REVIEW: Parasite

Parasite is a film best seen going in with no prior background information; I’ll say that first. Once one does have the chance to experience this film,  it becomes very evident why it has garnered so many awards and positive reviews. 

 

This movie is a perfectly orchestrated descent into total class warfare. What begins as a sort of heist film with comedic points becomes a gruesome thriller, sucking in the audience into a shocking and layered story of privilege, identity, and sacrifice. The story is well-paced and original, showing the way a family from a lower-class background infiltrates and profits off of an unsuspecting upper-class family. So much is said about the way class functions, whether that’s through a metaphor like living in a basement versus a semi-basement versus a modern home or in a symbolic device of a club-like gift meant to bring about wealth. 

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In terms of cinematography, the film aesthetically is simply beautiful to watch. There are some points where I found myself struck simply by the artistic style of Parasite. An especially jarring example for me was in the contrast of two sequences towards the end of the film: one being a family saving their personal belongings from their flooded home and thus spending the night in a shelter with other affected families, and the other sequence being a privileged young boy waking up in a sun-soaked, clean tent after deciding to camp out on his family’s perfectly manicured lawn for the evening. The thematic meaning of this juxtaposition was distinctly amplified due to the dutiful attention to light, composition, and color in these shots. The rest of the film has plenty of examples like this, where firstly one feels awe towards the beauty and complexity of the visual and then, due to the striking image, one finds meaning that goes beyond plot.

 

The performances in this film were crucial to adding dimensionality to the conflict and avoiding binary definitions of characters, their motives, and their actions. All the actors and actresses were extraordinary, but Song Kang-ho’s performance as Kim Ki-taek, the father of the Kim family, was especially powerful. There’s so much behind his character that comes through in his expressions and tone, especially when the film reaches its twist. In an emotional scene with Choi Woo-shik, who plays his son Kim Ki-woo, he speaks of the futility of planning anything in life. His performance here says so much implicitly about his character’s difficult life and what it means to persist in a world where one is perpetually marginalized, and it’s both amazing and devastating to watch.

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This review may seem like simple praise, and that’s because it is. In a time where franchise films are finally getting critical attention outside Rotten Tomatoes praise, Parasite offers an excellent example of what films should be getting space in theaters. This film is not only technically executed with precision and style, but it is an important piece of work that speaks to today’s alarming social and economic disparities.

REVIEW: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Let me start off by saying, most of this movie was not what I was expecting at all, and it was wonderful. I was so worried about the cliche of a movie about a transgender woman, but it was so real, and not cheesy at all (at least in terms of sexuality). It was still cheesy in lots of other, good ways. Just as a reminder, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the story of a transgender woman and her botched sex change surgery, trying to achieve stardom while searching for love. Let’s unpack that a little.

For starters, the movie includes a super cool, modern (for 2001) insertion of drawings and visual moving art into the film. The art helps explain several of Hedwig’s songs and personal history through abstract sketches that came in and out of the actual movie scenes incredibly fluidly. This was not something I knew would be part of the film, and I loved how it helped illustrate her earliest memories. They also displayed some of her hardships through these illustrations that definitely came across much more classily and understandably in picture form than they might have if they were just regular scenes in the movie.

The music was definitely also a highlight, if not the best part of the whole film. I really enjoyed the very broad range of emotions and outfits (on both Hedwig and the rest of the band) that accompanied each different song. While they were all rock songs, they still had that element of theater-style music that helps to continue the story, and I thought that was an interesting combination of genres.

The storyline and emotional intensity of the plot absolutely came through, which can be very difficult when adapting to a movie from a live show. Although I think some of the more subtle messages of the storyline of Hedwig’s love life might of gone over my head, I still definitely understood each character’s feelings for each other, and their relationships were often complicated and intriguing. That being said, I definitely did not understand the ending of the movie at all. While I don’t want to spoil it, I will say that it is confusing to say the least. I am not really sure how Hedwig ended up feeling or who she ended up with romantically, if anyone at all. Her turbulent relationships were not always completely clear, and it did feel like I was missing some information, especially on the relationship she had with one of her fellow band members. Perhaps the musical contains more information or more scenes that help to explain what seemed like some plot holes.

In any case, the movie absolutely captured my attention from start to finish, and was definitely one of the ones where I was able to forget about anything except the storyline unfolding. It was an absolutely wacky story, but somehow it totally worked with the characters and actors on screen. It was funny, sad, thought provoking, and engrossing, and now I want to see the musical on Broadway even more than I did before! I would highly recommend this movie for anyone who wants both a unique and provocative watching experience.

PREVIEW: Parasite

You only ever see your own life fully. We are ignorant of any moment, large or small, that occurs beyond our limited eyesight. It is a breadth of ignorance too enormous to ever be acknowledged. There are billions of human lives, living and dying, and we can only feel one. Yet, inevitably, those other lives will push and pull on our own. Collisions between lives, then, are unexpected. You will never know who is significant until your self-centered perspective, so carefully cultivated, is in shambles all around you. In the film Parasite, the Kim family hope to use that same egocentric, obliviousness to trick the rich Park family and climb up the economic ladder. But they are, after all, subject to that same blindness. The collision between the two families, then, is a fascinating one, even more so because of the director and writer of the film, Bong Joon-Ho (Snowpiercer). Parasite is currently showing at the State Theatre. Tickets can be bought online or at the box office ($8.50 with a student ID).

PREVIEW: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a movie first released in 2001 about the life of a German emigrant living in a trailer in Kansas. She is the victim of a botched sex-change operation, and the movie follows her, as an “internationally ignored” rock singer, as she searches for stardom, and maybe even love.

