Random Thoughts

WFC China: 三峡好人

Oo. I quite like this film. It’s very languid. And it seems straightforward, but things sort of keep happening on the margins that … probably aren’t.

It’s a serious, but whimsical film.

So it’s very nice. But it’s not without its problems. Tao Zhao is great, but many of the minor characters are played by very awkward actors.

But there are just so many things here that are great, so I’m dicing:

Still Life. Zhangke Jia. 2006. China.

Banana Dynasty

8 parts Moutai
4 parts Pisang Ambon
3 parts sweet vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and pour into tumbler. Garnish with an orange peel.

I had to do some substitutions. It was supposed to be Giffards and La Quintinye Rouge.

That would probably have been better.

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

Gimmicky as fuck, this film is entirely in Ukrainian sign language (without subtitles) and has the requisite amount of sex and violence to make it “serious”. It’s the standard “spiral into despair” plot so beloved of a certain class of directors.

It’s not badly made, though. And some of the actors are really great. I was going to say that it’s a paint-by-numbers nouvelle extreme film, but the sheer ludicrousness (that’s a word) of the plot makes it kinda different.

It’s about a gang of deaf high school age criminals. Yeah, it’d take forever for the cops to figure out that they’re from the deaf high gschool.

But don’t mind me. Everybody else seems to love the film, except people like Roger Ebert (however, even a stopped clock…), so I’m probably wrong and this is a great film.

The Tribe. Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi. 2014. Ukraine.

Black Ukrainian

1 part vodka
1 part Tia Maria
1 port Southern Comfort
3 parts Coca-Cola

You know the think I said about it being impossible to google non-joke cocktails for the ex Soviet countries?

Right.

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

“I had to airbrush a hot chick on the back of my truck”

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is back for a second season.

This post in not part of my Tilda Swinton project.

WFC Angola: Na cidade vazia

I bought the DVD used, but it didn’t work, so I, er, downloaded a backup copy off of the interwebs. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

It looks kinda like the interwebby copy is from a VHS, but it’s quite nice, anyway.

I enjoyed this film. The acting is kinda all over the place, but there are parts that really work. And then then there are parts that seem to go nowhere.