The 21st Century Film
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mixed_biscuits
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A.I. (2001) for excellence and prescience.
william_kent
Well-known member
The Rise of South Korean cinema?
Auteurs like Kim Ki-Duk ( The Isle, Coast Guard, Spring, Summer, etc ) , Park Chan-wook ( the vengeance trilogy, Thirst, The Handmaiden ). and Kim Jee-Woon ( Two Sisters, A Bittersweet Life, I Saw The Devil )
Auteurs like Kim Ki-Duk ( The Isle, Coast Guard, Spring, Summer, etc ) , Park Chan-wook ( the vengeance trilogy, Thirst, The Handmaiden ). and Kim Jee-Woon ( Two Sisters, A Bittersweet Life, I Saw The Devil )
What's driving this and is there a common style or any shared themes?
william_kent
Well-known member
Battle Royale ( 2000 )
The last gasp of Kinji Fukasaku - must be worth a mention because it was ripped off by Hunger Games, and the format, last person standing, has spawned a popular genre of shoot 'em up computer games ( PUBG, Warzone, etc., )
it took time but it is a hugely influential film
edit: the sequel is shit, his son ruined it
The last gasp of Kinji Fukasaku - must be worth a mention because it was ripped off by Hunger Games, and the format, last person standing, has spawned a popular genre of shoot 'em up computer games ( PUBG, Warzone, etc., )
it took time but it is a hugely influential film
edit: the sequel is shit, his son ruined it
Incredible way to end a career. Wouldn't even know how to define it. In some ways Boutique Cinema adjacent, but it has more originality and life and substance than that would suggest. Plus Fukasaku was a pioneer, a Hero to the Boutique Cinema filmmakers, therefore too old and too good for their company.
Battle Royale was like a palate cleanser for the 21st C.
william_kent
Well-known member
I just have to put it on record here that The Yakuza Papers series of films ( Battles Without Honour and Humanity, etc ) are amongst the best films I have ever seen
william_kent
Well-known member
I'm still kicking myself that a couple of years ago I didn't buy an incredibly overpriced, limited edition, exclusive to the boutique that was selling it, tee shirt depicting Bunta Sugawara in full on Yakuza mode
New Dystopias
Battle Royale
The Hunger Games
Dredd
Red Sparrow
Children of Men
Blade Runner 2049
I, Robot
Minority Report
Maze Runner
Pacific Rim
Civil War
Wall-E
V for Vendetta
I am Legend
The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions
A.I.
Interstellar
Big crossover with the Apocalypse/Rapture films, but the existence and influence of Hunger Games confirms that it is also something else.
Is it a coincidence that cinematic dystopias came of age as we began to live in one? Or has reality been warped by the images we've watched?
Another @william_kent genre.
Battle Royale
The Hunger Games
Dredd
Red Sparrow
Children of Men
Blade Runner 2049
I, Robot
Minority Report
Maze Runner
Pacific Rim
Civil War
Wall-E
V for Vendetta
I am Legend
The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions
A.I.
Interstellar
Big crossover with the Apocalypse/Rapture films, but the existence and influence of Hunger Games confirms that it is also something else.
Is it a coincidence that cinematic dystopias came of age as we began to live in one? Or has reality been warped by the images we've watched?
Another @william_kent genre.
I don't know. Biopic, Man Child Comedy?
