Less about the dehumanizing effects of prison and more the humanizing effects of art. The glimpses we get of outsiders - a couple of guards, the clemency board, a group of supervisors - reveal an impassive bunch, contrasted with the warmth, expressiveness, and humor of the inmates. There are more references to the process related to being incarcerated and how that affects the inmates’ hearts and minds rather than any physical brutality. That’s reinforced by the cinematography that emphasizes the…
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A Complete Unknown 2024
I don’t have the same immediate aversion to musical biopics that many (justifiably) carry, although I’m not seeking them out either. I did enjoy a lot about Maestro, a movie that similatly avoids sweeping conclusions about its subject. A Complete Unknown just more openly wears this sensibility on its sleeve, both in its title and some extra on-the-nose dialogue.
I’m probably a middling Dylan fan, but this movie nicely captures his charisma on and off stage and provides a lot of…
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Beijing Watermelon 1989
Heartwarming, heartwarming, mildly disturbing, pathological, back to heartwarming, experimental, more heartwarming, and tied up with a bow.
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The Paper Tigers 2020
Most of what I expected for the shoestring budget, dad-fu comedy Paper Tigers proved true: it’s charming, it’s funny, and it tries for some emotional payoff. What I didn’t expect was a series of nicely staged fights and a couple of strong performances. But I’m also a middle aged male living in Seattle who used to practice tae kwon do (and with an existing weakness for martial arts moves). So this is checking a number of boxes for me.
There…
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