saturday film challenge 2024

very simple but somewhat charming scifi.
horror and scifi always show societal scares of its times, it's no different this time, lingering thoughts of WWII that just happened and cold war are very present.

i wish more film-makers would use practical effects again, they are charming in a way no VFX can do it.

well it was predominately slice of life story (and i came for chill vibes, mind that) about mentally disabled brother and his sister, but then by the end it turned into SA story line that got brushed off so quickly. also i know it's film from almost 30 years ago and from japan but it will *always* irk me the wrong way treating women as the one who has to take care of her brother (mind you there is whole other sibling in the story that all he does is study for collage entrance exam)

it's really nicely done by technical standards so majority of my rating goes for that and if it weren't for SA brushed off like it's nothing i would right it higher

how do you move on from some one who isn't dead but isn't alive either? village life moves on but he still lays in bed, sleeping.

film falls into the category of slow cinema, which i *love* very much, it relaxes me (even if im watching the most miserable story ever told aka an elephant sitting still), gives me artistic merit and celebrates the everyday life.
about half a year ago i watched director's later film (the buried forest (2005)), which i absolutely adored and im glad this one did not disappoint me.

Another film from my beloved taiwanese new wave! we follow the chinese family who moved to taiwan in the 40s in prospect of better life. the story mainly focuses on Hsiao who quickly adapts to taiwanese life amongst his peers.
the film is directed and shot beautifully. you can feel the warm taiwanese weather through the screen. the only downside is that sometime in the second half it felt a bit dragish but over all it was an amazing experience, one of the better TNW films i watched so far.

either way, the short conclusion, this was so so mid... It does look good, i give them that but overall whole movie felt like checking off tropes that many viewers are fond of: found family, funny side character, good but evil mega corp and so on. and on top of that all of the characters felt flat, god forbid have more than one personality trait.

i did watch the film on saturday as i usually do but i swear to god i can't say anything about this one aside from giving it a thumbs up. maybe it wasn't a good day to watch it maybe something else

it was really cute film, filled with childlike wonder and questions. despite clearly low budget the director managed to pull out a really good tv film.

What there is to do in small town? With no perspectives for future group of young adults, just drinks and get into fights. Some day they decide to go to big city in search for job.

In some way you can call it coming of age story, with no meaningful sentence or thought to grab on. Boys go to the city with little to no direction how to deal with city life or adulthood, they got no one to direct them despite parents and older siblings.
through long and static shots, Hou Hsiao Hsien beautifully captures how big city can feel lonely and intimidating for people who grew up in countryside.

I didn't write a post because i was *confused* by this film so so much. It's on crack, it's so normal, it's wild, it's calm.
High school science teacher decides to DIY a atomic bomb at his flat. Why? I don't know. I never found out why. I guess he just got bored. Generally it's very 70s when it comes to type of filming and quality. I watched it with my friend (who mind you is not exactly into those (weird-ish) films that i am) and all she could say is "kino where the fuck did you find it" because im sure she was more baffled than i was. (to anyone wondering im not exactly sure where i found it aside from some letterboxd list).
but hey, i don't think i will see a guy cuddling to sleep with his atomic bomb ever again, so there is that.

official rating is ???/10 but on paper it's 8/10⭐ because i can't type ??? into rating

I went into this film very much aware of its quality, b tier slasher horror with a spice of some bls (very little bl in this bl i gotta say, expected more). it's cliche all over but i got some laughs out of me. i would only recommed it if you fave some friends (extra step is to get drunk if you drink) and have a laugh at how bad basically everything is.
half of the budget went for buckets of blood i think.

i feel like there is no way i can explain this one without sounding insane. it's musical, it's dark comedy, it's live action - animation mix, it's truly something. not that i hated it. i loved it!

