Seen and not seen's, recommendations and queries on top films in general.

[Atrophist]

I recently watched Ultras, an Italian film about a (fictional) firm of football hooligans in Naples (not to be confused with the 80’s film Ultra, this one came out in 2020).

The film focuses on Sandro, the leader of the old guard of the firm, who is pushing fifty and beginning to question his life choices. Especially now that he is banned from the stadium and he has to report to a police station during each match, to prove he is not causing more trouble.

I was surprised to see the film mostly got negative reviews, and for many commentators the reason they didn’t like it was that ”it wasn’t as good as Green Street Hooligans”. What the hell are these people on? Frodo as a hooligan? An American actor playing the leader of the, West Ham was it, hooligan firm, with a goofy British accent and strutting around like he has an invisible brick hanging from his balls?

Easy to recommend to anyone into hooligan/skinhead/other subculture films.

[holy ghost]

Suspira remake - really enjoyed it. Obviously a big fan of the original, I thought they did a great job.

The Old Guard - good solid action flick if not exactly superb writing. Fun! I liked it.

The Great - good show, very funny.

Fleabag - hysterically funny

[ConcreteMascara]

Cure - 1997 [dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa]
I have been trying to watch this one for a long time. Found out the today it was on the Criterion Channel. Happily i already took the day off, so it’s providence. So much better than i could have ever anticipated. It’s dark ambient as film in the best way possible. Visually impeccable, sound design amazing, placing just right. I was totally enthralled. And skips all the worst tropes of j-horror too. Highest recommendation!

[aububs]

yeah Cure is incredible. i highly recommend the movie Angel Dust (1994) if you haven't seen it already. very similar in tone, agenda and execution to Cure. and just as good.

[ConcreteMascara]

I've actually got a VHS copy of Angel Dust on the way right now thanks to eBay [it feels like 1999 all over again]. Very excited to watch. Apparently there was only ever a VHS release in the US and by the New York Times no less.

Watching Cure had me thinking a lot of Splatter: Naked Blood which is pretty different plot was but aspects of the visuals, execution and sound felt weirdly similar. I think it's just something about the extreme disaffection/emotional malaise in '90s Japanese cinema that really ties a lot of it together. a real absence of joie de vivre . I appreciate it

[Atrophist]

Watched Chilean/German experimental, avant-garde horror Luz. Some interesting visuals and setpieces, but that’s about it. There is practically no plot, yet the film still manages to be confusing at times. And even at only 70 minutes still feels too long. If you liked Beyond the Black Rainbow this might be worth your while.

[ConcreteMascara]

Angel Dust - 1994 [dir. Sogo Ishii] - damn this VHS arrived quick! apparently it was published by the New Yorker, not the New York Times. Looked pretty good for a 24 year old VHS but I'd love to see this one on Blu-ray. Let me say first that the electronic score for the film is the most 1994 thing possible in the best way. Some of the pieces are the expected dark ambient drones and scrapes, but some of it is dub with a breakbeat and other parts are slow-mo techno. Reminds me of Biosphere's score for Insomnia or the soundtrack for Boogiepop Phantom. I love '90s electronic music :)  The movie itself? Well it starts off pretty spooky and serious, sorta kinda, but by the 2/3rd mark it becomes more of a weird thriller more focused on style than substance. Now the style is very good so it kept me interested mostly, but I will say by the end I felt it was a little long. I can't help but compare it to Cure which I watched only two days prior. Where Cure felt like an extremely cohesive whole where every frame, sound, piece of dialogue served to deliver a very specific idea and feeling, this felt much less refined and way more like a "movie" than an "art film". Obviously I can get down with either but Cure was so good on every level I immediately wanted to re-watch it, where as with Angel Dust I just wanted to look stills from it.  Also, I've never seen the show Hannibal but I feel like Angel Dust could be the link between Hannibal and Twin Peaks via Japan?

edit - thinking a little harder, the difference between Cure and Angel Dust is Cure had a message of weight under its psychological thriller trappings, Angel Dust did not, but it looked cool as hell.

