sen @nonsenuser - Tumblr Blog

sensmovies

every time i ramble about movies im gonna put it under #sensmovies so i can find them (& others can find them too)

also btw i talk about literally everything on here (started off as an anime page) but ill talk about grad school nba other sports movies everything. literally at any point i might get rlly into 80s canadian politics who knows xx

#sensmovies #movies #nonsenuser #anime #nba

nonsenuser

all the presidents men....

I rewatched the movie about a week ago, started and read about half of the book, and just finished rewatching it again. I am just so enthralled and enamoured by the filmmaking, performances and the SCRIPT!!!! what a beautiful gorgeous funny smart and to the point script. its so punchy, it gets u there, theres so many lines of dialogue that you cannot believe are real (BUT THEY ARE!!! "i have a wife and a family and a dog and a cat!!!" you really cannot make that stuff up)

and forget that there are just some hilariously absurd details, like wdym one of woodwards key men for inside scoop was nicknamed "Deep Throat" which apparently was a pornographic film that came out around the time. Like a lot of cases with government investigations like these, the hush hush amongst folks is common, its depicted pretty much the same across the board. I guess whats different with this is it never overly dramatic (because they based it on real life events, so naturally it comes off as more believable) but it is interesting the story never has to embellish details to make it interesting. The dialogue is sharp enough and the audience gets carried through from lead to lead in a way that keeps it plenty engaing. I mean truthfully beneath the daunting list of names and the fact that it is (yawn, to some) American politics this scandal is so interesting!!! I mean the existence of the Canuck letter is particularly hilarious to me, i didnt quite catch the meaning of "slurred the canadians" until i looked up the canuck letter on wiki but wow. I cannot believe it

And god something about the 70s movies aesthetic.... i loved the click clack of the typewriters and the shuffling through news paper clippings, crinkling of notepads, scribbling pens, sound of the landline, you dont even need a soundtrack with all that. that IS the soundtrack, it sets the mood so perfectly. It's also just really nice to look at, the way this is shot is so beautifully (& at times, again SO SMART) Hoffman and Redford really really sell these roles, along with their cool fits and comforting voices inquiring over the phone, so weird to think that they made journalism look so cool...

#Woodstein is so good i love how these two set aside their journalistic and personal differences to meet on common ground which is their passion for this story !!!!!!!! also thinking about how they almost casted pacino to play bernstein is so interesting, and this is no insult to pacino but i do genuinely believe they casted this well in the end. apologies to me reading this tmr morning.. good night it is a little past 2 am.. and i love this movie dearly.. i can confidently coin it as The Social Network of my 20s

nonsenuser

all the presidents men....

I rewatched the movie about a week ago, started and read about half of the book, and just finished rewatching it again. I am just so enthralled and enamoured by the filmmaking, performances and the SCRIPT!!!! what a beautiful gorgeous funny smart and to the point script. its so punchy, it gets u there, theres so many lines of dialogue that you cannot believe are real (BUT THEY ARE!!! "i have a wife and a family and a dog and a cat!!!" you really cannot make that stuff up)

and forget that there are just some hilariously absurd details, like wdym one of woodwards key men for inside scoop was nicknamed "Deep Throat" which apparently was a pornographic film that came out around the time. Like a lot of cases with government investigations like these, the hush hush amongst folks is common, its depicted pretty much the same across the board. I guess whats different with this is it never overly dramatic (because they based it on real life events, so naturally it comes off as more believable) but it is interesting the story never has to embellish details to make it interesting. The dialogue is sharp enough and the audience gets carried through from lead to lead in a way that keeps it plenty engaing. I mean truthfully beneath the daunting list of names and the fact that it is (yawn, to some) American politics this scandal is so interesting!!! I mean the existence of the Canuck letter is particularly hilarious to me, i didnt quite catch the meaning of "slurred the canadians" until i looked up the canuck letter on wiki but wow. I cannot believe it

And god something about the 70s movies aesthetic.... i loved the click clack of the typewriters and the shuffling through news paper clippings, crinkling of notepads, scribbling pens, sound of the landline, you dont even need a soundtrack with all that. that IS the soundtrack, it sets the mood so perfectly. It's also just really nice to look at, the way this is shot is so beautifully (& at times, again SO SMART) Hoffman and Redford really really sell these roles, along with their cool fits and comforting voices inquiring over the phone, so weird to think that they made journalism look so cool...

