The Goods: Film Reviews
Masterful filmmaking, filled with hilarious and evocative and creative moments, elliptical time-hop editing, and zingers. Too bad Allen’s persona is so damn neurotic and unlikeable — ruins the fun for me and suppresses the Is It Good? rating by a point.
Lovely pastoral animation and scenes, amazing character/creature design, unrelenting childlike whimsy, slight current of darkness. An absolutely amazing charmer.
Jun 2021 update:
I will cherish the memory of my 19-month old longingly shouting “Cat bus again! Cat bus again!” whenever the cat bus goes off screen.
Jan 2022 update:
All of us were tired and this was the only thing we could agree to watch. Our third time in about half a year.
My focus this time around: I love how fuzzy the border is between fantastical reality vs. dreams/imagination run wild in this movie. It really captures the refracted way kids experience reality.
Put another way: Do the Totoros unequivocally “exist” every time we see them? Or are they an imagined coping mechanism for two girls with a sick mom going through massive life changes?
There are just enough physical cues that they are “real” for that to be a clear fact of the movie, but just few enough that you can make the case that they are a shared figment of imagination. E.g: the final cat bus rescue could be a panicked fugue state for Mei and Satsuki; Totoro in the rain at the bus stop could be a stress delusion for Satsuki; etc.
Even the kids’ shared vision of the Totoros is somewhat explicable in this lens; if you’ve ever had close cousins or siblings, you might remember how vivid and detailed your shared pretend-time could be, as if you were both experiencing something “real” that was in each of your respective heads.
I don’t think the movie wants us to think that, but I also don’t think the movie shuts the door on that interpretation. Art, man.
I don’t know Russian lit, so 25% of the jokes evaded me. It takes awhile to get going, but that second half shows Allen has learned how to make a film. Keaton in particular is at another level.
Wheat.
Short and good-natured, but the physical comedy really shines. I particularly marveled at the rocking set on the boat — some next level stuff for more than a century ago. Great slapstick.
The footage is superior, but it is actively undermined by some of the most self-serving, anthropomorphizing narration I’ve ever heard. To quote one of my favorite Letterboxd reviews: “i did not care about this man or his problems or his face”
A bit stuffy and slow to gestate, but intricate, dark, and probing once it gets going. Allen directs drama with assurance and intuitive use of symbolism, but the script isn’t quite there to bring it to the next level.
Does things with animation that haven’t been done before or since. Mature, postmodern story with lots of humanity. Thrilling action, great score. Its animation has aged a bit, and there’s some weird thematic stuff, but it’s one of the great 21st century animation masterpieces, no doubt.
A movie that unfortunately holds together less and less with each minute of its runtime, Sleeper is still often intriguing and funny as a dystopian slapstick. Its lurch to a love triangle is quite inelegant.
A college freshman dramedy. Tries to be 3 different movies, none of them particularly good.
I was recently watching some YouTube videos on Crash Course about film history with my three year old daughter.