Murphy
cat malogen
commercialisation of Oirishness, famine, diaspora, Troubles everyfuckinwhere but one or two worthy of anyone’s time, even if you despise Ireland/Irishness @craner
Borstal Boy
Bloody Sunday
Magdalena Sisters, wish Peter Mullan had directed more
Bloom
Breakfast on Pluto
Wind That Shakes the Barley
In Bruges (undeniably a hoot)
Shadow Dancer
The Guard (bag of bollocks, delete the master copy asap)
The Proposition (by extension for Peggy Gordon)
Calvary
Brooklyn
Mammal
Black 47, spud western even if half the cast are Australia, it rewarded more with a second watch
Calm With Horses, cracking story but it did my head in when the ONLY tune they could lazily source for a pub scene was Thin Lizzy
Belfast
Philomena
Arracht, ie Éire Ghruama
The Quiet Girl, pick of the bunch imho and rare to see a kid’s eye view on such a weighty subject
Borstal Boy
Bloody Sunday
Magdalena Sisters, wish Peter Mullan had directed more
Bloom
Breakfast on Pluto
Wind That Shakes the Barley
In Bruges (undeniably a hoot)
Shadow Dancer
The Guard (bag of bollocks, delete the master copy asap)
The Proposition (by extension for Peggy Gordon)
Calvary
Brooklyn
Mammal
Black 47, spud western even if half the cast are Australia, it rewarded more with a second watch
Calm With Horses, cracking story but it did my head in when the ONLY tune they could lazily source for a pub scene was Thin Lizzy
Belfast
Philomena
Arracht, ie Éire Ghruama
The Quiet Girl, pick of the bunch imho and rare to see a kid’s eye view on such a weighty subject
How can you say this? You know how I feel about Nadine Coyle!
I make a plea for A24 generally and specifically the Safdies with good time and uncut gems. Missing up timelines with their odd use of music, "anxiety drama" as the dominating theme.
Elements of studio Hollywood mix and meld with indie cinema in interesting ways with A24 I think. Biggish budget small idea films.
Elements of studio Hollywood mix and meld with indie cinema in interesting ways with A24 I think. Biggish budget small idea films.
shakahislop
Well-known member
A couple of additions:
Durational TikToks
Barbie
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Poor Things
A small canon because it's happening right now and it isn't very old (and because I don't go out of my way to watch them). These films are in conversation with the internet more than they are any other cinematic lineage. Thematically speaking they are tied up with insta comments, tweets, editorial columns, and other mainstream internet discourses, they're both inspired by them and anticipating their response. Stylistically they're focused on mimicking the pace, attention span and structure of short-form video feeds. Remains to be seen how long this is going to last but it's everywhere at the moment.
Observational Documentary
In Jackson Heights
Gasoline Rainbow
Onlookers
Angels Are Made of Light
Not sure if it's deserving of the canon since none of it is remotely popular but nonetheless this is a feature of my watching at least. Has longer roots (Letters From Home for example) but quintessentially 21st century since it relies on unlimited and cheap digital video. Characterized by hewing tightly to reality, a focus on the everyday framed by the camera's lens, noncommittal and generally refraining from judgement. Normally very human, unavoidably so because they're mostly just cameras trained on people, with a general interest in observing the nature of human beings, and in that sense something almost spiritual or pedagogic, a kind of compassion generator. It's a seam strongly running through non-mainstream cinema over the past ten years in particular. A reaction to the availability of new technology and the possibilities it brings. Gasoline Rainbow is an interesting one because it's starting to move into auto-fictional territory. This one is about form rather than subject matter.
Durational TikToks
Barbie
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Poor Things
A small canon because it's happening right now and it isn't very old (and because I don't go out of my way to watch them). These films are in conversation with the internet more than they are any other cinematic lineage. Thematically speaking they are tied up with insta comments, tweets, editorial columns, and other mainstream internet discourses, they're both inspired by them and anticipating their response. Stylistically they're focused on mimicking the pace, attention span and structure of short-form video feeds. Remains to be seen how long this is going to last but it's everywhere at the moment.
