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Probably wouldn’t recommend this to 90% of my fans (pals) but I loved this! (I’m not like other girls) (this is literally a 4.4 average rating film Brenton get over yourself) (woah inner dialogue - Persona moment!?!?)

Very confusing but so ridiculously dense and captivating in a way that is hard to describe. I think I’m finally rating a film highly because of vibes (will bro finally enjoy a Wong Kar-wai film next!?) - but also because the vibes resonated so strongly. Discourse surrounding authenticity and masks especially felt very real. Is it better to take drastic measures to not weave dishonesty through our actions? Do we have agency in forging our own identity? This film feels like a rich tapestry of questions themselves rather than answers, the very queries being put forward by the film unique to each viewer. Questions such as these evade clear answers, the film faithful to this by offering only vague ambiguity in response, inviting us to simply sit with these thoughts its runtime and feel as though an almost ungraspable truth is out there somewhere.

Whiplash but make it cute

Weirdly strikes a dissonant tension by attempting to critique glamour while communicating through a very glamourised medium. The bright, poppy soundtrack, lighthearted and theatrical tone and nice neat ending that tied it all up with a big bow seemed to undercut the potential of this film for impact when it comes to genuinely critiquing corporate toxicity. There’s a level of irony in that a film that seeks to expose the dark side of an entertainment industry of sorts makes that its secondary focus, after its primary one of entertaining. 

That said, I thought this was still very fun - there’s a lot of charm and that’s epic I reckon. Anne Hathaway slayed so hard and Nate was so fine, what was Andy even thinking!? I also liked the guy from Conclave - he’s just been straight aura-farming with his fits in both films I’ve seen him in now. Good for you, Stanley 🤗

Lee Chang-dong might just be my favourite, and imo most talented, director when it comes to how he uses the medium of film to tell stories. Everything feels so raw and realist in Poetry (I can’t really what Burning was like other than that it was epic). Very little is said explicitly, yet such an abundance of emotional weight and social commentary is right there in your face.

It took me a while to wrap my head around what the film is all saying - I think because it doesn’t have a singular core message or moral truth. Rather, Lee seems to be happy to simply paint an incredibly rich picture of Mi-ja’s life and allow the thematic and moral wealth to shine through that. While I think I would typically criticise a film for doing this, calling it unfocused or lacking in depth, Lee is simply so damn good at that he does that it works almost flawlessly. Depth is unreservedly present - it’s impressive how much is packed into this film, not a moment feels wasted. Lee’s utilisation of the realist lens (even when portraying an event that is quite dramatic rather than quotidian) s this vision. Life resists singular focus, and so life - although focused through the perspective of a silenced, deserted and aged (sexagenarian even) Korean woman in this case - is presented in all its intricacy in a way that feels honest and real to the complex nature of itself.

Went absolutely ballistic when they did Jordan’s signature shimmy 🔥🐐

Really, really great stuff. Watching this with students made me gain an even greater appreciation for the film and how wide its range is with respect to audience. The hardest part was when I had to try stop myself from crying at the end so I could keep teaching after.

Happiest married couple in Brit*in

Guys I think I’ll watch this again one day and write a review then because I watched this in two sittings and I think that made me lose some of its magic 😕

“What if humans are the real monsters” ahh movie 😭🙏
So many girl-bosses in this, it felt like the OG Barbie Land 
Also kinda wild that bro decided to give away the gift from his fine shyt back home to the first shawty he catches feelings for and just forgets about his village 😭

Freaky-ahh cat bus bruh 😭🙏😛

Me after finding out that everyone thinks I bring the same vibe to the function as Mr Collins and not Mr Darcy 😦

I thought this was cool, I liked the pink prison uniforms, but the adults acting exaggeratedly and lowkey like kids did feel a little uncanny. I think it could have benefitted from a sliver of more camp. Anyway, I loved the messages in this - very wholesome, very British, very cool!

