shaye22 Reviews

Wild (I) (2014)

The audiences didn't get it, but the critics did. Amazing journey.

[10/10 · 24 April 2015]

This is an exceptional film on every level. It is well acted, breathtakingly shot and deeply personal. Audiences on IMDb are either really, really stupid or have just grown too accustomed to action flicks like The Avengers where an explosion or fight happens in every second scene. If you go to films to see mindless violence (and why would you?!), then avoid Wild. This film is for people who feel things deeply, who have been down life's tough road and understand a thing or two about not only beauty, but also grief or loss.

I could harp on and on about why people on IMDb didn't "get" it, but I don't want to waste my time. It's evident looking at a lot of the 1 star reviews and seeing how these people are a few cards short of a plank, no offense to them. The strengths of this film lie within the fact that it never tries to "tie up the ends" or offer tacked on solutions. There is ambiguity and unanswerable questions, just like life. Why do we grieve? Why do we only realize what we had when it's slipped through our fingers? Why do we go to the darkest of places to realize something might be wrong? Why do some of us heal, and others don't? Wild isn't really a tale of healing, it's more of a fragment of the long, hard process of coming to heal. We don't have a beginning where everything is fine and dandy, a middle where things get tough, and an ending where those things are resolved. We only learn why this woman has put herself in the wilderness through fractured memories and flashbacks. The more we learn, the more we realize what she's trying to achieve. As her journey progresses and draws nearer to the end, the darker and painful memories seep through. It's a subdued and understated film, there's very little melodrama or big "throw your arms up in the air" scenes. It's quiet, but reflective and full of emotional complexity.

Witherspoon has always been a competent actress. I remember knowing she had a bright future when I saw her in "Freeway" and later "Election", where she out-acted both Keifer Sutherland and Matthew Broderick, respectively. She absolutely shines here in a return to former glory after years of "playing it safe" in silly Hollywood romantic comedies. Laura Dern is a revelation too, giving all she can in such very little screen time. If Patricia Arquette hadn't had the Best Supporting Actress Oscar lock for her memorable turn in "Boyhood", I'm sure that little gold man would be Dern's. The cinematography is rich and vast. The soundtrack is superb, probably one of the greatest in recent memory. Deadheads and grunge junkies will love it.

Wild is a remarkable journey. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, because it requires an IQ prerequisite to be appreciated.

The Killing Field (2014 TV Movie)

Pretty solid "whodunit" TV movie

[4 May 2014]

Was just watching this tonight on channel 7. I was quite impressed - it was very slowly paced but also atmospheric, moody and generally well acted. The cinematography was well done... the stark, lifeless and almost foreboding small town was depicted excellently.

However I had an issue with the dialogue at times, particularly the timing. Some of the responses came too quickly... if you're going to aim for realism (which seems to be the director's intention here), generally in reality the answer doesn't fall immediately out of your mouth directly after the question. In one scene, during the interrogation of the perverted school teacher, detective Bridget yells "Dan... stop!" to which he responds with "what?!" This seemed kind of like an unnatural response in my opinion.

Oh well. This movie took me by very pleasant surprise, so I will overlook the (mostly) minor flaws. Rebecca Gibney and the younger cast offered very impressive performances.

7/10

The Marriage of Figaro (2009)

Adelaide looks like an ugly place... and the film itself is just us ugly

[1/10 · 27 March 2014]

Fences of rusted corrugated iron, dead lawn, overgrown gardens, decaying palm trees... is this film trying to portray the poverty of Adelaide or is it just really this ugly and low class? As an Australian (from Melbourne), who has lived in the US for over a decade, I'm tired of seeing my former home country portrayed so terribly trashy and unattractive in film (Animal Kingdom?), but at the same time I feel the suburbs and cities themselves, particularly those portrayed in this film, are need of some dire landscaping. Or are they trying to paint the landscape as a backdrop for the plot?

However, the aesthetics of this film are not essential to a good film and aside from the way it looks, The Marriage of Figaro was certainly still not a good film. It's still poorly made, with some weak performances, and terrible editing. Nothing really redeemed this.

Don't bother with this one... it only re-enforces that crone-worthy "ocker" Aussie-ness that needs to become a part of our very distant history and stay there.

The Snowtown Murders (2011)

Confusing plot, but a well-made film with many strong points

[7/10 · 5 January 2014]

For casual viewers who don't know anything about the real case (look it up - very interesting/disturbing), this film is VERY hard to follow. The plot is quite disjointed and it would have benefited from probably a shorter duration and a more coherent flow for those who did not know much about the case. I found myself becoming disinterested in some of the long, drawn out scenes where I did not really understand what was happening. In retrospect, after researching the case, I will probably give the film a re-watch.

Other than that the film was solidly acted and had some very impressive, raw cinematography - the film was full of very simple, banal elements like power lines, water towers, naked trees, isolated landscapes and low ceilings of clouds… and while the film is set amongst this industrial ugliness and poverty/malaise of the outer suburbs, there is a lyrical, dreamlike beauty about the way this harsh world is presented, often in saturated, dark low light reminiscent of David Lynch, the early Cohen Brothers work and the similarly themed "Boys Don't Cry" (1999), which would be worth checking out if you enjoyed this one.

7/10

Perfect Blue (1997)

Suspenseful, compelling and entertaining animated thriller that succeeds on its own despite similarities with other films

[8/10 · 1 January 2012]

Perfect Blue has seen a resurgence of interest after the recent success of Darren Aronofsky's similar Black Swan and many film-goers note that the latter was clearly influenced by the former, and it really does come across when one compares the films: they both center around an art (acting vs. dancing) and a paranoid, attractive and driven woman who gradually descends into paranoid delusions because of her obsessive commitment to the art form, in Perfect Blue an aspiring actress, in Black Swan a ballerina. Both films are wonderful and each hold up very well on their own, however I would say that the similarities between the two films are probably mostly superficial and don't really extend beyond the blurring of reality and fantasy theme and the doppelganger "who's who?" element. I'd also say that Black Swan was more emotionally wrenching than Perfect Blue.

I saw Perfect Blue recently and I enjoyed the film. It's very engrossing and the animation is superb. It's the type of film you'd have if you mixed Roman Polanski, Hitchcock and some Lynch and then teamed it up with Disney. The film particularly recalls the paranoid work of Polanski (Rosemary's Baby, Repulsion, The Tenant) and the dream-like, surreal state of many of Lynch's films (Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire). Perfect Blue, despite being influenced by probably superior and more sophisticated works, is a very innovative work that succeeds extremely well as its own piece. I highly recommend it to those whom enjoy a good psychological thriller.

Blue Velvet (1986)

''Blue Velvet'' remains a 'tear-stained fabric swatch' to this day.

[10/10 · 3 May 2010]

Director David Lynch may never reach the brilliance he achieved with the ultra weird, kinky sexual awakening surrealist masterpiece 'Blue Velvet'. Released nearly 26 years ago, Blue Velvet has retained every bit of its spellbinding, horrifying power that capitulated it to fame back in 1986. The film possesses a remarkable dream-like quality, similar to those nightmares in which we live out an adventure we wouldn't dare in reality, as we are plunged into a deep REM sleep. Jeffrey Beaumont is at the center of this nightmare, after discovering a human ear, which is considerably out of place in his post-code perfection hometown haven of Lumberton. There is the perfect balance of horror and comedy, and Dennis Hopper is unforgettable in his most talked about role (along with Speed).

Blue Velvet has been called "a tear-stained fabric swatch" for obvious reasons, it has gone down as one of the greatest films of all time for justified reasons, the film is unlike any other. Unmissable.

10 out of 10.