When I wrote my thoughts on Spotlight, I speculated about how knowing the end of the story going in, knowing the extent of the scandal the team in Spotlight was uncovering, may have robbed the plot of some of its punch. And yet, The Big Short is, in many ways, the perfect counter to that.
Almost everyone old enough to watch this film lived through The Great Recession. They know that the disaster all the main characters in the film are predicting comes true, in all its horrible, self-destructive glory. But rather than taking away from the film, it adds to it. There's this sense of foreboding, of doom that hangs over everything.
A film about the financial crisis, especially involving traders and analysts and people crunching numbers in a fund, could easily be too dry. And yet, the fact that the individuals the film focuses on are slowly but surely investigating an economic massacre waiting to happen, and how each step they take reveals another way that disaster might have been diverted, or people who are supposedly in the know digging the whole deeper, means that the entire film is just an exercise in creating that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. It's not a prestige picture; it's a horror film.
It's also a very weird film. It's not so bold in its presentation that it feels unprecedented, but it feels stitched together, disjointed, and unusual, but in a good way. Adam McKay, of Anchorman fame, is the right man for the job. There is a darkly funny absurdity to the topic The Big Short covers, and with his fourth-wall breaking asides, his cuts to celebrity explanations of complex financial consequences in ridiculous situations, and his jumping between various characters acting wild or nutty lends the perfect tone to the movie, one of simultaneous horror at what hell hath been wrought and unavoidable bemusement at the clowns who steered us all into this ditch.
The direction and rhythm of the film is frenetic. It's closest comparison point is Requiem For a Dream with the same frenetic hodgepodge of images and sounds, bleeding and blending into one another, disorienting the viewer and conveying the sense in which the financial world the film depicts is intoxicating, dizzying, and unsettled all at the same time.
Another aspect of the film that makes it hard to compare to other works in this space is the fact that it doesn't really have a protagonist or a plot. Sure, it has a story, and it has characters who take up the most oxygen over the course of the movie, but more than anything it feels like a documentary. It's far too stylized and irreverent to really deserve that label, but it's far more interested in trying to describe what happened, to explain just what mistakes and lies and blindspots led to the global economic crisis, than it is in rising action and resolution, or showing people growing or changing.
That's not to say there isn't an emotional element to the film. Steve Carell stands out by playing essentially a smarter, angrier Michael Scott who grabs your attention every time he's on screen. The parallels between his character's sense that a catastrophe is looming in economic terms that he could do something to prevent, and his guilt over not doing more to prevent his brother's suicide was--while perhaps a little easy--also affecting.
The rest of the cast do their jobs well, but blend together a bit because again, while they're a vital part of the film, the film isn't really about them. The characters in The Big Short are conduits to detail, in amusing and human terms, just what the hell went wrong. Christian Bale is a collection of actorly tics, but he acquits himself well enough. Ryan Gosling does his best dudebro douchebag type, and is sufficiently entertaining in that guise. And Brad Pitt seems pretty reserved, short of his moment where he chastises his young wards for being too happy about what they're making their money from.
But again, the fact that there's not really a narrative means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The film is not really a story; it's an autopsy, cutting up the corpse of our financial system and exposing the bloody innards, the rotten organs at the core that led the USA, and the world, to the dire economic state it was in by late 2008. In that sense, the film succeeds wildly, and McKay manages to tackle something of real significance without losing the absurd madcap attitude he brings to his comedic works, and somehow, doing justice to the insanity of the lead up to The Great Recession in the process. It's a hell of an achievement to make a film this funny, this disturbing, and this great.
Once Upon a Time... in Nazi-Occupied France....
It goes without saying that this is a masterpiece.
Everyone who is a film enthusiast knows who Quentin Tarantino is. In the nineties his movies became instant cult classics to such a degree that (most likely) a 100 years from now everyone will still see him as one of the best director that ever came out of Hollywood.
