DawsonChu Reviews

Vivre sa vie (1962)

Perfect

[9/10 · 30 November 2018]

Exquisite photography combined with a steady rhythm makes the film look rigorous and affectionate. The deliberate jumping rhythm and rebellious spirit of the previous works were completely suppressed. Perhaps Godard lost his initial rationality in serious inquiry, or this film is a film paper written in poetry. When the functional lines changed from preaching to expression, Godard eventually emerged from the popular wave.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Too much is as bad as too little

[6/10 · 13 November 2018]

It can be seen that the director and the screenwriter are not satisfied with simply completing a fairy tale, but the world view is too limited. The film was stuffed with too many dramatic elements, but the arrangement between the main line and the secondary line did not constitute a uniform style, nor did it have enough persuasive logic support. The over-functionalized emotional flow rendering attempts to use "coincidence" to compensate for the constraints of this play, but in fact has little effect. From this perspective, the setting of "Fantastic beasts and where to find them" is both gimmick and cumbersome.

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Hollywood's peak

[9/10 · 12 November 2018]

After the elegant ruins were buried, what was left behind was a touch of innocence, a unique collection of American culture. The powerful expression of visual language makes many of the slightly rough plots in the original work more convincing, so every time the story is about to become cliché, there will be an appropriate reversal. Therefore, the cunning of being a craftsman and the sincerity of being a poet seem to have reached a near perfect resonance in this film.

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Is realism just an excuse?

[7/10 · 24 October 2018]

Maintaining the smoothness of entertainment and the integrity of the theme has always been what Spike Lee is good at, so the film's comedy tone is actually expected. Therefore, the basic texture of the film is very similar to a more entertaining "Malcolm X", of course, the latter focused on the individual, and the film focuses on the group. One problem that needs to be pointed out is that the end of film can give the audience an instinctive emotional sublimation, but as a functional part of the film, the end seems to be slightly redundant. Or is this also a part of ridicule?

Delicatessen (1991)

Pure visual conquest

[8/10 · 20 October 2018]

Basically a love story, with the story telling, the director's construction of the theme gradually gives way to some obsession with the atmosphere. Therefore, the film's play has always been a situation in which the imagination and the actual metaphor interfere with each other, which seems to be somewhat frivolous. Fortunately, the extremely complete lens language guarantees the immersion of the audience. In addition, it is not easy to maintain the consistency of building a worldview and ensuring the synchronization of emotional flows. The two directors solved this problem in their first film.

Crash (1996)

An unfriendly but excellent psychoanalysis

[8/10 · 14 October 2018]

The automobile industry itself is actually a spiritual metaphor after the industrialization of American society. Like the "American Dream," it uses "rational planning of social resources" as an excuse to push humanity into the abyss of desire. And when this desire is concealed and acquiesced by the steel-like rules, unrestricted desires can only find a more dangerous breakthrough after numbness. At this level, the film is far more than a singular story, after all, "the next time may be more intense."

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

Masterpiece

[10/10 · 10 October 2018]

Is this actually what Alain Resnais, director of this film, so-called, "a rough and primitive attempt"? The film is the closest art form to dream: memory is re-edited in the human brain and then given meaning by subjective narratives. Because of this, human beings are so fascinated by it. We have been indulging in civilization for too long, like the footsteps of people that adsorb by the corridors. Although the outcome of each attempt is about the same, people are more and more obsessed, this is the game.

Project Gutenberg (2018)

A Smart Adaptation

[8/10 · 1 October 2018]

Obviously, the basic structure of the whole story comes from Bryan Singer's "The Usual Suspects" in 1995, but the focus of the former is the shock when the puzzle was revealed. The focus of this film is to expose the characters. Therefore, if the audience does not overstate the specific behavior of the scriptwriter in the process of writing the script, the two films actually have their own wonderful points. In addition, the surface story of the Hong Kong-style crime film really maintains the entertainment effect in the first half of the film, and Chow Yun-fat's highly romantic performance is actually a kind of figurative externalization of the character, which can be understood as an extension of the theme of the story.

