#lockdown films

[absolutebl]

Thoughts on Gameboys? I was looking through your tags and i only found you saying that you were reluctant to watch it but ended up liking it?

I enjoyed it a lot. It's not plot heavy, so a bit more angst than active characters, for obvs reasons.

Gameboys tackles lots of things, including online dating and the ramifications of coming out for family, self worth, and self perception, all neatly packaged in the lockdown C19 experience. It also features two out bisexuals and a gay character, and one of those is a supportive queer bestie ex-girlfriend. If that isn’t germane to the bog standard incestuous codependent queer found family many of us enjoy, I don’t know what is.

I actually prefer the Taiwanese version better, See You After Quarantine? And it's A LOT shorter, so you could watch that first (Viki) and if you like it, watch Gameboys.

Both are VERY much set during lockdown, though, so if that's upsetting for you, avoid.

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 44 - Loving Annabelle (2006) dir. Katherine Brooks

03/06/2020

- basically all the scenes with Annabelle and Simone were incredibly uncomfortable and felt like a weirdly written teacher fanfic or some shit

- you can try and age a character by making them smoke and saying that they’re emotionally mature, it doesn’t change the fact that this girl is still a minor

- I sure didn’t go to an all girls boarding school but class discussion was never as deep as it seems in stuff like this

- i had a really interesting conversation yesterday with my pal liisa — she said that often young people develop crushes on people that they know they can’t have, like celebrities and teachers. Kids have hormones and it’s not their fault that they have feelings that they think means that they’re in love with their teacher. Its the adult’s responsibility to know that its a minor they’re in contact with and not to encourage them and think that anythings gonna happen

- the sex scene with Simone and her man was… a bit rank to be honest. Obviously not the worst straight sex I’ve seen but my face was A Grimace

- her bathwater is fucking filthy. Do not dunk your head in that ma’am

- “gypsies are the children of the devil” WHAT ?? Ok update this priest is surprisingly very woke

- no offence but… where is the chemistry ? I dont see it. Probably because of the dynamic between them but I just dont clock how these two even had a connection in the first place

- LOOK AFTER YOUR CAMERA WOMAN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

- you’d think that if they tried to make Annabelle so emotionally mature they’d have made the decision for her to be able to understand that no means no ?

- honestly I’m over an hour in and I’m just finding this incredibly boring. Cat is a twat, I cannot root for the central couple because it’s morally very wrong and none of the characters are very engaging. We know they aren’t going to live happily ever after because one is a child and one is a grown woman, so it feels a bit too much like a message of “dont be gay, it won’t work out”, and I have precisely no time for this

- simone loses her job and will now have it on her record that she had a relationship with a student, and Annabelle is left at a school that she hates with no real friends to speak of. 10/10 wouldn’t watch again

[skatingsplits]

kate’s long list of favourite films:

Death Becomes Her (1992), dir. Robert Zemeckis

Ten years of perfect, unchanged beauty. But at the end of that time, before people start to become suspicious, you have to disappear from public view forever. You can retire, you can stage your own phony death or, as one of my clients simply said… “I want to be alone”.

[lucyreviewcy]

Practical Magic (1998) Dir. Griffin Dunne

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are witch sisters and I learned a lot about myself watching this film. 

Mark Kermode, and probably Roger Ebert before him, often points out that you get out of a film what you bring to it. This has to be why I found Practical Magic impossibly hard to follow. I am sure that on a day when what I bring to the film is “energy” I will enjoy it. It has a lot of the earmarks of a film I will love: 90s Sandra Bullock, spookiness, and a bit where everyone works together at the end. 

