a different man - easily one of my favorites this year. 10/10 no notes.
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
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It's a psychological horror film,, as in Psycho etc.
Emilia Perez was another Audiard wankathon - glad to see I'm keeping my 100% record of not enjoying a single film made by this charlatan.
Zoe Saldana is great though. Like, really really great. As was Karla Sofia Gascon. Otherwise, meh.
Zoe Saldana is great though. Like, really really great. As was Karla Sofia Gascon. Otherwise, meh.
This movie is being absolutely lauded. Overrated is it?
Controversy! Didn’t @Sweet Square give it 10/10 masterpiece? I haven’t seen it yet but it looks wild.
Not really for me to say, but I hated it. Nevertheless, as I'd stated on here before, I've never liked anything Audiard has ever made, I find him to have the depth of a paddling pool. Probably just not to my taste, but I found this one particularly meh, probably because of how lauded it is. There's some hype machines that I just don't get (see also - Anora), maybe they're capturing something I'm completely missing, maybe I'm just getting too old to enjoy them, I don't know.
With Emilia Perez, like with other Audiard films, I find everything so scripted, telegraphed, phoned in, like you have the director standing over your shoulder telling you "hey did you see that? That was cool! And that? That was sad! And that? That was POWERFUL!" without ever letting the viewer just experience things (probably cos there's not much to experience), constantly trying to shove things down your throat.
It's also quite impressive how little it has to say about anything after trying to talk about so many different things (trans, narco trafficking, women in Mexico, etc.), and how bad the music is, considering it is, after all, a musical.
But Saldana is genuinely exceptional in this and should win every available prize. If only for that, I don't regret seeing it.
Sweetums and I have our disagreements. We usually work it over drinks and Megalopolis playing on a loop in the background, and all is well in the world.
I haven't seen it yet but what about A Prophet? I remember enjoying it years ago but I don't think I've seen any others
It's a standard prison film that Audiard's wankery tried to elevate beyond that, with the usual inaccuracies and silliness. It's only slightly elevated by Niels Arestrup's excellent performance (Tahar Rahim got a lot of plaudits for reasons that elude me, he was fine but nothing special). It's the kind of thing that would play on a Sunday evening on TV and be instantly forgotten if Audiard wasn't a Cannes darling and each of his films didn't come with unnecessary fanfare.
EDIT: to clarify, Un Prophète isn't a bad film, and I'd probably have enjoyed it more if it wasn't masquerading as something more pretentious than it actually is. It's probably Audiard's film I like the most/dislike the least, and I wouldn't ever have the desire to watch it again.
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I hate being force fed everything in films so that resonates. But I was a fan of Anora so maybe it’s just different tastes… I’ll have to watch Emilia Pérez anyway. Too intrigued now.
Yep a really brilliant film.
Remember next time we need to get our “Don't let the now destroy the forever” tattoos done.
Tbh I haven’t seen it yet. I did post the hospital scene which looked terrible. Although the film is on my watch list.
For the most part I do enjoy musicals. Recently watched Annette by Leos Carax(A very silly, self aware and sincere musical starting a Adam Driver who can’t sing) and Please Baby Please by Amanda Kramer(Grease but camp and gender bending).
Oh yes yes yes!Yep a really brilliant film.
Remember next time we need to get our “Don't let the now destroy the forever” tattoos done.
Tbh I haven’t seen it yet. I did post the hospital scene which looked terrible. Although the film is on my watch list.
For the most part I do enjoy musicals. Recently watched Annette by Leos Carax(A very silly, self aware and sincere musical starting a Adam Driver who can’t sing) and Please Baby Please by Amanda Kramer(Grease but camp and gender bending).
As for Emilia Perez, I haven't seen Annette or Please Baby Please, but from your description, it sounds like Emilia Perez might be your cup of tea!
I think I've only ever seen A Prophet, which I seem to remember enjoying.
