Watched: バトル・ロワイアル, Batoru Rowaiaru (Battle Royale)

Uh, yeah. This is a deeply unsettling film. And it's very hard to believe, after watching this, that it did not have any influence on Suzanne Collins while she was writing The Hunger Games. Obviously. But! It is a very, very well made film. It really handles introducing and dispensing with a shit-load of characters very quickly in a competent and compelling way. Yes of course some of the minor characters are simplistic, but that is really a small complaint considering how well a very difficult, complicated conceit is carried out here. Another classic, I'd say. And hey, it's one Tarantino's favorite films, right? (Just look at that first picture. Once you've seen the film, that factoid is not at all surprising.)

 Just in terms of sheer fucked-up-ness, characterwise, I think Mitsuko was my favorite character.

 Kayoko is pretty great too, though.

 This whole sequence. Insane.

 :(

 THIS. MOST insane part of the film? Possibly?

Or the part where Kitano has been shot, then casually gets up, takes a phone call from his daughter, eats some cookies, before dying just as casually? Bananas.

Watched: Last of the Mohicans

I hated this a lot less on the second viewing but I still just do not feel any kind of emotional connection to it. I can understand that technically Daniel Day-Lewis is giving a very good performance and that it is beautifully made and a lot of research must have gone into all of the costumes/set pieces, but... I don't know. I got nothin' for this one. Am I just emotionally deficient?

Perhaps.

Watched: Strictly Ballroom

Oh my God, what a classic. I wish Baz Luhrmann would make another film like this, funny and heartfelt and warty and quirky, instead of the opulent nothingness that was The Great Gatsby. That movie had all of the visual verve and style of Strictly Ballroom and 0% of its spirit. It felt like a cold, dead thing in comparison to this. Is that unfair? I don't know, maybe. When I watch this film and see how deftly Lurhmann switches between tragic family history/societal pressures and hilarious parody/character work, and I remember how insane but still grounded Moulin Rouge was, or even how much I like Romeo + Juliet despite itself (let's not talk about Australia), I just don't understand what happened in The Great Gatsby.

Anyway! Ending the rant there, I'll save that for another day. This is a great film, full of perfect montages and zany Australian-ness and so much amazing everything. Between this and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert you may be able to begin ascertaining my idea of a perfect film. It's gotta have sequins, it's gotta have dancing, it's gotta have heart, it's gotta have ultra-weird flashback sequences, and it's gotta have near-unintelligible Australian accents. But still: watch this for the sheer tonnage of sequins/feathers/eye shadow alone. And then rewatch it for the sweet love story. And then one more time for the fantastic cinematography and dancing. And then just one more time, for shits and giggles.

 All of these faces: perfection.

Watched: Happy-Go-Lucky

This is the kind of film you should watch after watching 12 Years a Slave. I have watched it about once a year or so since it came out (2008) and sometimes more when I'm going through a rough patch. It just reminds me of things that are important to me, I suppose. This is the first film where I really noticed Sally Hawkins or Eddie Marsan and I have been a fan ever since.

Also, Alexis Zegerman, who I don't think I have ever seen in anything else, plays Hawkin's roommate and co-worker in this film and her character is my hero. Her character is everything I try to be in life.