#Woodstein is so good i love how these two set aside their journalistic and personal differences to meet on common ground which is their passion for this story !!!!!!!! also thinking about how they almost casted pacino to play bernstein is so interesting, and this is no insult to pacino but i do genuinely believe they casted this well in the end. apologies to me reading this tmr morning.. good night it is a little past 2 am.. and i love this movie dearly.. i can confidently coin it as The Social Network of my 20s

nonsenuser

the graduate (1967)

i watched this from my bed, on my tiny little phone screen at 7 in the morning a few days ago (not the optimal way to watch a movie i know) and i loved it soooo much, i was trying to think about why i love it so much and in a weird way it's probably bc benjamin is somewhat relatable, especially cuz i too am in between key points in my life (undergrad and grad school) although i didnt go off and have an affair with a married women the feeling of not being sure what to do is so so so present and the way benjamin is stumbling around, figuring out what exactly he wants to do is kinda how i felt too this year. u try smthn new and u wonder if u liked it at all or if ur just doing this to waste the time away somehow.

i think my planning ability is definitely a lot better than bens, and i am def the type of person who is somewhat good at imagining their future but i did still feel acknowledged by this movie in a weird way. also considering its from 1967?? pretty timeless stuff

its also just very entertaining like the whole time ur like gosh what will happen next !!! and my god that ending is so good !! both elaine and benjamin r just like fuck.. now what?

nonsenuser

pearl (2022)

I know i probably shouldve watched X first, but so many people prefer this movie to that and i wanted to watch smthn less horror-esque and more character study-ish today so thats what i did

it leans into some of the cheesy horror aspects but it totally works in this movie imo. theres something very satisfying about the way the womens struggles in this movie are presented, specifically pearls. it all kinda boils down to the fact that to be a woman is suffocating, pearl is expected to help her mom around the house and attend to her sick father when she would much rather go out and explore, or rather 'be a star'. Her environment has caused her to express her frustrations in the weirdest and most violent ways. additionally u cant help but feel bad for her mom too, bc she too is living an undesirable, and shes become cold as a result of her upbringing. its the universal immigrant parent experience you could say. pearl herself actually realizes this too (which i like, i think its a common feeling to kind of detest and at the same time understand your mother bc of the circumstances) but by the time pearl realizes this shes kinda far gone. i dont think theres an alternate fate for her mom in this movie, these frustrations were bound to come to a tipping point one way or another.

i guess i will watch X but i find it hard to believe i will find maxine as likeable as pearl, but i will check it out bc i want to watch maxxine

nonsenuser

synecdoche, new york (2009)

absolutely incredible crazy and thoughtful film. im still thinking about it and its absurdity.. idt ive ever seen something that deals with illness death and mental health? spiralling? in such a manner. it was actually uncomfortable to see the "world" built on and on by caden and see him lose himself to it. he kind of just leans into it more as he gets more and more sick and the people around him seemingly seem to just go along with it. there is also something very interesting about the person he cast as himself (or was it the cleaner) to be a woman and there is something in the film that hints at how he kinda views himself and the lines between himself and others start to blur. a lot. its a deeply fascinating experience and you cannot help but lean into it yourself as you watch it too. in my letterboxd review i compared it to lostening to long season by fishmans because that song (40 minutes long and absolutely beautiful btw) transports you to that world in the same way. its just really really cool and im fighting between reading other peoples interpretations of the movie online vs just keeping it close to myself bc it seems like the kind of movie that i wouldn't mind having my own interpretation of with no other external influences,

nonsenuser

the piano teacher (2001)

this movie has been on my list for a while, 1. because i too am a piano teacher so duh and 2. 'perversion at its wicked best' is too interesting of a hook to ignore. i did keep removing and re-adding this from my letterboxd watchlist because i was worried it would be either way too freaky for me or just too uncomfortable (recently i've realized my threshold for things in movies has gotten pretty high and i tend to overestimate how disturbing something might be, not that this wasn't disturbing).

