I originally wanted to see Asako I & II when it was playing at the 2018 Philadelphia Film Festival, but due to scheduling conflicts I was unable to attend. Thankfully, Grasshopper Films distributed it on home video earlier this year and I was able finally watch it. Although I’ve heard of other films from director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi such as his five hour epic from 2015 titled Happy Hour, this is the first film of his I’ve seen.
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I don’t want to say I’m judging a book by its cover (or rather, a director by its films), but so far I’m two for two in not enjoying films I’ve seen from director Hong Sang-soo, and I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to check out another film from him. It’s a shame, really — although IMDb plots are only a few sentences, usually they do a great job at summarizing a film’s plot and don’t leave anything to be desired. However, so far these descriptions of Hong Sang-soo’s films sound quite intriguing, only to leave me disappointed. Doing a little digging, it seems his films often involve a man involved in an affair, and the male protagonist is, often enough, a director as well. I wonder if it’s a sort of projection?
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I’ve heard of several films by director Hong Sang-soo, all sounding interesting. Admittedly I have not gotten around to viewing any of them yet, so when I saw Grasshopper Films had his 2014 film Hill of Freedom available for streaming as of last week I figured I would give it a go.
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Usually, I’m one to enjoy films that are on the softer and more gentle side that slowly tell a story, so I was a little surprised upon watching A Gentle Breeze in the Village that I didn’t care for it. Maybe part of it was I wasn’t in the right mood or headspace for a film like that, but at the same time, I doubt it was that. I paused it throughout as I couldn’t get into it never feeling all that interested.
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Rumbling Hearts is the title of an anime series I stumbled across last autumn. Its name caught my attention and its IMDB synopsis sounded interesting, so I made a note to watch sometime. Yes, I really decided to watch an anime based on one sentence on IMDB describing its plot.
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Being the college age, when I happened to randomly stumble across White Girl I figured I would give it a try, not really sure what to expect. As a watched the film, and solidified once I finished it, it felt like what a Lifetime movie would be like if they were allowed to air R-rated films, complete with sex and drugs. I even came up with two theoretical Lifetime title following their frequently used pronoun + adjective + third word formula: Her Deadly Love or Her Deadly Idea.
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Known as La chute de l’empire américain in Quebec where it was filmed, The Fall of the American Empire is one of the funniest films I’ve seen in recent times. It’s worth noting that this isn’t a sequel to the 1986 film
The Tomorrow Man is the directorial debut from Noble Jones and stars John Lithgow and Blythe Danner, who play Ed and Ronnie.
I remember back around 2011-2012 was when doomsday preppers were all over the spotlight, especially after the National Geographic Channel had their Doomsday Preppers show. While not quite in the limelight anymore, the plot of this film revolves around prepping for what could happen. Rather than living in the current day, Ed is busy thinking about tomorrow.
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Based on manga series “Isshukan Friends” by Matcha Hazuki that ran from 2012 to 2015, One Week Friends has been adapted both into an anime series and a live action film. I stumbled across it a little over a month ago and instantly knew this was something I wanted to watch.
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Non-Fiction, or Doubles vies as it’s called in its native country of France, is a film taking place in the world of publishing where there are multiple events going on: author Léonard Spiegel has his latest manuscript turned down by his longtime friend and publisher Alain Danielson, a debate of ebook versus print in the publishing house, plus relationship issues between the two men and their wives.
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