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A solid effort. A lighthearted comedy that is very easy to see through. You know what it wants to be which may lead to a an over-expository, almost on-the-nose experience. Otherwise, solid, cute.

7.4/10.

Interesting ideas and concepts, but executed for the sake of it, giving it a rather one-dimensional atmosphere.

Well-shot and directed with great performances, but devoid of originality to latch on to.

While it is a bare and realistic recreation of a snapshot in a tragic history, the emotions of which it expects you to feel are predictable.

Overall, interesting but forgettable.

6.5/10.

This is an absurdist and surrealist comedy masquerading as a feel-good film, and it is beyond convincing.

There exists layers of anthropological and philosophical narratives of multi-faceted valor seeping through seemingly quiet voices with no notion and will of ever being seen. This is brilliance stripped off its pretense, a feat that I can ittedly, never achieve.

Every part of this film is exquisitely crafted with a post-intellectual charm. There exists no urgency to prove itself to anyone as it sprouts within itself in a fine manner, blossoming a quiet yet bold sensibility into every frame and narrative beat.

Throughout the duration of this film, I laughed, cried, and most importantly, felt, well, good.

I gave into its deceit. The film imprints.

9.3/10.

The stillness of the frame with occasional room for humour should not be mistakened as a simple story about a bank robbery, but rather a simple commentary on the current social response to something as absurd as a bank robbery.

A character study of a man we never quite see up close.

Autobiographical Scene Number 6882 presents itself with a relentlessly cold atmosphere that relies on our perception and attention to dialogue and sparse movements to properly dictate the narrative complexities explored within the characters' dynamics.

Upon doing so, it can be understood that the film portrays the complexity of toxic masculinity in a nuanced perspective. Quite interesting.

7.2/10.

An anti-story.

A very vivid and hyper-realistic portrayal of a very simple, yet endearing tale.

Every character exists within a true sense of reality, unaware of a narrative that is being formed from every word they utter.

The result is an almost documentary-esque thesis. An idea.

Which was ultimately, enjoyable.

7.6/10.

In the vein of Uncle Yanco's personality, the film dispels a wave of charm and personality that is riddled with an undeniable harmony of expression, creation, and beauty without ever intending to be one.

This is love and life. A beautiful documentary.

8.7/10.

A very well-made, layered, and unique narrative with an undeniable personality and layered narratives that lead to a very satisfying and charming result. Brilliant.

7.8/10.

There is a lack of a visual, narrative, or sonic personality to latch onto. The narrative is riddled with stereotypes, the visuals are very bland and textbook, and the film really reminds you that it is a narrative and nothing else. It does not leave you with a lot to take from.

4.8/10.

A pleasing yet underwhelming watch.

With the main timer event being lost at the first few scenes, there exists little reason to invest into the future endeavours of the main character.

Although it does have a clever narrative twist and layered sociopolitical commentary with the hypocrisy of the rich, the lack of a distinct visual style only ends up leaving the audience with nothing but the message.

6.8/10.

Within its dream-like trance lies a sweet poison of death pulsating within waves of gentle angels wishing upon the quiet destruction of the body and soul climbing and latching onto sprouting veins of a fragile innocence all leading to an eternal void of non-being.

The Virgin Suicides carries this sort of hidden charm that never quite sheds its skin in front of your bare eyes. It hides itself in your melting shadows and peers over your shoulder to murmur quiet hymns of another lost and forgotten time ridden in your sunken past with glistening waves of ambiguous fairytales and nightmares decorated with a familiar scent drenched in the unfamiliarity of the world.

The film never quite tells you what it is. A documentary, a mockumentary, a character study, a teenage drama, a high-school drama, or even a coming of age story, none of those spineless labels nestles itself within any given note of its floating soundtrack. Like a lost child, you only get to see the perversion of innocence, but never its outcome.

Sounds seem to come in and out, quiet and loud, and love seems to burn and melt, the pupils dilate, crowds withdrawn, blonde strings of somber sheds protects the breaking mind, nothing is real. Yet the desire to kissing the void only grows, a mislead path into an eternal silence.

