sâmbătă, 13 mai 2023

Beau is Afraid (2023)

Kafka

Bunuel

Tati's Playtime

Roy Andersson

Scorsese's After Hours

a bit of Haneke Funny Games

all in 3 hrs overlong, uneven, pretentious but mesmerising one-of-a-kind psychotronic epic

Beau is Afraid

black comedy/psychodrama/horror/arthouse Freudian nightmare/apocalyptic fantasy

Ari Aster's third feature, after Hereditary and Midsomar, both in my top of their years release, 2018 and 2019 respectively. Some reviews mentioned Synecdoche, New York (mhh, not really) and the ending reminded me of Pink Floy's The Wall trial (my buddy said The Truman Show-mhh, not really),  also back to Kafka's The Trial (which inspired also the animated sequence from the Alan Parker film).


Beau is Afraid is based on his 2011 short film  Beau -of 6'22". It was supposed to be developed into Aster's debut feature in 2016. I think it would have killed his career without parole. And I also think the movie should've been in Cannes, in a shorter version, I'd cut the whole middle out (after he runs from the Nathan Lane family til he actually gets to the house!). Or Venice, or Toronto, anyway, it seems they wanted it this way, same as with Midsomar and Hereditary, weird choices, but at least that's what I read.

(I discovered the Beau short film here on reddit, it seems it was pulled off the internet by Aster and A24, the distributor and producer).

Here's about the 2014 script vs. the 2023 version and the short, especially concerning the ending.

Beau is portrayed by a zombified, lethargic Joaquin Phoenix in the biggest stunt of his career (after I'm Still Here) as a guy with huge mommy issues. Psycho looks like Bambi compared to this guy's nightmares, urges and phobias.

Aster describes his film as:  "if you pumped a 10-year old full of Zoloft, and [had] him get your groceries."

more of his explanations here

                          a bit of Wizard of Oz meets Van Gogh -Careful with that axe, Eugene;)

as google puts it (from imdb): 
if you're a film buff who likes to watch all movies, I recommend it, but to any casual viewer, I would say stay far, far away, it's probably not for you.
Totally agreed.
I had a great experience in an almost empty theatre (we were 5 in the audience), loved the picture composition (shot by Pawel Pogorzelski, Astner's collaborator since his early shorts), the framing on the screen, the sound design, had fun many times and I appreciate the effort, being a stunt or a misfire, anyway a future cult film if you see one recently on the big screen. 
I appreciate the effort of Romanian distributors, Bad Unicorn, and I advise you, those who dare see why Beau is Afraid, to rush into the theaters, cos' it won't be a long stay for Beau...

7 out of 10/ 3 1/2 out of 5
(and wtf was with that Bill Hader's cameo???)

vineri, 12 mai 2023

Eric Clapton/Jeff Beck-Moon River (SOTD)

Bittersweet homage to Jeff Beck by Clapton, the song is by Henri Mancini & Johnny Mercer, from the soundtrack of Breakfast at Tiffany's where Audrey Hepburn sings it. It has the nostalgia of childhood, as presented by 'my huckleberry friend". Nice one, mr. Slowhand....

New double A-side 7” vinyl now featuring “Moon River” and “How Could We Know” – Available July 14, 2023.

also played by Beck & Clapton (see my order here?) in 2010 at the O2 London.




joi, 11 mai 2023

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (& the Awesome Mix too;)

Finally Volume 3 is here! 

Saw it in 3D and it was a pretty good conversion and a pretty bright one.


For a running time of 2h30 I was afraid it will bore the hell out of me but i was uber pleasantly surprised. It is much more emotional than the first two volumes and more ambitious narratively (no spoilers here but follow the teaser poster;), and it makes me put James Gunn as the best director/creator of universes in the MCU (and DC?), and glad he was back at the helm as Disney fired him back in 2019 for some bullshit remarks and the whole cast of the GotG supported him, especially Dave Bautista. Also as Gunn went into being the boss of DC now and not only because of that a fourth GotG volume will not happen, at least with this original members (& cast). So, I can only say that for me it is the best series (trilogy) in the Marvel Universe, the warmest, funniest and surely oddest! And it Rocks;)

I am Groot! 

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Now the soundtrack, which was the one of the best things about the series, and the innovative way to get it on the incidental side with Quill's walkman and then its improvements. Wrote about them at the time. The first one was the cheesiest, but made it on my top soundtracks of 2014!

https://aldmovieland.blogspot.com/2014/08/guardians-of-galaxy-soundtrack-awesome.html

the second one rocked more for me, and was way more inventive to fill in the film and the narrative -the titles on Mr. Blue Sky (ELO), the analysis of Brandi (Looking Glass), the use of Fleetwood Mac's The Chain and especially Cat Stevens' Father and Son, so yep it went into the top soundtracks of 2017!

https://aldmovieland.blogspot.com/2017/05/guardians-of-galaxy-awesome-mix-vol-2.html

Vol. 3 Awesome Mix is:  way more darker than Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, actually for me with the best selections of songs yet. Very ecclectic but more interesting bands and less cheasier songs.

