This is a film that focuses on the foreground but presented in a way that forces your attention to the background. The visceral details and images of Auschwitz are already imprinted in everyone's mind and compelling the viewer to call upon those on their own instead of recreating them is powerful.
Mine is an intimate survival film that has a plot and concept with a lot of potential. Other films in the genre like All is Lost and Arctic successfully captured the subtle character development and constant suspense that make survival films enjoyable. Instead of using creative direction and storytelling to learn about the main character, Mine chose to utilize dreams/delusions where the character literally punches his inner demons and vulnerabilities in the face. Armie Hammer is a capable actor who has several performances that I enjoy and I think with a few script changes he could have been more of an empathetic character instead of a tired cliche. In a parallel not too far off universe, Mine is a great film.
I have never watched a film that felt like it was built by an algorithm without one free thinking human involved like Jurassic World Dominion.
Is Kate Netflix’s cynical version of John Wick and Atomic Blonde? Yes. Was it placed in a hyper stylized Japanese setting to fit some algorithmic attention grabbing thumbnail and trailer? Yes. Am I ashamed for liking it so much? Yes.
The bones are here for a engaging drama/survival story exploring the deep agony of grief, but it doesn’t fully deliver. The bad styrofoam snow and storm special effects are distracting. Naomi Watts’ performance is solid but overshadowed by the peculiar characterization of John. Intimate survival films need to thread the needle as they do not have the typical structures that a traditional 3 act film can lean on, and this one just misses.
I can't argue with the people who claim this is more of a wiki page visualization than it is a documentary, but Woodstock 99 is a wiki page worthy of this treatment.
The found footage and framing device of attendee journal entries adds a interesting narration element to this story and provides a unique insight to how the festival was perceived at the time.
The major flaw of this film is choosing to focus on the societal and political factors that led to the angry "white dude bro" crowd and eventual rioting. I am not denying that those forces outside of the festival were a factor, but I believe it was opportunistic and bias driven to make those the main target of the documentary. I believe it is fairly apparent that the prominent white dude bro crowd was attracted by the nu metal heavy lineup and the aggressive angry vibe of the festival was more caused by the poor planning and high water/food prices than it was having first generation feminist parents.
The incredible footage combined with my potent nostalgia for late 90s culture was enough to overcome some of the forced political commentary and enjoy the contextualization of this infamous event.
Every time I worry I am becoming too cynical, I realize I am not even keeping pace.
