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Movies
Glass Onion - I didn't enjoy this quite as much as Knives Out, but I still enjoyed it. The structure is basically the same: Agatha Christie-style murder mystery about wealthy assholes gets subverted to shocking effect halfway through, then re-subverted at the end to bring it to a conclusion that still satisfies the original promise. One of my favourite things about Rian Johnson's filmmaking is that he subverts with affection - he's as much a fan of these genres as anyone - and he always keeps his promises eventually, even if the path to get there is full of surprises.
It's very much a snapshot of this very particular moment, full of jokes about COVID and The Lockdown Experience (TM) that will - at least, I sure hope - be incomprehensible in a couple of decades. And that's not to mention all the celebrity references that will date even faster. But I kind of love it for that. Not all media needs to aim for timelessness. I'm just glad someone thought to have fun with different mask-wearing styles during this narrow window of time where that kind of character detail has meaning.
1917 - I know nothing about cinematography, but the 'one shot' conceit really worked for me. (It was not actually filmed in one shot, and even my untrained eye can make out some of the joins, but that doesn't matter - it's about the impact on the story, not the technicalities of filming.) Two soldiers are on a time-sensitive mission to deliver a message that could save the lives of 16,000 men, and the movie follows them from start to finish without skipping a single moment of their journey. The result is breathless and in places excruciating - I kept expecting to jump to the next 'plot-relevant' event, but instead the cameras sat staunchly with the soldiers through all of it, through suspense, through inaction, through mundane blunders that shaved precious minutes off their deadline.
There's a scene towards the end, after a frantic near-drowning scene, where we float dazed and exhausted down a sparkling clean river watching cherry blossom petals swirl overhead - right into a dam made of bloated, waterlogged corpses that have washed up against a log. That one's going to stick with me. It's beautiful and horrible and not exactly subtle, but I don't blame it for that, because 'don't romanticise war' is a lesson that just never seems to stick with people.
All Quiet on the Western Front - DNF'd at around 40 minutes and bitterly wish I'd stopped earlier. It's a brilliant adaptation that I absolutely do not have the stomach for right now, which I should have realised the moment Felix Kammerer brought his ear-to-ear smile on screen, bouncing with boyish excitement about being sent to the front. The casting is impeccable - he and his cohort look desperately young and vulnerable, all innocent smiles in the face of impending horrors they can't possibly understand. 'We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.' Definitely recommend watching this if you no longer need your heart and would like it smashed to a bloody pulp.
Internets
This short, accessible analysis of Triumph of the Will breaks down the myth of its supposed cinematic greatness: not innovative, actually, just really fucking expensive! A valuable contribution to Project Let's Stop Discussing the Nazis in Exactly the Terms They Wanted.
In lighter news, I'm still lapping up ACOUP's ongoing critique of Rings of Power. This week, he's analysing battle tactics during the major showdown in episode 6: 'Udûn'. The topic itself is nitpicky, but the theme that emerges - of the show prizing 'clever' tricks and the element of surprise above all else - is emblematic of its flaws, and I think of a trend in blockbuster media lately where creators are desperate to 'outsmart' fans at all costs. If your foreshadowing and internal story logic are good enough that people can predict where things are going and post about it on the internet, that's Bad, actually! Far better to keep viewers on their toes with a neverending stream of shock!!! twist!!! moments that no one saw comingbecause they make no fucking sense. It's the exact opposite of the Rian Johnson 'affectionate subversion' vibe I was just talking about and I hate it.
Speaking of Rian Johnson, I really enjoyed this video essay about The Last Jedi's subversive handling of male hero arcs. At the start of the movie, Finn, Poe and Luke are all positioned to suggest a traditional male heroic archetype, only to be challenged by a woman who's explicitly portrayed as holding either institutional or moral authority over them. The subversion is only a temporary roadstop - they all three get to fulfil their heroic potential in the end, but only after learning a valuable and humbling lesson from a woman who is not seeking to 'emasculate' them, but who genuinely cares and has important wisdom to impart. I thought I was done feeling over-emotional about TLJ (after what, five years???) but this made me slightly teary.