from the way people were talking about this movie i was expecting something like 'yeah its called the piano teacher but theres barely any piano in it' or 'classical music culture is used as a metaphor and you could replace it with anything' and while the first is just not true and the 2nd *might* be true it is a really smart choice to have erika be in this profession and for most of the characters to be classical musicians because of the kind of personalities and attitudes that are portrayed are somewhat normalized and encouraged within the field.

i can only speak from direct experience, I took piano classes for several years (4-16 years old), had a pretty strict russian teacher and have met people who took it extremely seriously, to the point where they experienced great metal distress from piano. i never took piano as seriously so it never was like that for me (for a while), i was good enough to basically never practice, my parents never forced me to do it and i started pretty young so i was able to finish all my levels before high school ended. i think being around that positive environment and always knowing i would never take piano that seriously is what made me love it for a very long time.

I think after i finished all my levels and did more music in high school strings and started learning stuff on my own, I was really challenged and while I did understand that yes I had talent, it was a punch to the gut to get unfiltered criticism about my skills. I questioned for a while if i would ever pursue music seriously (like as a teacher AND performer) but it became evident to me that i just didnt want to become the stereotypical pianist (like erika).

back to the movie.... erikas character is obviously taken to an extreme because of her suffocating relationship with her mother and her intense sexual desires, but having the classical music setting as a background is kind of perfect to bring all of this attributes into focus (and even enhance them)

it has been explained in great detail why the abuse, sexuality and psychological effects of it intertwine so well but i think its worth mentioning how the music that is discussed plays a huge role in all of it. erikas expertise is schubert and he is a romantic composer, meaning his pieces are very expressive and full of dynamics, ornaments and accents. its kind of ironic that erika says his music is not just 'loud and soft' but moves between 'a scream and a whisper' because we rarely if ever see erika display this range of emotions for most of the movie. and with my minimal time around professional classical musicians... ironically this is the type of personality that is encouraged. the seeming husk of a person able to perform beautifully with huge range of emotion.

completely unrelated, but the scene where the hockey boys come onto the ice and essentially force the figure skaters to leave? yeah you could say thats how erika and walters relationship ended up playing out.

theres so much more to talk about but i have to think about it more and then i'll add to this post here but wowow. new fave movie for sure.

nonsenuser

love exposure (2008)

i think the only capacity in which this movie gets discussed is through mass aesthetic-postings (yk what i mean) but the juggling of multiple themes and how they come together in this movie is extremely impressive... i wish people talked about it more

i think the movie does get thematically messy later on (apparently the movie was supposed to be 6 hours long so several themes dont get carried out all the way to their conclusion) and there are certain 'problematic' aspects that i will discuss later. either way this is such a unique movie and i can understand why people have such polarizing opinions on it.

the first 30-45 minutes of this were so incredible, i think the whole arc where yu consistently asks for forgiveness and commits sins (to the point where he kinda gets off to it...) is such an interesting exploration of the relationship between adolescence, sexuality and religion. when he joins that 'group' (errr cult?) that endorses taking upskirt panty shots.. and he doesnt even get off to it, he is purely trying to get the best possible shot for the love of the game (this whole thing is quite bizarre and perverted but in the context of this movie i think its worth thinking about)

the other thing that is soooo interesting is the fact that for the first part of the movie, yu only interacts with yoko while he is in the miss scorpion attire. it totally acts as a trans allegory and whats even more interesting is he is aroused while in the disguise. whats more is yu talks about getting aroused as "disgusting" (referring to his genitals) and you could interpret this as some form of dysphoria. do i think this is what sion sono intended? not really because in the movie being a pervert is equated to being a lesbian and yoko states her lesbianism was a phase... which is ugh... probably my least favourite aspect of this movie. but whether or not the trans allegory was intended it is def worth mentioning and analyzing.

