#i had to defend terry though like wtf

[boyswillbebutch]

anyways on a lighter note- There Beneath is Shaderin to me :D

[msfbgraves]

Holy shit that yacht fight was excruciatingly terrible. Marty is too old for this nonsense, and Kreese should have fucked off. Terry could have annihilated him easily even with terminal cancer, and then swum to shore to enjoy his remaining months bugging his cute Daniel—his favourite hobby!

How is Kreese the hero for getting totally undeserved forgiveness? For again involving and killing innocent people on the yacht?? Why is Terry forced to die because Kreese had to defend his obsession at playing Sensei and dad with his former student—aka, deadbeat Johnny’s honour???

This was an all time low, one of the worst fights in the entire show, and those people who think it was great are absolutely bonkers.

This was just disrespectful to the two of them, but especially to Terry who remains such an excellent character. I’m so sorry TIG. You deserved so much better.

Marty often really tried to make this story better, so thank you for your effort, Sir. And why is it about Kreese? Because they project all their Daddy issues on Kreese.

Really Kreese makes them think of their fathers, who were just like him, it seems, so they both treat the character of Kreese with the same reverence they had for their own fathers and try to use him as an avatar for their Dads to make good (but they also use Johnny to say that being a shit Dad is good actually, because it is really hard for a child to admit that what their parent is doing is bad. If their parent does it, it must be good, otherwise the world's too scary). And I know their own fathers never treated them with the love they crave or they wouldn't need Johnny and Kreese to act as stand ins so badly. And they want their Dads to be cool so they want Kreese to be cool and poor Marty and TIG are made to shoulder all those issues.

And I also feel that a lot of people interact with stories they way I act with generic AI art. If you don't care too much and don't look too closely, it can seem pretty cool, and you have a good, if not very deep, time. When you are invested and do look closely you can go: "Oh, this is creepy and off. WTF is even going on with the proportions in this. Oh, oh this is wrong. Oh this is so incredibly wrong."

Then of course we have the compulsory heterosexuality of CK. We have like, one gay kiss between two teenage girls (hoooooot😛🍑🫦) and everybody else is Totally Straight in a show that only makes sense if all the main characters are trying to bed one another. So of course the story can't officially be about all the ways Terry is trying to make Daniel into his kept boy even though that is the only possible explanation for his behavior. The logical conclusion to that fight in Extreme Measures is Terry having his wicked way with Daniel in all the ways he knows how. And the Sekai Taikai is a very strange ruse to do that if, as we can see, he could simply have abducted Daniel during a test drive.

But the main writers don't care about that. They are obsessed with their fath- sorry, Kreese, so everyone else must be, too. Or their own avatar, Johnny. Even though Terry did not know who Johnny was and the way TIG plays Terry, does not much care now either. One of the most fun things about CK to me was that I could understand the deep feelings between Terry and Kreese, Johnny and Daniel, Johnny and Kreese and Terry and Daniel, but the moment you pair Kreese with Daniel or Terry with Johnny they are all so completely indifferent. Kreese is not a bit attracted to that twink, Daniel is impervious to toxic masculinity, to Terry, Johnny is duller than watching paint dry and Johnny cannot be manipulated because he doesn't understand what mind games are.

[janeaustentextposts]

What is your favorite non-Austen period novel? Movie?

Okay I’m gonna do a rundown of all my favourites because making me pick one is just mean. (Also at one point in my notes on the following books and films I just wrote “Bagels” and I can’t for the life of me think what I might have meant or autocorrected that from. Maybe a shopping list started to take form. I don’t know.)

(If the film Miss Austen Regrets and book Longbourn by Jo Baker count as non-Austen then include them.)

Films:

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India - 2001 (Sports! High stakes! Sticking it to the Colonial Man!)

Mozart’s Sister - 2010 (Beautiful music! Gorgeous androgyny! GIRLS CAST TO PLAY THEIR ACTUAL AGE AND NOT SOME 20-SOMETHING PRETENDING TO BE FOURTEEN!)

