# Movie Journal ## 2023-09-02 ### Taoism Drunkard [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085628/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) | [letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/film/taoism-drunkard/) | [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuen_Cheung-yan) | [stream](https://archive.org/details/drunken-wu-tang-aka-taoism-drunkard) Year: 1981 Director: #YuenCheungYan Associated: #YuenWooPing #YuenClan #MiracleFighters Shaolin Drunkard Tags: #gonzo #absurdism #KungFu #seance #alcohol Thoughts: This one **was** wild enough to ignore the weak script and insane story. It made very little sense, the humor was puerile, offensive. Sort of a live action loony tunes, or maybe 36th Chamber of Three Stooges. It lacked the level of choreography I would expect from the Yuen Clan, but overall it was good enough. adding Miracle Fighters and Shaolin Drunkard to my queue. ## 2023-08-29 ### Seven Swords [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429078/) | [letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/film/seven-swords/) | [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Swords) | stream Year: 2005 Director: #TsuiHark Associated: #DonnieYen #SevenSamurai Tags: #KungFu #Swords #Chinese Thoughts: Wasn't wild enough to ignore the weak script and messy editing. There's only one really great sequence (@2hrs 17min) a swordfight in a narrow corridor between Donnie Yen and [Sun Honglai](https://letterboxd.com/actor/sun-honglei/). some of the costumes are good, the swords are okay but nobody does much with them. Seemed like a 4 hour movie cut to 2.5 hours and what was left didn't hold together. ## 2023-08-26 ### Smoking Causes Coughing [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15471560/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) | [letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/film/smoking-causes-coughing/) | [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_Causes_Coughing) | stream Year: 2022 Director: Quentin Dupieux Associated: Tags: #comedy #absurd #superhero # Thoughts: didn't have the visionary quality that rubber managed to pull off ### Coming Apart imdb | letterboxd | wikipedia | stream Year: 1969 Director: [[00-Media Artists#[Milton Moses Ginsberg](https //drive.google.com/file/d/1FWBxEudy1MZMDuqwPm7wzZKs-bapOIVb/view?usp=drive_link)|Milton Moses Ginsburg]] Associated: [[Movie Journal#[Someone to Love](https //www.imdb.com/title/tt0094007/)|Someone to Love]] David Holzman's Diary #MichaelSnow Tags: #RipTorn #surveillance #sexism #manchild #psychotherapy #mirror #sex Thoughts: ### Werewolf of Washington [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070908/) | [letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-werewolf-of-washington/) | [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Werewolf_of_Washington)| [Stream](https://archive.org/details/werewolf_washington) Year: 1973 Tags: #DeanStockwell #MiltonMosesGinsberg #Transhuman #lycanthropy #politics Director: [[00-Media Artists#[Milton Moses Ginsberg](https //drive.google.com/file/d/1FWBxEudy1MZMDuqwPm7wzZKs-bapOIVb/view?usp=drive_link)|Milton Moses Ginsburg]] Thoughts: ## 2023-08-25 ### [Marie-poupée](https://letterboxd.com/film/marie-the-doll) imdb | letterboxd | wikipedia | stream Year: #1976 Director: [Joel Seria](https://letterboxd.com/director/joel-seria/) associated: Don't Deliver Us from Evil (1971) Tags: #horror #Transhuman #objectification #dolls #france #sex #fetish #psychodrama Thoughts: Man infantilizes young woman into fetishized doll, her desire and longing for human connection breaks the limits of that relationship. She falls prey to rough treatment. He moves on to younger targets and her transformation is completed. [long review](http://atomiccaravan.blogspot.com/2015/07/marie-poupee-1976.html) ### NBC Matinee Theater - ["The Dark Of The Moon"](https://archive.org/details/NbcMatineeTheater-theDarkOfTheMoon) [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0958656/) | letterboxd | wikipedia | stream [Original Play](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_of_the_Moon_(play)) Original Song Year: aired Dec 13, 1957 Director: [Albert McCleery](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0565724) Associated: #PeterBrooks Tags: #public-domain #teleplay #folk-horror #mythic #occult #sex #magic #witches #queer #trans #transhuman #transpersonal #tragedy #american-south #otherworld A hunky witch boy turned human to marry a mortal girl. She must remain "faithful" for a year so he can become human. Her family and the will of the valley insists otherwise. Typical 1950's sexy witchy queer folk-horror tragedy teleplay based on a traditional folk song. **CW:** uses Appalachian stereotypes as a stand-in for predjudice, Sexual Assault. <iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/NbcMatineeTheater-theDarkOfTheMoon" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe> Original song: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Eca7ksuCzOc?si=HJLXKRdBrk6uwv2G" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe> director: https://indistinctchatter.site/ 2023-08-18 ### [Mute Witness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mute_Witness) imdb | letterboxd | wikipedia | stream Year: 1995 Director: [Anthony