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Thursday, January 11, 2018

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Intense. Can hardly breathe throughout the film

Brought in by Anticipate Film by Vincent who specialises in European, American independent films and one other genre

Film begins with a cropped shot of a heart in open surgery. Pumping. With the pancreas? It stayed that way for a good one min. Was terribly painful to watch. Next we see the lead actor of the show, Steven, a surgeon (Colin Farrell) getting out of the operating theatre. He chats with the anaesthesiologist and good friend, Matthew, about watches. All in that strange clipped tone.

He goes home to his big house, beautiful wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and two beautiful children, Kim and Bob. They're a totally artificial family, speaking in formal short sentences to each other and never asking beneath the surface. Kim does singing lessons and Bob refuses to cut his hair so he looks like a girl. They chat about buying a piano all in very cordial terms.

But the couple have very strange sex games which include "paralysis" of the wife. And lemon curd.

He first meets Martin at a dive. Martin is the classmate of Kim. He aspires to be like Steven, a surgeon. Next they drive to the sea and have this strange exchange of how're you? Steven looks at him with fatherly love. Martin is invited to their home for dinner, and Martin turns on the charm, such that even Anna takes a liking to him. Martin gets Kim to go for a walk with him. She likes him and sang "Burning by Ellie Golding" under a tree, picked up smoking from him, wants to have sex with him and rides pillion without a helmet.

Martin inches his way closer with the family. Good lemonade? Why not come over to my place. My mom (played by Alicia Silverstone) makes good lemonade too. Steven has dinner with Martin's mom and with him, obliges to stay and watch a movie upon Martin's request but strangely in the middle of the movie, Martin goes to bed, leaving only mother and Steven. Her come on line: what beautiful hands you have. I know surgeons have beautiful hands but none are as beautiful as yours. Mother proceeds to suck his fingers. Yummy. Steven declines her advanced and leaves but doesn't tell his wife what happened.

One morning, Bob cannot stand up. Thinking he was just faking it, Steven proceeds to play a game with him in the hospital where they have to tell each other secrets. Steven's was when he first started masturbating. He was a kid about Bob's age and he touched his dad's penis when his dad was super drunk. Except that Bob was not faking his paralysis. Steven threatens to cut his hair and make Bob eat it if he was faking it. And even though Bob can't eat, Steven forced him to. After numerous tests including a spinal cord extraction of fluid, all doctors find no cause for his illness.

Martin tells Steven first stage is loss of feelings in the limbs. Next is unable to eat. The Third stage is bleeding and finally death. So Martin's dad passed away in surgery and he was operated upon by Steven and Matthew as anaesthesiologist. An eye for an eye. Steven's wife and children must pay for the price. Kim was next to go and that happened abruptly during choir practice of that beautiful Christmas choral, Carol of The Bells.

The rebellious teenage daughter scolds her mom under her breathe and got a phone confiscated. She was speaking to Martin and during this time managed to overcome her paralysis to look for Martin by the window. He was not there. Mind over matter. The illness could be psychological if Steven had sought psychological help for this children, as mentioned by Anna who's also a doctor. Eventually the parents moved the children back because there was no other way treatments. They have undergone the two stages each.

Anna looks for Martin in his home. Martin tells of how Steven had dinner with them and he approves of Steven and his mom getting together. Steven has beautiful hands and his mom likes him since her husband has been killed. To all couples: never hide things from each other. Communicate daily. If someone tries to break you up with words, defend each other at all cost.

Steven tries to hunt down Martin at his home to no avail. One day Steven reveals to his wife that he had Martin kept at their basement. Martin had been badly beaten. Despite his injuries, Martin still has that unflinching, challenging look in his eyes. When the wife is not in the room, Martin attacks Steven and bit off the flesh on his arm. Martin bit off his own flesh too. An eye for an eye.

Kim toys around with Bob saying his dad would choose that only she lives. Her dad loves her better and even got a Steinway shipped from God knows where. One child must go.

