#2013 FILM

[vhesa]

deepika padukone as leela sanera in goliyon ki rasleela ram-leela (2013) dir. sanjay leela bhansali

[oakensheilded]

Kill Your Darlings (2013)

I just finished watching Kill Your Darlings for the first time. It's rated R, but it isn't highly sexual or violent though there are scenes. I honestly enjoyed the movie and would recommend it. It was great, and honestly, I'm glad I watched it. It was recommended by someone saying that it fits the dark academia aesthetic, so I decided since I enjoy that aesthetic, I'd watch the movie. I wasn't disappointed, also the main character Allen Ginsberg is played by Daniel Radcliffe. So if you're a big Daniel Radcliffe fan you should watch.

[yesterdanereviews]

Snowpiercer (2013)

Film review #567

Director: Bong Joon-Ho

SYNOPSIS: After an attempt to halt climate change by releasing a chemical into the atmosphere, the Earth has turned into a frozen wasteland. The only survivors live aboard a trans-continent train that takes one year to travel the globe. At the front of the train, the people live in luxury, while those at the rear live in squalor. Among them is Curtis, who is scheming to revolt and make his way to the front of the train, and lead the people there to a better life...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Snowpiercer is a 2013 sci-fi post-apocalypse film based on the French graphic novel of the same name. The opening introduces us to the premise of the film; in which a solution to climate change was to disperse a chemical into the atmosphere, but this had an effect of completely freezing the earth and rendering it uninhabitable. The only survivors are living aboard a train that is constantly moving around the world, completing one full trip every year. The train is separated into a very specific order, with the wealthy and privileged living a life of luxury in the front cars, and the lower class living in squalid conditions in the rear carriages. One such person, Curtis, is working on a plan to stage an uprising to get to the front of the train and take control. The film follows the revolution as it travels through the train from the back to the front, and while you might be a little sceptical of how much variety and action you can fit in a 2-hour film set inside a train, you need not worry, as the film does a solid job of keeping things interesting, and varied. You get the claustrophobic feel of the carriages thanks to the impressive camerawork and crowded sets that generate a unique environment. Different carriages look like slums, factories, classrooms, restaurants, and nightclubs, all bound up in the same physical dimensions of a train carriage, and it's very solidly executed. The story is a fairly simple one to follow, and again, despite it's linearity, the film is able to drop in plenty of surprises and unique obstacles as the cast travel through the train. Perhaps they could have done something a bit more impactful with the ending, but that's the only criticism I can think of.

The cast of characters are well defined, and often exaggerated personifications of different facets of society. Curtis is the reluctant leader of the revolution, and you get a decent insight into the decisions he makes and how they weigh upon him. There's also a constant element of danger, as the stakes are constantly raised as a reminder that no one is safe; as main characters get killed left and right, and the revolution is always in a precarious position. The cast feels genuine, and on the whole the film is well acted, with a good, varied cast.

As mentioned, the film really shines in it's design and atmosphere: the train is able to encapsulate all these familiar environments, but with the twist of being contained in a carriage. It doesn't rely on cheap special effects, but rather well-co-ordinated action sequences that, thanks to the cramped settings, put you right in the action. The premise of a global-spanning train might sound a bit silly, and a post-apocalyptic setting that is used because only the best ones have already been done to death, but Snowpiercer genuinely offers something refreshing and exciting, combining a harsh and gritty setting with some stylish and exuberant characters. While the ending leaves things open-ended, it's a satisfying journey that combines a layer of seriousness and high stakes with some more absurd and exaggerated characters that lift the film out of being a total gloomfest just enough. Yes, the train is a thinly-veiled metaphor for the class-system, and there's not a lot of surprises in that regard, but the film genuinely surprises in being an entertaining, action-packed story despite the kneejerk impressions you might have of a revolution taking place on a train. I genuinely enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and again, while not perfect, excels in enough ways to take it an entertaining and interesting watch.

