Log: week 33 / 2024

A classic vampire movie ala Bava. That means poor special effects, Italian expressiveness, and cheesy sets. I assume the film is supposed to give off a gothic vibe, but all I can see are cardboard walls and tiny budgets. At least the runtime is short and the plot is zany enough to keep things moving along.

It was a smart move to cast Andy Lau playing an aging actor wanting to go out with a bang. There are some fun cameos at the start of The Movie Emperor (hello Jing Wong and Tony Leung), giving the film even more meta appeal, but that's all just a prelude. The real film starts when Lau moves to the countryside.

A classic Japanese horror anthology. These films are usually pretty fun, if not the most inspired anthologies. Beware though, this is an AKB48 vehicle, a cheap promotional film to give some girl of the popular project a chance to act. Sadly, none of them seem ready for an acting career.

This is hailed as an important film for the African continent, bearing elements of the Nouvelle Vague (so it's a bit arthouse and experimental). Which is nice and all, but looking at the actual film, the result is paltry. The direction is amateurish and though some attempts are being made to create a magical atmosphere, nothing works.

A pleasant island drama that makes good use of Gunkenjima, a by-now popular tourist spot on the coast of Japan. The abandoned island provides a nice backdrop to a coming-of-age drama that mixes in mild brawler elements. This gives the film a bit of an edge, though it's not as nihilistic as some other of its notable predecessors.

Gao's latest is a pleasant crime flick, but the film isn't quite up there with his best work. It reminded me a little of Yimou's latest, an intricate crime story and lots of minute police work, but without that one thing that could raise the film above its peers. And so this is simply a very capable genre film.

Absurd comedy. The store is a big player in Japan and forms the center of this collection of short stories, though some are only tangentially related. I assume the film is linked to the company, but this is by no means a blatant promotional video. The comedy is pretty bonkers, often at the expense of Parco.

Like most Kaufman films, this wasn't for me. The setup (a love triangle) is generic, the characters aren't all that interesting and the runtime is an insult. This is of course based on a novel, so there's a lot of ground to cover, but it would've been better if parts had been cut to bring the runtime down.

A fine arthouse drama. I'm aware of the relatively strong bond between Brazil and Japan, it's not as common to see an Argentine director import a Taiwanese lead to Brazil. It makes for a novel setup, though the film is a relatively basic arthouse drama, meaning the pacing is slow and the characters somewhat lethargic.

I'm not entirely sure why they made this film about SARS instead of COVID, though the result is pretty much the same. This Taiwanese hospital thriller is pretty decent, better than its Chinese competitor, but it's not the most original film and there's a bit too much melodrama at the end.

Another summery fantasy anime. For years, Japanese animation companies have tried to replicate the success of Ghibli (originally) and Shinkai (once Ghibli dropped their output). With little success. Films like My Oni Girl are nice enough, but they're also quite generic and predictable, lacking the magic that makes their role models so popular.

A perfectly decent space horror. Which is fine I guess, as I like this genre. But once again it doesn't do justice to the creature Giger created, and that's a big disappointment. Not that I expected to be blown away by Romulus, its marketing strategy was centered around oldskool effects and nods to the original, but Alvarez could have done a lot more.

A rather generic 70s action movie. Fonda steals some money, and a naive girl tags along. Cue a bunch of police chases as they try to escape. It's a simple setup and a movie like this doesn't need much more, the problem is that the action is rather slim and the film spends way too much time with the main characters, who are kind of annoying.

I'm not entirely sure why they made a sequel, but apparently, the time was right to make another tornado chaser flick. The original film was pretty decent, sadly this one loses track of the main focus more than once. There's too much drama and marginal nonsense to call this a fun blockbuster.

Yes, there is such a thing as a Russian comedy. You don't see them very often, especially not when focusing on internationally renowned Russian cinema, but when filtering out local favorites, they're not unheard of. There's a good reason why they never traveled far though, they're not very funny.

The story sounds pretty animated, but don't be fooled. This is a slow and brooding arthouse film. While there are some notable scenes, violence, and sex aren't shunned here, this isn't a film for people looking to have a good bit of genre fun. It's exactly that combo of genre and arthouse that makes the film interesting though.

At first, I was a tad surprised to see a US director making a movie in France, but it didn't take long before I caught on. There's satire, and then there are films like Mr. Freedom. There's not an ounce of subtlety to be found here, the film is scathing and ridiculous, but also tons of fun.

Few foreign directors do well on their travels to Japan, but the reverse isn't always that much better. Tsutsumi's Collage of Our Life is a pleasant exception, though the film isn't quite as impressive as I remembered it to be. The depiction of the US in particular is a bit bland and uninspired.

While the plot sounds quite heavy, this is actually one of Fellini's lighter dramas. It's sometimes referenced as comedy, but that's taking things one step too far. It's a story about five guys who prefer to remain adolescents rather than become true adults, goofing around their old hometown.

A pretty special Hiroki, if only because he isn't known for directing romantic comedies. Mind you, this isn't a typical romcom. Hiroki's taste for kinky and somewhat taboo subjects is woven into the story, with strong BDSM elements turning this into a very different, although still prim and proper, romantic comedy.

As long as Herman Yau is around, Hong Kong cinema won't die. The man is truly unstoppable, with multiple films slated for 2024. Crisis Negotiators is one of them, and while not the most memorable Hong Kong police procedural, it's a decent enough film that references the heydays of Hong Kong crime cinema.

Another Detective Dee film. He's a perfect character for the Chinese streamers, he's well-known and they can churn out multiple movies per year if needed. Just give the man a new case and build a simple movie around that. And that is exactly what they are doing. It's amusing, but also a little lazy.

The Deadpool films are some of the better MCU productions, this third one keeps its reputation going. They're still not as mad/crazy/surprising as I'd like them to be, despite some well-intentioned attempts these are still very much Hollywood films, but they sure are a lot funnier than most of the other MCU films (the latter Thor films excluded).

Another strong outing from Michihito Fujii. Regardless of what genre he tackles, he seems capable of putting out quality films. Hard Days is a black comedy embedded within a crime story. It reminded me a little of U Turn, another one of those films where someone's day gets increasingly worse. Solid performances, clean cinematography, proper pacing, and several fun twists kept me engaged throughout. The occasional smirk was the icing on the cake.