Waller](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0909026/?ref_=tt_ov_dr) Tags: #suspense #metacinema #disability #mutism #Soviet #late-cold-war #communication-barrier #special-effects #sex #assault #low-budget #sexism Thoughts: A surprisingly effective low budget thriller with a ridiculous premise, some self-satirical comedy, charming performances, and some problematic elements, including a brutal sexual assault and [snuff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snuff_film) themes. Main setting of the film is a movie set, themes of multi-layered communication issues between "mute" lead, Russian speakers, American film crew, and director-bro. - [Alec Guinness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Guinness "Alec Guinness")and - [Oleg Yankovsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Yankovsky "Oleg Yankovsky") Taut, Twisty, and verging on gonzo, **CW:** Sexual assault, snuff. ## 2022-04-20 ### Someone to Love [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094007/) | letterboxd | wikipedia | stream Year: 1987 Director: [Henry Jaglom](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0415617/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) Associated: #SallyKellerman #OrsonWelles Tags: #metacinema #mockumentary #improvised #ensemble #love #relationships #comedy Thoughts: Entertaining, often charming, self absorbed portrait of the plight of the self absorbed. "Happy Endings depend on stopping the story before its over." ### [Queen of Versailles](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125666/?ref_=fn_al_tt_6) imdb | letterboxd | wikipedia | stream Year: 2012 Director: [Lauren Greenfield](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1132362/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm) Associated: Tags: #documentary #economics #addiction #Florida Thoughts: Depicts the cycle of addiction in the throes of withdrawal ## 2022-04-03 ### The Lure [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5278832/) | letterboxd | wikipedia | stream Year: 2015 Director: [Agnieszka Smoczyńska](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnieszka_Smoczy%C5%84ska) Visual art: [[wtkns/Subject Notes/Visual art journal#Aleksandra Waliszewska|Aleksandra Waliszewska]] Associated: Tags: #horror #mermaid #musical #Poland #fairy-tale #feminist-film #migration #sex Thoughts: Just another Polish Mermaid Musical Horror film set in an 80's era cabaret. ## 2022-04-02 ### Memoria [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8399288/) | letterboxd | wikipedia | stream Year: 2022 Director: [Apichatpong Weerasethakul](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0917405/?ref_=tt_ov_dr) Associated: [Tilda Swinton](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0842770/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) Tags: #mediation #mystery #listening #Colombia #Thailand Thoughts: Consider as: A meditation on the tentativeness of connection in a state of dislocation, the imperative for understanding, and the spacious contemplation of mystery. Swinton describes Jessica as "not a character, but a [predicament](https://youtu.be/2C07slRRSVw?t=282)". A film on alienation created by method of production, columbian crew, scottish actor, Thai Director. [Exploding Head syndrome](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21907-exploding-head-syndrome-ehs#:~:text=Exploding%20head%20syndrome%20(EHS)%20is%20a%20type%20of%20sleep%20disorder,wake%20up%20during%20the%20night.) Nice images of Columbia, extremely quiet diagetic soundscapes. I could watch Tilda Swinton eat breakfast for half an hour onscreen and find it captivating. ## 2022-03-30 ### Close-up [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100234) | letterboxd | wikipedia | stream Year: 1990 Director: [Abbas Kiarostami](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0452102/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) Associated: Tags: #documentary #reenactment #Iran #justice #psychic-health #therapy Thoughts: Consider as a question of agency in the "creative act": Sabzian imagines himself a director and his act sets into motion the creation of an astounding work of filmmaking. In this way it is Sabzian's film, not Kiarostami's and Kiarostami could be percieved as the impostor. It is one of the most hopeful films I’ve seen in a long time. It avoided the cynical “distance” of high key cinema verité, and the cloying sentimentality of Italian neorealism, finding a middle path which treated the participants gently but honestly. The trial serves as a kind of group therapy session, with the intent of both eliciting the motives and character of the “defendant” Sabzian and offering the Ahankhahs the Justice of insight, empathy, and the opportunity to offer grace (rather than demand retribution) was riveting. The re-enactments, offering the participants the chance for catharsis, by reliving and reimagining their roles in a form of psychodrama/verbatim theater was compelling. Also interesting and unexpected (and delightful) was the decision to invite Makhmalbaf to participate, a third form of (hidden camera? Structured Reality?) intervention. (Although the audio issues were painful, and I found myself wondering why kiarostami didn’t ask them to re-enact their conversation.)