"What would you do?"
You're literally doing it now.
I just watched two #YouTube #video #essays on the #musical #Cabaret, its origin, and various incarnations, focused on the 1972 #film version #DirectedBy #BobFosse, starring #LizaMinnelli.
Like the final moments of the #WeimarRepublic in #Germany, purported #democracies around the world are facing our end of days and the rise of #fascism and #authoritarianism.
So, what are you doing?
#France, 2021, #DirectedBy #BrunoDumont is good-looking, with shots throughout meant to remind us of that it's a #film, not reality (my favorite has France walking "through" the car to exit).
Unfortunately, it ends with her seeming to unite with her abuser (rapist?), and introduces threads that have no coherent relevance, they're just hints that ping pong us through her..enlightenment?..disillusion?
#sub: https://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/france
6.5 of 10 
️
From: @ricardoharvin
https://mstdn.social/@ricardoharvin/112638760904217756
#Titane, the 2021 #Cannes #PalmDOr winning #film #DirectedBy #JuliaDucournau is a #movie I just watched.
I have no idea why it was so highly lauded, though it had great potential and some very interesting moments throughout.
However, none of it worked as a connected story for me.
Overall, it felt like a patchwork of ideas and themes, none fully explored, and could have easily been two or three different movies or segments: A #BodyHorror / #SerialKiller / #GenderIdentiy #anthology, maybe.
#TheFalling, 2014, written and #DirectedBy #CarolMorley turned out to be much darker and #erotic #film in ways I wasn't expecting.
#MaisieWilliams (#AryaStark, #GoT) does an excellent job holding together a sometimes meandering plot, and #FlorencePugh gives a strong performance in a limited role.
For something a bit different, though uneven, I recommend this #movie.
Playing now for free on #Kanopy in the #US with a free and valid #library card from a subscribed library system.
3.25 of 5 ️
#AnatomyOfAFall, 2023, #DirectedBy #JustineTrier, is really good, a #MurderMystery/#CourtroomDrama that lets the viewer decide which version of events to believe, all while never being just the binary choice it presents itself to be on the surface, or its highly #feminist subtext.
It deserves the awards and praise it's received, and I love the way it shows, and never tells.
And #SandraHüller (also starring in #ZoneOfInterest, which is on my list to watch) is phenomenal.
#CriterionCollection upcoming releases include three #films I highly recommend, #BlueVelvet (#DirectedBy #DavidLynch), #Bound (#directed by #LanaWachowski and #LillyWachowski), and #PicnicAtHangingRock, the creepiest non-#horror #movie I've ever seen (directed by #PeterWeir).
#Dogfight, #ToDieFor, and #LynchOz are also worth considering.
I gotta save up for the next several 50% sales.
#link: https://www.criterion.com/shop/browse?popular=coming-soon
#QueensOfPain, a 2020 #documentary on #Hulu #DirectedBy #CassieHay and #AmyWinston is a good look at #RollerDerby in #NewYork focusing on three players from one team.
I used to enjoy watching the sport on tv back in the 60's, but have never watched it live, even though I lived walking distance to the #DC Armory for a bit where local matches were (are?) held in the #US capital. Partly because it's flat track now, and I grew up with banked tracks as standard.
And no, I don't understand scoring.
#TheCreator, 2023, #DirectedBy #GarethEdwards is wasted story potential with terrible dialogue and tired cliches of a super human hero (ironically) and default #ToxicMasculinity of a man who thoroughly betrays a woman yet still believes throughout that he has a right to her undeserved love and unearned forgiveness, and is ultimately granted that by the white male writer and director.
Absolute laziness from start to end, except for the excellent visuals and effects.
"C-", 1.9 ️, at best. #Hulu
#Men, 2022, #DirectedBy #AlexGarland (of the far superior #ExMachina) and starring #JessieBuckley is a nightmare #BodyHorror that is beautifully filmed before devolving into a literal bloody mess, visually and in story.
The critique of the #MaleGaze and the toxicity of the entitled "good guy" in Ex Machina is what Garland seems to have wanted to expand upon here, but it's lost in its own elaborate trickery, imo, meant to portray Harper's unwarranted guilt and trauma caused by James' abuse.
#AfterYang is a quiet, beautiful, slow #meditation on #humanity filtered through #technology.
From 2021, presented by the excellent #A24, #DirectedBy #Kogonada and starring #ColinFarrel, #JodieTurnerSmith, and the young, very talented #MaleaEmmaTjandrawidjaja, it's a movie one must sink into and let flow.
Technology isn't more important than the natural (e.g. garden boxes in autonomous transportation).
It will linger, as memories do.
