not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

Happy Dog.  I’m a happy dog.  The sun is beaming.  And looking out the window is enough for me.  The warm spring air skates around my nose.  I’m a dog, so I don’t need to be a consultant, lawyer, or heart surgeon.  Or a philosopher.  I’m a happy, happy dog.

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

1883. Everything that could’ve been felt had been felt in these walls, apart from starvation. Gaunt man eclipses the light with fruit toast. Good. I live 10 minutes away. She, 15. We cling and I feel the time like sand, running away. And then, inhaling cigarette, I watch her ride away.

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

I went out and bought this today, for you, so when you look, you see a vase of fresh flowers.  And if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to see through the gaps, to the wall.  You did spend so long painting it.  So clean now.  Really, my name is Peggy

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

1. Would you like me if you could blow me up like a balloon?   You could have me floating around the bath, your big red toe forming into fruition as I bob gently closer.  Touching me.  Scream.  This makes bubbles.  It’s so funny and cute.  All these bubbles dancing around toes.

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

BIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBIGGBBIIGBBIGBI

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

I woke up this morning at about, I don't know, but I finished it at eight o'clock. This is the way to watch this movie. In that purgatorial stage of awake and not awake. Wait, fruit snakes, did I just really see that? I suppose I did. If you're not an early bird, I recommend being on something to make it through this film. It's somewhere between a psychedelic kids movie fuelled and charged with enough toilet humour and dumb jokes to kill any person's brain cells, coupled with heaps of unnecessary nudity and sexy numbers, will certainly ensure that your kids cannot watch it...and neither will you.

So the big question is: who is the audience for this movie? This is what I love about it. Shame about the film, though. It looks great. The black and white visual style reminded me of 'The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari' with an interesting constructivist look. But it was try hard. Everybody wanted to be the biggest, loudest and the trashiest...and ugly. If it was just toned back 300%, it may be watchable and actually rather enjoyable. But, unfortunately what we're left with is something with a handful of great moments and a trolley full of shit.

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

This film was really talked up by a few of my friends, talked down by a few others. It's David Cronenberg, I must give it a watch. I really wish I enjoyed this movie, but frankly, I didn't. I find David Cronenberg's later films to be really arduous to get through with the lack of body horror. Even though it's still there, it's just not as full a and rich experience as you would get from something like 'Naked Lunch' or 'Crash'.

I didn't really feel anything for any of the characters, either. And I know you're not supposed to because it's portraying lifeless, soulless, plastic, Hollywood beasts. But I found myself getting restless and bored and a few characters and actors really grated on my nerves. Evan Bird (playing Benjie Weiss) is so frustrating because his character's annoying and he's not a particularly good actor at playing it. There's a bunch of others, but I just found all the dialogue and all the interactions to be really awkward and sketchy. The only standout was Julianne Moore, who was completely mad and had some great shitting scenes.

It does the one thing that I can't bear in films: visually, there was nothing interesting to look at. No shots were memorable. Everything just was bland. And I know this is intentional, but it's kind of at the expense of itself. There was some horrible CGI towards the end as well, which really wrecked the film for me. Quite disappointing, but not unhappy that I watched it.

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

I would let Nicholas Cage vampire kiss me any day. This film is like watching a good friend do irreversible damage to himself. You pray for yourself and their wellbeing. More disabled than Forest Gump and crazy enough to be Hopper's long lost vampirian cousin. 'Vampire's Kiss' is a good reflection on what's wrong with everything.

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

It's a rare film that makes you feel so trapped in its world  "A woman under the influence" transports you into grimy middle American domestic living and is one of the most harrowing depictions of mental illness I've seen.  John Cassavete's dizzying documentary style never lets up,  it is like you are watching harrowing scenes unfolding through an  objective  but deeply personal  window . The performances especially by the kids and Jena Rowlands spend the majority of the film incessantly screaming twitching and flipping out  I love how Cassavete's doesn't give a fuck about his audience,   he is just making the film he wants to make - you can either deal with it or  explode .