This film encapsulates what it is like to succumb to the enchanting swells of non-life at an age of illusion. Before you wish for a third eye to open, the lights are off, and your breath is sacrificed.

There, but not. Here, but anywhere.

8.7/10.

A very early look into the forming of narrative sequences and techniques in cinema. With hints into the creation of parallel editing, to be refined as a thesis later on Birth of A Nation.

An absolutely brilliant and beautiful portrayal of the injustices women face under a patriarchal and capitalistic society in one of the most effective narrative beats. Alice Guy is the true pioneer of cinematic storytelling.

9.5/10.

A very interesting perspective into puberty and its nuances portrayed in a very simple yet effective light.

My only qualms with the film would be its lack of visual style and overly direct symbolism.

6.7/10.

Interesting work of art with a very imaginative idea but a little repetitive in its nature.

An interesting prospect.

That is what this film is.

A prospect of what could have been is what can be derived upon further analysis and thought.

The film follows a series of plot points that are very well-thought out on paper, but falters in executing it in its writing.

The non-linear nature of the film does not feel natural, and feels tacky at times. The pacing and structure of specific narratives could have been adjusted and placed in a different sequence to invoke a more engaging first half.

While the second half redeems itself with a very tight-knit and engaging screenplay, the sudden and almost abrupt transition to the climax leaves so many questions to answer, and no, not in the good way.

The final confrontation scene (not explaining anymore due to obvious spoilers) is genuinely very under-written and underwhelming in general. It does not lead to anything unique or interesting, it quite literally is what is expected and needed at a surface level executed as is.

Not to mention the absolute lack of style. The film lacks any personality or cinematic language in the visual department, everything is filmed as is, safe and inoffensive. This does not work with its gritty nature, resulting in a contradictory experience.

The score is way too loud and persistent, there really is no need to blare sounds all the time, silence needs its power at times. If you are constantly screaming, you really don't mean anything at one point. Too much of everything is nothing.

The film feels rushed. The director and writer could have spent more time with the story, to truly refine and plan it out, as things seem half-baked at times. The same thing could be said about the production as well.

Now onto the positive aspects of the film. The plot twists and the way they were conveyed were honestly very well done, I did not see some of it coming. Usually in such cases, these plot twists would be completely unreasonable or unrealistic, but in this case, it makes sense.

The final 30 minutes of the film is extremely disturbing and honestly a whole trip to experience, which would have been accentuated into greater heights if it weren't for the aforementioned flaws.

But overall, a decent watch.

6.6/10.

Well.

The film has a very consistent style and cinematic tone that Dhanush seems to actively pursue, with much success. Whether it be the well-directed and shot black and white sequence, the thunderous and roaring ending, or the action set-pieces, his cinematic intent is clear and captured.

The narrative attempts to establish a complex narrative involving multiple clashing motives and realities toppling one another, though unfortunately, it ends up toppling over itself. However this time, it is not the writer's fault, but the editing and continuity in general.

The scenes are directed and well-made on their own, but do not flow with one another all too smoothly, and often end up feeling abrupt and a little sudden.

Within this film exists multiple factors that bring it down. This can be seen in the unsuccessful attempts at pleasing commercial audiences, particularly prevalent in the awkward and honestly cheesy, unnecessary, and annoying love song that comes unannounced.

The performances however, are very well-done, and the personality that the film carries saves it from falling into a pit of unamusing action slop-mess. Dhanush's acting is nothing short of commendable.

AR Rahman seems to have finally decided to make good scores again, his work in some of the more vigorous scenes in the second-half are noteworthy. The thunderous drumming, pulsating drones, and shrilled, dissonant vocal harmonies build an intense and suffocating atmosphere that elevates the film's intensity.

This is particularly evident in the ending of the film, which was quite a feat to experience. Extremely well-shot, well-directed, and well-executed in general.

I have heard complaints about the film's second half, in my opinion, the first half was far more uninteresting due to the fact that there simply was no need to care about these characters and what they do. There were no timer events, nothing to look forward to, just a bunch of people doing their thing, and it wasn't even filmed or depicted in an interesting manner. The second half nicely ties everything to a final amalgamation.