Kim sneaks down to the basement one day and begs Martin to make her better. He was expressionless. Can he not or does he not want to? She drags herself out of the house and is carried home by dad, knees all bloodied. She mutters all those crazy words like a cult as he dresses her wounds and begs that he chooses her. She betrays her brother with a kiss on her dad parallel to how Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus with a kiss.

Anna cleans and dresses the wounds of Martin with her two children. She kisses both his feet showing her servitude and service for Martin. And begs that he help them. I don't think he can actually. This whole scenario could be really psychological. Why else would the mom not be affected by paralysis?

She releases Martin and incurs his wrath

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

The Square

Part of privileges of being an SFS member

This film explores the existential crisis of human beings. Christian, lead curator of a Stockholm museum X-Royal, a contemporary and modern art museum, faces difficulties professionally and personally.

The film begins with Christian sleeping on an office couch and it is daylight. A fine art magazine is seen on the floor with a boop strategically hidden. One assumes he had a wild night.

A crane lifts a statue of someone important sitting on a horse on top of a pedestal by the neck. Naturally the statue breaks. In place of this prominent position in front of the museum is a square lit with flourescent tubes. According to the artist, within this square is a"safe space".
"The Square is a sanctuary of trust and caring. Within it, we all share equal rights and obligations.”

Christian is faced with this task to sell this.

When interviewed by an American journalist on the greatest challenge, he says it's too raise funds. Same problems.

He later sleeps with this journalist who lives with a chimpanzee-child. This chimp gets its own crayons to doodle and stares at its owner jealously when she brought Christian home. The many explicit sex shots are crazy and the humping and thumping. This journalist has this crazy control obsession over dumping of Christian's condom. Makes him put it on so business-like, takes off her clothes in a brisk business-like manner too and asks if he did cum. And insists he was inside her the next day at work. She's obviously infatuated with him while he doesn't think much of the sex act, like all men. The really hilarious part is when she insists on dumping his condom. I had no idea it was so elastic. Like over 60cm.

In the beginning of the film we see hoards of well-dressed working class Swedes walking out of the subway and to their destinations. And this voice in the crowd, "want to save a life today?" And no one ever stops to ask what is it. What can I do you save a life? Nope. Everyone ignores and life carried on. It's really disturbing.

When Christian is knocked into otw to work, approached by a woman who claims to be hunted down by someone trying to kill her, he stops and tries to do prevent this mishap together with another passer-by. Little did he know he was being robbed. After preventing the mishap and feeling good about this with the newly made "friend" they part ways.

In his attempt to retrieve his money, wallet and handphone, he and a subordinate hatch a plan through tracking of the mobile's GPS. They printed a letter demanding a return of the possessions by leaving the items at the nearby convenience stall and this was slotted to every level's mailbox.

His subordinate chickened out and Christan is left to do it on his own. He tries to use his star diva status to get his subordinate to do it to no avail. While he goes around arduously trying to slot the letter, there's a perpetual dog barking and in the car downstairs, his subordinate is harassed by a gang of crazies. The cropped shot from within the car gives this intense and unstable feeling like he's going to killed. It's scary. Christian is finally done and runs out and orders him to drive and get the hell out out of this place.

To their amazement somebody did return the items. They called on the first day- no news. Second day- someone from the convenience stall called.

The number of homeless people in Stockholm is prevalent. In contrast to the number of well-heeled people. A Gypsy demands for food in this convenience stall where Christian tried looking for his items on the first day. A certain kind of burger with no onions. True to his attitude he gets the burger and asked her to pick out the onions herself.

When he got the items back he donated all the money to her.

To his surprise on the third day someone from the convenience stall says someone is demanding to see Christan. This person says he was accused of being a thief and his parents now banned him from his favorite leisure. He demands that Christan apologies to his family. Strongly worded this boy is crazy and this is seen when the cowardly Christian, sends his subordinate to confront this boy, who flies into a rage, overturned rubbish and threatened that Christian will be harmed and will regret his action.

