It's been a while since I did a true myzozoa weird post, so here we are.
I recently made a list of movies to watch since afaik I have watched all the TV shows that are worth watching, it being quarantine and all, and it looks like I'm just gonna be watching drag race and bake-off until 2022 at this rate. Anyway, I had to scrape the bottom of the barrel which means films. TV has come along way in the last 15 years and it is pretty safe to say that most film is garbage in comparison and that TV is a far superior device for fiction.
So I made a list of films I wanted to watch so my partner could say 'no' to half of them since she isn't up for most of the films I would like to watch.
Nonetheless we've made good progress on the list:
1. I Care A Lot
This is a sort of dramedy about 2 evil lesbians who take over old peoples' lives through the guardianship legal process. They become guardians of old people who supposedly need health care and someone to manage their affairs because in their aged state they can't manage their own affairs. The guardian controls finances and moves the old people out of their homes and into care facilities, denying them visits from their families and generally controlling their lives while paying themselves with the money from the estates of the people they've essentially kidnapped through court order. One day, the evil lesbians pick the wrong person, an old lady who seems to have no family, but turns out to be the mother of a mobster. A sort of face-off ensues between the lesbians and the mobster and that is basically the plot of the film without too much spoiled.
I'd give it a 7.5/10, as despite recognizing the weaknesses of film as a medium, I tend to overrate films cause they're entertaining. It is a humorous and watchable comedy with decent suspense. All and all pretty much what you should get out of a movie that you're going to spend 2 hours watching. The film exposes a rather frightening and seemingly abusable legal process, and is thoughtfully plotted, shot, etc all of which diminished the typical buyers remorse I have about movies.
2. Tangerine
This movie was shot all on an i-phone and has many visually beautiful scenes. The film is about 2 transgender prostitutes in Los Angeles, one of whom has just gotten out of prison to find out her boyfriend/pimp has been cheating on her. A parallel plot follows an Armenian cab driver who has a crush on her. This movie is probably more fun and interesting for people who live in or are from Los Angeles, such as myself. It is beautifully shot, but the plot is thin and most of the dialogue in the first half is not engaging.
I'd give it a 6.5/10, as I said before I always inflate my movie ratings, but also the second half is much more redeeming after a weak first half.
3. Borat Subsequent Film
I don't think I watched the first Borat film all the way through ever, except on an airplane, so it wasn't particularly memorable as I went to watch the sequel. The sequel is highly watchable and not as cringy as I expected from reading about it. The film follows Borat and his daughter as they travel to America to give a gift to Mike Pence. The expected humor is all there, but the film evokes an array of emotions and has a healthy, if contrived, complexity. Imo, the major strength of this film's construction is the juxtaposition of the fictionalized 'Kazakstani' sexism with the all too real American sexism that is exposed in the film.
I would give this film an 8.5/10, it captures many moments of irony, such as when some q-anon believers explain to Borat what a conspiracy theory is. I feel, given the nature of a project like this, that the film has been edited very precisely to deliver the strongest footage to the audience.
4. Kajillionaire
This film is the main inspiration for me actually writing about how I came to watch these movies. This movie was certainly calculated to entice me, in particular, into watching a Miranda July film, which is not something I had ever before considered doing. It stars the actress who plays Jane in Jane the Virgin, and the actress who plays Delores in Westworld (as seen in my avatar on this website), which meant I had to watch it, it was perfectly suited to get my money. The film also takes place in LA, for extra bonus enticement. I was pleasantly surprised to find, as a person with parents that have minor sociopathic tendencies, that this film did speak to that element of my life experiences. It is a highly strange movie that follows a family, parents and daughter, who get by in life by "scraping", essentially doing minor con artist type schemes to survive, with the daughter being forced to do much of the risky work and her parents basically treating her like shit and often humiliating her verbally.
One day, finding that she's won some free airline tickets through some drawing she's entered, the daughter puts together a scheme where she insures some luggage and has her parents steal it, she will then collect the payout from the insurance. They fly to NYC and camp out at the airport before flying back the next day. While on the plane back to LA, the parents meet a women that works at a Lenscrafter's type store. She is interested, for some unexplained and thin reason, in participating in the family's schemes, and promises to connect them to some of the desperate old people she encounters while working at the glasses store, so that together they can con and rob them. The daughter of the family is jealous of her parent's interest in this woman after the years of emotional neglect her parents have inflicted upon her. After confronting her parents about their lack of love for her, the daughter leaves with the woman from the plane, who promises to do all the things her parents never did for her, in exchange for the money the insurance paid out. The rest of the film depicts both this, and the drama that ensues from her parents attempting to 'win' her back.
I'd rate this film a 7/10, the first half is kind of strange and may not hold the interest of some viewers, but the relationship between the daughter and the woman from the plane that develops in the second half makes the film compelling. Evan Rachel Wood delivers an outstanding performance throughout, which is worth watching for its own sake.
If you made it to the end, thanks for reading. If I get a chance to watch The Mauritanian and/or The Lobster I'll be back with another post.