FILM 1515: THE VISIT

TRIVIA: According to statements made on Twitter, M. Night Shyamalan prepared three different cuts of the film. One that was "pure comedy", another that was "pure horror", and a final one that "fell somewhere in between."

M. Night Shyamalan used his fee from his science-fiction-adventure movie After Earth (2013) to self-produce the film in question. In his own words, this was "an attempt to regain artistic control" after his recent movies had been denied final cut, and were even taken away from him in post-production.

BOOK 133: WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES: KAREN JOY FOWLER

Meet the Cooke family. Our narrator is Rosemary Cooke. As a child, she never stopped talking; as a young woman, she has wrapped herself in silence: the silence of intentional forgetting, of protective cover. Something happened, something so awful she has buried it in the recesses of her mind.

Now her adored older brother is a fugitive, wanted by the FBI for domestic terrorism. And her once lively mother is a shell of her former self, her clever and imperious father now a distant, brooding man.

And Fern, Rosemary’s beloved sister, her accomplice in all their childhood mischief? Fern’s is a fate the family, in all their innocence, could never have imagined.

(Goodreads.com)

MY VERDICT: I don’t have a lot of time for a well thought out review but I will give an overview of what I thought.  The primary idea is a good one (don’t worry no spoilers here.) There is a twist (although not as monumental as the blurb and reviews would have you believe.) I just feel that the wonderful idea behind the book was lost by an almost boring narrator who pushes away anything that might be interesting for relevant plot points that need hitting to tell the version of the story she wants to tell. The most annoying thing was how the twist was revealed, it literally took any shock or enjoyment at discovering a new point of view on the story and spoilt it by being condescending. I was looking forward to the twist and that spoilt it.  I read to the end but was genuinely disappointed, I was always reading on thinking it would get better. And I didn’t get the relevance of the 60-something year old author setting a book mostly in the late 90s narrated by a 20-something?

FILM 1248: TOKYO STORY

TRIVIA: The film is notable for its use of the "tatami-mat" shot, in which the camera height is low and remains largely static throughout.

For a film that sides with the parents, it's not so surprising to learn that 'Yasujiro Ozu' never married and lived dutifully with his mother all his life.

Because of Ozu's style of shooting at eye-level from the floor, all the sets had to be constructed with ceilings.

Film 1095: Before Midnight

Trivia: Dedicated to the memory of Amy, the woman who was the inspiration for Before Sunrise (1995). Richard Linklater had spent a night walking and talking around Philadelphia with her, but eventually they lost contact. Some time between Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013), he finally learned that Amy had died many years before in a traffic accident, so he dedicated the movie to her.

Made 9 years after the second film and 18 years after first film, which is the length of time between the events in each story.

Ethan Hawke described Before Sunrise (1995) as a film about what might be, Before Sunset (2004) as a film about what could or should be, and Before Midnight (2013) as a film about what is.

Walter Lassally, who plays Patrick, the British writer, is a famous cinematographer, who despite having an Academy Award, this is his first time acting.

Film 989: 51 Birch Street

Documentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parents' 54-year marriage was a good one. But when his mother dies unexpectedly and his father swiftly marries his former secretary, he discovers two parents who are far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined. 51 Birch Street is a riveting personal documentary that explores a universal human question: how much about your parents do you really want to know?