Recently Watched Films

One of the longest movies (though not the longest) I've seen at almost four hours, certainly one of the weirdest and perhaps the film that left me with the most mixed feelings of any film ever. Equal parts strangely compelling, awkward viewing & disturbing, perhaps with a dash of genius diluted by how appalled the movie often made me feel. I'm not sure any country other than Japan could put this out and get away with it, or maybe it's just changing times and attitudes even from 2009 to now, though if that's the case it's continual high regard seems like the biggest hypocritical acclaim ever, given how this basically glorifies voyeurism in the form of upskirt photography. Watching this in 2020 after the rise of things like the Me Too movement raising awareness of sexual abuse and mistreatment of women make this very hard to enjoy. I admit to being oddly transfixed by this in spite of the long running time, but I also spent most of it horrified by the content. That this is in the top 100 of all time on RYM really says something about that community. 

Felt a little like it wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be, but it was actually really good as a comedy focussed more on the banter between the two leads, rather than the actual story being followed (this is listed as horror online but it isn't really, though fantasy is appropriate). 

My first Polish film (I think?). I was a bit sceptical going into this one, but it turned out very compelling. A very complex film built up on stories within stories that are within more stories that are themselves in stories (you get the idea), so it's fucking difficult to remember on what layer you're on most of the time, especially in the second half. I really liked it though. Thought it would end up being more arty farty than it was, which was to its credit. Not sure why RYM thinks it's a comedy though. Maybe I lost something in translation but there were only a few times that felt the least bit humorous to me. 

More Coen Bros brilliance seen for the second time. I lose count how many times Gabriel Byrne gets punched in this. 

And this was the perfect remedy to the crappy Casino Royale. Yes, there are a few historical liberties taken, but this is a movie and not a documentary. Otherwise, a well told story with an inevitably tragic end.

Good but Nicolas Winding Refn's movies definitely got better on the technical side later on. 

Too predictable and stretched plausibility too much at the same time. 

A real obscure movie. Seems it dates back to 1997 but never saw wide release until at least 2015. It wasn't too special, but it was quite entertaining.

Quite a well known Japanese movie, some parts felt kinda noir-ish but mostly this just wasn't for me. Found it dragged a bit. 

Re-watches:

All three were overdue second watches. 

Yes, Khan seemed a bit cross. There's more action than the first movie, and a story straight out of the original series (I don't actually remember the episode this relates back to). Also like the original series, it's short on science, but long on fiction. And Riccardo Montalban played a great psycho.