Personal Post

I often start my preambles with an off-beat quote from a film. The only one that springs to mind is from Batman Forever when Two-Face says- “No more riddles, no more curtains one and two- just plain curtains.” In the sprit of that line, no preamble this time, just a run of the mill post. This personal post has long been on my mind. It only seems fair to once in a while directly talk to you all, particularly this year, as the blog has been doing well in terms of views etc.

The best place to start is an admission. I have not seen many new films this year, so my reflection on the media I’ve consumed will include video games and perhaps a TV show or two. I know I have to do better, but since 2023, I’ve been trying to chase external gigs (pieces for magazines/websites) that exist outside of the blog. For a time, that made me happy. But I realised in the long run, it was unhealthy and ultimately unhelpful. For one, while I was pushing myself with ambitious pieces that got me out of my comfort zone, this was starting to become a sole metric for success to such a degree that when opportunities ceased or were not picked up, I got a major source of the blues and harshly judged my self-worth.

I’ve always been tough on myself when it comes to writing. I don’t post reviews or brief considerations unless I know I have something to say. I always want any reader of my work to feel as though that piece (however long or short) is considered. I can’t play the casual or concise Letterboxd game whereby the sum total of my consideration of a movie is a snappy one-liner or an arbitrary ranking. That’s a poker game that I leave for better people to indulge in. As a result, it’s been easier to talk myself out of seeing something because I feel a total lack of ignorance. Gladiator II is a good example of this. I’ve kept thinking I have to revisit Ridley Scott’s period pieces as though the new movie is a referendum on them. I know I will have a unique perspective on that film (solely based on my dislike of the original) but I still insist on dragging my feet on seeing it. Perhaps that will change some day soon before it exits UK cinemas.

With this in mind, I’m reminded of a famous quote from the Dune novel. It’s stated by Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) in Dune: Part One (2021) “The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” In writing this post, I hope to formally unshackle myself from this doom and gloom cycle of trying to solve where my work went wrong. Sometimes doing something on a whim via indulging in a new experience or piece of media without all the blinders is one of the keys to enjoying life. I can attest to this as some of the times I’ve felt happiest this year are the experiences I have seemingly done on impulse. With that said, let’s get to some of the media that’s spoken to me. I apologize if any sound like I’m repeating myself from written reviews in the past year. Films such as Poor Things and Challengers are notable omissions, but have been covered in other blog posts, if you’re curious.

To no one’s surprise, Dune Part Two is my favourite film of the year. Aside from being an effective and excellently pitched tragedy that adapts Frank Herbert’s seminal novel in unique ways, it also spoke to me in the following way. In the first film, I felt the emotional truth in Paul (Timothée Chalamet) being pulled in so many directions. But once he crosses the Rubicon in Part Two (via consuming The Water of Life and travelling to the South), his perceptions of events become seemingly eternal. His new and different perspectives echoed my internal thoughts about how I feel about my writing. These thoughts have been akin to a constant buzzing of ideas and not quite seeing the forest for the trees for them. By the same token, this feeling of not quite seeing the path forward is given literal weight in Bloober Team’s remake of Silent Hill 2.

I have to preface that I’ve only completed over 60% of the game. Despite this, I’ve found James Sutherland’s persistent search for his wife through the murky and fog-filled town of Silent Hill to be a great metaphor for where I am in life. It’s the acknowledgement of a vague path forward and attempting to follow it despite all reasons to the contrary. Plus, the PS5 title has reinforced for me the power of motion capture/voice acting in video games. The scene with James (Luke Roberts) and Maria in the Paradise Club is powerful in all its subtle notes, particularly when Maria offers James a drink. The way he looks at the partially filled glass and the gauntlet of emotions that he portrays struck a cord with me. Plus the scene’s track- “Lament of Heaven’s Night” (composed by Akira Yamaoka) is notable for its mixture of eerie and erotic tones. So far, the Silent Hill 2 remake is a game that does not feel entrenched in a sub-genre or any horror tradition but instead is a wholly unique creation.

