Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

USA/United Kingdom
written and directed by: Martin McDonagh
starring: Frances McDormand, Caleb Landry Jones, Lucas Hedges
seen on 5th March, 2018

Olala, don't funk with my billboards. I will have to think about it for a while and I was expecting something a bit different than this, which of course is not entirely the film's fault. Maybe in time I will arrive to the understanding of what the film was about. The character development seemed a bit off and not completely understandable given the limits of the time span shown in the film. I had some real trouble with some of the music, mainly with the songs (and the tone they brought with them), the pieces written by Carter Burwell were the best. And a lot of other strange details threw me right out of the film all the time: like Frances being nervous and touching her face while moving her mouth in one shot and right in the follow-up shot she does not move one facial muscle, her hand is not even in the shot and she shows no previously seen emotions. Is there something I'm missing completely? In a film about inner experiences I find things like this extremely disruptive. Or that particular scene when they are replacing the burnt posters with their copies and all of them look so happy without a hint of all the terrible stuff that happened around it. Their happiness seems so out of place that I just cannot connect with the film and its story, or rather I feel like I misinterpret the whole thing.

Just a month ago I would not think I'd ever say that, but right now I hope Dunkirk wins all the Oscars and other awards. (But Lucas Hedges was great again, it was a real treat to watch his performance.)

Lady Bird (2017)

USA
written and directed by: Greta Gerwig
starring: Saoirse Ronan, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet
seen on 5th March, 5. 3. 2018

There was a time in my life when I thought about what it would be like to kill myself every day and this film strongly reminded me of that, so it did something right to capture a certain episode of growing up, I think. For me, the most precious parts of the film were those short unimportant exchanges with background characters like Danny, that one cool girl, the brother's girlfriend, her dad. They were scattered amongs attempts to unite everything into one story and I found those attempts unnecessary because the overall story arc did not work very well in the end. But those unique details did.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

USA
directed by: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
written by: Michael Arndt
starring: Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, Steve Carell 
comment. 2nd March, 2018

Damn, I would never have thought that I'd have to spend so much time with a film like Little Miss Sunshine to even figure out what I want to say. I saw it once before just after it came out and I only remember being perplexed as to why do they refer to Olive as fat when the litte girl obviously isn't fat at all, and only wears an apparent fake belly. (But not mystify anyody, I consider Abigail Breslin's performance as the best and most sincere in this film and I am happy to praise her for that.)

The rest of the film seems a lot farther from honesty, in my opinion. Even in "Juno" I was distracted by forced plot points just according to the syd-fieldian logic, and LMS might try just a little bit harder than that. If the institute of "an indie film" stands for something in my book, it is distinction and spontaneity, and I don't find any of those here. All the characters (with the exception of the mother and possibly Olive) are endowed with a triple dose of typical weirdo qualities to assure the audience that they couldn't get anyone weirder. The jumps in tone from a lightweight atmosphere to a depression of the worst kind and back are unexpected and illogical. And mainly, all the stupid storybook rules are being followed to a letter instead of being subverted, as one would expect in this kind of film. This all contributes to me seeing the final feel of a re-newed family togetherness as unbelievable and unearned.

But I have to add some plus points for the film go make the depressed teenager colourblind to have a real reason to see the world as ugly and incomplete. And also for these film siblings being nice to each other, getting on well with each other and caring about each other, because I am kind of sick of the stereotypical film siblings rivalry.

The Eagle (1925)

USA
directed by: Clarence Brown
written by: George Marion Jr. + A. S. Puschkin (novel)
starring: Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Banky, Louise Dresser
seen: 6th February, 2018

Well, during my comparative excursion amongst the fabled lovers of the silent film, Douglas Fairbanks still remains on the top of my imaginary chart (and that's only if I don't include Buster Keaton, because he can top anyone). Valentino's charm doesn't work too much on me and the whole first half of the film, where he's the only attraction, seems to lack that "something something" that would make me watch and be immersed.

But that changed, though, when Vilma Banky stepped into the light. I'm not sure if the screenplay gave her a bit more stuff to act out, or whatever it was that made her more electric, lively and attractive than her male counterpart. I definitely liked the way she was written as a smarter and (relatively) more independent woman than your usual damsel in distress, which made her only the more dashing. And mainly, as soon as she entered the picture and the triangle "the antagonist-his daughter-the protagonist" could get going, the film became so interesting that I didn't know what to admire first.

