The Exterminating Angel (Bunuel, 1962)|||||7.5
Medea Goes to Jail (Perry, 2009)|||||3
Survival of the Dead (Romero, 2010)|||||5.5
Recommended Reviews: Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on Survival of the Dead
Satyricon (Fellini, 1969)|||||7.5Poltergeist III (Sherman, 1988)|||||4
Moon (Jones, 2009)|||||7
Poltergeist II (Gibson, 1986)|||||3
The Science of Sleep (Gondry, 2006)|||||7
The Science of Sleep isn't as heart-achingly sentimental as 'Eternal Sunshine,' but they're very much sister films in that they both explore aspects of ephemeral relationships.
SPOILERS: Didn't expect 'Science' to be quite so bitter, though - I was thoroughly expecting a happy ending. I must have been blinded by the whimsy, though, because, thinking back, the signs all point to the ending we get. It's quite a rug-pulling film. In the first half, we think the match is made before it begins. But then the film's truth-telling comes out: if a match is too made, you can't just be friends. Friends aren't lovers. If you're dancing around each other like you're thinking it's too convenient to be adult or exciting, someone's gonna grow out of the other.
The final tantrum works too well, an uncomfortable summation of what can't exist in a fine-lined platonic relationship.
Very effective film. Shortcomings are there, gave it a 7, but won't go into those since critics already have had at it. They really didn't like this movie very much, and even my most insightful and sensitive pet online critics really hate on the self-indulgence. Perhaps it hits too close to home for too many people. Many reviews insist that Stephane is made "an intentionally unlikable" protagonist or whatnot, but in doing so they seem to ignore the bleak implications. There is concerted effort to dissociate with Stephane by focusing on all his craziness, but the final truths the film is telling in no way necessitate you being a Stephane man-child.
Memories of Murder (Bong, 2003)|||||7Broadly played but still intelligent, a bit too "cop movie" but still nuanced with its characters. Very Zodiac - rich in cultural detail and implicit commentary, in this case dealing with political upheaval, small town complacence, and big establishmentarian impotence. Loved the small town cops and their banter. A careful mix of endearing qualities and [dumb] corruption, the bad cop's fate is a brilliant touch and a perfect encapsulation of the power and weakness wrestling within our appointed strong arms.
But, the film felt too ridden by style for style's sake, and a greater point doesn't quite come through all the bombast and conventional action movie antics. The ending proves quite haunting, though, and finally lands the punch deserved by the film's deft balance of farce and palpably dark emotions.
I got the feeling that it's a paen to the cop, in spite of the overt evidence otherwise. Even if they deserve their ridicule, the film is most beguiling when forced to tolerate their dumb humanity. It's an ode to grunts. Odd, but their dimwittedness provokes more sympathy than distaste, and their corruption is more symptom of that than the other way around. The smooth-handed suspect calls them out for their corruption, yet by that point we're as convinced as the detectives are that this guy is totally the killer and, in the finale, we understand what a frustrating, consistently demeaning and ball-busting job it is.
The House of Mirth (Davies, 2000)|||||9Intolerable Cruelty (Coen Brothers, 2003)|||||5.5
Wise Blood (Huston, 1979)|||||6
Splice (Natali, 2010)|||||6
The first third or so threatens the same generic craft of the typical Hollywood genre flick, but as the film enters its increasingly demented, lonely-barn-set second half, Natali finally starts getting into it, enlivening the proceedings with some dripping family gothic. Natali, the up-and-coming master of the laboriously, naifly over-visualized concept film, at least isn't entirely vapid with his drama (although not that it's brilliant drama, either), and it shows in how knowingly he pushes buttons, then how willing he is to mute it all with wryness and tonal good sense, in follow-up moments that both ground and self-analyze, whether it is in the visuals or the riotous drama involved (example: the treatment of the aftermath of Brody's paternal transgression). The film is an energetic, not-at-all somber sci-fi-horror parable involving Polley and Brody playing science wunderkinds and power couple, a delightful Macbeth/Lady Macbeth variation (or Frankenstein/Lady Frankenstein, more accurately) that Natali thankfully gives much color and black dramedy.
* E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Spielberg, 1982)|||||6