Overall, it could have been great, it could have been horrible, but it decided to lie somewhere in-between.

6.610.

The first few seconds made me believe that this just might be an average run-off-the-mill short. But here's one thing, I did not know who Jim Cummings was.... yet.

Such an interesting short, it manages to feel expansive within its storyline while also feeling like a small part of something bigger. All hints of what a good short would and should be like.

The final few minutes caught me completely off-guard.

Engaging enough to leaving me wanting more.

Solid.

7/10.

Upon rewatching it, I realize one thing.

It still hurts as much as it did, or maybe more than it did.

Something about this film is so beautifully intricate yet heavy, it really digs through your soul with its poison-laced beauty.

Potential.

This film is a new high for high-budget Indian filmmaking. The cinematography and set-pieces were stellar, and the general production was very seamless and smooth.

The themes handled in this film is new for Indian cinema, and the general exploration of the nuances of which the world the film is set in was done absolutely phenomenal, great world building.

Now.

Potential.

Prabhas' sequences absolutely destroyed so many elements of the film, with incredibly tonally opposed sequences, pure unadulterated trash. His character was handled horribly, with so many amateur writing mistakes and absolutely shameless fanservice.

The film loses so much quality in the presence of his character that at times, I feel like I could almost see the picture losing pixels. This is all from the same writer who wrote that brilliant world-building, the duality of things.

But within his character lies an actual solid character arc, with good motifs and, potential, to bloom into an actually interesting character. But that too, is wasted with his gimmicks and immature handling.

What happened to that cyberpunk woman used for nothing but fanservice? How woeful to do something that one-dimensional while also writing one of the most important female characters in the exact same film.

The film loses its footing in the desert scene, extending and dragging beyond needed, almost wasting a quarter of the screen time on something that was introduced as a fleeting moment. As important as the events that occur in that location is, the timer event almost works against its notion. It is so great that the current events seem like obstacles from reaching the final timer event, which is a very rare mistake to make.

Potential.

The antagonist cannot be more perfect, Indian films had always portrayed lackluster and almost laughably stereotypical antagonists, but this time, the antagonist is daunting, foreboding, and intimidating. I hope for his character to have apt character development, I do not wish for another under-developed evil-sauce again.

The narrative blend of the Mahabaratas and a Dystopian society was done almost seamlessly, weaving an extremely interesting and intriguing narrative unlike most dystopian films.

Performances, except, you know, are great.

So many good things about this film gets crushed under the weight of its flaws. This would have been an easy 4 if it wasn't for the fact that the supposed, or rather marketed main character is used for comic relief.

Overall, 6.7/10.

An interesting blend of artistry and commercial derivatives soaked in a brilliantly cultural blend of styles.

Monkey Man was always an intriguing case to me. While being generally inoffensive in its tales and narratives, with the classic grossly under-developed antagonist, unjustifiably skilled main character, and the attempt to address social issues while ignoring key elements; something is just, different.

Whether it be the refreshingly tight pacing and storytelling, the stellar stunt performances, the unique and artistically charged visuals, or the slight experimental edge the film carries throughout, Monkey Man poses itself to be a piece of filmmaking that is commercial, but nevertheless, ionate.

Overall, 7.4/10.

Whether it was historically accurate or not, this film was incredibly well-done, and touched me. The first half had some pacing issues, and the third act felt a little bit too expository and detached. But other than that, the performances were well done, and some of its messages were conveyed quite well. I am honestly impressed with the quality of filmmaking. Whether it was propaganda or not, at least it was well-made I guess.

Probably the greatest cinematic experience I've ever sat through. Found perfect F-row seats, dead center in a true IMAX theatre. It was marvelous.

This is what high-budget filmmaking should be like. Spectacular, yet complex, artistic, nuanced, and unique. The true artistry present in this film is nothing short of commendable. This is a modern masterpiece.

This film managed to fix so much of the previous film's issues, with extremely strong performances, very good dialogue, and actually being able to make me connect with the characters this time.

