ego cogito, ego sum

september 2011 film chart

Akira (1988), My Favorite Year (1982), Night on Earth (1991), The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997), Back to the Future Part I (1985), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Network (1976), White Man Can’t Jump (1992), Snowtown (2011), Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (2011)

Top Films of September 2011:

1. Once Upon A Time In Anatolia

2. Network

3. White Men Can’t Jump

*And three quick points on Snowtown… what the fuck? what the fuck? and… WHAT THE FUCK?! now, before saying anything else, hear this: this is really not for everyone. it was one of the most disturbing films i have watched in a long time—and that is disturbing not in a nice kinda way. because i am into disturbing, unsettling material. really. i like a film not giving the audience what it wants—leaving them either in a sort of angst or taking them to the edge and showing them that life is not really the way Hollywood seems desperate to convince us to be. but what is more is that i can’t simply put my finger on just what it was that made me uncomfortable. there are some upsetting images, so it is really not for the faint-hearted, yes—but such visuals do not take up a bulk of the film. the characters are also somewhat troubling at times—the sort of bullying that they are at first involved with turns into a kind of violence that feels evermore distressing i think; because one watching almost sympathizes with such stuff at first unaware, or maybe unwilling to admit at first, of what into which it ends up evolving.. some technical aspects of the film contribute to this crescendo of ill-at-easeness—but i can’t really comment further as i just do not possess the technical jargon to offer what i have in mind, except maybe for the camera shaking at times, giving the impression that it is the viewer running after some thing or someone, a kind of thing that somewhat disorientates the often clear perimeter between the audience and the film. and then there is the music: one simply does not—at least i didn’t—realize the extent to which the musics of the film mess up with your subconscious while watching. they slowly, but very effectively, tense you up..

yet, when even all of these are taken together, it’s still is not enough. the entire thing is just very unsettling. actually, the entire thing would have been very unsettling if it were only fictional. but it’s not. it’s not. and to that i can only say: “ay, there’s the rub”