Movie reviews

US

Recommended again. I tried to catch more meanings and work out if Jason was switched too. In vain. Here are the very few details that caught my attention at the second viewing. Spider-Woman is mentioned and 2 spiders appear which can lead to a multitude of interpretations depending on which Spider-Woman you analyze. The star frisbee turns up on the beach and the two white twins do stars too. The Tethered wear a glove like Jacko did in "Thriller" whose T-shirt the girl is wearing. The boat is called Crow Daddy, just like a character from the game called "The True Knot" which is a sequel to "The Shining". Crow Daddy's skill is kidnapping but his mind gets taken over by the one he captured. In "Us", the dad gets cornered when the boat circles him like the shark in "Jaws" whose T-shirt his son is wearing. The white family's voice recognition smart house system is called Ophelia like the one in "Hamlet" who, after her father's death starts talking in riddles and sings inappropriate songs. When strangers appear at the door of the white family, the man jokes: "It's O.J. Simpson" which is a reference to a black sportsman convicted of armed robbery and murders. The sound is truly surrounding. Both the TV commercial and the final shot of Hands Across America feature "Les Fleurs" by Minnie Riperton - a song of hope for the forlorn but also saying: "Inside every man lives the seed of a flower" - are the Tethered the internal manifestations of people or are people hidden inside the Tethered? People look like scissors in the Hands Across America poster. It's also a grim version of "Alice in Wonderland" - she follows the rabbit. Apart from all the cultural references, there are some witty lines, e.g.: "You're scaring the kids" and the kids say in unison: "Too late." Another interesting thing is that it's women who take decisions in the movie. The female lead even says it explicitly to her husband - he's no longer in control.

Rain was dropping as I was entering the cinema, just like when the girl was entering the mirror labyrinth and a guy in the audience kept grunting until... the Tethered started their grunts. Omens this time too.


HORROR MARATHON WITH LA LLORONA

Since I had watched "Lights Out" and both parts of "Conjuring" before, I skipped those and only saw:

THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA IN ATMOS

Watchable. The apparition startles you often but the film's based on several horror gimmicks run-down so badly I yawned every now and then. The Atmos sound is perfectly clear but not sufficiently surrounding. Music by Joseph Bishara - the full-time horror score composer.


16TH DOCS AGAINST GRAVITY FILM FESTIVAL

I started this year's festival with the silent disco. Brit pop was the main theme and, while you have to sign that in case of damaging the earphones you'll cough up 800 zl, I admit the sound quality was top-notch. 

(M)OTHERHOOD

Recommended. Having a child in the Western world increases your carbon footprint 20 times, yet it's childless women who are, according to a survey, most often described as "infantile, narcissistic and neurotic". Cinema plays a role too since psychopathic women are always portrayed as childless. The documentary explicates maternal instinct is a sham designed to restrict females. While women are urged to participate in public life in times of war, crisis or a revolution, in times of prosperity they are pressured into child-bearing to the point where refusing to do so or regretting it provokes death threats. The film's far from obvious: a professional midwife has no children by choice and some mothers baulk at extolling motherhood. The notion of fatherhood, in turn, carries totally different connotations, to the detriment of mothers of course. Archive footage shows babies but it's easy to ignore since during those insertions you're going to be deep in thoughts. 

I checked out the debate on radicalism but heard only obvious stuff. 

The same with the meeting with "National Geographic Traveler" journalists - nothing new and, for a fact, in my case bus journeys were usually cheaper than train ones in Spain, contrary to what one of the journalists claimed.

The meeting with the director of "Land Without God" was more fruitful. Unfortunately what I heard what that nearly no prosecutions had taken place after the Church scandals in Ireland, only some little fish who admitted their guilt. And the whole abuse was possible in result of giving immense power to the Church by the state when it was weakened by the war.