Random Thoughts

A rare French DVD that includes English subtitles. Which reminds me of this comment on imdb about a completely different film:

Film. It’s just a shame that the French are killing the African film industry. Why is it so hard to get copies of these films???? What acan we do to help African filmmakers break the French stranglehold on their work and distribute their films widely???

This is both completely unfair and cogent at the same time. The reason that there are so many African films available in France is that the French finance an co-produce a buttload of African films. Accusing the French of killing the African film industry is pretty absurd in that light.

But when the French duly release DVDs of these African films, they virtually never include English subtitles, which I just find very strange. Doing so might not increase the number of DVDs sold radically, because the worldwide demand for these films isn’t exactly huge. But it would make it possible for weirdos like me and the person quoted above to sample these films. And it’s not like it’s that expensive to supply subtitles: For a few of these films, after discovering that there are no subtitles, I’ve had to resort to downloading torrents of the films, and they often have user-supplied subtitles.

So the French/African film situation is frustrating for people who have some interest, but don’t know French.

Anyway! This is a very noisy and boisterous French/Niger-ian film from 1974. I think what they’re going for is a classic road movie structure where our intrepid heroes set out on a journey, and then zany, inexplicable things happen.

The problem is just… there’s so much shouting and arguing that it’s offputting. I’m guessing it’s mostly improvised, and I’m guessing the instructions from the director was “take everything to 11! drama! all the time!” And I was exhausted after ten minutes.

It settles down after a while. There are bits that are interesting, but it feels mostly pretty aimless. It reminds me a bit of The Bed Sitting Room, for some reason.

Cocorico! Monsieur Poulet. Jean Rouch. 1974. Niger.

North African Sage n’ Green Tea

• green tea
• sage leaves
• sugar
• rum

Steep the green tea and the sage leaves for five minutes. Add sugar and rum and pour into a small glass.

(I added the rum to the recipe.)

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

I bought this documentary from this site, which turns out to be a Vimeo thing: You pay some money and then you can stream the film or download it, DRM-free. I did the latter, and the video quality is more than adequate: Better than DVD quality, I’d say. Some banding and artifacting, but not too distracting.

Anyway! This is a documentary about the Botswana metal scene. The selling point is obviously “Whaaa? Botswana? Metal? It cannot be!”, but it turns out that it can. The scenes with the fans reminded me a lot of documentaries about the New Romantic scene in London: Punters outdoing each other in outrageous dress. Fun!

The other half of the film is a basic band documentary about the band Wrust, and that was really frustrating. We finally get to hear them play live properly in the very final scene, but for the rest of the film we’re in “well, are they any good?” limbo. The film should have started with a fifteen minute excerpt from their show. I mean, if you’re doing a metal documentary, play some music, for fucks sake.

The final third half of this film consists of interview with various bands on the scene, and we sometimes get to hear snippets of their music in between all the talking.

PLAY MORE MUSIC.

So very unsatisfactory, even if the subject is interesting.

March of the Gods: Botswana Metalheads. Raffaele Mosca. 2014. Botswana.

Rooibos Tea Punch

• 3 parts strong cold rooibos tea
• 3 parts peach juice
• 1 part vodka
• lemon slices
• peach slices
• mint leaves

Combine all ingredients and stir. Pour into an ice-filled glass.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

This is an episode of the Duroob documentary series found on Youtube.

I don’t know what country the TV series is from, really. It could be Saudi Arabia, I guess. It starts off oddly, with the presenter giving a speech about Allah’s Infinite Earth; sort of coaxing the audience to care about the documentary.

And then we’re off to Comoros, that tiny island nation between Madagascar and mainland Africa.

It’s a very professional documentary: Nicely filmed and edited and not annoying at all.

But it’s so weird! Normally in documentaries like this you get to see all the sights and the beaches and everything. The majority of this is filmed indoors and we get what seems to be a folk etymology lesson in the Comori (that’s a word) language, and then we learn a bit about grinding make-up.

It’s like they didn’t have permission to film in public or something.

So odd.

But I liked it. It’s interesting and amusing and the presenter is very engaging.

Duroob Season 2 Episode 1: Comoros. Unknown. 2016. Comoros.

Vanilla Margarita

• 3 parts vanilla liqueur
• 4 parts silver tequila
• 2 parts lime juice

Shake with ice. Strain into a Martini glass.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

This film is probably more Serbian than Montenegran (that’s a word), but

It’s one of those retro horror films, which is something I am totally in the mood for now. You’ve got all the usual slasher elements, and it’s fine. The cinematographer (and editor) sometimes go overboard in their enthusiasm: The fake shakycam is rather distracting at times.

It’s just not that engaging. I like that they try to make the characters real: They have personalities and backstories and everything.

I was expecting something like Sharknado, but it’s not like that at all: It’s a proper film. But, unfortunately, not that exciting.

Killer Mermaids. Milan Todorovic. 2014. Montenegro.

Montenegro Non Troppo

• 2 parts rum
• 2 parts brandy
• 2 parts simple syrup
• 3 parts lemon juice

Shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge and a maraschino cherry.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

I guess this is more of an Australian and or New Zealandish (that’s a word) movie than a Papau New Guinean (that’s definitely a word) movie.

“Isn’t that… isn’t that…” “Yes, it is.”

Anyway, I found the scoring of this film to be really annoying. Hardly a moment of import goes by without them trucking in a full lachrymose orchestra.

It’s a film that seems like it should be more interesting than it is, but it ends up more like a British straight-to-TV film. Only more condescending.

It’s a definitely a two pillow film.

Still, there are enjoyable moments. The actors are good, and the cinematography is solid. This could have been fine if only the director had shown any faith in the audience’s intelligence.

Mr. Pip. Andrew Adamson. 2012. Papua New Guinea.

Lychee martini

• 3 parts vodka
• 2 parts peach schnapps
• 2 parts cranberry juice
• 2 parts lychee juice (from a can of lychees)

Shake vigorously with ice. Strain into a Martini glass and garnish with a lychee.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.