Querelle

Took my mind off of everything and on to other things. And yesterday was Brad Davis's bday.

Got Sea of Love on Blu-ray. This is a movie that must have played on cable TV pretty regularly when I was younger, but somehow I hadn't even heard of it until watching it for the first time on Netflix within the past year or so. I enjoyed it a lot. Sort of a blended-genre love story/murder mystery, set in NYC, penned by Richard Price. Whiffs of the Ferrara adjacent. Pacino is very good in it, but Ellen Barkin steals the show! Holy smokes, she should've gotten an Oscar for it. Couldn't take my eyes off her the first time. The chemistry between the two of them is undeniable. John Goodman's also in it, and it has a early bit part from Samuel L. Jackson, and then of course Michael Rooker is there to be creepy/intimidating in the credible way that only someone like him can pull off. I look forward to watching this one again. Formally, it's not "perfect," but overall, it has charm. Not many newer movies feel genuinely charming to me, at least to this degree.

Have been doing X-mas shopping early this year and got my dad the Blu-ray of Body and Soul, the boxing movie starring John Garfield. Boxing isn't really my deal, nor is MMA, but a good boxing movie--or sequence within a movie--can hold my attention*. Garfield is an underrated old-school Hollywood sensitive tough guy sort. Not to be messed with. Which reminds me, I need to rewatch Curtiz's The Breaking Point. It's one of those movies that's perfectly calibrated top to bottom. A must-see. Thinking out loud here . . . I haven't been watching proper cinema often, but do like a pure dose when the mood strikes.


* = For a swell, less explored boxing/MMA movie, check out Gulshat Omarova's Schizo. It's tight. Back in the day, when I was some manner of dipshit on this board, I would bring this one up a lot. And all these years later I still think it rules, though it's been a minute since I've seen it.

andyman wrote: Tue Oct 29, 2024 5:36 am Long Day's Journey into Night - a 2018 Chinese film that starts off as a beautifully shot, confounding Noir, then halfway through flips to a 1 hour long single shot take dream sequence that draws on the unfinished threads of the first half to reflect on memory and dreams.

Sounds like a cross between Goodbye Dragon Inn and Tropical Malady - sign me up!!

matttkkkk wrote: Fri Nov 15, 2024 6:49 pm

andyman wrote: Tue Oct 29, 2024 5:36 am Long Day's Journey into Night - a 2018 Chinese film that starts off as a beautifully shot, confounding Noir, then halfway through flips to a 1 hour long single shot take dream sequence that draws on the unfinished threads of the first half to reflect on memory and dreams.

Sounds like a cross between Goodbye Dragon Inn and Tropical Malady - sign me up!!

Those are good touchpoints.

I really liked it, but my housemate thought it was pretentious shit

Once in a while you say to a mate, "OK, I'll watch it", and swear it'll be the last time.

This time it will be. Strange Darling - what a sack of shit.

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Sun Nov 17, 2024 6:03 am Once in a while you say to a mate, "OK, I'll watch it", and swear it'll be the last time.

This time it will be. Strange Darling - what a sack of shit.

Aw, man! No spoilers, please, as I've yet to watch it, but I have been looking forward to it.

rsmurphy wrote: Sun Nov 17, 2024 7:30 am Aw, man! No spoilers, please, as I've yet to watch it, but I have been looking forward to it.

Save your money, save your time. I don't think that's a spoiler is it?

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Sun Nov 17, 2024 7:32 am Save your money, save your time. I don't think that's a spoiler is it?

Oh, I'm still going to watch it believe you me.

Was keyed up to finally watch Memoria with my better half last night but we're both ill so reached for something we figured might perhaps ask less of us: Our Ladies, adapted from an Alan Warner book. Had a really good time: dirty jokes, good musical choices, extremely carefully blocked shots of central Edinburgh to make 2019 look something like 1996 (if you weren't there at the time, anyway).

Rewatched American Movie. I haven't seen this since 1999, but man, you want to get some insight into America beyond the veneer, here it is. Genuine midwestern depression, do not watch if you are down, despite lots of gallows humor. It's like an American Kes.