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Faerie Tale Theatre (1982)
I grew up warching it
And it really had an impact on my love for fairy tales and literature in general!
Some episodes are better than others, but they are all are worth watching. Snow White, Cinderella, and The Dancing Princesses are particularly good. The Beauty and the Beast, wth Susan Sarandon and Klaus Kinski, pays homage to Cocteau's film. Some of the tales - all presented by Shelley Duvall - are less known and interesting to discover.
Many Hollywood stars played key-roles, but the scripts are the best part - classic tales with a twist (some even a little naughty, but I didn't realize as a child). Highly recommend it for all ages.
The Watcher (2022)
A mess
The crazy thing about this series is that the real story on which it is based is actually pretty creepy. On the screen, however, they managed to make it silly and childish (zero scary, don't expect any chills).
The major problem might be the amount of weird characters and artificial dialogue. We soon lose any notion of normality. The neighbours, the detectives, the friends... everybody is eccentric, to say the least. There isn't any subtlety whatsoever.
We don't get to wonder because the characters never wonder, they only do stupid things non stop, for 7 episodes.
Also, the generalized obsession with the house isn't convincing at all.
It's a pity. Other creators might have done something much more interesting with the same premise.
Persuasion (2022)
Why would marrying a poor guy be such a problem...
In a diverse, modern world where women can speak their minds and interracial relationships are seen as natural and welcome?
Are we to believe that racial diversity and sexism have nothing to do with classism? Here was I under the impression that those issues are interrelated...
And: how could anyone persuade this Anne - extrovert, sarcastic, impetuous - not to marry her crush?!
As an adaptation, it's unspeakable. But the thing is: as an independent narrative it also doesn't make much sense either...
(I give it a 4 because it may work as a Bridget Jones-esque satire... Perhaps.)
PCC - Poder Secreto (2022)
Understanding PCC
The documentary covers the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) faction from its genesis to present days, with revealing interviews with former members, lawyers and other civil servants, and other people directly and indirectly involved with the crime. The interviews allow a deeper understanding of how organized crime works in Latin America and in its relationship with other factions around the world.
Hytti nro 6 (2021)
Sensitive journey
I have just watched this at the Mostra Internacional de São Paulo.
It feels very genuine: the acting is naturalistic and the story, simple. It's a road movie/coming of age experience that teaches us a few valuable lessons without preaching them. Also a reminder of how much we miss natural-looking people on the big screen.
The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
All over the place
This series is the living proof that concise, simple story-telling is 1) unfortunately, very rare these days; 2) MUCH more effective than creating tens of underdeveloped subplots, dream sequences, empty scenes that take you nowhere, etc., etc.
Henry James's novella and Clayton's "The Innocents" are effective because they allow us to fill in the blanks. And these blanks are strategically put in the right places. The plot itself is relatively simple, and its impact on us is related to the way it triggers our imagination.
"Bly Manor"'plot, on the other hand, is excessively complicated, full of either boring explanations, or insinuations that are never explained (how did the parents truly die? what's with the uncle's evil alter ego? why placing the faceless doll under the dresser is so important if the ghost gets to drag people anyway? and what's with the doll house - what kind of power does Flora have, and why? why did the children forget? why should we consider peter and rebecca's relationship a love story when it's actually an abusive tale, and not an engaging one at that?).
Well, thank God the series didn't try to answer all these uninteresting plot devices. If it needed an entire episode just to justify the presence of the main ghost, imagine how that would go.
To make things worse, the accents are also all over the place, and the acting is not great either.
Horror fans: it's not remotely scary.
I gave it a 4 for the few cute moments.
Midsommar (2019)
More like a painting than a narrative *spoilers*
I think the film, while beautiful to look at, has simple storytelling problems: 1) we don't feel much for the characters, hence we don't feel much at all; 2) it has no climax.
The characters are not developed enough for us to feel that invested, and Christian, specifically, is too generic for us to care about him.
POV keeps changing, which may work for slasher movies, but here... not so much.
The worst moment in this sense is showing the red-haired girl getting ready for seduction: shouldn't we be always "with" the outsiders? Why are we "alone" with her? Bad scene.
And... no climax. As we know everything that is going to happen (foreshadowing is largely used in tapestry, wall paintings, and dialogue), there are no surprises or reveals.
Also, to work as a fable, it should be more distant from reality; to work as reality, it should be closer to it. There are many contrivances - are the boys really PhD students? If so, why are they so completely lost regarding methodology, ethics, theme definition and all the basics of which common researchers are aware?
The festival happens every 90 years, but the May Queen is elected every year. So her role in the other 89 years is to bless the crops, and this one time (what a coincidence that Dani got to win!) is to decide who dies. Oh well.
As others are commenting, Midsommar does less with what other movies did more.
For loony pagans and their rituals with a somewhat anthropologist character, The Wicker Man.
For white-dressed girls dancing in trance, Picnic at Hanging Rock.
For cult craziness and the effects on a girl, Marcy May Marlene.
For a detached, superficial boyfriend, Legally Blonde ;)
Ah-ga-ssi (2016)
Closer to Almodóvar and Tarantino, not Hitchcock
Because of Oldboy, I had very high expectations... So maybe that explains why the experience fell a little flat. I think it is to do with the fact that I was expecting a suspense full of tension.
First of all, I would classify it as a dramedy of sorts. Why people relate this to any Hitchcock is beyond me. I didn't find it even remotely tense -- we can easily predict what is going to happen in each of the three parts, and there is no element of fear. All along we know that everything is going to turn out fine.
The character of the uncle, for instance: I kept waiting for him to show his true colours in a much worse way. The conman is stupid and goofy. And the female characters are beautiful and fun to watch, but superficial and silly as well.
I did find it funny at times and even laughed out loud with one or two scenes. The characters and the plot are kind of childish, and perhaps would have benefited from being a little sharper, thus turning the experience into a more Almodóvar-like one. But overall it is quite entertaining.
Scenery and costumes are kitsch enough, and the fast pace and kookiness remind us of Tarantino.
The Age of Adaline (2015)
Stylish and superficial
I decided writing my first review here about this movie because I'm really confused about the positive impressions I've just read.
The Age of Adaline is a romantic fable, and that's fine. My problem, though, is that it suggests an interesting theme -- being young forever -- but gives very little insight in this regard.
For instance, Blake Lively is beautiful and wears vintage very well. But why does the character only wear vintage clothes? At first, I thought they were all clothes from when she "freezed" in time. But, no: she wears styles from different decades -- 40s, 50s, 60s. Did she like those decades better than the later ones? If so, why? Is she nostalgic? In what ways? Isn't she able to update herself to new times? Those could be interesting questions. Her wardrobe is one of those story-telling devices that seem obvious, but, if you look closely, they don't really make sense. For all I know, the only purpose of her wearing those dresses was to be stylish, just like the fashionista Lively is real life.
I came out of this movie without imagining any great difficulties of never aging. The narrator and Adaline talk about them (loneliness; being persecuted by the FBI; being parted from your child; in love, "it's all heartbreak"), but do we actually feel them watching her? Well, I didn't, quite the opposite.
For me it seemed impressively easy to live like she did, specially because the main love story in the movie is ridiculously smooth: the guy is handsome, rich, caring and loves her to death without even knowing her. The only conflict (I won't spoil)is solved in the most unrealistic (in respect to human emotions, not scientific facts)possible way. If she was lonely, she seemed to be so for 5 minutes. The rest of the time she was either dressing herself in beautiful gowns, getting along fine with her mature daughter and looking at the stars with her lover.
Highlander might have given us more food for thought. For fashion ideas, though, it's worth watching.