Lonesome: https://boxd.it/1DdnLz ⭐⭐⭐ Pre 1910s Cinema: https://boxd.it/b7vFo ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Planet of the Apes - Reboot Trilogy Rise: https://boxd.it/1DwSKP ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Dawn: https://boxd.it/1DEBH1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ War: https://boxd.it/1DWjCX ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Once Upon A Time In America: https://boxd.it/1E5Dzn ⭐
Blimey, 2 months of Weekly Recap have already gone by. It’s been nice settling into a regular routine (this takes priority over my studies after all) so I hope you’ve been enjoying these posts as much as I have in writing them. Anyway, this week I watched roughly 20 films, so let’s get straight to it!
Starting off February is of course my mandatory Uni film. Lonesome is a romantic film from 1928, which by itself would not be something I’d ever give a second thought to, but as it’s among the first films to use sound, I can’t help but be impressed. The way it experiments with film form – warping colour, editing with frantic energy and periodically splicing sound to enhance the themes of loneliness – is something I will always have deep admiration for, so I’m certainly glad I watched this film. I just wish the writing was actually worthy of being spoken, because Lonesome is plagued with a plethora of groan-inducing corn; the avant-garde impulse to filmmaking that works so well here is completely tarnished by the Hollywood plot. Still, Lonesome is a worthy attempt, as it’s the first film in a long time that I can understand why I was told to watch it for my course.
Lonesome: https://boxd.it/1DdnLz ⭐⭐⭐
Straight afterwards, I continued delving into early cinema by watching 15 shorts from the 1890s and 1900s. Don’t worry, I won’t review each individual one here (although I’ve already done so on Letterboxd). I’ll just bundle them together, as not even combined do they reach feature length. Lumiere, Melies and Porter were pioneers of the cinema of attractions, which is essentially taking what Scorsese said about superhero movies being theme park rides and realising that cinema was literally born from the desire to shock and wow audiences. This is identical to the modern blockbuster. So if anything, the MCU is the epitome of cinema, considering it’s essentially just an evolution of these early films. I went into these short films thinking I’d be bored, only to be pleasantly surprised by how engaging they were, with an unshakable enthusiasm to push the magic of cinema to its full potential. I’m definitely impressed with what these early filmmakers were able to accomplish with their lack of technology and experience, crafting snippets of pure wonder that remind me why cinema is the best form of art (and why the power of blockbusters shouldn’t be discredited by those who proclaim to love cinema).
Pre 1910s Cinema: https://boxd.it/b7vFo ⭐⭐⭐⭐
And now for the highlight of the week, I’ve decided to return to my Planet of the Apes pseudo-marathon. I promise I’ll be done talking about these films after this Recap, as I’ve at last finished it off with the Reboot Trilogy. I’m going to be blunt here: Rise, Dawn and War are all masterpieces! I was rather disappointed by the originals (and especially the Burton remake), which was mostly mired in the atrocious and the ironically funny. But this trilogy was a joy to rewatch after suffering for so long. Now, I’d argue that they do decline just a smidge with each installment, but only because I found Rise to be nigh perfect. Even so, I can find barely any faults with the writing and performances of the three films, which create a mesmerising story full of heart, with every scene maximising the horror, tragedy, comedy and triumph precisely when they’re most appropriate. The apes are imbued with such a perfect semblance of life that I genuinely found them more believable than the humans, as it’s in their silent exchanges that the beauty of the films shines through. This is only made possible by the fact that the CGI is so pioneering, a revolutionary advancement in motion capture that somehow only kept improving with each installment. The cinematography is also surprisingly gorgeous, elevating the already beautiful story to new heights. I loved almost every second of this trilogy, so I’m happy that this fascinating concept was finally given the cinematic sophistication that it deserved.
Planet of the Apes Reboot Trilogy Rise: https://boxd.it/1DwSKP ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Dawn: https://boxd.it/1DEBH1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ War: https://boxd.it/1DWjCX ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
But wait, don’t go yet! You didn’t really think I could go through an entire episode without my weekly quota of contrarianism, did you? The unfortunate ‘highly rated film that I unpopularly hate’ this week is none other than Once Upon A Time In America. Yeah, I really hated this one. Which is a shame, because I adore Leone’s Westerns. His style is still really great in this film, with beautiful cinematography that I wish pertained to a similarly beautiful story. But I was utterly repulsed by the plot, which couldn’t even be saved by Morricone’s otherwise incredible score, as it was laughably incongruous with the editing. An over-indulgent mess with absolutely detestable characters! Yet another reminder of why I hate the gangster genre…
Once Upon A Time In America: https://boxd.it/1E5Dzn ⭐
