Films what I did watch this week

1) Casshern

So this used to be one of my favourite films when I was at university. It was beautiful, the soundtrack was lovely and the plot was heart breaking, if extremely silly. Silly does sum up the film quite well actually, to actually like it you have to have quite a high silly tolerance. You have to be able to roll with the fact that a group of escaping prisoners can find in the mountains a giant factory for making killer robots. Just like that.

Anyway, rewatching it here, now in 2009, its appeal has gone. This isn't because I can't put up with the plot, it's because it takes so fucking long to get to the point. I watched 40 minutes of the damn thing and the plot was only just getting started. There were another two hours to go. I said fuck that shit and watched something else.

In a way, this is a massive shame. Casshern is one of those films that really doesn't need to be that slow. Sure, long lingering shots are nice occasionally - the opening to the Moonlight Sonata is still fantastic but the rest of the film is just fucking glacial.

All in all, I must have been a much more patient person at university.


2) Das Experiment

Das Experiment was also one of my favouite films at university and, after the massive disappointment that was Casshern, I re watched it, hoping against hope that it would stand up to the rewatch.

It does. Thankfully.

It's not quite as good as I remember it - the plot all makes sense, I'm just not hugely convinced it would all move that quickly. However, the characters are all fantastic, the film moves at a very nice pace and it has quite a nice ending.

Part of the reason I love Das Experiment is how it's managed to capture human temperaments so realistically. Some of the characters may seem awfully convenient (having a repressed obsessive who believes only in pleasing authority figures for example) but that's what The Experiment was all about...

What I find especially interesting this time around is something I didn't notice on my previous viewings - The first guard to emerge as slightly over authoritarian is the executive - he sows the seeds of authoritarianism in the others and they run with it whilst he tries to hold them back and maintain order.

Very good film.




3) Monsters Vs Aliens

I'll keep this one short - Monsters Vs Aliens is a really good film. Mostly because it's short. It has three main plot elements and moves between them very quickly. This means that the audience never has time to get bored but more importantly - the characters never debate their actions or have moments of angsty self doubt like they usually do in these damn films.

It's very funny, is extremely cynical and its' gender politics are excellent. It represents both male and female characters without being overly patronising to either one. That's a rare feat in any film, let alone a kids one.

So yes, it's 90 minutes of frothy fun. It's not as good as Wall-E but that's a bit like saying Nightwish aren't as good as Mozart - it's unfair to compare something that's very good to a bona fide masterpiece.