Possession - 2002 (I’ve tried the novel, and A.S. Byatt has some beautiful prose but her structures sometimes do my head in, so never finished it. Ignore Paltrow as best you can and enjoy lush Victorian Gothic mystery and the ending is one of the most poignant things I’ve ever been pleasantly surprised with on film, and it leaves you wondering about many, many things…)

Jodhaa Akbar - 2008 (You could put Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai in the worst commercial ever made and I would watch it. Costumes, scenery, and, as a friend once put it “I’m not sure how they did it, but they just had a sex scene without any sex.” Bravo.)

Water - 2005 (Deepa Mehta is such a fantastic filmmaker and I loved this whole trilogy but Water is my favourite.)

Elizabeth - 1998 & Elizabeth: The Golden Age - 2007 (The costumes! The caMERA ANGLES!!! The compli-fucking-cated mess that is Elizabeth I.)[Okay Tumblr won’t let me embed any more trailers, but those ones are easy to find, they’re out there.]Vatel - 2000 (Any foodie who is also a fan of The Sun King and his era will dig this one. A great score, baddie Tim Roth.)Alternatively, in the same era: A Little Chaos - 2015. Storyline is a little weak, but it’s so beautiful and the cast is great and the M U S I C. Kate Winslet. Alan Rickman. Helen McCrory. STANLEY TUCCI.)Also: they’re not films, but TV shows - honourable mentions to the Spanish series Gran Hotel. It’s like a good version of Downton Abbey, only sorta on crack and with a tonne more murder mysteries; and while I have some Issues with its so-called hero and some comparatively weirdo plot-points in S3, overall, it’s fantastic and I’m obssessed. Please don’t mix it up with the Italian re-make which looks horrible in every way. Like, main actors dressed in a poorly-sewn-table-cloth-bad.And shout-out to the new CBC/Netflix series Anne. I will defend this show to the DEATH, alright? They’ve gone bolder and fresher and have managed to involve period realism in a moving way while retaining the sunshine-and-pinafores element that so many people love about L.M. Montgomery’s work. There’s heaps of women with production credits, and I think it shows. Geraldine James is already my favourite Marilla after one episode, and I feel like R.H. Thompson (HEY JASPER DALE HEEEEY!) and Amybeth McNulty are likely going to become my favourite Matthew and Anne, too. People have complained about this series going off-book and in particular some have condemned it sight-unseen because the writers/directors are putting a feminist spin on it and OH GOD THEY SAID FEMINIST QUICK WE GOTTA SET EVERYTHING ON FIRE BECAUSE CHILDHOOD IS RUINED, but honestly it’s just perky and gorgeous and scrappy and nobody can tell me to my face that Kevin Sullivan didn’t go all the fucking way off-book from the very beginning so I am not gonna sit here and insist that the Megan Fallows Anne of Green Gables was perfection which could never be improved upon because that’s just a plain lie. It was nice and it has its place but it’s time for some new blood. (And NOT the telefilms they’ve also come out with recently with Martin Sheen, bless his heart, but they took a brunette child actor and dumped an atrociously stark box of red hair-dye on her before drawing on her freckles and then telling her to please play everything theatrically to the back of the house even though there is a camera ten inches from her face.) I am HERE FOR ANNE. RIDE OR DIE.

AND NOW, FOR BOOKS!

After that you might assume my L.M. Montgomery recommendation would be Anne of Green Gables and sure I won’t say DON’T read them, but for my money the Emily of New Moon trilogy is more my jam and I wish to God and Netflix in all my prayers that there might someday be a decent adaptation of them.I was really into Cassandra Clark’s Abbess of Meaux mystery series for a time, but then things went a bit pear-shaped in what I think was the fourth(?) book and everything was OOC and honestly I haven’t caught up on the later books after that and they seem to be self-published now but I am a sucker for nuns and mysteries so I’ll probably get back into it when I have time.

