Film Log Oct 25
I've decided to revive the tradition to post monthly short little film reviews. Didn't watch a lot because of school sadly :(
"Kill List", dir. by Ben Wheatley (2011)
Crazy genre switch-up in the third act. Liked how tight it was. Interestingly enough it was definitely ahead of it's time, meaning that the folk-horror revival lead by the likes of Ari Aster and Robert Eggers happened years after 'Kill List' was made.
"Timecrimes", dir. by Nacho Vigalondo (2007)
A total mindfuck. What if the Dunning-Kruger effect was made into a film. Time travel as a self-fulfilling loop; every action already predetermined by itself happening. Really fun though. It basically shifts the perspective of a single plot line 3 times
"A Field in England", dir. by Ben Wheatley (2013)
Wheatly pushes the crazy notch to the max. Much more esoteric than his previous work, but also more freeing in form and content. I do think that the material grounding of 'Kill List' gave it more edge, but still, 'A Field in England' is at the very least a unique work of art
"Bleeder", dir. by Nicolas Winding Refn (1998)
An interesting blend of brutal violence and everyday romantic mellowness. Kind of meta, touching on connection between film as a medium and how it sanitizes brutality. In that sense it's close to Haneke, but it's just not quite there. Still, my favorite early Refn. Mads Mikkelsen is literally me.
"Fail Safe", dir. by Sidney Lumet (1964)
This film adopts the same material as "Dr. Strangelove", but these two are very different. Where Kubrick made a satire, Lumet outlines the dangers of unaccountable machines so complex that no one really know how they work. I also think it can be interesting to view the film as a critique of game theory narratives around nuclear war that treat total unimaginable annihilation as a kind of trade. Great film, go watch it.