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leppjessearnold
Reviews
Lucky Day (2019)
WTH
There's a great film here. But it has the feel of one of those hacked films, Keanu Reeves directorial debut for example, where it has been absolutely destroyed with post-production ideas.
Or perhaps it's the case of a great director who can't get the cast and crew he really needs. Great performances have to be properly photographed.
And it should have just been set in Canada. There's a satire of a Canadian (Gavin McAnus) but it all falls flat with a weird L.A. context. This of the great Canadian music that might have been included.
As it is this film makes me think that this is really the mind of the director and it may be less interesting than what The Rules Of Attraction (a really great film) would have me believe. Or it has been messed with despite the director.
Hard to say.
Human Zoo (2009)
Right Up There With . . .
This is a brilliant film. The sort of film you watch and then, well, in the old days, rewind the video cassette and watch it again. Maybe one more time before you start to slowly make a judgement concerning it, the characters it has just revealed to you, on the politics of it all. In any case you don't move from the couch until you can get a hold of everything in it. You pay the late-charges for the video rental because you had to watch it one more time the next evening. It's beautiful, violent and musical, sexual thoughtful conflicted and emotional. At its heart is a cold hard truth about watching it. It's a film that's hard to believe is a directorial debut (I believe there is an earlier short film by Rie Rasmussen) and it's a film that has to be seen to be believed no matter what is said about it, bad or good. Kubrick could do it, Tarantino has done it, Rie Rasmussen can do it (and I hope she'll do it again). Once in a while you get a film where the soundtrack the dialogue and the visuals create an engrossing whole. My example is always Bladerunner (Director's Cut). This is right up there with the best films of all time.