Sunday 8 September 2013

HIDDEN TREASURES - BUG, DEALER, OSLO AUGUST 31ST


Drugs are bad! Not all of them, though. Caffeine and Calpol are obviously very good. But, alas, in today's three hidden treasures, drugs are bad, because they're not caffeine and they're not Calpol.

BUG (2006) - WILLIAM FRIEDKIN

It ought to be clear to just about anyone who's seen William Friedkin's masterful Bug that the Oscar-winning director has certainly not lost his mojo. A brilliant, eventually beserk psychological horror as seen through the twisted mind of Tracy Letts, featuring brave, unhinged performances from Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon. Bug puts you through the wringer as it puts a wry smile on your face. Neat stuff.

DEALER (2004) - BENEDEK FLIEGAUF

Benedek Fliegauf is in no hurry to flaunt his directorial prowess. Dealer is an extremely well-made film. You might hate it. You might lose patience even before the opening credits have finished. You might yearn for a line of dialogue, a moment of warmth, and shot of bright colour. But what Fliegauf has crafted in Dealer is ambitious, pure and insidiously thought-provoking.

OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (2011) - JOACHIM TRIER

A film that develops more poignancy the more you dwell on it, or your memory of it. It is a film about memory, in a way. It's about time: the past, the present and the future, what this one man's mind can make of all of that in, for him, a most extraordinary of circumstances. Anders Danielsen Lie is excellent in the lead role.

4 comments:

  1. the august is the one i was thinking i should have seen...

    and the photo you've chosen for this film. is this the sort of thing i was supposed to think of in the past,the present and the future... ;)


    this years award season seems it's gonna more interesting than last year's.thank god or whomever...

    and if a.d doesn't do some sort of alt oscars type coverage.you should steal that crown ! :)

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    1. AD will be all over it. It's where I get the majority of my material lol.

      I thought last year's awards season was one of the most interesting since I started watching!

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  2. ok, please explain what was so interesting about last year/was it the the films themselves or other sideline things that tied in the films/being a fan/award watched ??

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    1. The fact that there was no clear frontrunner in Best Picture until after nominations were announced. The change in Oscar voting dates. The surprise nominations, like Michael Haneke, Benh Zeitlin and Jacki Weaver. The fact that the Best Director race was wide open all season, and that Actress and Supporting Actor categories were also hotly contested. The fact that only the second person in SAG history missed a nomination there but went on to win the Oscar, and the lowest correlation between SAG and Oscar in eleven years. The films: Amour, Life of Pi, The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, Beasts of the Southern Wild. The strong box office of all nine Best Picture nominees, and the fact that we had no idea how many nominees there'd be. The eventual results were dismal, as was the Oscar show itself, but I enjoyed every moment of the rest of the season.

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