Hey guys Vancouver Film Fest is still happening here's some more films I saw
I saw In the Fade starring Diane Kruger who won Best Actress at Cannes Film Festival
Now, before watching this film I already knew that the reviews were a little mixed, to put it lightly
But I figured, ehh, Diane Kruger and a revenge story she won Best Actress
at worst it'll be a little entertaining, right? And that's pretty much what it was.
Although selling it with the label of it being a revenge story is almost a little misleading
Quite a huge chunk of the film is more or less a courtroom drama.
There's no inkling of a revenge plot whatsoever until a good two thirds through the film
Honestly the best word I could use to describe this film as a whole is "confused."
It spent a hell of a lot of time on things that didn't matter and no time on things that would matter
For the first third of the film were essentially watching her mourn over characters that were lost at the beginning,
but it spent absolutely no time developing them or even her relationship to them.
It's really just glossed over for no reason at all and it results in a situation where you feel like
"Okay, you're telling me I should be caring about this, but why?"
Diane Kruger's performance was unsurprisingly fantastic.
She did an amazing job displaying grief, and I believed every second of it,
but it's almost as if the performance was wasted because of the film's
odd refusal to properly develop the story.
One of the people that died was a pretty shitty actor, so maybe they just cut out ten scenes.
During the unnecessarily long courtroom chapter it plays off in such a cheesy and
Predictable way the defense lawyer is played by somebody who I'm forced to believe
has only ever played villains in every movie he's ever been in.
It was all played off so incredibly unrealistically and cheesy,
Which was made even worse by how stretched out it felt.
The whole first third of the film felt stretched out as well.
Like, exactly how many scenes are you gonna use that cheesy ass rain machine.
The actual filmmaking was fine, I guess.
Honestly without Diane Kruger's performance,
this movie would be pretty fucking unwatchable.
There was some really awful and laughable CG fire
during a scene that you're supposed to be taking very seriously.
And on top of that, the movie was strangely political.
Not saying I disagree with the politics in the film,
but by the end of it it was clear that this movie wasn't really made for the sake of expression and storytelling,
and that the politics presented in this film took precedence over literally everything else.
Check this one out if you love Diane Kruger I guess,
but otherwise you should probably skip it and I'm giving this one a 4 out of 10.
Next I saw Call Me by Your Name, from the director of I Am Love,
which was very high up on my 2010 list.
In between then and now he also directed A Bigger Splash, which I thought was really good
but is definitely not gonna make my 2015 list.
Call Me by Your Name is an expertly made gay romance film
and you don't have to be attracted to men to enjoy it.
Much like I Am Love, there's some excellent cinematography going on in the film
and one of the bigger selling points that had me super excited to see it
is that the music is done by Sufjan Stevens,
an artist who I already really love and one that created one of my favorite albums of all time.
The music by Sufjan Stevens worked so incredibly well for this film.
In I Am Love, the film's composition was in ways a grandiose spectacle,
but Sufjan Stevens brings this film a unique level of intimacy.
The way that this director is able to play on your senses is nothing short of mesmerizing.
Whenever he shows characters eating, the food looks more delicious than anything you've ever seen.
The way the scenery is presented just makes you want to be there.
This is a director that has an unmatched grasp on human sensuality.
This is a film that you can fall into and never want to leave.
All of the acting was top-notch and there wasn't a moment where I didn't believe their performances.
The actors were perfectly cast for their roles,
and there wasn't a shred of doubt over the legitimacy of their emotions
Another thing I loved about this film is how they were able to faithfully present gay romance
and sexuality without it being needlessly pornographic.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people that thinks that there's anything inherently wrong with sex or nudity
and honestly I feel like people need to stop being so fucking repressed about it.
"Wow, human beings have genitals and have sex? Oh my God!"
It's only as big of a deal as you make it, you know?
But this film was able to create emotion so flawlessly on its own
that having money shots would have felt a little bit unnecessary, you know?
In a film like Shortbus the sexual acts are more or less a part of the story and it makes sense,
but in many films including one that I saw earlier at the festival called BPM,
it often adds nothing to the story and just feels as though we're pausing for a porno.
I don't know, I think it really depends on the tone of the film and what it's going for.
There's an incredibly lengthy erotic lesbian sex scene in The Handmaiden,
but through it we're able to watch the transformation of a character,
not to mention how well shot and comedically toned the entire sequence was
and if you're paying attention to the film the borderline pornographic nature of these sequences
holds a lot of symbolic purpose towards the film as well
but then in a film like Blue is the Warmest Color which overall was a well made and well acted film
it honestly felt as though the story just stopped so we could watch a lesbian porno.
"Hold on for a good seven minutes guys, we're about to watch some hot lesbian action,
and if you're not into that, well, you might as well just be staring at a wall."
Like, come on, even if you love the movie you have to admit that it was just the director getting off at that point
which is a sentiment shared by people who worked on the film.
In films like that it almost brings into question why the director chose the project in the first place.
Did you want to film a porn and the rest of the film around that is just your elaborate excuse so that you can pretend otherwise?
'Cause that's what it seems like.
Anyway, Call Me by Your Name in no way hides or glosses over gay male sexuality,
but it doesn't create scenes in which you have to be gay to enjoy them.
The romance and sexuality in this film is an emotional connection you experience with the characters,
and it's clear how much talent it takes to present this,
considering just how many directors resort to filming essentially porn scenes as a substitute.
Call Me by Your Name is so confident in its presentation that it never feels as though it has to resort to that
It's also so confident in its story that it never resorts to any any of the tropes
you would typically find in a gay romance.
This is a very special and unique film that is easy to get lost in, and I cannot wait to see it again.
And I'm giving this one a 9 out of 10.
No I have not gotten soft on my ratings there are just a lot of great films this year,
which is something that I called way back in the year as soon as I saw what kind of a lineup Cannes Film Festival had.
Anyway, Vancouver Film Fest is already done, so I'll be working on Amusement Park 3 until it's out.
There's still a few films from the festival that I haven't covered yet,
But I'll be getting to those in the next week or two. Thank you, bye bye.