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douglasgeiger
Reviews
Nashville (1975)
Important early Altman
Entertaining and successful example of Altman's early ensemble technique which triggered imitators, some of whom made some pretty good films.
This is a great, sprawling cast, the storyline is a diffuse and interesting clash/contrast between coastal celebrity culture (and wannabes) and provincial Nashville music scene (and wannabes)😏
Ignore the ghastly trailer (whaddya want I guess -it was 1975)😉 but PLEASE someone needs to cut a new one.
> My first-ever glimpse of Shelley Duvall, as her "L. A. Joan" character at the airport, made my jaw drop (I was 21)😁 made me consider moving to LA 😆
Not Altman's best ever, but good and important to see.
His best are (choose your own order) McCabe & Mrs. Miller; The Player; Gosford Park; and Three Women.
Ba wang bie ji (1993)
Even grander than its scale
A longtime fan of Chinese film, Gong Li, Zhang Yimou, etc, I would have sworn I had seen Concubine. I had not.
I found it shattering.
The external setting of the centuries old Peking Opera, and by implication the pre-modern world, struggling against the sequential upheavals of the mechanized 20th century, is an apt metaphor for the longing human soul, represented and expressed by the arts and their practitioners, struggling to survive in our transactional, efficiency obsessed present. These dilemmas are paralleled and echoed in the protagonist's homosexuality, made impossible and tragic by the surrounding straight world's intolerance and repression. In the end, it is the wrong entities that win out but they do not triumph.
Shuttlecock (2020)
Much missing
I can see where this could be an interesting book, inside characters' heads, or at least the main protagonist's. But the film is WAY too slow in providing motivations: it mostly seems like the son belongs in his father's mental institution - there's no clue WHY he's obsessed with his father's wartime exploits to the point of destroying his own family - the grandson, his son, is entirely justified in his estrangement.
I guess this was supposed to be some kind of "psychological mystery" or thriller ... but it's just flat. I kept waiting for some explanations, some clues to behaviors, but they were withheld so long that one loses interest BECAUSE what IS going on is not sufficiently engaging. The protagonist comes across as just an asshole to his family.
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Worth seeing
Should be seen mostly for cultural reference.
Visuals will seem less impressive than when they were new, but they're interesting and frequently beautiful, and Glass's soundtrack is beautiful classic Glass 😏
Since it's original release, however, I've taken issue with its anti-urbanism.
Approaching 8 billion we can't all be rural 😁 and most of us don't want to.
Red Rock (2015)
Entertaining and well done
Having gone thru almost all available (and mostly free😏) crime/detective series I stumbled across Red Rock. When I got to about episode 22 I thought "how many can you make in 1 season?" I scanned ahead and realized it had to be a daily show (brilliant right?😆)
Very well written, good characters and actors, realistic storylines.
Give it a try you'll probably enjoy it.
Aizliegta zona (1975)
A sociological window...
Into a particular Soviet historical period. Fascinating, illuminating, heartbreaking, and ultimately not that different from any authoritarian -or other- regime.