Withnail and I (Re-watch)

I forget how many times I've seen this film. I think the last time I saw it was at the cinema in Kichijoji, Tokyo. I have a vague memory that the art house cinema in Kichijoji was closing down, and allowed its visitors to vote which films they would like to see in the run up to its closure. This was one of the films they chose, and I love that the film has as much of a strong following in Tokyo as it does in the UK.

I won't drone on about how much I love this film, but I'll just say that I think it's one of the best endings to a film ever made. It never fails to resonate emotionally with me.

Such a sad and funny film. 9/10

Dunkirk

Saw this in the cinema on IMAX.

Firstly, and unrelated to the film itself, I couldn't help but snort at the intro to the IMAX cinema when they played a little film essentially telling me how much of a good time I was going to have. It was almost like some weird brainwashing technique to hypnotise you into feeling you'd made the best decision of your life. I still can't get over the fact that we paid £16 for tickets, but I spent the film with a man's head blocking the lower part of the screen. Anyway, enough ranting about overpriced cinema experiences.

The film was good. There was a lot of it that I liked. I'm personally not such a big fan of war films, and I don't like the feeling that people are trying to manipulate viewers into a sense of patriotism or nostalgia for something that is in essence the most diabolical aspect of human history. However, I don't think that was the message of this particular film. This film is a crash course in imagining all of the terrible ways it is possible to die, then dangling those possibilities in front of your face (with full surround sound).

I liked the fact that there wasn't much dialogue. I liked that we never really saw "the enemy". I also enjoyed the separate stories and chronologies because they involved a little legwork on the part of the viewer.

On an aside, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw that they'd given Tom Hardy another role where his mouth was covered and we couldn't really hear what he was saying. I kept thinking Bane in a plane, Bane in a plane whenever he came on.

But I liked the film, and I think I'll watch it again soon. 8/10

Paprika (Re-watch)

I must've watched this originally in 2006 (the year it came out), and I remember being slightly underwhelmed, but I would say mostly confused.

And I suppose this is a perfect example of why I should always revisit films, even if I didn't get on with them the first time. Sometimes I get things completely wrong.

What a drastically different experience it was watching for the second time! I'd got the urge to re-watch the film after I'd seen this incredible YouTuber who posts video essays on films. He goes by the name Every Frame a Painting, and I would definitely recommend taking a look at his YouTube channel here.

I'd watched one video in particular analysing the works of the anime director Kon Satoshi here and seeing how Kon Satoshi had influenced Christopher Nolan and Darren Aronofsky so much (with actual scenes being completely recreated in their films as homage to Kon), I decided Paprika deserved one more, closer, watch.

On a side note, I watched another film by Kon called Tokyo Godfathers last summer as research for the book I'm writing at the moment. It was great – a film about three homeless friends in Tokyo trying to carve out a life for themselves, all running away from their pasts. Unfortunately I watched it before I started this blog, so I don't have a review for it, but would recommend it.

But Paprika was just spectacular though. I suppose I watched it before Inception was even made, but I have to state clearly Inception probably would not exist if Paprika hadn't been made. When I first watched Paprika, I don't think I followed the plot well, but this time I understood it better, and it really blew my mind. People diving down into sleep to experience shared dreams, a mass subconscious of a dreaming city becoming overcome with a common dream of modern consumer-driven madness. The shared dream involved an insane procession of religious and commercial items walking through the streets of Tokyo – Salarymen leaping to their deaths from the tops of buildings, films merging into dreams, dreams merging into films, the city itself fighting against nature, nature fighting back. Breathtaking.

I can't stress this highly enough. Go and watch this film. 9/10

Lolita (Re-watch)

Woke up early with a hangover and saw this on Netflix. Thought it would be a good way to pass the time.

It's not a bad film, but some of it looks a bit dated. There were a few shots that I would've actually cut in embarrassment if I'd been the director.

I think it's always going to be tough making a film version of such an incredible book, and the film toes the line awkwardly between sexualising Lolita, and showing how young and immature she is. I can see how this might have caused some controversy when released, but I would say that this film can only be understood fully by reading the book, which I think depicts one of the greatest unreliable narrators in the history of literature.

Nevertheless, worth a watch. 8/10

Kedi

They need to make more films like this. A documentary following the lives of several cats who roam the streets of Istanbul, getting into adventures and forging relationships with humans.

I loved it.

The book I'm working on at the moment shares something with this documentary, so I was really excited to see it when I first saw the trailer. It really didn't let me down.

It could've been even longer and delved even deeper into the cat population of Istanbul, alongside the interesting people who look out for them, and live alongside them. The old man who went to feed the cats everyday because it helped him with his depression – these are the kinds of stories I like to hear about. People who take a moment to recognise the real beauty in life.

"You can love if your heart's eye is open," one man observes. "Everything is beautiful if you look at it with love. If you can enjoy the presence of a cat, a bird, a flower, all the world will be yours." And later, we hear, "A cat at your feet is life smiling at you."

Incredibly moving. 9/10

The Breakfast Club (Re-watch)

Sigh. Back when films were magical.

When they took chances – perhaps they didn't have the flashiness or the visual effects – hell maybe the dialogue even was a bit ropey here and there, but they tried to be engaging and deal with deep themes.

I've seen this film so many times, and there's not much I want to say about it really, other than the fact that I just wish there was a director like John Hughes around today, because what will the youth of today have to look up to in terms of art in the future.

Nothing but a culture of hedonistic materialism. 9/10

It Comes at Night

Went to the cinema to watch this and enjoyed it.

I'd watched the director's first film called Krisha so I was looking forward to seeing this full-length feature. It didn't disappoint.

The film followed a time-honoured set up – a kind of post-apocalyptic world where a surviving family live in fear in an old house in the woods. They don't go out at night, and there's something they fear.

I won't spoil what happens, but I enjoyed the pacing of the film. I loved the dream sequences, and the characters were all intriguing.

Well shot, and a solid film. Perhaps I enjoyed Krisha more, but this was still great. 8/10

Beware the Slenderman

Well crikey, this was some fucked up shit.

This wasn't a film I knew anything about – my viewing partner picked it out. I hadn't heard anything about this case of two young girls attempting to murder their friend by stabbing her to death because of their belief in an Internet meme called Slenderman (pictured in the film cover).

I found this troubling to watch, and there were many points at which I wanted to turn it off. Watching the interview tapes carried out by the law enforcement officers got me imagining having to interview these two kids myself, and all I could think of was how I wouldn't be able to let something slip out along the lines of, "Wow, kid. You're pretty fucked up."

The dad's blaming it all on the iPad made me wonder too. It's another case of technology and the Internet being blamed for another human atrocity. There's nothing wrong with these technological advances we're making, but there may well be something inherently wrong with us as a species.

I just wonder about this world we live in sometimes. 7/10