Coda to /slash #4: Under the Skin

Posted on October 22, 2014 by cornholio1980

Under the SkinUnder the Skin
UKUSA 2013
Written by Jonathan Glazer & Walter Campbell, based on the novel by Michel Faber
Directed by Jonathan Glazer

ICYMI: I had already seen “Under the Skin” in may, at this years /slash 1/2-Festival. It was my highlight of this short version of the /slash Filmfestival, and even a couple of months later it’s still up there with the best movies of the year (so far) for me. After reading the book (which, while nice, is nowhere near as fascinating and enthralling as the movie) and watching it in the cinema for a second time, I think I’m finally ready to try to give it its due.

The day after I saw it in the cinema for a second time (with my /slash- and blogger-buddies Kalafudra and Maynard) I went to amazon.de and saw a lot of 1-star reviews… which urged me right away to buy the blu-ray, just out of protest. It’s the same with IMDB, by the way. You’ll find quite a few reviews where this movie is completely trashed. Some reviewers even claim it to be the worst movie that they’ve ever seen. Well, congratulations for their choice of movies in their lives so far. I mean, seriously, come on. So you didn’t like it, that’s fine. But why does everything always have to be the best or the worst thing ever? As much as I despise such hyperbole, I totally get the sentiment behind it, and understand where those people are coming from. “Under the Skin” is no slight movie fare, and it’s most definitely not for everyone. I, however, found it absolutely stunning.

Despite the fact that I’ve seen it twice now, I’m still a little reluctant to talk about it in too much detail. “Under the Skin” is not simply a movie, it’s art… and like every piece of art it works a little bit like a mirror. What you see in it depends greatly with what you bring to it. “Under the Skin” is a movie where very little is plainly stated and/or explained. It’s also more about mood and invoking certain feelings than it is about plot. And it’s also full of symbolism. Thus, it’s a movie that exalts the imagination of the viewer, and opens itself up for interpretation. And I don’t really feel like forcing my thoughts unto you. But let me just say this: The way I see it, Scarlett Johanssons unnamed character, after being drawn into our world, slowly starts to find her humanity. Feel free to disagree.

Without giving too much away, let me talk about a couple of scenes that really stuck with me. First: Those great sequences with the trap. I know that it will probably be too fucked up and weird for many, but I found those scenes to be visually stunning. Then there’s the moment where the baby’s crying at the shore, which gave me chills and really made me feel uncomfortable. And I also loved the scene where Scarlet Johanssons character stumbles and falls down – and that’s all I’m going to say about it. At first, you may think it’s funny, or you may not get why she’s doing what she’s doing, but I thought it was absolutely great, and made perfect sense. I also love the way the movie kinda put’s us in her position, being stuck in the van with her, listening to this human beings, and often don’t understanding a single word they’re saying (because of the heavy scottish accents). That was really clever. There are many more notable and memorable scenes, but since I would have to go into spoiler territory for them, let me just say that pretty much everything about the last 30 minutes or so was absolutely incredible.

Visually, this movie offers many stunning sequences. Jonathan Glazer definitely has an eye for beautiful, haunting images. The score by Mica Levi is also absolutely perfect for the movie, and extremely important for it’s disquieting mood. Scarlet Johansson is also great in this. She really seems like an alien being. Her cold, distant stare, how she switches emotions on and off, her sometimes bewildered expressions… just perfect. The only thing that keeps me from giving this the highest score right away is that the beginning of the movie really is a little slow (many would argue that the whole movie is slow and pointless, but I couldn’t agree less). However, I do believe that it gets stronger and more intense with every passing minute, and the climax is incredibly thrilling. I love the way the movie ends, and found the last couple of images especially haunting. It’s a movie that will stay with me for a long time, and that I will revisit frequently. A stunning, mesmerizing piece of art that has to be seen – even if you end up hating it.
9/10 (which might be elevated to 10/10 after a third viewing at the end of the year)


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Coda to /slash #3: Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf)

Posted on October 21, 2014 by cornholio1980

Hour of the WolfVargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf)
Sweden 1968
Written by Ingmar Bergman
Directed by Ingmar Bergman

“Hour of the Wolf” was my first Bergman-movie, but I’m pretty sure that it won’t be my last. What’s most impressive about it are the visuals. Damn, something definitely can be said about good old-fashioned black & white cinematography. I’m a fan of this style, but I also have to say, as much as I like it when a new movie comes around that’s shot in black & white, it’s just not the same. The way Ingmar Bergman plays with shadows, the contrast between darkness and light, et cetera, is just stunning. They don’t make them like that anymore. Even though it’s more than 45 years old, it’s one of the most beautifully shot movies that I’ve seen in a while.

