#I really love Ken and iwai!!

[petravoncult]

Favorite 2022 First-Watches 🎬

this year, i've only managed to watch 173 films according to my letterboxd logs - that's already including rewatches. 2022 certainly fucked me in many ways i couldn't even imagine at the first place, which is part of the reason why i couldn't spare more time to watch more. 🥲

regardless, it's suffice to say that i've managed to broaden my horizon for a bit, discovering and finding unique films from many corners of the world, unrestrained by release dates or its mood and nature - highbrow, classy, unhinged, you name it; some of them eventually latched onto my mind and soul ❤

now i wouldn't be ranking these films in a particular order, but i will start with the ones that completely won me over and went straight into my all-time favorites!

these are the films i'd probably rate a perfect 10 if i had used the traditional metric score, but i don't review movies that way anymore 👇

Mikey and Nicky (1976), dir. Elaine May 🇺🇸

John Cassavetes and Peter Falk were best friends in real life - and simultaneously two of the best actors of their generation, so there's no doubt they were enthralling to watch in here. indeed, the film's power lies on their dynamite improvisational chops that chronicled the breakdown of their relationship over a night, fights and conversations filled up with intense emotions coupled together with May's minimal direction helped this film shined through and through. i'm definitely a sucker for character-driven movies, so hurrah 🙌

Love Letter (1995) dir. Shunji Iwai 🇯🇵

coincidences and memories of a deceased one can lead you to unexpected findings you took for granted at first, changing how you view that particular person in a different light. perhaps the 'contrived coincidence' trope has been done to death in every type of media imaginable - but due to the naturally-progressing plot that always keeps you interested and Shunji Iwai's directing, it feels very much fresh, not generic, and hits all the beats it's supposed to! Love Letter is blissful and warm, yet it's also a terribly sad tale about a love story that's almost meant to be. 💔

The Devils (1971) dir. Ken Russell 🇬🇧

god, if it isn't an over-indulgent picture (in a good way). to be more exact, it's about overzealous hypocrites indulging themselves in shameless immorality, shielding behind the tenets of Christianity to justify their actions. and they all went down in glorious flames, as depicted mercilessly by Ken Russell with the incredibly eye-catching set designs by Derek Jarman. while it's set in the Middle Ages when those deemed dark witches were guaranteed death sentences, I still think it functions effectively as a critique of the current state of 'religious' conservatives who are so blinded with hate for anyone but themselves. it's a lot of fun to watch, too, even if it does seem too cartoonish at times. (Oliver Reed, sexy and marvelous 💪)

A Snake of June (2002) dir. Shinya Tsukamoto 🇯🇵

Shinya Tsukamoto's films are basically when you combine Lynch's affinity for industrial-themed surrealness and Cronenberg's exploration of the human body transformation, only for their presentation and energy to be cranked up to 11. out of many Tsukamotos i've watched this year, A Snake of June fascinated me the most. i think this is when Tsukamoto's themes and trademarks really worked for me, because they synergize so much this time around; it's relentless in its exploration of self-destructive eroticism, creating a haunting yet sexually-charged atmosphere. it also left quite a lot to be analyzed due to its ambiguous nature (especially toward the end). endlessly rewatchable 👍

On the Silver Globe (1988) dir. Andrzej Zulawski 🇵🇱

a bit unfair to include this since it technically is an unfinished film, but this certainly was one of the most intense movies i've seen in a long time. the bleakness of the material is the foundation of the cinematic earthquake that would've been had it been completed, added with colorful costumes and dystopic set designs that contributes to the mystiqueness of the picture. the most prominent aspect, of course, is Zulawski's direction - while it may seem exhausting and annoying for some, in my honest opinion it certainly worked the way it's heading for. if i had to remake an existing film, it would be this one.

other films that i adore during my first watch this year include:

Blue (2002) dir. Hiroshi Ando 🇯🇵

Dogra Magra (1987) dir. Toshio Matsumoto 🇯🇵

Ashik Kerib (1988) dir. Sergei Parajanov 🇬🇪

The Wolf House (2018) dir. Joaquin Cociña & Cristóbal León 🇨🇱

Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971) dir. Robert Bresson 🇫🇷

there are so many other movies i like & love which unfortunately couldn't make it to my mentions on this post. movies are abundant and it's impossible to watch every single one of them in a lifetime, but finding those that resonate with you is a very personal and treasuring experience!

