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The Elephant Man (1980)
Beautiful examination of the "appearence" social stigma
Lynch's second film succeeds on every level it intends to. It is a bleak and uncompromising look at how society judges others based on appearance, or really based on any social stigmas. Being a Lynch film, there is the classic Lynchian dream sequence, as well as flawless cinematography and great performances. John Hurt plays the "Elephant Man" perfectly, and the makeup effects are truly haunting, while at the same time evoke pity and strong sympathy for how this man is treated by society. There are plenty of insane, morally revolting characters, as is common in many of Lynch's works. At the end of the day, this may be the most sad and powerful Lynch film. As while his other works may examine the human condition very successfully, none come close to the uncompromising cruelty and mean spirited-ness as seen in "The Elephant Man." At the same time though, there are genuinely good people that want to help improve his life. All in all, the film is a phenomenal expression of the human condition, and should be taken as a warning to avoid applying social stigmas and barriers to individuals.
Baskin (2015)
Pretty good Turkish horror film
Visually this movie excels, the practical effects and makeup are memorable and definitely keep the movie interesting. The film is only around 90 minutes, but the pacing and build up to certain events is quite slow, so it seems to drag on. The characters are not too interesting, but they do have personality, though most of them are basic. There is a complexity built into the films story, not a lot is explained, and its really open to interpretation. This feels like if Mulholland Drive was crossed with a Rob Zombie movie, there is even a scene in a diner where a character tells another character about a terrifying dream he had, this definitely reminded me of Mulholland Drive. I wouldn't say it is a great movie, but it definitely has great individual scenes, the opening scene in particular was phenomenal, and throughout there's a hellish, surreal atmosphere. The soundtrack is great and really helps amplify the more intense scenes. It also features an electronic soundtrack, and being a fan of that sort of music, I enjoyed it. Again, its not a great movie, but its definitely an enjoyable horror flick that I would recommend and probably watch again.
The ABCs of Death (2012)
A handful of good shorts, disappointing for a horror anthology standpoint
This film contains 26 different segments by 26 different directors,some up and coming, others well known. They were assigned a letter and given 5k to make a short film involving death and something beginning with that letter. They were given complete freedom as to what they wanted to do with this budget. Many of them were disappointing or simply awful, some were quite good. It was interesting to see how a portion of these directors just ended up making something completely insane and not really having much to do with horror or the likes of it. For this review I suppose I'll talk briefly about each short. A had nice effects and a reveal at the end, kind of cool I guess, good start. B was underwhelming, a bit funny I suppose, pretty okay. It seems over thinking went on with C resulting in something bad. D was quite good, the budget was put to good use and resulted in a quality short film. The production value of E wasn't too good, nice concept, but didn't work for a short. F, don't know what to say about it, given the premise of the word chosen, I would have done it differently, but whatever, it was kind of a waste, but also kind of interesting. G was the 2nd worst one, pathetic. H was bonkers, a lot better things could've been done with that letter, at least it was entertaining. I didn't bring much to the table, but was a good effort. J was kind of funny, but really, what was picked for J doesn't belong. K was stupid, really not good. L was my favourite, I really liked the idea, the production value, and the content, but found the ending a bit rushed. M was the worst, kind of baffling how terrible it was. N wasn't that good either. O was useless, but the style was cool. I liked P a lot, well made with a nice story. I liked the idea of Q, but the ending was REALLY weak, so I found it to be a disappointment. I really liked R, I would also like for the director of it to make some more films, because he has a lot of potential I think. S was really bad. T was great, nice animation, made the most of the budget. U was forgettable, not so much bad, just uninspired. V might have been an okay idea, but the execution was lame. W was one of the worst. X was fantastic, what I would expect from the director. Y was enjoyable. Z was what it was, I don't want to call it good or bad, and okay is too mediocre of a word to use for it. So that's what I think about these shorts, I see a lot of wasted potential mixed in with some good stuff.
Persepolis (2007)
Exceptional adaption of the wonderful graphic novel
Persepolis is a film adapted from the autobiography compiled by Marjane Satrapi. It depicts her life as a child growing up around the time of the Iranian revolution in '79, her life as an adolescent in Europe, and her return to Iran and young adult life. The animation is two dimensional and in black and white, which I like as it evokes the same feelings as the novel. It is simple but still quite appealing and well put together. The progression flows very well, if a bit brief at times. The film works both as a coming of age story and political film, with these elements intertwining. Satrapi did a wonderful job at telling her story, it is fascinating throughout and structured perfectly. Anyone can identify with her in some way, even if one hasn't experienced such oppression from a government, certainly they felt as she did at one time. The only thing that refrains me from giving Persepolis a higher rating then an 8 is that the film is honestly too short at 90 minutes. The graphic novel had some great situations/subplots that I think the film could have drawn more attention to. I think if it was around maybe 30 or 40 minutes longer it would have been perfect.