Gorgeous, gorgeous film and a very controlled and understated articulation of a child’s grief and emotional processing. I think a little too controlled for me - I struggled to feel much but maybe that’s because of all the walls I’ve put up around my emotions to be closed off to the world 💔🥀🐺

Shockingly felt like this lacked emotional impact given how many dogs there were…

I’m never beating the professional hater allegations 😔

I would also like to have a word with whoever thought it would be funny to publish a film with the most egregiously mixed dialogue imaginable without subtitles 😁

Can’t help but feel like I somehow watched a different film from everyone else! I thought the soundtrack and the vibe were cool but that’s about it. To me the film felt like it was trying so hard to convince the viewer that a perfectly ordinary, if not a little lacklustre, romance was exceptional. None of the characters felt that endearing either, especially when the lead acted kinda r*pey near the start 😦

I’m gonna be so honest I thought this was straight buns. I definitely completely missed the whole point of this but I was so bored and kept wishing it would finish but then the people just kept talking. I wanted to go home, it felt like I was in jail ☹️

So beautiful! This film does such a good job of painting the tension between contentment and yearning for connection - portraying the joy of a positive outlook on even the most quotidian. Even with old scars, difficulties and conflicted emotions, there is always a new day tomorrow :)

That awkward moment when you accidentally swallow your child whole to stop him from moving out with his fiancée

Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow! Meow meow, meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow. Meow meow meow - meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow. Meow, meow meow, meow meow meow meow!

Meow meow, meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow. Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow meow meow. Meow! Meow meow, meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow meow. Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow. 

Meow, meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow - meow meow meow meow meow meow! Meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow. Meow, meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow.
Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow. Meow, meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow, meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow!

Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow? Meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow - meow meow meow meow meow! Meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow meow meow, meow meow. Meow meow - meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow.

Meow, meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow - meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow. Meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow, meow meow. Meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow, meow meow meow. Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow. Meow, meow meow meow meow. 

Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow meow meow. Meow meow. Meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow meow meow!

A film that is both hard to watch and hard to rate! This take on depression is unapologetically honest and I guess a little refreshing. If I could be as unapologetically honest, the ending annoyed me a little. I was expecting more character development, especially since Pansy started exhibiting signs of change. Maybe this is the point of the film, and the hard truth that the audience must accept - that mental illness does not fix itself in a heartwarming, story-arc-like way and that its roots are so deep-set in, and suffuse, each victim’s family and context.

As a big fan of the Bong (I’ve seen Parasite) I can only say this was a bit of a disappointment! What was conceptually interesting - philosophy of identity and capitalism’s relationship with the value of life - felt briefly introduced and then sidelined; what occupied the forefront of this film felt grossly surface level and tokenistic. Bong’s attempt to satirise the far right was executed to such poor and cringe-worthy effect that it inadvertently caricatured the left and deeply minimised any real message to extract! 

Some of the writing and line delivery was straight-up horrible, sounding more like a poor dub than anything else - most egregious of which was Pattinson’s inner dialogue. Bong’s lack of nuance was also quite dangerous in some cases, especially in his portrayal of Christianity, making it extremely unclear whether all Christianity should be criticised or only those who abuse it; we simply need more finesse than slapping a half-baked representation on the counter and calling it a day when approaching conversations such as these! Also the final act was literally just Nausicaa? Hello?

Weirdly, I still had some fun with this; I didn’t ever really feel bored or like I was waiting for the film to conclude - maybe since I came in with quite tempered expectations.

I had more fun than I’d care to it with this! It feels like it falls prey to another case of substance falling by the way to make room Nolan’s love for novel gimmicks. The ending felt somewhat cheap with little to no payoff other than “woahh how crazy 🤪” BUT I would say it was an enjoyable ride regardless!