[online prowler]

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure is a contemporary classic in my book. Dense with atmosphere and very etheral. Sharing to a degree the core theme of Cure is the English film The Ghoul (2016). It is directed by Gareth Tunley and produced by Ben Wheatley. Just as Cure a homicide detective is the main characther who is investigating multiple murders. Things start to go slightly akward when he goes undercover. See the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKmhU8c6hc0

[aububs]

going to try and track down The Ghoul, never heard of that one

there's another japanese movie i've wanted to see for a long time because it also sounds similar to Cure but i haven't been able to find a watchable copy yet. It's called MARKS from 1995.

i did find it on youtube but the quality isn't great so i haven't bothered with it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZLcBhMPN-8

[ConcreteMascara]

there's another japanese movie i've wanted to see for a long time because it also sounds similar to Cure but i haven't been able to find a watchable copy yet. It's called MARKS from 1995.

i did find it on youtube but the quality isn't great so i haven't bothered with it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZLcBhMPN-8

Wow just looking at the description on Letterboxd it sounds interesting. What is it about Japanese cinema and especially '90s Japanese cinema that produces such interesting results? I guess the collapse the economic bubble and film bubble allowed people to come in and do weird things with low budgets or budgets based on VHS sales, but still, it feels like an endless well of weird shit to watch.

[host body]

high life by claire denis was really good. kind of a mixture between cronenberg and tarkovsky, claustrophobic and non-linear arthouse scifi. robert pattison has quite a solid filmography, looks like he's both a great actor and has great taste when choosing his parts. good time, the previous safdie brothers movie before uncut gems is one of my favourites from this decade.

[absurdexposition]

high life by claire denis was really good. kind of a mixture between cronenberg and tarkovsky, claustrophobic and non-linear arthouse scifi.

"Solaris with a sex room."

robert pattison has quite a solid filmography, looks like he's both a great actor and has great taste when choosing his parts

Check The Rover if you haven't seen it.

[host body]

high life by claire denis was really good. kind of a mixture between cronenberg and tarkovsky, claustrophobic and non-linear arthouse scifi.

"Solaris with a sex room."

robert pattison has quite a solid filmography, looks like he's both a great actor and has great taste when choosing his parts

Check The Rover if you haven't seen it.

hah, I guess solaris with a sex room is accurate. i really liked it though.

i have seen the rover, it was pretty good.

[Eigen Bast]

Finished up Penda's Fen last night. Brilliant, evocative film! Visionary English history told through the cipher of a young nationalist whose identity is slowly crumbling. Avant coming of age folk horror? Sure, why not. Killer soundtrack heavy with droning organ and squealing dissonance.

[Potier]

Recent consumption of movies has been all over the map - two of the ones I checked out recently are:

Demonlover (2002) by Olivier Assayas - my first Assayas for all I can recall - picked this out on a hunch after reading a synopsis and noticing that Chloë Sevigny is in it. Overall nothing too special. Guess it could be called a corporate spy-thriller in a sense. I feel it did fall way short when it came to the blend of manga/torture porn that was the subject matter in a sense. The female characters worked well - both main actresses did a good job in their portrayal. Ultimately maybe a bit too subtle for my taste and a bit too stretched out. It had me thinking it would have been so much better had it been done by Cronenberg... Still worth your time and seems like an overlooked movie in Sevigny's filmography.

Sarah Plays A Werewolf (2017) by Katharina Wyss - also picked out on a hunch. Story of an emotionally challenged and overtly sensitive teenager that lives in a theatre dystopian dream world of sorts. There is also a lot of rather blunt christian faith and martyrdom content. A difficult home life & the resulting social ineptness and isolation add to the problem. This leads to dangerous obsessive behavior and ultimately a violent outburst. I did like this one simply for some of the bizarre characters, the language components of french and swiss-german, the setting and some of the subtle unsettling moments. It's funny how it also made me feel it would've been better had it been done by a different director - this time I figure it would've made for great Haneke-material. Worth seeing if you are more into contemporary arthouse-type newcomer films.