LittleBoyx Reviews

1899 (2022)

More complex than Dark, A little less fun, but thoroughly enjoable experience

[10/10 · 19 November 2022]

1899 is another diamond in the rough of Netflix programming to be specific, and overall OTT platform 'content' at large. You don't see such well made films anymore, let alone shows which are just churned out month after month in the name of content.

When you watch a show like this, you know it's someone's vision being realized on the screen and not just a corporation hellbent on feeding a unidimensional worldview to their audiences. In that, despite the 48 million dollars Netflix has put into making the most expensive German show of all time, one has to say that 1899 is great not because of Netflix but despite Netflix.

There is a tight narrative which is glorified by great acting perfomances from the entire cast. Emily Beecham is stellar as the protagonist of the show, a lesson to so many big budget shows out there as to what people like in a strong female lead [Here's looking at you Rings of Power]. The show follows the allegory of Plato's cave, something which would gratify your experience if you're already a bit aware of it.

All in all, I'm pumped for whatever follows this. In a world where we have given up on movies and most American TV Shows, Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese are beacons of hope that there is still some good in the world of cinema.

Marcy (1969)

Joe Sarno- The Man, The Genius

[9/10 · 9 August 2022]

There is little doubt that Joe Sarno was the most gifted and most brilliant director of the sexploitation era. 'Marcy' is another feather in his cap. The man knows how to build sexual tension while showing nothing more than a soft R rated flick of present day would show.

'Marcy' tells the story of the fluidity of sexuality, Yes. But more than that, it's about loneliness and yearning for a time that was, and for a time that could. And how men and women balance these yearnings against their life, the people around them, and their expectations from them. It's beautifully shot but the score could have been better. Some of the women have acted well, or Sarno gets them to magically act well perhaps. And the typical big, grant Joe Sarno finale is on the cards too.

He backs out a little at the end however which is something Sarno occasionally did, perhaps driven by sense of the morality he grew up in, perhaps because he figured the world wasn't ready for his big one yet. That' the only reason I never rate his movies a perfect 10. Perhaps another quality of a genius is that he/she is always in the making.