After Hours

the way he just left the apartment by putting up papers with ‘dead person’ written on it and arrow pointing to her room, wtf but writing-wise, I do like that detail. I also like the detail of the newspaper stuck on his arm. And Kiki using 20 dollar bills for the sculpture. The line: “Luckily, there was this girl, who saw everything, who let me use her phone. Really nice about it, too. Let me use the phone. That was it. Just use it. Pick it up and put it down. Pick it up and put it down.” And its delivery is so funny. I think I really need to rewatch this so I can just put myself in that mind frame and get more out of this film. I like Griffin Dunne’s performance; I didn’t feel bad for the character tho until the very end. I did feel his exhaustion just before he danced with the woman. Like it’s the worst night for him?? all these women liking him / wanting to have sex with him and it’s his worst night?? People just offering their place to him? And his worst night is watching some people have even worse night. Thought this before the amazing ending! Him getting encased in a sculpture is perfect, innovative. The way every woman he met worsened his night is kind of iconic, actually. From the scream (read: shriek) sculpture to the silenced sculpture. Brutal lol. Liked some of the camerawork. More people need to borrow its closing credits. Scorsese reading this “review” and shaking his head lol. Or going hell yeah… idk him.

The Devil Wears Prada 2

‘you’re not a visionary, you’re a vendor’ line >>

Forbidden Fruits

“Then I met him. And he complimented me on my music taste and my piercings. And he told me his name was Norman, and ,Marilyn, you know that Psycho is my favourite movie.” “Norman was named after Norman Bates because he’s such a mama’s boy.” “I am in love with Norman and I want to speak to him in words, not emojis.” “Did you girlboss again?” - talking about poison So many good lines, the direction is solid too. I like the mirror setup in Marilyn Monroe confessionals. And Victoria Pedretti’s character & performance in this is so old school. I don’t think i can look at an escalator the same again. Lili Reinhart’s in the third act looks like she’s going to make it rain blood. The second half is better paced than the first. A fun watch. Let’s go fruits, and flowers!

Gabbeh

starts out very strong! Liked how she first describes her father as weave of the wool! And how the old man from the couple says everything in singsongy tone. Fantastical and experimental. The rang scene is so cool and charming and I appreciate how the uncle’s other lesson of birds’ call is cut later with her speaking to the uncle or the old man about the sparrow. The woman we meet at a spring, her costume also seems very spring, the season— with the yellow details on the costume. great costumes, in general; Gabbeh’s is iconic. Has pretty and cool shots like when people pass through an area with many gabbeh’s on the land or when we’re introduced to Gabbeh and her initial scenes with the old couple. But even with its short runtime, it feels overlong. I didn’t care for some scenes like the sheep getting milk or more frames than necessary with the chicken giving egg or a sheep being born?

Zivan Makes a Punk Festival

Lee Cronin's The Mummy

qwhite western but I guess what else can you expect given the title. a little subversion would’ve been nice.

Donkey Skin

looking at the photos of the costumes gave me the final push to watch this. and they are worth it! the set design is also dazzling for the most part, sometimes in a not-the-most-aesthetically-pleasing / aged way but it works! Love the fairy godmother’s entrance through the ceiling, and the detail of the frog-spitting lady, and the blue / green / red iris out as well as the ball of the cats and birds. j’adore. Does a great job at creating a fairytale atmosphere, even when it’s scene of her just running. More Cinderella than Beauty and the Beast to me. Bit scandalized by the fairy godmother marrying the father, the way it is also immediately clear as they’re getting off the helicopter… Demy! they were having an enemies to lovers and we missed it, how did it even come to be? how many horses and men did they dye and paint, damn. how long did it take? were they okay after the film shoot?

Undine

Very melancholic, tender. Paula Beer does a lot with few lines. Really like Franz Rogowski as an actor, he’s got range. also features a night scene where you can actually see everything. Confirmed my suspicion that that scene was shot day for night.

Sick of Myself

another solid premise, plotted and executed really well. gorging on good cinema.

Being John Malkovich

John Malkovich is such a cool person for starring in this!! I feel so bad for his character, poor guy couldn’t catch a break. Being pushed out of your own body by two distinct parties, who take everything from you and then also change your image into their own as much as they can, with the hair and the clothes. So not only are you them, you are also a reflection of their past selves. A horror story. When he was inside his own head, that scene was so trippy. I would like to go on a stroll in Charlie Kauffman’s brain, how did he come up with this idea. Love that he was like how can I make it the most interesting film and then just committed to it. And committed to it. And committed to it. No or little holding back. enjoyed everyone’s performance and character, as much as one can given the content matter. the craig-maxine-lotte was compelling! Such an interesting direction to take the story! craig and lotte are kind of similar tho. one felt threatened by his wife when it came to a potential lover and imposed violence; the other felt rejected by the lover and threatened violence. what an ending. the executive liaison bit was so funny.

