#the tragedy and poetic cinema of this finale

[loki-us]

And yet in the end, a throne is all he had left

#glorious purpose and glorious purpose #it all comes full circle #the tragedy and poetic cinema of this finale #I know I will never recover #loki #mobius m mobius #mobius #pain #my HEART #im screaming #ascension #loki tv #loki glorious purpose #loki series #loki s1 #loki season 1 #gifset #loki season two #loki s2 #loki-us blog

[rataccatak]

major grom/plague doctor pages that made me feel big emotions (pt 2.5/3)

yall im SO sorry for the long wait. It's been a year since I've sat down and did some Thinking bout this comic but my love for this franchise is immune to hiatus. I was orig gonna go chronologically but I wanted to post something rather than nothing so here is a panel I've wanted to scream about ever since I first read it.

"I'm not ready to lose you again" scene (Plague Doctor issue 14)

We all knew this page was coming; it is so fucking good. Surprisingly though, it's not the final hug that gets me as much as THIS PRELIMINARY SCENE RIGHT HERE.

Despite Sergey's queercoded flirtatious presence, he doesn't really show much physical affection towards anyone (at least, not in a vulnerable & genuine way) WHICH IS WHY I WENT APESHIT WHEN I SAW THIS. It shows a level of vulnerability that Sergey doesn't ever truly share with anyone because of course, it's reserved for Oleg and OF COURSE it has to come after he tells Oleg to SHOOT HIM if he ever comes close to putting his life at risk. It is SUCH a great moment in Sergey's development--not just the rearranging of his priorities (shifting from his plague doctor mission to Oleg), but his willingness to relinquish control to Oleg. He doesn't say "let me die" or "run away" or even just "stop me," motherfucker says SHOOT ME. It's, of course, a parallel to Sergey's attempted murder of Oleg in The Game, only now Sergey is willing to put himself in the same position as Oleg WITH the motivations REVERSED so that he intends to SAVE Oleg by letting himself get shot. Like. Poetic cinema. What the actual fuck.

Also, "your faith is the only thing saving me" is the most beautiful thing I think I've heard in my entire life. It's easy to think of Sergey as this laidback and callous terrorist who doesn't really interact with the human tragedies of his actions, and to an extent, this is true (he is VERY MUCH an "ends justify the means" kinda guy). But I think his remorseless attitude doesn't stem from an inability to grasp how truly awful he is, but rather, from a hyperawareness of the human cost of his actions that eventually just pushes him to ACCEPT his own irredeemability. Kinda like "I'm already past the point of redemption, so why stop now?" way of thinking. This line confirms it for me. It communicates the absolute DEPRAVITY Sergey assumes of himself, his belief in his own irredeemability, and the acknowledgement that Oleg's trust in his goodness is the only thing stopping him from losing himself to that impulse. Oleg is Sergey's heart and moral center. He redeems and humanizes him when the world and Sergey himself is unable to (exhibit A and B below).

And it is so incredibly tragic. That shot of Oleg reciprocating the hug is pervaded with such desperate and futile but UNKILLABLE hope, like he's trying to physically cling to the person Sergey used to be (or more accurately, who he thinks he is). There's even a role reversal here; now Sergey is the pragmatist, and Oleg is the naive idealist, unable to come to terms with the limitations of his own control. And that sort of deliberate ignorance only further hastens the inevitable, and it is so tragic, this scene. Another reference to The Game with the power dynamics between Sergey and Oleg reversed: once again, Oleg puts blind faith in Sergey. But this time, it may cost him SERGEY'S life, not his. And to an extent, Sergey also put his blind faith in Oleg as well; when the chips are down, he trusts Oleg to shoot him before he can kill him again. Whether their trust in eachother is enough to save them this time... that question is left uncomfortably open.

#major grom #plague doctor #sergey razumovsky #oleg volkov #serovolk #bubble comics #im a mess in distress but i still love this comic to bits n pieces #i hope the pd fandom is still going strong you guys contribute more to this world than most governments

[alexiethymia]

The poetic cinema that it was Mr. Ji’s inkblot he made in anger which caused Chi yeol to discover that he was the one who kidnapped Haeyi and the fact that the first episode dealt with a mostly harmless stalker while the dangerous stalker was by his side all along.

Love or hate the murder plot, I do love the twists, not necessarily with regard to the suspect or motivation, but how it’s a scathing social commentary. Because wow, it really is the adults who are the most reprehensible, huh? Because kids absorb everything around them like a sponge, but adults should know better.

And Mr. Ji, as much as I would love to hate him, I really can’t because he is far too tragic. He’s no mastermind. All of his crimes have been sloppy. Even his choice of weapon - a slingshot and not a gun - show that a part of him is still that abused kid, like his anger and his impulses and the way he can change his devotion to hatred at the betrayal he feels toward Chiyeol. The adults around him really screwed him and his sister over. Even when his sister wanted to do the right thing, all she got from it was abuse. And it’s really dangerous that this kind of abuse is being normalized when justified that it’s for grades or the future of the kid. The adults screwed him up so badly that he could only trust a single adult, and fixated on him in a way to have a connection with his sister. I’m sure he became obsessively protective because of the residual guilt he felt at not being able to save his sister on time. If he had gotten therapy or the support he needed back then, even after he had killed his parent, would he have had a chance to heal alongside Chiyeol now?

The parallels are heavy with Mr. Ji, Seung-jae, and Su-a, and again it is a tragedy that the adults around them pushed them to the brink. Although there was still an element of choice because Mr. Ji still chose to kill his mother and others, I guess Seung-jae had what Mr. Ji and even his sister didn’t have at the time. Seung-jae would have gone the same route if he wasn’t pulled back.

And it’s really refreshing to me this emphasis on found family. It’s not necessarily that blood family is automatically bad, but you shouldn’t let preconceived notions and moral superiority cloud your judgment to the point that you’re already seriously damaging your child because you think you’re doing what’s ‘best’ for them. It’s refreshing to me that Haeng-seon wasn’t submissive towards her sister and was rightly mad because Haeyi is her daughter not anyone else’s. Same with Jaewoo. I’m glad they’re not going to push the redemption arc for their eldest sister just because she’s ‘blood’.

Another refreshing thing about this episode which I didn’t expect but really loved is the communication between Haeng-seon and Chiyeol. Chiyeol takes her concerns seriously because of course she would know Haeyi best. And I really didn’t expect it because most kdramas would have the lead keep it as a secret (another source of danger and misunderstanding), but I love, love, that Chiyeol was genuinely honest about the proof he found about Mr. Ji. I’m sure that even if Haeng-seon thought that Mr. Ji hated her, she didn’t expect him to go that far.

Another reason why I like the murder plot is because I prefer this as a source of tension rather than the usual break-up, miscommunication, long-distance, timeskip plots that usually happen during these final episodes. I would prefer my ship to be communicating as they hurdle outside obstacles together.

#crash course in romance #found family #family feels #ramblings about kdramas #tbf I do love the tropes #suspicious partners is an absolute fave #and it had both the murder AND breakup plot #kdramas

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #120 (Year 3/Week 16):

“Give up my daughter. That’s the price you pay. For the life you choose.”

First watch: Coda, The death of Michael Corleone, Coppola’s 2020 (minimal) re-cut of his 1990 masterpiece ‘The Godfather Part 3′. I never understood the haters. (And the misogyny against Sofia Coppola as Mary was completely misplaced.) Even though part 3 is obviously not as perfect as the first two, it’s still a superb and subtle work. A Shakespearean tragedy, operatic and expansive, it resonates with me deeply. 10/10.

I love how symmetric it is: The “Just when I thought I was out” scene clocks in exactly on the 1:00 hour mark, the Sicily first introduction exactly at the half-movie mark (1:17), and the Cavalleria Rusticana concert start exactly on the 2:00 hour mark..

It’s also a parallel Coppola Family Saga, with sister Talia Shire as Connie, daughter Sofia as Mary, father Carmine composing, nephew Nicolas Cage producing, his parents and a bunch of other family members in the background. Also, Martin Scorsese's mother.

🍿 

3 by Irish John Michael McDonagh, Martin’s older brother:

🍿 'I can't tell if you're really motherfuckin' dumb, or really motherfuckin' smart'.

His brilliant feature directorial debut, the perfectly calibrated buddy cop thriller, The Guard. A philosophical comedy of manners featuring Brendan Gleeson’s and Don Cheadle‘s best roles. Foul mouthed but duty-bound Sergeant Gerry Boyle of the Irish Garda is a character that will not soon be forgotten. It was so good that the moment I finished it, I wanted to see it again. 10/10

🍿 His next film Calvary was completely different and still tremendous. An exceptional examination of abandonment, troubled faith and broken parenthood, it opens with honest village priest Brendan Gleeson who hears a confession by a man who was horribly abused during his childhood. The unseen man promises to kill the priest next Sunday, in order to avenge his own suffering, so the priest knows he has only one week to put his house in order. A profound play with a transcendental finale. 10/10.

🍿 I was excited to continue with McDonagh’s next two movies, but War on Everyone was so horribly disappointing, that his last one, ‘The Forgiven’, will now have to wait. ‘War on Everyone’ was as if a second-rated hack was assigned to remake ‘The Guard’ in a Hollywood Mold, but was ordered to mix it with elements from ‘Lethal Weapon’ and ‘Rush hour’. 2/10. 

🍿  

Sweet Land, an independent art-film from Minnesota, about a 1920′s mail-order emigrant-bride who arrives at a farm with the wrong paperwork. Very much reminiscent of ‘Days of Heaven’ lyrical landscapes. It was the only film directed by otherwise-successful TV-director Ali Selim. It opens with a stirring scene of an old woman dying, told in a unique way, realistic and poetic at the same time.

🍿  

2 more with Jacques Demy:

🍿 Jacquot de Nantes, My 10th film by Agnès Varda. In 1991, Just before her husband Jacques Demy's death, Varda created this bio-docudrama as a dramatisation of his early life. From his happy childhood in the Loire, discovering his love for film-making, under the German occupation and up until he left for Paris to study cinema. The nostalgic fictional recreations are the most French evocations I ever saw. And then, because she’s a great documentarian, she mixes them up with frequent comments by the dying Demy himself, as well as clips from his movies corresponding to these memories.

This is a heartfelt love letter from one great artist to another - Absolutely fantastic! 9/10. 

🍿 My 4th by Jacques Demy himself, his 2nd, the extraordinary Bay of Angels. A doomed romance and the allure of gambling never seen so glamorous and so hopeless. 9/10.

I really must sit through his complete “Oeuvre”!

🍿   

Masaan (”Crematorium”) is a realistic art film about suffering and loss, an unusual and uncomfortable Hindi film, which won various accolades. It takes place in Varanasi, among the ‘ghats’, body-burners on the banks of the Ganges. It tells two separate stories that do not converge until the final scene. The more compelling one is about an ordinary young woman, who’s caught having sex in a hotel room. A cruel policeman (An hateful character if I ever saw one on film), blackmails her father and threatens him that he will “tell” about his daughter, if not paid an absorbent amount of money. 5/10.

(Incidentally, before the opening title, there was a lengthy anti-smoking PSA, and when somebody in the movie lighted a cigarette, a small message appeared at the bottom of the screen: ‘Smoking is injurious to health’.)

🍿  

2 about Father & Daughter Reunion:

🍿 Acidman, another new drama about a fraught relationship between estranged father and his grown-up daughter. He’s a recluse who lives alone “out in the middle of nowhere”, and she tracks him down to the forests of the NW, after having lost contact with him for 10 years. Meanwhile he had became distant and disoriented and is only interested in UFO’s.

It’s a story that is resonant with me, but it was poorly made, all atmosphere, and without a point. 2/10.

🍿 Wild Roots, another excellent feature debut by a young woman director, this one from Hungary. 12-year-old “wild” girl who lives with her grandparents forms a new, complicated relationship with her tough father who was just released from prison after 7 years. You wouldn’t guess that both actors were amateurs. 8/10. (Photo Above). 

🍿 

Tom McCarthy is one of my favorite minor directors, and by now I’ve seen all 9 of his movies. He wrote and directed The Visitor after his terrific debut ‘The Station Agent’, and before writing the script for ‘Up’. A tender and humane story about cold and lonely widower Richard Jenkins who discovers an illegal immigrant couple living in his empty NYC apartment, when he shows up unannounced one night. Made in 2007, it dealt with the painful realities of life after 9/11. Sad and nuanced. With Succession’s Hiam Abbass. 8/10. 🍿

3 more films from the “100% score on Rotten Tomatoes” list:

🍿 Pinocchio, Walt Disney’s 2nd feature (after ‘Snow White'), and one of at least 23 adaptations to the story. Cuckoo clocks, Tyrolean hats, cigar smoking bad boys, Monstro the sperm whale, they are all there. Conveying to children the "middle-class virtues of deferred gratification, self-denial, thrift, and perseverance, naturalized as the experience of the most average American".

 🍿 Polanski’s favorite film, Carol Reed’s morality tale Odd man out; The last hours of injured IRA leader James Mason. Exquisite black and white German Expressionist Noir style cinematography, which Reed later repeated in ‘The third man’.

🍿 Jonah Hill’s 2nd directorial feature, the documentary Stutz, about his therapist. His coming-of-age debut film, ‘Mid90s’ was terrific. This one is OK; Partially-meta, a bit too self-indulgent and self-centered. Robert Downey Jr.’ similar project ‘Sr.’, also from 2022, was better.

🍿  

Grizzly Man, the Werner Herzog documentary about bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell who lived out among ferocious Alaskan brown bears for 13 summers - until he was eaten by one. Herzog used some of the 100 hours of video tapes that Treadwell himself recorded.

🍿  

“Give my love to Tabboulah”  

The Castle, the 1997 feel-good low-brow comedy, considered to be “One of the greatest Australian films ever made”. A story about a simple, low-middle-class family who are fighting (and winning) en eviction forced upon them by Eminent Domain, there called ‘Compulsory acquisition’. With Bryan Dawe, the ‘Front Fell Off’ guy as a lawyer.

🍿  

Between 1909-1914 Denmark was the most prosperous film center in Europe. The 1910 erotic melodrama The Abyss ("Afgrunden”) launched the career of Asta Nielsen, Europe's first great female film star. It’s about a piano teacher who destroys her life by running away with a circus performer she became sexually obsessed with.

🍿  

Riotsville, USA is a new documentary about a little known fact from the turbulent Civil Right Struggle of the 60′s. After the Watts Riots, a report from a government panel recommended a massive infrastructure changes to address poverty and inequality. But the only steps taken were funneling of resources into more militarization of the police to combat “race riots” and “street violence”, both of anti-war and black protesters. A fake ‘War Game’ town called Riotsville was build to train cops from all over the country in how to suppress demonstrations.

America is a deeply, fundamentally racist society, and its history comes down to race; from Slavery to Jim Craw to the civil rights of the 60′s up to today’s GOP. However, this badly-put-together film was weak, arbitrary and meandering. 2/10.

🍿    

2 George Carlin evergreens:

🍿 His perfect 1999 Special You Are All Diseased. There never was, and never will be, a deeper, funnier and more insightful comedian than St. George. Also, nobody understood America better. It includes such classics as American Bullshit and When it comes to bullshit, big time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe, in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims… religion.

The full transcript is worth a read: ...Living in this country, you’re bound to know... that America’s leading industry, America’s most profitable business is still the manufacture, packaging, distribution, and marketing of bullshit… high quality, grade-A, prime cut, pure American bullshit.

🍿 Complaints and Grievance, released on December 11, 2001. Originally named ‘I Kinda Like It When a Lot of People Die’, he had to change the name of it. Still hilarious. This copy is sound only.

🍿  

I’ve seen Black Mirror’s USS Callister many times, even though I never saw any episodes of the space operas on which it is based (Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.). It’s because of the rebelliously-cute Nanette Cole fighting (and winning over) the male abuser. Funny, that Jesse Pinkman joined Jesse Plemons in this episode. 9/10.

🍿 

4 shorts:

🍿 For the 1999 MTV Movie Awards, Wes Anderson created three promo spots, each one a staged re-creation of a nominated movie in the style of the Hollywood-inspired Rushmore plays (Serpico & the Vietnam War one). All three shorts (Armageddon, Out of Sight, The Truman Show) star Jason Schwartzman as Max Fisher, along with the rest of the Max Fischer Players.

🍿 Chuck Jones - The Evolution of an Artist, an old ‘Every frame a painting’ episode by fantastic editor Tony Zhou, about how a good artist became a great one.

Extra: How Kurosawa composed movement. Damn! I need to stop bullshitting and start watching every one of his 31 movies again!

🍿 A History Of The World According To Getty Images is a short documentary about property, profit, and power, made out of archive footage sourced from the online catalogue of Getty Images. It forms a historical journey through some of the most significant moments of change caught on camera, while at the same time reflecting on archive images’ own histories as commodities and on their exploitation as ‘intellectual property’.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here)

#movies

[hasbeenlokid]

spoilers for kenobi episode 3 under readmore

obi wan is literally haunted by anakin - the apparition scene in the desert is my favourite so far (its hayden anakin onscreen again!! how awesome is that????)

leia's and obi's fake names, luma and orden, mean light and order!!!!!!!!!

need an ewan and hayden interview where they can finally talk about spoilers bc holyhell that was fcking terrifying and they only /just/ had their first duel in the series

another padme callback, all these PT trio angst and tragedy is making me feel like toasted obi wan

leia's braid dangling on the side, resembling a padawan braid, is so chefs kiss/poetic cinema/etc etc

jabiim name drop....... isn't that from the comics??? where padawan anakin thought obi wan died. jabiim 2.0 lets go.......? 

something about vaders last scene here: what is it about the fire, the droid and a downed obi wan that made vader hesitate? he could have charged forward through the fire after them but.... he didn't why??? :o is that like.. an anakin hesitating to make the killing blow moment?? 

after multiple rewatches, i feel like the character moments between leia and obi wan really really stand out. i wish vader/anakin and obi wan have that moment too, because i wasn’t feeling it in their duel. it was a one-sided thing that’s happening there, what with obi wan running away from fear and vader taunting/tormenting him.

