Withnail and I (1987, UK)

Bit bleak, but amusing in a campy sort of way. It's clearly a classic of cult film for a reason, although it was certainly a weird send-off for the 1960s. Interestingly, Paul McGann went on to play the eighth Doctor, which I had no clue about until I looked at his recording history because I have terrible facial recognition. Have to admit that I'm also fascinated with the Camberwall Carrot.


Beautiful Thing (2003, UK)

Really weird indie LGBT flick (well, 'G') set in a lower-class tower block. I was a bit curious as to what the plot would entail being that it described itself as a "kitchen sink drama" on the blurb, but it was a nice, refreshing little movie that dealt pretty realistically with issues of working class familial abuse and different attitudes towards queer relationships. Very slice-of-life, as there was really no conclusion to the plot. (Not that it really needed one.)


Attack the Block! (2011, UK)

Similar to "Beautiful Thing" in its portrayal of the lower class of English citizens, which is pretty intriguing. It's something that's either really glossed over in films or envisioned as the "real" Britain, stateside, both of which are hardly good or comprehensive assessments of the entirety of English society, let alone the rest of the UK. It was generally really cool to see an interesting science fiction film set in a Tower Block with a largely black cast. It's also a solid alien-fighting movie on its own but with a fascinating and sorely needed twist on the usual. It very tantalizingly hints at the different home lives of each young gang member, and even though it doesn't deliver a lot of background, it isn't really needed. A definite case of "less is more", since you can infer all you need to know about how these young kids wound up in such trying situations as drug pushing or street violence from a select few shots. It manages to make pretty bold statements about class and race in England while simultaneously being a thrilling, scary invasion movie. Which is awesome.

If I had to describe it in a single word I would probably go with "atmospheric", and the cinematography is pretty phenomenal and definitely makes good use of the South American coastline it's set on. It's very interesting that the main character, Alex, chooses not to have reconstructive surgery after all despite the pressure put on them by their mother. (Alex's father, a marine biologist, is largely in the dark about these plans and is portrayed a bit more sympathetically.)

Honestly, I thought the frequent outside focus on Alex's family members and their feelings would be off-putting given how much unneeded "development" is dedicated to the people who are related to intersex and trans people in most films concerning them, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much agency Alex ended up having in the end. Very strong character statement and narrative choice, having an intersex person make that sort of decision for themselves despite the outside pressures to conform one way or the other within social gender binaries. (Especially since part of the film also deals with the existence and input of other intersex people forced to undergo GRS against their own desires.)


Also of interest: the very influential 1990 documentary on New York City ball culture (which was largely comprised of drag queens, trans women, and other queer people of color), Paris Is Burning, is apparently all on youtube. See it in its entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWuzfIeTFAQ

The Hunger Games (2012, US)

I have mixed feelings...true, it's as good of a film adaptation that one could want from the books, and some aspects of it are even better. But some are worse, on the flip side, and it's a wash as to how this stacks up.

Jennifer Lawrence is actually a really good actress, but without the book's inner narrative and perspective, her characterization as the aloof, hardened Katniss seems less reserved and more...stunted. It's just one of those things inherently going to be a bit lost in the translation from book to film. On the other hand, the film's immediate need to shift to a more omniscient view of the Hunger Games events allows for some interesting insights and developments we could never have been privy to in the novel, like the interactions between President Snow and Seneca Crane and the behind-the-scenes workings of the games themselves. Those are the sorts of changes I generally look forward to and appreciate in book-to-movie productions. The added live commentary from Flickermann also added a punch and further cemented the novel as being largely critical of mass media excess and consumption of violence and the loss of human identity and value inherent in such.

--which of course makes it all the more hilariously ironic that it's a major blockbuster hit which millions of people--including myself--crowded into movie theaters to see while decked to the brim with popcorn buckets and fountain drinks. Also, I'm still a bit salty about the fact that Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch are distinctly not very Southern/Appalachian sounding, while the supporting cast from District 13 is. I don't understand why a little bit of representation from the region the District was meant to have its origins in and typify would have been a bad thing in mainstream blockbuster film adaptations. Just goes to show that classism is alive and well in our country. (Also worth mentioning the terribly racist casting call.)

(All that said, it isn't a bad adaptation by any means. In fact, I'm very much looking forward to how Catching Fire will be handled given its very brassy themes of political upheaval and social revolution that the first book only tantalizingly hinted at. I'm guessing either "magnificently" or "terribly" with little room in between.)


Winter's Bone (2010, US)

...Winter's Bone, however, is very much the opposite, earnestly portraying a somewhat secluded, poverty-ridden community in the rural Ozarks with no apologies and no attempt to placate people in America who are apparently offended by the "stupid" accents of my countrymen. The plot is pretty simple; Ree Dolly is a poor high school girl living with her catatonic mother and younger brother and sister. Her father, a man locally notorious as a meth dealer, has gone missing and is presumed dead. Ree's father used their only real thing of value--their house--as part of his bond, and with his court date fast approaching the county has no choice but to evict Ree and the others and seize his property if he doesn't show. Ree sets off on a nigh-solitary journey to find her father, never faltering in her belief that he wouldn't have simply abandoned her family to get out of a court hearing.

Fortunately for her and her family's good name, she's right; the sad truth of that fact leads Ree down some dark roads and across the paths of dangerous people beholden to a system of honor and secrecy rarely seen or spoken of in modern American culture, and she doesn't come out unscathed. The film is a look into the lives of Americans the rest of the U.S. seems to have forgotten, whether intentionally or not...and it's refreshing to see such dark, gritty subject matter handled so well, considering that my background isn't so far removed from hers. I think almost all working-class and poverty-straddling people of the rural South can relate, at least a bit.