Divines. Divinely thrilling.

MovieNight stuff, Movies

divines

When I first watched this a few weeks ago, I really wasn’t expecting this to be so good, thinking it to be a Netflix Original, but upon further investigation, I see that they just bought the film, after it was shown at Cannes. I guess “Netflix Original” is a brand, rather than a statement of fact.

I digress…

Director Houda Benyamina’s debut feature, Divines, is a top-notch thriller, immersing the viewer in the ethnic diversity of the suburbs of Paris. Gritty and compassionate. I hate to do the “this” meets “that” thing, but Divines has the intensity of La Haine, Sur les levres, Deepan, A Prophet, and Rosetta, without being derivative of any. Perhaps Benyamina is a devotee of Jacques Audiard, but how could one criticize that?

That gives me an idea for next week…

🙂

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Elle. Tough stuff with moments of mirth.

Movies

elle

Paul Verhoeven likes to stir things up, and stir things up he did “bigly” with his latest movie, Elle. I knew that some of you just wouldn’t be able to countenance the idea of a rape victim’s attachment to her attacker, and I get that. Still, Isabelle Huppert nailed that role – no shock there – and made it seem twistedly plausible.

The remarkable thing to me was the number of genuine laugh-lines in this black comedy. This is audience manipulation at its finest.

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Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Post-election tonic.

Love and Life, MovieNight stuff, Movies

wilderpeople

As Manohla Dargis wrote in her New York Times review, Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople “takes a troika of familiar story types” the plucky kid, the crusty geezer, the nurturing bosom” and strips them of cliche.” This charming Kiwi feature (Waititi also directed the hysterically funny What We Do in the Shadows), served as a spirit-lifter following Tuesday’s shocking election result. Not enough to last four years, but…

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The Handmaiden. Sex sells. Lesbian Asian sex really sells, apparently.

Movies

handmaiden

We were excited to screen Chan-wook Park’s latest offering, The Handmaiden, but we hadn’t anticipated how excited you all would be, dear MovieNight audience! Cushions on the floor, and the “Smokers’ chairs” brought in from the hallway allowed everyone to be comfortable for this gorgeous movie. As MovieNight attendance goes, this was right up there with our first showing of The Cranes are Flying. It’s so hard to predict what will draw such a crowd… not that that it’s so important to have a room so crammed full of people, but I must admit… it feels good.

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