#ramblings #kenobi series #kenobi spoilers

[aliveandfullofjoy]

When we rang in the new year, I was super sick with what might have been Covid (but also might have been the flu? idk, I got three negative PCR test results, it’s very weird). I’m much better thankfully, so now, over halfway through the first month of 2022, I’m finally sitting down to do my yearly tradition: it’s time for my ten favorite new-to-me movies of 2021!

The rules are the same as always: no movies from this past year (2021) or the year before (2020). Every other year is free game.

All ten of these movies are wonderful and well worth your time, so consider this a strong endorsement for all of them. I’ve also included ways to watch all of the films (as of this writing: Jan. 17, 2022).

01. Yi Yi (dir. Edward Yang, 2000; Taiwan) Over nearly three hours, Yang explores the emotional struggles of a middle-class family living in Taipei. It's not quite a spoiler to say the film opens with a wedding and closes with a funeral, because the plot isn't necessarily the important thing in Yi Yi. What matters are the moments of human connection -- a casual chat with a work colleague, a one-sided conversation with a comatose grandmother -- and those nearly imperceptible turning points in our lives -- a new hobby, an unexpected tragedy, a visit to an old friend. This is the first film I've seen from Yang, but if Yi Yi is any indication, he really understood people. As a work of cinema, as a human drama, as a meditation on the act of being alive, Yi Yi is magnificent. It's as rich and empathetic a film as I've ever seen. (Yi Yi is streaming on the Criterion Channel and is available to rent online.)

02. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (dir. Preston Sturges, 1943; USA) I have no earthly idea how The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek got made. Mercilessly skewering practically every tenet of the American way, from motherhood to virginity to marriage to the press to the war effort, this film is a screamingly funny screwball comedy with a surprisingly huge heart. Sturges guides his phenomenal cast to a host of great performances: Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn, and William Demarest (who delivers some shocking pratfalls) all turn in top-notch work. It’s breathlessly ridiculous and I loved it so, so, so much. (The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek is available to rent online and to view at this link.)

03. The Big City (dir. Satyajit Ray, 1963; India) At this point, I don't really feel like I'm being too hyperbolic when I call Ray one of the wisest and most empathetic dramatists of the 20th century. Anchored by a tremendous performance from Madhabi Mukherjee, The Big City follows the tension in a middle-class conservative Calcutta family after Arati, a housewife, gets a job to earn the family some extra money. It's a terrific feminist film, one that paints a vivid picture of 1960s attitudes towards womanhood in India without being too on-the-nose about it. And, like in Ray's best films, the conflict that arises from the rest of the family unfolds honestly and poetically. There are no bad people in this Big City -- just complicated people who sometimes hurt each other. A masterwork from one of the best to ever do it. (The Big City is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and HBO Max.)

04. A Woman Under the Influence (dir. John Cassavetes, 1974; USA) I'm a little embarrassed to confess that this was my first experience with John Cassavetes. The film lives and dies by Gena Rowlands, who does GOAT-level work here. She's legendary, and rightfully so: her Mabel emerges as an unflinchingly authentic human being, a whole bunch of nervy contradictions bundled together into one woman stuck in a marriage with an emotionally stunted husband who doesn't fully understand her. Brutal and shocking, raw and warm, exhausting and devastating, this is an undeniably great -- if taxing -- film. (A Woman Under the Influence is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and HBO Max.)

05. Three Colors: Red (dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1994; Switzerland/France/Poland) I'm not proud of the fact that it took me over four years to finish watching the Three Colors trilogy, but from what I can remember, Red is by far the most satisfying chapter. With two fully-fleshed out characters played beautifully by Irène Jacob and Jean-Louis Trintignant and a script that feels comfortable wrestling with multiple big ideas (god complexes, odd couples, fate, artistry, justice, the cyclical nature of love, etc.), Red feels far more complete than its predecessors. It probably helps that it's inarguably the warmest and most optimistic film of the trilogy too. An utter joy to watch and to dig into. (Three Colors: Red is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and HBO Max.)

06. 2046 (dir. Wong Kar-wai, 2004; Hong Kong) I was nervous it wouldn't live up to the hype. I mean, how could it? In the Mood for Love is so singular a cinematic achievement, an all-time masterpiece that was rightfully canonized almost immediately, and then Wong Kar-wai tempted fate by releasing a sequel. I shouldn’t have worried: 2046 is a marvel that blurs the lines between reality and fiction, history and the imagined future. Unlike its predecessor, which is an intimate chamber piece, this is a much larger meditation on the very experience of heartbreak, of rebuilding oneself after a love affair has turned sour. This is a deeply empathetic, almost unbearably gorgeous film. (2046 is available to rent online.)

07. Rocco and His Brothers (dir. Luchino Visconti, 1960; Italy) Rocco and His Brothers is huge, but tremendously powerful and pretty handily my favorite film from Visconti so far. Brutal, precise, tragic, and beautifully realized, this epic family drama is anchored by a slew of great performances from Alain Delon, Katina Paxinou, Max Cartier, and Annie Girardot, but it’s Renato Salvatori who walks away with the film. His devastating portrait of toxic masculinity is astonishing to watch. Essential viewing. (Rocco and His Brothers is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.)

08. Silkwood (dir. Mike Nichols, 1983; USA) Undoubtedly one of the high points in the legendary careers of both Mike Nichols and Meryl Streep. It’s a terrifying film -- terrifying because the ways Karen Silkwood was destroyed, psychologically and physically by men in power -- but it's also utterly infuriating in its clear distillation of her injustice. From the beautifully observed interpersonal relationships around the factory to the gradual fraying of the central friendship between Streep’s Karen and Cher’s Dolly, the film's human component is always firmly front-and-center. That doesn't make it any less politically toothy though: the story of corporations trying to destroy unions and the people who run them is as American as apple pie. That truth makes Silkwood one of the most essential films this country has ever produced. (Silkwood is currently available to rent and can be viewed at this link.)

09. 35 Shots of Rum (dir. Claire Denis, 2008; France) Claire Denis is indisputably a master storyteller, but she's also one of the most perceptive, empathetic filmmakers walking the planet. Taking inspiration from Ozu's Late Spring, she infuses the mundane beauty in the world and in the day-to-day intricacies of our familial relationships with an almost cosmic grace. A lesser film might put the father-daughter relationship in the background in favor of the romance, but not Ozu, and certainly not Denis, and thank goodness for that: 35 Shots of Rum comes most alive when we linger in the bittersweet, frustrating love that Alex Descas' Lionel and Mati Diop's Josephine have for each other. By the ending, the audience feels like they've spent several months with this family rather than just 100 minutes. It's a real wonder. (35 Shots of Rum is currently streaming on MUBI.)

10. It’s Always Fair Weather (dir. Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1955; USA) I can’t believe I hadn’t even heard of this film before this year. It's Always Fair Weather is like if The Best Years of Our Lives and On the Town had a baby and also that baby had depression. I mean that in the best way possible. So much happens in this film (Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s script is a miracle) that it’s hard to describe without getting lost in the weeds, but there are two elements that deserve individual recognition: first, Dolores Gray, who steals the film as a vapid, manipulative TV hostess, and brings the house down with her big number “Thanks a Lot, but No Thanks;” second, just like in Singin' in the Rain, the most wonderful moment in the film is a solo performed by Gene Kelly on the street: “I Like Myself,” an irrepressible expression of joy and one of the best numbers of Kelly’s career. (It’s Always Fair Weather is available to rent and can be viewed at this link.)

Honorable mentions (in alphabetical order): Big Deal on Madonna Street (Mario Monicelli, 1958), The Bigamist (Ida Lupino, 1953), Blood Simple (Joel Coen, 1984), The Children’s Hour (William Wyler, 1961), Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman, 1989), Dance, Girl, Dance (Dorothy Arzner, 1940), Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies, 1988); The Eternal Breasts (Kinuyo Tanaka, 1955), Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu, 1959), Funeral Parade of Roses (Toshio Matsumoto, 1969), The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000), Hail the Conquering Hero (Preston Sturges, 1944), The Heartbreak Kid (Elaine May, 1972), It Should Happen to You (George Cukor, 1954), The Last Detail (Hal Ashby, 1973), Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953), Morocco (Josef von Sternberg, 1930), My Neighbors the Yamadas (Isao Takahata, 1999), News from Home (Chantal Akerman, 1977), Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957), One Week (Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline, 1920), Paprika (Satoshi Kon, 2006), Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991), Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (Dave Fleischer, 1936), Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone, 2016), A Raisin in the Sun (Daniel Petrie, 1961), Salt of the Earth (Herbert J. Biberman, 1954), The Sea Wolf (Michael Curtiz, 1941), Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent, 1974), To Joy (Ingmar Bergman, 1950), Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958), Twenty-Four Eyes (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1954), Uptight (Jules Dassin, 1968), Wanda (Barbara Loden, 1970), and Where is My Friend’s House? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987).

And some miscellaneous viewing stats:

First movie watched in 2021: Carmen Jones (Otto Preminger, 1954)

Final movie watched in 2021: When Harry Met Sally... (Rob Reiner, 1989)

Worst movie watched: The Snowman (Tomas Alfredson, 2017)

Oldest movie watched: Les Vampires - Episode Two: The Ring That Kills (Louis Feuillade, 1915)

Longest movie watched: War and Peace (King Vidor, 1956; 208 minutes)

Month with most amount of movies watched: April (42 movies, including shorts)

Month with least amount of movies watched: September (7 movies)

First movie from 2021 seen: Judas and the Black Messiah (Shaka King, 2021)

Total movies watched: 282

#sometimes elliott watches movies #year in review #yi yi #edward yang #the miracle of morgan's creek #preston sturges #the big city #satyajit ray #a woman under the influence #john cassavetes #three colors: red #krzysztof kieslowski #2046 #wong kar-wai #rocco and his brothers #luchino visconti #silkwood #mike nichols #35 shots of rum #claire denis #it's always fair weather #stanley donen #gene kelly

[latenightcinephile]

#727, 'Get Carter', dir. Mike Hodges, 1971.

What an uncompromisingly bleak and grimy film Get Carter is, seemingly constructed to shock and alienate the audience at every turn. While it's an acquired taste, I really enjoyed most of this, especially with regards to the finer details of things like the film's sound design. I can easily see its processes, even though its plot is absurdly convoluted - I can see why it was made and appreciate its nihilistic view of the world as the tragedy Hodges intended it to be. So let's get right to it, shall we? Curtain up on Newcastle.

Jack Carter (Michael Caine) is a gangster in the employ of the Fletchers, two brothers high up in the world of organised crime. Jack suspects that the death of his brother, at home in Newcastle, might be related to the activity of his former gangster acquaintances, so he returns to the city to investigate. Before long he's deeply embroiled in the competing interests of the Fletchers, Cyril Kinnear (John Osborne, the playwright), and Cliff Brumby, a local businessman (Bryan Mosley). Jack is also seemingly unable to stop seducing the women around him, no matter how influential or dangerous their current lovers are, but discovers that some of them are involved in a pornography ring that is preying on his family members. Avenging his brother's death winds up in a confrontation with Eric Paice (Ian Hendry) on the windy, overcast shores of England, where Jack's savagery almost results in a happy ending for him. These final moments reward those few viewers that were paying attention during a throwaway shot in the opening credits.

The sheer number of double-crosses and conflicting interests makes the plot of the film difficult to follow at first: characters are frequently introduced through context, with their names not mentioned until halfway through a scene, and the viewer is regularly left to theorise about how characters are connected and what their true motivations are. This is definitely one of those films that was aided by having a plot summary open for referring to after each scene. This complexity, though, definitely does enhance the scenes where Jack comes to some kind of deep realisation, as the slow dawning of just what he's walking into mimics our experience as well.

The difficulty involved in following the plot might make Get Carter alienating to some, but what I found more difficult to endure was the way all the women in the film are treated. I get that this was typically true to life: the experiences of women who ally themselves with British gangsters, largely out of self-preservation, weren't a fun time at all. Most British gangster films treat their female characters in the same way. The early 1970s were the period of exploitation films, however, and it's this that squicks me out a little bit. Every major female character in this film bar one gets her tits out; these women are consistently killed more slowly than the men, and in ways which fetishise the fear they feel. This sort of thing is palatable only because it's part of the genre (and the wider scope of British cinema of the time), but even then, barely so.

Michael Caine's performance in Get Carter was a deliberate choice by the actor to diversify his roles: following the success of romantic roles in films such as Alfie (1966), Caine wanted to contrast that with an incredibly unlikeable character. This film is in some ways a development of his earlier roles: he'd played criminals and spies before, but Get Carter was a kind of penance as well. Caine spoke freely about how the life of someone like Jack Carter was an equally feasible option for him, and indicated that he wanted to undercut the previous depictions of British gangsters as bumbling comic figures.This "ghost of Michael Caine", as he called it, is mostly enjoyable as a protagonist because he's pitted against something even more appalling - not only the pornography ring, which is appropriately grimy-feeling, but also the dead-end world of Newcastle. It's easy to see how Caine felt that crime was a possible choice for his alternate life. Even the successful businessman, Brumby, is working on opening a cafe at the top of a brutal-looking disused multi-story car park. The view from it might be the best in Newcastle... but that's not high praise, exactly. While the city does have some nice vistas, Mike Hodges steadfastly refuses to look at them, showing us only rain, coal mines and sleazy bingo halls.

Although the locations Hodges chooses are normally unappealing subjects for a cinematographer, the work done by Wolfgang Suschitzky is assured and poetic. It doesn't make any place in Get Carter look 'nice', but it treats the locations with respect rather than employing some of the techniques of exploitation films that make them feel far more disposable. Suschitzky and Hodges clearly consider the most interesting and engaging ways to place the camera and frame the shots, especially employing height to give the audience a wider view of particular scenes. The visuals are one of the main unadulterated pleasures of the film.

Also effective in giving the film its grimy texture is the sound design. Jim Atkinson, the sound designer, was described by Hodges as "obsessive", often recreating entire soundscapes to further elicit the feeling of a particular scene. One of the things I most noticed about Atkinson's sound design here is just how noisy Newcastle becomes, and how much of that noise is technological in origin. Every phone call in the film echoes slightly in that vacant way that old phones had. Electric razors are plugged into light sockets; slide projectors and film projectors click and rattle and are frequently and alarmingly pointed straight at the camera. The end effect is one of constant surveillance. It's the same sort of noise you get in a film like The Conversation with many of the same themes. This theme of surveillance is also relevant when you get to the end of the film and discover that a particular character (so mysterious that he doesn't even get a proper name) has been introduced more than once before.

Generally speaking, Get Carter is a hard film to love, but an easy one to appreciate. Somewhere along the line, Michael Caine's typical role began to carry hints of Jack Carter - that current of underlying violence that marked a truly capable British character. Get Carter would spawn an atrocious remake, but more importantly it would give Guy Ritchie and Steven Soderbergh some of their most fertile inspiration. Few films of the genre ever took such an unflinching view of the realities of the gangster lifestyle, though, or portrayed them with such an absence of romanticism.

#1001 movies #Mike Hodges #Get Carter

[rotten-games]

In the spirit of Halloween how would everyone fare as a horror villain vs as a horror survivor?

I don’t know if I actually answered your question right but at least I had fun. This went from ‘how would they fare’ to ‘what bad horror film trope would they be’ and honestly i dont want to fix it.

Ardwen: He’d be a horrible killer, that would surely break a nail. More likely to be one of those evil spirits who just want a family out of its damn house, like GODS, he likes his privacy! Tbh he WOULD die during/after having sex with someone so.

Arke: Would probably be more misguided than actually villainous, OR, perhaps, he’d be a previous good guy turned bad. Not strictly anything horror but >:3 poetic cinema. As a survivor he’d sacrifice himself for nought, and it would be in vain.

Bex: If he were the ‘villain’ it would probably be in those old monster movies that everyone would thirst over and as it turns out he’d be sympathetic too. As a survivor he’d sacrifice himself for the final survivor or something idk.

Calyssa: There are so many women who’d just be the killer in slasher movies, as you shall see soon lmao, Cal is one of them. Probably more of a thriller, or a tragedy, probably trying to get revenge for a killed loved one. As a survivor she simply wouldn’t have shown up to the murder house, or the murder camp, or the murder anywhere. Because she’s smart.

Druvel: He’d probably be the protagonist/villain of one of those introspective films where the protagonist slowly becomes a monster but is actually making commentary on something that isn’t that bad (sex, it’s always sex) and ultimately end with “damn, isn’t that fucked up?” or smthng i haven't actually watched a film in a while. He’d also die after having sex, just like Ardwen. Probably with each other who knows.

Emil: Emil can’t be the killer he’s too obvious and he’d just go after the one person he wants dead--and probably fail anyway. Now Emil…. He’d trip and fall while running, after having necrolym die in front of him probably.

Ettia: She’d be the killer that’s justified because all the people she kills did something horrible and unforgivably bad or somthng--basically just a revenge fantasy ig. She’d die as a victim because her dumbass brother summoned a FUCKING demon.

Gwyn: He’d be a dumbass of a killer and wouldn’t do a good job at all. Like, he’d end up just vibing with everyone because as it turns they’re pretty chill actually/he’d come from within the group and pick them off that way. As a victim he’d die because his dumb ass summoned a FUCKING demon.

Herron: Not a good killer, he would get too caught up in doing it RIGHT and doing it WELL and honestly he’d be very easy to be snuck up on. As a survivor he’d be the father in that family who forced them all to move to the murder house because it’s ‘’’’’perfect’’’’’’’’. Would obviously be the first to die.

Keller: Another bad killer. If this were among us, she’d vent in front of everyone and not realise she did it wrong. Basically the horror would be how bad she is at horror. Also she just likes people too much. She’d survive just because I simp for her everyone else would look weaker than her and the killer would kill everyone else.

Korrin: Idk what they’d be as a killer or monster tbh, head empty. As a survivor they’d be less of a survivor and probably the one smart person who warns them not to fucking go to the murder house, it’s a murder house for a reason! But no one listens to them because they’re that old weirdo who just wants those damn wippersnappers off their lawn so obviously they cant have a point.

