NoYank. Remove All American Media And Culture From Your Life

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/18011751

Ghosts usually come with a fair bit of baggage in the movies: A tragic romance leading to an even more tragic suicide, maybe, or a howl for justice from a murder victim from beyond the grave. The protagonist of “Dead Talents Society” has no such tale attached to her untimely (and embarrassing) death, and this is where her problems begin. John Hsu’s frightfully entertaining Taiwanese horror-comedy imagines a world where the dead are just as beholden to the pressures of fame as the living, and an industry has grown around ambitious apparitions building their personal brands. Urban legends live forever, and forgotten ghosts literally disappear — so get out there and scare ‘em good, kid!

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17874221

The Irish thriller Bring Them Down starring Barry Keoghan has won Best Picture at the Texas film festival Fantastic Fest.

Described in the festival's programme as a "beautifully crafted and assured character piece", Bring Them Down won Best Picture in the main competition of the annual Austin-based Fantastic Fest.

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The debut feature of writer-director Christopher Andrews, Bring Them Down is billed as "a suspenseful thriller that observes the escalating tensions of two farming families in the west of Ireland, whose actions have increasingly devastating consequences".

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17484037

Following a group of small-town, DIY Indian filmmakers, Reema Kagti‘s “Superboys of Malegaon” is a moving crowd-pleaser that constantly reaffirms its importance through its central theme. Although the film, which is based on real events, often tries to cover too much ground, it continually circles back to the idea that people must see themselves reflected in art, not just out of want, but out of deep desire stemming from need, in order to live with dignity.

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In adding years of context to each decision leading up to this superhero spoof, Varun Grover’s script also adds indelible (and tragic) context to the documentary, as well as the parody film it portrays, while transforming the film’s own tale of scrappy creativity into a spiritually moving look at the meaning of cinematic images, and the immortality they offer. Its shattering climax makes for a wonderful complement to Spanish maestro Victor Erice’s recent comeback, “Close Your Eyes,” which is no easy feat.

The reddit version /r/RAAMACFYL only ever had 250 people and less organic activity than this one.

Keep posting!

This is what I get when I look up 'quotes from Yellowstone' –

Why?? What's the point? "Ooooh look at how evil I am, I am so amoral, I don't care about anything except money and power."

It doesn't even advance the plot, they're just doing it to be weird.

I made it about two minutes into that new British show about gladiators for the same reason: every single line of dialogue is like this.

The characters are complex enough that they do surprising things, don't just follow a simple template, yet their motivations make sense.

There is Machiavellianism but they don't pile it on (one of my pet peeves about current American culture is they constantly make a point of signalling how amoral they are, it's really weird)

It has some tropes (martial artists can fly/become weightless) but only here and there, not so they overwhelm the story.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17299575

Ageing and death are perhaps the foundation of all horror, but this droll French chamber piece, adapted from an 1839 novella by Aleksey Tolstoy, puts a devious spin on that. The titular “vourdalak” – a kind of Mitteleuropean vampire – is Gorcha, wizened patriarch of a family of forest-dwelling peasants, who is driven to feed on the blood of those he loves the most. With the film incarnating this beastie in the form of a toothy puppet resembling Norman Tebbit (voiced by director Adrian Beau), it’s a cruel but funny metaphor for parental authority and late-life dependency. Obviously they didn’t have assisted living in early modern Bohemia.

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Beau could have adapted this as straight gothic. Instead, he opts for an enjoyable high-strung comedy that, with him often shooting through Hammer-style soft gauze, skims pastiche. D’Urfé’s court manners are ridiculously superfluous in the rustic setting, exposed as hypocritical when he roughly pursues Sdenka, and then redundant in the face of the ghoulish paterfamilias scoffing at him down the dinner table.

Trailer

IMDb

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16911227

It’s unlikely that you will have seen the city of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, shown with such textured complexity in a film before. In part that’s because the Saudi film industry is so new – the first film to be shot entirely in the country, Wadjda by Haifaa al-Mansour, was made just 12 years ago. Mainly, though, it’s because Mandoob, the striking first feature from Saudi director Ali Kalthami, delves into places in this stratified, rapidly evolving city that even those who live there are unlikely to know about.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16891767

Gwledd/The Feast (2021) got the number one slot in the best folk horror movies of the 2020s listicle but there isn't a post on it, so here is one from 2022.

Where did the inspiration for this project come from?

I’ve worked with screenwriter Roger Williams quite a bit on a number of television projects, and we’re both passionate about horror. We were also passionate about creating a piece of horror cinema in the Welsh language, with the ambition of having it travel the world. We decided to delve into the long history of Welsh literature, which is inherently horrific in many ways, and use that as a springboard to tell a story about contemporary Wales, weaving in the global theme of climate crisis.

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Now that the film is about to be unleashed on the world, what are your hopes for it and the Welsh industry at large?