A pretty great film that doesn’t do much wrong tbh!
Some parts that I really enjoyed:
- The opening sequence which felt like such a beautiful celebration of Brazilian culture! It was striking how the freedom of this culture was suppressed once the military regime started making moves
- The scene when the Paiva family got ice-cream
- The idea of the end of a story (death) bringing happiness through closure even if the end itself is sad
- Eunice barely looking a year older after a 25 year time-skip.

- I’d pay a rather large sum of money to see this with an anime dub
- The old samurai boss kinda looks like Morgan freeman

That’s it, no other thoughts

What is family?? I loved the contrast between the opening and closing of this film - from Osamu complaining about the snowy cold and quickly seeking escape to eagerly enduring it so he can build a snowman with Shota.
The way Kore-eda paints broken characters as capable of being a positive force in the world without sympathising with them to the point of excusing their unethical actions is impressive. I liked the tension this film generated between what is lawful and what is right, questioning whether legality and morality always align.

I was so hungry during this 😫 I ate a big 🚛 popcorn 🍿 all by myself and I was still hungry. I tried to offer some to Rachel and Aron but they weren’t 🙂‍↔️ hungry for popcorn so I ate it all myself 🫃. Now I’m home and I have dolloped a generous serving of mum’s Mexican 🇲🇽 rice 🍚 mix with cheese 🧀 and sour cream up for myself and it tastes delish 😋. I scoop I bit up on a corn  🌽 chip and then I eat it and I will repeat this until the food is all gone off my plate 🍽️ or until mum tells me to stop ✋ using the chips because I think she needs some for tomorrow too so I might need to use cutlery 🍴 for a bit.

I was so confused why bro was wearing a hat in the plane the whole time because it wasn’t sunny in the plane because the plane had a roof but then [the thing that happened in the end happened] and it was really bright and I thought oh good thing he had his hat!

Accidentally watched the dub and next thing we knew Ron Swanson showed up

The way Glazer shoots this film is so controlled and restricted, yet the horrors of Auschwitz permeate the margins of both the visual and audible domains to such great extent that they occupy the forefront of the work holistically. It feels like such beautifully haunting cinematographic poetry for how the hell that the Höss family strive so hard to be blind to inexorably suffuses their physical, emotional and mental existences. A flawless film imo!

Healthy masculinity portrayed, hardcore thugs telling their friends that they love them, grown men finding self expression through art and prisoners destigmatised and depicted exhibiting humanity and creativity - what’s not to love!?

Watched the last half hour of this at a party

So much to unpack here

👍/10

When the end credits began to roll a girl behind us (rather loudly) said to her buddies “so basically religion sucks” which made me sad bc that is not at all the point of this and idk how she got that from this… I felt like this film actually was very intentional about separating its critique of the Roman Catholic Church from its critique of God or faith, which was pretty epic!

But anyway this was pretty cool! This film kinda auramaxxed with all the epic RC artwork, architecture and costumes, it kinda filled me with the masculine urge to dress in RC Cardinal drip for the rest of my life. The soundtrack was also made me transcend. Another thing I really liked was how it both represented the grandiosity of the RC church but also its human aspect/imperfections like when it shows the nuns getting all the stuff ready or the shot of cigarette butts on the ground.

The film sometimes felt a little bit unfocused though tbh, like it was happy to criticise far right views (so valid) yet didn’t really give a strong answer as what the ‘correct’ views were, almost as if it was afraid to commit to anything beyond a vague “ahhhh we should all love each other” (also valid). Even though it seemed to loosely position the liberal Catholics as the good guys (less valid) it didn’t really explore their views, almost as if it was pretending to be apolitical while taking a quick cheeky shot at right-wing extremism (still lowkey valid). Also a little confusing what its final take was on the RC church? It seems like it was trying to be nuanced and expose some bad people while not saying they are representative of the entire church, but I think it got a little too silly to the point where it was all nuance and no actual point! Maybe that Cardinals are greedy and corrupt, but in their final vote with who they elect as Pope (I’m dodging spoilers out here) they don’t really seem that way?? Odd.