In my Fargo review I said that the best way to come to a film is not knowing anything about it, but I’d like to amend this. I think you should at least have a vague knowledge of what age group it is targeted at. I had some real issues with the tone of this film because I went into it thinking it was a kids’ film like The Addams Family. Practical Magic features far too much trauma, possession, and attempted assault for this genre. It’s a 12 certificate and this makes total sense to me because I feel like it was probably a staple of the early 00s sleepovers I wasn’t invited to*. Practical Magic feels like it would sit comfortably on the DVD shelf next to Coyote Ugly and Moulin Rouge. So already I was struggling with the tone. I was also having a somewhat intense text conversation at the time, which didn’t help. A cardinal rule of movies in lockdown that I learned while watching Practical Magic, is that if you’re having a text conversation that is not about the film you’re watching, you’re not paying enough attention and it’s your own silly fault if you enjoy the film.

I really wanted to enjoy Practical Magic but I think we got off on the wrong foot with me not being able to follow the prologue who explained who everyone was and why everything was happening. Everything seemed to be settling down and then Sandra Bullock started chasing a beetle around and I couldn’t understand why. I think I let down my movie-watching WhatsApp chat on this one because I kept having to ask who everyone was. A sign that I was maybe too tired for a film with a complicated plot was that I can’t name a single character. I have an inkling that Sandra Bullock might have been called Grace but I think that’s just because that was what she was called in Miss Congeniality. 

I don’t think Practical Magic is a bad film; I think I brought a bad mood to it. I started off confused and then got more confused, and then got frustrated with the film for not explaining itself to me. But the film shouldn’t have to repeat itself. The fact is, sometimes you’re not in the right mood for a film and that is ok, it is not the film’s fault. Next year, at halloween, when I’ve had a good meal and a good night’s sleep, I’ll rewatch Practical Magic, and I bet I’ll enjoy it. First impressions aren’t everything, especially not with films. The first time I saw my favourite film of all time, I didn’t like it. The first time I listened to Taylor Swift’s Reputation, I didn’t like it. Context is everything: you can’t judge a book by its cover, and sometimes you can’t judge it by its contents if you’re feeling vile when you read it. 

* Didn’t want to attend. Also, once when I was about 10 I went to a sleepover where the movie we (a group of 10 year old girls) picked was Catch Me if You Can. This is not a movie for 10 year old girls, and I vividly remember being the only girl left watching the film with the birthday girl’s dad. I think that’s why I have a bad opinion of Catch Me if You Can, because context is everything. 

[greenhatsinthesky]

Lockdown film no. 32 - Intouchables (2011) dir. Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano

08/05/2020

I’d seen this film a few times before - one very happy memory was watching it with my friend sez after a sleepover when we were about 13 or so, but this viewing was with my parents over a pizza

- the opening is so good because its a situation that doesn’t feel totally alien but its not exactly commonplace, so it’s pretty perfect as a first scene. We meet the main characters, their relationship is established, and we get to have a dance to earth wind and fire as the credits go up. Dream !

- I couldn’t imagine this film going in a completely chronological way and being any good. It’d just be shit

- it was really interesting having the people in the interview talking about how passionate they were about social care and helping disabled people and all that but looked at Phillipe like he was an alien

- obviously we were meant to root for the relationship between Driss and Philippe but it says a lot about Driss that he was the first person to engage in a dialogue with Philippe and have a conversation with him, even if it was an argument about music for part of it

- “my feet are beautifully coiffed” - DEAD

- one of my favourite tropes is someone absolutely refusing to do something (bonus points if their reasoning is no we don’t do that we’re men) and cut to them doing the thing looking really ashamed

- one of my favourite bits was when Driss realised that he could pour boiling water on philippes legs and he didn’t feel it and it was like he’d discovered the best game ever

- driss and Philippe had such good banter and if the actors didn’t have that chemistry the film would have been utter dogshit

- driss’ face when the opera started is something that I want wallpapered in my house

- one thing I really like is how Driss obviously has to accustom to Philippe’s lifestyle, and I don’t mean being his carer or stuff like that, but taking an interest in art and music and the stuff that Philippe is interested in, but does it in his own way. He talks to him during the opera and makes it clear how absurd it is, he paints something like the one they saw in the gallery and then they sell it to philippes friend who we obviously don’t like. And they share interests, one of the best scenes in the whole thing is at Philippe’s birthday where he gets the musicians to play loads of stuff for Driss and they just chat about the vibes they get from it and then Driss puts on earth wind and fire and they just have an ace time its really nice

- the poor woman in the move one seat along bit bless her

- ohhhh the shaving scene !!!