Being driven by promises of big city and hopes of breaking generational poverty A-yuan and A-yun move to Taipei for work. throughout out the years they face hardships, they come and go like typhoons and the aftermath is predictable.
At this point i watched quite a few of Hou Hsiao Hsien films and i think this one is one of my favourites so far. by '86 the characteristics of Taiwanese new wave had developed, so shot and composition are top notch. the story is simple (but just many other slow cinema and TNW films). it's simple and impactful.

many of you may not know the director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, but I see his name quite often. especially when it comes to thai new wave. However it's not my first film from him (love you forever Iron Pussy), but it is my first full length ""serious"" work.

Story follows two doctors, in rural and later urban hospital, we see them talk to patients, walk troughs halls and kind of fall in love. I say kind of because it's not a romance film per say. It's more of set of postcards from their life. We as a viewer are put in their lives, standing in the office, waiting for our turn or seeing them have awkward conversation in the hospital garden.

i will be fascinated with asian slow cinema for long long time. they are like a celebration of everyday life, finding beauty in ugly and mundane.

only reason i had my mouth closed was because as usual i ended up sitting like a little shrimp and propping my head with knees or hands. everything just happens, no one bats an eye on it. rain with helmets? totally understandable, it happens. talking teddy bear with toxic relationship with his owner? yea sure, and yet. it was very endearing romcom. all of those BLs can only wish to be so weird and unforgetful.

Krabi is a province in southern Thailand, with a lot of focus on tourism, this film is a fictionalized document. We get snippets of life as a local there, as a film crew, as a actor working there for a moment and in the background we see the tourism.
The film is slow but in a good way, we get to see beautiful long shots of krabi, the beaches, towns and nature. it let's you breath in and in some way meditate. (im assuming) film was filmed with analog film camera, hence the "retro" look and specific grain and dirts. it just feels like a warm hug with kiss on forehead.

it probably won't be for everyone, it's slow and surreal at moments, but what a lovely film.

short review, it's what the tittle says. it's about work on grass. and it's very homoerotic.

a bit longer review, really interesting short film, quite minimal in it's presentation. in between the grass we get  talks about life, watching the characters cooperate with each other (that later turns gay, don't forget that) and despite all of those mower engine noises weirdly calming film.

to put it simply i wasn't in the mood to watch such film, i ended up being annoyed because of some private issues and i didn't exactly pay attention to the film.
it's not inherently bad, the topic that the film discuss is interesting and it hits you a bit, but once again i wasn't in the mood.
The film follows Xiao Wu, the titular pickpocket who stayed behind in his life, still stealing wallets and other small stuff when his friends started businesses, got married and moved on with their lives.
It's quite a intimate film, (or quite literally, i did not expect full nudity that happened in bathhouse scene, in my chinese film??) because of camera work, visibly handheld in some scenes, it gave the feeling of home-videos, intimacy if you will.
also a lot of cigarettes, i could suggest a drinking game but it would probably end up deadly.

I mainly watched this one as a part of Japanese Cyberpunk wave. It's clearly low budget and unaware what's to come (i mean the whole boom on cyberpunk as a whole in the 80s and 90s) but it's quite charming and very weird. Just don't ask too much questions.

It was one of those days that i kind of felt lonely so i asked if any one wants to watch film with me on server and we did! (thank you @Thyella  @Misunderst0_od  and @Amarina )
I don't often watch black and white films, because well i prefer films from 80s-00s and BnW are usually from way before that time period, some times there is a art house film that does BnW (Labyrinth of Dreams (1997) for example) but I do love good BnW art house(-ish) films, and this one is one of them.
This one is set as a comedy but that doesn't mean it can't be haunting with its social commentary.  Just something about never ending poverty of low class, while the top lavishes in social life.

Daydreaming teen wants to save a kidnapped kid but also gets kidnapped and the exams are in few weeks!
Cute little coming of age comedy, with rather ridiculous set up at its core. It's was such a charming and heart-warming film. I really don't have much to say lmao, just watch it if you want feel some warmth in your life.  

This one was truly coming of age story. Young girl tries to navigate her life in the middle of her parents separating and on brink of divorce.
Directing snd cinematography are top notch. Scene with dad and plush giraffe is done with such hunting way in context of the whole relationship, one of the better scenes i saw in recent weeks.
Deffo a forgotten gem.