Dennis Villeneuve you fucking mastermind.

I fucking love Stilgar. Someone please hire a person to hype up my every action.

9.6/10.

So much better on a re-watch. Perfectly tight and cinematic. I still feel like the characters are a bit distant, and it's hard to form an emotional connection with the film, but everything else was directed and shot extremely well.

I'm going to watch Dune 2 tomorrow, I'm super excited.

Edit: After watching the masterpiece that is Dune 2 I am obligated to move this down to a 3.5.

I definitely need to rewatch this. Low-budget filmmaking done quite well.

The first one was mediocre at best. The second one however, extremely well done and aesthetically potent.

First one - 2.5/5
Second one - 4.1/5

Overall: 7.4:10

A beautifully devastating look into trauma and the soul.

The soundtrack was fucking great, whether it be the original soundtrack or even Sigur Ros, Slowdive, Ride, etc. It really elevated the ambience and overall emotional potency of the film.

Definitely a memorable watch. I just wish that some scenes didn’t fade to black a lot of the time, it felt a bit awkward whenever that happened. A more unique visual style would have pushed this to a 5.

Other than that, great, great, great film. Definitely a memorable watch.

9.2/10.

Yet another 5 star. Damn MUBI.

This was the most fragile, tender and human films I’ve ever watched. Everything was so carefully interwoven and expressed through a truly realistic lens that you can’t help but be in awe of everything.

The water’s up till my mouth, but I’m too afraid to dive in.

I honestly have no idea why I’m giving this a 5. But here I am.

One of the most unique, creative, yet tender and beautiful directing I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness.

This film won’t leave my head for a while.

I honestly loved the neo-noir guerrilla filmmaking style. It was a very aesthetically pleasing watch. The narrative was very interesting, layered, and complex. Very good directorial debut.

A bleak, dark, and hauntingly dead look into the mental state of humanity and its nature of its emotions. This film is genuinely fucking genius. One of the best films I'd ever watched in a long time.

9.7/10.

A very interesting and captivating look into societal invasion.

Very well directed. Dennis Villeneuve can always be trusted. Did a great job in making complex lore and information accessible. Incredible score and great sound design. Great cinematography.

I wished the performances could be better, and the dialogue more natural. But other than that, this was honestly an engaging and enjoyable experience.

8.1/10.

Unsettling, frantic, foreboding, yet playful rigid and powerfully electric in its horrifying nature.

I am not the same person as I was. This is quite literally the greatest concert to ever fucking exist, and nothing can ever beat it.

The musicianship was genuinely unparalleled, everything was so perfectly and humanely accurate and bustling, and the best part is they were just having fun, nothing more, nothing less.

And my god, DAVID BYRNE. What a fucking performer, he does all of these crazily insane and hyper-creative performing antics but still manages to hit every single note with utmost precision and rhythm. This guy is a god damn monster. He transcends human bounds of expression. A charm. Fucking amazing.

Don't even get me started on the drummer, fucking insane. An hour and 27 minutes in and he still retains perfect rhythm and consistency without ever looking exhausted or tense. He's just having fun.

And my god the bassist. Tina is fucking crazy. I genuinely don't know what else to say but all of these musicians are the most perfect, and they are certainly masters of their craft. In fucking credible.

10/10.

Watched this film to distract myself from an overwhelming mound of anxiety. I cried sometimes, I laughed a little too. This was well made. I really just don't know what to say.

Watched this in a film screening + discussion held in Jakarta, along with the directors of the film.

It took a while for the film to truly set within the confines of its storytelling, as it felt as though it were aimlessly meandering in the first act. It only came into place during the brilliant, and arguable my favourite scene of the entire film, argument on male chauvinism.

Otherwise, the film tried many things and did succeed in some of them, but it could have employed a more interesting visual style. The blocking and framing was bland for the most part, and the overall composition was uninteresting.

Other than that, the directing was done very smoothly and things were, well, filmed. I just wish there was more effort in that aspect of its filmmaking, visual style.

But other than that, the performances were great, the themes and ideologies were very well-done, and the film carried an unbiased and natural tone throughout.

