Playground (dir. Libby Spears)
"While traveling to the Philippines in 2001, filmmaker Libby Spears gained first hand knowledge of the horrific practice of trafficking human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation..." This film is about prostitution in the United States, and often about the Northwest (where I live lolz).
A friend of mine came home for her summer vacation for a week before she heads off on her Asian tour of countries where this trafficking takes place (along with the rest of her group from Not For Sale), calling me up to go check it out. I grabbed some sushi+steamed vegetable over at Miso and headed over. The turn out was really good! All the people filled the lecture hall, and we ended up sitting in the very front row (which wasn't so bad, luckily).
The film itself is... heavy stuff. The statistics about child slaves in the United States makes me never want to have kids. Shit is so scary. Beyond that, the film is pretty good, although it takes some odd breaks to showcase animations set to indie music that sounds like it would've worked in a flick like Juno. Could've been left out for keeping everything moving.
I give Playground
Don't take your little child to the mall. EVER./10
Wendy & Lucy (2008, Kelly Reichardt)
Short Review: Film about woman with bad haircut making bad decisions with money. Is good.
Longer Review:
Wendy & Lucy is probably one of my first tastes of Neo-Neo-Realism (dumbest name for a genre. ever. stop that shit.) and it didn't disappoint. We believe the strong relationship between Michelle Williams and this loveable mutt Lucy who is just super cute. Wendy, as a character, is very... different. The northwest setting fits the character, who seems like just the kind of free-spirit, slightly odd people that fill the streets of my city. She, like them, is also pretty horrible with money (lol I could take the bus, but instead let me take a cab), but that's not the film's fault and certainly doesn't detract.
It's shot wonderfully, the acting is on point, and the writing is solid. If you can stomach a slower-paced film (which you should, by now, like an adult.) then you owe it to yourself to check this out. Get ready to cry if you're a dog person though, as I think this will twang on your heart strings judging by my wacky GTF's reaction to the film in our discussion period.
I give Wendy & Lucy
So is this like Marley & Me?/10
So is this like Marley & Me?/10
(P.S. Umberto D.)
Ip Man (2008, dir. Wilson Yip)
Ip Man (pronounced Eep Mon) is a fictional/sort of nonfictional depiction of the life of Ip Man, a reknowned practicioner of Wing Chun fighting and a mentor to Bruce Lee. The film picks up during the Japanese invasion of China (those jerks!) and the Man (or is it Ip?) family falls into poverty. There's a lot of drama and *gasp* the story here is actually really solid.\
The beauty of the environments the characters inhabit is only rival to the exquisite fight choreography featured in Ip Man, making this a film you simply cannot miss. I've always had a little soft spot for kung fu films because I'm a chronic fighting game player and listened to a lot of Wu Tang Clan in high school, but this is by far the best kung fu film I've seen in a long. time. I don't want to say too much, but the best fights = Ip Man vs. 10 Japanese Karate Black Belts and Ip Man vs. Bandit/Outlaw in Ip's home.
I give Ip Man
Mom says try not to break anything/10
Cruel Story of Youth (1960, dir. Nagisa Oshima)
Following last week's viewing of Giants and Toys in my Japanese Cinema Class, we saw this flick yesterday and again I was very impressed with the characters, writing, and direction of this depressing tale. The leads are young and careless, exhibiting a kind of Breathless-esque disregard for the consequences, instead only worrying about instant gratification whether it be running a racket, drinking, or sleeping with one another on a bunch of floating logs (ooh, splinters!).
Coen Brothers beware, Oshima seems to also enjoy making things for his characters increasingly dismal until the final climax (not gonna spoil nuffin). Oddly, some silly weeaboos in my class thought the way the film ended was hilarious when it was clearly anything but and was the closest I've ever come to yelling at someone in public. Should've. Anyway, see this if you're into Neo-Realism, Breathless, or good movies.
I give Cruel Stories of Youth
Who needs melodrama, anyway?/10
[Mini Reviews]
Indian In The Cupboard - Omri is a weird name. Seriously. Also, if you can make Darth Vader come alive, don't settle on a silly Native American. Make some Star Wars characters come alive, and have them fight your Star Trek toys in order to settle the nerd debate./10
Grease - Back when Travolta was actually sexy (you know, if I was into guys). 30-year-olds playing high school students preoccupied with smoking and racing, singing, pregnancy/10
Now if you'll excuse me, I have important things to do like play Red Dead Redemption or pretend I'm working on my screenplay,
Gutter Trash
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