the other interesting factor that gets explored is the fine line between faith and cultism... this is a whole plot point in the movie where a branch of christianity goes quite a bit far and the intentions of the cult leader are #notgood... but its super fun to see this play out esp bc sakura ando is like. awesome and her sinisterness in this role is really fun to watch.

the girls in this movie also have a hatred towards men, and faith, and other things, that's a result of their upbringing and experiences. it's an important part of their characters and influences their decisions but again i dont think it was fleshed out all the way or with the best intentions (bc of sion sono lol) but again! worth talking about... like for example aya wanting to rid yu of his perversion because of her sexual trauma.

i think the ending is very sweet, craziness and messiness aside you cannot deny there isn't anything quite like love exposure....

nonsenuser

nymphomaniac (2013)

i wanted to watch this movie (both 1 and 2) for such a long time and im glad i did. I really loved pt 1 but i felt so weird during part 2 (and the ending really threw me off i still dont know how to feel about it)

part 1 was litr amazing and perfect to me. the analogies that seligman wove into the story made it so much more interesting to me and the fact that joe kind of went along with it was great too. it discussed the topic of sex in such a interesting light (more technical, not sensual at all) the theme of love and it elevating the experience was interesting to see unfold. i really loved the last scene with the 3 different voices of bach. omg that was amazing

with part 2 i am extremely conflicted. a lot of the analogies go away (with the reveal that seligman is asexual, it makes sense why he would respond to joes story the way he did but i wish the analogies stuck around). there were some interesting moral dilemmas discussed, more serious than in pt 1 (abortion, pedophilia) and it kind of shows how 1. joe is an extremely flawed person, but compared to seligman she does have the lived experience and is telling the audience about this, 2. seligman has the more, lets say 'politically correct' view (and i actually do agree with his standpoints for most of the movie) but he also feels cannot overstep joes experience

apart from this tho, the movie does kind of lose itself. it becomes like a ohhh look how crazy and fucked up joes life becomes and the lack of analogies from seligman kind of holds it back in my opinion.

nonsenuser

black mirror - season 7

this is probably one of THE shows that established my "taste" in media and whatever long-term, since i started watching the show in high school. i never thought i would see a good season again after season 4, but to my surprise this was a good season! this is also the first season in a while where all the episodes are good, and none of them are like totally shit (black mirrors greatest flaw is the variance in quality)

i am very tired and i need to sleep soon tbh but i wanted to get all my thoughts out on all the episodes since i binged it today

spoilers ahead...

nonsenuser

the worst person in the world (2021)

when i saw the poster and premise for this movie i thought it was going to be a frances ha, ladybird esque movie that explored the manic pixie dream girl esque life of a late 20s woman but man it kinda spoke to me in a way i was not expecting it to.

The beginning is a little bit hilarious bc like, who in the world is going to med school solely bc their grades are incredible? i know these days people like this get weeded out pretty easily but idk maybe julie rlly is that academically smart. despite this nitpick of mine i think it establishes the type of person julie is pretty well, indecisive in a way that a lot of people are. am i like this? i don't think so, if anything i've been pretty certain and stubborn about the type of career i wanna do and the type of person i wanna be for the most part.. more on that later.

while this is pretty centered around the romance aspect i think its very interesting to see how julie navigates her relationships and how that kinda ties back to her jumping between career paths pretty early on in life. Just like she bounces between med, psychology and photography she kinda does the same with lets say, aksel, is kinda like her in medicine, eivind is like her in psychology and photography is the end, her single life. these careers very obviously do not overlap w the relationships she is in but its cool to think about it that way. i also literally pulled this analogy out of my ass like right now as im writing this review so maybe im being stupid.

why i like this movie so much is how imperfect julie and most of the characters in the movie are, like it is almost frustrating but at the same time you cannot really hate anyone that much, which is super realistic. it is also extremely modern, the incorporation of typical modern internet discourse, and even the way they talk to each other lets say all the therapy speak. also it shows how people are indecisive and really do change their mind about so many things in life. one of the main ones is all the characters who flip flop between wanting and not wanting children, makes julies miscarriage all the more frustrating to see.

