gortx
Joined Jan 2000
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FLOW (2024) Nominated for both Best Animated Feature AND Best International Film.
An entrancing animated nature fable from Latvia's Gints Zilbalodis. A dialogue free adventure tale about a Cat who survives the next great flood. The Cat is rushed along with the water and comes across a number of other animals which persevere including a small 'herd' of sorts including an scavenging Lemur, a lazy Dog, a Secretary Bird which has lost its ability to fly, and a lumbering Capybara (rodent). The herd gets swept along and end up on a boat for a spell. The animals all have personality but aren't given anthropomorphism nor cutesy dialogue. They're just creatures trying to understand what in the world is going on. The sea, naturally, is teeming with life.
The animation was created by a free open source software (Blender), yet the filmmaker and his team do wonders with it. The blended design for the beasts may not be photo-realistic, but have a charming character of their own. The backgrounds are gorgeous and evocative.
Zilbalodis never gives a direct explanation for what is happening, but the lack of humans (and the deluge) certainly leads one to an ecological disaster. The most haunting visuals are the remnants of civilization: abandoned buildings, submerged and decaying structures and large man-made monuments to humanity and even cats! The parable is as powerful as it is simple. A society which can create magnificent technology, but is unable (or unwilling) to save the natural world around them. FLOW and its animals give a glimmer of hope.
An entrancing animated nature fable from Latvia's Gints Zilbalodis. A dialogue free adventure tale about a Cat who survives the next great flood. The Cat is rushed along with the water and comes across a number of other animals which persevere including a small 'herd' of sorts including an scavenging Lemur, a lazy Dog, a Secretary Bird which has lost its ability to fly, and a lumbering Capybara (rodent). The herd gets swept along and end up on a boat for a spell. The animals all have personality but aren't given anthropomorphism nor cutesy dialogue. They're just creatures trying to understand what in the world is going on. The sea, naturally, is teeming with life.
The animation was created by a free open source software (Blender), yet the filmmaker and his team do wonders with it. The blended design for the beasts may not be photo-realistic, but have a charming character of their own. The backgrounds are gorgeous and evocative.
Zilbalodis never gives a direct explanation for what is happening, but the lack of humans (and the deluge) certainly leads one to an ecological disaster. The most haunting visuals are the remnants of civilization: abandoned buildings, submerged and decaying structures and large man-made monuments to humanity and even cats! The parable is as powerful as it is simple. A society which can create magnificent technology, but is unable (or unwilling) to save the natural world around them. FLOW and its animals give a glimmer of hope.
THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE (2024) Nominated for the Best International Film Oscar.
Magnus von Horn's dark tale of a desperate young woman in the waning days of WWI is loosely based on a true notorious crime in Denmark.
Karoline (a gritty Vic Carmen Sonne) is delivered several harsh blows including the return of her husband Peter (Besir Zeciri) who graphically bears the wounds of war. Through a series of unfortunate incidents, Karoline ends up in the employ of Dagmar (an excellent Trine Dyrholm) who brokers babies from similarly troubled women. Her tagline: "You've done the right thing" becomes more chilling as the movie progresses.
Cinematographer Michal Dymek shoots in a sharp monochrome in a boxy 1:50 aspect ratio. The locations are well chosen to convincingly portray a small village in war-torn Europe. The jagged aggressive score by Frederikke Hoffmeier effectively keeps the viewer on edge. Von Horn's direction is stark but stylish. His screenplay with Line Langebeck is a bit more problematic. It's impressive in parts, but too episodic. As a result, character motivations aren't always clear nor fully convincing.
GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE tells a brutal but grimly compelling tale. The acting is very good and its visually captivating. It may end up being a bit less than the sum of its parts, but there is no question that it has a visceral impact.
Magnus von Horn's dark tale of a desperate young woman in the waning days of WWI is loosely based on a true notorious crime in Denmark.
Karoline (a gritty Vic Carmen Sonne) is delivered several harsh blows including the return of her husband Peter (Besir Zeciri) who graphically bears the wounds of war. Through a series of unfortunate incidents, Karoline ends up in the employ of Dagmar (an excellent Trine Dyrholm) who brokers babies from similarly troubled women. Her tagline: "You've done the right thing" becomes more chilling as the movie progresses.
Cinematographer Michal Dymek shoots in a sharp monochrome in a boxy 1:50 aspect ratio. The locations are well chosen to convincingly portray a small village in war-torn Europe. The jagged aggressive score by Frederikke Hoffmeier effectively keeps the viewer on edge. Von Horn's direction is stark but stylish. His screenplay with Line Langebeck is a bit more problematic. It's impressive in parts, but too episodic. As a result, character motivations aren't always clear nor fully convincing.
GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE tells a brutal but grimly compelling tale. The acting is very good and its visually captivating. It may end up being a bit less than the sum of its parts, but there is no question that it has a visceral impact.
ERASERHEAD (1977) David Lynch had already made some shorts, but in 1971 he embarked on a more ambitious project while at AFI. It grew into a feature length production but not completed until 1977. It made its mark as a Midnight movie often with multi-year runs at NYC's Cinema Village and Waverly, San Francisco's Roxie and L. A.'s Nuart (which is where I first saw it a few years later). Kudos to Stuart Cornfield and the folks working for Mel Brooks who took a chance on Lynch to make THE ELEPHANT MAN his next film.
One of the things that is most astounding about ERASERHEAD is that for such a dark, dank...well...Lynchian film, it was shot in sunny Southern California. It's easy to see why the film became a hit on the midnight circuit with it's surrealistic imagery, living Cornish hens, aliens, mutant babies and heads made into erasers. The haunting soundscape devised by Lynch and Alan Splet is an industrial nightmare come to life - or, from hell. The Black & White cinematography by Frederick Elmes (who later shot BLUE VELVET and WILD AT HEART) and Herbert Cardwell has a dreamlike quality. Jack Nance, who plays Henry with that wild hair became a part of Lynch's stock company.
RIP David Lynch.
One of the things that is most astounding about ERASERHEAD is that for such a dark, dank...well...Lynchian film, it was shot in sunny Southern California. It's easy to see why the film became a hit on the midnight circuit with it's surrealistic imagery, living Cornish hens, aliens, mutant babies and heads made into erasers. The haunting soundscape devised by Lynch and Alan Splet is an industrial nightmare come to life - or, from hell. The Black & White cinematography by Frederick Elmes (who later shot BLUE VELVET and WILD AT HEART) and Herbert Cardwell has a dreamlike quality. Jack Nance, who plays Henry with that wild hair became a part of Lynch's stock company.
RIP David Lynch.