Lokeira: Would probably be the demon that comes to kill everyone because Gwyn’s dumb ass FUCKING summoned him. As a survivor he’d peace out at the first sign of trouble and either end up surviving that way or end up dead because of it. Who knows.

Necrolym: Too lazy to be a killer. He’d try and then fail, and then just go eat a snickers or something. As a survivor he’d be the first dead and end up alerting everyone to a killer among them--that or he’d be one of those really happy camp counselors that end up dying anyway.

Nox: She’d be the killer in a slasher. It wouldn’t be a very long film. As a victim she’d die pretty early on probably trying to get the killer before they get her, and wouldn’t succeed.

Qora: Would less often actively kill the survivors and more often set up traps. Would inevitably be outsmarted by one of the sirvivors. As a survivor she’d come up with various plans to thwart whatever is chasing after her, but ultimately probably end up cornered after a plan goes awry.

Severa: Good killer, bad survivor. This would be another slasher, but at least in this instance she might just have mercy on one of the survivors. She’d definitely die as a survivor because she’d run off ahead of the group. Just for fun, if she were part of the scooby gang she’d probably be fred.

Spotter: They physically can’t be the killer because they’d immediately feel bad and call the cops on themself. Either that or they’d just be an arsonist that locks everyone in the house and burns it down. Either one works. Tbh because I unfortunately know horror film tropes and analysis too much they’d suffer from final girl person syndrome and ultimately end up surviving. Either that or they’d be the one tripping and falling while running away.

#ROs #Scenario Ask #Listen i love horror and also i once had a film teacher who was obsessed with horror movies #its a match made in hell probably #i also have issues with horror films but shhhhhh #SOME horror/thriller films shall NOT be NAMED :/ #sin bin #because it mentions the sex word #you can tell at exactly necrolym that i was about the pass out fwiaubaewbf #Anonymous #Rott #rott game #regrets of the traitor game #interactive fiction

[passionate-reply]

Do you “fucking love” science? Have you ever been blinded by it? Well, it doesn’t really matter, because that goofy little number isn’t really supposed to be on Thomas Dolby’s debut album in the first place. Find out about all the awesome OTHER stuff that’s actually meant to be here, in this new installment of Great Albums! Transcript below the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’ll be talking about a stellar album by one of those artists who have gone down in history as “one hit wonders,” despite producing a deep catalogue that’s often more impressive than that one song they end up known for: it’s The Golden Age of Wireless, the debut LP of Thomas Dolby. Chances are pretty good you’ve heard his big hit, “She Blinded Me With Science,” before...at least, if you’re American.

Music: “She Blinded Me With Science”

Like I said, if you’re American, you’ve heard this one before. If anything, it’s oversaturated! But if you’re from elsewhere in the world, you might not know it. Growing up in the US, I went through the whole gauntlet of alleged “one hit wonders” of 80s synth-pop, and a great many of them turned out to be British artists who had perfectly respectable careers in their native UK: Gary Numan, Soft Cell, and OMD, for example. Thomas Dolby is also British, but he’s apparently more famous here than he is across the pond--which is still not that famous.

He really ought to be, though, because The Golden Age of Wireless is a true masterpiece. Or, at least it WAS, in its original form. It’s actually a tough album to talk about, insofar as it’s hard to pin down what exactly constitutes “The Golden Age of Wireless.” It’s had quite a few different pressings, and a variety of different track listings. And the original version of it does NOT include “She Blinded Me With Science.” While I’d never argue that it’s a bad song, since it is insanely fun, and catchy to the point of being irresistible, it really does not belong on this album. I’m sure it helped them move copies of it, but its inclusion kind of ruins the vibe, to be honest. Its in-your-face and flamboyant hooks make it feel like a very unwarranted intrusion on an otherwise fairly serious and contemplative LP, which seems to have been intended as a fairly tight and thoughtful concept album.

Aside from that glaring issue, there are a few other tracks that have appeared on later versions of the album that weren’t there from the start, namely, the two tracks from Dolby’s first ever-release, a double A-side of “Urges” and “Leipzig,” as well as “One of Our Submarines,” the B-side of some versions of “She Blinded Me With Science.” All of these tracks are excellent, and mesh with the thematic and sonic character of the album quite well. “One of Our Submarines” in particular is often considered one of the best tracks of Dolby’s career--melancholy, claustrophobic, and stinging in its poignant sense of tragedy. It captures the misery and futility of modern war, as well as the sunset of the British Empire after the Second World War...and there’s a sample of a dolphin, too. It’s easily the track that I most wish had been included from the very start.

Music: “One of Our Submarines”

But now that that’s over with, I’d like to drill down and talk about how the album operates in its original form, as the artist intended. Like I said earlier, The Golden Age of Wireless is best understood as a concept album, and I think of it in a similar league as classics like the Buggles’ The Age of Plastic, OMD’s Dazzle Ships, or even Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. The original track listing opens with “Flying North,” a stellar introduction to one of the most prominent themes of the album: freedom!

Music: “Flying North”

“Flying North” is an exultant anthem of self-determination, and one clearly mediated by “metal birds”--aeroplanes, that is. It’s a celebration of the independence allowed by technology, and a rather winsome one, in which this almost macho image of a heroic pilot takes center stage. The final track of the album, “Cloudburst At Shingle Street,” is a bit more esoteric, but seems to be aiming for a pretty similar idea overall, and I’d argue that the two of them form thematic “bookends.”

Music: “Cloudburst At Shingle Street”

“Cloudburst At Shingle Street” leads us through the technological evolution of mankind, from swinging from trees to paving concrete beaches--but the spacey synth warbles beneath those lines give them an ominous bent. The assertion that we might be heading into a cloudburst “mindless,” “naked,” or “blindly” is unnervingly cynical, but, we’re told, “there’s no escaping it.” Despite all of these signs that our better judgment should be resisting the temptation of this miraculous cloudburst...this triumphant, rising coda, with its powerful choir encouraging us onwards, seems to muddle the whole thing. The untethered, free-roaming nature of modern life isn’t always this sexy and exuberant, though--consider the track “Weightless,” as a counterpoint.

Music: “Weightless”

“Weightless” certainly seems to be about modern transients of some sort--in this case, traveling by car--but never lionizes them or makes them too terribly enviable. Instead, the focus is on the image of the draining fuel tank: the constant emptiness and craving for meaning, validation, and genuine love. No matter the allure of this very American, Route 66-like setting, the gas stations, cinemas, and decadent diner meals along the way are never any real substitute for an emotionally authentic life. That setting is, of course, a wistfully backward-looking Midcentury one. Nostalgia and childhood naivete are also among the album’s major themes, and are expressed the most clearly on “Europa and the Pirate Twins.”

Music: “Europa and the Pirate Twins”

Narratively, “Europa and the Pirate Twins” is a bittersweet story of childhood playmates who never quite re-unite, despite promising to be together again someday. The really interesting wrinkle is the fact that the narrator’s beloved Europa has become a famous celebrity as an adult, and the narrator is essentially a fan of her despite their real-world relationship. It’s an uncanny, confused parasocial relationship dynamic that feels extremely contemporary, despite the fact that it’s ultimately more of a commentary on the rise of teenager-oriented marketing during the Midcentury than anything else. The strange, often unhealthy relationships between young people and mass media, particularly radio, are another one of the major sources of tension on The Golden Age of Wireless. “Europa and the Pirate Twins” is also one of the more interesting tracks, instrumentally, featuring a prominent harmonica part, performed by Andy Partridge of XTC. Given how much the album strives to be about the future and past simultaneously, steeped in nostalgia and utopian visions alike, it makes sense to hear Dolby blend elements of traditional folk or popular music with forward-thinking synth-pop sensibilities. Listen also for a flute on “Windpower,” and a substantial amount of guitar on “Commercial Breakup,” a song that proves Dolby certainly can rock, if he feels like it.

Music: “Commercial Breakup”

The cover art for The Golden Age of Wireless isn’t exactly the most iconic, but I’ve always thought it was very beautiful. You’ve got this very eye-catching, lurid, pulp magazine style illustration of Dolby as a diligent, yet glamourous engineer, radiating with the complementary colour palette of orange and blue, the perfect picture of retro cool. But it’s framed and inset, to give us a conscious sense of observing something that’s coming to us from another time, an artifact preserved. That patina and sense of the antique is amplified by this dull-coloured background, which actually shows a marble sculpture gallery in a museum, though that’s tough to make out unless you have it right in front of you. The numerous shades of irony operating here are another thing that make the album feel strikingly contemporary.

I’m also a huge fan of the album’s title. “Wireless,” if you weren’t aware, is an old-fashioned term for radio. Radio itself is a strong theme on the album, most obviously on the track “Radio Silence,” but the use of the term “wireless” isn’t just another piece of retro nostalgia--I think it’s also evocative of that sense of free-flying, untethered independence I talked about earlier. The first half, i.e., “golden age,” is perhaps even more important. “Golden age” is an extremely loaded term that brings a number of rich associations to the table. “Golden ages” are simultaneously longed for, but not fully believed in. They’re bygone eras that usually felt like nothing special to the people who actually lived through them, despite their greatness being palpable to anyone reflecting on them in hindsight. In every golden age, there’s a poetic tragedy.

I think that even if someone did buy this record just to get their hands on “She Blinded Me With Science,” they’d probably be at least a little bit disappointed in what they got. The album does have some decent pop singles, chiefly “Radio Silence” and “Europa and the Pirate Twins,” but they’re still humming with nostalgia and unease, and not without some substantial experimental DNA.

Music: “Radio Silence”

While they cut the single weirdest track on the album, “The Wreck of the Fairchild,” they still retained some fairly ambitious tracks, such as “Windpower”--clearly an ode to Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity.” It’s hard to be angry with an electronic musician for trying to rip off Kraftwerk, since they all do it one way or another, and in this case it invites a natural comparison between two great concept albums focused on the theme of radio.

Music: “Windpower”

Overall, though, The Golden Age of Wireless is still a reasonably accessible album on the whole. Possibly not what you expected, and certainly, a work that’s more sentimental and affecting than good for the dance floor, but as far as poignant, ballady, diesel-punk odes to the tragic techno-optimism of the Midcentury go, I’d say it’s not all that hard to get into! Dolby does have a pop core, as an artist, that he’s quite capable of selling to us if he chooses to. For proof of that point, look no further than the single “Hyperactive!” which he followed this up with a few years later:

Music: “Hyperactive!”

When discussing an ostensible one-hit wonder, there’s a distinct temptation to resort to “they deserved better” style rhetoric. On one hand, yes, I do think more people should hear Thomas Dolby’s music, and that it has a lot to say to us. I’m all about obscure music finding new life and being appreciated. That said, in the case of Dolby, I think he basically got what he wanted, in the end. He’s always been more keenly interested in music’s many behind-the-scenes roles than he has in chasing pop stardom himself--he’s produced music, and scored a number of films and video games over the decades. It feels kind of wrong to tell someone who’s successful at one thing that they “deserve” to be successful at something different, just because we may want to hear him do it, or because we esteem one skillset more highly than the other. Ultimately, The Golden Age of Wireless is a Great Album on its own terms, whether Dolby ever decides to grace us with another synth-pop release under his own name again--which he did in 2011, with A Map of the Floating City. But it’s his decision, as an artist, and the fact that he can choose to or not is a luxury that allows him integrity. I think that’s the way it ought to be.

My overall top track on this album has got to be “Airwaves,” a song in which the narrator dies, tragically and suddenly, in an automobile accident. It’s not the sexy, “Warm Leatherette” sort of car accident, but rather a dismally realistic one, that shows quite frankly how undignified death can be. Sometimes, we aren’t so much doomed heroes as we are frightened, sickly children, defeated by our own fickle bodies. The last thought our narrator gets is “I itch all over, let me sleep”; their honour perishes just moments before they do. Meanwhile, the radio is a constant presence throughout, and serves as both something to anchor the scene in the droll and quotidian, as well as ultimately becoming something transcendent. The promise of “airwaves” is not only the human interconnectedness made possible by technology, but also a hint at the ultimate destiny of human souls, a kind of ethereal afterlife in the sky. The meandering lulls of the verses contrast sharply with the song’s eerily soaring refrain, which enhances that feeling that those “airwaves” occupy some sort of higher plane. On that surprisingly heavy note, that’s all I’ve got for today, so thanks for listening!

Music: “Airwaves”

#music #album review #album reviews #thomas dolby #one hit wonder #one hit wonders

[brindaneer]

7th July, 2021 shall go down in history as the day India lost one of her greatest stalwarts, the legend himself- the unimitable Dilip Kumar. Possibly the best actor Indian cinema has ever had, Sri Dilip Kumar was an institution in himself, teaching aspiring actors the art of nuanced acting through his varied works. Originally known as the 'Tragedy King', he excelled equally in comic roles, thereby proving his versatility to the world. Today, we dedicate this special blog to him. If not for 'Mughal-e-Azam', 'Jodha Akbar' would probably remain unmade. Had there been no Dilip Kumar, who would have inspired the next generations?

For every movie buff, the dvd release of a favourite film has great significance- the extra reels!! Scenes that were edited out, 'behind the screen' actions, interviews- there is a lot of stuff that we get to watch on the dvds and nowhere else (until some kind soul uploads them 😉😛).. However, a lot of the times, we are left wondering if the dvd was indeed worth our money. Of course, we get to watch the film whenever we want to, but what about the rest? If there is one dvd that gives buyers their money's worth, it is Jodha Akbar.

Ashutosh makes history even here; he is probably the only director who has had to edit out so many fabulous scenes from his film. Others are less unfortunate- they usually edit out unimportant bits, and even if those are good, most of the times, they are dispensable. In Jodha Akbar, most of the deleted scenes seem just the opposite. Once you have seen them, watching the edited version of the film feels somewhat incomplete.

The first scene that comes to mind is 'Jodha talking to her friends about Ratan Singh'. Yes, yes, we do not like Ratan Singh either! However, he is not the reason why we are mentioning this scene here, Jodha is. While the rest of the scene seems totally editable, Jodha's answer to her friend's question about whether she will willingly surrender to Ratan Singh proves that no matter how unimportant a Gowariker scene seems at first, one must never judge before it ends. In the film, we see a bold and opinionated Jodha breaking the stereotypical norms of her society and daring to express her unwillingness to surrender on the very first night. Naturally, when we saw the scene for the first time, we took Jodha's words at face value; we assumed she was not ready because of the forced marriage. However, the deleted scene proves that she would have done the same even for Ratan Singh. She would never have loved someone unless he gave him the resepect she deserved. What a woman!

Next in line is the 'Bidaai' scene, whose essence can literally be summed up in the question that Raja Bharmal's aide asks- 'Ye bidaai hai ya bali?' Jodha indeed is akin to a sacrificial lamb in this scene, and Aishwarya's tears express it all.

Of course, we are interested in Jodha and Akbar's interactions more than anything else, and in all honesty, that was why we all were so impatient for the deleted scenes to come out back then. And thankfully, we do get some unseen moments, although it would be wonderful if the entire 'deleted scene' reel had been just them! 😄😂🤩🥰

Horrified after witnessing Jalal's abject cruelty towards Adham, Jodha confronts her husband and reprimands him for his actions. She is shocked that he never even spared a thought for Maham Anga before taking such a drastic decision. Jalal, however remains adamant as well as furious, and maintains that Adham got what he deserved. Although initially unable to come to terms with it, she soon realizes his reason for doing whatever he did. As a broken and helpless Jalal confesses that if Maham Anga has lost a son, he has lost a father, Jodha understands the agony her husband is going through. Hrithik is brilliant, first as the incandescent Jalal, and then as the heart-broken one. As Jodha places her hand on his shoulder to console him, one can't help but wonder why this scene was edited out of the original reel! What harm would an extra few seconds or even minutes do? 😭

Then comes Mahesh Das aka Birbal. The two scenes through which Ashutosh narrates the history of Mahesh Das's transformation into Birbal are undoubtedly the jewels in the crown of the deleted reel. In the first, Jalal and Jodha meet Mahesh Das who cleverly prevents the emperor from hunting, much to Jodha's pleasure (and ours too). When he claims to know exactly how many birds there are in the land, Jalal tells him that he will be punished if he is wrong. However, Mahesh Das's wit is unparalleled and he rattles a random number. As Jalal and Jodha both look at him with surprise, he explains. If his answer is more than the actual figure, it will mean that birds from the neighbouring land have visited; if less, it will imply that birds from Agra have gone to visit their relatives. Naturally, both the emperor and the queen are impressed. Jalal gives his ring to Mahesh Das and asks him to visit the Deewan-e-Aam.

In the second scene, Mahesh Das visits the Deewan-e-Aam but encounters a corrupt guard who refuses to let common people enter the court without a bribe. When Mahesh Das shows him the emperor's ring, the latter allows him to enter on one condition- Mahesh Das must share half of whatever gift he receives from the emperor with him. Little does he know that he is talking to one of the 'would be' Navratnas of Akbar's court, incidentally one of the most famous ones! Mahesh Das agrees to his condition and asks for a prize of 50 whip shots from Jalal, much to his and evryone else's shock. When he explains the reason for making such a strange request, Jalal calls the guard and orders him to be whipped 50 times instead as a punishment for corruption, which he insists shall have no place in his empire. Fascinated with his wit, Jalal invites Mahesh Das to be a part of the Mughal court. However, Mulla Do-Piyaza objects, and Jalal gives him permission to test the former. If he is able to answer Mulla Do-Piyaza's question, he will be accepted in court. If not, he will be punished. That is the deal. Also, if Mahesh Das wins, then Mulla Do-Piyaza promises to bow before him every day. Jalal agrees, and so does Mahesh Das. After much deliberation, Mulla Do-Piyaza asks Mahesh Das to guess what he is thinking at the moment. Of course, it is an impossible task. However, Mahesh Das is not someone to give up; nor does he need to. His intellect is ready with an answer. He tells the court that at this moment, Mulla Do-Piyaza is praying to the All Mighty for the emperor's long life, good health and prosperity. Is there anything left for Mulla Do-Piyaza to do except accept defeat? 😂😂 Having proved his cleverness to everyone, Mahesh Das attracts appreciation from one and all, and earns a priceless reward from the emperor himself- the name 'Birbal' (meaning quick-witted or 'dimaag mein taaqat'). Having these excellently scripted, directed and enacted scenes in the film would have been worth the extra time!

