What To Watch (12th Oct)

It has been 6 months since I went on an unannounced and insouciant hiatus, but like the lover who just can't stay away, I just can't stay away.

Moving swiftly on to the weeks releases...

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (dir. Gilliam)

Without focussing on what we all tragically know, plaudits must go to Gilliam on finishing a film which he had every right to shut down. It would be expedient to note Depp, Farrell and Law filled in the eponymous doctor role (incidentally donating their fee to Ledger's daughter, Matilda).

The resulting picture is likely to maintain Gilliam's knack of unsettlingly vivid imagery but ultimately perhaps one in which an inculcation of the director's imaginarium of ideas, is one too bloated to swallow whole.

Thirst (dir. Park Chan-wook)

In all seriousness vampire movies are not all they are perceived to be. Recently comedy vampires and teenage vampires have been bestowed upon esurient, blood thirsty audiences gargling before the next available bite.

I would like to exculpate Sarah Michelle Gellar. But Stephanie Meyer is as much a culprit as the aforementioned 'teenage slayer'.

BUT! This is Park Chan-wook! The man who gave us the splendour which was Oldboy. I expect a fresh, quirky and almost balefully witty tale. Not, however, for the faint hearted.

HOME ENTERTAINMENT OF THE WEEK

Synecdoche, New York (dir. Kaufman)


It's difficult to describe the greatness of a film whose unwillingness to subscribe to the perceived standard, which is 'great', belies its position as a newcomer to the term 'classic'.

Synecdoche, pronounced Synecdoche (sic) is (in the daintiest of nutshells) the story of a writer seeking to tell truth and reality in a new theatre production. What follows is really a deontological study of ambition and missed opportunities (all part of the nature of humanity) leading to refined redemption.

No doubt this is a tough, almost infuriating watch as scenes flutter in and out of hazy dreamlike segues without a drop in dizzyingly intricate tone (the animated sequences just one such example). You will need to watch the film again and again just to luxuriate in its finer details. Some will call it insipid and overly indulgent. For me, it was transcendental.

Grade: A (10/10)