Distracted by this, Christan signs off a crazy video to promote "The Square", created by a bunch of Millennials in a PR firm. All they want is a viral video. This video eventually blows up in Christian's face when he first gets a call for reaching xxx number of views on YouTube for this video, then being told by Board that he needs to step down and having a press con to announce that. He's let off the hook when the PR firm takes blame for creating this video of a toddler with blond hair blue- eyes and carrying a ragged toy blows up in the Square. She's obviously homeless.

We realise he's married and divorced/separated when his two girls visit him. He forgot to pick them up and they go crazy quarreling with each other. The crazy boy tracks him down home one day and when Christian scared him away by accidentally pushing him down the stairs, he did not help this whimpering puppy boy.

When Christan was out looking for his girls in a crowded mall, he could not get anyone's help to look after his bags. Instead he had to approach a beggar who didn't steal any of his items.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

This story is set after Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens.

Rey hands the light sabre to Luke Skywalker at the mountain cliff. He takes it, tosses it over his shoulder and storms off. Turns out Rey and Chewbacca were sent to persuade Skywalker back to participate in the resistance fight. And Rey seems to have Jedi power which is a strength from within (agree that this stillness within is the song of the soul). She persuades him to teach her and he did eventually. The Power within is both good and bad and it's a choice to choose which side to join. She always chooses the good even when offered a role as co-leader with Kylo Ren who is so handsome. Rey masters the Jedi power in time before Skywalker passes away after his fight with Ren, which is a fight he does as an astral projection. Rey continues to search for her origins and keeps seeing only her own reflection. She is unable to come to terms of her origin, as a child of drunken parents.

She hears one side of the story about Ren's darkness from Skywalker. She also hears from Ren how he was a victim and Skywalker wanted to stab him while he was sleeping. When she is still unable to persuade Skywalker, she leaves the island and makes contact with Leia as she wants to win Ren over to the Force. Skywalker, realising that Rey had left, wants to burn down the library but hesitates. Yoda appears and helped him, reminding him that the library is with Rey.

On the other side, General Leia, now widow of Hans Solo, murdered by their son Kylo Ren, leave their dwelling place before the First Order fleet reaches them. They managed to evacuate with the last of Resistance fighters. Commander Poe counter-fight the First Order, despite orders to pull back and suffered heavy losses. He was demoted to Captain after managing to return at lightspeed. However the First Order managed to track them because they was a tracking device via lightspeed. Ren tracks through and sensing his mother on board, withholds fire. But his other colleague opened fire and General Leia is badly injured, leaving the ship to the hands of Admiral Gial, who eventually sacrificed herself for the fleet.

Rey delivers herself to the Dark side and was sent in cuffs by Ren to Snoke, the scary lizard-like creep. Snoke reveals he was responsible for the psychic touch, and commands Ren to kill Rey. Ren tricks Snoke and killed him using the light sabre. Ren and Rey tussle as Ren convinces Rey to join him. The light sabre explodes and they fall unconscious. Rey wakes up first and escapes with a ship.

Leia awakes and reinstates Poe. Poe, Finn and Rose leaves for the dark side ship to disarm a device. They enlist the help of a code breaker who sold them to the dark side. While in prison, they managed to save the other prisoners, disarm the device and led a way out back to base. They distract Ren's crazy attacks but Skywalker saved the day by being the ultimate distraction as the remaining Force leaves by following the foxes out. Skywalker dies but not before saying goodbye to Leia via astro projection and Rey felt him leave too. Rey uses her Force to lift all the rocks up from there other side of the hill and they escape using a ship which the prisoners got.

The number of Resistance fighters look pathetic and Leia is heartened that they can rebuild.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Hush

By Kan Lume and Djenar Maesa Ayu
Starring Cinta
SGIFF 2017

Collage of rape cases in Indonesia. How perpetrators only get 3 years or less even though law says fifteen years. The Yuhanis case where she was gang-raped. Footage of other rape cases around the world caught on CCTV. Women attacked in lifts, along the aisle, in stores. Women raped and murdered by rapists usually relatives. So sick.

