WHAT'S IT ABOUT?: Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinson are androgynous amoral ancient vampires lounging about in extremely cluttered dilapidated houses, immersing themselves in music and literature and the arts, and trying to get high quality blood (as much of it has been poisoned). Langorous and atmospheric.
DO I REC IT?: Hmmm yes with caveats.
The first caveat being that this really is an atmospheric, plot-be-damned movie. There's plot but there's really barely any plot. Like I really enjoyed the sort of ...entranced, sevdah atmosphere. This guy (the director) loves looooong shots of walking, driving, moving somewhere as suitable music plays soaking in the atmosphere of whatever it is. It's sooo fitting for vampires who have been around for millenia, they're in no hurry to go anywhere. They're beautiful antiques. They're so tired. This really is how it would feel to be somebody that fucking old.
The second caveat is that I have clinical depression so I watched this movie and went "yeah this IS how it feels to live with clinical depression" lmaooo, like yeah nothing IS fucking exciting anymore (because I'm depressed) and all the sand is at the bottom of the hourglass (because I'm depressed) and the best solace is those long night walks or drives with music faintly pulsing in the distance and the world is quiet and still (because I'm a night owl. AND DEPRESSEDDDD). Like this isn't a feel good movie, this is a feel melancholic movie. But even in the melancholy there's beauty... and there's Tilda Swindon telling me that "This self obsession is a waste of living, It could be spent surviving things, appreciating nature, nurturing kindness and friendship, and dancing.". And like yeah. Hashtag true? But really anything sounds true when said by Tilda Swinton.
The third caveat is that Tom Hiddleston can get real insufferable when he speaks though he makes up for it by being eye candy. 'ugh, those zombies', he says, meaning modern humans. 'ugh, of COURSE you live in LA and watch YOUTUBE', he says of Tilda's younger sister, who is a sociopath recklessly killing people with zero regard for the safety of her sister and sister's husband, but her main crime in Tom Hiddleston's eyes is being pedestrian and trite. A lot of what he expresses is a reflective disdain for fame, modern culture, humanity as a whole, preferring to skulk in the shadows and isolation. Releasing music to try and connect to others but absolutely refusing to have it be, god forbid, played. And honestly, I don't live in Jim Jarmusch's head, I have no idea if this was the intended read, but: god, of course you're suicidal, living like that. and your vampire wife goes outside, talks to people, and believes self obsession is a waste of living. Of course she's not depressed! Fuck! Come on, man. Lots to say about how some creative types (most often male, but not always) love to withdraw in themselves and deride everyone else.
Overall I love to watch movies that stick with me. And this stuck with me, if only for all the questions I've got. So I rec it.
READ: My Sister The Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite
DO I REC IT?: Mmmmaybe. I found the sparse writing style unsatisfying and the one-note reactions to Ayoola kinda stupid (more on this later). I enjoyed the ending, and there were some good moments, but overall this is a debut and oof it shows. 3/5 IMHO
Ayoola being so breathtakingly gorgeous that it makes everybody stupid and fawning over her is a staple of this story, as her treatment contrasts against how people treat the plain looking Korede, our narrator. And that's fine, but -- not everybody would immediately start obsessing. Specifically older women wouldn't all react like that. Older, "uglier" women seeing a breathtaking young woman turning heads are just as if not more likely to react with acid and jealousy. Not because they're bad but because we live in a society that ranks women based on our looks and tearing at someone higher on the totem pole is an attempt for you yourself to climb higher. It would make it a lil more interesting for Korede, too, who spends the entire plot (justifyably) resenting Ayoola's special treatment, if she had to deal with a coworker hating her beloved little sister...for the wrong reasons! Like, would she defend Ayoola while hating it, would she agree in the moment and then feel wretched afterwards and fix kt? I can see both reactions depending on where in the plot it's set. It would make it more "realistic", and provide a smidge more internal conflict for our narrator. Who, to be fair, is already internal conflictmaxxing.
The prose is clunky and awkward and often has chapters of like one paragraph. I liked the plot, and what we slowly discover about Ayoola and Korede, but I think it should have been more refined and sharpened. My review is the marrow of the story is good but needs more polish, the bones of a better told story are there, I guess.
