MIFF Day 12
The Substitute
If I were about 20 years younger I'd probably really dig this film. As it is, it's just kinda fun but silly. An alien with no understanding of empathy comes to Earth to learn about love so her home planet, constantly at war, will stop destroying itself. Unfortunately, with no empathy she's completely unable to do anything except try and take it by force, and that results in her coming a cropper courtesy of her students. Or at least, that's kinda how it goes, it sounds more intelligent than it actually is. Great idea, poor execution. Like I said, if I was a kid I'd probably have dug it, but honestly, Grinny is a much better story.
The Drummer
The son of a Hong Kong gangster sleeps with a rival boss's mistress, and then has to go into hiding in Taiwan. There he joins a group of zen drummers and discovers inner peace, sort of. It's a fun and engaging film, with some great drumming sequences, though the whole gangster storyline wasn't all that interesting compared to the drumming stuff. Good film though, and never boring.
Surveillance
Part of me suspects David Lynch directed this film and stuck his daughter's name on it just to throw people off. Jennifer Lynch's second film is a very Lynchian film about an investigation into a series of brutal murders in backwoods USA somewhere. The twists and turns are great, some completely unexpected, and the mood is tense and violent, full of black humour and oddball characters. It's well deserving of the Lynch brand.
If I were about 20 years younger I'd probably really dig this film. As it is, it's just kinda fun but silly. An alien with no understanding of empathy comes to Earth to learn about love so her home planet, constantly at war, will stop destroying itself. Unfortunately, with no empathy she's completely unable to do anything except try and take it by force, and that results in her coming a cropper courtesy of her students. Or at least, that's kinda how it goes, it sounds more intelligent than it actually is. Great idea, poor execution. Like I said, if I was a kid I'd probably have dug it, but honestly, Grinny is a much better story.
The Drummer
The son of a Hong Kong gangster sleeps with a rival boss's mistress, and then has to go into hiding in Taiwan. There he joins a group of zen drummers and discovers inner peace, sort of. It's a fun and engaging film, with some great drumming sequences, though the whole gangster storyline wasn't all that interesting compared to the drumming stuff. Good film though, and never boring.
Surveillance
Part of me suspects David Lynch directed this film and stuck his daughter's name on it just to throw people off. Jennifer Lynch's second film is a very Lynchian film about an investigation into a series of brutal murders in backwoods USA somewhere. The twists and turns are great, some completely unexpected, and the mood is tense and violent, full of black humour and oddball characters. It's well deserving of the Lynch brand.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:15 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home