I have big hopes for our little film. I would love it if it were to kickstart some kind of industry in the Welsh language. There’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t have a thriving film industry. But it seems to me that we need to be pragmatic in establishing the kind of brand that we sell to the world, and it’s about identifying what we do really well. Our culture, our literary heritage is full of these brilliant, fantastical stories. I think that’s a really good base for us to start from. There is no reason why Wales can’t be as renowned for horror as somewhere like South Korea.

For it's reception see:

• Gwledd (The Feast) on track to become most successful Welsh language film of all time
• The Feast’ review: A keen-edged, slow-burn Welsh-language horror that takes no prisoners
• The Feast is a chilling Welsh-language eco-horror
• The Feast—folklore meets gore in this environmental horror film

Trailer

IMDb

Let's pick out a line from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16643/16643-h/16643-h.htm to see what he has to say:

"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist."

That's a pretty typical line. Let's set aside for now the debate on whether nonconformity is good or bad: look at the tone of the writing. It is a moral lecture. It is saying: "This is how you should think, what you should believe, how you should be." The reading allows only one interpretation. It's just beating you about the head with serious truth-claims. Another line:

"Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other. It undergoes continual changes; it is barbarous, it is civilized, it is Christianized, it is rich, it is scientific; but this change is not amelioration. For everything that is given, something is taken."

Each sentence is a bland assertion. Commanding the reader what to think. I am reading a list of opinions. That is all it is: a list of opinions. This is considered peak Usan culture. It is considered to be literature or philosophy. Another line –

"He is a good man, who can receive a gift well. We are either glad or sorry at a gift, and both emotions are unbecoming."

This is not literature. This is a self-help book. It is downright bad, adolescent writing. It's relentlessly po-faced, and there isn't a whiff of creativity from the prose. I grew up on Irish writers. Irish writers say things like –

"Choosing his boot, the buttoned class, as a convenient example of inanation, he lifted it in the air"

Irish writers say things like –

"She opened the fridge for the ham, the butter, the can of Smithwick's. Happy as a duck she was"

These are just the first two lines before my eyes when I picked up the first two books by my elbow. Do you see the difference? Literature should have warmth, humanity, creativity. Writers should have the craic with language. The words should be buttered with character. Ralph Waldo Emerson's output has all the banality of ChatGPT's. Imagine living with this guy. Imagine trying to flirt with him and he just starts lecturing you like a charmless Anglican.

Edgar Allen Poe's pretty good though I'll give the yanks that.

They include:

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms

• Water Margin

• Journey to the West

• The Plum in the Golden Vase (of the Ming dynasty)

• Dream of the Red Chamber (The Story of the Stone)

• The Scholars (of the Qing dynasty).

The Chinese historian and literary theorist C. T. Hsia wrote that these six "remain the most beloved novels among the Chinese."[2]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16652219

This isn’t the first film to serve up redemption through a furry emissary – and it won’t be the last. Guan Hu’s Chinese drama-cum-western-cum-state-of-the-nation missive won Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year – but more importantly, its heavy canine quotient meant it also bagged the second prize in the festival’s Palm Dog award. Its heartwarming aspect comes framed with real grandeur, and a stark absurdism and tightly wound sentimentality reminiscent at times of Takeshi Kitano.

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the splendid desolation of the vision of China makes the film’s feelgood belly-rubs feel all the more vital.

Really really good, best film I've seen in years.

Won the 2023 Palme D'Or.

It's a French courtroom drama I suppose you could call it, though it doesn't follow some genre formula.

The brilliance of it is that the questions aren't answered, the core of the plot is a mystery rather than a stated fact. My main gripe about American culture is there is only one interpretation of the text.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUXawkH-ONM

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_of_a_Fall

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17009710/

cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/australia@aussie.zone/t/1119180

We were dismayed to see no Australians on the New York Times Best Books of the 21st Century – so, with the help of 50 experts, we created our own, all-Australian list. You can have your say, too!

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16556837

Kneecap is so confident and single-minded in its telling of the semi-fictionalised origins of its titular west Belfast hip-hop trio, that it may make anyone who’s never heard of them feel like a bit of a loser. It’s a film that not only signals a major musical arrival, but ends up feeling a lot bigger than the conventional (and often confining) boundaries of the “music biopic”. Kneecap is the story of Belfast and of the “ceasefire generation” – the ones who were told that all is well, that they live in “the moment after the moment”, even when their nation’s traumas are still writ into their bones. It’s a story, too, crucially, about language deployed as an act of liberation and defiance.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/19382242

https://steamdb.info/charts/?sort=peak

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16376448

Hollywood blockbusters have dominated international box offices for decades, but in recent years, they have lost luster in the largest movie market outside the U.S. — China.

Walt Disney Co.'s latest film, "Deadpool & Wolverine," has taken the world by storm since its release on July 22, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. But it has failed to replicate that success among Chinese moviegoers.

While the Marvel superhero sequel made a respectable $57 million in its first 20 days in China, a locally produced comedy-drama, "Successor," made six times as much in the time period, according to data from maoyan.com.

Released on July 16, "Successor" continues to thrive in Chinese theaters. As of Monday, it had grossed over $439 million to cement itself as China's third most-watched movie of the year. "Deadpool & Wolverine" languishes at number 15.

