Mandy (2018) Review

Soaked in a pool of 80's atmospheric synth, Panos Cosmatos's Mandy is an awe-inspired genre bending horror that's not for the faint of heart. With it's over the top performance from Nicholas Cage, and it's unique directing style, it's easy to see why this film has gotten such a cult following in the festival circuit already. Mandy, is an intricate simple film, that relies more on aesthetic than an actual plot. Although, there is a semi-decent revenge plot in the mix, the film took a much more intriguing direction to it's material in a way that occasionally worked successfully.

Mandy is a film that's void of purpose. There isn't a single moment in the film, where we should care about the characters. However, this was never Panos's direction in the first place. You see, Mandy is an experimental film more than anything else. Similar to Nicholas Winding Refn's Divisive 2013 flick "Only God Forgives", both films used extreme usages of lighting and production design to tell a story. While Only God Forgives fails in developing tension, there's something so refreshing in Cosmato's direction, that makes Mandy special. The extreme close ups into the character's eyes and expressions, the brutal over the top violence, and the eargasmic score composed by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, are all factors that make Mandy a cinematic treasure. It's rare nowadays to see a film that takes so many interesting risks.

The only downside of Mandy is it's self. It's unfortunate to say, that although Mandy is a rare feat in modern cinema, my main problem was due to how full of itself the film was. It lacked self-awareness in several scenes. to the point where the whole product felt like a pretentious passion project.

Don't threat however. Mandy is still filled with great concepts here and there. It just needs a bit more work for it to be called great. I had a lot of fun with this film. It's a unique joyride of sorts that experiments with it's genre and aesthetic, which eventually goes a bit overboard. Plenty will enjoy this film, and as for now, I'm pleased with the final product.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda-Film Review

 Around two years ago, I needed to do some research on Ryuichi Sakamoto relating to a social justice issue for an English report. His work with environmental issue's and stability dumbfounded my personal beliefs. Sakamoto is a hero of sorts. He's a person that understands wide spread issue's across his community, and is one to be committed to a long term goal. He's a role model of sorts, who is deeply overshadowed by other environmental advisers such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore. I'm glad to say however, that Coda finally gives light to this wonderful role model, while thankfully,  never feeling over sentimental on the subject at hand.

Coda is a film that takes it's time. It develops tension and mystery in the most uncommon places, creating an atmosphere which feels intimate and personal. Seeing Sakamoto's creative process on film is simply astonishing, and the way which director Stephen Nomura Schible composed said sequences, feels like a perfectly executed masterclass. Coda is a film which understands it's subject, and instead of imitating countless other documentaries, it instead's creates it's own freelance format through the power of storytelling.

However, it's unfortunate to say, while Coda is frequently on tempo, and moves at a brisk speed, the overall focus feels way to off key. There's so much material in this film that makes the end product feel both overwhelming and unfocused. It's hard to pin point what this film is really about.

Is it about Sakamoto's Cancer Experience?
Is it about Sakamoto's Previous Work With Film?
Is it about Sakamoto's influences?
Is it about Sakamoto's new composition work?
Is it about Sakamoto's Environmental Activism?

Coda attempts to answer all these questions, but instead feels half-baked when the credit's role. The lack of focus makes the film feel a bit overwhelming and emotionally hollow by the time the credit's role. It's a real shame to. All this film needed was a bit of trimming, and we could have had a priceless documentary on our hands.

Coda is a pretty good effort from new-comer Stephen Nomura Schible. He understands the documentary medium and puts great admiration towards his subject's. Coda, while a bit out of tuned, still manages to impress and give tribute to one of  best composers living today. Sakamoto will never be forgotten, and his work will live on forever, no matter how obscure or random his sounds can be.