We see Cinta, a musician, who goes to Gili to escape Jakarta. She's so beautiful and free. In Gili she is free to create. No hypocrisy. She attributes to the powers of the island. If a man takes something which is not his like a woman's virginity, he's seen as masculine. If a woman enjoys sex, she's a whore. The gender disparity due to social constructs. This story is scripted. Only the occupation and name is real. She has gone to jail for 1.5 years, hooks up with anyone, had two abortions and regrets them. Smoks like a chimney. Smokes weed. Heavy drinker. Got involved with a married man and really loved him because he truly loved her for who she is. No judgement of her tumultuous past.

Divorced because of a cheating ex-husband. Broke up with her first bf before finding out she was pregnant. He disown the child. She regrets her abortion when she was twenty smtg. She professes to good sex = deeper and stronger bond. Her standard is if she can have a great conversation with the other and will not cheat on him, she will date him. Not on looks because she's had ugly bf.

Lust became love? Is that even possible?

She wants to make as many mistakes as possible to learn from them herself.

Turns out she was raped by her relative when she was nine. Her single mom had to work. She was preyed upon by the relative who her love him. She calls this molest but it's rape because they had sex. She had orgasms then and it felt good but she didn't know it was sex until later. She has always felt like trash since then. Everytime she's sex she remembers the rapist's penis inside her.

Does she sleep around and have many bf to forget her past? Her mother grew up without her dad. Now her mother is also a single mom. Married twice but cheated upon. Her current husband loves her. Built this huge terrace near Ubud for them. Hardworking. Humble as a tattoo artist. Tattoos as a way to remember smtg significant. I identify with that symbolism. Her sister has totally green hair. Her brother doesn't want to be in camera. They eat pork even though by Muslim law they're not supposed to.

Is it her sin that she was molested? Or that she came from a broken family? Explains why she behaves so wildly now.

Show closes with footage of rape scenes caught on CCTV. How they are marches by mostly females to stop the rapist. The fault is not in the woman. There needs to be more awareness on this and I think the directors tried to portray this by challenging gender norms and social constructs. The best measure against this is if boys and men speak out against such acts. It is sick that such cases are caused by perpetrators within a family.

Hush... Like don't tell anyone? Don't speak now... Or Hush don't you cry Baby? I love how many readings the title offers into this issue of rape and molest.

Disappearance

An Iranian film
SGIFF 2017

A young couple have intercourse before marriage and the young girl starts bleeding non-stop due to a cut in her vagina. The scene begins with her going to the hospital saying she's been raped by a taxi driver. Nurse calls her to call her family member and she claims only her brother is home. Turns out that's her bf. The doctor suspects she was not raped and she sneaks off. Another hospital and this time they go in as newly-weds. They demand to see their marriage certificate. The nurse advises them to go private hospital. 25,000 tommes for consultation! Seems like a bit. In the private hospital, the nurse gives her saline IV to boost her low blood pressure. Bf comes clean and say they have yet to marry and she threatens to call the police. She goes to a room presumably to do so. Poor couple. They flee. She's so weak. And he's stuck in the same rut.

Before that in the second hospital, she thought he disappeared. Left her alone to face this problem. Panic attack, sense of insecurity. I feel her. He claims to be at the toilet outside. There's a sense of mistrust. If he leaves his life goes back to normal. If she doesn't get help she'll bleed to death. The responsibility is on the woman even though the problem was supposed to be shared two ways.

They flee the private hospital and seek help from her gf, who is out partying at 4am in this really posh condo/apartment which looks like a hotel. She calls a private doc to no avail. This needs to be solved illegally. Private hospital previously but laws do not bend. They seek help from her friend, who is a third year medical student in their university. This med student bought jab from a drugstore which actually needed prescription. Luckily she got one after flashing her student card. A case of the law vs authority again.