On #Kanopy, et. al
#TheThiefCollector, a 2022 #Filmrise #documentary #DirectedBy #AllisonOtto is an interesting story about a seemingly average, white middle class couple who may have spent decades as prolific #ArtThieves, especially in the theft of #deKooning's #WomanOchre from the #UniversityOfArizona #MuseumOfArt in 1985.
Mostly a discussion of the eccentricities of their lives that support the theory, it ends with darkness similar to another thief's, Jack "#MurphTheSurf" Murphy
#Stoker, 2013, #DirectedBy #ParkChanwook (#Oldboy) and starring #MiaWasikowska, #MatthewGoode, and #NicoleKidman, is an interesting twist on the #horror / #thriller genre and, to paraphrase #Madisynn, "it's not what you thiiiink".
Some of the style choices don't work for me, especially at the start of the #movie, but others are very well done and add to the mystery and eerie tone.
The #eroticism is palpable and often veers into inappropriate, but that's key to the plot.
3.8 of 5 stars. #Hulu
"Liberation was for some, not necessarily for all."
Until we are all liberated, none of us are liberated.
#OccupiedCity ##DirectedBy #SteveMcQueen opens #December 25, 2023
#link: https://deadline.com/2023/05/occupied-city-review-steve-mcqueen-cannes-film-festival-documentary-a24-new-regency-news-1235369438/
#link: https://deadline.com/2023/05/occupied-city-review-steve-mcqueen-cannes-film-festival-documentary-a24-new-regency-news-1235369438/
They hooked me with the first two notes; I'm all-in for watching this 
https://a24films.com/films/love-lies-bleeding
#LoveLiesBleeding #KristenStewart #KatyMObrian #EdHarris #DirectedBy #RoseHarris
https://youtu.be/88sARuFu-tc?si=Lwmt_1WGXptAvbyt
https://youtu.be/a8dzSKRtctU?si=8haHr29fCduDeFRe
Yeah, I'm a #DirtyOldMan unashamed to state that Katy looks fucking hot 
The absolute best part of #AntMan #Quantumania #Jentorra #MCU
#FearOfRain, 2021, #DirectedBy #CastilleLandon, on #Hulu, does a good job of making us feel as unsure and unsettled as the protagonist, but I don't know how well it portrays #schizophrenia.
It tries to be a #psychological #thriller with #horror, which I don't think is an accurate depiction of the experience of the #disease.
If it is, at least somewhat, then I would rate it as ok/3 stars, even with its clunky and formulaic ending otherwise, don't bother, despite some good scenes and twists.
#TheGrifters, 1990, #DirectedBy #StephenFrears and starring #JohnCusack, #AnjelicaHuston, and #AnnetteBenning is a great #con #hustler #oedipal #noir, even better than the great #HouseOfGames, 1987 (#DirectedBy #Trumper #DavidMamet 
)
It has a line that applies to literally every #SiliconValley #VentureCapitalist and #tech #CEO since its release:
"They were making money when everybody was making money. They think that means they're smart."
#TheDriftlessArea, 2015, #DirectedBy #ZacharySluser, starring #AntonYelchin and #ZooeyDeschanel is a #twee #supernatural / #TimeTwisting #noir (not a #NeoNoir, as described).
It moves a bit too slowly and dialogue and delivery have too much affect, but the premise, acting, and production are good.
#JohnHawkes is radically different in this than #YouAndMeAndEveryoneWeKnow, and #CiaránHinds, #AliaShawkat, #FrankLangella and #AubreyPlaza do well in small but important roles.
Free on #BraviaCore.
#KubrickByKubrick, 2020, a #docmentary #DirectedBy #GregoryMonro is interesting because a lot of it is from the relatively few interviews of #Kubrick.
There are lots of good quotes by him on society and the nature of humanity that are, unfortunately, still entirely relevant right now.
"...people do not [recognize] the dark side of themselves, and tend to externalize evil. People do only [consider] themselves as good and everybody else as either weak or evil." – #StanleyKubrick
#MissMeadows, 2014, #DirectedBy (and written) #KarenLeighHopkins and starring #KatieHolmes, is the absolute darkest bit of #twee I've ever seen.
The cloying sweetness is cut with layers of rancid truths mostly implied, never stated, but without doubt as to what they are.
Weird and sad, it's a much better #vigilante #movie than the typical #macho bullshit, like #DirtyHarry, because it's original and human, though just as unbelievable.
"Once upon a time, it was the #Americans who were #terrorists to the #British. They've forgotten their #history already."
"The Americans love to brag about how their #government represents the people, so they should accept that every American shares equal responsibility for their government's crimes. No one is innocent."
If it's true for one people, it's true for all.
#Traitor, 2008, #DirectedBy #JeffreyNachmanoff, starring #DonCheadle and #GuyPierce on the #Kanopy #library #streaming service
