This counts as journalling, right?
(Faves = underrated Paddy’s Day picks ☘️)
Favorite films
Recent activity
AllPinned reviews
More-
The Elephant Man 1980
“Nothing will die”
In Bucharest, a week after his death, David Lynch produced another miracle. He resurrected the Romanian capital’s all-too-empty, oft-forgotten, archival cinema. Tonight it was sold out. It felt like one of many state funerals held across the globe; a sub-culture in mourning but, also, reborn.
Never mind that Romania’s first ever Best Actor nominee was announced earlier for a film that bears a passing resemblance (EDIT: just found out it’s actually for the monster he played, not the…
Translated from by -
Kneecap 2024
“It is no nation we inhabit, but a language. Make no mistake; our native tongue is our true fatherland.”
- Emil CioranAs a monolingual Irishman living in Romania, it is with tremendous shame that I reinstall Duolingo. However, it’s with tremendous pride that I watch this film. Intelligent, artful, playful, self-aware, authentic, dare I say: masterful.
I don’t recall any band making an eponymous film this good, period. Definitely not this purposeful.
In my early 20s, I remember being…
Translated from by
Recent reviews
More-
All About Eve 1950
I heard Chalamet did this to Lil B, Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, Kylie Jenner (still in progress), even Bob Dylan. It’s all about Tim. This is the nature of the job, the ambition, the ‘craft’, the ‘climb’. As Aidan Gillen* once coquettishly snarled “chaos is a ladder” and, though he may have been in character at the time**, I can’t help but interpret that as a comment on the nature of the biz***.
A platitude I was raised on was…
Translated from by -
Frank 2014
Simultaneously an Amadeus reboot, an ode to art for art’s sake, an archival document of when/why bands existed, and a subverted critique of Yoko Ono.
A creative film about creativity that made me want to create.
An artistic film about artistry that made me want to be an artist.
An inspired film about inspiration that I found inspiring.
Then I think “would I be rich/famous?”, reread the trash I wrote above, and realise I’m not Frank… I’m Jon.
Popular reviews
More-
The Second Act 2024
My theory as to why this is so underrated: people read the synopsis and expect that to be what the film is about. 🤷🏻♂️
Ha, you fools, this is Dupieux. 😏
You’ve been Duped™️.
(Review commissioned, conceived, written, edited, and ‘liked’ by AI)Translated from by -
Yuki's Sun 1972
Pre-watching: a rejected pilot!? imagine being the TV execs who rejected Miyazaki.
Post-watching: imagine anyone rejecting that…
Less of a pilot and more a video pitch, so I can only assume the commissioners thought it was just a half-baked gimmick with nowhere else to go. Tbf to them, it rapidly escalates through so many absurd plot twists, within a few minutes, that they probably assumed it was a style-over-substance ‘smash and grab’ from a creatively exhausted charlatan. Little did they…
Translated from by