- my dad said that he was watching it once and noticed that when the subtitles say Freddie mercury, driss says Jose bove, so he googled him and found out he was a political activist who smashed up a mcdonalds in the 90s

- the ending is So Satisfying. Its just so nice and heart-warming and the fact that its based on a true story is all the better and they’re still pals !

- I am permanently raging that there's been an English language remake of this with Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart in it. I get generally mad at remakes of films if the principle reason that they're being remade is because they're not English because this is such a good film and it shouldn't be tampered with, it doesn't need to be touched. if people could just get over themselves and just accept the subtitles then everything would be grand and we wouldn't be inundated with so many unnecessary and awful English remakes of excellent foreign language films thank you

[greenhatsinthesky]

Mr Bean’s Holiday (2007) dir. Steve Bendelack

Cinematography - Baz Irvine

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 12 - God’s Own Country (2017) dir. Francis Lee

09/04/2020

I watched this twice because the first time i didnt watch it well so, second viewing was necessary. this time i took notes

- it’s what I imagine Brokeback mountain is like but in Yorkshire

- WASNT expecting the original Jamie new to pop up for a cheeky sex scene

- I did nOT like all the dairy farming malarkey (arms up cows arses, auctioning cattle, putting labels in sheep’s ears etc) but it was on a farm so

- I hadn’t seen o’connor play a role like this before, normally he’s in period pieces or playing posh boys but fuck he was so good in this

- didnt foresee a sex scene taking place in a cattle van inside the first ten minutes but there we go

- I’ve never had a love affair on the moors so not a load of this was relatable but gheorghe stealing bourbons and just eating them all day was a big mood

- “Don’t go mental on that damn bike” VROOOM

- Johnny’s arc going from someone who has sex a lot and in a pretty aggressive way to being taught tenderness and how there doesn’t need to be a physical battle between people was fascinating. I think it definitely links to a wider conversation about the assumptions of love between two men and how a lot of people think that it’s very physical and almost violent when men have sex and/or are in love. For example, I know that in Brokeback mountain Jake gyllenhaal nearly got his nose broken by heath ledger when they were filming the kissing scenes because of the way they had chosen to kiss. And that style of love in a film can obviously work especially when part of the plot is to do with the anger that the characters have and how they express that to each other - however when you have two men who are in love and they don’t have anger to express towards each other it their love in a sexual context doesn’t need to be expressed in such a physical way

- like the way that Johnny grasped the hay, tensing up when they had sex the second time, expecting that it would be fast and a conflict between them. But then gheorghe touched him really softly, kissing his palm and holding his head not as a way of keeping him contained but as a way of making him feel held and safe for longer than he’s used to because normally he just goes out and shags a guy in some place or another and then leaves but gheorghe doesn’t allow that to happen. Part of that is because they have to spend time together in a work environment and so they learn things about each other in that context, like gheorghe being really gentle with newborn lambs. But another part is that gheorghe does things for Johnny that Johnny probably isn’t accustomed to, like gheorghe looking after the cut on johnny’s hand and kissing him in a way that isn’t solely for his own pleasure

- that isn’t to say that their relationship is void of stronger physically contact than I’m implying, and they had those moments of conflict and fighting but in a fun sense, like when they were swimming in the lake and splashing and jumping on each other, because it’s fun to play fight with someone you’re close to

- the scene where gheorghe just runs off up a hill and Johnny follows him and they just stand on a cliff and look at the sky and the landscape was really sweet and moving

- i’ve never seen the word faggot used as a term of endearment but somehow they made it work

- the scene in the caravan where gheorghe was kissing johnny’s cheek and stroking his ear was so soft

- apparently Francis lee made a conscious decision for Johnny to start adding sugar and salt to his food once gheorghe arrived because he opened up a new part of his life that he hadn’t experienced before and honestly that is genius