Anyway they kinda spat some fire still, I liked what Thomas cooked up in his speech (although idk about the ‘sin’ of certainty) and also Benitez cooked too. Kinda a based depiction of Christianity, since it sets itself as separate from the bad things that the Cardinals did. Pretty epic!

What even is this film about? 
Modern and postmodern films (I pretend to know the difference) are quickly becoming an almost unparalleled favourite of mine when it comes to cinema. Works like Lee’s Burning (2018) - my first real introduction to postmodern cinema - and Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (2023) - even if it isn’t strictly modern or postmodern - have become something of obsessions due to the space that these films open up for audience interpretation. Angel’s Egg has become the latest addition to this treasured collection of films, leaving me nonplussed at the roll of end credits as to the film’s purpose. Thanks to a lack brain cells, I decided to read other people’s thoughts and ideas instead of applying myself with any real rigour, yet through this abdication managed to inadvertently formulate judgements which felt personal and authentic.

Without spoiling too much, Angel’s Egg depicting a tale of lost and weak, blind faith seems to be the dominant reading. There’s a lot of reasons to see this reading a valid, mainly when considering the ubiquitous prevalence of religious imagery in this film - a man carrying a cross with bandaged hands, fish and fisherman and even an augmented quotation of scripture.
The girl in white’s actions seem to form the basis of a scathing critique of kinds towards religion, if not explicitly Christianity. She repeats mundane, meaningless actions, driven by a kind of faith. She criticises other people’s actions and beliefs - i.e. the men hunting the fish shadows, while refusing to listen to the dismissive voice (of reason maybe) of her male, cross-bearing companion. When her faith is ultimately proven to be false and empty, she either kills herself, or a part of her dies and she evolves into a greater version of herself.

This left me feeling frustrated; not only does this reading (and perhaps the film itself) fundamentally repudiate my personal Christian convictions, it grossly misrepresents Christianity. The reported narrative that Oshii lost his Christian faith prior to creating Angle’s Egg exacerbated this frustration, even if in this accepted effect I sacrilegiously transgressed my strong allegiance to ‘death of the author’. From one angle, Angle’s Egg might seem to purport that Christianity is empty and that those who believe it are blinded by false faith. They vainly trust that something which has never existed will come and deliver them. They cultivate this faith through delusion, seeing and hearing things that are not really there. They hypocritically scorn others’ religions as meaningless while refusing to accept that their’s is congruent on this count. 

Yet the more I considered Angel’s Egg, the more I realised inconsistencies and nuance within this reading. Although some sources claim that this film was built upon the experience of Oshii’s loss of faith, others contend that he has gone on record denying this, instead inserting Christian imagery and Bible verses because he thought they were cool and had a friend who was Christian. Furthermore, others still profess that Oshii has declared that he doesn’t really know what the film is about himself. All this seems a great reason to recommit myself to the discipline of ‘death of the author’ even if it is just to rescue myself from the need to fact check and research any further.

Even constrained to the commentary of the text itself, its ambiguity persists. If the girl in white is representative of Christianity, why is she criticising the men chasing fish - which could also be seen as Christian iconography? Why is the man who exposes the girls blind faith bearing a cross? These inconsistencies do not completely subvert the dominant reading of this film, rather they display that Christian iconography does not necessarily equate to Christian representation.

Nevertheless, we cannot completely eliminate Christianity from the discussion. Christianity remains as a crucial focus simply due to the extent to which Christian symbols permeate the film. Additionally, the male lead’s short monologue inverting the scriptural tale of the great flood would suggest that the force destroying immature faith is not a proponent of Christianity. It would be hard to argue that, to some extent, this film does not concern itself with some notion of weak, blind Christian faith that holds no substance. Yet it would be equally hard to argue that the extent of this concern is absolute to the point that the film is devaluing all Christian faith as empty and pointless. Ultimately, while the girl’s egg proved trivial in the end, at least one other egg in the world of Oshii’s film did contain a creature. Perhaps Angel’s Egg explores the experience of one losing their faith while acknowledging that the faith depicted in this tale is a vain imitation of what it could or even should be. Additionally, the sheer amount of ambiguity allows for a multiplicity of readings both more and less favourable to the Christian faith - one example being that the man bearing a cross symbolises Christ exposing an immature faith to believers to free them from perfunctory rituals and awaken them to a faith that is mature and meaningful. 

