A World of Kino 36 | Hausu, Zindagi, The Passion of Joan of Arc & more

Happy Halloween everybody! Now, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I’m now curating for a website with a larger (though more local) audience. The bad news is I will be feeling even more overworked than I already have been, so we’ll just have to see whether or not my work ethic is up to the challange of managing two websites at once. But anyhow, for now let’s just enjoy another week of kino.

Let’s begin with the newest Doctor Who episode – The Halloween Apocalypse.

The Doctor is back to help stop an invasion of Earth on Halloween.

Yes yes, I know I never reviewed Series 11 and 12, instead insisting that Doctor Who ended with Series 10. Well, I’m watching the new stuff anyway, so I’ll quickly say that there are no redeemable qualities in the Chibnall series. Coincidently, this new episode is also utter trash. Overflowing in nonsensical ideas and introducing new characters every minute to create a jumbled, lame mess. At times, this felt like a parody, though that weird humour did at least provide brief moments of levity to save me from the overwhelming embarassment I was feeling watching this. Don’t worry, I won’t bother reviewing the rest of the series, unless the impossible happens and I actually begin to like it.

I wasn’t looking forward to watching this next one, but it’s somehow even worse than I imagined… My faithful readers, I give you The Watermelon Woman.

Cheryl works a day job in a video store while trying to make a film about a black actress from the 1930s known for playing the stereotypical “mammy” roles relegated to black actresses during that period.

This film reminds me a lot of Shirkers, which I likewise find to be woefully overrated. I might have enjoyed this more if it was purely a documentary on “the watermelon woman”, as that story was vaguely interesting. But just like with Shirkers, the entire film is let down by being so ego-centric. I couldn’t care less about Cheryl Dunye, so making herself the focal point of this overtly self-centered film made for an extremely annoying viewing experience. Yet while it’s the exact same gripe I had with Shirkers, at least that was a somewhat well made film. The filmmaking on display with The Watermelon Woman is quite simply embarrassing – and don’t get me started on the ‘acting’. I seriously don’t understand how this is so highly rated, because every single aspect about it is just awful.

Ok, let’s jump up to some decent films, first with Rush Hour 2.

It’s vacation time for Carter as he finds himself alongside Lee in Hong Kong wishing for more excitement. While Carter wants to party, Lee is out to track down a Triad gang lord who may be responsible for killing two men at the American Embassy – things get complicated as the pair stumble onto a counterfeiting plot.

This is definitely not as funny as the first film, since it doesn’t quite reach the same levels of charm and fun action, with no real conflict between the two leads to elevate the mediocre plot. But Jackie Chan is still a delight to watch, and Chris Tucker continues to punch with great comedy, so Rush Hour 2 is entertaining regardless. It does say a lot though that the blooper real at the end is more hilarious than the actual film.

Now to finally include a film that is Halloween themed, I give you the Japanese cult classic Hausu.

Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip to the country to visit her aunt at their ancestral house. She invites her six friends to join her, but the girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.

I was definitely not mentally prepared for the sheer insanity of this film. Hausu is basically just an amalgamation of crazy ideas getting increasingly more ridiculous as it culminates into an incomprehensible finale, the ideas too bonkers to properly grasp what they even are. I appreciate Obayashi’s dedication to crafting such a wildly inventive piece of art, because it is put together beautifully in a morbid kind of way. Unfortunately, I just don’t dig these kinds of films, as it was simply too frenetic for me to properly enjoy it.

This next film was my first endeavour into Bollywood, my only taste of it previously having come in the form of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire – as well as some great Corridor Crew videos – which needless to say is hardly indicative of the real thing. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara seems to be a personal favourite for the friends I watched it with, and I can certainly see why because this film is absurdly hilarious, and yet it still managed to bring several tears to my eye. 

Three friends who were inseparable in childhood decide to go on a three-week-long bachelor road trip to Spain, in order to re-establish their bond and explore thrilling adventures, before one of them gets married. What will they learn of themselves and each other during the adventure?

ZNMD is first and foremost a comedy – and by God does it succeed at that. ‘Moshi moshi’ has got to be my new favourite gag in all of cinema! Every time they kept referring to it – alongside all the other great jokes that interlinked to hilarious consequences – made us all burst into uncontrollable laughter, giggling long after as we kept repeating it amongst ourselves. The fantastic comedy is delivered perfectly by this handful of fantastic actors, as the humour comes so naturally to them. Hrithik Roshan seems to be a huge star in India, so while this is my first time encountering him, I have to say I’m already a fan; alongside Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol (as well as Katrina Kaif), as they’re all equally precious in this film. The humour in this film is something else entirely, but it’s only thanks to the fact that the three leads have such an effortless chemistry between them that every single scene was made so immensely enjoyable. 