Interesting. The trans film critics I follow online seem to absolutely hate but will give it a watch before the year is over.
there are so many shitty musicals this year. seems like a theme or something. emilia perez, joshua oppenheimer’s the end, armand(sort of). all of them pretty bad.
That's interesting - do you remember the gist of what they said they disliked? I'm not surprised, it brushes over the whole trans thing pretty quick and doesn't ever really address it with any kind of depth (which is one of my criticism for all the things the film touches upon)
Thanks! A lot of it echoes how I feel about the film, other parts are an interesting perspective for me, but overall it conforts me in my feeling it's a very poor, superficial film masquerading as something more important than it is, aided by a frankly baffling hype machine. I hope you get to see it cos I'm curious to know what your feedback will be.
I completely disagree with everything you wrote here. I think it does "say" something about all those issues but as it is a crime movie at its core, it's not being so bloody obvious about it that it feels like preaching or being so subtle like some art house wank that you need to take notes and consult some critical theory lecture to break down its point.
And the music is fantastic, with the exception being that cringey Bangkok song. The music is pretty much better than any album @Dirty Schwein put on his decades of favorite albums.
Well this is clearly untrue. Whatever this conversation is about, I'm sure @Rooney in Paris is correct.
Caddo Lake Time travel sci-fi with thriller elements. The who's who of it all more or less works out but
Not terrible but the 1hr 43m run time feels longer as there isn't really enough plot to fill the time. 5.5/10 (or bollocks/10 as Mrs Wibble rated it)
there are so many actual and potential time paradoxes that you lose track after a while. It also doesn't makes sense that it only happens when there is a drought, no attempt is even made to hint at why, and why does it only affect a few individuals from one family?
Rebel Ridge is very good. 5/5.
Finally got around to seeing this.
Emilia Perez
Within the first 30 minutes there’s terf fantasies, a Kamala Harris style fever dream and a musical duet that takes place in Tel Aviv.
It’s all very sub par feeling. A musical with no memorable tunes, set pieces are shot like music videos, action scenes resemble straight to dvd Steven Seagal movies and a plot which is a temu version of Sicario.
The film finds no interest in non passing trans people other than being horrified. It only cares about Emilia Pérez after she has gone through full transition into ultra wealthy aunty mode. The flip from to Tony Montana to charity NGO fundraiser is mind numbingly stupid.
They do make a song and dance of class, corruption and race but it’s all predictable while promoting liberal norms. Plus it has the typical lazy stereotyping of Mexico.
The result is boring movie. So I’m expecting it to win the Oscar for best picture.
0/10
Carry On
Carry on what? Absolute nonsense, unfunny and Taran Edgerton might have shown his comedy chops as Eddie the Eagle but he's no long term replacement for Sid James.
Carry on what? Absolute nonsense, unfunny and Taran Edgerton might have shown his comedy chops as Eddie the Eagle but he's no long term replacement for Sid James.
Spy. An action comedy by and with Melissa McCarthy, directed by Paul Feig. The plot and it's innumerable turns makes little sense, but there are plenty of laughs in it, so it works well enough. 6/10.
Watched Emilia Pérez tonight. Unfamiliar with this director’s previous work, so went in mostly cold. There were a lot of things to like about this film, but the weakest element would be the lack of melody in all but 2 songs. Visually sumptuous film, some terrific images. Saldana was great.
If a person is not inclined to enjoy light opera, they would hate this. I read @Rooney in Paris ’s criticism of how overblown things were as confirmation. Puccini without the hits. It’s supposed to be overwrought and the emotions milked to within an inch of their lives.
The “people are talking” number was the best one for me. The best scene though was when Manitas is selling Saldana on taking the gig and he delivers his lines low and monotone but with a hiphop rhythm.
Film felt too long by about 25 minutes.
Also @Rooney in Paris If you didn’t like previous films by this guy why watch this one? Maybe you get caught up in the hype, same as I do every time I watch a Tarantino movie. I don’t know if I’d see another film by Audiard, this was good but the trailer makes it look a lot better than it really is.