I loved this film (if you can’t tell already) and its ambiguity and symbolic richness left me enraptured. There were dimensions of the text which felt less intentional than films like Burning and The Zone of Interest; I’m still unsure if that’s because they were or simply because I don’t have a reading of the film that is adequately holistic. Why did the eggs form from the final breath of the girl when she dives underwater? What is the symbolism in the water/flood at the end? What is the big spaceship thing and why is there a statue of the girl on it when it leaves the world? Maybe there is no answer, maybe the answer is whatever you choose, or maybe I just need to read more blog posts about this film and watch it again.

This was a super fun movie! Kinda gave knives out vibes for me but maybe I’m crazy (haha get it?) (I was crazy once).
This could have been so utterly harrowing with a more raw directorial style and a less theatrical soundtrack (bro is NOT a director), but also I’m not complaining that Scorsese decided to take it in the direction he did.
Is it packed full of substance and depth? Not really. Is it still thoroughly enjoyable? Absolutely ☝️🤓 (bro is NOT a film critic!)

Also this is probably the last time we will be watching a film at Kenton’s, let that sink in………..

The animation of this kinda reminded me of Archer, which isn’t necessarily something I would do (bro is NOT a director!) and I think this is what made Rachel so sad and cry. I was kinda cold too, which was nice and immersive because there was snow in the film, but I used my pillow as a blanket (me at the sleepover when bro forgets to give a blanket). Anyway this was kinda cool, it had some real charming moments and then completely went off the rails (haha get it guys?) and turned into a holocaust movie, which felt quite extreme but they kinda pulled it off!

I’m feel like I’m Shizuku but instead of writing a story it’s scrolling instagram reels

How did they get all this footage of me on prac? Haha just a joke obviously, I wasn’t alive in 1989 👍

I’d be so cooked without other people’s analyses

“No sung-through musical will ever make me resonate with it on a deep level”

Hamilton:

“Corruption’s such an old song that we can sing along in harmony
And nowhere is it stronger than in Albany”

😮

Captain von Trapp looked lonely so Ana de Armas fixed that and James Bond is American.

This is cinema

I liked this a lot, even if it is pretty crass, at least in the first act (arghhhhhh swear words 😾👎). It’s a pretty flawless encapsulation of the early teenage years tbh, really honestly and successfully capturing the loneliness, bitterness towards parents and siblings and struggle to grasp self-confidence that is such a staple to so many teenage experiences. 

I liked seeing the relationships between Didi and his family develop. I thought it was especially cool how the film foregrounds his relationship with his mother without giving it much screen time (don’t ask me how that one works, folks 😃). Didi was pretty frustrating at times and didn’t seem to learn much from his other relationships with people, but I guess that’s not entirely inaccurate of a young teenager - kinda just letting relationships fail and only (maybe) reconciling them later in life.

The ending was pretty perfect ngl! Very lovely and beautiful 👍

Biblically accurate depiction of humanity

Bro looks comfy as hell first thing I would’ve done is probably have a nap too

Lots of (messed up) sex, pretty over-sensationalised and realistically doesn't really say much by way of commentary, but apart from that it’s pretty good!

How in the world is this only 58 minutes and how did they fit so much in?!

“It's just that you make my life so much bigger and I’m wondering if I do the same thing for you.”