Two more deleted sequences deserve mention. The first is the moment of Maham Anga's death. Jalal comes to see her as she lies on her death bed, frail and ill. We understand this is the first time he is interacting with her since the betrayal. If not for anything else, this scene should have been included only for Hrithik's exceptional performance, and of course for Ila Arun ji. As Maham Anga finally admits to Jalal that she had wronged Jodha on account of her overpossessiveness for him, and asks him to call him like he used to one last time, we see a completely devastated Jalal, not the Shahenshah of Hindustaan, but just a grieving son. As if she was waiting for that one word from him, Maham Anga passes away the minute Jalal calls her 'Badi Ammi' again. The scene is a strange mixture of melancholia and poeticness, and Hrithik's wonderful emotive capacity makes it one of the best bits of the whole film, both the edited and the unedited versions. On another note, how does someone look so handsome and flawless while sobbing? Is Hrithik even human? 🙄🤨😐😑🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

The second is the scene when Jalal comes to meet Jodha and his mother before departing for the war with Shareefuddin. Jodha says she is praying for three lives- her husband, her brother Sujamal, and her sister-in- law Bakshi Bano Begum (Shareefuddin's wife). Nonetheless, Jalal vows to protect Amer, no matter what it takes. The scene is poignant and yet another example of the magical on screen chemistry between Hrithik and Aishwarya. Seriously, we deserve them again!!

In conclusion, we reiterate that we would not have minded had the film been half an hour longer due to the inclusion of all the scenes mentioned above

With that, we have come to the end of this blog. Hopefully, you will join us on our next too. Stay safe. Stay well.

Once again, this one is for you Dilip Kumar Saab. You showed the way; so, we have Jodha Akbar. Thank You Sir. May you Rest In Peace 🙏🙏

[dweemeister]

Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India)

Almost a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century, globalization has pierced the remotest corners of the planet. The examples academics and politicians cite demonstrating this globalization are almost always economic, but the most profound examples are cultural. Once known only in South Asia, Indian cinema has burst onto a global stage. Its stars and its most popular directors seem larger than life. Reading on some of modern Bollywood’s (Hindi-language cinema) personalities, I find few of their biographies compelling beyond their unquestionable status as South Asian and international celebrities – I won’t name names here because that is for another time. That is partly a result of not watching enough Bollywood films. It is also because I am making unconscious comparisons between those modern actors to actor-director Guru Dutt. Dutt was a tragic romantic – off- and on-screen – to the point where those personas can become indistinguishable.

As an actor, Dutt can be as charming a romantic male lead as anyone, as well as lend a film the dramatic gravitas it needs. As a director, he refined his sweeping visuals and theatrical flairs over time. That artistic development culminated with Pyaasa (1957) and his final directorial effort, Kaagaz Ke Phool (“Paper Flowers” in English). The latter film is the subject of this piece. Both films elevate themselves to a cinematic altitude few movies anywhere, anytime ever accomplish. They are, for lack of a better word, operatic* – in aesthetic, emotion, storytelling, tone. In Kaagaz Ke Phool, Dutt once again lays bare his artistic soul in what will be his final directed work.

An old man enters a film studio’s empty soundstage, climbs onto the rafters, and gazes wistfully at the darkened workspace below. We learn that this is Suresh Sinha (Dutt), a film director whose illustrious past exists only in old film stock. The film is told in flashback, transporting to a time when his marriage to Bina (Veena) is endangered – the parents-in-law disdain his film work as disreputable to their social class – and he is embarking upon an ambitious production of Devdas (a Bengali romance novel that is among the most adapted pieces of Indian literature to film, the stage, and television). He is having difficulty finding someone to play Paro, the female lead. Due to this conflict, Bima has also forbidden their teenage daughter, Pammi (Kumari Naaz), from seeing Suresh. Pammi is sent to a boarding school far from Delhi (where Bima and her parents reside) and further from Mumbai (where Suresh works), without any sufficient explanations of the spousal strife.

One rainy evening, Suresh generously provides his coat to a woman, Shanti (an excellent Waheeda Rehman). The next day, Shanti arrives at the film studio looking to return the coat. Not knowing anything about film production, she accidentally steps in front of the camera while it is rolling – angering the crew who are tiring of yet another production mishap. Later, while viewing the day’s rushes, Suresh casts Shanti as Paro after witnessing her accidental, but remarkable, screen presence. She achieves cinematic stardom; Suresh and Shanti become intimate. When the tabloid gossip eventually reaches Mumbai and Pammi’s boarding school, it leads to the ruin of all.

What did you expect from an operatic film – a happy ending?

Also starring in the film are Johnny Walker (as Suresh’s brother-in-law, “Rocky”) and Minoo Mumtaz (as a veterinarian). Walker and Mumtaz’s roles are vestigial to Kaagaz Ke Phool. Their romantic subplot is rife with the potential for suggestive humor (she is a horse doctor), but the screenplay never justifies their inclusion in the film.

Shot on CinemaScope lens licensed by 20th Century Fox to Dutt’s production company, Kaagaz Ke Phool is Dutt’s only film shot in letterboxed widescreen. From the onset of his directorial career and his close collaboration with cinematographer V.K. Murthy, Dutt exemplifies an awesome command of tonal transition and control. Murthy’s dollying cameras intensify emotion upon approach: anguish, contempt, sober realization. These techniques render these emotions painfully personal, eliminating the necessity of a few lines of dialogue or supplemental motion from the actor. The effect can be uncomfortable to those who have not fully suspended their disbelief in the plot or the songs that are sung at the time. But to the viewers that have accepted that Dutt’s films exist in a reality where songs about infatuation, love, loss, and regret are sung spontaneously (and where revelations are heard in stillness), this is part of the appeal. Dutt and Murthy’s lighting also assists in directing the narrative and setting mood: a lashing rainstorm signaling a chance meeting that seals the protagonists’ fates, the uncharacteristically film noir atmosphere of the soundstage paints moviemaking as unglamorous, and a beam of light during a love melody evokes unspoken attraction. That final example represents the pinnacle of Dutt and Murthy’s teamwork (more on this later).

As brilliant as his films (including this) may be, Dutt suffered during mightily during Kaagaz Ke Phool’s production. In writings about Dutt, one invariably encounters individuals who believe Dutt’s life confirms that suffering leads to great art. Though I think it best to retire that aphorism so as not to romanticize pain, I believe that the reverse is true with Guru Dutt – his later directing career contributed to his personal tribulations. In some ways, that suffering informed his approach to what I consider an informal semiautobiographical trilogy of his films: Mr. & Mrs. ’55 (1955), Pyaasa, and Kaagaz Ke Phool. Dutt directed and starred in each of these films. In each film he plays an artist (a cartoonist, poet, and film director, respectively); with each successive film his character begins with a greater reputation, only to fall further than the last. The three Dutt protagonists encounter hardship that do not discriminate by caste, professional success, or wealth.

For Dutt’s Suresh, he is unable to consummate his love for Shanti because the specters of his failed marriage haunt him still. He never speaks to his de facto ex, but marital disappointment lingers. Why does he bother visiting his stuffy in-laws when he knows they will never change their opinions about him? Abrar Alvi’s (the other films in the aforementioned informal Dutt-directed trilogy, 1962’s Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam) screenplay is silent on the matter. Also factoring into Suresh’s hesitation is his daughter, Pammi. Pammi is young, looks up to both her parents, and cannot fathom a parent being torn from her life. Her reaction to learning about Shanti implies that neither of her parents have ever truly talked to her about their separation. Pammi does not appear to blame herself, but it seems that her parents – intent on protecting their child, perhaps speaking to her not as a soon-to-be young adult – are loath to maturely talk about the other. In a sense, Pammi has never mourned her parents’ marriage as we see her deny the tabloid reports about Suresh’s affair and express anger towards her father when she learns the truth.

When Suresh’s film after Devdas flops, his film career is in tatters. But Shanti’s popularity is ascendant, creating a dynamic reminiscent of A Star is Born. In a faint reference to Devdas, Kaagaz Ke Phool’s final act contains anxieties about falling into lower classes. If Kaagaz Ke Phool is contemporaneous to its release date, one could also interpret this as concerns about falling within India’s caste system (reformist India in the late 1950s was dipping its toes into criminalizing caste discrimination, which remains prevalent). Suresh’s fall is stratospheric and, in his caste-conscious, masculine pride, he rejects Shanti’s overtures to help him rebuild his life and film career. This tragedy deepens because Shanti’s offer is in response to the contractual exploitation she is enduring. We do not see what becomes of Shanti after her last encounter with Suresh, but his final scenes remind me, again, of opera: the male lead summoning the strength to sing (non-diegetically in Suresh’s case) his parting, epitaphic thoughts moments before the curtain lowers.

Suresh’s and Shanti’s respective suffering was preventable. Whether love may have assuaged his self-pity and alcoholism and her professional disputes is debatable, but one suspects it only could have helped.

Composer S.D. Burman (Pyaasa, 1965’s Guide) and lyricist Kaifi Azmi (1970’s Herr Raanjha, 1974’s Garm Hava) compose seven songs for Kaagaz Ke Phool – all of which elevate the dramatics, but none are as poetic as numbers in previous Dutt films. Comments on two of the most effective songs follow; I did not find myself nearly as moved by the others.

“Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari” (roughly, “I Have Seen How Deeply Friendship Lies”) appears just after the opening credits, as an older Suresh ascends the soundstage’s stairs to look down on his former domain. The song starts with and is later backed by organ (this is an educated guess, as many classic Indian films could benefit with extensive audio restorations as trying to figure out their orchestrations can be difficult) and is sung non-diegetically by Mohammed Rafi (dubbing for Dutt). A beautiful dissolve during this number smooths the transition into the flashback that will frame the entire film. That technique, combined with “Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari”, prepares the audience for what could be a somber recollection. However, this is only the first half of a bifurcated song. The melodic and thematic ideas of “Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari” are completed in the film’s final minutes, “Bichhde Sabhi Baari Baari” (“They All Fall Apart, One by One”; considered by some as a separate song). Together, the musical and narrative arc of this song/these songs form the film’s soul. For such an important musical number, it may have been ideal to incorporate it more into the film’s score, but now I am being picky.

Just over the one-hour mark, “Waqt Ne Kiya Haseen Sitam” (“Time Has Inflicted Such Sweet Cruelty On Us”; non-diegetically sung by Shanti, dubbed by Geeta Dutt, Guru’s wife) heralds the film’s second act – Suresh and Shanti’s simultaneous realization of their unspoken love, and how they are changed irrevocably for having met each other. Murthy’s floating cameras and that piercing beam of light are revelatory. A double exposure during this sequence shows the two characters walking toward each other as their inhibitions stay in place, a breathtaking mise en scène (the arrangement of a set and placement of actors to empower a narrative/visual idea) foreshadowing the rest of the film.

Dutt’s perfectionist approach to Kaagaz Ke Phool fueled a public perception that the film was an indulgent vanity exercise with a tragic ending no one could stomach viewing. Paralleling Suresh and Shanti’s romantic interest in each other in this film, the Indian tabloids were printing stories claiming that Dutt was intimate with co-star Waheeda Rehman and cheating on Geeta Dutt. These factors – perhaps some more than others (I’m not versed on what Bollywood celebrity culture was like in the 1950s, and Pyaasa’s tragic ending didn’t stop audiences from flocking to that film) – led to Kaagaz Ke Phool’s bombing at the box office. Blowing an unfixable financial hole into his production company, Guru Dutt, a man who, “couldn’t digest failure,” never directed another film. Like the character he portrays here, Dutt became an alcoholic and succumbed to depression in the wake of this film’s release. Having dedicated himself entirely to his films, he interpreted any professional failure as a personal failure.

Kaagaz Ke Phool haunts from its opening seconds. Beyond his home country, Dutt would not live to see his final directorial effort become a landmark Bollywood film and his international reputation growing still as cinematic globalization marches forth. Dutt’s most visually refined films, including Kaagaz Ke Phool, are films of subtraction. The cinematography and music make less movement and dialogue preferable. Kaagaz Ke Phool is a film defined about actions that are not taken and scenes that are never shown. The result is not narrative emptiness, but a receptacle of Dutt’s empathy and regrets. Exploring these once-discarded, partially biographic ideas is not for faint hearts.

My rating: 9/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

* I use this adjective not to reference operatic music, but as an intangible feeling that courses over me when watching a film. Examples of what I would consider to be operatic cinema include: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan); Greed (1924); The Red Shoes (1948); and The Wind (1928). Some level of melodrama and emotional unpackaging is necessary, but the film need not be large in scope or have musical elements for me to consider it “operatic”.

#Kaagaz Ke Phool #Guru Dutt #Waheeda Rehman #Kumari Naaz #Bollywood #Mehmood #Johnny Walker #Mahesh Kaul #Veena Sapru #Abrar Alvi #V.K. Murthy #S.D. Burman #Mohammad Rafi #Geeta Dutt #Asha Bhosle #My Movie Odyssey

[reeeeeb2]

911

Okay so I don’t have screenshots right now but I need to point this out

So at the end of episode 3 it shows various members of the team but notice how each group it shows is a type of family all except for Buck Eddie and Christopher?

Like Athena and the Captains family

Then the couple that’s get married with Hen chimney

Then Maddie and the girl where Maddie literally makes a big sister joke

It then cuts to Buck who has been narrating over these shots with very sentimental music playing in the background

And then!!! Then!!! Who comes in? Bucks family of course. Eddie and Christopher. The door opens just as the song finishes with a line about coming home. And then Eddie doesn’t let buck feel bad but instead reassures him and gives probably the most meaningful words he can saying “there is no one I trust more with my son than you”. Dare I say that that shit was beautiful. Poetic cinema. I’ve just watched a tragedy and epic gay romance all in one. I will never be over how awestruck I am at these final moments. And Buddie is canon and there is nothing anyone can do.

#911 fox #911 season 3 #9 1 1 #9-1-1 #im screaming #poetic cinema #gay #Buddie #buck x eddie #evan buckley #Eddie diaz #christopher diaz #im not over this #i never will be #beautifu #amazing #wonderful #splendid

[ragingbookdragon]

How Rare And Beautiful It Is That We Exist

The super angsty collab with the lovely and beautiful @livia-art​ PS, go follow her ‘cause she’s AMAZING :)

A Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne Story

Word Count: 2,100 Warnings: Explicit Language, Angst, Death Author’s Note: Based off Sleeping At Last’s ‘Saturn’. Cry like Liv and I did drawing and writing it. -Thorne :)

He stood in front of the mirror adjusting the tie, fingers slipping up and down the silky fabric. Hesitation drilled into his mind as he paused, taking in his reflection. It had been years since he’d put on a suit that wasn’t made of Kevlar and tri-weave titanium. Years since he’d attended any type of higher-class function. Jason inhaled deeply, pulling the tie up the base of his throat before he tugged at the bottom of the suit jacket, satisfied that this was the best he was going to look. About that time, the doorbell rang, and he turned, making his way to the front door. His hand curled around the doorknob and he twisted it, pulling it open to reveal his father, lightly smiling at him. “Jason. Good to see you.” Jason offered him a grin in return, accepting the hug Bruce gave him.

           “Good to see me? You saw me two days ago?” Bruce laughed as he released his son, watching him close the door, then begin their walk down the hallway and stairs.

           “What can I say? I miss my sons. Even my favorite one.” Something warm spread through Jason’s chest, but instead of commenting on it, he returned,

           “Don’t let Dick and Damian hear you say that…they’ll get jealous.” Bruce stopped in front of the door, holding it open for them.

           “Isn’t Tim included in that?” His son gave an amused grunt as he stepped through the door, waiting for Bruce to follow.

           “Tim knows he’s not the favorite by a longshot.” He watched Bruce frown momentarily before murmuring,

           “I’ll need to remind him he’s my second favorite when I get home then.” They climbed into the waiting car, sliding into the backseats. As Jason fastened his seatbelt, he glanced at Bruce and asked,

           “How come you didn’t bring along the rest of them anyway? Shouldn’t this be a family event?” Bruce paused, hands slowing over the seatbelt he pulled at; a moment passed by, then he replied,

           “…You and I haven’t spent any time together unless it was on patrol…I think we’re long overdue for some father-son time…” He looked at Jason, doubt running through steel-blue eyes as he hesitated, “…Does it bother you? If it does, I can call Dick and the others. I wouldn’t want-” Jason reached over, placing a hand on his shoulder, an easy smile on his lips as he reassured,

           “Bruce…it’s okay.” He squeezed his shoulder gently, adding, “And it is long overdue.” The relieved look that crossed Bruce’s features almost made him chuckle, but he swallowed it down, pulling his hand away and quipped, “Just please don’t tell me that I’m gonna have to suck up to the socialites…god, I hate doing that.” Bruce snorted, shaking his head.

           “Don’t worry. The theatre box we’ll be in is just us.” Jason raised an eyebrow at that and questioned,

           “We’re going to the movies?” His father hummed, gaze drifting out the window as he absentmindedly replied,

           “Theatre. We’re watching a play.” The reply made Jason roll his eyes and he mocked lowly,

           “Theatre. We’re watching a play. Should’ve said music hall instead.” Bruce gave no answer other than a quiet chuckle, and a few moments later, they were stepping inside the theatre, climbing the steps to the box. Jason lagged Bruce a few steps, hand tightening around the railing as he asked, “So, what are we watching?” They stepped into the box, taking their seats, gazes shifting to the stage; something in Bruce’s expression made him apprehensive, then Bruce disclosed,

           “The Mark of Zorro.” Jason’s expression went slack as the words failed him, and when he finally found them, he whispered,

           “…Are you sure you want to be here…to see this Bruce?” He watched Bruce’s jaw clench slightly, and after a minute, he nodded.