thank you 2022, here's hoping to watching more next year 🥂

#movies #cinema

[toxioinc]

Top 100 Films

I made this list a few days ago after feeling irritated at the predictability and staleness of the Sight & Sound list, but really I think this a good moment for me to make this list for myself. As you will see from my end of year list in a month, the emergence of a continuous type of filmmaking - Tiktok and Douyin filmmakers posting every day, Youtubers posting every few days - presents a new kind of problem for me who actually wants to make lists that do justice to beautiful filmmaking movements. So this may be the last time to even really want to make an all time list that focuses on the indvidual works rather than the directors filmographies as continuous entities. Although I couldn’t make a normal top 10 poll, and it was better in the end to have a 100 poll as an alternative to the full list, I have put in bold 7 films which I would definitely put in a top 10.

Hypocrites (dir. Lois Weber, 1915)

7th Heaven (dir. Frank Borzage, 1927)

Themes and Variations (dir. Germaine Dulac, 1928)

The Seashell and the Clergyman (dir. Germaine Dulac, 1928)

City Lights (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1931)

Le métro (dir. Georges Franju & Henri Langlois, 1934)

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939)

Bambi (dir. David Hand, 1942)

Now, Voyager (dir. Irving Rapper, 1942)

Meet Me in St. Louis (dir. Vincente Minnelli, 1944)

Spring in a Small Town (dir. Fei Mu, 1948)

Song of Love (dir. Jean Genet, 1950)

Awaara (dir. Raj Kapoor, 1951)

Gate of Hell (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953)

Sansho the Bailiff (dir. Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)

The Night of the Hunter (dir. Charles Laughton, 1955)

Pyaasa (dir. Guru Dutt, 1957)

The Cranes are Flying (dir. Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)

Vertigo (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

Gertrud (dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1964)

The Young Girls of Rochefort (dir. Jacques Demy, 1967)

For My Crushed Right Eye (dir. Toshio Matsumoto, 1969)

Everything Visible is Empty (dir. Toshio Matsumoto, 1975)

Atman (dir. Toshio Matsumoto, 1975)

In the Realm of the Senses (dir. Nagisa Oshima, 1976)

House (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977)

¡Que viva México! (dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1979)

Spacy (dir. Takashi Ito, 1981)

Drill (dir. Takashi Ito, 1983)

Ghost (dir. Takashi Ito, 1984)

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 1984)

Sabishinbou (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1985)

Alice (dir. Jan Svankmajer, 1988)

Gang of Four (dir. Jacques Rivette, 1989)

The Stranger (dir. Satyajit Ray, 1991)

A Scene at the Sea (dir. Takeshi Kitano, 1991)

Cardiogram (dir. Darezhan Omirbaev, 1995)

The Neon Bible (dir. Terence Davies, 1995)

Kids Return (dir. Takeshi Kitano, 1996)

The River (dir. Tsai Ming-liang, 1997)

Monochrome Head (dir. Takashi Ito, 1997)

April Story (dir. Shunji Iwai, 1998)

The Silence (dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1998)

Histoire(s) du cinéma (dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 1998)

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (dir. George Lucas, 1999)

OH! Super Milk Chan (dir. Kiyohiro Omori, 2000)

Brother (dir. Takeshi Kitano, 2000)

Spirited Away (dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch, 2001)

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (dir. Zacharias Kunuk, 2001)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (dir. Steven Spielberg, 2001)

Avalon (dir. Mamoru Oshii, 2001)

Dolls (dir. Takeshi Kitano, 2002)

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (dir. George Lucas, 2002)

Father and Son (dir. Aleksandr Sokurov, 2003)

Waiting for Happiness (dir. Abderrahmane Sissako, 2003)

3-iron (dir. Kim Ki-duk, 2004)

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (dir. Wang Bing, 2004)

Tropical Malady (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)

Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise (dir. Ken Jacobs, 2005)

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (dir. George Lucas, 2005)

Seven Intellectuals in Bamboo Forest, Part III (dir. Yang Fudong, 2006)

Fantascope 'Tylostoma' (dir. Yoshitaka Amano, 2006)