Rating: 7.5/10

Kusama Infinity (2018) Review

Kusama Infinity's inner spirit is simply like the artist that it's depicting. Fun, anarchist, and beautifully realized. Kusama Infinity is easily the best documentary I have seen this year so far, and not only does it detail the life journey of famed Japanese Rogue Artist Yayoi Kusama, it also depicts her life in a serious yet well maintained light atmosphere. With it's short run time of 76 minutes, Kusama Infinity doesn't have a single minute wasted. Not a single scene/segment was boring and I was always hooked to the images presented on screen. It's simply an enthralling look at one of the most under rated contemporary artists from the 20th century.

With this said, Kusama Infinity is not flawless. While it's execution was well done, there wasn't anything innovatively done to improve on the documentary genre. David Lynch: The Art Life, a film that was released last year, did a much better job depicting a real life figure in a very horror-esque way. With this film however, it feels by the numbers, similar to how I felt watching national geographic documentaries when I was in elementary school. While much better than said National Geographic Docs, Kusama Infinity still lacks. It needed a little push with it's artistic license. As well, there were several interviews throughout the film, that looks out dated. I'm fine if you're going to use previously recorded documentary footage from years previously. What I do have a problem with, is if the previously used footage is not used/executed in a proper manner. The simple solution to this problem? Just condense the footage. While this isn't much of a big complaint, it certainly took me out of the film experience.

Kusama Infinity is an enthralling look at a famed artist that does not drag on nor feel like a slog. Films like these need to be made more often. It's equal parts inspirational and motivating. A must watch for any wannabe artist who is intrigued in international contemporary art.

Rating:
7.5/10

Best F(r)iends (2018) Review

Best F(r)iends Volume 1 is definitely one of the more weird films to come out of 2018 so far. This cinematic reunion between cult film maker/performer Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero is an interesting one to say the least. Unlike there previous collaboration "The Room", Best F(r)iends is more of a low-key psychological thriller than a romantic drama. While Best F(r)iends does have it's moments, there's a certain un-compromising feeling I had watching the film. I didn't really know if the film was self aware or not. With something like The Room, you can tell that it was 100% trying to be serious. In this film, there were plenty of mistakes that may seem intentional, but due to the way said mistake is presented specifically, it's hard to tell if it was supposed to be intentionally hilarious or not. As for the film itself however, Best F(r)iends is slightly below average but still massively enjoyable feature.

As said before about the self-awareness aspect of the film, Best F(r)iends contains some of the most odd performances I have seen in a feature film from the last 5 years. It's as if these characters and actors came out of a 60's B-Movie like Manos Hands of Fate. In no way were the performances in this film as bad as the mentioned atrocity. It's just that their "unconventional" way of delivering lines was quite peculiar. Along side with the off-putting acting, there's plenty of directing mistakes such as weak lighting, un-appealing production/costume design, narrative inconsistencies, and unintentionally hilarious scene transitions.

Overall, I don't know how to really feel about Best F(r)iends Volume 1. I certainly had a good time. It's just that it's kind of hard to pin down if the film was trying to be intentionally hilarious. It's a bad film withing an unknown circle of not-confirmed self awareness. I might need to see this film again to get a better grasp and make a final decision, but I highly recommend this film to anybody who enjoyed The Room.

5/10

November (2018) Review

November was one odd ball hallucinogenic experience that I will never forget. This Estonian black and white feature film mixes classical black and white fantasy with a dash of horror. The final product of November is better described as one of the weirdest films I've ever witnessed. There's plenty of odd visuals throughout it's 115 minute run time. This includes the opening scene of the film, where a cursed object grab's a cow and starts flying in mid-air across a vast Estonian forest. If that doesn't sound strange to you, you ain't seen nothin yet. There's also ghosts, a scene where a group of people put their own pants on top of there heads, a scene where the protagonist meets a snowman who teaches him poetry, treasure hunts, suicidal sleepwalking, the devil himself, and even more extensive Estonian folklore elements.

At the start of film however, I began to hate on the it. I was utterly confused by the events taken place and why they were occurring. However, as I continued watching, I started getting comfortable with the universe of where the story was taken place. It's a universe that we have never seen before. A universe with a diverse mythical lore and symbolism. With this understanding in mind, November personally captivated me on what it was trying to say. The film itself is about the dangers of jealousy and romantic relationships. It's done in a very storybook like way.  However, the way the film executes said structure is wholly unique.