A hit Hollywood franchise screened in China, especially one under Marvel, would be almost certain to rank higher in the box office prior to 2020. For instance, Avengers: End Game was China's third most popular movie in 2019.

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"China learned all they could from Hollywood. Now they make their own big-budget blockbuster films with good special effects, and even good animated films ... They don't need Hollywood anymore," Rosen, who specializes in Chinese politics, society, and film, told CNBC.

Meanwhile, Chinese films like "Successor" have a major home-field advantage.

"The Chinese audience, mostly young people, want stories they can resonate with ... films that relate to things happening in China in one way or another," said Rosen.

Successor matches that description, with the film touching upon themes of child-raising, education and upward mobility, tailored specifically for the domestic market, according to Emilie Yeh, Dean of Arts at Hong Kong's Lingnan University.

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Aside from films that are culturally relevant and relatable to the Chinese market, nationalistic and patriotic movies have also become increasingly popular.

China's top-grossing movie of all time is 2021's "The Battle at Lake Changjin," which depicts a battle between the North Korea-allied Chinese People's Volunteer Army and U.S. forces during the Korean War. It's followed by "Wolf Warrior 2," a 2017 film about a patriotic Chinese action hero battling corrupt forces overseas.

This patriotic streak has gone hand in hand with increased Sino-U.S. tensions and the 'decoupling' of the world's two largest economies.

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The Chinese Communist Party takes an active role in developing and overseeing the local film market, as well as deciding how many foreign movies are screened in the country's theaters.

In 2012, then-vice President Xi Jinping and Joe Biden signed an agreement to increase Hollywood's access to China. This eventually led to a 34-title quota for U.S. movies to be distributed by a Chinese state enterprise under a revenue share model. Approved movies also had to pass through China's strict censorship policies.

When Xi became president, he put the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party in charge of regulating and overseeing films.

As per local media reports, China Film Co. had a role in producing "Successor." The company was started by China Film Group Corporation — linked to Beijing's propaganda department — and other entities.

According to Lingnan University's Yeh, while "Successor" is a great movie with a good script, it still benefits massively from distribution, promotion, and "blessings" from the state.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16244881

Korean film maestro Park Chan-wook is keeping in motion. The internationally acclaimed auteur, 60, will begin production on Saturday on his 12th feature, an adaptation of American novelist Donald Westlake’s 1996 novel The Ax. The movie, which is currently going by the working title I Can’t Help It, will star Korean screen royalty Lee Byung-hun and Son Ye-jin, with financing and distribution coming from local studio heavyweight CJ ENM.

Westlake’s novel was previously adapted into French by Costa Gavras as the 2005 film Le Couperet (The Axe). Like its predecessor, Park’s adaptation follows a man — named Man-soo this time and played by Lee — who is abruptly laid off by the paper company where he worked tirelessly for many years. The man grows increasingly desperate in his hunt for new work, eventually resolving to kill his job competitors. Son will play the man’s wife, the warm-hearted Mi-ri.

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CJ ENM has said the target release date for the film remains undecided. Park, however, is a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, held annually in May, having premiered four of his films there.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16093338

Austria in the 18th century. Forests surround villages. Killing a baby gets a woman sentenced to death. Agnes readies for married life with her beloved. But her mind and heart grow heavy. A gloomy path alone, evil thoughts arising.

IMDb

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15843547

Ten years ago, musician Usman Riaz grabbed a pencil and started to sketch.

He might have hoped, but didn't know at the time, that it would start him on a path to making history.

That initial drawing became The Glassworker - Pakistan's first ever hand-drawn animated feature film.

It follows the story of young Vincent and his father Tomas, who run a glass workshop, and a war that threatens to upend their lives.

Vincent's relationship with violinist Alliz, the daughter of a military colonel, begins to test the bond between father and son.

Usman tells BBC Asian Network the characters ultimately come to learn "that life is beautiful but fragile, like glass”.

He describes The Glassworker as an "anti-war film" set in an ambiguous and fantastical world that takes inspiration from his home country.

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The country doesn't have the thriving film industry of neighbouring India and there is no government support or incentive for budding creatives like Usman.

So The Glassworker was a passion project, he says.

“These 10 years for me have just been purely driven with passion and obsession.

“Since I was a child, I have loved hand-drawn animation and there's something so magical about it.

"The beauty of the lines drawn and painted by the human hand always resonated with me.”

Usman says he travelled the world looking for mentors and his search took him to Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.

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Usman says the industry veterans at Ghibli were also the ones who encouraged him to start the production himself.

After raising $116,000 through a 2016 crowdfunding campaign he founded his own studio, Mano Animations.

From there it's been a painstaking process, especially since full production started in 2019.

“What you are watching is essentially a moving painting,” says Usman.

“Every single frame you see, whether it's a background or the character moving, it's all drawn by hand.”

Usman says that, so far, he hasn't made any money from the project and has been unable to pay his wife Maryam and cousin Khizer, who he recruited to help him.

But there's hope that the labour of love could be the start of something bigger.