with this film is that it isn't quite sure what it wants to be. It's too funny to be a thriller, and it has to many serious elements to be a full out comedy. Therefore it ends up being a mish mash of both. It's a bit like a Ben Wheatley black comedy co-written by Edgar Wright. While that might sound appealing it just doesn't click with me because it gets it a bit wrong, especially in the final act.
I really liked Elijah Wood's character and I was totally on board with what the film was actually trying to tell me, it just didn't pull it off very well.
Blair is still one to watch though I feel. 6/10
Long scenes, long takes, little dialogue and bizarre in parts but extraordinarily beautiful. The opening scene alone was just mezmerizing, as the character Janos tries to explain an eclipse of the sun to a bunch of drunkards in a bar. There are Tarkovsky like values to this style of film-making and parts of it feel other worldly and poetic. It's poetic in its' visuals and dialogue and strikingly shot with great use of camerawork and light.
Tarr refuses to be drawn on what it all means but I'm torn somewhere between a sense of European history and remorse of what went on during the 'great wars', and a cautionary tale of sorts as to how capitalism / modern society can ruin a country's people. There's also a theme of man being responsible for his own actions, and the phrase "He who is afraid, knows nothing" is uttered poignantly as if to remark on it's importance.
The music in this film is also pretty incredibly and used so well. The lead piece by Mihaly Vig is lovely, and you have to assume the slightly out of tune piano is purposefully recorded that way, given the subtext in the film.
Does Janos represent the state of Hungary after these events? In need of being nursed back to health. The title of the movie suggests that the sequence mentioning Werckmeister's music is key - so we might then take that as a reference / analogy to the elderly composer's desire to create a less rigid way of life. As is the case with many great films, it is up to the viewer's interpretation.
My first ever Tarr movie. And it's probably in my top 100 movies of all time. I just wish it was available on Blu Ray. The DVD I had was fine but didn't do the beautifully shot images justice.
10 out of 10. The entire thing was just perfect. The choreography, the music, the lighting, the cinematography, the performances, the direction. I was completely spellbound. I'm 41 and I was just completely transfixed by this TV show and the young characters. The Arcade Fire montage in the finale got to me, as did the very last few shots. Incredible TV.
Superb film. Fassbinder's ability to make bleak characters so interesting is pretty remarkable. This film is just as important today as it was in 1973. The script and plot captures how I'd imagine Postwar Munich really felt. for The prejudice and bigotry expressed then is unfortunately prevalent now.
The characters are maligned and downtrodden but they have an on screen bond that really shines through in the performances. The extended family are also well played with Fassbinder himself appearing as Emmi's son in law. Some of the bar room scenes are massively tense, with an almost paradoxical subplot whereby the bar is the only place where Ali is protected. Emmi is seen as the outsider here as she's taking away Ali from the young German girls. Yet everywhere else Ali is the foreigner.
What I thought was key to the film was that there was no revenge type plot in the final act....... no obvious resolve for the one set of protagonists or the other. Instead, Fassbinder gives us a metaphor like ending that tells us that for the neatest resolution we need to accept each other's faults, nuances and customs and learn to live alongside them and to accept them. Compromise and understanding is the only way for a society to have true happiness. If only the message could be applied more widely today.
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie gives a fantastic performance as a daughter who wants to move on and become independent instead of living of the fat of the land with her father. If you enjoyed The Survivalist, Captain Fantastic, Hunt for the Wilderpeople you may like this. There are a few subtle moments that reminded me of Tender Mercies too. It's a very tender film, especially how the couple interact with nature. The focus of the film is on the father daughter relationship arc, and how it changes, and this is key to the films strength as it focuses on the emotion of the strive for independence instead of the chase from the authorities. A really beautiful film. 8/10
George Lucas' 1st film, his student project brought to life in feature format and his creative spark ignited with the help of Francis Ford Coppola. It's not a hugely polished plot and has a quite a mundane bunch of themes in it. But the visuals, considering it was 1971, give a glimpse into what was to come from Lucas. Robert Duvall is as good as ever
Absolutely brilliant. One of the greatest love stories I'v ever seen in film. Still processing it really. Devastatingly real.
Very beautiful movie. Loved it.
Why is this so controversial? Why are people complaining? Isn't this how 11 year old girls behave?
It's a very decent debut and a well made film that has echoes of films like 'Girlhood', 'Pariah' and 'Ratcatcher'. The final shot is stunning.
So good to tick another Bergman off the list. Existential dread and guilt turning into sweet closure. Great stuff. 7.7/10
A difficult film to both anaylse and rate. It is obviously inspirational to filmmakers as much of Goddard's work is, but it's also very meta, aloof and almost abstract at times. Some of the story is a film within a film within a film. So with that in mind, we are literally poking into Goddard's head to watch his own take on Greek Mythology / falling out of love / the struggles to keep art-forms relevant and the decline of culture. One segment is literally a 40 minute argument in an appartment, which was verging on repetitive and overlong. That said it's importance in cinema is clear.