Lady in the Water (dir. M. Night Shyamalan, 2006)

Inland Empire (dir. David Lynch, 2006)

United Red Army (dir. Koji Wakamatsu, 2007)

Paranoid Park (dir. Gus Van Sant, 2007)

City of Ember (dir. Gil Kenan, 2008)

Assault Girls (dir. Mamoru Oshii, 2009)

AKB48 - Heavy Rotation (dir. Mika Ninagawa, 2010)

Jewelpet Twinkle (dir. Takashi Yamamoto, 2011)

Spring Breakers (dir. Harmony Korine, 2013)

'Til Madness Do Us Part (dir. Wang Bing, 2013)

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (dir. Isao Takahata, 2013)

EXID - UP&DOWN (dir. Digipedi, 2014)

Tokyo Tribe (dir. Sion Sono, 2014)

Garm Wars: The Last Druid (dir. Mamoru Oshii, 2014)

88:88 (dir. Isiah Medina, 2015)

Creepy (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2016)

Daguerreotype (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2016)

Before We Vanish (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2017)

Idizwadidiz (dir. Isiah Medina, 2017)

Ending (dir. Isiah Medina & Philip Hoffman, 2017)

TWICE - LIKEY (dir. NAIVE, 2017)

Blade Runner 2049 (dir. Denis Villeneuve, 2017)

Ready Player One (dir. Steven Spielberg, 2018)

The Grand Bizarre (dir. Jodie Mack, 2018)

Eden is a Cave (dir. Alexandre Galmard, 2019)

OH MY GIRL - The Fifth Season (dir. Yoo Sung-kyun, 2019)

TWICE - FANCY (dir. NAIVE, 2019)

Alita: Battle Angel (dir. Robert Rodriguez, 2019)

OH MY GIRL - Nonstop (dir. Yoo Sung-kyun, 2020)

IZ*ONE - Secret Story of the Swan (dir. Ziyong Kim, 2020)

s01e03 (dir. Kurt Walker, 2020)

The Last of Us Part II (dir. Neil Druckmann, Anthony Newman & Kurt Margenau, 2020)

Eternal Love of Dream (dir. Yang Xuan, 2020)

おはようございます～ (dir. 小柔SeeU, 2020)

bande fucking annonce (dir. Rafael Cavallini, 2021)

高能来袭～准备好了吗？ (dir. 小柔SeeU, 2021)

NewJeans - Hurt (dir. Shin Hee-won, 2022)

[birdyies]

❣️Happy Valentine’s from the Backstage Crew!⚒🛠

#a3! #isuke matsukawa #iwai tetsuro #ken sakoda #I almost forgot about these guys!! #I really love Ken and iwai!! #what a bunch of cuties!!

[saltmilea]

My friend who doesn't know anything of A3 rates A3 Characters (Part 3)

Utsuki Chikage

Who the fuck is this nerd? He looks like that dude from Kuroko No Basket. Wait, I like his undershirt, the shirt on top makes him look like a nerd though. He looks like Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh season zero but if he wasn't rich and read books for a living. 4.7/10

Hyodo Kumon

Oh my god he looks BABY, HE LOOKS LIKE BOKUTO FROM HAIKYUU I LOVE HIM! Oh my god I'm crying, oh my god,, I'm crying uhuh uhuh huhh... 20/10

Izumida Azami

Hmm... Hmm.... Hm.... I like the turtleneck under the shirt, but idk, he looks like he'd bring a knife but he'd also be the one who won't allow knives in the classroom. hmm... hm.... My next thought was that he'd put his fingers in someone's ass. 6.7/10

Guy

I enjoy the contrast between his outfit and hair. His green eyes pierce through my soul. But he looks like a Karen. Speaking of Karens, why are there so many men. He looks like he's not angry, just disappointed. He scares me. Wait, his name is guy? NO FUCKING WONDER HE'S SCARY. 2/10

Tachibana Izumi

Ah, main character... She should get a girlfriend. She looks like she'd really like a buff men instead of these random bitches. She could be better, but she chose these dumb men. She could be having a girlfriend or a buff man. 6/10

Matsukawa Isuke

Oh my god, Oh my god, he looks like a hobo... He's funky, I like him. I like this funky hobo. 10/10