The brilliant jokes are the icing on the cake of all the fun this film exudes, but while I would have loved ZNMD enough for that, what I think truly makes it a great film is how it manages to keep the emotional heart of the film pumping at all times. The laughter does die down at certain points, but what replaces it are some immensely touching scenes, that deepen the film beyond mere comedic road trip to something more important. The poetry that gets periodically read out is simply beautiful, and as the characters episodically overcome their demons, many poignant conversations are allowed to take place so as to make the narrative a most satisfying experience. It’s amazing how well Zoya Akhtar blends the impeccable dialogue with these gorgeously written character journeys – a journey that sees them travelling through many wonderfully captured Spanish vistas – so I really can’t stress enough how intrigued this has made me to venture further into all the richly sentimental absurdity that Bollywood has to offer. 

It’s been 3 years since I first watched this masterpiece, so I figured I should watch it again as I’m writing an essay on it (which you may get to see sometime). I was rather anxious going in though, as my opinions on films are capable of flipping dramatically, but thankfully, The Passion of Joan of Arc remains my absolute favourite silent film.

A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she’d spoken to God, Jeanne d’Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.

PoJoA is a tiny film, since it only has about 6 scenes drawn out to feature length. Perhaps this creates an overly slow pace, but I find it wholly gripping regardless. It’s incredible how so much can be told when the plot is so negligible, because what’s packed into that tight runtime is perhaps the finest, most gut-wrenching performance I’ve ever seen, alongside some truly outstanding and innovative cinematography. Falconetti is mesmerising to behold in her contradicting states of distress and defiance, the emotions made all the more fascinating by how Dreyer captures the tears, sweat, spit and blood in an unrelenting barrage of close-ups. You can seriously feel the grotesquely realistic textures of her face framed so unremittingly, the harrowing effect cemented by gorgeously shot imagery intercut with the ugly snears of her executioners, rising to beautifully morbid heights as the flames encase her body in perpetuity. It doesn’t even matter that I don’t believe her supposed holiness, because her undying devotion in the face of the sanctimonious Church makes for an endlessly incredible piece of cinema.

If you’re feeling a weird sense of deja vu right now, your eyes aren’t deceiving you because I am genuinely rereviewing Dune. Now, I know I’ve never done this before, but my rating has changed and I’ve had a substantial amount of new thoughts so as to warrant an extra review.

Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence – a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential – only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

To spread my love for what Villeneuve has miraculously created, I decided to drag some friends along to the cinema to watch Dune again with me, and I have to say my gripes with my first viewing have pretty much dissipitated. Sure, the worlds don’t feel as populated as they could be, the characters are a little too archetypal, and the narrative isn’t as fleshed out as it should be – namely in regards to spice and Dr Yueh. And yet I have to say that this is an impeccably constructed adaptation all the same, building up this fascinating universe with such beautiful splendour and awe-inspiring grandiosity, laying the groundwork for an ingenious story that is yet to reach its truly complex stages. 

I mentioned last time that I felt the characters didn’t feel like real people – only plot devices. I completely retract that statement now, because while the characters are certainly mostly all stoic, reserved, and wholly mission-focused, the entire cast exhibits lovely bits of humanity and light-heartedness that deepens the tragedy that eventually befalls them. Obviously, Timothee Chalamet as the star himself makes for a perfect Paul Atreides, more than rising to the challenge of embodying a young man still naive about life and politics, yet bursting at the seams with all the potential he is fated to unleash. Oscar Isaac plays his role perfectly as Duke Leto, portraying a beautiful relationship with both Jessica and Paul that sadly comes into conflict with his undyingly loyal commitment to the Emperor, even though behind those stirnly melancholic eyes he knows he’s facing his demise. Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa brilliantly play two differing warrior archetypes, which while naturally lending for some superb fights, primarily give Paul those extra character interactions needed to deepen his personality. Stellan Skarsgard is sublime as Baron Harkonnen, with his morbidly obese body floating through the terrifying darkness creating a truly imposing figure; while Javier Bardem gorgeously shines during his noticeably short presence, granting Stilgar such an aloof yet enticing charisma. But Rebecca Ferguson as Jessica is without a doubt the real heart of this film, giving by far the most emotion heavy performance in a film that admittedly feels cold most of the time, her never ending tears making Paul’s triumphant achievements of bravery all the more poignant – and not without her own fair share of badass moments to keep her undoubtedly on the same level as the ‘messiah’ himself. Everybody achieves their roles prodigiously in Dune, making the power of the special effects and production design – not to mention the extremely underappreciated work from the costume department – all the more mesmerising. 

Dune boasts a huge, tremendously gripping cast inhabitting a huge, incomprehensibly incredible story that can’t even be told adequately inside just a single film. But what Villeneuve has achieved here fills me with joy and inspiration, because now that I know Part 2 is definitely happening, I can be happy resting while I wait for the glory that’s to come.