A film about the dangers of being a woman in Ireland dressed up as a grannyfapper romance. Pretty much every horrific crime committed by the Catholic Church gets played out in this movie, in which a young Irish rose gets Count Frollo’ed. Gie it a by and watch something cheery.
Fuck me, I thought that would never end. Just saw The Demons. Boring as fuck.
I know you’re not supposed to say films are boring, in the same way that you’re not supposed to say people are ugly – they’re not ugly, they’re just not beautiful in the way you like – but fuck it! This film was boring! I was watching a shot about an hour and a half in, when I’d lost all patience, and was just like, “What is this for? What is this shot for? Huh?” It’s not even pretentious, self-indulgent filmmaking which can sometimes bore me but I get that the person thinks they’re making something entrancing because they’re in love with their own work. This just felt poorly made, aimless, flat and dull.
I can’t even tell you what it was about. I’m not sure it had a point. At first I was like, oh it’s a coming-of-age film, but I’m not sure anyone came of age or learned anything or grew. After a solid hour and twenty minutes, the film decides to have its first dramatic incident when a paedo kills a kid. Some might call that overdoing it. This incident floats disjointed like the rest of the mundane happenstances in the film, with no emotional resonance. This film is emotionally dead and it’s chronic sitting through it.
A simple tale of a gun deal gone wrong. Taking place entirely within a warehouse, the movie is action packed and darkly funny. Reminiscent of stuff like Reservoir Dogs or A Simple Plan.
Fuck. Just out of I Am Not Your Negro. Absolutely fucking excellent. It’s an attempt to finish on film James Baldwin’s final unfinished manuscript sketching a history of America by tracing the deaths of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. What unfolds on the screen is a series of visual essays on the soul of America. It is personal, it is political, it is philosophical, it is a living and continuing history, it is both a prophecy and a warning. It is moving and it is vitally alive. I cannot say it is beautiful because it is ugly but it is necessary. A true accomplishment. Everyone should see it until they choke or grow.
A film about a Swedish man with autism, several disabilities, facial deformity and a recent head injury who goes on to compete in the Nordic boules championship. The start’s a bit slow but it’s good once it gets going.
A film about Bassem Youssef, who is inspired by Jon Stewart’s Daily Show to set up a satirical comedy show in the period between the military dictatorships of Mubarak and El-Sisi. The guy’s really funny and so is the film, it makes me want to see more of his stuff. While the events in Egypt might make for a disappointing context, the film is in fact hopeful, with a message of make a difference where you can, when you can.
A film in which a prodigal daughter returns to the family farm following the suicide of her brother. Ellie Kendrick (Meera from Game of Thrones) is excellent as the main character, going through all these shades of grief.
A film about a man trying to break away from his father who would rather see him dead than “go gorgi”.
During the Q&A discovered that everything in the film is based on a real family called the Johnsons, who are semi-outcasts in the travelling community in Gloucester for being such mad bastard rip-and-run fiends. They spent 12 years working with the Johnsons to show the story fairly and they apparently are really supportive of the film.
The film’s really good for showing the good and bad in both ways of life. Equally it shows the limitations for someone wanting to change when they’re an illiterate adult with a long arrest record and whose main skill set is being a legendary thief.
What I found really interesting was the language, which is really authentic and full of playful expressive vocab. It’s a voice you don’t often get to hear.
The cast were of course amazing, with Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson and Lindsey Marshal and Sean Harris. For being a movie that’s kinda focused on the main character’s introspection about his life choices, it’s actually action-packed and never lets up. Good movie.
A film about a Finnish restaurant owner and a Syrian refugee he helps. It has this visual humour that’s sorta like something from the silent era, really old school style of comedy. I was kinda thrown by the pacing of it though, the two main characters don’t even meet for the first hour of the film. Solid movie though.
A documentary about a vegan filmmaker following a 73-year-old ex-colonial soldier on one last big game hunt.
I enjoyed it overall, the main character is definitely a compelling and intriguing anachronism, but the narration by the filmmaker is unnecessary, and in some ways detracts from the film overall. It needlessly underlines the obvious, and his voice is irritating. It’s not the tone, it’s that he comes off as a nyaff. It’s difficult in a film with a racist, homophobic, rabbit-killing, buffalo-shooting old bastard to come off as the unlikable one, but he somehow manages it. It’s like, mate, you’re in the right, just do nothing and people’ll be one your side. Don’t show folk photos of you bravely sitting alone eating a virtuous vegan dinner on Christmas to get our sympathies, you come off as a wank.
Surprisingly, despite being made by someone with vegan values, there’s no attempts in the film to counterpoint or correct some of the absolute tosh spouted in the film about the hunting being vital to conservation. It’s fine for the film to be a character study of this very funny old man without need to constantly call him out on his opinions, but to allow it to become a vehicle for bullshit pro-hunting arguments really shouldn’t go unchallenged.
Overall good but there’s a lot of footage of animals being skinned and gutted, so if that’s not your thing, maybe gie it a by.
When I was about to go into the movie, this loud obnoxious twat in a tweed jacket came up and started rabbiting on at the GFF volunteers on the doors. As I studiously avoided eye contact, I thought, maybe this is the eccentric old hunter the movie’s about. Then we got in and he was introduced as the director! He proceeded to say he found the small size of the audience “mortifying” and explained how little money he’d been given to promote the film. It’s like, mate, don’t berate people who’ve paid good money to see your film for not being more people. As the film started up he announced, “I’m going to hang about and check out the sound levels. I used to be a projectionist.” He gave the impression of being a consummate wank.