If you prioritize beauty in animation, then maybe THE MISSING is not for you. At its worst, the Filipino genre mishmash is downright unpleasant to look at, wavering between Rotoscope realism and childish scribbles in computerized crayon. However, every choice feels deliberate, the weirdness another weapon in a vast arsenal where something as simple as the framerate can turn into a sentimental wallop. Stylistically, while the relative realism of one approach invokes the present experience, the other deals with memory.…
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The Peasants 2023
...Even if not always motivated, the technique can achieve great poetry when rapid motion is involved, and concrete depiction dissolves. When circling the dancing heroine, the camera philtered through oil paint can make her look on the verge of disintegration.
In the destruction of her form, style folds back into the story, bringing the narrative cruelties to a boiling point. Yes, this is a cruel tale about a young woman falling into bad choices and unjust societal pressures, gradually torn…
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Cyrano 2021
We should appreciate how hard it is to make screen love feel palpable. It's often taken for granted, especially when it comes to male actors. In other words, what Peter Dinklage does here, regardless of musical prowess, is remarkable and deserves its flowers, its earned hosannas. Bennett and Harrison Jr. also excel, playing a demanding muse and endearing himbo with no hint of irony. If their register feels modern, it does so out of exuberance rather than scorn.
Indeed, the…
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Spencer 2021
I should preface my thoughts by making it clear I am a staunch anti-monarchist, against all types of nobility in fact. Furthermore, I have little sentimental nostalgia for Princess Diana. Born in 1994, I always remember her as a dead legend, if I remember her at all, rather than a living celebrity. Furthermore, the growing commodification of the woman's legacy makes me feel dread, alarm, maybe disgust. Nevertheless, that currency of mythic celebrity is also a fascinating contradiction, for it…
