Photos redux

August 18, 2003

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The Substance, 2024 - ★★★★
October 6, 2024
The only thing I’m really sure of is that it’s not Cronenbergian. It’s hyperpop; Cronenberg, even at his most frenetic, is jazz. This is subtle like a jackhammer and that’s completely okay. Excess can be good for the soul.If it’s so subtle, why am I so uncertain about it? I can’t tell if there’s another […]
History of the Occult, 2020 - ★★★½
October 6, 2024
This is conceptually perfect and, unlike many clever genre movies, it’s not undermined by the director’s pleasure in his own cleverness. The first few scenes are just a tad expository but that does not extend too far into the movie; when it’s time to be oblique and puzzling, Cristian Ponce is more than willing to […]
In Shanghai, 2001 - ★★★½
October 5, 2024
Watching this right after Suzhou River makes me think even more about how telling stories — or filming them — affects us. In this case it’s what happens when someone doesn’t want a story told, and how that affects the story the young director was telling about his city. Lou Ye has some opinions about subjectivity.
Suzhou River, 2000 - ★★★★
October 5, 2024
That’s the melancholic metatextual neo-noir I love. Two stories, one pair of dopplegangers, plenty of tragedy, and no real indication as to what’s real and what’s not. Our anonymous narrator says it’s a story, then says it’s someone else’s story, and who knows? I don’t think you can derive a truth from what’s presented. We […]
Kid with the Golden Arm, 1979 - ★★★½
October 5, 2024
There’s a pretty amusing plot, there’s some romance, there are some nice extended fight sequences. I dug the variety of weaponry and Lo Mang’s smug insistence on the superiority of his style was great. I also enjoyed Philip Kwok’s drunken style.