This woman :)

#LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

#LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

I'm going to end up purchasing both...

It's been a great couple of days :)

one fun thing about Johnnie To is how no two fans seem to be able to decide which of his films are the best. you get some overlap, for sure, but there is very little in terms of concrete canonization, unlike, say, Ringo Lam or Benny Chan. Compare my top 20 with this other fan's:

thinking about this again

Maintenant c'est correct.

« Qui a ainsi bafoué l'humanité ? Qui nous mène par le bout du nez ? » « Le diable probablement. »

ce n'est pas grande chose

RM: "Le Diable probablement" (1977, réalisé par Bresson) Le dernier film m'a beaucoup contrarié et bouleversé, alors j'ai voulu en voir un autre film par Bresson. Celui-ci est le dernier que je n'avais pas encore vu.

My reluctance was well-founded, and this is one of my least favourite of Bresson's works. Not entirely, but in many ways a lesser repeat of Au hasard Balthazar. It is still a very good picture, but not what i had been hoping for.

NW: "Mouchette" (1967, dir. Robert Bresson) This is one of the very few outstanding Bresson films I have yet to see, and something about it has always made me hesitate. I'm not sure why, but in any case, I will soon find out what I really think of it.

I wrote about "The Red Spectacles" (1987, dir. Oshii Mamoru), a film that I enjoyed but wish had enough depth to live up to its promise. In the uncertainty of what it wants to be, it tries to be many things at once, and ends up being nothing:

NW: "A Moment of Romance" (1990, dir. Benny Chan) No one really prepared me for the fact that this film looks far better than I expected it to. There have already been some beautiful shots that made me wish the transfer was more worthy. RIP Benny Chan

I am starting the "A Moment of Romance" trilogy, mainly because the third one is directed by Johnnie To. That said, it sounds as though the third one really just used the name, and the first two only have limited continuity between them.

QRT with your favourite opening line from a book Plato's Republic (translated by Allan Bloom, which is the best version)

An iridescent cloud :)

#LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

oh, this comedy is PITCH black. I have been just howling, hehe

NW: "Help!!!" (2000, dir. Johnnie To) As I started, it occurred to me that I may have underestimated how badly I needed Johnnie To doing a medical comedy/social critique.

Old Delhi Railway Station. India, 1983 photographed by Steve McCurry

relaxing with Dataplex and too much coffee (again)

NW: "Once a Thief" (1991, dir. John Woo), in which Chow Yun-fat has a fun European vacation! :D Kind of maligned as a result of being stuck between "Bullet in the Head" (1990) and "Hard Boiled" (1992), but I actually think this one is rather underrated and a bit of a gem! #filmsky

"Four Darks in Red" (Rothko, 1958)

Sti.ll

Two bees napping in a poppy, covered in pollen, photographed by Joe Neely.

Ho Fan's use of light and shadow in his photography is frankly magnificent

this is the current solution to all of my life's problems

#LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

I have been waiting for this...

new Taku Unami save me...

Just finished a pleasant morning listen.

August film total: 88 Year-to-date: 916 films logged

#LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

The list of things for which I say, "maybe in the next life," is growing dangerously long.

NW: "Too Many Ways to Be No. 1" (1997, dir. Wai Ka-fai) This is the first Milkyway film ever produced, and i have an atrocious DVD rip with hardcoded English AND Simplified Chinese subs. I adore Milkyway, Johnnie To (who produced this one), and Wai Ka-fai, so this is a treat.

To reiterate, this is one of the greatest things I have ever seen in my entire life. #filmsky

EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR THE NEXT 7 AND A HALF HOURS IM TRYING TO LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM nextyearssnow.bandcamp.com/album/gesamk...

oh,

I was halfway through watching this and was going to recommend it to a friend, when I realized that it is in French and my friend is an anglophone.

Feeling intense amounts of dissatisfaction with everything today.

I wrote about "The Limey" (1999, dir. Soderbergh), an at-times humourous, and at others tragic tale of violence, retribution, and justice:

I wrote about "The Killer" (2024, dir. John Woo), an incredibly disheartening remake of a masterpiece that does everything right in terms of setting itself up for success, only to completely falter on the execution: #filmsky

A brief note on a lovely documentary:

NW: "Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue" (2020, dir. Jia Zhangke) A documentary of the literature festival in Jia Zhangke's home province, naturally this film has long fascinated me. I'm very curious to dig into Jia's documentary work in general as well.

Now listening to this work by Sarah Hennies & Tristan Kasten-Krause that I missed earlier this year.