06th Jun2020

Parasite (DVD)

by timbaros

pst_web_02 copyYes it’s true about all the hype surrounding the South Korean film ‘Parasite’ – it’s funny, dramatic, and very very different, and it sticks to you like, well, a parasite. 

 
Director Bong Joon-ho, who wrote the screenplay with Han Jin-won, tells the tale of the Kim family, who are all unemployed (they attempt to get a job folding pizza boxes but fail miserably) and live in a ground floor basement apartment where locals relieve themselves right outside their window. They also steal Wifi connections from neighbors. The son, Kim-woo (Choi Woo-shik) gets a job tutoring the daughter of the wealthy Park family who live in an architecturally stunning home. And soon enough, the daughter, Ki-jeong (a brilliant Park So-dam) poses as Kim-woo’s friend ‘Jessica’ who is then hired to be an art therapist for the Parks’ young son. And then eventually the father (Song Kang-ho) and the mother (Chang Hyae-jin) get jobs in the Park household as well, infiltrating the Parks’ home and their lives, like an organism (parasite). But their good luck just about comes to an end when the former Park housekeeper (whose job the mother stole) comes back to check on what she left behind (it’s quite a surprise!), and it’s then that the Kim family ruse starts to be discovered and it all slowly starts to unravel, especially when the Parks come back home early from a rained out vacation.
 
It’s such an extraordinary tale that could only come from the man who gave us ’The Host’ (where a monster kidnaps a young girl), and ‘Okja’ (where a young girl raises a large pig).’ Joon-ho elicits great performances from all of his cast, especially the younger actors of the Kim family – they are all very dastardly in their lies, and the Park family wife (Cho Yeo-jeong), who is oblivious to what is happening in her very own home.
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival as well as two BAFTA Awards (Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Not in the English Language), and nominated for 6 Academy Awards, ‘Parasite’ is truly one of the best films of the year – it’s a dark comedy that’s very very dark – and delicious.
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06th Jun2020

Only the Animals (Film)

by timbaros
SLB - Photo de tournage - Nadia et Valeria - JCLotherA woman disappears in the mountains of France – and it’s her death that links several people in the very dramatic French film ‘Only the Animals.’

The opening shot in this film is of a black man with a goat on his back riding a bike through the streets of Abidjan, but then the film quickly swings to France. But the goat scene is a metaphor for when, later in the film, a man (Damian Bonnard) carries a dead woman’s body, on his back, in the mountains in a trek to find her a final resting place. But who is this dead woman? Joseph (Bonnard) has not killed her, this plot point is shown near the end of the film, but it’s the journey to get there that’s extremely intriguing where we discover the link between these people. Alice (Laure Balamy) is a social worker whose job it is to go and check on lonely disturbed people in and around her area. One of her clients is Joseph, who she’s also having sex. Her husband Michel (Denis Ménochet), meanwhile is having an online love affair with photos of an attractive young woman Marion (Nadia Tereskzkiewicz) but in fact he’s being scammed by a gang of men in Adijban who scam him for a lot of money. But the woman whose photo he is sent by these men does actually exists, and coincidentally winds up near his village. Why is she there? Because    she is tracking down Evelyn Ducat (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), a very well-to-do attractive woman she meets at the restaurant she works at, and they have a brief affair, but Marion wants more.  But as the story winds and the drama and tensions builds up, we soon realize who the dead woman is, and how her death will change all the characters lives.
 
Seules Les Betes (Only the Animals), directed and co-written by Dominik Moll, based on the novel by Colin Niel, is engrossing from start to finish. Each character’s thread is enough to give the viewer bits and pieces of the story, without giving to much away. It’s the intertwining of the characters lives that is so unique and clever. And the actors are all excellent, not a bad one in the bunch. And while a couple of the connectors between the people are a bit too simple for the storyline, Only the Animals will keep you engrossed for all of it’s 2 hour running time. 
 