[sillyliddoclown]

[bambiiaangel]

palo alto 2013 ‧₊ . ✮ ˚ ⋅

[zanephillips]

Beck Bennett and Brett Dalton Beside Still Waters (2013)

[indigomood]

Freier Fall (2013)

[quinnigallagherjones]

my favourite final girls covered in blood

ready or not (2019) / evil dead (2013) / abigail (2024) / scream (1996) / the cabin in the woods (2011)

+ bonus

[toppermostpoppermost]

@tolerateit's EDITING PROMPT OF THE MONTH: FEBRUARY EDITION

ROMANCE

ADAM + EVE I Quantum Entanglement

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (2013) dir. Jim Jarmusch

[didanagy]

BELLE (2013)

dir. amma asante

[anyataylorjoys]

KILL YOUR DARLINGS (2013) dir. John Krokidas

[filmescapism]

⋆˚. ｡⋆Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) dir. Jim Jarmusch⋆˚｡⋆.

[hydravns]

LEATHERBACK KAIJU in PACIFIC RIM (2013) Dir. Guillermo Del Toro

[yesterdanereviews]

Elysium (2013)

Film review #653

Director: Neil Blomkamp

SYNOPSIS: In a future where the rich and wealthy have escaped an overpopulated and polluted earth to live on a luxurious space station orbiting the planet, Max da Costa is attempting to survive on the surface. When an accident at work leaves him exposed to lethal radiation and only a few days to live, Max decides to team up with an old criminal acquaintance to infiltrate Elysium and access the medical facilities there...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Elysium is a 2013 sci-fi film. Set in the year 2154, where the earth is overpopulated and polluted, Max Da Costa (Matt Damon) is exposed to lethal radiation at a job, and is given only a few days to live. With the only way to cure himself on board the space station Elysium, where the rich and powerful live in luxury, he teams up with a hacker and an old friend in order to find a way up there and cure himself. The plot of the film is, at its core, very predictable: all of the pieces and characters motives fit together and progress in the exact way you expect. Not entirely a bad thing, as it makes the film flow nicely, but you can't help but feel there's something more that could have been done with it. As it is though, it's all fairly self-contained and entertaining enough, with the film being tied together with some strong action scenes and energetic fights. The concept of a divide between the poor on the planet and the rich in the space station above is a fairly simple one to grasp, and doesn't need any real explanations to grasp it as the underpinning of the story.

If the film looks or seems familiar in any way, then perhaps you're remembering the 2009 film District 9. This is not coincidental, as Neil Blomkamp directed both films, and clearly brings a shared vision of a ruined earth for both films. Even one of the villains in Elysium, Kruger, is played by the lead actor from District 9 (Sharlto Copley). The two are different films, but there's a lot of similarities that inevitably draw comparison. Whereas District 9 dived deep into it's themes and explore issues of discrimination amidst an alien invasion, Elysium really struggles to get it's theme of extreme class divide in the same way. Even Blomkamp himself admits he didn't get it across in the way he intended to. As mentioned, the film's action and energy is decent, and the plot flows nicely; it's just that any further depth into it's themes never really grab the viewer's attention.

The imagery of a dilapidated earth are rendered well, with plenty of dirt and grime that highlights the conditions on the planet. In contrast, Elysium has a more utopian aesthetic, combined with the more futuristic setting of the rotating space station. Max as a character feels deeply underdeveloped, as his only motive is to get to Elysium to cure himself, and lacks any other thoughts on what is going on around him. It makes sense, sure, that he is only focused on staying alive, but it does leave a hole at the centre of the film that ties the main character to the various machinations around him. Overall, Elysium is a perfectly serviceable action film with a clearly defined story and setting. In terms of bringing the themes behind the story. the film fails to do so in any meaningful way, and draws inevitable comparisons to the director's former work, which did it much better in District 9. Not a bad film by any means, but clearly doesn't fulfil the vision laid out for it.

[stil-lindigo]

image i made for a powerpoint night with friends