The Conjuring, James Wan: 2.5 / 4
review
La Strada, Federico Fellini: 1.5 / 4
This was a tough one to get through. I was unable to connect with any of the characters. I felt significant discomfort watching Gelsomina's life unfold, and each of Zampano's actions felt like a gut punch. It was a uniquely dark, discomforting film which on paper should've been a slam dunk. It just didn't work for me. Fellini's style did nothing for me, the only token I got from this was a solid final scene. That is it.
Preservation, Christopher Denham: 2 / 4
review
The Piano Teacher, Michael Haneke: 2 / 4
A deeply dark, disturbing film from Haneke, but that's not really surprising. After watching two of his films, his deeply psychological style seems engrained in both. In this, Isabelle Huppert does a masterful job portraying the dark side of excellence. To truly be great, Erika must raise her intensity to inhuman levels. She becomes consumed by desire, by lust. Her extreme mastery at piano must be equalized, brought to equilibrium. This can occur only if she herself becomes sexually mastered and controlled. Yet once this occurs she feels pain; it's not the relief she'd hoped for. Yet she goes back again. It's a dark spiral into the depths of hell. The story is surprisingly human, but not in the ways we'd wish; it reaches deep into areas of humanity whose existence we deny. This film is uncomfortable not because of the violence, but because of its confrontational nature.
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