Female protagonist gets a jab in the car to stop the bleeding for at most two hours. Makeshift tourniquet using rubber band. She looks better. After the friends have exhausted their contacts they disband. He waits for the phone call from his doctor contact. No reply. At their wits end, he calls her to call her parents. They quarrel. Her gf calls. The private doctor is available. He charges 3 million for the procedure which was super quick. He gave 700,000 - all that he had in the bank. She gave her tuition fees - 1.5 million. She pawns her HP as guarantee.

After the procedure he asks how's she. Expresses concern. But she's too jaded. Dug a hole for herself with no way to earn her tuition fees. Having to explain this to her parents. She's gone off somewhere else, having lost all hope in life. She doesn't reply and stays quiet in the car. The car breaks down in the middle of the overhead and he stops to get gas. When he came back she had disappeared. He tries to find her to no avail. He walks down the road nearing the bend and with the city waking up I keep thinking he might get banged down by a car.

Disappeared. Who first?

This show has not gotten the permit for screening in Iran. I wonder how they shot the hospital scenes. It was based on the female scriptwriter's experience. There's solidarity among friends of the younger generation. There's partying and drinking which is frowned upon by the older generation. And consensual sex. In the end they break up just like the Scriptwriter story. Was it because there's no love? Due to societal restrictions which spoiled things?

Due to many restrictions in Iran most things are shot in a vehicle. The car. Where drinking, smoking and intimacy happens. This has become the liberated private space.
Private

Monday, November 20, 2017

The Princess Bride

From http://fandom.wikia.com/?_ga=2.35179298.282303557.1511184047-209618207.1504785344

Buttercup is a farm girl who lives in the country of Florin and is the true love of Westley. When he works on her family's farm, Buttercup refers to him only as "farm boy" and loves to order him around. Westley would not argue with her but would only obey her commands and reply "As you wish." Over time, she realizes that when Westley says "As you wish" he is really saying "I love you." In time, she realizes that she loves him just as strongly, too.

When Westley goes away to find his fortune, his ship is attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts, and the story gets back to Buttercup that her love has been killed by the pirate who never takes prisoners. Devastated to learn this, Buttercup shuts herself away in her room, forgoing sleep and food. In the end, she decides that, while she may live on, she will never love again.

Five years later, Buttercup is forced to become betrothed to Prince Humperdinck. Although she does not love him and tells the prince so, Humperdinck pushes forward with the wedding, assuring her that, with time, she will come to love him.

While she does not like the idea of marrying her prince, she does still enjoy riding her horse. While out one day, she comes across three men claiming to be lost circus performers and, before she can do anything, is knocked unconscious. When she awakes, she realizes she's now on a boat in the middle of the sea, kidnapped by the men, who she learns are names Vizzini, Inigo, and Fezzik. Vizzini, the band's leader, announces his plans to start a war with the neighboring country of Guilder by killing the princess and leaving her body on Guilder soil. The other two men don't seem keen on following this plan and an argument breaks out. Later, they are sailing through the night when they see a ship in the distance following them. Buttercup uses this opportunity to jump out of the boat and into the water with creatures known as the shrieking eels(which look like leviathans rather than modern day eels).

Before she could be eaten, she gets pulled back on board by the men, and is taken to a cliff to escape from the boat chasing them. The three men carry her up with Fezzik climbing a rope. The person driving the boat (a man in a black attire and a mask) rushes up to follow. Vizzini cuts the rope, but the stranger clings to the side of the cliff.

He tells Inigo to kill the man while they escape. The stranger defeats the swordsman and continues to follow them. Unhappy with this, Vizzini tells Fezzik to kill him. The giant fails to do so as well, so Vizzini takes Buttercup to the top of the cliff. He blindfolds her at a rock slab, sets out some wine, points a daggar at her throat, and patiently waits for the man in black to make his appearance. He does do so, and tells Vizzini that they will have a battle of the wits, with the winner getting the princess, and the loser facing death. He then takes some iocane powder, turns his back, and after a bit faces Vizzini once more. He states that one of the drinks is poisoned with the powder, and that Vizzini gets to choose the cup he will drink from.

