A no budget masterpiece; deliriously inventive, clever, profound and existential three hour film shot in a tiny, grassy patch. The closest comparison might to be Evangelion, the way big apocalyptic level events come to feel like personal reckonings against death and our place in the universe, but filtered through a Power Rangers fan film.
It is also constantly hilarious; zippy, sarcastic and dry yet each joke adds something to this too. The gag reel becoming a poignant moment at the…
Sometimes I feel like Nick is making movies just for me. Even in its unfinished state, The King of Darkness is a beguiling alienation artifact, a snapshot of the endless evil present tense captured in bloody amber.
The titular king is an amoral, image-obsessed, racist leech fuelled by insecurity, vanity and greed - an incisive stand-in for the Hapsburgian silicon valley Nazi oligarchs with enormous influence in the ostensible free world. The place he inhabits is empty and ever-shifting into…
Not sure why I didn’t get into the right mind frame for Wanda, but maybe tonight just didn’t fit my mood. Still, a solid feature or meandering through life on other people’s whims. Did feel the content a tad repetitive, slow, and overt; this really needed more main-character autonomy. Ended a scene too late; really the last two bar sequences could rewrite easily into a more effective finale.
King of darkness: BUFF (Working Print) Cut. While obviously this needs polishing, the print certainly felt quite well realised. I am sure the sound will receive better mixing, but mostly it’s down to a matter or preference as what requires attention. I enjoy tighter editing, less establishing imagery, and avoidance of repetition. While the oddities of act one provide amusement (and some visible crew reflection at the conclusion of the shower scene), it made sense hearing their inclusion came as…
confused me a lot oops but woah moving images... playing with and reenacting slices of history and so on... trans woman playing valerie solanas and shooting a projection of andy warhol such an awesome concept
I appreciate the content and context of A Fidai Film, but surely the soundtrack need not aggressively distort with distractingly loud irritation. Going by the visuals, religious wars look an awful lot like an excuse for governments to kill civilians trying to live out their lives. I probably would rather watch this with commentary discussing the context of the clips and relating it to contemporary scenes, but as a silent (with grating noise) it still worked… maybe an ambient flickering film stock sound could work?
This is the most I’ve laughed at a movie in years. The number of actually funny jokes in this 80 minute movie can’t be overstated.
A fantastic collection of historical artefacts featuring the loosest use of the documentary category while showcasing what one can tastefully describe as adult edutainment.
Starting with The Dream, it's amazing that this footage survived. Artistically tender, a moment of lost time during intimacy. Quiet and personal, for a moment the outside world doesn’t exist during the blossoming of tenderness.
A short that'll never make the riffing rounds, Sex Aids and How to Use Them offers frank exploration into sustaining a…
Well Mr. Ed’s career took a hard turn when the oats ran dry and he appeared in Staged. Great fun watching this with an audience ready to laugh along and enjoy the antics. This really offers the loosest excuse in claim of documentary, but the message of equal enjoyment and finding the fun still rings true. The oddity and whimsy elevates this somehow into artistic frivolity, and while the bookend of not-a-one-horse-race is clearly noted, this did seem a tad…
Well, My Dear opens as a fantastic time capsule; somewhat unintentionally funny with the opening hustle and the punters who clearly didn't sign a waiver to appear on camera. Really quite a time capsule of a moment of counter-culture, but this eventually loses focus and steam. From documentary it meanders more into general movements and fictional frameworks.
Now I want to watch Lady Bird again. Fun low-key energy, nicely set-up through conversation. Usually not psyched by gender divide mechanics, but worked for narrative shorthand. Nice to see all the characters brought along something a little different as when doing the binary it's simple to just make two generic extremes. Saying that, Cinephile Complex kinda lost steam once the ‘scare the guys’ bit failed to payoff; but after a touch of stilted awkwardness, it again focused. This deserved a more graphic effect to bookend the earlier eye-splinter climax, but within indie limitations I am not complaining as the message delivered nicely.
In fairness Honeycomb is quite terrible, but in the most enjoyable bad film style. With a fairly solid start aside from ropy acting, this formed believable motivations and enough in-world logic for sustainability (although I don't recall them touching up hair dye or other grooming). Once it hit the party scene, I first stated feeling the loss of momentum and started noticing logic flaws and such. From thereon, most the scenes with the just guys easily could be cut with…