           “…Despite the tragedy that I faced that night…it was one of the best nights I’d ever had…with both my parents…” He looked over at Jason, eyes sad, but warm all the same. “I want to share this with you…son.” Jason blinked, the lump starting to grow in his throat, and tried to speak, but instead managed a simple nod. Bruce smiled in return, and the theatre began to darken, guiding their eyes back to the stage.

A Few Hours Later:

           “THAT WAS GREAT! OH MAN I’D FORGOTTEN HOW MUCH FUN PLAYS WERE! BRUCE! DID YOU SEE THE DUELING THEY DID?! OH MY GOD, IT WAS GLORIOUS! THEY WERE FIGHTING WITH ACUTAL RAPIERS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO FIGHT WITH A RAPIER?! IT’S INSANE!” Bruce observed Jason’s ecstatic words, grinning as he watched him imitate the motions of the previous duel. “OH, AND THE ENDING! THE PICTURE FALLING AND THE ‘Z’ BEING THERE! OH, IT WAS SUCH…POETIC CINEMA!” He couldn’t help the snort that come from him, and as Jason’s head whipped his way, he raised a hand to his mouth, coughing to cover it. “ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?!” Bruce grinned, shaking his head.

           “I’d never laugh at you Jason. Never.”

           “YOU’RE LYING RIGHT NOW! YOU JUST SNORTED! THAT COUNTS AS LAUGHING!” The longer he ranted, the more humorous it became, and ultimately, Bruce broke down, laughter flowing from him. Jason watched, ranting a few more times, but eventually joined him. When they finally calmed, they were wiping tears from their eyes with one hand, the other rubbing at their stomachs; Jason sucked in some air, letting out a breathy chuckle. “I haven’t laughed that hard in forever.” Bruce nodded, reaching up to rub his aching jaw.

           “Agreed.” Jason reached over, elbowing him in the side.

           “I forgot you could laugh Bruce.” His father stopped, the joyful expression quickly replaced with a heartbreaking, sorrowful one.

           “…I didn’t laugh a lot after you were gone…didn’t feel like it.” Jason’s face dropped as well, the memories of a darker time coming back to the surface. He shifted his weight between his feet, eyes staring downwards so he didn’t have to look at Bruce; he didn’t want to see the pain etched across his face. “Things got easier after Tim came along…but he always saw himself as stand-in…never the son I thought he was.” Jason inhaled deeply, gathering the courage to look back at his father and say,

           “Things are better now than they were Bruce.” His father tried to smile, but could only form a grimace, nodding along.

           “…They are…” Bruce took a breath, looking up at the sky before he shifted his gaze back down, a small smile on his face; he tipped his head to the side. “Let’s get out of here and go home.” Jason nodded, feet beginning to shift in the direction of the entrance when a shadow fell across them. A glint of silver shone in the moonlight, the sharp snap of the hammer followed by a bright flash rocked their senses, and Bruce reacted, sliding between the bullet and Jason.

You taught me the courage of stars before you left. How light carries on endlessly, even after death. With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite. How rare and beautiful it is, to even exist.

           Everything shifted as time distorted, and Jason watched, teal eyes widening with each passing second as Bruce jerked backwards, knees beginning to collapse under him. Jason first instinct was to apprehend the fleeing shooter, but the more pressing matter of Bruce collapsing outranked it; he caught Bruce as he dropped, arms winding around his chest, hands seeking out wherever the bullet had entered. They hit the ground, Bruce’s shoulders pressed back against Jason’s chest, head resting against his clavicle. Jason stared in horror as the crimson liquid spread, staining the pristine white shirt Bruce had on. He reached forward, fingers splaying against the center of Bruce’s chest, hissing, “Shit. Shit. Shit.” He looked around, voice panicky. “Bruce where’s your cellphone? I need to call an ambulance.” Bruce groaned, shaking his head, voice soft as he teased,

           “Left it in the car…not polite to bring cellphones into…theatres...” Had the situation not been so dire, Jason would’ve laughed, but the reality was beaming down on him, the alley walls closing tighter and tighter around them and he spat,

           “Oh, come on! You’re always prepared! You’re gonna tell me the one-time you’re shot you’re not carrying a phone?!” The blood started to slip between his fingers, making his grip weak as he pressed harder, and he angrily continued, “What were you thinking?! Why would you do something like this?!” Bruce shook his head at Jason’s words, and he let out a low curse, sighing, “Look, someone must’ve heard the gun go off. Help is gonna find us, Bruce. Don’t worry.” His father gave a weak chuckle, steel-blue eyes catching Jason’s for a moment before he glanced upwards to the sky and murmured,

           “Look at all of them Jay…the stars…how courageous they are to keep shining even after they’ve died.” His gaze drifted back to Jason’s and he praised, “Just like you...so strong-willed and-” Bruce’s voice faltered, breathing heavily and swallowing thickly as he pushed the words out. “Passionate…everything is everlasting Jason…life and death are just terms…just…stages of existence…but rarity and beauty…comes through living…through existing…” He paused, smiling at Jason, pearly white teeth stained red. “Your existence is up there, Jay…with the best of them all…and all that greatness out there? The universe and all it has? That’s all for you to see Jay…for your eyes…”

I couldn’t help but ask, for you to say it all again. I tried to write it down, but I could never find a pen. I’d give anything to hear you say it one more time, That the universe was made just to be seen by my eyes.

           Jason sucked in a breath, but it didn’t do any good. His lungs were on fire and his chest burned as if he’d inhaled smoke from a wildfire. He could barely see Bruce’s face anymore, vision too blurred by the endless number of tears streaming down his face. He choked on his breath, stuttering out, “Stay-stay awake old man. Help is coming.” Bruce’s breathing had quieted, no longer the heavy puffs in and out he’d taken just moments earlier; he hummed lowly.

           “Just…restin’ my…eyes Jay…” Jason groaned, curling his arms tighter around his chest.

           “No-no-no. Don’t do that.” He formed a smile, breathing out, “Tell me again about the universe. How it’s all for me to see.” The corners of Bruce’s lips turned upwards, and he murmured,

           “…Got a…pen?” Jason shifted his hands, right pressing tightly to the wound, the other searching his suit pockets. After a moment, he frowned and whispered,

           “I can’t find one.” He dropped his head against Bruce’s, chin propped on his head. “C’mon old man…tell me again…I’ll give anything for it.” He clenched his eyes shut, the pressure forcing more tears down his cheeks, then he felt a hand brush in his hair, and he shifted, opening his eyes to look down, seeing Bruce smile faintly at him.

           “It’s all for you Jay…all the universe…everything…” His lips wobbled as he nodded and acknowledged,

           “Thank you…dad.” As if he’d been given a few seconds more of life, Bruce’s smile grew and he breathed gently,

           “I’m proud…of you…Jason…always have been…always…will be…” The hand softly patting his hair began to slip, and Jason’s heart stopped as he heard, “…Love you…son…” Jason’s hand shot forward, gripping Bruce’s, the words tumbling from his mouth like a cascade of rapid waters.

           “Dad don’t go. Please don’t go. I love you too dad. Please just…don’t leave me here by myself.” This time, his pleas sparked no response, and Jason shifted, pulling Bruce against him, one arm crossing Bruce’s chest, the other cradling his head. His fingers brushed against his father’s temple, pushing the hair from his sweat-slicked forehead. Warmth spread across his fingertips, but Jason didn’t feel any of it…all he felt was cold…and freezing. His jaw clenched, the air restricting in his lungs as he tried to take a breath in. Warmth flowed down his cheeks as he shut his eyes, grip tightening as he began to rock slightly. Too many emotions built up at once: anger, hurt, pain, sorrow, but all he could manage were silent tears. Another flash of light surrounded him, the piercing shrill of a siren in his ears, but he heard nothing, felt nothing.

           Jason opened his eyes, tipping his head up to the sky, gaze attended by the billions of twinkling stars above him, as if they would save him.

With shortness of breath, I’ll explain the infinite. How rare, and beautiful it truly is, that we exist.

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[vaguely-concerned]

The Untamed Liveblog

Yes hello I watched the whole thing and wrote down some of my thoughts and feelings along the way so I wouldn’t fuckign EXPLODE! Only look under the cut if you’re prepared for a truly outrageous amount of rambling (...no really)  

- I am elated to find that so far every adaptation I’ve seen has faithfully preserved the absolutely bizarre structure of the original book, I am appreciating the dedication haha

- the actor lends this version of lan wangji such an edge of youth and vulnerability right from the beginning, it breaks my heart. I don’t care how good he is with a sword, you can’t expose this pure sweet boy to the horrors of war!!! 

- I am so glad I already know who all these characters are and wtf is going on, I can’t imagine watching this first time without that knowledge lol 

- I love how they’ve made nie huaisang look so small and soft next to all the other cultivator, he looks like a floofy and eternally confused baby birb ;______;

- nhs citing the goldfinch as the reason he doesn’t want to die (presumably because no one will know to take care of it) TOT ur meant to be comic relief in this part of the story buddy you can’t make me cry like this yet!!!

(also the actor for wwx effortlessly sliding into being protective and reassuring and Good in a crisis. wonderful!)

- the actor for xue yang has chosen to go with the sexy baby school of evil acting normally associated with female villains and for that I can only applaud him

also setting up characters who are going to be important later on is something this show is doing better than the original haha, both the extra wen quing & ning and song lan & xiao xingcheng content is appreciated. (especially the latter suffered from ‘oh yeah those two -- actually wait who the fuck are these two again’ syndrome for me when I read the book. additional note: I am very sorry but clearly they are gay there’s no other explanation here)  

- poor jiang cheng, they really haven’t given him much help in this huh. I would sort of have preferred it if they let him be ever so slightly less abrasive in the beginning, like in the book and the animated version; I’m not feeling quite as devastated over this relationship as I did in either of those.

- lan xichen’s soft knowing smile is a blessing every time. just a nice man. did not deserve this. protect.  

- kudos to the actor for jin guangyao for the instinctive creeping unease I feel whenever he talks, even at this stage. he’s a wrong ‘un sir he’s a wrong ‘un

- y’know both the fact that nhs spent three days catching a bird and kept it with him undetected and that he’s the friend you go to for the good porn and managed to not only smuggle it into the cloud recesses but did so without getting caught... some wonderful subtle foreshadowing here (to make up for the very blatant visual foreshadowing that’s already been given out I assume lol)

- anyway lan ancestor lady and baoshan-sanren? gay. sad and gay. (I love how thoroughly wwx is getting to meet the in-laws btw lol how often do you have to meet your future spouse’s family from like three generations ago and take care of her rabbits for her after she’s gone, all before you even get to second base)

- fkadshfkasjdlhfsdjkfh the sheer consistency of nhs wistfully commenting on all the beautiful men surrounding him fsadfkjsdhfksd I think they might oh so subtly be hinting at some stuff here. HILARIOUS that this version, which has to maintain at least the veneer of some plausible homoerotic deniability, is a lot more overt about it than the book, which is free to be balls to the wall as gay as you please  

- oh no nie mingjue just showed up my entire heart is on fire. BIG BROTHER!! so stern yet fair, so righteous, so worried y______y also can we talk about how his ‘hmmm I think imma stab it?’ approach to evil in general and xue yang in particular would have saved everyone a lot of grief later on? and he tells wwx the whole necromancy thing is probably not a good idea? (I really like how he does it too, he has so much Older Brother Energy it spills over when he talks to other kids around huaisang’s age lol. it’s good that they show his temper isn’t indiscriminate at all, he’s not angry at wwx even though his idea is provably incredibly dangerous) sole ornery voice of reason nie mingjue, also did not deserve what’s about to happen, I cry and my tears are blood  

- ‘yeah okay I get that you’re mad but have you maybe considered... I didn’t do it?’ is an unusually weak opening move from jgy considering nmj literally did just see him absolutely 100% do it

- there should be a WARNING at the beginning of episodes where nmj cries so one could be PREPARED for the emotional devastation!!!!! tollest & stronkest man of the cast also stupidly pretty and heartbreaking while crying, it’s not fair

- I love how every cultivation sect’s home (except for the wens b/c they’re cartoon villains) is refined and beautiful and luxurious, even when it’s in a restrained way like the lans’... and then there’s the nie place which is like ‘please understand that this is a fuckn fortress’

- aww this doomed jiang cheng/wen quing thing is cute! too bad about... everything that’s about to happen happening huh

- oh wen ning.  very hilarious that he’s known as the ~*ghost general*~ forevermore when actually... he is baby... cinnamon roll baby... too good for this world, too pure...

- how is this cgi turtle somehow less egregious than the one in the animated version lol. I quite like this bad little friend! long neck.

- oh NO lan wangji finally letting himself show that he’s in pain when they’re in private... i’m uwu  

this beautiful boy is so long and lanky tho, I must admit he triggers my parental instinct more than the hot boy alert at this stage (but that’s fine I’m not the one who’s going to smooch him that’s wwx’s job lol)

the look of absolute disbelief and despair lwj gives when wwx thinks he’s in love with mianmian... this show is a cinematic masterpiece and I will hear no other opinion  

- lwj looking at the love of his life completely missing the point: are you a joke to you (the answer is yeah)

- okay we’ve officially hit the point where everything’s about to go to hell for real, pray for me I’m not sure I can handle this again

- jiang fengmian acknowledge your other son who desperately wants your attention and affection challenge (unfinished)

- watching this scene knowing exactly what this promise means to jiang cheng and that wwx is going to break it... this is fINE

why the fuck did I do this to myself I know what’s about to happen when will I learn to quit while I’m ahead lol

- the change in subtext from the novel that EVERYONE sees wangxian coming from day one is so painful from jiang cheng’s side. this poor boy really has abandonment issues pelting him from every direction huh. tfw your idiot genius brother doesn’t even fucking realize he’s basically announcing he’s leaving your clan and your side to get married one day ;______;

- man mxtx is just so GOOD at peppering in the small private tragedies that somehow sting even worse than huge atrocities going on. the fact that madam yu and papa jiang never manage to reconcile and communicate except possibly in death... oof my friends. oooof.

- WAIT WHAT NO DON’T SHOW ME THE CHILDREN WHO’RE ABOUT TO DIE WHAT THE FUCK YOU MONSTERS

- like we’re right at the worst part now and she is an asshole... but damn madam yu’s last stand is epic tho. like a champ to the end

- wen zhuliu’s actor being able to uphold a look of tremendous boredom at all times regardless of what’s going on around him is Poetic Cinema Bitches

- jiang cheng and wei ying are holding hands on the boat... stab me in the heart... end my suffering

- you know what in this version we get to see that madam yu knew her husband came back for her and they died holding hands and not everything’s on fire yet, so far this isn’t quite as harrowing as the animated version. the dead children are fucking me up but the tone of the animated version is like a nightmare, this is less disturbing to me

also can we talk about how madam yu fought them off the whole day and night and her husband gets his ass owned within five minutes 😔 oh papa jiang

- oh okay turns out jiang cheng’s ‘I want my mom and dad’ gets to me in every adaptation good to know

they’re so young they’re bbs I don’t want to be here anymore haha

- wen ning. a sweet angel. just the goodest of boys. his sister raised him so well ;______:

- wen quing is so ethereally beautiful and also looks like she could stop a train with the force of one glance. like she’s my height but her presence is immense

- oh I see we’ve arrived at the tiny adorable flashback bbs part of this journey, let me just... just lie down somewhere huh

- outside of the central romance this is a tale about people who love their brothers very very much and it’s real sad for everyone involved

- me watching nie mingjue kicking down the doors to reclaim his own dang fortress: YEEEEAAAAH GO OFF DAGE!!! i um love him and his very handsome face

- jiang cheng dreaming about his family is EMOTIONAL WARFARE!!! how fucking dare!!!

- y’know what this isn’t a bad way of adapting the burial grounds thing! also pretty cost effective I imagine, gotta think about the budget when so much of it goes into fabulous wigs and robes

- credit where it’s due, the actor for wen chao makes his face do some shit I didn’t know human faces could do and he’s enjoyable to watch in the capacity as your friendly neighbourhood hate sink

- lwj consistently using wwx’s personal name even when talking to total strangers now... mhm this is also fine

- I can’t beliEVE this show is somehow less subtle about the gay stuff than the book, jin zixuan basically just asked lwj if he and wwx were... y’know... I guess cultivation partners would be the way to go here lol. between that and nhs more or less asking them if they were off fucking after the whole cold cave debacle... what a time to be alive even if they’re not going to kiss on-screen  

- huaisang I hate to have to be the one to tell you this but your brother is an entire snacc. and yet I respect him way too much to ever proposition him, I know he is busy winning a war and being Righteous and slowly being driven mad by the ghost in his sword on top of raising his little brother, I’m not here to complicate things for him any further

I love this version of nmj so much though. this sense that he also sees the stuff that is genuinely good in jgy and has a real moment of grief that the dude just can’t seem to get away from his basic insecurity that causes him to do horrific things, even when handed other opportunities... the fact that he seems regretful and worried when asking jin zixuan how jgy is doing with the jin....... everything to do with his little brother...................... oh no he’s Soft in his private life this is awful

- poor lwj’s ‘I have a bad feeling about this’ face in this scene haha, he’s staring at this talisman like ‘I only know one person smart and dumb enough to pull this off’

- can’t wen quing just get one nice thing. one nice thing just for her. hasn’t she been through enough. give her her brother back and a nice quiet place to practice medicine and maybe some soft romance with jiang cheng eventually this show is kind of selling me on this.  

- unexpectedly my favourite part of the revenge scene is just the camera switching back to lwj and jc watching in horrified silence like ‘...O___o dude this is fucked up tho right?? it’s not just me that’s messed up??’

- one is forced to wonder about wen zhuliu tho. this version reads as pretty explicitly depressed/suicidal to me, he’s kind of an interesting villain since his main traits are unquestioning loyalty mixed with unending indifference and also seemingly not too pressing a will to live

- oh nhs desperately trying to keep it together and pretend nothing’s different ;_____; this version is really driving it home that wwx is a lot of people’s only friend -- jiang cheng is mentioned to not have anyone but his sister to play with before he arrived, lwj was raised primarily on books and rules and his brother is ELATED that he has one (1) friend now, from the sheer depth of the attachment I’m willing to bet nhs hasn’t had many real friends in his life either. wwx gives and gives of himself and doesn’t know how to take help in return.    