In my journey to discover more art house and in this case thai new wave i stumbled upon this film. Based of 410 tweets of anonymous girl MiH tells a witty story of Mary on last her stretch to graduate high school. Everything happens to her, from funny to sad and emotional.
It's kind of weird for an average watcher but charming regardless. Good start if someone is just starting with art house/non mainstream films :p
Not my favorite but i really enjoyed it regardless

Honestly, i don't have a lot of to say about this one :') it's was properly done, nothing over the top film. It has that japanese town in winter charm to it but overall there isn't anything very wrong or very good about it. Just a nice film if you need a pass time and not pull your brain muscles too much.

the fisherman finds a hurt man in between roots of mangrove trees. he takes him home and despite of low income welcomes him to his life. the man does not speak a word, no name, no origin story. the fisherman still cares for him. But after the accident at the sea the man takes over his life.

Manta Ray is dedicated to  Rohingya people, and under dream like sequences, colourful lights and gem-searching, it's about the thousands of deaths of Rohingya refugees. We don't know what the fisherman does to earn his living in between fishing. is it the guilt that makes him care for the man?

At it's core, the film is cat mouse chase but it's filled with japanese silliness and 90s j-rock (amazing ost btw). Honestly i kind of thought it will be something different but i enjoyed it nevertheless. and im happy my fellow WPers enjoyed as well :)

recommended by @mengosteen ❤️
you know, i don't think im often very confused by films. i somehow am able to accept anything at face value when im watching dramas and films, especially those weird ones that no one wants to love, which is both a good thing and a bad thing (i rarely notice plot holes...) but i was confused by this one, not in like negative sense? now that a week has passed i can appreciate this film that doesn't make much sense when you are watching it.
it's just confusing as your 20s are. some will be just laying on couch watching the life around pass them. some will choke up on adult freedom and won't know how to get home.

on contrary to my fellow WPers im in love with slow cinema and "no plot" films so it was absolutely for me. eternity follows the idea, that's prominent in asian culture, that time is not a flat line but a circle. there is no beginning nor there is end. after we die we come back to earth as something else.
we follow wit through various stages in life. even when he is no longer on earth life moves on. maybe he is the wind or a flower.
i think i mentioned it few time already with slow cinema films, but for me it's a form of meditating. long and static shots and focus on sounds of life (wind, nature, some meaningless chatter and so on) are extremely relaxing and comforting to me. even if you end up going somewhere else with you thoughts. embrace them and appreciate them (unless they are evil thoughts about yourself told by evil monkey lol).

dropped

group of teenagers are stuck at school during typhoon, no one seems to take interest in their absence at home nor does the teacher whom they call. at this sudden freedom teens find themselves doing whatever they want.  it's not coming of age film, they don't want to grow up nor do they care about much. film is filed with nihilism, as if the teens feel it subconsciously that in few years the economic bubble will pop and they will the adults who are supposed to deal with it.

Im so sorry @mengosteen i don't remember much, i enjoyed it over all but i should have watched it when my focus wasn't running wild, altho on positive side of things  i came up with how to continue my art project in new semester.

watched it with dad, he is big sci fi nerd and this is one of the few stuff i can watch with him because it has polish subs available. i think he enjoyed it, he asked is there is part 2 and now i gotta find it for him ?
generally i think i would enjoy it more back when i was a teen and i cared about mcu. it felt like baby's first wuxia but on crack. but also it was nice to see so many familiar faces from k-industry.

skipped the review but i recommend

the irony of opening card lol. for someone who is that person who watches pretensious films i don't have many films of Bong Joon Ho watched. I did watch okja when i think about it but it was in highschool and in english (language) class and i was watching it against my will so i don't count it.
either way i do think this short is really interesting one, it's always the old cis males that have the most to say about the issues that doesn't directly involve them.

that sure was something. honestly i wasn't interested that much but i did like the cinematography. it used almost only sliding shots, which i don't think is used that often in films and especially in dramas.