Kamekichi

Oh my GOD HOBO BIRD! 20/5

Iwai Tetsuro

I would like you to take my silence as a reaction. I have nothing to say about him, he just looks like a dude... He's just a dude! Was gonna put in a 5 but i saw his titties. 6.8/10

Kashima Yuzo

Ok, if I were to describe this man in a word, I would say Junkie. He looks like if Ryuji went down the wrong way and became depressed. Could be better. Why does his ears look so small? 5/10

Sakoda Ken

NOOOOOOOO!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! NOOOOOOOOO!! YOU CANT JUST SHOW ME THIS!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THE CHAINS, THE FUCKING HAIR, THE LEOPARD PRINT, THE PURPLE JACKET! WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU!?!?!? WHAT THE FUCK AM I LOOKING AT? *sobbing noises* Absolutely DISGUSTING! NO OUT OF 10

#a3! #act! addict! actors! #chikage utsuki #utsuki chikage #kumon hyodo #hyodo kumon #azami izumida #izumida azami #guy a3! #a3! guy #izumi tachibana #tachibana izumi #isuke matsukawa #matsukawa itsuke #kamekichi #kamekichi a3! #a3! kamekichi #tetsuro iwai #iwai tetsuro #yuzo kashima #kashima yuzo #ken sakoda #sakoda ken

[ffamranxii]

Bro. My shipper heart is bleeding. These are my current fandoms (Persona, Sailor Moon, Fruits Basket, and Haikyuu!!) and I have some FEELINGS (under the cut).

1. I don’t ship Ryuuji/Protag/Goro. I very specifically headcanon Joker as two different people, with slightly different personalities. Joker-as-Ren I ship with Ryuuji, Joker-as-Akira I ship with Goro.

2. Makoto/Hifumi is a chance interaction that takes place when Joker and Makoto go to Jinbocho. I decided that very second that I ship them so hard, since Makoto abandoned Joker to go shop with Hifumi.

3. I do have specific headcanons for the other thieves, but none are romantic. Ann and Ryuuji have an epic bromance; Yusuke is asexual but best friends with Futaba and Joker; Futaba and Sumire are best friends and neither of them need a relationship while they are healing from their respective traumas; I hardcore ship Haru/happiness but have yet to find a specific person to ship her with. Same with Mishima - I love my boy but haven’t found the right person for him. Also honorable mention to Iwai/Takemi. 

4. Yu/Yosuke was my first P4 ship. Never looked back. I also shipped Yukiko/Chie way before I shipped Ann/Shiho, despite playing P5 first.

5. My take on Naoto is conflicted (I understand their story from both the Japanese and Western point of view and can’t decide which I like better). I very specifically ship Kanji/boy!Naoto.

6. Teddie/Marie was a crackship I came up with during Golden and decided I really liked for some reason. I was thinking of what to write for a fic and Yosuke mentioning “oh hey my brother [Teddie]’s getting married” “oh yeah? to who?” “that weathergirl, Mariko Kusumi” just popped into my head. I’m on board now. 

7. I really like Rise but I can’t for the life of my find a person to ship her with. I do not like Rise/Yu. 

8. Honorable mention to the ball bois Kou/Daisuke.

9. I don’t know why I ship Minato/Yukari. I just really like them together and surprisingly I can hardly find any fics or art of them. I also ship the Minato/Aigis bromance and I love Elizabeth-loves-Minato.

10. You can pry ShinjiHam from my cold dead fingers. VIVA LA SHINJIHAM!

11. These two are similar to Minato/Yukari in that I don’t know why I ship them, I just do. There’s also not much art/fic of them. :(

12. Ngl, Junpei’s inability to leave Chidori alone because he can’t fathom a girl just sitting on a bench drawing really rubs me the wrong way. However, they develop an actual relationship (in as much as a secondary character can in Persona) and by the time she sacrificed herself for him I was hooked. I think Chidori really didn’t give a fuck about Junpei until she was in the hospital and saw how much he cared about a person he didn’t really even know. 

13. I’m not totally sold on the other SEES peeps. I LOVE Fuuka but I can’t find anyone I truly love her WITH. Ken is a child among near adults so I don’t really have anything for him, and Koro-chan’s a doggo. I love Rio and Saori, but not together, and also Mamoru... 