Hard to believe this is a directorial debut even just from how stunningly shot it is! This felt so raw, personal and relatable that sometimes it seemed like Song somehow had access to my inner thoughts and feelings while making this film. I will say though, exploring all that the film did with a husband just chilling and kinda sidelined did feel a little odd - and the dynamic he brings to the relationships felt somewhat ignored. It made me just sympathise with Arthur more than anyone else tbh!

This was so beautiful! Seeing it on the big screen was stunning and I’m so grateful I had this opportunity. I liked the Inception reference too.

I enjoyed this! I think is largely thanks to the third act, which kinda carried for me tbh. Even though it’s clearly really well made from opening shot to close, much of the film felt quite distant. I struggled to connect with the characters and the relationships kinda just seemed to change without much real reason why (Hunter’s approach to his father, Travis opening up to people etc.). It felt like stuff was just happening without the film being that interested in looking at the cause of these changes.

That said, some great moments too! The final conversation between Travis and Jane was really powerful, as was the moment where Travis and Hunter saw each other for the first time in LA. The ending was cool; I like how it was kinda like Drive (2011). Also Jane can fix me.

I LOVE this, and the more I think about it the more I appreciate it. Bar a few gross moments (you’ve been warned), this was a really cool film!

It feels very vague (post-modernism moment!?), but I think it works well since there’s so much depth to construct meaning with. In this sense the film does feel very modern/postmodern (what is even the difference?!) in that meaning is something made by the audience through the film - which, for me, worked incredibly well in this case!
This being such subjective cinema opens the door for really nuanced readings on different issues like misogyny, class disparity and fragile/toxic masculinity.
Reading analyses and contemplating only makes me enjoy this more!

Really wanted to love this film! There’s so much that’s great about it, from a really nuanced and honest commentary on alcohol and alcoholism, mental health and self-doubt to a beautiful depiction of the relationship between teachers and students. There’s a scene where Martin is about to leave a drinking session and go home instead, the atmosphere is tense but as he starts to drink, the mood lifts and the tension dissipates - this film doesn’t just make you view the characters as delusional, it positions you to experience their delusion for yourself!

One of the strengths of Another Round is that it doesn’t shy away from the enticing aspect of alcohol. The drinking scenes are feel-good and amusing, yet it’s the contrast with the scenes of regret that deliver a more scathing appraisal of alcohol and its effects - much like an alcoholic’s actual relationship with the bottle!

I thought the ending was hugely disappointing - it made the entire film feel muddled and confused. It feels like it embraced the act of drinking directly after delivering a cautionary tale against it. I feel like the film had an amazing opportunity to deliver such a powerful message regarding alcohol dependency and flippantly discarded it. Given how the film embraces the highs of alcoholism as well as its lows, perhaps this is a super subtle scene which is supposed to be interpreted as horrible, but to be honest it feels like the film was more interested in communicating the banal and uninspiring message of “everything in moderation” after depicting how a kind of moderation led to extreme alcoholism and ruined life.

A technically cool and creative film that I unfortunately did not connect with in any meaningful way! The sequences right at the end (after the little plot twist) were the strong point of the film for me.
The brief examination of the value of memories, departure (from life or an extended endeavour) and joy found in a pursuit even when unsuccessful were beautiful, but they felt a little one dimensional (RIP Liam Payne ✊) and inserted in the film a little too late for anything to be done with them on a significant level.

1. Dune: Part Two
2. Look Back
3. Dìdi (弟弟)
4. The Fall Guy
5. How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
6. The Wild Robot
7. The Most Precious of Cargoes
8. Black Dog
9. Jellyfish
10. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Flow
2. Sing Sing
3. I'm Still Here
4. Conclave
5. Hard Truths
6. Mickey 17

Some of my favourite films that I (first-time) watched in 2024!
Not ranked

• My Neighbor Totoro
• Burning
• The Menu
• The Prince of Egypt
• Petite Maman
• Lars and the Real Girl
• There Will Be Blood
• Dune: Part Two
• The Zone of Interest