The Brutalist is a rare American epic, clocking in at 215 minutes, with an intermission, and shot on 70mm film. It’s a complicated unspooling of male rage and repressed trauma that connects victim and perpetrator in a do-si-do for power and domination in capitalism. I appreciate the weight, the exploration of history, Zionism, and colonialism, and the discomfort of what it has to do with today. Despite a few clichés (one too many slow-mo Terence Malick cutaways and jazz musicians…
Among Nos/Drac variations, there’s Bela Lugosi’s slick, suave, debonair, sex and seduction (1931), Max Schreck’s silent, empathy-inducing monster (1922), George A. Romero's Martin, a misfit teen who thinks he’s a vampire (1977), and the experimental Cuadecuc Vampir (1971), where Christopher Lee removes his fake fangs in a makeup chair. What disturbed me about Egger’s Nosferatu is a visceral sickness I felt reclined in a puffy-chair cinema, watching most everyone's torture, sexual assault, and murder—however stylish. Oh, and when Orlok appears, I thought of Frank Zappa.
Hi Boxers, Sook-Yin Lee here--director, co-writer, and co-music composer of Paying For It. The last few weeks have been a whirling blurrr since premiering PFI at #TIff2024. Thank you for your warm embrace. You know, you make something and you never know how it will be received and all I can say is PHEWF! and THANK YOU! 💖🎬🌈 Paying For It is a tiny but mighty movie made by a team of cinema lovers. It’s a grass roots film handled…
Yorgos Lanthimos returns to his fascination with control: between lovers and family , forcibly controlling our beloved and loyal pets, cult indoctrination, religion and patriarchy. We like to follow a leader cuz when you’re free to choose, it’s impossible to decide on a cocktail. Better ask the server for a recommendation! The controlling movie director gets actors to say lines just so, tells them when to hit their marks, and is a bossy-pants in a world of fiction. Try to…
