Dear friend,
there’s a good reflection to be had about what each of us likes about films. I would say, for example, that I value a plot that makes logical sense (or, if it doesn’t make sense at all, it’s clearly on purpose) but still surprises me; I enjoy bold choices in how scenes are shot and how the film is edited; I love hints that are casually set up and pay off much later in the story (especially if the final editing doesn’t feel the need to explain it by showing the set-up scene again when the resolution comes).
This last point may affect my enjoyment of a film when rewatching it: I may like it more if I understand it better. But what about the other reasons for changing my opinion?
I have a couple of examples in my mind, that possibly deserve their own post. In the meantime I’ll keep an eye on the topic: it was raised to me some time ago by a friend, but the question came back to me more insistently this week, when most of my viewings ended up being rewatches of films I remember not liking - or didn’t remember seeing at all.
The Lost Boys , directed by Joel Schumacher, written by Janice Fischer, James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam, US, 1987 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (up from ⭐️⭐️½)
A few years after my first watch, upon Netflix’s ‘insistence’, I decided to give this film another chance, inadvertently creating a mini-series of vampire movies (following Thirst from the day before). I realised that I didn’t remember absolutely anything about it (plot, characters, locations), except for Kiefer Sutherland being in it in his Stand-by-Me nastiness. I liked it more than the first time (when, I think, my expectations had been raised too high), but still, I found it not very sophisticated: a film for teenagers, the reaction to which will mostly depend on the age one first watched it. I loved Corey Feldman’s low-pitched way of talking and in general every dialogue exchange between the youngest characters. Also, the main character’s name is Michael Emerson: this made me think of Lost a lot.
The Sitter , directed by Fred Walton, co-written with Steve Feke, US, 1977 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ok, this is ‘just’ a short film but I’ll log it anyway. YouTube suggested that I watch the 22-minute long story that two years later Walton turned into the first (and the most interesting part) of When a Stranger Calls; the first few minutes were quite exciting, as I liked the exploration of the spaces at the ground floor of the house, which I don’t remember from the later film. But after a while, this roomier version ends up leaving too much breathing air around babysitter Lucia Straiser, and some of the tension is lost.
Jacob’s Ladder , directed by Adrian Lyne, written by Bruce Joel Rubin, US, 1990 - ⭐️⭐️½ (same as the first time)
This is one of those films that is often mentioned as a masterpiece of psychological/surrealistic horror, so I was curious about watching it. Then I went on Letterboxd and found out I had already logged it, ten years ago. Still, no recollection at all, and there’s not even a Sutherland to hold on to. After seeing it, again, no ‘a-ha’ moment, no flashback, this film has completely been erased from my memory; somehow it fits with the story itself. And I can see my brain having no idea about it, again, by 2034: it is so… forgettable. I can appreciate some of the subtle touches in the way the film is shot, but the characters are so inconsistent, the links with Jacob’s story from the Bible feel more like a pretext to give weight to the film, and the story itself is so flimsy, even and especially after the final scenes, that I don’t understand what the fuss is all about.
Blink Twice , directed by Zoë Kravitz, co-written with E.T. Feigenbaum, US, 2024 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
I’m so happy for Kravitz. I worried at some point, during the film, that her debut film as a director would be another Don’t Worry Darling, but it turns out to be more like another Get Out (though please note that, while I like Get Out, I find it a bit too explicit in what it’s saying… I like Us better). Mysterious and fun at the beginning, it manages to keep an overall upbeat tone even when what is revealed becomes truly horrible. And the way the story is told compensates for the ‘reveal’ being, unfortunately for our world, quite predictable. Naomi Ackie is great, and nice to see Geena Davis and Alia Shawkat in prominent roles. And to learn that there is another Hawke/Thurman person on our screens. The only thing that I would complain about is the title (notoriously changed from a much more provocative working one), which is just barely mentioned in the film (unless there is a deeper societal meaning that I’m not aware of).
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance/복수는 나의 것 , directed by Park Chan-wook, co-written with Lee Jong-yong, Lee Jae-sun and Lee Mu-yeong, South Korea, 2002 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (up from ⭐️⭐️½)
Having finally managed to get my hands on Arrow Films’ boxset of Park-Chan-wook’s revenge trilogy I spent the second Sunday evening in a row with both director Park and Song Kang-ho. I didn’t like Mr. Vengeance the first time I watched it (maybe 15 years ago), so I was surprised that this time my reaction was mostly positive. I think there is too much of a difference in tone between the first, wackier part, and the events happening after tragedies strike, but I’m always attracted by the moral ambiguity of stories that follow the pattern I created you, but you created me first.
In summary, 4 full-length films:
- two horrors, two thrillers
- 3 US films, a South Korean one
- a first watch, 3 rewatches (that felt like first watches anyway)
- all original films
- all from different decades: the ’80s, the ’90s, 2000s and this year
The fact that I watched fewer films than usual this week is due to having some additional duties in the evenings, which didn’t allow me to watch anything longer than an hour each night. Also, this coincided with my regional Disney+ finally showing
On one hand, the first few episodes of this season totally destroyed me from an emotional point of view, and got me thinking: does every episode of this show need to be so stressful? On the other hand, season 3 felt very much like treading water: most episodes are just montages of stuff that we may (or may not) have seen before, take detours on secondary characters (either in the past or in the present… but they were no Forks), devote too much time to constant bickering by characters I strongly don’t care about, and feature unnecessary camoes-of-the-week. So, by the end of the season, it feels like nothing of importance to the main plot has happened, and almost everything is ’to be continued’. I’m glad the show has the support of real-life chefs, but that doesn’t affect me too much. I’m happy that both Italian producer Duccio Fabbri and star Ayo Edebiri were given the opportunity to direct an episode.