This film was good.

7/10.

Fun

My friend and I were trying to find a film to watch, it was late at night and he was incredibly sleepy. He wanted a film that would keep him awake, something that is impossible to sleep to.

Does such a film even exist?

Here it is. City of God, I told him that it is almost impossible for someone to sleep in such a masterpiece of a film, and I was right. By the first hour, he was wide awake glued to the screen.

This is a goddamn masterpiece in every right, and it only proves itself to be so with every watch. Organized unorganized chaos, that's the only way I can put it.

Either you get why this is a masterpiece, or you don't know cinema.

10/10.

This film has so much potential it's almost a pity to see its directing bring it down this way. The source material obviously carries the film, but the adaptation is mediocre at times. Sure, it was an engaging watch, but the lazy framing, blocking, and overall minor film-student mistakes really hinders and squanders the potential of the film.

It sure does have some of its positives, with how well it utilizes timer events, but the overall execution is adequate at best, with a few good stuff now and then.

6.3/10.

Precision at the cost of personality through the eyes of meandering aimlessly.

I usually don't log stuff I didn't finish... but this...

5 minutes is all you need to tell how horribly made this film is going to be. First things first, let me make this clear:

JUST BECAUSE YOU TAKE A LONG ONE-TAKE CUT, IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT'S AUTOMATICALLY GOOD OR IMPRESSIVE.

It needs to have a purpose, it needs to be well orchestrated, it needs to be absolutely vital to the story and plot to take this decision. The film tried doing something like that but ended up with such an awkward, weirdly-edited, inessential and confusing shot. It was just so out of place.

They were just randomly fast-forwarding and skipping ahead the long take all due of the fact that it was simply uninteresting and boring, and even they were aware of it. God I feel so bad for the editor, having to sit through this fucking mess and have the director tell him to edit this film as if it was a 70s commercial. Damn, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have insulted 70s commercials like that. They have more artistic and stylistic technicalities and quality than whatever the fuck this is.

Everything else just felt cheesy, amateur, stupid, low-quality, and overall bad.

Like... are you really going to tell me that this dude lifted an entire fucking person with his wrist??? Everything in this film was just a worse and horribly remade version of the original.

Now don't come in with your "this film is catered towards the lower class hence the bad quality". This is such a horrible argument.

There are many films catered to all sorts of classes (the concept of classes shouldn't even exist in the first place), yet carries good filmmaking. An example is Vikram, despite being a commercial film, it was well-made.

Corporations didn't come into the industry because it started becoming difficult, but they came into the industry because they saw money in it, AND THEN that's when it started becoming difficult.

Being in a low "class" due to this capitalistic world doesn't always have to equate to being uneducated, in fact, it's all in capital interest to be uneducated, creating films that further motivates and encourages this concept is what makes it so hard for this world to be intellectual. And this film is a great example.

Hey!! Look!! BE fucking stupid! Don't think, don't you dare get any consciousness or thought for yourself. If you do, you'll go against us, and we're scared of that. SO let me make your lives miserable, and provide mind-numbing brainless content so you could never ever, EVER think. Fucking pigs.

The types of arguments some people make about justifying this piece of shit is just above me. People's tastes are not changing, people's tastes are being controlled and manipulated for profit, it's all a commodity.

Enough of this, let's get to the film.

Writing - Awkward.
Cinematography - Amateur at best.
Acting - Vadivelu couldn't save this film.
Direction - Messy.
Art Direction - Plastic.
Blocking - Unnatural.
Sound - HORRENDOUS.
Music - Horrible.

You know what's just sad? Some of these people are actually skilled. The Cinematographer has done quite a solid job in most of his films with Imaikaa Nodigal and such, and the music composer has done great work with Baahubali and RRR (not the songs, but the score). This really goes to show that a bad director can ruin everything.

The only possible good things I could ever say about this film is the acting, as much as it was mostly bad, you can tell that Raghava Lawrence is trying his best, and Kangana Ranaut was great. But well, other than that, let me say something.

