oh boy... Death Proof arrived through Netflix today!
That's besides the point...
SHAMELESS
Despite being my least favorite movie of the festival, it was interesting for a few reasons. The main being that this is an international festival, and as the old saying goes, you haven't lived until you've seen a film from the Czech Republic. Prague definitely looks like a beautiful city, and the film looked interesting enough in the program, about a fellow in a mid-life crisis who does some interesting acts of deception to continue his affairs. There were some very odd character moments that were off-putting, which I think was exactly the point. Otherwise there were lots of inconclusive moments, very little urgency in the character's motivations, and a lot of directionless scenes. By the time of the ending, which was unexpected and anticlimatic in all the bad ways, I had that sensation of watching a mediocre indie film. These are the types that are interesting enough in the sense that they aren't tugging violently at your sensations like blockbusters. But they lack any stylistic boldness or meaningful themes that make them stand out from anything riveting.
HANDSOME HARRY
One type of film I'm trying to deliberately avoid is any variation of the 'road movie'. I imagine a montage of a car driving on an open road sandwiched between character monologues the chew the scenery, and I get bored. But this fit into my schedule, and while a road movie in the broadest terms, it had a very suspenseful undercurrent that sustained the trips to different locales. There were some underformed characters and cliche moments that risked this movie being similar to Shameless. What all the male character macho posturing and genuflecting did, however, was really truly fool me into complacency that made the surprising conclusion bubble up so subtly. It has been a long time since I've seen an ending to a movie so unforgivably depressing, not in the way it makes you feel, but the way it makes you feel towards the protagonist. I really thought I figured this guy out by most of the movie, but kudos to the filmmaker for flashing us back to the past and forward again, revealing just the right about to keep us guessing.
I thought I was going to wrap up.. but the final 2 films will come later.
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