- foreknowledge is a beautiful thing; if you look at nhs when it’s revealed wwx didn’t bring his sword you can visibly see his brain kicking into overdrive haha. smart boy.

- big sister ;_______; I am an older sibling so I haven’t really had the feeling of having an older sister to look to, I see why it might be comforting now

- oh this is some real uruk-hai shit!! honestly the special effects in this aren’t half as bad as I’d been lead to fear, some of you guys just weren’t forged in the crucible of shitty sci-fi channel cgi at an early age and it shows  

(honestly the weird fight stuff threw me much worse in nirvana in fire, because that series has such intricate, credible and realistic political world building and then people are flying all over the place through wire fu and it is so disorienting haha)

- oh nhs looking up at his brother like a puppy during the war council T______T baby bird boy

(between this point in the main story and fatal journey it’s very interesting how clearly nhs needs the emotional stability and safety of his brother -- who also seems to be his parental figure -- to function properly, even in his late teens. it looks like he needed more time to grow up than the rest of them even before they were all thrown into this awful bullshit. well he does have a lot of murderkitten brain to grow I guess that’s fair enough lol. wwx has some of the same thing with his sister too)

- whenever lxc and nmj look at each other it feels like the only two adults in the room meeting each other’s eyes like ‘...oh dear’

- aww lwj getting some advice from his brother. this poor kid really hasn’t been raised to handle the moral complexity of the real world huh, good thing lxc is here to lend some nuance to lan qiren’s unforgiving dogma

- oh lan zhan

- nmj’s plan to just idk somehow go in alone and fight the wen overlord mano a mano to avoid any more casualties... a spine made of steel, a heart made of gold, a head made of wood :’) truly a perfect man, good thing his brother got the brains in that family and he has some more sensible people around him

- in the face of inevitability I plead... jiang yanli... please don’t marry this asshole your son is going to be predictably insufferable

wwx has suffered through so much the last four months or so and yet his real breaking point is seeing his sister cry and can I just say -- relatable content

- NO! NO STOP HURTING HIM HE’S JUST GOOD AND HANDSOME AND DOESN’T DESERVE THIS

(could be applied to like 98% of these characters but in this case it’s nmj b/c I love him)

I do find it very funny and oddly comforting that nmj is literally so fuckn mad that it takes three times as many attacks for the evil sorcery stuff to take him down than we’ve seen used on anyone else fsdkfhasdkj too angry to die  

wHY has my brain chosen for me to attach so deeply to perhaps The single most inevitably doomed person in this entire cast, at this point I’m just being cruel to myself lol

- I can’t describe how much I love the fanficiness of this story, in the best ways. the emotional fallout from the destruction of the lotus pier gets more screentime and attention than the entire sunshot campaign, and that’s exactly how I want it to be.  

- they’ve been doing some great work to establish that the jin are also jeeeeeerks for such a long time, how’s that for foreshadowing

- equal opportunity traitor jgy gets his stab in lol one must respect the grift, though, he’s set himself up pretty darn good

*lxc stops nmj from killing jgy, hello darkness my old friend starts playing in the background*

fatal journey builds nicely on this fundamental thing that the nie boys take their responsibility to their people extremely seriously, it seems to be the fact that jgy so blithely talks about them as necessary casualties that really sets him off

- adlfsdfhsdkjh lxc and nmj meekly being like ‘...we could maybe... not commit war crimes? if that’s at all possible? no?’

*slaps ‘I don’t think you even tried at all’ stars on both of them* (I mean I actually do kind of see where they’re coming from a bit, they just came out of a pretty costly war and I wouldn’t feel too comfortable getting right back into it with arguably the wealthiest faction, who’s also been keeping back a bit and thus kept a lot more reserves. well played jin bastards well played)

- I could stop here. if I stopped here everything would basically be as okay as they could be and the world full of hope still. I suppose the question here is... do I love myself enough to quit while the going is good. and the answer is no I already started the next episode

- I think one incredibly endearing aspect of this version of nmj is that he has a look of faint but permanent worry about him. he walked onto the screen with a vibe of ‘...oh boy I don’t like where this is going’ and he’s just kept going ever since

in the book he’s kind of a flat character (whose one trait is Mad), I love that they’ve given him some depth and nuance here! probably partly down to the actor doing a great job, but this version has a real sort of warmth to him and also seems downright uncertain at times -- he thrives when there’s a clear goal and black and white sides, and is probably not  t h r i l l e d with the weird tentative political situation after they take down the wens lol. thank god he has his little brother to make ‘bitch please’ faces over his shoulder when the jin get weird about things

anyway I’m always on the ‘nhs you are SO valid’ train, but in this version nhs is quadruple valid, in fact only mianmian is more valid in this entire world

- one of my favourite parts of this show is when wwx enters a situation and the camera takes some time to zoom in on the faces of his family and friends to convey their sense of ‘oh god what the fuck is he about to say now’ dread    

- jiang yanli asking her little brother if he doesn’t want to stay with them anymore while crying is emotional kryptonite, help

this poor woman, she had to put all her points into emotional intelligence b/c god knows no one else in this family did

- hell YEAH lan zhan go break some rules!! treat yourself my guy

- hey sis if, theoretically, one hypothetically found oneself in -- for the sake of argument -- love with, as the case may or may not be, someone... how would one tell?? asking for a friend

- the whole summary of this fucking show is just ‘weaponized sibling feels’ everything hurts with foreknowledge why did I keep going

- aw no blindfolded kiss scene but here’s a scene with real earnest emotional intimacy stuff going on instead... I will joyfully take it your honor

- I do value and respect the translators giving us these subtitles so much... but they did also force me to read the words ‘bosom friend’ with my own two eyes right there and that was not very cool of them

- why oh WHY must jiang yanli, best person in the world, have been cursed with the horrible fate of being in love with the dumbest man on the planet

*jiang yanli juggling all the idiot men in her life* oh god my little brother is causing an international diplomatic incident again time to bUCKLE UP

oh ho ho you know shit is getting real when big sister gets mad I LOVE HER. suddenly you see she definitely her mother’s daughter after all lol

wwx crying because his sister just fiercely defended him in public... im uwu

- I hate jgy with all my heart but I do feel bad for him too. his barely faltering :) look while all his asshole relatives gang up on him sdfhskahf

- again the jin are dicks but when it comes to aesthetics they do go off, that’s such a beautiful shade of blue

- dsflhsdakjlfhsdakjfl sd this shot of lwj and nmj right before lxc drinks is the funniest framing imaginable b/c lwj is wearing a look of complete stonefaced

-___________-

and meanwhile nmj, who presumably has seen lxc drunk before since they’re longstanding bros, looks worried as fUCK

- awwwww I do love nhs capitalizing all of jc’s attention so the others won’t start shit with him/so he won’t get to say something publicly he’ll regret later because he’s (understandably honestly) mad at his brother for making his life even more difficult than it has to be (I have every sympathy with wwx but buddy... buddy must you make everything more complicated for your bro every darn time this is a real delicate political situation and he’s not suited for that even without your antics)

it’s a very nhs move because he comes across as slightly boorish and rude and thus leaves jc blameless and thus protected, you can get so far if you have no self respect lol  

- showing us exactly how wen ning died is honestly a little too mean this is not fun

- good god this poor grandma has been through the wringer hasn’t she

- oh. oh wen ning, who never meant hurt anyone in his entire life :(

- listen okay the end is in sight just a couple more horrific tragedies to get through and then it’s the weird romantic comedy buddy cop antics of the current day timeline to ride to the end

- it cannot be overemphasized how much this lan zhan is Baby, I so desperately want to help and protect him

- I’m going to stop shouting out individual actors on this show they’re all goddamn brilliant haha (but am I tho)

- most valid person in the cultivation world mianmian

also enjoying the exemplification of nmj’s character that is ‘not sure how I feel about this dumb kid with the big mouth digging his own grave ever deeper but that girl’s got guts and I respect that’

- wen quing is getting a taste of the dangers and pitfalls of having wwx as a little brother dfhskdalfhsdaklj she and jyl should compare notes (he’s so good tho T-----T)

- how does wwx’s actor have such natural dad energy at such a young age, too powerful

- people give so little thought to how fucked up jc’s situation really is here, like he’s just being an asshole for the sake of it. spend three fucking seconds looking at it with some realpolitik in mind and realize that the clans around him have just shown that they can and will wipe out an enemy clan together if need be, and that his own sect hasn’t even gotten back on its feet after the war that almost wiped it out. like wwx is unquestionably morally right but has gone about it in such a way that it’s real fucking hard to support him without going down with him and how do you calculate that risk when you’re responsible for so many more lives than your own

also so sad about jc being so afraid this entire time that wwx would leave him like everyone else... and now he has :( jc doesn’t handle it well but then who would at this stage

- there is something so pure about a quietly horrified lan zhan getting Dad Advice from these guys (well he’s going to be needing it soon enough so)

oh the utter softness of his face looking at wwx and ah yuan ;_______; thank god, some fluff to bolster my heart before we set off into the last harrowing ordeal here

LAN ZHAN’S ENTIRE FACE LIGHTING UP AT WEI YING ASKING HIM OUT thank fuck there’s still some joy left in the universe

this poor love struck man, someone help him  

lan zhan conscientiously grabbing ah yuan’s toys is fskhdfksjdlfhskjdhf

- lan zhan looking around the demon subduing cave: babe I love you more than life itself but this is tacky as hell

- crying because wen niiiiiing

- crying because sibliiiiiings

okay this is the last time the three of them will be together and nominally happy, need to appreciate it through my tears

- actually I take it back please just let the bad thing happen now so I don’t have to live in suspense anymore lol (...this probably says a lot more about me as a person than I’m strictly comfortable with)

- the fact that none of wwx’s little adopted wen family are AT ALL intimidated by him anymore is just... it’s too much to bear

again tho this book/show is so willing to let you dwell in the emotional stages of things in a very fanfic sort of way, I think it’s what makes the sad parts so much worse (and makes you feel so incredibly attached to these characters)

- I gUESS it’s a testament to jin zixuan’s character that he has any decency at all, considering who his dad is and where he was raised

I’m cracking up at their dad being the one who still doesn’t trust jgy tho lol snake recognizes snake

- jgy’s faint look of ‘are you fucking kIdDiNg me rn’ whenever all these jin douchebags talk is very entertaining. if he didn’t go on to do all that murder and incest and (probably) infanticide I’d sort of cheer for him no matter what kind of sociopath he is

- not to be a downer or anything but isn’t one month a little premature to be celebrating the survival of a baby in fantasy old timey china tho

sometimes I feel like looking back at history is just seeing a whole lot of dead children (and this is why I think that even if god did exist it would be morally inconceivable to worship him! sorry just a quick detour into my personal grudge against the inherent cruelty of the world there, let’s move on)

- it’s uncomfortable to watch even the outlines of the jin sect’s slow insidious stranglehold on power. even these random shopgoing nobodies know that nmj is Not Happy about these watchtowers and that it’s probably going to happen anyway. the jin are snakes but at least they’re clever about it and I do kind of respect that

- oh everything’s about to go so wrong I hate it

NOOOOO don’t make the zombie baby fight, nothing good will come of this

- man this is hitting me worse than lotus pier actually I’m just... crying haha

it’s almost cathartic tho... there’s something about wen quing’s dignity and certainty that really helps? I just really wish they hadn’t brought the whole little group, god I want them to be okay so badly and ah yuan will be all that’s left and. and just throw me into the ocean and let me sink tbh

- I know this is all so much black cgi smoke (pls let us see the red version again at some point btw that was cool as shit) but the emotional metaphor of wwx that you can’t take on more and more of other people’s suffering and trauma and not care for yourself because you will lose control of that at some point is just. very nicely done. (he’s a bit of an odd serial codependent for a lot of the story, isn’t he. thank god lan zhan is not a quitter)

- jin zixuan’s mom is breaking my heart a little here. this lady has been married to THAT GUY all this time and now this as well. sorry lady, I guess jgy probably Took Care Of You at some stage after this

- a) this is just real good acting for wwx. this is the perfect level of unhinged for this, even though I’m always like ‘just. just shut your mouth for one time in your life and stop digging this grave any deeper six feet should be enough for anyone huh’ at this stage of the story and b) I am cackling inappropriately at the shot-reverse-shots between wwx, jiang cheng and jgy. jiang cheng looks like everything he ever loved is falling apart around him and jgy is like ‘oh wow I didn’t even have to provide him any rope he’s doing an excellent job at hanging himself without me’

I love wwx so much but it did take him an unconscionable length of time to realize that when you set big enough things into motion you will not be able to control who it crushes along the way or who might steer it in the wrong direction. other people exist and have agency and a lot of those people are bad honey :(

- ah yes lwj being stopped by a barrier made of the physical manifestation of wwx’s trauma when he tries to reach him :’) this is okay and cool and fine    

- it’s admirably obtuse of everyone to look at wwx at this stage and still think he’s in control of uh anything lol

- oh okay that went better than expected I don’t know if I’m just inured to sadness at this point

jiang cheng looking like a little boy clutching his big sister’s body is tugging at my heartstrings a bit tho

- ooooh this battle hardened intense lwj!!! I guess I can sort of see it now

- oh lan zhan 2, electric boogaloo

- finally! time for some comfort up in this hurt

- my man nmj still so fucking angry in the afterlife that anything even remotely connected to him is shaking with rage in sympathy in the real world. a mood

- fdsahfsjdklfhsdajk wwx being like ‘I can take everyone saying I was evil but how DARE you not mention I was also a snacc’

- when do you think nie huaisang really realized that his brother wouldn’t have children and that he was up for the sect leader seat next? nie mingjue seems to have known pretty far in advance himself and tried to prepare his brother accordingly, but that kid really didn’t want the job so I imagine he’d try to live in denial as long as possible

vaguely related: no other family is ever mentioned by either brother or anyone else, and nie huaisang straight out says that he is the only main disciple (I seem to remember and with the caveat that I might have misunderstood the translation) when there’s the talk of them being sent to the wen as hostages -- I suppose you sort of have to be very selective when your ancestral cultivation method is sketchy enough that you should keep that shit on the down low and you know people die young from it. so I think it’s possible if not probable that huaisang is the last of his family. isn’t that a fun little thing to think about? haha. ha. help me  

- this random street vendor is an unexpected strong comedy performance, every face he makes is pure gold

- fkshafkjsdhfasd best introduction of adult nhs

- the quiet luminous love on lwj’s face whenever he looks at wwx in the present... give this man all the awards. it’s nice that wwx gets to be scared and childish and vulnerable with someone who loves him no matter what too, he’s been through some shit

- oh okay I see so the reason they chose to make fatal journey the way they did was because they already had the set built

- *nhs dropping one set of robes like that one gif from anastasia to reveal another even more luxuriously dandy-ish set under it* oh wow what a surprise to see you two down here, coincidences amirite (anyway here’s the testament to all the sins of my ancestors & a trail of breadcrumbs to lead you to the murderer of my brother)

no wait that’s slightly later isn’t it. well the point still stands

- dead!nmj is truly a mood -- “I don’t know where I am, who I am or what the fuck just happened but I do know that I am PISSED OFF”

(actually in the book I found that almost comforting -- at least the dude got to spend his afterlife doing what he loved (i.e. being angry), but this more nuanced and sympathetic version being trapped like that just. makes me very very sad)

nice of him to stick around to play a few rounds of hot or cold with his little bro’s friends tho lol. I mean from what I understand of this take on canon it’s actually the spirit of his sword and not him in person? but close enough, let me keep him as long as I can okay

- jin ling getting his dumb ass cask of amontillado’d within ten minutes of entering the tomb smh

look at your ROBES young man what is your (other) uncle going to say??

- hAH what did I say. pedagogic mastermind jiang cheng at it again

enjoying the fact that they chose the floofiest most benign-looking of dogs to play this ~*terrifying hound*~ so much

I have a lot of sympathy for jiang cheng, and the actor is doing a good job at aging him up here (not as good as lwj’s but then you can’t beat perfection). the way he’s calcified into bitterness and anger b/c he can’t express his emotions in a healthy nuanced way feels very... real I guess, people get like that sometimes

- I am somehow really endeared to this version of jin ling. a dumb baby, but a baby

- poor lan zhan lol “I LEFT YOU ON YOUR OWN FOR TWO HOURS AND YOU ALREADY MANAGED TO TAKE ON SOMEONE ELSE’S CURSE??? BABE!!!!!!!”

he consistently uses jiang cheng’s personal name too huh. well it is his brother in law I guess ETA: actually I’m an idiot ignore/forgive me, that’s jiang cheng’s courtesy name isn’t it. lan wangji is being salty/maybe-deliberately-maybe-not-(but-definitely-tho) distant/polite with him I think 

- y’know... as I watch lwj carry the love of his life around on his back with all the tenderness in the world and I see people in the comments yell about why do you always need everything to be gay they’re just good friends you’re all crazy... I realize all over again that there really is no level of queerness they’ll ever find legitimate or acceptable. which like. feels bad, but there’s also the freedom in remembering they are always going to be assholes no matter what I do, there’s literally no need to listen to them at any time.