Glass Onion - I didn't enjoy this quite as much as Knives Out, but I still enjoyed it. The structure is basically the same: Agatha Christie-style murder mystery about wealthy assholes gets subverted to shocking effect halfway through, then re-subverted at the end to bring it to a conclusion that still satisfies the original promise. One of my favourite things about Rian Johnson's filmmaking is that he subverts with affection - he's as much a fan of these genres as anyone - and he always keeps his promises eventually, even if the path to get there is full of surprises.
It's very much a snapshot of this very particular moment, full of jokes about COVID and The Lockdown Experience (TM) that will - at least, I sure hope - be incomprehensible in a couple of decades. And that's not to mention all the celebrity references that will date even faster. But I kind of love it for that. Not all media needs to aim for timelessness. I'm just glad someone thought to have fun with different mask-wearing styles during this narrow window of time where that kind of character detail has meaning.
1917 - I know nothing about cinematography, but the 'one shot' conceit really worked for me. (It was not actually filmed in one shot, and even my untrained eye can make out some of the joins, but that doesn't matter - it's about the impact on the story, not the technicalities of filming.) Two soldiers are on a time-sensitive mission to deliver a message that could save the lives of 16,000 men, and the movie follows them from start to finish without skipping a single moment of their journey. The result is breathless and in places excruciating - I kept expecting to jump to the next 'plot-relevant' event, but instead the cameras sat staunchly with the soldiers through all of it, through suspense, through inaction, through mundane blunders that shaved precious minutes off their deadline.
There's a scene towards the end, after a frantic near-drowning scene, where we float dazed and exhausted down a sparkling clean river watching cherry blossom petals swirl overhead - right into a dam made of bloated, waterlogged corpses that have washed up against a log. That one's going to stick with me. It's beautiful and horrible and not exactly subtle, but I don't blame it for that, because 'don't romanticise war' is a lesson that just never seems to stick with people.
All Quiet on the Western Front - DNF'd at around 40 minutes and bitterly wish I'd stopped earlier. It's a brilliant adaptation that I absolutely do not have the stomach for right now, which I should have realised the moment Felix Kammerer brought his ear-to-ear smile on screen, bouncing with boyish excitement about being sent to the front. The casting is impeccable - he and his cohort look desperately young and vulnerable, all innocent smiles in the face of impending horrors they can't possibly understand. 'We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.' Definitely recommend watching this if you no longer need your heart and would like it smashed to a bloody pulp.
Internets
This short, accessible analysis of Triumph of the Will breaks down the myth of its supposed cinematic greatness: not innovative, actually, just really fucking expensive! A valuable contribution to Project Let's Stop Discussing the Nazis in Exactly the Terms They Wanted.
In lighter news, I'm still lapping up ACOUP's ongoing critique of Rings of Power. This week, he's analysing battle tactics during the major showdown in episode 6: 'Udûn'. The topic itself is nitpicky, but the theme that emerges - of the show prizing 'clever' tricks and the element of surprise above all else - is emblematic of its flaws, and I think of a trend in blockbuster media lately where creators are desperate to 'outsmart' fans at all costs. If your foreshadowing and internal story logic are good enough that people can predict where things are going and post about it on the internet, that's Bad, actually! Far better to keep viewers on their toes with a neverending stream of shock!!! twist!!! moments that no one saw coming
Speaking of Rian Johnson, I really enjoyed this video essay about The Last Jedi's subversive handling of male hero arcs. At the start of the movie, Finn, Poe and Luke are all positioned to suggest a traditional male heroic archetype, only to be challenged by a woman who's explicitly portrayed as holding either institutional or moral authority over them. The subversion is only a temporary roadstop - they all three get to fulfil their heroic potential in the end, but only after learning a valuable and humbling lesson from a woman who is not seeking to 'emasculate' them, but who genuinely cares and has important wisdom to impart. I thought I was done feeling over-emotional about TLJ (after what, five years???) but this made me slightly teary.