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

Never before have I experienced a movie where you can literally feel your neuro synapses exploding, spreading and then re-assimilating into something else. Yes, I am making a public statement that 'Foodfight!' has changed my person. I hit a level of panic about midway through, thinking about the children that could possibly be turned into neo-Nazi sexual predators, having sweet, innocent minds warped, as mine is. This is the next generation that we'll have to deal with in the consumer workplace. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHpj_1BJT0Q

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

‘Tony Manero’ yowsa! This film has changed everything for me. I haven’t seen a film that has captivated me or has shocked me as much as this in years. It is blunt and rough and subtly beautiful. Every scene is overflowing with tension, dread and humour, not even necessarily to do with the plot or characters. A particular shot that sticks in my mind is Tony Manero on one side of the road and the cameraman j-walking to get across to the character with oncoming traffic, moving the tension from the plot to the immediate of the fundamental thing film is made of, which is a man with a camera. This is constantly used and is a reminder of the grungy rough Chilean world that you have been mainlined into. I was retrospectively so shocked to discover that this film was made in 2008. It feels like it was made in the 60s. The character of Tony Manero is rich and monstrous, driving the film forwards. It’s hard to take your eyes off him and his bad dancing. This film is such an original thought and it is so clever how it is appropriates an already existing film and uses that to highlight the demonicness of what is actually happening. I wish one day to make a film that will hurt someone as much as this hurt my feelings. Thanks Chile!

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

SAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLLSAMLL

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

I have been watching the works of Walerian Borowczyk. I have watched about ten of his short films. He is one of the most exciting directors I’ve been watching lately. His films roughly only go for 5-10 minutes. They deal with the themes of sex, death, war and poverty in an almost childish and simplistic way. He has a beautiful respect for capturing life and isn’t caught up in being rude or confronting. His films consist of a mixed medium, working in collages, stop motion, claymation, still and moving picture and I highly recommend Borowczyk for anyone who’s interested in someone who can maintain such continuity across so many platforms and mediums.

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

‘Jisoe’. By far one of the most minimal documentaries I’ve ever seen. It is a condensed view at grungy 90s Melbourne life, spray paint, culture as well as Jisoe’s new life of responsibility as a dad. You go into this film with similar expectations as to how the character of Jisoe is perceived in the public eye; a grungy, rough, dumb bad boy. But when given the chance, it shows someone who isn’t just doing it to fuck the system. At further observation, he’s doing it because it’s all he can and it’s his passion. He uses it to escape drugs, crime and isolation. It tackles creativity and what happens when it is take away, or left to run wild. The documentary is ugly and minimal. No voice overs, funky editing or Q&A’s. It is fast paced and it’s suitably absorbed into this captivating world.

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

YOU

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

I don’t want to be doing too much of a Harmony Korine thing on this blog, but he’s kind of my main man at the moment. I went into Trash Humpers with low expectations with people saying it’s only a movie of people fucking trash and Harmony Korine being annoying because he’s famous now and showing that he can make a movie like this. It is those things, but I believe there’s a lot more going on. It’s a movie that takes you down to the level of drug use, alcoholism, racism, aggression and forces you to be implicit in the acts while weirdly remaining objective, so you can question cinema and the idea of viewing something. It’s a film that transcends the idea of going to see a movie and what your expectations are, as it tests your expectations of decency and taste. Overall, I feel this film profoundly, if anything, gives you permission and licence that shows that you can get a bottle of wine and a VHS camera and bring something into the world that wasn’t there before, regardless of people’s enjoyment.

[not-slides-or-slippers-vca-blog]

The fact it has taken me two drafts to properly write a review for this film, each ending in deletion, out of fear of not doing it justice, is a testament to the work of Harmony Korine. I can honestly say I’ve never seen a movie like Julien Donkey-Boy. It’s rough documentary style, coupled with seemingly improvised and organic performances, create this strange, voyeuristic nature. You feel privileged and shocked to be let into this world. And you’re not just let into this world, you’re let into the character’s choppy and fucked up minds, which reflect some blurry footage, freeze frames, scattered cutting, but none of this isolated me from the characters and setting. This film makes me envious in every way. I wish I grew up somewhere fucked and could handle taking enough drugs and hang out with these sort of people to legitimately make this sort of film. Oh well, at least someone did.