Observational Documentary
In Jackson Heights
Gasoline Rainbow
Onlookers
Angels Are Made of Light
Not sure if it's deserving of the canon since none of it is remotely popular but nonetheless this is a feature of my watching at least. Has longer roots (Letters From Home for example) but quintessentially 21st century since it relies on unlimited and cheap digital video. Characterized by hewing tightly to reality, a focus on the everyday framed by the camera's lens, noncommittal and generally refraining from judgement. Normally very human, unavoidably so because they're mostly just cameras trained on people, with a general interest in observing the nature of human beings, and in that sense something almost spiritual or pedagogic, a kind of compassion generator. It's a seam strongly running through non-mainstream cinema over the past ten years in particular. A reaction to the availability of new technology and the possibilities it brings. Gasoline Rainbow is an interesting one because it's starting to move into auto-fictional territory. This one is about form rather than subject matter.
Strong entries, particularly Durational TikToks.
shakahislop
Well-known member
high praise indeed
Murphy
cat malogen
neorealism? to some extent, aye ah but …. deleted
on a munch break and trying to think through Grim Britannia themed selections without the thread converging on ‘Britain is Grim’, hence crime, insipidity, dross, wands and bonnets
Human Traffic, ‘99 but jfc could it get any worse, a clear sign of things to come
Sexy Beast, you move to Spain to get away from the grime, soot and patina but Britannia comes calling
Snatch
Essex Boys
Gangster No 1
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Last Orders
Bend it Like Beckham
Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees, did no-one look at the title and think “wait a sec, we have a problem”
Mike Bassett: England Manager
Churchill: The Hollywood Years
28 Days Later
King Arthur
Layer Cake
24 Hour Party People
Dirty Pretty Things
Hot Fuzz, fuck off Simon Pegg you utter cunt
Dog Soldiers
Harry fuckin Potter Everything
Johnny English
Love Actually, how did Alan Rickman aka Hans Gruber sign up to this Christmas soaked bile?
Dead Man’s Shoes
This is England
A Good Year
Vera Drake
Kevin and Perry Go Large
The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse
Basic Instinct 2, lol
The Queen
Revolver
Wimbledon
A Good Year, nightmare garbage but France sells itself
Rise of the Footsoldier, technically a documentary about how not to order pizza
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Under the Skin, okay but a heads up about the perils of dogging in Glasgow’s east end
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - quadruple distilled excrement and possibly the worst film of all time (look, sometimes you call on a friend and they’re mid divorce trying to “show willing” with partner present so you have to play wing man for an hour)
Didn’t have time to explore further but you get the drift - Britwank with Sexy Beast one of the few worth going near, maybe add Dead Man’s Shoes and Under the Skin too
on a munch break and trying to think through Grim Britannia themed selections without the thread converging on ‘Britain is Grim’, hence crime, insipidity, dross, wands and bonnets
Human Traffic, ‘99 but jfc could it get any worse, a clear sign of things to come
Sexy Beast, you move to Spain to get away from the grime, soot and patina but Britannia comes calling
Snatch
Essex Boys
Gangster No 1
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Last Orders
Bend it Like Beckham
Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees, did no-one look at the title and think “wait a sec, we have a problem”
Mike Bassett: England Manager
Churchill: The Hollywood Years
28 Days Later
King Arthur
Layer Cake
24 Hour Party People
Dirty Pretty Things
Hot Fuzz, fuck off Simon Pegg you utter cunt
Dog Soldiers
Harry fuckin Potter Everything
Johnny English
Love Actually, how did Alan Rickman aka Hans Gruber sign up to this Christmas soaked bile?
Dead Man’s Shoes
This is England
A Good Year
Vera Drake
Kevin and Perry Go Large
The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse
Basic Instinct 2, lol
The Queen
Revolver
Wimbledon
A Good Year, nightmare garbage but France sells itself
Rise of the Footsoldier, technically a documentary about how not to order pizza
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Under the Skin, okay but a heads up about the perils of dogging in Glasgow’s east end
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - quadruple distilled excrement and possibly the worst film of all time (look, sometimes you call on a friend and they’re mid divorce trying to “show willing” with partner present so you have to play wing man for an hour)
Didn’t have time to explore further but you get the drift - Britwank with Sexy Beast one of the few worth going near, maybe add Dead Man’s Shoes and Under the Skin too
