#week d

The SECOND I saw that water tank I thought of Elisa Lam and YEP AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH

Is it good? I’m trying not to say anything about it “dripping with dread” but the atmosphere here really is that tense. The constantly dripping water in Yoshimi’s shitty new flat would be bad enough on its own, but everything about her situation has a bit of a Chinese Water Torture effect—her ex-husband’s stalking and legal pressure, her job’s hours keeping her from picking up her daughter on time, the general Japanese stigma over mental health stressing her out and making her be perceived as unstable for being upset about things that are perfectly legitimate to be upsets about, like said stalking ex-husband and the persistent leak and water damage in her home that the building superintendent refuses to do anything about. This whole situation would be stressful as hell without the ghost of a dead neglected child, and the tension ratchets up at such an effective pace that the jumpscares near the end are some of the least scary parts of the film, not helped by the shaky noughties CGI for the “dents” getting knocked into the water tank and a longer look at Mitsuko’s face than was probably a good idea with that mannequin. It sticks out so much because the practical effects in the rest of the film are so subtle and effective, like the water continuing to flow from Mitsuko’s shoes when she comes up on Ikuko playing hide and seek. Hitomi Kuroki is giving an especially compelling and tragic performance as Yoshimi—yeah, if I was a neglected child ghost, I’d want her for my new mama, too. I was legit expecting Ikuko to wind up dead, so her surviving because Yoshimi sacrificed herself to become Mitsuko’s mama was extremely sweet, almost like as close to a happy ending as was gonna happen here, because damn did I not want Mitsuko to have to be destroyed. She’s just a kid! Her body’s rotting in the water tank due to neglectful building management instead of getting a proper burial! She’s cold and alone and abandoned! I love a ghost that’s not evil, but something wrong has happened and they’re trapped and unable to move past a single overpowering desire, with no real ability to understand the effect they’re having on the living people around them. It’s a good ghost story and tragedy, is what I’m saying

Is it fun? No but I am enjoying a good end AU where Ikuko gets Mitsuko on board with the concept of having a sister and Yoshimi is just like “so I have two daughters now” and the three of them live happily together while Yoshimi’s shitty ex-husband comes home every night to find all his taps running even after he’s moved five times

70s Maggie Smith in a tuxedo with no knowledge of the married state, save me, save me 70s Maggie Smith in a tuxedo with no knowledge of the married state

Is it good? A bit plodding at times—it’s over an hour before the first murder happens—and pretty racist about Egyptians, though that’s true to the period and source material. The acting talent on show is immense, of course, especially Mia Farrow as Jacqueline, who is both terrifying and tragic as different points. There’s an effort to make the grand architecture of Ancient Egypt look majestic but combined with the musical stings it’s mostly “oooohhh spoooooky laaaaaaand of deeeeeaaaaaaath”. Does a great job of laying down all the clues so you can figure it out if you’re paying close attention, which I think is key to a good murder mystery—and given that you’re adapting from book to film, you necessarily have to do things a little differently to get it all in. It does kinda play a bit with the fact that film blood of the time usually looks pretty fake, so it’s hard to tell apart the fake and real blood for you as well as the characters :v

Is it fun? Very slow and dramatic, but there are laughs to be had around Poirot himself, such as the inclusion of his moustache-net for sleeping and him continually correcting people that he’s Belgian, not French.

This is a solid attempt at a feminist sports film about girls breaking barriers to get into sports that weren't previously open to them, but feels a bit odd in that they're only doing it to fulfill their father's dream of raising a gold medalist wrestler, and not because they themselves want to. The actual desires of Geeta and Babita are largely absent past their childhood, when the main desire expressed is for their dad to give them a damn break. I was worried that this was a too White Feminist take on a feminist film from India, but this was also a criticism that Indian film critics had, so yeah. Considering your daughters capable of success on their own merits rather than millstones around your neck until you can marry them off as soon as possible is certainly an improvement, but they're still ultimately tools of their father's dreams who are allowed to make almost no decisions about their own lives down to their hairstyles, and also that's a hella low bar to set. It is based on a true story, but the framing of a story still makes a big difference--just switching the POV/narration from their random male cousin to Geeta or Babita, I think, would've made a huge difference in characterizing the girls.

Is it good? It's certainly very good-looking, and the soundtrack is fantastic, naturally. The actors playing the girls as children in particular are putting in an incredible day's work. The film's messy theme that undercuts its own intentions lets it down, though.

Is it fun? I would actually say yet because the characters are fun to watch, the wrestling matches are genuinely enthralling, and you're tapping your toes to the tunes the whole time. There's a lot of genuinely funny wee goofs between the younger characters when they're playing around, too.