The movie originated as a Broadway musical, and was eventually translated into film. John Cameron Mitchell starred in and wrote  the musical, and he also stars in and directed the movie as well. I have always had this musical on my bucket list, especially after Darren Criss became the star. And if I can’t see the musical, the movie is the next best option!

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is playing at the State Theater on Friday (Nov. 8) and Saturday (Nov. 9) at 10 pm.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p9mPhGo1j0

Friday tickets:  https://secure.michtheater.org/websales/pages/TicketSearchCriteria.aspx?evtinfo=647021~c76be4f4-22b5-4bed-a89c-7def863b8c53&

Saturday Tickets: https://secure.michtheater.org/websales/pages/TicketSearchCriteria.aspx?evtinfo=647022~c76be4f4-22b5-4bed-a89c-7def863b8c53&

Just a side note: This movie is rated R for sexual content and language.

REVIEW: International Studies Horror Film Fest

Another year of the annual International Studies Horror Film Fest has come and gone, and with it went my hope that they would show actual horror movies.

Don’t get me wrong; the selections were wonderfully artistic and variable in tone and theme and texture. All three featured original plots and unsettling undertones. They each force a bit of creepiness into one’s idea of the world, while remaining quite beautiful. However, I would have appreciated at least one fully, overtly gruesome movie in the program. The gore was almost nonexistent in all of the films, limited to a few scenes of graphicness apiece. I found myself groaning over the romantic subplots and long periods of calm while trying to focus on the main stories and character dynamics. On Halloween, I need fear to rule. This can be done in complex, story-rich, writerly ways; the artistry of a film need not be sacrificed. Thus, even if the fest’s planners intended to get together a group of intellectually stimulating movies, they could have done so while giving the audience a little more of a scare.

Face was basically CSI or Criminal Minds in all it accomplished horror-wise. The whole movie seems cast in shadows, plagued by an uninspired soundtrack and TV-drama style acting. But the pace of the film was perfect, a slow reveal of a shocking truth whose slime does something venomous to the psyche of the audience.

The Lure was an entire musical, and certainly the only movie of its kind, however impossible to define that may be. The heavy glamour of the strip club pairs so well with the mythology surrounding mermaids, and the girls’ dead stares were a perfect balance for all the life in their musical numbers. The unwholesomeness of the young girls participating in this business combines with the sexual power of mermaids in lore to create an uneasy feeling for the audience, similar to the trickery sailors face in all the stories. But even with the violence and the complex uneasiness, this movie is far closer to a comedy than a horror film.

Dogtooth seemed like something I should have enjoyed, given that its creator is the same man behind The Lobster (a movie which, after watching, made me feel so unmoored that I literally held onto street signs as I walked to the bus stop, certain I’d blow away with the wind). It bears obvious similarities in how the cast is directed to act (basically emotionless, flat) and the minimalism of the indoor environments. But it falls short of creating the same level of effect for me that Lanthimos had in his later film. I think he realizes later in his career that there is a limit to the lack of expression he can write into his actors and the barrenness of the landscape before it becomes too offputting for the audience to focus on the story. In short, I got bored, and the beauty of the expertly done lighting and the carefully constructed garden space did little to change that. Some emotional music would have gone a long way.

Truly, these movies have tons of artistic value to consider and appreciate. In another sort of film festival, they would be great additions (and indeed, they have been inputs of such festivals as Cannes and Sundance), but I still hold that they are unwise selections for a true horror fest. I hope that next year, they have more time in the gallery to show an extra movie that a Halloween lover would appreciate.

REVIEW: Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

Before seeing the documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, I was familiar with some of Miles Davis’s most iconic music (like his album Kind of Blue), but I didn’t know very much about him outside of these recordings. That said, this film, which shares its name with Davis’s 1957 compilation album and is directed by Stanley Nelson, offers a deeper look into the many years of his career, as well into him as a person.

The film went through his life in chronological order, and since he was born in 1926, there is not a lot in the way of video of the early years of his career. However, the documentary deftly handled this, and still managed to be quite engaging. As black-and-white archival images panned across the screen (a classic move from a PBS documentary), Miles Davis’s own words (many of which were from his autobiography, Miles: The Autobiography) were read by actor Carl Lumbly. The film additionally features interviews with scholars and some of Davis’s closest colleagues.

While Miles Davis is certainly one of the giants of jazz, the documentary also does a remarkable job of showing the complexity and flaws behinds the star. He was not a warm personality. Despite his capacity for beautiful music, he was an abusive husband, which is revealed in the film during interviews with his late first wife, Francis Davis (who is featured on the cover of Miles’s album Someday My Prince Will Come). In one perhaps telling (and mildly humorous) anecdote, a colleague recalls asking Miles how he was going to drive his family in his Ferrari. Reportedly, he responded that his kids could call a taxi. He struggled for years with alcohol and cocaine, and the film does not sugarcoat this.

In fact, it was in part due to his struggles with addiction that Miles did not pick up the trumpet for over five years. Between 1975 and 1980, his career was virtually on hold, and many doubted that he would ever return to music. However, he made an incredible comeback, and in my opinion, this was one of the most compelling storylines of the documentary. Not only did he return to the stage, but rather than pushing back on the changing tastes in music, Miles embraced it and adapted, pushing the conventional boundaries of genre.

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool is now showing at the Michigan Theater. If you are interested in learning more about the jazz legend, I strongly recommend it!