- I am CRACKING UP; watching this episode right after seeing fatal journey sure is a treat hahaha. nhs really must enjoy the acting on a deep level because he is hamming it up and I am living for it    

“It’s nothing at all like unorthodox demonic cultivation methods!” he protests with his big innocent doe eyes, having yelled the exact same accusation at his brother within ten seconds of finding out about it dsfdskjha

- awww that’s such a sweet way of telling nhs who he is while both of them still get plausible deniability :’)

this show is making it a LOT easier to figure out nhs’ deal earlier just through visual storytelling and his reactions when lwj and wwx aren’t looking, but I guess you sort of have to do that without the benefits of selective POVs that you can do in written stories

- lan zhan’s little smirks are such a blessing

- can we talk about how INCREDIBLY rude lwj and wwx are being barging into other people’s ancestral tombs like they own the place. I know I said break some rules lan zhan but there’s such a thing as common decency too at least wipe your feet at the entrance or something

stop being big bullies!!! (nhs actually sounds a little salty at how debonair they are being lol he’s like yeah you’re doing what I want you to but you don’t have to be such dicks about it)

- nooooooo nmj don’t die ur so sexy ahaha (I jest so I do not cry godddddd my heart big brother come baaaaaaack)

I’m honestly finding it very hard to live with knowing that the last thing nmj saw in life was jgy having his little brother in his clutches D:D:D: looking at it like that... of course he came back mad as fuck, I’d probably do the same thing

- boys boys I love and support you but could you maybe not stand around talking about how this was totally a horrific murder like the murderee’s little brother isn’t standing right there?? i mean it’s useful for him but it’s kind of mean of you, I know neither of you were raised in a barn  

okay there’s wwx irrepressible protective instinct that’s better. I just... nhs standing there looking small and sad and soft and lonely isn’t the whole truth but it is part of the whole truth, it’s nice to see wwx being like this even after all those years. (the physical closeness in their friendship in their youth in this version is so gooood. outside of wwx the only two people we see nhs consistently allow close or seek out closeness from is his brother and MENG YAO, who can frankly burn in hell even more than usual for the flute thing in fatal journey.)

- lan zhan contemplating the inherent impermanence of everything good in the world and then immediately getting blackout drunk -- MOOD. also I have never seen a scene where someone so obviously was about to press a soft kiss to someone’s forehead or cheek, don’t worry wwx I see you through the censorship lol

(it’s incredible how well they’ve adapted the love story considering the fact that they technically uh can’t)  

- wen ning: shambles, zombie-like and disheveled with horror movie monster eyes, into frame

all of us: omg a BABY ToT

- live action drunk lan zhan is living up to the hype I am  d y i n g

this poor repressed man

fjskdfsdkjhf he could do sword fighting in his damn sleep probably

I will say that leaving ‘wei wuxian was also here’ is going to scare the crap out of these poor people whose only crime was keeping well fed chickens

- they r so in love someone hold me

- this nmj!kid I am LOSING IT, this is so cute I want to lie face down on the floor and cry

- the yi city arc is my least favourite part of this story, so I’m fortifying myself to get through a couple of hours of sexy baby xue yang here

- Dad/troll teacher!wwx is in fact everything

- oooh wwx has the same weird crooked fingers as me when they’re extended! just some small Facts About Your Friendly Neighbourhood Blogger there

- this is not at all a bad take on ah quing! she qte

- ‘what’s your husband look like?’ song lan, crying: beautiful

- xxc you didn’t think it was a little weird the dude wouldn’t tell you his name -- even a name -- all this time. honestly

I know you’re in a bad place and this is sort of a rebound thing from your actual true love but stop letting him gaslight you like this buddy :(

- time for some MASSIVELY FORESHADOWING PARALLELS my friends

- I don’t know if I’m just a heartless monster but I honestly don’t care that much about anyone but ah quing in this little sideplot lol (probably my complete disinterest in xue yang tainting everything else)  

- xue yang and jgy: the ‘sad backstory dude still inexplicably extra mass murder’ club

- godddd I’m so bored I’ve listened to this guy cackle ~*madly and evilly*~ for three episodes now when will it fucking end

- lan jingjy you are VALID

- fhsdkfhsdkj can’t get over baxia being like ‘OI you two stop gazing soulfully into each other’s eyes for five seconds and get on with avenging me’

must be annoying spending your afterlife in a pouch third wheeling the two most obnoxiously in love people in the world, I think this spirit sword is being admirably restrained and patient all things considered

- big brother I am so sorry you had to hang out under there all this time while this boring bullshit plot happened above you ;________________________;

I’m actually not clear on what the nie sect does with the bodies of the dead -- the saber tomb seems to be exclusively for the weapons/we see that some of the cultivators will go down there while they’re still alive to sacrifice themselves... maybe they go in the walls? I guess nhs is breaking tradition in a lot of ways tho so who knows!

- ‘from what I’ve seen he’s not so bad’ wei ying he smilingly asked you to use POWs for target practice I’ll allow lxc to be this dumb but you really have no excuse

- this duckling in red is a gentleman and a bro, one to watch

- wwx seductively arranging himself in the open window to cover his panic fsdkjfhsda

- lot’s wife WISHES she had the level of salt jiang cheng does

- ‘if they ask me any weird questions I don’t know the answers to I’ll have to pretend to be a total psycho’

lan zhan, dragging his husband with one deadpan face: I’m sure that is going to be a huge feat of acting for you babe

- NIE HUAISANG FALLING INTO FRAME AND LAUNCHING HIMSELF FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER LIKE A GORMLESS WET RAG, I STAN ONE (1) BOY

‘but new problems appeared’  how is he such a mood

again tho you can give your unknowing accomplices so much space to investigate if you just don’t bother with self respect or dignity at any stage of the journey lol

- fjshdfkjlsahd that beat of lan zhan clearly taking a moment to contemplate the idea of wei ying confessing his love naked in public there

- uncle and nephew bonding time T________________T  

- fsakfhsadkjlfhsad I can’t deal with this mission impossible ass music in the background as a little paper gingerbread man scoots around the palace

whoever animated this was clearly having a lot of fun, I love the little details like his dangling legs and him rubbing his lil paper bum after landing

- poor qin su, one of the most screwed over people in this whole show. at least in the book he didn’t mean to

- ah su, you’re being very unreasonable about this, what is a little incest between friends

- straight culture is this being chill to keep in the adaptation but god forbid anyone got a loving queer kiss at any point (not blaming the showrunners at all, they’re clearly stretching the limits as far as they will go and maybe a bit more at a few points)

- YES SISTER CALL HIM THE FUCK OUT I always felt like she’s known something was a little off for a long time but never could put her finger on what exactly

- ‘can you still not let me go’ hey jgy you piece of shit who’s keeping whose head in a weird serial killer cabinet here

- THANK YOU FOR BRINGING HIS HANDSOME ALIVE FACE BACK TO MY SCREEN IF ONLY TO MAKE ME SAD

- he’s so beautiful and righteous and strong 😭😭😭😭 dage come back to us

(makes even more sense that he’s so pissed off about what jgy did if he’s already shown clearly that he’ll shut down the people fucking with him if it’s brought to his attention. he gave you every opportunity you little oh-it’s-never-really-my-fault worm of a man)

- another nmj about to cry warning needed here help me

dON’T FUCKING TOUCH HIM YOU SLIMY FSKJLDHFKSJDHFSKDJLHF

the nie traits are undying loyalty, rage, and the intergenerational trauma of watching your parental figures succumb to death and madness through the same cultivation path you practice

- my cause of death: nmj’s eyes shining with unshed tears

this version has that edge of vulnerability to him, you suddenly do realize he was once just a kid watching his dad die a horrifying death and then having to take on all that responsibility and raising his brother

nie boys unfailingly devoted to the people under their protection I’m gonna go bury myself under a tree or something

- I’ve had to turn the volume down so I can barely hear anything b/c my emotions are too big to for my dumb body to contain already I can’t listen to this

- extremely sad but also a little funny that part of the reason nmj died was that he had no interest whatsoever in the arts. ‘music is music right?’ says local jock

- I’ve just been whimpering the last twenty minutes this is awful

- huaisang’s voice breaking on ‘big brother, it’s me’... sdlakhgsdjklfhsadjkghsdkjlfhdskljhgsdalkhgsdklgjhsdjklhgkdjslhgjskd I’m going to the bottom of the mariana trench and I’m staying there goodbye

- I can’t wait to watch nie huaisang end this putrid trash man’s whole career in the most devastating way possible tbh

- I’m just so SAD T______________________________T I hate jgy so much my heart burns with it I’m so glad he’s about to get some dramatic irony shoved up his -- but I digress

- haha poor jin ling standing there watching all this messed up shit like ‘O.O thanks i’m nine’

- I wish I was as good at passing the fuck out on command as nhs, I feel like it would solve a lot of my problems

- just some low key soulmate shit no biggie

- wwx is basically fantasy old timey naked again here the SCANDAL except no scandal they’re clearly married

- wwx is being so much more patient with lxc than I would have found it in my heart to be at this stage. he’s like ‘lxc you are my brother in law and I truly appreciate you and everything you’ve done for me but it’s sadly up to me to gently confront you with all the ways you’ve been a dumb ho just b/c you think jgy has pretty dimples 😔’

- “You’re not qualified to talk to me” oh lwj I love you so much. I thought committing murder was forbidden by the lan sect rules but there you go  

- it honestly baffles me that some people think nmj would be the strictest parental figure in this universe when a) everything about huaisang suggests otherwise and b) lan qiren is right there

madam yu has that ‘super unforgiving to her son’s face but will also tear anyone criticizing him a new one’ mixed energy too  

- lqr: I raised a perfect obedient righteous cultivator

me & wei ying: you’ve ruined a perfectly good boy is what you did look at him he’s too repressed to breathe

- well their dad clearly paid enough attention to worldly matters that two kids resulted from it, I’m not quite sure where we’re going with this lxc

one’s an accident two’s a pattern etc.

- wow I was so confused about ‘confidante’ being used here b/c it makes absolutely no sense in context, and the comments helpfully informed me that it’s more accurately translated to ‘soulmate’ or something like that; that does make a whole lot more sense yeah

- bb!lan zhan kneeling in the snow is more than anyone’s supposed to have to live with tbh

- lxc being like ‘so yeah my brother will keep loving people long after they’re gone and unable to give him love back! just a fun fact there, something to think about anyway here’s wonderwall’

- soft, ever-so-slightly messy haired at home lan zhan deserves the world

- oh wwx’s shift away from thinking the truth doesn’t matter at all to realizing the truth of you being held fully and with love by one person in your life is enough as lwj plays their song ;______________________________; this is almost more romantic than a kiss scene would be honestly jesus christ  

- little apple is the best of us tbh

- apologies but they have 100% started to fuck off-screen at this stage, the looks wei ying is giving him dsafasdfhsjkd

- I take it back mianmian and little apple are the best of us

- imagine just finding the light bearing lord, second peerless jade of lan in his immaculate white clothes, peeking out from between your hay bales one day

- the exponential increase in lan zhan’s blessed little smiles lately: my oh-they-fawking thesis is validated yet again

- wei ying lying through his teeth: of course I remembered your face at once who do you take me for  

(lan zhan: smirks in quiet satisfaction)

- walejhgskdjhgsjdaklfhsadjkflafhsjakdsf wen ning is so cute I don’t know what to do with myself

- wei ying this is where you first asked him out of course he remembers

- lan zhan is like ‘oh shit I forgot to tell him about our son and at this point I’m kind of embarrassed to bring it up’

- I am NOT thinking about the lotus pond they made for him here, you can’t make me

- ‘the worst time in their lives’ yeah, but there was such love there too. it  h u r t s 

- the actor for wen ning is so good at making his expressions look deeply earnest but also a little uncanny, like moving his face doesn’t come naturally to him anymore but his Good Boyness shines through

- DRAGGED in public by his own son. rip wwx he had a good run of it before his untimely murder

- wow thank goodness sect leader yao survived all this time, his death would as we all know have been a huge loss to society as a whole

- “I’m just here to round up the numbers” I love him more than I can convey to you in words

I’m a simple person, I hear nhs’ chronically befuddled voice and a burst of pure joy is released in my heart

sdfhjksadhfsad his soft little 😕 face peeking out from behind people’s shoulders fkjsdhfsdjal

- will I ever get enough of nhs masterfully manipulating a situation through his own apparent cowardliness and uselessness? no is the answer to that it’s always entrancing to watch

nhs as a teacher, nodding sagely as his disciples exchange glances: it’s never too late to go home instead of going big. saying ‘fuck this i’m outta here’ is always an option

- also nhs seemingly doesn’t use a saber at all anymore, where he at least used to have one back in fatal journey times. I’m very happy he’s trying some new things, time to break that very sad traumatic chain of dying young and furious

also him getting someone else to do the work of fixing the ward or whatever fskdfhaskdlf

teacher nhs, waving his pupils away b/c he’s busy painting or something: class dismissed. and remember, if at all possible, get someone else to do your homework for you. as long as you don’t get caught that’s an automatic A

- wwx is literally the cat surrounded by knives meme here lol

- lol lol lol wwx just removed his outer tunic thing to reveal lan zhan’s undershirt still under there and you can see lan qiren silently seethe with ‘that little hussy has seduced my nephew away from the righteous path’

(do I personally believe in slut shaming of any kind? nah it’s dumb as fuck. do I think lqr does? yeah)

- hahaha I can’t tell if nhs’ slightly glazed look here is b/c wwx did something he didn’t plan for him to do or if it’s because he’s for all intents and purposes half naked in front of them. (tbh I think there’s a case to be made in this version that he has a sort of wistful would-never-act-on-it-for-a-million-different-reasons-lan-zhan’s-furious-jealous-stare-being-foremost-of-them crush on both wwx and lwj from back when they were teens)

- WOW all these dicks inviting themselves to lotus pier!!! r u d e

- lan zhan flexing on lan qiren by raising a happy well adjusted child even while he’s mourning the love of his life: what like it’s hard

- wen ning kept that toy for sixteen goddamn years don’t touch me

- I’m crying about jin ling give me a moment. he is baby okay he’s even younger than ah yuan by at least four years

the image of him hugging the only thing he’s got left of his dad... fsdalkfhasdjlkfhsjdakhfsjdk

- lan sizhui has a crowd of good uncles/dads and poor jin ling has a crowd of utter disaster uncles and it’s very unfortunate (yes wwx is on both of those lists)

it is very sweet that it’s jiang cheng who consistently actually looks out for him, even in his feelings-wtf-are-feelings sort of way. the least disaster uncle, but only by comparison lol

- I think this ouyang kid might be duckling in red from before? LOVING the interspersed nhs reaction shots to him, anyway fsakdfh (I’m going to make it sad: how many conversations like this do you think he had with his brother as a kid? that’s fine we can both cry now I don’t want to be alone in this)

- ‘mr ning’ im Y___________________________________Y

- extremely Here for yet another full costume change from nhs hahaha (he’s changed at the boat already, god knows how he pulled that off but I’d expect no less from him)

- nhs must have been a sect leader for at least a decade at this point, and he still manages to exude such a powerful ‘kid at the adult’s table’ aura. incredible. mindblowing, inspirational

- ...oh they went with the same version of the previous jin leader’s death huh (but GOD FORBID that anyone should be openly gay amirite lol) O___O again though WHY is jin ling here, jiang cheng??????? he’s like sixteen, he’s never going to dare to even kiss anyone after this

- nhs has the look of a man who’s had to sit on this disgusting knowledge alone for years and finally gets to share that icky burden around, merry christmas everyone if I have to know about this so do you

- I don’t know if this is just me imagining things or reading more into it than what’s there, but I think nhs is actually sitting in the same pose his brother used to a lot in this part of the scene (the upright posture with palms resting at the top of the thighs/hips, fingers turned inwards/towards each other; it looks sort of... solid and self-contained, I guess)

- I would call jgy knowingly committing the incest character assassination if he’d had enough character to assassinate even in the book, I would never have put it past him

- y’know... god knows nmj had flaws (I think my immense depth of love for him in this version comes precisely from how hard he tries even while being deeply flawed. him dumb but him always trying :’) well actually he’s not dumb at all, he’s shown to be pretty darn politically savvy, I’m just having a hard time finding the right word here. ‘inflexible’ is maybe closer ), but the big defining difference between him and jin guangyao (and consequently xue yang) is that both of the latter are completely open about the fact that they see themselves as more important than anyone else -- xue yang considers one of his fingers worth more than fifty people’s lives, jgy kills twenty sex workers as a mere afterthought to his own revenge on his father. meanwhile nmj gets Messed Up by people dying under his protection to the degree that he came up with one of the dumbest plans I’ve ever heard just so he’d be the only one at risk, just so no one else would get hurt anymore. hmnghsjhfs.   

- wen ning, proudly: my sister was the best doctor in the world 

me, openly crying: she sure was buddy

- wwx: hey lan zhan are there any sweet patient lan ladies with an open mind around

lwj: ...why

wwx: I just think our zombie son should start thinking about getting friends, maybe even a real home

lwj, subtly relieved: oh

- JIN LING BABY BOY NOOOO D:D:D:

- nhs I need you to come in and end this man I cannot look at his awful face anymore

- ugh this garrotte sound effect is really unpleasant actually well done

- THERE HE IS!!! conveniently swooning his way into the scene again, my guy ;_______; smol and soft-looking and about to utterly obliterate a man on every conceivable level 

I love every moment of the camera dwelling meaningfully on his innocent vulnerable face, this is going to be so great 

it’s too bad he’s a behind the curtain sort of dude, I would kill for a poirot-style ‘I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here in the library’ moment here lol

- tbh jiang cheng’s got a point about that whole ‘making huge sweeping decisions about someone else’s life and never telling them about it’ thing

wwx has sort of structured himself as a person so that you’ll never be allowed to really reciprocate his dedication and sacrifices (unless you’re lz lol), and while that is a very sympathetic trauma reaction essentially it is sort of a dick move interpersonally.

- the weight and wisdom that comes along with the scars of older wwx... you love to see it

- nhs, with effortless grace, rousing from his disney princess slumber just as the real drama’s about to begin... your honor he is simply the best

-  T__________________________________________________________T big brother 

- the tinge of coldness in nhs’ eyes while he watches jgy through this whole scene even as he keeps up the ‘im baby don’t worry about me’ act.............. fashdfjlksdahfslkadj, not to say askfksjhafkjsldhfkjsalhfksjaldhfkls

- to say that jgy has perhaps ‘gone overboard with this’ might be the biggest understatement of any century lxc

- watching him kneel by his brother’s coffin here I’d like to propose that Nie Huaisang has exactly the same capacity for all-consuming rage as the rest of his family, except he can’t just vent it by hitting something real hard with a haunted murder saber so he has to get creative and that was real unfortunate for Jin Guangyao  

- one thing that’s always tickled me is that nhs did give jgy the choice. the people around him -- the people he claims to love -- could have been left out of it, no dishonor being brought to either his name or any of theirs... if he’d been willing to sacrifice himself. (probably a gambit where he knew that was never going to happen, but still!)