14. Maya/Katsuya are just stupid cute. I take no criticism.

15. TATSUJUN FO LYFE. DON’T EVEN @ ME.

16. Eikichi and Miyabi are honestly super sweet, I can’t even.

17. Maki and Naoya are the only two people from P1 I really connected with in any meaningful way, so of course I ship them together. I also loved Yukino in P1 (but not P2, really), and Yuka, but have no one to ship them with. Yuka married rich so maybe she married Kei! XD

18. Sailor Moon is the ONLY series where I ship people differently based on adaption. I ship Usagi/Mamoru in both, of course (and I think Mamoru was done better in the live action than the anime and especially the manga); but in the live action I hardcore ship Rei/Minako (who seemed to be the replacement Haruka/Michiru, since they weren’t in the live action), and really, really enjoyed the developing relationship with Ami/Nephrite during the Dark Mercury arc as well as the surprisingly stable and sweet Makoto/Motoki relationship.

19. However in the anime/manga I tend to ship what I’m “supposed to” (within reason, lol). Chibiusa was the first person I ever shipped with two different people. I like the idea of her and Hotaru in young love, and Mistress 9 and Wicked Lady getting together, and I love the idea of older princess chibiusa with her first love Helios.

20. Ah, the Kakeru love triangle. Kakeru just RADIATES bisexual energy - he hits on literally all the Sohma men and he LOVES Yuki. I actually did not like Yuki with anyone but Kakeru until the 2019 anime came out and I saw a lot of discourse about how well Yuki/Machi went together. I’m also a sucker for Kakeru’s girlfriend Komaki and I hope they put her in the anime. The idea of chaotic bisexual Kakeru actually having been in a longterm relationship all through high school and marrying her is just super sweet.

21. I will never let go of Hatori/Kana. They should’ve had it all.

22. Kagura/Kunimitsu and Momiji/Kimi are two crackships I found as fanart (I’ve reblogged them at some point), that every so often I stumble upon a fic or art for. I originally didn’t like them, but ended up ADORING them. Kunimitsu is exactly the calm yet gently mischievous presence Kagura needs and Kimi and Momiji would create SO MUCH CHAOS.

23. I do not like Uo/Kureno within the context of the show. I understand that Uo is probably the first non-related girl Kureno’s interacted with since his essential imprisonment and he is probably suffering from “new is always better” syndrome when he meets her. Kureno hardcore needs a few years on his own, away from the Sohmas, to figure out who he is, and what he likes to do, and live as a normal person; and Uo is NOT the person to help him do that. She’s got enough on her plate with the death of her mentor/mother figure and rehabbing her father. Uo is in a good place right now and Kureno is not, and she shouldn’t need to “save” him. I DO like Uo/Kureno as an “after the series” pairing, where Uo’s in her twenties and out of college (if she went) and got a career, and Kureno’s finally gotten his shit together, and they meet again by chance and they’re both in a good place. That’s adorable. Uo/Kureno while Uo’s in school isn’t.

24. I actually think Kagehina was the first ship I shipped in Haikyuu!! I remember watching the first episode and going “...are.... are they gonna make out?” Then Noya and his dramatic “ASAHI!!!!!” and “I’M NEVER GOING TO PLAY UNLESS ASAHI PLAYS TOO!!!” swooped in and I forgot about them. Asanoya is just so precious and pure. Daisuga smacked me in the face like, “Oh. OH. This is... this is fucking GREAT.” I think it was because I saw someone say “Daisuga are basically volleyball mom and dad” and I was hooked. I DO, however, enjoy a Kuroo/Daichi bang it out rivalry though. Tsukki and Tadashi was a no brainer; Tadashi yelling at Tsukki at the camp was just *chef’s kiss*

25. Yachi is the cutest little lesbian, and she’s even gayer in the manga. I actually can’t decide who I like more, Kiyoko/Yachi or Kiyoko/Tanaka. 

26. Iwaoi and Kuroken came to me during my first forays into AO3 for fics. I can’t imagine shipping them with anyone else. They’re just... MADE for each other. 

#ffamran speaks #ships #i made a few of the graphics because they didn't exist otherwise #like teddie/marie kunimitsu/kagura and momiji/kimi #my adhd brain just wanted to make a chart