Demons

that was a crazy plan they pulled on him. there are so many scenes where dream or imagination plays out like reality before the moment is broken with the unfolding of actual happenings. so the revenge scene against the house members had me questioning, as there was an hour left of the runtime too so seemed a bit early in the film as well. but it happens and the film keeps moving with substance, no meandering. one of the better paced movies. I feel there’s some context I’m missing cuz why did hachiemon take the fall for g that quickly and easily, why was gengobei becoming a proper samurai or for g to join the vendetta so important to h that he would forsake his own life, and also which vendetta? is it a history thing but i tried finding out about enya retainers on google or does it simply not establish these plot details & motivation well, or am i dumb. Does it ride on you being in the know about general samurai culture? I need to read up on samurai culture. or was it less about doing it for g and more for the people who painstakingly helped get the money in place for him, which is… hm. victim number three’s death scene was horrific to watch as was the misogynistically severed head & the throwing of drink in the face. will have to sit with the ending for a while cuz damn

The Testament of Ann Lee

I like the director’s style. well directed. you can see a clear through line between this and Discipline, she def has a thing for synchronised physicality

The Drama

rumors are true — this is funnyyyy. does discomfort/tension so well. this film is going to cause chaos on film twt etc

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

First 20 or so minutes were putting me to sleep, once the protag gets inside the house where the main action takes place, it’s pretty decent, gets better as it goes on.

Discipline

Project Hail Mary

Sandra Hüller’s rendition of Sign of the Times was quite moving. Gosling’s got the sauce

A Hero

Is so culturally specific! And complex! This story just can’t exist in usa/hollywood, specially without them playing the basic synopsis of becoming a hero up for laughs or making it overly sentimental feel-good saga, twisting it into something it’s not Packs so much in its runtime of 2 ish hours. Really good plot development. I feel so bad for the kid; so well acted, everyone’s performance is good but specially the kid and Amir Jadidid

Dreams

Sunshine Through The Rain Glad they showed the fox wedding procession cuz I was very curious about that upon hearing it , nice sequence. The plot development beyond that initially seemed crazy, teeming with potential, said ‘what!’ out loud, not the mom traumatising her son like that. But it doesn’t go anywhere though. will we come back to this? Will the storylines converge at some point? No and no. What Does the Fox Say? was written with this movie in mind. The Peach Orchard Better than the last. That kid was really able to turn things around quick. Ohhh for the spirits of the orchard trees to know that i didn’t want them to be cut down and that my heart aches for them, and for them to reveal their image to me once again and shower me with their blossoms. for them to know they were loved and for me to be seen in my love. the image of the cut trees c’est très tragique The Blizzard Think it creates what it would actually look like to be stuck in a blizzard well on screen. But again a bummer until She comes. reminded me of Kwaidan but its anthologies had more substance. Left me with an empty feeling. The Tunnel Like this. Has weight and depth to it. Crows Now the reason that I’m here!!!! I don’t like that Scorsese’s Gogh makes light of Gogh’s ear injury. Love that Kursosawa made sets of his paintings <3 ie if they did, very The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari of them and how I would love to go be part of the preparation processes. if they didn’t, it’s cool how they managed to pull it off, can someone insert me in von gogh’s paintings’ landscapes like this. If they did make the sets what did they do with them? Where did they end up? Where can I see them?!? Hopefully preserved somewhere. Watching the Crow scene and feel so connected to Kurosawa right now. Mount Fuji in Red Kurosawa’s dreams are relatively varied. I mainly keep having the nightmare of being back in high school after higher studies. Like that the focus—like in Blizzard— is not in presenting it in pretty way that is santizied, rather to make it seem real, like here even the color grading is so red, can imagine news coverage. the guy trying to wave away the radiation with his jacket :(( This story stands out. The Weeping Demon one of the better ones. hard not to think about the present world - Wasn’t that moved or wow’d by it overall.

The Girl Who Cried Pearls

the characters look spectacular. cool concept,,, ahh I wish I could actually cry pearls and not just because I’d be rich rich,,, like that would be so chic

Nino

really good. was hesitant to watch it cuz it’s a cancer flick, but glad I did; it’s relatively light, there are some laughs to be had, very heartfelt tho! will never not think of john mayer whenever Camille Rutherford is on screen, like, they could be twins! this festival did a cool job with the lineup, in that, it’s majorly women directed films if you don’t count the retrospectives. I don’t recall the opportunity to watch so many women directed films in such a short amount of time. It’s also so cool that IHC make this festival free.