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018)

Conservative but comfortable

[8/10 · 29 September 2018]

Life is not without epiphany, but the hero of the film, John Callahan, is too far away from this step. The skillful lens language has achieved a high standard in rendering emotions and revealing themes, but sometimes some over-functional dialogues sometimes have an unnecessary reminder to the audience when the overall atmosphere of the film is just right. Fortunately, the acting crew which is led by Joaquin Phoenix has been using superior performances to add new emotions to these functional dialogues. Therefore, if you look at it roughly, the movie will maintain a smooth and comfortable overall feeling.

The Straight Story (1999)

The power of time

[8/10 · 23 September 2018]

Is the deposition of years not another mapping of life puzzles? From this point of view, the director David Lynch's deep understanding of the world is still the basis of the film. Perhaps this straightforward fragmentation atmosphere is deliberate, but from a technical perspective, Lynch could make some details more elegant. Of course, the overall expressiveness is still shocking enough, and when the actor reaches the level of Richard Farnsworth, the instinctive power in his body has transcended the performance itself.

Jiang hu er nü (2018)

Slightly mediocre

[7/10 · 21 September 2018]

Positively, the expressive power of the lens language in Zhangke Jia's works has been steadily rising. This more refined detail and the high-level performance that Zhao Tao has been maintaining recently constitute the biggest attraction of this film. However, the combination of the era restoration and the theme of the drama in the past works have not been realized. Therefore, the narrative ambition to break the dimension wall seems to be more like a gimmick, and eventually leads to the disconnection of the middle part of the film.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

The end of Terry Gilliam's fantasy

[8/10 · 19 September 2018]

This film can be seen as a summary of the director Terry Gilliam's early work. In the rhythm of the imaginative overall adventure fairy tale, various details and metaphors are still filled with Terry Gilliam's calm and sharp irony. And when the two combined in a fantasy carnival, the director's fantasy journey ended at last. After this film, though the ambition is always there, Terry Gilliam seems to be getting closer and closer to the rational world he rejects. Therefore, the yearning for death and adventure has finally become the metaphor of the author's later career.

Band of Outsiders (1964)

Masterpiece

[10/10 · 5 September 2018]

Jean-Luc Godard, who chattered before the arrival of the color widescreen, talked about the trembling lights in the cold fog and Shakespeare in the translation class, a minute of silence and a nine-minute record, and a third-rate story ending in the cold-blooded narration. The seemingly unconnected pieces are combined in the final emotional outburst, no less than any traditional type of story. The irritating carelessness is the cover of the conspirators, and the shy persistence has finally gained happiness. It may be a kind of gentleness that Godard can't cover under his cold appearance.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

An Excellent Sequel

[8/10 · 1 September 2018]

Overall, it is not as good as the Ghost Protocol, but better than the Rogue Nation. As far as the script is concerned, the film is quite old-fashioned and even suspected of being lazy in the creation of the story outline. The specific performance is that some plots can be more elaborate. However, by using the excellent action scene to control the narrative rhythm, the film has once again become a leader in the same type of film in emotional rendering. In addition, many of the story clues in the previous work are involved, so the fans of the series should get a more enjoyable watching experience.

You've Got Mail (1998)

Too Conservative

[6/10 · 20 August 2018]

Although Meg Ryan continued her consistent character and performance style in the film, she is still one of the few highlights of the film. The concept of the change of the old and new bookstores is very good, but the film has not been able to stick to the main line of conflict. Therefore, the old storyline occupies most of the film's time. In the delay of various insignificant secondary plots, the ending of the story has long lost its suspense.

Doubt (I) (2008)

Not just the wonderful performances of the actors

[8/10 · 20 August 2018]

The focus of the film is not on accountability but on introspection, so the film cleverly bypasses the inherent superiority of the realist story. God's messengers practice God's Creed, but where is the line of dereliction of duty and practice? The practice of obscuring the truth is not to confuse good and evil, perhaps because in the presence of God, human beings do not have the ability to make decisions and sanctions. The performance of Viola Davis is enough to make the audience feel the same, but unfortunately in the function of the drama, this character will dilute part of the cohesiveness of the theme.