A solid B, B+. 8/10
Bit of a weird question, no? I love cinema, this film got lauded at Cannes, was one of my brothers' favourite films of the year, has generated massive buzz, and was being discussed in my group of friends - short answer, as with most things related to culture I guess, I was curious. It cost me 5€ and 2h of my time to make up my own mind about it.
There's also some directors whose work overall I don't appreciate but have the odd film that I really enjoy.
I had very low expectations for this, but despite being a Die Hard / Red Eye hybrid I actually thought they did OK with it.
Not really, if you'll indulge me: the reasons I dislike certain directors' works are generally consistent across these works. Examples: Spielberg's softheaded sentimentality, Tarantino's glorification of violence for its own sake or as comedy, M. Night making slick trash that defies logic, or Ron Howard making any story feel like it was a modestly budgeted made for TV project. The reverse is also true: someone can hate Wes Anderson movies (I happen to love them) and no matter how good a new Wes Anderson movie is, it will still carry all the signifiers of what makes it a Wes Anderson movie. So a friend who hates WA is encouraged by me to see the new film, but the friend is never going to like it regardless because what they actually dislike is what WA specifically brings to the table.
In the case of Audiard, you said you've hated everything they've done. So my question was, why see the next one, or what made you think Audiard would make a great film that transcends what you hate about Audiard and still be an Audiard film?
I saw Once Upon A Time In Hollywood because I didn't want to be the only kid at school who couldn't discuss it. But that's after swearing I'd never see another Tarantino movie after Inglorious Basterds. I was talked into seeing The Hateful Eight - and I absolutely abhorred that film. Then I was talked into seeing OUATIH, and had similar results. The very Tarantinoness of the film is what I hate. It's not the story or the actors/acting, it's the man behind the curtain.
So for Audiard, I'm on the fence. If you said that an earlier film by him was better than Emilia Pérez, I might be inclined to see it based on why you think it's better. If every Audiard film features these large, over the top, quasi-operatic scenes with subpar music, then I'd give it a miss regardless if it was a better example of how that director does things.
There are some directors who make stuff that is so strongly original that the experience is justified even if the product is bad. Examples might be David Lynch, Leo Carax, Julia Ducournau, Atom Egoyan, John Sayles. Directors whose work is worth it for the immersion in their viewpoint, even if artistically/dramatically the films might not pay off.
Someone compared emilia perez to the 2003 film Crash(Not the cool cronenberg film)and I tend to agree. Really didn’t click for me.
That's interesting, I'd think the Cronenberg one was stylistically closer, but yeah the Oscar-winning Crash was a stupid, stupid film.
I keep watching movies by directors i think are rubbish, expecting a rubbish film. I guess i skipped zack snyder's most recent one but thats after about 7 or 8 terrible films. You just have standards i guess? I'll watch any old shit.
Just watched Carry-on…I have absolutely no idea how it is getting good reviews - it’s one of the most moronic films I’ve ever fecking seen with people continually doing the stupidest shit to drive the plot forward. Normally I’m all over leave-your-brain at home action films but for some reason this one just pissed me off - maybe because some eejits have compared it to die hard!!!
as soon as I realised how dumb it was I considered quitting but the sheer stupidity kept me going
it was hilariously bad
I almost watched that Army of the Dead movie, had it playing then saw Zack Snyder’s name. Switched it off, even though a tiny voice was whispering “maybe this one isn’t as shit as all his others…” I’m sure it was though.
It's quite possibly his magnum opus of shit.
I thought rebel moon was his magnum opus of shit. I didn't realise Army of the Dead was by him but skipped it because it still looked terrible.
Sucker Punch has to be in contention for Snyder’s Opus Shittus. Or is it Shittus Opus?
Full disclosure: I did watch about 10 minutes of this movie. Everything was off, as if the cast were super high on cocaine and delivered their lines phonetically with no understanding of what the words meant. It was uncomfortably bad.
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