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marianobrangeri
Reviews
San tin lung bat bo: Tin San Tung Lo (1994)
This movie has got everything
It's hard to rate this one. It has everything that is great in it.
Jin Yong wrote the book.
Gong Li in her prime. The casting could not be better, and she is as brilliant as ever in this role.
Gorgeous, beautiful visuals, photography, palette, composition, make-up, costume designs, SFX (NO CGI - AS THE LORD COMMANDETH).
Some westerners might be surprised to find out the plot revolves on (somewhat unrequited) love between women. This movie is from 1994.
Its fast, entertaining, chop-chop, action kung-fu in the best Hong Kong fashion.
One downside: you WILL need to pause and rewind at times to get a full grasp of the plot, since its given away way too early, way to quickly, and the names are all similar and it's presented in a most confusing fashion. BUT, you are not watching this on a theater, suit yourself. It's a great movie nonetheless. The sort of which I wish there were more abundant.
Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka (2023)
A beautiful, mostly figurative film
Two movies into one, where life and magic (reality and fiction, humans and dreams, artist and art) intertwine.
It's meaning is up to you. It's not abstract, it gives you enough tools to decypher the allegory yourself, and make up your own interpretation (and is very literal about this "hey, build your own world").
Its main theme seems to be living through hard times, moving forward and embracing the future and mortality. But this too, is up to you. It reflects on empathy/apathy and self/others. But this is one movie. The other movie detours into Wonderland in a more surreal way (think of a mix between The Seventh Seal and Snow White).
The description on this website is misleading. It's not based on the book of the same name, but rather references it and builds a world of its own upon it.
I recommend you watch it, even if it gets you confused. We are lucky to have a man of such intellect, so skilled at his craft, still around.
Past Lives (2023)
A superficial and very dumb bore
If you liked La La Land, go on and see this movie. At least, try to be happy. You only live once and you shouldn't waste your time worrying about your terrible taste.
I have learned the hard way not to expect anything from culture anymore, but yet... I'm still disappointed.
How anyone manages to enjoy such deliberate attempt to bore its audience to death baffles me. But it's been done so many times already.
Casting, photography, editing and all is really neat. It's not their fault. The actors are great, they deserved a better script, one with a story to tell, a point to be made, something to be said.
It was really hard to endure the whole thing while resisting the urge to leave the theatre.
RRR (Rise Roar Revolt) (2022)
An ode to bad taste
Sick of stumbling upon rave reviews after more rave reviews of this movie, i subjected myself to the torment of watching it.
There is not a single frame on this mess that isn't dripping with poor taste. All along it never stops feeling like it's a joke.
As an experience, it genuinely felt like being trapped inside a Monty Python sketch. But this is not a movie you would laugh at: it's a movie that laughs at you.
I have never befored had any interest in reviewing a film, and will probably never do so again. But I needed to leave my review of this one because it was an upsetting waste of time.
Both a big lie and a big joke.
Awful.