Withnail & I (1987)

A Difficult Farewell to the Old Times

[8/10 · 17 August 2018]

A time fable made up of details. In the simple repetition of the ridiculous mediocrity of life, the changes in the world have come to the fore, and nobody could hide. The cruel performance of time lapse is firm and effective. All indulgence is eventually thrown away by life in a punished way, either bidding farewell to the past or continuing to overdraw youth in the unknown. Thus, the precise time node reminds the protagonist to make an urgent decision on life. Reason seems to be a breeze, and human beings can make practice extremely difficult between detachment and corruption. In the end, this kind of entanglement caused the protagonist's predicament, but it made the film very exciting.

Europa (1991)

One of the best of Lars von Trier

[9/10 · 13 August 2018]

The truth of the world is the tomb of idealism. Borrowing the rudiment of a commercial story, director Lars von Trier, made this theme, which is slightly alienated from the mainstream audience, have an unparalleled power. Through a unique style of photography and way of telling, this film shows a typical aesthetic achievement that is usually available to artists in the early days of their artistic career. Therefore, although objective conditions and abilities can be improved over time, the soul of the art works can never be replaced. From this perspective, this film is a typical case.

Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 (2008)

Popular but not superficial

[8/10 · 12 August 2018]

Every character seems to be able to make the most sensible judgments about his or her life, but each person has finally made the most realistic choice. After getting used to the drifting criminal life, Jacques Mesrine finally became the kind of small person he was ignorant, constantly struggling in ideals and secular, doing a daydream of subverting the world, but having to beg to the world. Like this movie, always mixed with positive and negative views.

Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008)

Start to get better

[8/10 · 12 August 2018]

Feeling the first part is more like a prelude. In the constant superposition of various subjective and objective conditions, Merlin will never be able to leave this killing world. Even though the film seems to be shot in the standard gangster mode, it is very clever that the director did not purify the cause in the process of building the character. After all, the title "L'instinct de mort" has already explained everything: the film focuses on restoration, not analysis.

Foxtrot (II) (2017)

Stunning but not perfect

[8/10 · 10 August 2018]

The film is unique in that it creates emotional stress by constructing a sense of space. The comical backtracking at the end is a genius. In contrast, some dialogues are somewhat lengthy. The integration between the fatalistic theme and poetic photography failed to be tuned to the best. Therefore, when many of the seemingly idle (not actually) shots are already stunning enough, the film's over-construction in the play seems to be somewhat slightly redundant.

100 Yen Love (2014)

In this film, the actor is bigger than the story.

[8/10 · 3 August 2018]

It's smart to drive type stories through unconventional characters. As it turns out, as long as it is done properly, traditional themes can be unconventional. The more intense the depression, the more transparent the catharsis, therefore, when Sakura Andô appeared on the screen, the film had already succeeded in half. However, I think that the ending part is a bit long, in addition it may be better if the ending is bolder.

The Red Balloon (1956)

Short but Rich

[8/10 · 3 August 2018]

A cold city, a lonely boy, and an environment full of violence and envy. As a result, our hero was finally decided to leave all of this. When the fantasy reached its peak, the story suddenly became serious and profound. Whether it is universal feelings or post-war reflections, the film fully mobilize the audience's compassion and sense of justice in 30 minutes. In addition, the script capacity and execution effect of a 90-minute type film may not exceed the film.

Shoplifters (2018)

Could be the best work of Hirokazu Koreeda

[9/10 · 3 August 2018]

After filming several high-profile, slow-paced family dramas, the director Hirokazu Koreeda finally broke through the comfort zone he set up for himself in recent years. Through more skillful techniques and a more sagacious perspective, the tenacity and courage in "Nobody Knows" finally yielded an unhappy but very profound ending in the film. Even though the reconciliation between the individual and the world is no longer given hope, Hirokazu Koreeda's past unsolved thoughts resonate in a virtual space.. Therefore, it is not a bragging to call this film his masterpiece.

Cabaret (1972)

Another Magic Mountain

[9/10 · 2 August 2018]

With a little decisiveness and unwillingness, the protagonist left the old era full of laziness and psychedelic, perhaps because in this world, reason can only make him more vulnerable. The little hotel contains the precursors of the changing era, and the clowns who are onlookers have become true wise men to some extent. The same is a small pattern metaphor for the big era, "The Magic Mountain" of Thomas Mann reminds people of the consequences of indulgence, this film is to depict the sinking itself.