i dont think there rlly is an overall message in the film its just a pretty amazing character study. the fact that the movie ends with julie single is also pretty great, i think you could definitely make a whole movie about that next chapter in her life but that would be an entirely different kind of movie.

i will say also the party where she meets eivind and they do all those things tgthr that technically do not count as cheating.... pretty greaat idk i loved those scenes it was a good way to show the rush of 'not rlly cheating' and also meeting someone new and connecting with them immediately in such a setting

one thing i can def relate to julie w is the instances where she is kind of an asshole (for the sake of being an asshole? or to just establish yourself idk how to explain it) i love doing that shit too. she does it at the party she crashes ('you know its bad to cuddle your children'). like i really understood why she acted like that in those instances, it makes sense to me...

also this movie made me feel so young. like i really got so much time and its actually incredible realistic to see julie still figure out who she is at age 30, a coming of age esque romance drama for 30+ year olds is pretty great

one thing that really stood out to me on second watch,,, and i wonder if this is intentional, is julie doesnt seem to have any FRIENDS? or at least friends that are not her partners. it very well might be bc i feel like a lot of women do fall into this lifestyle very easily (esp when they get older, all your friends are either married/have kids or both so it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain these).. it is also possible that this just wasnt shown, so julie has friends but none of these friendships are developing/developed in a way that profoundly changed her life in the way the romantic relationships did but.... this explanation doesn't make as much sense. i think the first one is pretty realistic (as sad as that is) but i myself cannot imagine letting social circle get so small and male-centered (fingers-crossed)

this might be the WORST review of the worst person of the world (2021) ever, it is moreso a reflection but im glad i got it out of my system

nonsenuser

my daria manifesto

a show that has kind of always been on my radar is daria. i mean her character design is pretty recognizable, ive gotten her on those character test thingys before and it just seems like the type of very enjoyable cartoon that would be nice to watch casually. while i quickly found comfort in the humor and how easy it was to just watch the show after a long day in the lab, i did not expect to grow so fond of so many of these characters. im also aware that there is a 'fandom' that has feelings about certain controversial characters but i will get to that later

the show really hinges on jane and darias friendship, i mean thats kind of where it all starts. there's little innuendos throughout about the nature of their relationship, and honestly the way they talk about each other gives gay vibes to say the least. but its really special when there r moments they get vulnerable with each other. both of darias 'love interests' are also explored through JANE to an extent. trent (janes brother) and tom (janes ex bf). my favourite moment between these two is when daria gets into a mini car accident and then calls jane to come and she hugs her, its such a sweet moment and jane is quite taken a back by it too. it means all the much more bc she couldve confided in tom but ultimately (as we see by the end of the show) the one person outside of her family who knows her best is jane. daria gets v jealous and concerned (and mean) when her time from jane is taken away from her (e.g. track episode, when she starts dating tom, when she starts going out w the weird 50s obsessed guy). its actually pretty rare we see this happen in the other direction, usually jane is incredibly supportive of daria (egged her on with her crush on trent, came around to the idea of her and tom dating)

darias crush on trent was never meant to have anything come out of it (pierce me is such a fascinating episode that really DANCES on a line with them) but like others have said before the crush acts as a way to explore daria at more vulnerable moments. trent never actually acts that weird towards daria (except for when he says cmon daria it would be really hot if u got a navel piercing, which ig is just him egging daria on so he could get the discount) so i actually rlly liked that they explored darias vulnerabilities in this way. the scenes of her imagining a hypothetical future with trent (& realizing it would suck) and trent saying 'im sorry this didn't work out' (in reference to the group project but omg! double meanings!) are two really important scenes and kinda act as a final chapter + epilogue to the daria x trent saga