November is a film made up of two different things. The first are scenes related to a very linear story structure. The second are scenes related to a very non-linear story structure with plenty of visual metaphor's and different narrative devices (most of which take up nearly the entirety of the film.) This is what made November so special in my opinion. Of course, it's nowhere near perfect. The film is filled with a repetitive soundtrack, semi-decent performances, and a couple of scenes that do not have any emotional weight in which there symbolic reasoning does not aid the film. This is unfortunate due to the missed potential on what the film was trying to say.

November is most definitely not for everybody. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it and it's one fantasy horror that shouldn't be missed by any art house cinema fanatic. If you enjoy the animation work of Kaspar Jancis and Priit Tender, I would also highly implore you to see this film. It's strange. It's odd ball. It's simply the weirdest fever dream you will ever have while you're awake.

Rating:

6.5/10

Mom and Dad (2018) Review

The concept for the 2018 horror-comedy Mom And Dad is pretty good on paper. In fact, there was plenty of material to work with said premise, in which one can take different routes in mocking both  modern and old american suburbia.

However, what Mom and Dad ends up to be is a disjointed mess, filled with cringe worthy moments, that both don't succeed in creating a passable parody of the genre that it's attempting to mock, and/or to create a tension filled horror comedy. Brian Taylor has created a film that is so unfocused, that it doesn't even know what time era it should mock. The opening credit sequence of the film was clearly an homage to 70's action credit sequence. However, the rest of the film did not match with the tone of the opening credits, and instead, Brian Taylor, chose an abhorrent route of parody of mocking modern day poorly-directed action films. The thing is, who is he to judge when the only things that he has created and produced in the last 10 years has been trashy disposable action films (COUGH *Ghost Rider* COUGH)

Not only does Taylor not know how to parody a genre in which he has previous experience working with, he just doesn't know how to execute said parody. Two great examples on how to do parody right are Hot Fuzz and Nirvanna The Band The Show. Both of these pieces of entertainment not only excel at there craftsman ship, but with each parody or mock that they make throughout the run time, each mock has both a narrative and artistic purpose to further develop the style and narrative of there pieces. With Mom and Dad, each mock done in the film is just plain lazy and does not serve as something of artistic value.

As for the film itself, it's absolute shit. As stated before, each element of what I despise in the genre that Brian Taylor attempted to mock is in full force here with not a single restraint. Nothing is visually pleasing. The script is absolutely filled with un-needed bullshit. Nearly everything in this film is incompetent. The sound design, the way the film was edited. It's just plain lazy and dull. The only positive that I could find from this mess, was Nicholas Cage's typical over the top performance. But even in that regard, he was only in the film for around 30 minutes max, which was a big disappointment.

Mom and Dad is a film that nearly fails in all regards. It fails at mocking it's own genre, and fails at making a competent motion picture. Dispose of this film immediately.

Rating: 2.5/10

The Final Year (2018) Review

Greg Barker's The Final Year is an detailed and prolific journey filled with simplistic human actions. The Final Year is one of those rare documentaries that show the humanitarian side of the Human connection through political actions. Barker, in my opinion, did a fantastic job with each detail and edit throughout the film. Not to mention that the film itself is very well edited. More specifically, the opening introduction, which in my opinion, had a great aesthetically pleasing color pallet that matched the tone and emotional truth of the film perfectly.

The Final Year isn't perfect however. It's filled with plenty of scenes that just felt staged and unnatural for the environment that it was setting. Because of this, the pace of the film dragged on, and several moments throughout this motion picture could have been cut out. As well, the soundtrack for this documentary is nothing special. While it did fit with the tone of the film, it didn't really improve or add on to the thematic strength of it's pre-existing material.

The Final Year is a strong documentary with some big flaws. While it isn't one of the greatest docs I have seen in the last year, it's certainly worth your time, especially if your into politics with a 3 dimensional mind set.

Rating:
7/10