Jpeg Corner #10 October 2024
The one with the Wild Robot and Bon Iver
Cinema & Serie
Kinds of Kindness: I’m calling this out even if my vote wasn’t great because I’m still debated. Lanthimos just came out from the amazing Poor Things and this may be more related to expectation than anything else. Episode movies are not my favourites, but it feels like a step back, a story weird (as usual) but not really going much anywhere, for me at least. Actors were probably the best thing, with an Emma Stone that is clearly in the zone at this point, as much as Jesse Plemons that collect another incredible character. Wondering however what was the point, of all this low impact, mostly senseless, and growing violence dressed up like a totally normal action. Loved the trailer more than the movie.
The Wild Robot: here comes the unexpected. I’ve did go watch this movie as my kids loved the book, and was pretty impressed by it. I’ve read a review saying “the best Pixar movies in the last ten years has been made by Dreamworks” and I’ve to say it’s pretty on point. This does feel like the Pixar of the golden age. Multi-layered, heart touching story of a shipwrecked robot on a wild island, and how he coped with the animals that live there. Beautiful, really.
La Haine: this was on my list since ages, and took eventually the chance of watching it. The thing that impressed me more of this chronicle of a somewhat pointless wandering of three second generation immigrants on the French banlieue, is the beautiful b&w cinematography, the shooting, the composition, never steady, never repetitive, always pointing to a different detail. We’re of course talking of one of the recognised masterpiece of French production from the 90s. It’s an hard, unsettling look at what failed integration, unemployment, and hot minded youth can do when boiling out of control. Still so valid today, in much more places around all Europe than Paris, as it was mostly at the time.
On the serie side, I’ve been watching the acclaimed Shogun : biggest single season winner in the history of the Emmy, and remake of an 80s series based on the same title 1975 book by James Clavell. The series totally captivated me for 6 episodes, but somewhat disappointed me with the last 3, with a turn of events that were somewhat unexpected but that I personally found at the same time anticlimactic. In any case the quality of the production was undeniably very good, and was also a good occasion to explore and read more about a period less known of Japan history, just before the super celebrated Edo period.
Games and Videogames
I’ve played a couple of times to Brass: Birmingham, the current #1 strategy game on BGG. It’s a strategy game about competing during the Industrial Revolution in the west midland, between coal/iron mines and trade markets. It has been a quite interesting game, a mix of placement and resource management, with interesting constrain due to the map and the market placements. A typical German game with quite limited space for luck.
On the videogames side I’ve eventually finished The Outer World. I’ve to say eventually it was ok, but to be honest I found it quite.. old. I understand Rockstar play its own game, but this is a 2019 game that feels at least 10 year behind Red Dead Redemption on the technical side. Felt more like Oblivion/Skyrim than anything more recent, but I’ve to tell I found this to be more common that I hoped for, recently. Sure, writing was surely a step forward from that, although it was arguably more interesting in world building details and secondary characters than in the actual main story. Forgettable, wouldn’t really suggest it other than for Fallout setup lovers, for which I think it shares quite the mood.
Music
The good news is that The Bon Iver are back. The bad news is that it’s only an EP with 4 (really 3) new songs. It sounds like back at the origins, folk and acoustic, although voice was probably never this clear. Speyside is such a beauty.
Something to read
an old article on the late Anthony Bourdain, whose curious and contagiously relatable approach is still very missed and not replaced, more than 6 years after his death (from NewYorker ). It’s also another good reason to suggest again his work, being it Kitchen Confidential or the great tv show No Reservation
a reel from NYT that showcase how different is for Israelian or Palestinian people to do a simple thing like doing travelling the same road
How neo-nazi used hurricane aftermath to boost recruitment (from Wall Street Journal)
Quote of the month
Sometimes to survive, we must become more…. than we were programmed to be.
The Wild Robot