oct21-nov20 2023
the one where i plug my letterboxd
Been a while since writing here. After working on a short contract at sgiff, there was a 2-3 week lull of mindless jobhunting. My friend, Milos, asked if I could catsit Meryl for the weekend. Did a lot of digging around his dvd cases, stumbled upon the last rental store in Melbourne (maybe Australia), spoke to the owner and I have been renting films every week since. After the second batch of films were returned, I decided to start writing on letterboxd.
My take on the platform has been very love-hate, its social aspect often muddying general consensus on films. I’ve found, however, its ease of logging films and writing as pretty enjoyable. This post is probably counterintuitive in parts, but (hopefully) good things must be shared.
Not all of the 37 films this past month have been from the store, but this weekly routine definitely has shaped a lot of my mostly positive interactions (online and offline) during this period. There is a certain excitement I carry nowadays, albeit in between bouts with a lot of self-doubt. Nonetheless, I’ve come to terms with my respite of viewing voraciously and sharing this passion with others.
Below are a few entries from my letterboxd, picked out randomly for a more arbitrary glance at my past month. Please feel free to have a look-see or engage there if you do partake. Also apologies if you are looking for humour, I’m not the ironic one-liner post person on there.
A Report on the Party and the Guests - Jan Němec (1966)
Thinly veiled critique of Czechoslovakian Communism at the time. There feels like no conscious effort on Jan Nêmec's part to hide any of his jabs at the system which led to its eventual status of being forever banned. Without reading the Second Run DVD insert and other writings, one can still glean the film's pointedness.
Marks in the sand demarcating genders, stones sat abreast as the door for guests to pass through. Set in an open field, this sequence beckoned me to imagine these staged situations within an urban setting. I appreciated it more than the following critiques during the banquet setting. The tangible nature of the props leaving little room for symbolism.
American Splendor - Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini (2003)
An admirable love letter to life thus far for Harvey Pekar. The narrative begins with Pekar narrating over Paul Giamatti acting as him, signalling to the viewer its meta narrative element. As the film progressed, this element leans a bit too saccharine but never distasteful.
Other actors and their real life counterparts are included in the film, often in the background assumedly part of the whole creative process. The on-set experience must've been very wholesome, Pekar offering a tinge of cynicism to what unfolds on the screen.
The films leans more into re-enactments when it had all the potential building blocks for a more layered exploration. Also sheds more context of the comic book world that I briefly encountered in Funny Pages from last year. It's not all ugliness.
Royal Tramp - Wong Jing (1992)
I see Stephen Chow on the DVD cover, I pick it up.
It's the earliest film of those I've watched starring him and it shows. Chow's absurdist comedy mostly lands for me in ordinary settings but here in Wong Jing's script, it lays on a tad too thick.
The plot is convoluted and the gags found here are painfully obvious (unlike later films starring Chow). The wire fu choreography during the ending sequence was almost worth the price of admission. Its culmination in its lack of conclusion through a to be continued ending is to blame.
I rewinded to snap a photo of the great soda sponsor. Fitting for them to fund this, all things considered.
Man Push Cart - Ramin Bahrani (2005)
Ahmad gets by selling drinks out of his cart and peddling adult dvds, a certain understated melancholy hangs over him. His life shifts ever so slightly when a fellow Pakistani recognises him for his past trade and a sparked kinship with a Spanish immigrant.
The film has all the right ingredients to pull me in. Unfortunately, the dialogue and delivery falters – the cast around Ahmad feeling like loose caricatures, entrenched in the workshop stage. The lack of camera movement does a disservice to the occasional beauty present, furthering a sedated viewing that leaves much to be desired.
Morvern Callar - Lynne Ramsay (2002)
Sound design bliss. Needle drops blur the lines of the diegetic and not. Morvern processes the passing of her lover to the tune of a cassette of his curation. She refuses for this event, his demise, to define her. She claims ownership of his novel about her, moving forward in hopes to define oneself.
A fascination of creatures often despised. A worm crawling in a carrot at the supermarket, a spider scurrying out of a hotel room, soil writhing with insects burrowing in and out. Morvern resonates with them, similarly meandering around between parties and across continents.
Don't be shy, what's your next book about?
Publishers laugh as Morvern leads with her work at the supermarket. She tours them through a cemetery in Spain and the sounds fade out. A moment of mourning worlds away from the apartment with the Christmas lights.
Her hand grasps the earth beneath her, ants scurrying around it. Birds chirp into the Mamas and Papas and into the the tape hissing. The mixtape is finished, and is now her's.
I’m in Singapore at the moment and have shifted my attention to whatever my Dad has lying around and the upcoming films I have booked for SGIFF. Will be interesting where my eyes wander to in the next month.
The random number generator worked in my favour this round, avoiding my top and bottom picks of the month. If you want to read those and more, here is the link to my account.
That’s all folks, maybe this will finally incentivise me to push these out every month. Don’t bet on it though.