READ: Two novellas by Syed Shamsul Haq, Blue Venom and Forbidden Incense
DO I REC IT: Maybe! It reminds me of going to the yearly book fair as a kid and picking out a bunch of cheaply-printed classic lit in English to improve my English LOL - its a very specific strong association but one alien to native speakers. When it comes to writing style, if you like the style used in writing really old books this is for you. Both stories are set in 1971 Bangladesh, during the war of independence, and they're very frank with the scale and brutality of violence that took place. I enjoyed them. More under the cut.
BLUE VENOM is the story of a middle aged everyman arrested for sharing the name of a rebel poet - and yes, the tyrannical force trying to crack down on rebels does not believe it can make a mistake, how did you guess. It's following the inner thoughts of this one poor man, who basically never thought about poetry, rebellions, and politics until he was faced with the inside of a cold cell.
FORBIDDEN INCENSE is my favorite of the two by farrrrr. I can't type much about it because I didn't expect the ending at all (unlike in Blue Venom, where the ending is inevitable and it's about the journey towards it) and on the off chance anyone else reads this I don't wanna spoil it. The story follows Bilkis, a woman returning home, desperately trying to reach her village with the help of a new friend. Finding naught but carnage and corpses, she realizes she's willing to risk her life to bury her brother. Parallel to Antigone practically draws itself, but I love what Bilkis did wayyyy more than what Antigone did, so💅
WATCHED: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) by Jim Jarmusch
DO I REC IT: SCREAMS LOUD AS FUUUUUUUCK EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH GHOST DOG. detailed review under the cut ha its just. ohhh its beautiful and wonderful and so fucking sad. the THEMES
WHATS IT ABOUT: Ghost Dog is a professional assassin obsessed with the Way of The Samurai - he considers himself the samurai retainer of an aging Italian mobster, who orders him to kill another made-man in a violation of the mafia code of conduct. It doesn't go fully according to plan, and complications arise (to say the least).
i could talk about every detail in this movie cause it's there purposefully and you can sooo tell but im gonna try not to because DONT READ ME TALKING ABOUT A MOVIE GO WATCH THE MOVIE. TORRENT THAT SHIT BITCH!!!!
this movie is built on interweaving connections and it really pays off! its a movie that demands you pay attention to it because everything is connected in one way or another. as we get retells of a past event that differs in crucial aspects with every teller we get the book rashomon (the Ur-example of that technique) passed from character to character. we get the Way of the Samurai interspersed with political rap (Killah Priest, also Wu Tang's RZA did the soundtrack in general i think), we get lots of ways of telling the same thing. of different variations on a theme. we're not understanding each other and also understanding each other simultaneously<3. it's also a movie that tells you directly what it's about in the first ten or so minutes, but not in a way you understand until its too late.
also the aesthetics are unmatched. we get a lot of slow, languid shots of ghost dog driving around town playing music, to set the atmosphere, lots of slow shots watching his beloved pigeons, it's a very slow movie but the action scenes are fast and purposeful. everything has an aura of being deliberate, purposeful, a part of a greater whole. i was going to talk at length about it but ummm im too tired. <3 watch ghost dog.
i'm of 5 different minds about the ending - i think if the ending was different it would be less impactful but i would love it more. as is it feels very beautiful and powerful and made me MAD AS HELL.
SPOILERS BELOW
its a tragedy for a reason. it really really kills me that ghost dog is so fixated on his Way that it costs him his future. he is dedicated to his Way - for somebody who is not worthy of the sacrifice. for somebody who - technically it's not a betrayal because ghost dog expects and wants and accepts it, but fuuuck that its TOTALLY a betrayal. ghost dog is a well known fixture in his community, in his city - aspiring rappers rap about him in their songs, gangsters he walks past acknowledges him by name, etc etc and it's like. well. i cant find a way in which he lives and remains ghost dog i really cant but i dont think he should have submitted so thoroughly to some fuckin italian schmuck fuck!!! DUDE!!!! aaaaaargh movie
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