Change Your Image
neofut
Reviews
Welcome to Me (2014)
A Fairly Despicable Movie
This whole thing was misguided from the get-go. Either the story of a mentally ill woman should be played for laughs to make this a comedy, OR it should be played sincerely for pathos, but this film cannot make up its mind one way or another and turns out fairly despicable all-around.
Starting with the casting of Kristin Wiig in the lead (a woman who has never had a sincere bone in her body) this seems to definitely be aiming for comedy (especially when surrounded by "comic" actors like Joan Cusack, James Marsden, and others). But then the director seems to want to push what is essentially a comic script into some sort of honest, sympathetic examination of mental illness with the actors empathizing with their "crazy characters" (to quote James Marsden in the Making Of... extra). The result is a complete mess. How are we to respond to the "zany" ideas of Wiig wanting to talk about masturbation or spaying dogs on live television? If this isn't comedy it's just tawdry mocking of people on the Asbergers scale.
The director and screenwriter simply can't make up their minds as to what they're shooting for. The comic tropes are here ("zany" hijinks about a woman having no idea about what is "appropriate") but they seem to want us to "care" about the central character at the same time. Either she's a toxic narcissist (as one character points out) or she's a goofy nut-job who makes all the wrong decisions. Ugh! It just doesn't work at all and leaves you with a very sour taste in your mouth.
And I'd like to point out I have no trouble with awkward or inappropriate comedy. I love many of the recent "experimental" comedies that take things way too far, but this film just totally misses the mark in every direction. There are so many films in this genre that work - "Slingblade" is the first that comes to mind as the perfect cross between comedy and tragedy in its depiction of mental illness/handicap - but surely Wiig is nowhere near the actor Billy Bob Thornton is (or was). The same can be said of the writer and director. Similarly "Woman Under the Influence" with the brilliant Gina Rowlands. Or Ricky Gervais in "Derek". Watch those long long before you bother with this movie. Or better yet, skip it altogether.
Rate It X (1986)
An American Time-Capsule
Although appearing very dated (I assumed it was from the early to mid-seventies but is actually from 1986!) this documentary apparently still packs a wallop! Just read the other "offended" reviews by men to see how effective this film is at pushing buttons. Nothing great in terms of filmmaking, the filmmakers succeed in getting "man on the street" interviews which reveal the horrors of American sexism one after the other, from taxi drivers to veterans, from preachers to pornographers, from bakers to illustrators. The final interview is the most disturbing as it shows the incredible level of denial a the cartoonist from Hussler has before he feigns to smack his daughter.
UGH! Sad to see how little we have progressed since then.
Nowhere (1997)
Truly Pointless
A truly pointless movie about nothing in particular.
A bunch of young characters speak idiotic platitudes and hipster nonsense lingo while constantly pursuing hook-ups. I guess this could be seen by some as "cool" or "funny" but I (who am slightly older than this generation) just found it rather repellant. This seems similar to all Araki films which I keep trying but am invariably disappointed in because it's all style and no substance. There's nothing here that ever made me think about or feel anything.
Araki seems content to just push buttons but it feels so obviously manipulative that you are constantly aware of the director's lame attempts at pushing buttons rather than ever encouraging us to get involved with any of the characters or situations. For instance, the rape is upsetting (as it should be) but the character is so two-dimensional and we're so conscious that the director put it there to "upset us" that we just feel manipulated.
There's a distinctive look and feel to the whole thing of self-conscious artificiality. I admire any film which isn't content with Realism with a capital "R" but Araki just uses it to show how shallow and superficial America is. Why is that necessary? Especially today in this Trumpian era we hardly need evidence in how stupid our country has become. Filmmaking and America at its lowest. Ugh.
A Boy Called Sailboat (2018)
Fabulous Film!
Very quirky, very charming film where everything works. Wonderful writing, performances, and tone. Every shot is creatively composed for maximum effect like a Wes Anderson film (whose tone is similar but this is much more heartfelt). I would compare it most to "Napoleon Dynamite" in its quirkiness but, once again, with much more heart. Can't believe this isn't a higher-rated better known film appropriate for all. Bravo!