All and all, Clarence Brown didn't leave too much of a good impression on me, nevertheless he deserves a thumps up for using all his aces in the second half of the film rather than wasting them in the beginning.

-"I'd rather die on my feet than ride on your horse."

Titanic (1997)

USA
written and directed by: James Cameron
starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton, Bernard Hill, Ioan Gruffud
comment: 19th January, 2018

I have such contradictory opinions about this film I can't recollect any other to match it right now. It is the embodiment, the ultimate homage and also an unfortunate forshadowing of all the blockbuster plagues that stop me from taking this branch of entertainment cinema seriously: it distorts history and its facts, it romanticizes misfortune and catastrophy, it wants to be the biggest of them all, the run-time is never-ending, it's a criticism of capitalism by the ultimate capitalists, and probably a load of other stuff I can't remember right now. (Casting absurdly attractive faces in the lead roles should be on the list, but I'm not including it in this case, because both the belle and the beau here are legitimate, competent and charismatic actors, while many of the models we see occupying the posters of blockbusters today simply are not and being beautiful is often perceived as being a good actor, see Margot Robbie for example.)

But on the other hand, I keep rewatching it without the desire to pull my brain out of my head with a hook through my nasal cavities. And amongst all the diversion there are two moments that always make me cry and that I genuinely really like: The first one is at the end of the film, when Rose gets to the whistle and the camera stays on her face and her eyes, and the other is the tracking shot of the photos old Rose keeps at her side, especially when the picture of her ridding a horse like a man is shown. However, during the viewing in January 2018 I added one more instance of crying on my agenda, and that was straight at the beginning when I remembered that Bill Paxton is no longer with us. Rest in peace, you damn fine guy.

Call Me by Your Name (2017)

USA/Italy/France/Brazil
directed by: Luca Guadagnino
written by: James Ivory + André Aciman (book)
starring: Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg
seen on 18th January, 2018

That last shot really is devastating. Love sucks.

But goddamn, the more I think about the film and the more I try to analyse it for myself the worse and more amateurish it seems. Timothée is really brilliant, vibrant, genuine and interesting and I would wholeheartedly wish for him to win that Oscar. Nonetheless, he shines far brighter than any other aspect of the film. Armie tries really hard, and he does have some cute moments, but he mostly only accomplishes to confirm his status as a handsome (as opposed to talented) actor and most of the time (also thanks to the fact that by following him on Instagram I am aware that he is a family oriented adult male with a wife and two kids) he does not fit the part and at times he even seems extremely miscast.

The flow of events is a bit forced and somewhat mechanical and Guadagnino probably still needs to do a lot of directing to learn how to tell such a subtle and not-story-oriented story. I do like the direction he seems to be taking, but I am baffled by the critics that say that his directing is a third main character in the story. The soundtrack only supported this clumsy feel the film gave me instead of lifting it up.

In retrospect, I should have kept the original fleeting impression and dropped the dissection of a simple film about one's first love.

- After four months of listening to "Visions Of Gideon" nonstop and being moved by the beauty and powers of art I do wish that the film before "that" were at least a bit better because the ending is so gosh darn terribly beautifully brilliant!

The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

USA
directed by: Raoul Walsh
written by: Lotta Woods, Douglas Fairbanks (as Elton Thomas)
starring: Douglas Fairbanks, Julanne Johnston, Sôjin Kamiyama
comment: 5th January, 2018

"Happiness must be earned."

Wow, that's what I call a hero's journey. I've never really properly seen anything with Douglas Fairbanks before and now I'm being swept away. His physical (or should I say corporeal) acting creates a character so tangible, interesting and ultimately likable that it makes my heart overflow with joy just watching him. He is the alpha and the omega of the film and that might be why the film seems to slow down when the screen is ocupied by the other suitors. But when he's in the spotlight, wow it's wild. I especially liked the humanoid tree and the underwater harlots tempting him into their lair. And the sets and costumes were all really beautiful. I think I would find a place for some of the lamps from the palace and for the sheer embroidered cloak the caliph was wearing as well.

All in all, I think Raoul Walsh beats Griffith in all the right places when it comes to an oriental spectacle. I mean, he still somewhat presents white people as the good guys and minorities as the bad guys, but his film is not built on the premise that that's the predetermined way things will always be.