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Perfect Days (2023)
Meditative and mindful masterclss
The main character Hirayama takes pleasure in the mundane and the repetitive. Routine is his friend and he is grateful for every day and greets each one as such.
We start off following him for several days as he begins each day by spraying his seedlings and ends each one by reading from a classic book.
As he drives around Tokyo cleaning the incredibly well designed public toilets it seems as if he is orbiting around Tokyo's tallest landmark (The Skytree). We see this building several times and its almost as if it grounds and orientates him.
He's obviously been stuck in this routine for some time. He mainly keeps himself to himself and takes great pride in his job.. He loves music but isn't au-fait with modern technology and still has a tape deck in his car. He lives like a buddhist with minimal possessions and decor. Pretty much the bare minimum of everything.
The story stays pretty much the same for the first half and its only later on once we see several distractions which cause him to deviate from his usual routine and straight away he is out of his comfort zone. This the first we see him show anything other than marvel and joy. I won't go into detail about the plot but lets say we get a few surprises and get to find out more about our lead guy. This isn't a film for everyone. Its funny that another reviewer mentioned the equally fabulous and slow paced 'Paterson' because I too was reminded of that. If you liked this movie then definitely check out the netflix series 'midnight diner'. They both move at the same comforting and relaxing pace.
Such a great film. I hope you love it half as much as I did.
Asteroid City (2023)
Wes continues his downward trajectory
Urrgghh. So disappointing. Another style over substance Wes Anderson Movie. Came out the cinema with my wife and she said "What did you think?" I just said.. "Nothing". I literally think nothing about this film. She said "me too". It leaves no impression. It isn't that long but seems to drag towards the end. Every movie needs some kind of plot and this one was very thin. Steve Carell's limited appearance stole the show. Margot Robbie is shoehorned in at the end almost as an in-joke about her being in everything at the moment. The sets were beautiful but you expect that now. Its just enough anymore. Budapest remains his last good film and even then not a touch on his earlier stuff IMO.
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Don't even think about it
As others have said 'expectations were high'. Far too high. Overhyped by the media and I see by plenty on here. This film is dire. Dialogue is good as is cinematography. But right near the start you think where is this going. Answer :- Nowhere really. Little resolved and very little explained. Disappointment of the year cinema wise. The ''laughs' are very very dark and often at the expense of someone. It really reminded me of the far superior 'The killing of a sacred deer'. Barry Keoghan in that and also in this is the star of the show. He plays Dominic in this brilliantly. I feel this actually started strongly but the final 15 minutes were the worst. Avoid like the plague.
La tête en friche (2010)
I'm struggling with all these positive reviews...
I found the plot of this film totally unbelievable and the whole thing just far too cheesy/saccharine like. And I'm a huge fan of French movies and even cheesy french movies. Depardieu's acting in this is horrendous. He plays some kind of builder who it seems doesn't have to really work. He so simple that he can't see why he shouldn't be allowed to write his own name on a war memorial for the dead YET seems to get hugely into Camus in about two mins.. As has been previously pointed out he is meant to be 50 and has an incredibly hot girlfriend in her 20s who offers nothing to the plot. Just odd... The actress who played him mum was pretty good as were his friends in the bar but do give this a miss and seek out something decent like Jean de Florette instead.
The Climb (2019)
Ok. Not great..
Was looking forward to this based on the plot and reviews. You don't get hugely invested in the characters. It has some good moments but tried pretty hard to be Coen Brothers esque.
L'amant double (2017)
How can so many of his films be so good and this so bad
A very poor film. I wouldn't bother. Terrible unclear plot no real point to the movie. Sometimes just grim for the hell of it. to think his last film was the masterpiece that was Frantz and he used to make films like 8 femme and Swimming pool. He really is more miss than hit these days