Creep (acoustic version) - Radiohead

Crazy on You - Heart

Since You Been Gone - Rainbow (grand Rainbow song from 1979's Down to Earth, on a par with Led Zep and Deep Purple's greatest, and a cover ! of an 1976 song by Russ Ballard, as far as I know this is the first appearance of the song in a film!)

In the Meantime - Spacehog (from 1994, I knwe the song but didn't know the band!, the vocal sounds a bit like GnR)

Reasons - Earth, Wind & Fire

Do You Realize?? - The Flaming Lips

We Care A Lot - Faith No More (yes!!!)

Koinu No Carnival - EHAMIC

I'm Always Chasing Rainbows - Alice Cooper  ( I looove the inclusion of the Coop in the soundtrack, with a song from Alice Cooper Goes to Hell-1976, and as coincidences happen, just before going to see the movie I was listening to the Coop From the Inside 1978 album, which I haven't heard since 2019 to be precise !!!) And I'm Always Chasing Rainbows is one of my faved AC songs!

San Francisco - The Mowgli's

Poor Girl - X

This Is the Day - The The

No Sleep Till Brooklyn - Beastie Boys

Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine

Badlands - Bruce Springsteen  (1978, this one I don't get, it plays over the closing credits, nice but a bit pointless, and also it's sort of a dark song, would've loved the Boss doing a new tune for this, yes the idea of the soundtracks of GotG was to be old ones, but on the credits of Vol.2 we got a Hasselhoff and cast remix, so new one)

I Will Dare - The Replacements  (from 1984's Let it Be)

Come and Get Your Love - Redbone (reprise from the 1st GotG movie)

James Gunn says

“I snuck my friends The Replacements (‘I Will Dare’) in there. I snuck Alice Cooper (‘I’m Always Chasing Rainbows’), my hero in there, (and it) actually has a pretty big sequence in the movie.”

The music comes with the words with the script, I write it in, but sometimes I change it − some things on this, it was very difficult choosing the music for this movie because in the first two movies, they were all AM, ’70s pop hits.”


Technology introduced at the end of “Vol. 2,” courtesy of Yondu’s gift of a Microsoft Zune digital music player to Quill, expanded that character’s music knowledge and, thus, the song possibilities.

“It's music from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, and I could choose from anything,” he said. “It's at the end of ‘Hurt Locker’ with him looking at all the stuff on the shelves and not knowing how to make this choice, so it was very difficult because of that.

Gunn keeps a list of hundreds of songs that could potentially go in one of his films (see the Peacemaker series which made me discover the excellent and irresistible cheesy  Wig Wam-Do You Wanna Taste it?, which put the Norwegian band back on the map) .

 Needless to say, with something that extensive, not every tune will make the cut because it’s a matter of how the song fits into a scene.

“‘Cruel To Be Kind’ by Nick Lowe has been on every list that I've had for the movies, and I've just never found a place to work it in,” he said.

https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a43782322/guardians-galaxy-3-songs-soundtrack/


joi, 4 mai 2023

Tangerine Dream la TIFF 22!!

I-am vazut la Spandau Zitadelle im Berlin acum 14 ani...intre timp Edgard Froese is no more, also Klaus Schultze cu care au inceput...

Acum insa: 

Communique: 

Pionierii muzicii electronice Tangerine Dream vor susține un concert pe 15 iunie la Casa de Cultură a Studenților. Înființată în 1967 de Edgar Froese în vestul Berlinului, Tangerine Dream este o trupă formatoare pentru muzica electronică. Albumul lor revoluționar Phaedra, lansat în 1974, a atins statutul de cult în Marea Britanie și a devenit un reper al genului. Tangerine Dream a compus piese lungi, cu structuri unice, deschizând noi dimensiuni în sunet, stilul lor fiind catalogat drept Kosmische Musik. În ultimii 50 de ani, trupa a lansat peste 100 de albume de studio și a fost nominalizată de șapte ori la premiile GrammyTangerine Dream a creat peste 60 de coloane sonore de film, inclusiv pentru Legend (1985) al lui Ridley Scott, pentru thrillerul Sorcerer (1977) al lui William Friedkin și pentru filmul neo-noir Thief (1981) al lui Michael Mann. Din discografia lor face parte și The Night In Romania, piesă care ar fi trebuit să se afle pe coloana sonoră a filmului The Keep (r. Michael Mann, 1983), dar care a fost lansată doar în 2020, pe un album special. În 2013, Tangerine Dream a compus muzica pentru jocul video Grand Theft Auto V, care a devenit unul dintre cele mai de succes jocuri din istorie. Muzica lor apare și în serialul Netflix Stranger Things.