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Reviews
Monsters (2010)
It's about aliens, but the title was taken
Rarely have my expectations been so subverted. This is an excellent, conceptual sci-fi piece, which, obviously enough, is about the alien in all of us. It takes on expectations of fear, horror and the other, in many different places: the genuinely otherworldly, violence, the foreign and the other within ourselves and, while letting you know where it's going the whole time, still surprising with nuance it manages in getting there. The pacing is slow but lyrical and the ambient music score is unusual in cinema and quite winning. I only commented because -so often- IMDb ratings vastly outweigh the quality of a film and I was so surprised to see this only rated a 6.4. This is what sci-fi should be like.
Perfect Strangers (2003)
Genuinely horrifying but still compelling
I'm so sorry to see how divisive this movie has proved to be (at least if the IMDb boards are anything to go by - people arguing on the internet, who knew?). I haven't ever looked up this movie since I first saw a press screening back in 2003. There was much about it I wanted to forget. It affected me as punishingly as Wolf Creek or Requiem For a Dream. Characters you can identify with (Rachel Blake at any rate), are debased to the point that they are completely broken and in my case, the viewer along with them. I didn't feel properly myself again for a week.
I never found Perfect Strangers difficult to understand, or pointless, as many other viewers have suggested and it certainly is beautiful, visually. In fact it is - to my mind - good in any number of ways. These two characters are drawn exactly as clearly as they need to be as their interplay moves to its hideous conclusion. It hurt me in a way that I haven't forgotten in nine years.
A psychological drama of the darkest hue about which much is uncertain, but one thing is for sure: it leads in the end to permanent damage for all concerned.
Moe no Suzaku (1997)
Lyrical and beautiful
It's been a number of years since I've seen this film, but since no-one else has commented on it, I thought it was worth saying: This is a lyrical and beautiful film. It is classically Japanese in its stylism: Slow moving and quiet (with the ever present humming of cicadas in the background), taking full advantage of the location - Unspoilt mountain beauty captured in splendid panorama shots and vivid colour. The tale of a family slowly being forced away from their traditional life-style is told with moving poignancy. I found Moe no suzaku to be richly satisfying and encourage you to get your hands on it if possible.