Clearly thinking he is too smart, Vizzini distracts the man in black, switches the glasses, and they take a drink. The stranger calmly tells the cackling Vizzini he is wrong. Vizzini laughs a bit more, before dying. Buttercup questions the man about why he poisoned his own drink, and the man tells her he has immunity to iocane powder, therefore bother glasses are poisoned. He leads her away.

After a while, they stop to rest, and Buttercup asks who he is. The man won't say, so she concludes that he is the Dread Pirate Roberts. The man admits this with pride, before teasing and tormenting her about him killing Westley. The prince, who has come to rescue Buttercup, appears over the distance with many men. Angry, she pushes Dread Pirate Roberts down a hill, yelling at him to die. On his way down, he yells out the words Buttercup has been aching for for 5 years. "AAASSS YOOUU WWWIIISSHHHH!" Realizing her lover is alive and that she just pushed him off a hill, she throws herself down, too. At the bottom of the hill, they share a heartfelt kiss.

They run into an infamous swamp where noone has left alive, and after some drama involving a giant rat, they emerge from the swamp. The prince threatens to kill Westley, but Buttercup tells him to return her lover to his ship, and in return she will go with him. After she left, Westley notices that the Count had six fingers on his right hand. Before their dual, Inigo told him that a six fingered man killed his father, so as soon as Westley points this out, he is knocked unconscious.

Buttercup has a horrible dream involving her betraying Westley. She wakes up and tells the prince that she won't marry him. Being His Royal Douchebagginess, the prince refuses to let her go(he wants to kill her to start a war. Don't ask.) And Buttercup is force to marry him.

After the wedding, Buttercup goes to her chamber, dagger aimed at her heart, planning to die. Before she can do so, Westley remarks from behind that she should not damage her perfect body. She turns to find him lying on the bed, too weak to move(Long story. Summary: He became mostly dead, Inigo and Fezzik brought him back since they liked him, and now he's only a bit dead, unlike before). Buttercup, overcome by joy, throws herself at her lover, kissing him.

Their happy reunion is sadly cut short when the prince comes in, sword in hand, and threatening to kill them. To stall, Westley rambles on about how everyone is going to hate the prince when he gets his body cut up. Then, with just enough energy, he stands up and points his sword at the prince, pretending he has his strength back. Knowing he's no match for Westley, the evil ruler drops his weapon and backs off into a chair. Buttercup ties him up.

Inigo comes in, bleeding from his dual with the Count, and asks Westley where Fezzik is. Westley states that their comrade is not with him. He starts to walk forwards, but falls due to his incapability to support himself. Buttercup overcome with worry, goes to help.

Anyways, after some chaos, Westley, Buttercup, Inigo and Fezzik all ride out from the castle on white horses, leaving Humperdinck to wallow in his guilt and self pity for the rest of his life.

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Click here for information on filming locations.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

I Get Overwhelmed by Dark Rooms

[Verse 1]
Are you runnin late?
Did you sleep too much?
All the awful dreams
Felt real enough
Is your lover there?
Is she wakin up?
Did she die in the night?
And leave you alone?
Alone

[Verse 2]
Mirror, mirror
There's your crooked nose
Boring hair
A thousand wrinkles
No children
Just emptiness
No place like home
Just a fucking mess
Mess

[Verse 3]
20 messages
Did you hurt your thumbs?
What a stupid game
Getting nothing done
With your longest track
Your highest score
While you crush your back
And lament the war
War

[Verse 4]
All the women
That you wanna fuck
On the internet
Wouldn't give you a second look
Did you fool yourself?
That's privilege
That's power without power
That's a business
Business

[Verse 5]
But we know "you" is "I"
And I get overwhelmed
Can't sleep at night
Can't convince myself
To turn it off
To let go
Gotta make sense
Of the fucking war
War

[Verse 6]
Am I runnin late?
I get overwhelmed
All the awful dreams
All the bright screens
Is my lover there?
Are we breakin up?
Did she find someone else?
And leave me alone?
Alone...