Now, there's this kid. He hasn't bathed in 4 days, for he wants to try an experiment to see how long it takes for society to disregard him from this. He knows its stupid, but he still wants to do it. He went to buy ice cream, but he has no money, so he had to go and work at a run-down motor service shop, combined with woodwork (the two brothers who owns the shop wanted to do two different jobs, but only had one place to do it, I mean I guess it works so whatever). He soaks and bathes in dust and dirt, and is given a measly 5 cents, but it was enough to get the lowest quality ice cream he could find. As he goes to get it, a dog tries to snatch it from it, the dog is rabid. But he fights it off and finally gets to eat the ice cream.

Now, imagine how dirty that ice cream is. Rabies infected, all the dust of the world, soaked in human waste, completely disgusted.

Staring into that ice cream is more worth while and higher in quality than watching this film.

The whole thing is just a hot fucking mess. I will force myself to finish it one day, that's when this review will count.

An incredibly interesting film. Hectic, pumping, electric, and profound.

FILM COMPARATIVE STUDY - Film 2

I have been hyping this up for ages. That title, the fact that Shinya Tsukamoto directed and acted in it, its gorgeous free-form handheld cinematography, and its very interesting plot line just attracted me instantly. And that poster, god that poster.

Having watched it, I don't know what to think yet. I did really enjoy it, but I feel like there are many things that are somehow just... missing? Be it the pacing and cutting, it all felt so fast that as much as I ed it in my head, I feel like I'm missing something.

But why did I give it a 5-star rating?

Good question.

I don't know.

It almost feels like I'm just obligated to, this film is exactly up my alley in every single way, and if I do manage to understand it more, and maybe realize that some of the "flaws" that I see in it may just be misunderstandings, I will be able to see it in its entirety. I also do have to somehow compare this to Le Samourai, so rewatches will be essential.

Overall, this film had incredibly stylish, charming, and arresting cinematography oozing individuality and punk splashes of black and white paint all over me while letting the most captivating and intriguing characters run through the story's barriers. This was incredibly artistic, and true auteur-cinema. I loved it.

9.6/10.

FILM COMPARATIVE STUDY - Film 1

This was very interesting. It manages to convey complex thematic nuances with a very simple narrative structure. The cinematography was truly ahead of its time, and was a delight to experience. A strangely memorable watch.

This is the most neo-noir noir film I've ever watched.

Jef Costello was very intriguing.

Though I do feel like as much as it was memorable right after watching it, it somehow just slid past my memory. I do stuff, but I have to rewatch it countless times - for the analysis and for my personal entertainment as well.

But overall, this was very good.

8.3/10.

I'm a bit disappointed.

The film had a very immature tone to it, and there were so many minor mistakes in both writing and production that it ended up piling up into being extremely significant in its disadvantage.

The film had lost sight of itself in the second half, and started becoming something like a mess. A tonally inconsistent mess essentially. It could have been so much more, for the plot had so much potential, but you really just can't take it seriously with how it is.

Leo's character was very well-played and quite memorable, and the overall family's dynamic was quite well-done. The cafe choreography and directing was absolutely insane, and the ilm had very strong moments from time to time. But other than that, this was a very confusing watch. I have a lot of mixed feelings.

I will be rewatching this next week, let's see if anything changes then.

5.1/10.

This incredibly on a rewatch. An absolutely beautiful piece of art, with imaginative feats of creative extents. This is a god damn masterpiece in every single way possible.

10/10.

This was fucking great. I am quite speechless.

Perfect narrative, does not have any filler whatsoever, but still manages to stay true to its pacing, wonderful performances, incredible writing, it's just a fucking great film.

9.3/10.

Really strange yet interesting film that leaves its audiences to ponder upon its narrative hints, using its pieces of puzzles to form your own interpretation of what is being presented in front of you.

I wish it had put more effort in engaging its audiences, it was hard to get through sometimes.

1. Fallen Angels
2. City of God
3. Cure
4. Requiem for a Dream
5. All About Lily Chou-Chou
6. The Lighthouse
7. In the Mood for Love
8. The Tree of Life
9. Taxi Driver
10. Gie