Only the Animals is exclusively now available on Curzon Home Cinema.    
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06th Jun2020

Rebel in the Rye (Film)

by timbaros
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16-05-017_RitR_Stork_Club_00057.CR2

A film about the author J.D. Salinger that was originally shot in 2016 is now released in the UK and is actually not half bad.

‘Rebel in the Rye’ is about J.D. (Jerome David Salinger) and the years leading up to him writing what is perhaps the most famous novel of all time – Catcher in the Rye. It’s a book that almost everyone has read at least once while a million copies are still sold every year. The film did have its premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and a U.S. release followed – earning an eye-watering pittance of $154,326 total – it was hardly enough to recoup it’s cost. ‘Rebel in the Rye’ stars Nicholas Hoult as Salinger, but more worringly Kevin Spacey plays his mentor and teacher Whit Burnett. It was in 2017 when Spacey was accused of molesting actor Anthony Rapp when he was young, then more molestation allegations against Spacey surfaced. But if this did not happen Spacey could’ve picked up awards for his performance in this film – he’s fantastic.

We see a young Salinger taking a stab at writing with the encouragement of his mother Miriam (Hope Davis), and much to the dismay of his father Sol (Victor Garber) who wants his son to follow him into the cheese business. With Burnett’s mentorship, Salinger keeps on churning out short stories in the hopes of getting published, amidst the backdrop of WWII. Soon enough Salinger is drafted and is off to war (finding out in the papers this his girlfriend Oona (Zoey Deutch) has ran off with Charlie Chaplin). These events lead to a breakdown where he is sectioned in a mental hospital for the horrific things he saw during the war. But his persistence of writing about a fictional character (Holden Caulfield) keeps him going, keeps him alive, until he sees his dream come true, all with the help of his agent Dorothy Olding (Sarah Paulson). 

Costumes, set and art direction and the acting are all fine, with Hoult very believable as Salinger, and with strong direction by actor Danny Strong, who also wrote the film. But there is one person who you can blame for the failure of this film. In ‘All the Money in the World’ (2018) all of Spacey’s scenes were redone by the actor Christopher Plummer (who received an Academy Award nomination for his effort). ‘Rebel in the Rye’ could not do this because it already had been premiered and released, so it was too late. This film flopped because of Spacey. But it’s actually quite a good film. If you can overlook that Spacey is in it, seek it out, it’s worth it.

 
Rebel in the Rye is available to buy and stream
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06th Jun2020

Butt Boy (Film)

by timbaros
93794009_679091262858928_1325823242832707584_oA film with a title ‘Butt Boy’ and a tagline ‘assume the position’ surely has to be watched, no?
The title does have a sexual connotation but this is not what the film is about – in a way. ‘Butt Boy’ is actually a dramatic horror film where you’ll laugh because it’s just so ridiculous!
The story is about one man with a mundane job and a mundane family – he has no joy in life whatsoever! Then one day he goes to see his doctor for a physical where the doctor does the inevitable finger up the ass prostate exam. However our hero, former alcoholic Chip (Tyler Cornack – who also wrote and directed this plum role for himself – not), really enjoyed the prostate exam. He enjoyed it so much that when he gets home he starts to insert more items up his arse, including butt plugs. But these items go up and then inside him. Soon enough household items, his dog, and then people go up there. Yes, you read that right – his butt starts sucking up people.
At an AA meeting Chip is assigned to be the sponsor of new guy Russel (Tyler Rice), a police detective. After a child goes missing at Chip’s company on bring your child to work day, Russel is coincidentally assigned to the case. And while he doesn’t quite want to investigate Chip despite all evidence that seems to point to him, Russel goes missing too, and I don’t have to tell you where he winds up! It’s a hard to believe plot that just keeps getting messier and messier until the penultimate final scene that’s truly explosive!
Critics have been harsh to this film, yes it’s bad. But it’s a film that’s not meant to be taken seriously (come on – with a title like that you can’t take is seriously). Good turns by Rice and Shelby Dash who plays Chip’s frustrated wife elevate the film a bit, but it’s ultimately a film that will definitely take your mind off real world problems!
Category : Film
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