- tomato pasta and beer has now been claimed as a meal for the gays (bonus if the table has daffodils and you steal your boyfriend’s food)

- always flush your condoms kids

- I forgot how beautiful John mcrea is god damn

- the scene where Johnny wears gheorghe’s jumper that he left was beautiful. It looked so different on him but the way he wore it was like he was holding him

- I think this affected me more on a second watch when I was really watching it so if you’ve only seen it once watch it again

- ohhhh there was a second when Johnny visited the new farm and he and gheorghe are in the foreground and in the background there are two other farmers walking from left to right - away from Johnny, towards gheorghe, further outlining the isolation that he’s come to feel in gheorghe’s absence

- the way Johnny was pleading with gheorghe at the end was heartbreaking fUCK

- the shot of them just holding each other made me want to cry but like in a good way 

- yeah. oof

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 5 - Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma

04/04/2020

i’d been meaning to watch this in cinemas, but alas, global pandemic. i watched on a totally legal site in the very wee hours

- i wasn’t familiar with sciamma, haenel or merlant before this film, apart from having seen sciamma’s “Tomboy” last year

- i am very familiar with all of them now, having researched the hell out of all them after seeing this film

- portrait was stunning

- my friend evie said that she’d seen it in cinemas and that most of it was them looking at each other intensely so that was all i expected

- but kind of in the same way with rafiki i feel like this film changed me in quite a big way

- all of the artistic decisions made in this film are good, and make sense, and are consistent with the characters and how they grow

- one of the things i’ve learnt from this film is that emotions are the most important thing, and plot can be secondary as long as the emotions are strong

- also the DELIBERACY 

- everything was deliberate

- “you dreamt of me?” “no. i thought of you”

- OH MY GOD

- i read an article with sciamma talking about the scene where they have their first kiss and how she wanted to create a new first kiss where both characters have to physically do something in order to allow the kiss to happen, and thus physically giving consent to the other. this is one of the greatest concepts

- im personally furious with myself that i hadnt heard of adele haenel before seeing this film. she is one of the best actresses that im aware of right now and the only actor i know whos managed to get simone de beauvoir into an interview

- the concept of the male gaze is completely shattered (the fact that there are next to no men on screen is also a massive bonus)

- the number 28 will never be the same

- initially i didnt 100% get the theme of héloïse in the white dress but it became heartbreakingly clear on a rewatch

- one of my first thoughts was that this is the most french film i can imagine and i love it

- all of the painting scenes were pure mastery and the change in tone between the two of them as the film progressed was stunning

- “regardez-moi” i had chills

- the fact that there wasn’t an explicit sex scene i think is interesting because people probably have a very specific film in mind when they think of french lesbian cinema. but this film was made primarily by queer women so they obviously gave more thought to what was necessary, emotional and if it would be exploitative to the actresses

- for this i have a huge amount of respect for everyone involved in making this film

- it was the slowest of burns 

- i didnt have time to cry at the end but i felt a lot of things and i think i was crying inside

- also the press tour was something else entirely watch their interviews if you have a chance

- the commentary on class, sexuality, women’s role in art and portraiture i think have really changed me in a big way

- “if you look at me, who do i look at?” this film invented the female gaze and gave agency to models and people who sit for portraits, especially women and that is a really massive deal

- the collaboration between céline sciamma and adèle haenel is fascinating and i cant imagine having a collaboration like that but it’s the dream

- the gallery scene i really was on the verge of tears there lord

- all i want to know is the first time that héloïse wanted to kiss marianne

- the scene where héloïse keeps smiling and marianne tells her to be serious and then goes over to her at that point i died dead

- yeah

- this film got me mad inspired

- we need more films like this. sciamma is a visionary. fact. 

- (this could mean that we need more films with no men. it could mean that we need more films that are better. maybe they mean the same thing)

- my approach to films has changed a bit after seeing this, and im really grateful to everyone who worked on it for that

- i cant believe i saw this and rafiki within three days that has to be one of the greatest fortunes of my life