Despite this, horror cinema has been a formidable force in 2024. Two films that rise to the top of the pile are Late Night with the Devil and The Substance. The former is a rich and engrossing depiction of a television’s host descent into hell (via his ambition to keep pushing the envelope for career resurgence). The latter is a lingering body horror film that at once harkens back to the Brian Yuzna body horror of the 80s and David Cronenberg films such as The Fly and Videodrome. In fact, the 1986 film is referenced in a subtle moment where the main character- Elisabeth (Demi Moore) notices a fly buzzing around her boss- Harvey (Dennis Quaid). There’s a quiet intensity to the film that goes a long way in portraying how we see ourselves as we age. This quality is juxtaposed with intrusive fish-eye lensed shots that showcase the horror of objectification in vivid ways. But the filmmaking moments that have stuck with me illustrate beauty standards in almost puckish Terry Gilliam-esque ways. There’s something absurd and alarming at the lengths Sue (Margaret Qualley) goes to preserve herself that reminded me of Jim Broadbent’s plastic surgeon scenes in Gilliam’s 1985 Brazil.

My biggest two surprises of the year come from a pair of films that mirror each other in interesting ways. The first is Joker: Folie à Deux. This film perhaps shocked me the most due to how it compliments and speaks to the first film. In some ways, it’s more fascinating with a meta edge that’s appealing and musical sequences that remove the spectacle of vintage musicals to instead focus on the expressed heartfelt emotions. In revisiting moments from the film, I’m struck by how there’s an arc to Arthur’s delusion in both films. He goes from someone who fantasizes about being on the Murray Franklin Show to someone who is upstaged and killed on his fantasy show when he ultimately tries to take charge of it. It just goes to show that the Joker persona that society has imprinted on him is not a source of salvation. He was always just Arthur, someone who dreamed of being famous and seen. But was discarded at every turn (even by audiences at large based on the public backlash to the film etc). My only problem with the film is the ending. It’s one note in nature. I would prefer if Lee (Lady Gaga) killed Arthur and took on the Joker persona (as Harley Quinn). In turn, this would suggest a cycle, that it does not matter if you are rich or poor, social disenchantment can be like a virus that spreads and causes people to go insane and elevate themselves in heightened ways (albeit in this version of reality etc).

The other film that I allude to in the last paragraph is All of Us Strangers. It’s a ghostly romance film that speaks to the generational disconnect between societal standards (encapsulated as the British stiff upper lip) that results in a cathectic illustration of how writing can be a means for preserving the best version of our loved ones. Like Joker 2, it has an unreliable narrator (for most of the film) and its tragedy comes from how the main character may or may not have been able to find the love and acceptance he was trying to portray throughout the story. It’s also a good illustration of how the UK indie scene is alive and well.

Now onto some mixed bags. It’s funny how the films that I was sure were going to deliver ended up being quite comce com ca efforts. Despite having some excellent filmmaking and myth-making, Furiosa felt like a hodgepodge that went in too many directions and was too ambitious for its own good. This is one of those few times where I thought that it would have worked better as an animated series or anime that had separate episodes to flesh out its various ideas. Likewise, Alien Romulus (despite working a lot more for me on a second viewing) undermines itself by attempting to harmonize franchise elements that fundamentally remove any teeth out of the subtext it could have had. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice may have been a mess on first viewing, but I’m glad it mostly works due to actually having an emotional perspective and satirical eye.

The film that let me down this year was Rebel Moon- Part Two: The Scargiver. I liked the first film as a piece of science fiction world-building that had a compelling central performance from Sofia Boutella. But that goodwill was gone with the second film. It’s exhausting, impersonal and lacks the wonder I experienced with the first film.

Finally, I’ll briefly touch upon some of the TV I caught this year. I got into The Boys and was surprised by its satire and sense of play with the superhero dynamics. I also think there’s a compelling essay about the parallels between Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander (Antony Starr) insofar as the abuse they suffer at the hands of society and parental figures. Rings of Power got better for me with a compelling update on its central premise via Annatar’s (Charlie Vickers) and Celebrimbor’s (Charles Edwards) relationship as well as the Adar material. I may comment on House of the Dragon Season 2 and Dune: Prophecy at a later date (due to not fully finishing them yet).

This was an unorthodox way to discuss some of my top films of the year, but I felt compelled to write more and be more reflexive on the themes in media that appealed to me in 2024. Thank you for reading. I wish you all a very happy festive period. I may post something before the New Year.