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A triple feature last night. I tweeted to say they were all grim right after I finished watching them but having digested each overnight, although Red Riding is truly grim, but of the other two -although one is certainly downbeat, the other has an exuberance, an ultimate love of life and imagination that totally defeats any bits of grimness within the telling of the tale.
First up A Scanner Darkly, by Richard Linklater based on Phil Dick's novel (which I've never read). It's near future LA and an undercover cop (Keanu Reeves) is trying to get to the bottom of a drug ring--although somehow his job is related to New Path Recovery Center--an thinly disguised scientology-like cult. He lives in a house with asshole Robert Downey, Jr (perfect in the role) and clueless Woody Harrelson. The marvelously inventive skinsuit disguises the person wearing it by mutating into different visual and audio personalities-and one wonders if this splitting of personality is responsible for the problems Bob Arctor (the cop) has, rather than his ingesting Substance D.
First of all, I don't get this whole half animation used--it's neither live action nor honest to god animation.
Second, I don't know if the novel covers it but the movie never explains what Substance D does as a drug.
Third, Why does New Path work with him, given the ending?
For me, an enjoyable mess.
Second part of the Red Riding Trilogy about serial killers in Yorkshire. This one is about the Yorkshire Ripper and the corruption in the government and police force set up in section one continues, chomping everyone in its way. Grim and gritty.
The Fall, is an oddball film with Lee Pace and directed by Tarsem Singh taking place in 1915 LA in a hospital where a little girl (Alexandria) recovers from a broken arm from picking oranges, and a young stuntman named Roy recuperates from a bad fall. She has the run of the hospital and its grounds and comes across Roy. Depressed and suicidal over a failed love affair, ta her request, he begins a fantabulous story of derring do with 5 heroes -colorful and chaotic.
The opening sequence is excellent but it took awhile for me to get into it because Lee Pace's character has these HUGE eyebrows that really distracted me (honest). The visual look is very fine, which makes sense as Tarsem made The Cell, the movie with Jennifer Lopez that looked gorgeous but was totally empty. I admit to being confused by the supposed nationality of the child--I kept thinking she was east Indian not sure why (possibly because of the director's Bollywood influences)--yet her mother and sister are eastern European. Turns out she is Roumanian.
The bad guys in the fantasy sequences are powerfully effective, dressed in black like an anti-Zorro but growling like dogs.
Considering I'd never heard of it until someone online recced it to me, I suspect it didn't get a wide release. It takes its time but is well worth seeing--there's a lot to love about this film.
First up A Scanner Darkly, by Richard Linklater based on Phil Dick's novel (which I've never read). It's near future LA and an undercover cop (Keanu Reeves) is trying to get to the bottom of a drug ring--although somehow his job is related to New Path Recovery Center--an thinly disguised scientology-like cult. He lives in a house with asshole Robert Downey, Jr (perfect in the role) and clueless Woody Harrelson. The marvelously inventive skinsuit disguises the person wearing it by mutating into different visual and audio personalities-and one wonders if this splitting of personality is responsible for the problems Bob Arctor (the cop) has, rather than his ingesting Substance D.
First of all, I don't get this whole half animation used--it's neither live action nor honest to god animation.
Second, I don't know if the novel covers it but the movie never explains what Substance D does as a drug.
Third, Why does New Path work with him, given the ending?
For me, an enjoyable mess.
Second part of the Red Riding Trilogy about serial killers in Yorkshire. This one is about the Yorkshire Ripper and the corruption in the government and police force set up in section one continues, chomping everyone in its way. Grim and gritty.
The Fall, is an oddball film with Lee Pace and directed by Tarsem Singh taking place in 1915 LA in a hospital where a little girl (Alexandria) recovers from a broken arm from picking oranges, and a young stuntman named Roy recuperates from a bad fall. She has the run of the hospital and its grounds and comes across Roy. Depressed and suicidal over a failed love affair, ta her request, he begins a fantabulous story of derring do with 5 heroes -colorful and chaotic.
The opening sequence is excellent but it took awhile for me to get into it because Lee Pace's character has these HUGE eyebrows that really distracted me (honest). The visual look is very fine, which makes sense as Tarsem made The Cell, the movie with Jennifer Lopez that looked gorgeous but was totally empty. I admit to being confused by the supposed nationality of the child--I kept thinking she was east Indian not sure why (possibly because of the director's Bollywood influences)--yet her mother and sister are eastern European. Turns out she is Roumanian.
The bad guys in the fantasy sequences are powerfully effective, dressed in black like an anti-Zorro but growling like dogs.
Considering I'd never heard of it until someone online recced it to me, I suspect it didn't get a wide release. It takes its time but is well worth seeing--there's a lot to love about this film.
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