Inglourious Basterds is a WWII movie. But it is nothing like any WWII movie you have ever seen. Quentin Tarantino gave the story and history its own twist. There are too many historical inaccuracies to count, but who cares? Quentin Tarantino obviously didn't and created a movie filled with dark humor, an amazing intelligent script, as always very good music and some of the most talented actors currently in the business.
WWII was one of the most horrific and devastating events in human history. But Tarantino together with Brad Pitt, a phenomenal (before this movie unknown) Christoph Waltz and Mélanie Laurent make it into an movie that makes you laugh, cry and keep you in suspense until the last second.
On my list of best WWII movies this one is rightfully in my top 3. At the end Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) proclaims: "This might be my best work yet" there are two ways you can implement that, the first one off course is that he is talking about the swastika he just "carved" into Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) his forehead and the second one is that Quentin Tarantino is talking through Brad Pitt and says that this is his best movie till date. For me it will always be Pulp Fiction, but this one comes pretty close.
This movie was excellent. Director Spike Jonze has done some amazing work in the past with other writers being in charge of the story like Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, so with him being the sole writer and director of the film I was surprised to see something this great. both the writing and the presentation flow so perfectly together in this movie that I am glad he has the directing skills to pull this off and bring his vision to life. I liked that this movie didn’t endlessly lecture you on the rules of this universe, and while that can work for some futuristic movies, this movie is more focused on the characters. The future like setting is merely a vehicle for the characters story. He made sure his universe’s rules did not conflict with itself. Without a consistent universe, its not a believable universe. Spike was able to add more legitimacy to his universe through his presentation, rather than have characters explain things like the prevalence of technology in their lives or the smog in the atmosphere etc. The movie subtly showed these things so that we could pick it up for ourselves. And because of that, it implies to our brain that there is a universe bigger than the one we are seeing on screen and thus adds to the believability. Making the futuristic and surreal, feel real. The film also pays attention to humans behave psychologically. Even nowadays, we are seeing technology having more of a presence in our romantic lives. This is shown in a quick scene at the beginning. Joaquin phoenix, again, does a phenomenal job of playing his character. The soundtrack from arcade fire was perfect. The made sure not to use cheesy futuristic music and went for a more acoustic feel to mix the familiar with the unfamiliar. I loved EVERYTHING! Even the characters. And when a certain character appears in a scene, in the context, it makes so much sense. This is easily one of the best movies to come out in 2013.
I've noticed Japan's getting better with producing quality BL films/dramas, but they still have room for improvement in their GL.
My main reason for watching was because of Mizuhara-san, and I wanted to give Japan another chance for GL themed films. Also, the casting choice seemed pretty solid, and Netflix picked it up, so I thought, "why not?"
Although it was appreciative that the main leads have a connected backstory, the film's plot is all over the place. Mizuhara's character's actions throughout the film were quite questionable. I would interpret her character as maybe bi (?). The goals of these two leads made no sense to me. I could see what falling in love feels like, especially to a person you could never have. You lose a sense of logic and wish for that person's happiness, and sometimes you find yourself to be selfish. But killing someone and losing it all, that aspect and how the film executed it seemed very extreme and unrealistic. What bothered me the most was the toxic relationship between the women. Despite killing off the abusive husband, Nanae still was not free from the inner struggles. Rei's action, including towards Nanae, didn't seem sincere either.
A bit similar to my thoughts on "The cornered mouse dreams of cheese", I felt sorry for the supporting characters affected by the main lead's actions. Don't get me wrong, I felt bad for the main leads upbringing, but many of their situations could have been easily avoided.
OST - Music was pretty decent and chill. It was very obvious they used English songs to attract a wider audience. Cherry by Yui was a huge symbolic ost in the film. Nice use of it.
Overall, I believe with a better story structure and direction, this film could have been better executed. Hopefully, the crew, staff and Japan are open to considering people's feedback on the film for future GL films/drama.
If you're into the dark thriller drama, including GL, and don't mind switching off your brain for a while then, go for it.
If you're looking for a decent GL with a strong story and relationship, this may not be for you.