- nhs standing there in the background like ‘yeah yeah we all have horrifying family legacies buddy, we just don’t knowingly marry our sisters or arrange for mass murders over it’  

- arguably killing the previous jin leader could actually count as a good deed if not for the horrifying way he did it lol. jgy all over, he could have done something helpful, *john mulaney voice* and then he didn’t he just killed nineteen innocent women while he was on a roll instead

- while it’s sort of bullshit that some responsibility is taken away from wwx in jin zixuan’s death here it’s also making a bit more sense to me like this -- seems like an uncharacteristic gamble from jgy to just idk hope wwx would lose control at exactly the right/wrong moment. wwx is still at fault for how casually he treated wen ning as a weapon when he didn’t know what the consequences could be, I’m okay with this

- jin ling and the terrible horrible no good very bad week :( protect him

wow lan xicheng let’s stand around some more letting this awful excuse for a person tell this sixteen year old boy that his parents deserved to be murdered basically, I’m sure there’s a lot more fruitful discussion still left to be had here  

- talk shit about nie mingjue’s brother get hit su she hell YEAHHHHHH

big brother still looking out for him I’m fsdklfhajsdlhf 😭😭😭

- I’M SO FULL OF FEELINGS ;________________________________; at least in this version the implication feels more like he’s finally at peace? (hilariously wwx managed to purge/cleanse the saber spirit, which is the entire conflict of fatal journey haha, nhs really did get his best friend to do his homework for him yet again, INSPIRATIONAL)

- HELL YEAH FINALLY GET REKT YOU PIECE OF SHIT! PRESS F TO PAY RESPECT EXCEPT JOKE’S ON YOU I’VE GOT NO RESPECT TO PAY

They did do away with any and all ambiguity around nhs here and I’m totally cool with it, that was awesome

- I’m playing the world’s tiniest little violin right now, wow much sad fuck you and your dumb hat

- may I just say that the fact that jgy uses his last moments on earth to make lxc, a person he proclaims to love, feel as bad as possible about his now inevitable death even though it clearly wasn’t really his fault... is just proof that he has never actually loved anyone at all except possibly himself 

contrast with wwx, who tells jc that he’s sorry, dries his tears in the here and now and says to let the past go because there’s nothing either of them can do about it now and there’s no point in hurting themselves over it again and again anymore. jgy has the opportunity to give a similar kindness here and instead twists and twists the knife, so lxc will be in as much pain as possible when he’s gone. he’d rather be kept alive in lxc’s suffering than let him, someone he ‘loves’, ever heal and be happy. anyway I hope hell is real shitty for you jgy

- jgy you absolute piece of shit you couldn’t let my man have TEN FUCKING MINUTES to nap in peace? after sixteen years of your fuckery? urgh bye  

- nhs looking at lxc sadly when lxc can’t see him... one last ‘I don’t know’ finally closing out his arc... I love all of this so much, there’s such a nuance of... he is genuinely a bit sad about causing lxc pain but he also doesn’t regret what he did At All. (I guess most of what he’s done must be pretty easy to rationalize/justify to himself, since the vast majority of his work went into finding the horrible shit jgy has done and showing them the way home to roost, rather than creating fresh suffering from scratch. and then there’s also the whole mo family but uh well eggs omelettes amirite lol)   

- lan qiren telling people not to run or talk loudly b/c they’re at a temple, even under these circumstances fhakjsldfhkjsdafhkjsaldhf 

- god the casting people for this show have a perfect track record of finding heartwrenchingly cute kids my GOD

- jfdsafhaskdjfh I love how they’ve done the moment with the hat -- the way the flashback sort of indicates that nhs does recognize on a deep level that the dude he just killed was someone’s son, was after all once an innocent child, like anyone... and again, it doesn’t make him regret it. he looks tired and sort of empty, but not like he’d take any of it back. he’s seen jgy for all that he was, good and bad, and made his decision. his reaction to seeing his hands ever so slightly stained with blood is mostly ‘...eh sure’ (and he knows none of this will ever bring his brother back and I am HURTING) . just. I love him so much what an interesting character 

- lan zhan raised a child who can talk about his feelings, unprecedented & wondrous 

who’s chopping onions in here

- never getting over ah yuan being the best person in the world at roasting his dad 

- okay okay okay I’m going to have some incoherent feelings here -- the expression on nhs’ face right after wwx asks him if he intends to be chief cultivator is just... hm. how do I describe this. it looks almost like he’s thinking ‘oh yeah I forgot you don’t actually know me anymore (yeah okay that’s my bad)’? the previous scene is about lwj and wwx, The symbolic representation of true love in this world, naming each other/knowing each other for exactly who and what they are. that’s the thematic victory in this story; to be truly known, accepted and loved for the entirety of who you are, if only by one person in your whole life. (notably all sorts of love, parental, familial, platonic etc., not just romantic/sexual) and to get his victory, nhs has had to completely forsake that because his whole plan hinged on it; he hasn’t been emotionally honest with anyone for well over a decade at this point. no one really knows or understands him, and if someone ever did he’s long dead now and never coming back. and in this one moment both wwx and nhs seem to come to the quiet understanding that neither of them are who they used to be as kids and it’ll never be like it used to be again, and reach a sort of live-and-let-live truce about it.  d u d e this goddamn story 

(after all part of the reason jgy is so incredibly terrified of nmj is that he’s the first person to see straight through his bullshit to who he is behind it, and that it’s u g l y  back there. jgy + nmj = being known without being accepted or loved (b/c honestly he doesn’t deserve to be loved or accepted yeah there we go I said it), jgy + lxc = being accepted and loved without being known, which turns into disaster all around.)

- man this was actually a really solid adaptation, it was excellently done! they did rush a bit towards the end there (it was never explained why jgy didn’t kill sissi along with all the other sex workers in this version, for example, leaving a rather substantial plot hole, and they never reveal why exactly lan zhan had to take over as sect leader which breaks off lxc’s arc at the end), but all in all that was wonderful and even added some stuff I liked better than in the book! now please god never let mtxt write a sequel, just let them be in this happily ever after, all of them have been through enough ;________;

- also the music was truly epic! I don’t even begrudge them using some parts more often and blatantly than what’s probably necessary, I want to wallow in this love theme as much as the next person lol

- what am I going to do with hours upon hours of my life now? I don’t know either, I suppose I will just have to find some way to hobble on 

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #nie brothers #(b/c predictably that's what most of my feelings boil down to lol) #meta #I think I might have outdone myself with this; this is a new height of aimless unproductive nonsense even for me lol #I did this instead of working on the edit of the fic I've got nearly finished because... I don't know either guys I just don't know

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #118 (Year 3/Week 14):

My 3rd re-watch of Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean’s magnificent, all-male epic and the movie that Steven Spielberg had seen more than any other film. It’s so grand that the nearly 4 hours spectacle opens with 4+ minutes of orchestral music prelude on a dark screen and includes an ‘intermission’.

It got me to realize that most all movies (maybe because of the economics of movie-financing) always show deference to authority; The influences they represent, whether government, military, religion, civil powers, or simply ‘the big man’, the rulers are always accepted as masters.

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The Garden of Words, my second anime ever, and coincidentally also my second by Makoto Shinkai (After ‘Your name’). A melancholy and poetic story about a 15-year-old aspiring shoe-maker student who keeps meeting a woman skipping work on a park bench at the beautiful Shinjuku Gyo-en gardens during the raining season. Gorgeous visuals of nature and rain.

The Wikipedia page for this film is nearly as long as the one for Obama!

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3 more terrific debut films by young female directors:

🍿 For some unclear reasons, I’ve seen a large number of Parisian high school dramas recently. Spring blossom is one of the best. A gentle drama of a shy 16 year old girl who falls in love with a 35 man she sees outside a local theater.

And like Quinn Shephard’s ‘Blame’, it’s twice as impressive, because it was written by the talented Suzanne Lindon when she was only 15, and she directed it and starred in it before she was 20. Je l'adore! 8/10.

🍿 The Hive, my first film from Kosovo. Another on my growing list of “Debut films directed by female filmmakers”. The “first film in Sundance Festival history to win all three main awards – the Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Directing Award – in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition”. Based on a true story, it tells simply but touchingly about a war widow who started a small business, making homemade Ajvar and empowering the women in her village. Highly recommended. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. And of course, reminiscent of the Macedonian documentary ‘Honeyland’. 8/10.

🍿 Rye Lane, a cute new rom-com about two young black South London strangers who meet at random and spend the day getting to know each other. Fresh and original.

🍿  

My 7th by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki. Every time I watch another of his movies, I get elated. There is nobody who make movies like him, he’s one of a kind. The man without a past, the second of his “Losers” trilogy, opens with a cinematic gut pinch and doesn’t let go until the end. My favorite of all his films so far?...

The trailer. 9/10.

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The Hollywood Reporter Critics put out a new list of their ‘50 best films of the first 21 years of the 21st century’, and I decided to go through the ones I haven’t seen yet.

First was Far from Heaven, my 4th tragedy by Todd Haynes. A precursor to his masterful ‘Carol’, this is another Douglas Sirk-inspired melodrama of oppression and unrequited desire in middle class America of the mid 50′s. Drenched in luminous colors over all (except of the scenes of illicit dangers, in the gay bar and black cafe), and accompanied by another expansive score, it’s a devastating tale of the price of conformity. The husband who can’t control his homosexual urges, and the wife who falls for a black gardener are doomed, and their lives will be shattered. The poor players had simply nowhere to go. 8/10.

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‘Today I learned’ about ‘Elite Panic’ describing the “behavior of members of the elite during disaster events, typically characterized by a fear of civil disorder” and the shifting of focus away from disaster relief towards implementing measures of "command and control".

New order, my third memorable film by Mexican auteur Michel Franco (after the terrific ‘Sundown’ and the disturbing ‘April’s daughter’) describes a society collapsing, the exact moment when the shit finally hits the fan, when the riots on the TV screen cross over and knock on your door. It’s a brutal and unforgiving story, ugly, violent and without any sentimental sympathy. Shocking anarchy escalates quickly when the pressure gets too much.

When the revolution comes down, it will bring some serious bloodshed. No wonder the greatest boogieman the ruling class warns us all about is “Class Warfare”. The most distressing film of the week - 9/10!

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To catch a thief, Hitchock’s romantic thriller. The Good: Grace Kelly on the French Riviera, the ultimate glamour of the lifestyles of the rich and famous at Cannes and Nice, Hitchcock’s first (?) use of helicopter shots and modern car chases. The Bad: The genre roles & sexual politics of the husband-seeking unmarried young woman would not fly today.

I watched it solely because of this clip.

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2 with Brigitte Fossey (of ‘Jeux interdits’):

🍿 “...The square is mine!...”

I forgot that she played the grown-up Elena in Cinema Paradiso, one of Ennio Morricone’s most popular movies. And yes, without his magnificent score, the 3-hour long nostalgic trip to the heart of cinema, would not be half as enjoyable.

The question that was not well-answered was: Why did he not bother to visit his mother for 30 year? (Re-watch).

🍿 The happy road, a mediocre 1957 children comedy about 10 year old American boy and French girl, who escape from a Swiss boarding school, and hitchhike to Paris. Directed by and starring Gene Kelly, falling for the girl’s mother. 3/10.

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Inside, the new Willem Defoe survival thriller. He’s an art thief who breaks into a hi-end NYC penthouse of a wealthy art collector, intending to steal 3 paintings by Egon Schiele. But the security system traps him inside, and he’s unable to escape for many months. Captivating hi-concept and one-trick film, but a bit too long. 6/10.

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...”Never forget how much he loved you, Kubo”...

After being seriously obsessed with everything ‘Coraline’ all of last year, Adora moved on to Laika Studio’s next stop-motion animated story Kubo and the two strings. A Japanese-inspired action story about a one-eyed Samurai son who creates magical origami figures from his 3-stringed shamisen. But it was as if all the pretty parts were combined by an AI-engine. 4/10.

I will introduce her next to ‘The Iron Giant’, and ‘Isle of dogs’.

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First watch: The green room, one of the last few François Truffaut films I haven’t seen yet. In it, he plays a somber 1920′s journalist obsessed with death who builds a shrine to everybody he had lost. I love his human directing style, but this was a confusing mess. 2/10

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RIP, Ryuichi Sakamoto X 2:

🍿 In remembrance of his passing I started re-watching Bertolucci’s ‘The Last Emperor’, but to be honest, I got bored after 30 minutes; I blame the less than HD version of my pirated copy. So maybe I’ll try it another time.

Instead, I went back to my of favorite ‘Black Mirror' episodes, and the only one he composed the score for, Smithereens. It was directed by the same man who did my other cherished story ‘Hated in the nation’, and was also about online media frenzy that spirals out of control. This ‘Tyranny of the Screens’ parable received mixed reviews, because it wasn’t futuristic enough, but for my money it is a tense thriller on par with the best of them. 10/10.

Sakamoto’s dark score is subtle and minimal. You have to strain to notice it. Perfect!

...”This is my last day!”...

🍿 Psychedelic Afternoon, a 2013 animated short, featuring David Byrne, and released to raise money for children who survived the 2011 tsunami.

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‘Mad men’ is one of the few TV-shows I've seen, and I’ve seen it 3 or 4 times (including once last year). “Hazel” of YouTube ‘Dream Dimension Productions’ analyzes one “Perfect Scene” from Season 3 finale “Shut the door, have a seat”.

A terrific breakdown, which got me to watch it again, together with a few more.

Extra: Her ‘Netflix has a content problem’, which I also agree with, as I was attempting to avoid 90% of all their content.  

🍿   Talk to her, my 3rd unsatisfying film by Pedro Almodóvar (after ‘All about my mother’ and ‘The human voice’). A twisted story about two unappealing men who befriend each other at a clinic where they both care for comatose women. His editing choices and scattered direction, constantly focusing on unrelated detail in every scene turned me off. Some artistic perversions (like a silent film clip of a tiny man entering a giant vagina) notwithstanding. I guess I’m not a fan. 4/10.

🍿   2 more by Noah Baumbach (both with Adam Driver):

🍿 The last film I saw this week was also the best one:

I started watching the new Adam Driver dinosaur fantasy ‘65′. but it felt so stupid the moment Adam Driver opened his mouth, that I had to switch it off within 5 minutes. Instead, I turn to Marriage Story again. An absolute masterpiece, so painful and so true, for all divorced couples and parents of children of divorce. (That 10 minutes long scene at the apartment was raw! - Screenshot Above). 10/10 deservedly and without any reservations. 

(And now I must see ‘Two for the road’!)

🍿 (Actually, I ended up with his uneven While we’re young, which didn’t measure up to that. The milieu of hipster millennial poseurs and Brooklyn wannabe documentary filmmakers was uninteresting, and I also can’t stand Ben Stiller.)

Still I will look for the rest of his movies I had missed.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

#movies

[neonvqmpire]

The Rise of Skywalker song countdown: day 16 of 22

- 6 days left -

Save me from the nothing I've become

How can you see into my eyes, like open doors?

Leading you down into my core

When I've become so numb

Without a soul

My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold

Until you find it there and lead it back home

Wake me up inside

Wake me up inside

Call my name and save me from the dark

Bid my blood to run

Before I come undone

Save me from the nothing I’ve become

Now that I know what I'm without

You can't just leave me

Breathe into me and make me real

Bring me to life

Frozen inside, without your touch, without your love, darling

Only you are the life among the dead

All of this time, I can't believe I couldn't see

Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me

I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems

Got to open my eyes to everything

Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul

Bring me to life

this post is late again bc i got tempted by some anti and leak shit yesterday so i wasn’t feeling like posting wow i love our universe

Soo these two idiots, right? I feel like I’ve already talked about their polarities way too much on here and i don’t wanna repeat myself but they’re just too perfect to write about sth else instead.

I feel this song perfectly represents their journey from the first meeting on takodana to the interrogation scene “How can you see into my eyes like open doors?”, Kylo wanted to find the map to luke at that moment, but (as u can read in the novelization) still cared about not invading her privacy (this sounds weird but that’s the way it was). However he could see into her eyes like open doors, she wasn’t afraid, she let him pass and then fights back, discovering his thoughts. They’re perfectly equal and connected to each other, and that’s why both of their “doors” are “open”.

Next there were the force bonds: “My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold until you find it there and lead it back home”, this is the first time they properly interact with each other, they get closer and develop a trust in each other which ends up in him encouraging rey to jump in that cave. She finds an answer that she’s not expecting, but always knew deep inside her; she’s a no one. All the time she was hoping to find her parents , her belonging, her home. She’s feeling lonely but ben tells her he’s there for her, that she doesn’t need to be alone, he’s offering her a home.

So she ships herself to him in hope pf turning him: “Call my name and save me from the dark”. Then Ben decides to kill his master while sparing rey’s life. A person he barely knew, but the person who saw him in his truest form for the first time in along time. “Save me from the nothing I’ve become”; he tells her that she’s in fact a no one, a nothing with no special family or background. Maybe even that she shouldn’t have these powers; it’s paradoxical but that to him, she really somehow means something; he cares about her, which is beautiful poetic cinema again.

“You can't just leave me” : she leaves him because she has no choice, he wasn’t ready to be turned, still processing his past.

And what happens after this? Will he finally turn himself with reys help for tge good side and save the galaxy once for all together? I think it’s a good possibility, but i guess we’ll have to wait six more days to find out, but I’m telling you: they’re not gonna let Ben’s beautiful character arc end up in him dying in her arms, that would be a tragedy and not want i would count under a satisfying ending.

#star wars #the rise of skywalker #tros #kylo ren #ben solo #adam driver #rey #daisy ridley #reylo #bendemption #tros countdown #music rec #music countdown #evanescence #bring me to life #metalcore #idk the genre #alternative #tlj #the last jedi #tfa #the force awakens #tros theories #anti bs #anti reylo bs #reylofam