Jesus christ this is a FUCKING good movie and I am already FURIOUS that it's not recognized as a masterpiece of cinema but fucking Clockwork Orange is. Why is the most famous quote from this film "nobody puts Baby in a corner" when the script honestly goes hard as fuck with shit like "I'm sorry I lied to you, but you lied too. You told me everyone was alike and deserved a fair break. But you meant everyone who was like you." and "I'm scared of everything! I'm scared of what I saw. I'm scared of what I did, of who I am. And most of all, I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life…. the way I feel when I'm with you!" Like fucking hell Jennifer Grey is FANTASTIC in this film. There are some real fuckin good class politics and some legit feminist themes! I don't go here but I genuinely get what the appeal of Patrick Swayze is for straight women! He's playful and silly but takes his job seriously, he's got good arms and soft eyes that can shimmer with tears at the drop of a hat, and he's always ride or die for his girl bestie whether she needs a break during her shift or an illegal abortion. Full seal of approval, straight women, ABSOLUTELY fuck that man on your summer holidays and then bring him home instead of the business major your parents picked out!

Is it good? It's a beautiful film to look at, with a lot of the cinematography being soft and bright, and goddamn is every actor here putting in a magnificent performance. Baby and Johnny falling in love feels very real and sweet--I'm absolutely enchanted by the scene where they're practicing the start pose from the poster and Baby keeps getting fits of giggles because Johnny has to run his hand down her side and it tickles! While there's clearly attraction early on and a lot of the dancing is purposefully very sensual, I like how they are both laser-focused on helping Penny and don't really get into it with each other until after she's safe. A SIGNIFICANT portion of the plot is about getting a woman an abortion and at no time does anybody even suggest that this is the wrong choice or that Penny is doing something immoral, because it's made very obvious that she'll lose her job if she keeps the pregnancy and the man responsible is NOT going to support her (he tries to give Baby an Ayn Rand book, as a flag of what an utter creep he is). The film really highlights the discrepancies between the waiters--students at elite colleges who are encouraged to "romance the daughters"--and the entertainers, working class people who are, men and women alike, sexually exploited by the wealthy. And of course the soundtrack is famously great and the dancing is SO good. Absolutely gorgeous.

Is it fun? The music and dancing are great fun, but there's also genuinely really good chemistry between Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze that make pretty much all of their scenes together very charming to watch. Whether they're mouthing the lyrics to a song and vogueing at each other or making dramatic public declarations of love, they're constantly making each other laugh, and making you laugh, too.

Is it queer? No though I am squinting VERY intently at the part int he final scene where the whole crowd starts dancing and one old lady dramatically throws off her shawl and pulls another old lady away from her husband to dance. That said the queer readings for this film are very meaty as it's already about coming of age and sexual awakening, and Baby gets herself involved in all the situations going down not out of attraction to Johnny but a desire to help Penny. The scene of Baby and Penny dancing together so Baby can learn Penny's body language isn't shot with the same sensuality as the scenes of Baby and Johnny dancing together, but Baby has pretty much the same expression on her face when looking at Penny as Johnny, and the whole "You really used to be a Rockette? ...I envy you" -awkward smile- bit can very easily be read as Baby's fumbling attempt to flirt. The women come to trust and believe in each other and become emotionally intimate in an arc with a trajectory VERY similar to Baby's relationship with Johnny, and you could easily read Baby's hooking up with Johnny as a comphet sublimation of her attraction to Penny (though the film gets sadder for Johnny in that reading). Frankly AO3 needs to get on this there are <10 Penny/Baby stories and that is simply NOT ENOUGH

I gotta stop getting the longest possible versions of grim films to watch, though at least I didn't accidentally get the five-hour miniseries version. Good god those submarines must have stank to high hell, they look so sweaty and cramped.

Is it good? The cinematography to keep things dynamic while mostly being on the one same small, tight set is incredibly impressive, and it seems to be a really effective "war is hell" film. Absolutely nothing about being in a U-boat looks like fun; it looks stinky, uncomfortable, exhausting and terrifying. Werner's wee speech about he asked for this posting because he thought it would be dramatic and cool and manly, but actually it sucks ass and he doesn't wanna die in a dark tube at the bottom of the ocean, is much more moving than I've made it sound. Some fantastic performances from the cast, probably helped by some very careful scriptwriting to keep you focused on them as working soldiers, not Nazis--it probably helps that they show a lot of horrified sympathy for the British crew of a ship they just torpedoed when they realize that the other British ships aren't coming back to rescue them, and the clear instinct is to go help before the captain points out that they can't take prisoners and have to leave, a decision that haunts all of them. The extremely grim ending, in this case, really fits--after all the struggle to get back alive to port, they get blown up and the ship gets sunk by an air-raid, because war doesn't follow heroic narratives, the violence is abrupt and horrible, and have we mentioned enough in the last three hours that war fucking sucks and being a soldier isn't sexy or cool?

Is it fun? No--the soldiers goofing around at getting blackout drunk at the beginning is pretty funny, and then the rest of this film is about why they get that drunk when they're onshore.

A-Z Challenge : Week D

Dirty Boots by Sonic Youth. Adore the guitar riff in this. Quite Possibly my favorite Sonic Youth song...