The Princess Priscilla’s Fortnight and The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim. Vacation-reads! Beautiful prose, some wry wit, and fun hijinks. If you’ve ever wanted to run away and live in an isolated cottage in the wilderness for a little while, these are for you. [ETA: I recently got my hands on a copy of The Jasmine Farm so THANK YOU to one of you who recommended it I am loving it so far only I don’t see the appeal in Andrew so wtf Terry you can do better.]Edward Rutherfurd’s geographical history novels–Sarum is the classic to start with, but the others I’ve read are very good, too. (London, New York, and I’m now working my way through a first-edition of Russka.)Amy Levy. A M Y   L E V Y. Criminally under-recognized Jewish Victorian novelist and poet. Novellas Ruben Sachs and The Romance of a Shop. (RS a beautiful and bittersweet story about the conflicts between love, identity, and expectations, and some would say a response to George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda. TRoaS reading a bit like a less treacle-sweet variation on Little Women, where four sisters try to make their way in the world by setting up their own photography studio in late 19th century London.)The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgkin Burnett. Colonialist racism appears in this one, so be warned. Still the book is a THOUSAND times better than the utterly dreadful adaptation known as The Making of a Lady. Jane is better, Emily is better, Walderhurst is better, pretty much EVERYONE IS BETTER. The pacing is better. The plotting and suspense make actual sense.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. A classic, and the grand-daddy of every secret-identity superhero.

The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. Like, it makes me MAD how good these books are.

And last but not least, a non-fiction selection in Vere Hodgson’s WWII diaries: Few Eggs and No Oranges. Nothing else has ever brought the experience of living (or trying to) under the shadow of the bombs and the threat of invasion quite like these diaries. Fascinating details, engagingly written, and at times a stark reminder that the Allied victory we take for granted in our history could by no means be counted on by the millions who dwelt in daily uncertainty.

[catcavecinema]

Kuso (2017)

Kuso is the film equivalent of that slumber party game were you make a disgusting drink and see who throws up trying to drink it. Except in this version of the game, you then have to drink the puke…and you’re on acid. I really don’t know what else to say about this film in terms of explaining it to you. There is no real explanation to be had here. The only through line for the various vignettes appears to be the horrible sores and legions on the faces of all the (largely nameless) characters. That and gallons of shit, cum, slime, and vomit. I mean, one of the only character with a name, Dr. Quiggles, is a slime spewing cockroach monster that lives inside a man’s gaping asshole. Needless to say, this one isn’t for everyone.

What is odd though is that while this film certainly does feel original and I can’t say I’ve really ever seen anything quite like it, it somehow also feels a bit derivative at times. I found myself feeling like I was watching a mashup of Frank Henenlotter and Tim and Eric half the time and something akin to the stranger work of Takashi Miike screened through the lens of a Die Antwoord music video at others. This problem was only exacerbated by the fact that there is no build in this at all. The film starts at 100 (I think it was about 3 minutes in before someone had smeared shit on some strange tentacle beast) and really just stays at a constant level of WTF grossness for the entire 90 minute runtime. As such, once the initial shock wore off, I almost ended up feeling like I was slogging through this film at times. So I can’t call this a filth masterpiece or a subversive piece of trash cinema by any stretch (though I do think a valiant and conscious effort was made here attempting to be both).

That said, I absolutely can’t completely write this film off either. First off, I did laugh out loud more than once (maybe more than I care to admit) while watching this film. If that was all the film had to give, I still would have come out the other side at least mildly appreciative of its oddball humor and the commitment shown by director (and co-writer) Steven Ellison (better known as Flying Lotus) in sticking to his disgusting vision of a broken world. What is surprising though is that just as often as I found myself laughing, I also found myself mesmerized by the grotesque beauty of some of the shots in this film. 

There are these fleeting moments that manage to struggled their way out of the excrement and demanded to be seen with an appreciative eye. The animation sequences employ Terry Gilliam level of intricacy and satire that were captivating to behold. Beyond that, some of the small moments of reprieve the audience are given from the disgusting mire this film wants us to wallow in are genuinely stunning. So yes, a lot of people aren’t going to enjoy Kuso. In fact, I feel like even its defenders are unlikely to push that hard to get friends to watch it for fear of the judgement that will almost certainly follow from pressuring anyone to watch this film. But if Troma, Tim and Eric, and the bonkers narratives and creature work of someone like Yoshihiro Nishimura appeal to you, then I would let this one wash over you and see how you come out. I’m going to take a shower now.

3 out of 5 cats.