Log: week 31 / 2022

One thing should be clear by now, Hadzihalilovic doesn't make enough films. Earwig is her third full-length feature in two decades and they're all equally enthralling. Earwig felt like an arthouse take on a Jeunet fantasy, a mysterious story sprinkled with odd and peculiar details, but few explanations. It's a very slow and deliberate film, prioritizing mood over everything else, that won't reveal all of its secrets the first time around, but is intriguing and peculiar enough to warrant multiple viewings. Superb genre cinema.

A new Predator film, where the most fearful hunter in the universe takes it up against an Indigenous teen. And loses. As he always does. It's baffling that its species is still somehow holding on to that title because if you can't beat some human teen, you're probably not a very great hunter.

A typical Tourneur film, meaning most of the horror is found in the poster. The premise has the potential for horror, but the film itself is a rather dialogue-heavy thriller with few scares, let alone any gore. The film's main redeeming quality is its length, which is kept well short. Then again, there's hardly any plot to go through.

Kitsch, but fun. Bloody New Year is a mystery/horror gone wrong. A typical low-budget production that isn't too bothered by its lack of funding, reaching for the skies regardless. I'm not sure what director Warren hoped to accomplish with this film, but it's so daft that it's hard not to be amused.

A nice but slightly tepid indie road movie. The title is pretty apt in that we follow a guy around who runs into several people on his way, some are friends, some complete strangers. The outcome of these encounters is always the same though, there's a feeling of slight disinterest and lack of commitment that keeps these meetings superficial.

I'm not a big Satyajit Ray fan, but so far I've been exclusively watching his older films. I was curious to see if his (more) recent ones could be closer to my personal taste, but alas. The Stranger is a rather bland and unattractive drama that goes on endlessly. Not a step up from his other work at all.

Basic Taiwanese horror. Horror films don't have to be very complex or elaborate to be successful, but some can be a little too simple. Hospital doesn't really go beyond its titular concept: a haunted hospital. It's a common setup and director Chia-Lin Chu doesn't even attempt to take it anywhere special.

A comedy with crime and horror elements from Kazakhstan. That certainly was a first for me. Sweetie, You Won't Believe Me does a pretty decent job combining various genres into a single film, but it fails to stand out in any discernible way. It's a film I felt I had seen before many times, often better executed too.

Koreeda's first feature film is quite the calling card. A superb example of subtle and subdued Japanese drama, that handles its themes and characters with the proper respect, never once displaying the need to torture them unnecessarily in the name of sentiment. The strict cinematography, the haunting score, and the lovely performances all add to the emotional core of the film, the finale is more than the cherry on the cake. It's a rather slow and challenging film, but the payoff is tremendous.

A very sweet though tragic romance. It's a film that follows in the footsteps of Isabella, but the title is in fact a reference to two different people. It's not the most original of films and director Emily Chan didn't quite do enough to set it apart from similar works, but if you're looking for a quality, Macau-based drama, this is an excellent choice.

Quirky British comedy with a dry and darker edge to it. It's not all that edgy or extreme, but the film builds up towards a pretty grotesque finale and there's plenty to smirk about on the way there. It's a fun little diversion from Frank Oz, that probably didn't need an American remake.

A fine, though somewhat inconspicuous Japanese high school drama. There's nothing really wrong with this film, in fact, it scores well in just about every department. It's just that there's nothing truly extraordinary about Sayounara, nothing that sets it apart from dozens of similar films. Fans should definitely give it a go though.

A British social/working-class drama. They seemed to be pretty popular back in the days, I can't say they do very much for me. I've seen a few of them now, and they resemble the Neo-Realist films of other countries quite a bit. The impact of the trademark British flair is pretty minimal.

The series was pretty fun, but that doesn't mean it always translates well into a feature-length film. The main accomplishment of Rebels @ School is that it keeps the charm of the series intact, while not coming off as an extended TV episode. In that sense, this is a very easy recommendation for fans of the series.

One of the best ones so far. Shiraishi doesn't change the concept for this fourth entry, but it is by far one of the most ambitious stories of the bunch. Even though the toilet ghost premise sounds a little daft at first, it eventually takes the film places where I didn't expect it to go, which is a big step up compared to the first three films.

A fine drama. You Are Forever Younger Than Them takes a while to get going, mostly because it needs time to properly introduce its main characters, but once those are established a subtle web of relations and friendships develops itself, with each personal revelation adding to the intrigue.

A cute little sports comedy. Børning isn't the most original film and I doubt I'll watch the sequels any time soon, but this was pleasant enough. Don't go in expecting to see Fast & Furious-level race action, instead, you're getting a fun and quirky road movie where people just happen to be driving around in race cars.

Japan can't get enough of tragic romances, especially when diseases are involved. This niche has been going strong for more than a decade now, and it seems there's still no end in sight. Love Like the Falling Petals is next in line, and simply delivers what people want from the genre.

Japan loves a good corporate drama (with minor thriller elements). Not something I'd expect Daihachi Yoshida to direct, but here we are. The film is solid, pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this, but it doesn't do much to set itself apart from a slew of similar features. In that sense, it's a minor waste of potential, as Yoshida can do better.

Pinku cinema has a unique place in Japanese cinema, as it was a perfect school for many a famous director. Ironically, its rigid rules also allowed for quite a bit of creativity, but the crux of the matter is that most of these films are hardly worth a second glance. As much as I appreciate Zeze's later work, his pinku work is pretty terrible.

A simple buddy cop flick, with the token male leads replaced by two women. That's about all the originality you're getting here, the tone and structure of the film are exactly the same as a billion others, only the jokes are a bit more female-oriented. The result is expected, but not entirely terrible.