tom is such a controversial character (& it makes sense why) because unlike darias crush on trent, toms introduction to the show directly affects the dynamic between daria and jane, a friendship that we get to see develop over the course of the show. in a way toms introduction does hinder daria and janes relationship a lot (when daria and tom are dating the show gets a little dull in this aspect bc we dont see jane so much, and you get to see daria develop but not ALONGSIDE jane if that makes sense). the most riveting parts of the tom x daria x jane saga are when tom and daria start talking to each other more WHILE tom is still dating jane. i rewatched the parade episode recently and tom has some really REALLY interesting things to say to daria considering he is in a relationship with jane. the most egregious being 'thanks for getting lost in the moment with me' just an insanely intimate thing to say to anybody really. obviously this leads to daria and tom talking more about niche little things and cracking jokes, all leading up to the hair dye episode which is just so. frustrating on all ends sometimes its hard to decide who exactly u want to get mad at (tom) but they are all teenagers at the end of the day so u cant really hold them guilty for having these feelings, not being able to effectively communicate them and making mistakes. tom and daria kissing in his car is such a extreme point in the show, like if there was a 'my heart fell to my stomach' moment it would be that and its exemplified by darias triple 'dammit!"s.

in the credits theres also a drawing whr daria has a tattoo of toms face on her arm and shes like flexing. i dont really know why but its something that really stuck with me and smthn abt her kinda 'claiming' him in such a way is so crazy bc u wouldnt think that she would do such a thing in like season 1. it's also very heterosexual but again the flexing really adds to it i still dont know how to decribe what the image means to me lmfao

daria and tom breaking up is also great (for the show and for daria herself) for several reasons. we don't know much about tom compared to the other characters (i saw someone say this before but i do agree that the show wouldve benefited a bit from developing him outside of daria + jane, e.g. getting some scenes where he doesnt interact with those girls). but we grow to learn that he comes from a wealthy family. while these things are easy to ignore when you're young, the more you get to know someone the more obvious it is you guys come from different worlds (even for myself right now, it is really hard for me to talk to people that have rich parents/are rich bc their privilege becomes very evident the more i get to know them and that strains conversations a great deal). daria actually communicates this sentiment very eloquently to tom when they break up, showing the audience how much the relationship has matured her even though it has to come to an end. they also agree to talk to each other in a years time which is a pretty nice way to end things with someone. ofc the best reason why daria and tom breaking up was good is it removed the imaginary barrier between daria and jane up until this point in the show. they dont show the audience what will happen in the future but u get a sense that from this point forward their friendship will be stronger than ever (u could even say the tiny bit of distance will benefit the bond too).

the absolute best and strongest dynamic in the whole show is the one between daria and quinn though. the importance is emphasize by the last episode in the show (ik theres a movie too but). theres also a lot of really nice sisterhood moments in the show and quinn being vulnerable around daria, asking for advice, etc. one of the best moments is when quinn finally admits daria is her sister after getting a good grade on an assignment. it kinda shows how much she rly does look up to her at the end of the day, and how quinn really looks for validation from everyone bc she saw firsthand how it was like for daria to not recieve validation from her parents or people at school (it ac rlly nicely explains why quinn is the way she is, 'hey mom/dad i have no problem getting to know people at school') it is completely understandable why quinn doesnt want to be the way daria is. at the same time though she seeks validation from her older sister in different ways, in one case the thing that quinn is seemingly good at (getting boys) is acknowledged when quinn scrambles together a boyfriend to bring home when daria brings tom home. theres always little moments when quinn will also support daria (when daria was quite heartbroken about trent) and again her admitting theyre siblings, and ofc when they team up to fight in front of their mom and aunt to set an example. it's really nice that for the most part the dynamic with quinn and the rest of darias family makes up a pretty huge part of the screen time..

ive seen other reviews talk about this but daria really captures a very specific feeling and emotion that i have not felt with many other shows. thats why when i was on the last movie and episode i basically started crying because i did not want it to be over. its really "high school" and its hard to replicate such a thing at a later stage in life, in fact you almost wouldnt want to replicate those emotions again but you miss it anyways..... this took me way too long to write but i mostly did this for myself so if anyone read this i hoped u enjoyed :)