Apart from that, I mostly liked certain scenes (especially the dialoges between Alma and Johan during the titular Hour(s) of the Wolf, as well as the gloriously surreal puppet theatre-scene), the incredible mood that Bergman builds during certain moments, and the performances by Max von Sydow and Liv Ullman. What I could have done without, though, is the extremely weird ending the movie progresses to. The scene at the cliff with the boy was already strange enough, but what happened at the castle near the end was just completely bonkers, and instead of drawing me in, it rather took me out of the movie (as a reminder: I usually prefer my movies a little bit more literal and down-to-earth). What I liked, however, was Alma’s fear that the craziness of her husband might rub off on her. That was a nice and interesting notion. Nevertheless, if I should ever decide to watch this one again, it will mostly be because of the stunning visuals, and less because of the plot.
7/10


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Coda to /slash #2: Sharknado 2: The Second One

Posted on October 19, 2014 by cornholio1980

Sharknado 2Sharknado 2: The Second One
USA 2014
Written by Thunder Levin
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante

I’m pretty sure that no one would seriously argue that “Sharknado” was, by any definition, a good movie. However, for what it wanted to be, it was a decent effort, and quite entertaining. I saw it at last years /slash Filmfestival with just the right crowd for a movie like this, and had a blast. One of the best things about it, obviously, was the gloriously stupid idea of a tornado with sharks in it. Shark movies are a dime a dozen, but that was something fresh, something new. However, they didn’t just take this concept and stop there, but included many nice ideas (even if they were mostly completely bonkers), some decent jokes, and a couple of unforgettable, cool moments (like the chainsaw). In other words: You could see that they really put some effort into it, trying to make the best possible bad movie that they could.

Given its huge success, a sequel was inevitable. As much fun as I had with the first one, I was still sceptical, though. As I said, the idea, as stupid as it may be, was something new. Alas, a second one would only rehash this idea, thus inevitably losing the novelty factor. I also was rather disappointed by the title. From all the possible titles that were flying around the Twitterverse, they went with “The Second One”? Really? That dull, unimaginative and lackluster title was, in their opinion, the best that they could find? Well, guess what: Turns out it’s actually the perfect title for the movie, which is also dull, unimaginative and lackluster. With the first one, I really felt that they were trying to do a good bad movie. Here, it seemed that everyone involved was just in for the paycheck. Also, they probably thought that “Sharknado 2” would be a sure-fire success anyway – so why actually put some effort into it?

“Sharknado 2: The Second One” is just incredibly lazy. They took the first movie, and placed it in New York – and that’s pretty much it. Also, since the chainsaw-scene was so beloved, they – instead of thinking of something new and similarly cool – decided to just repeat it. Over and over and over again – until even this great, standout moment of the first movie totally lost its appeal. Yeah, they actually managed to make it dull to watch a guy slicing up a shark with a chainsaw. Well done, guys! There were also way too many (uninteresting, clichéd) characters, compared to the first one. They also went totally overboard with the cameos. That most of them were C- or D-celebrities that are mostly known only in the US, didn’t help the movie either. I’m pretty sure that I missed 90% of the cameos because I didn’t recognize the person. There were many scenes where just by the way it was shot you could sense that it was a cameo, but since I didn’t get it, I found it nothing but confusing and frustrating. Also: As funny as it might have been the first time round to see what seemingly are real weather men talking about a Sharknado as if it’s a real weather phenomenon, the joke got very old very soon… and they reappeared half a dozen times, and sooner rather than later, I found those scenes to be just plain annoying.

Far and in between, the movie actually has its moments, or at least scenes where they seem to try something new. The beginning on the plane was a nice idea, offering what’s seemingly an homage to the classic Twilight Zone-episode “Nightmare at 20.000 feet”, but for some reason, the sequence fell mostly flat for me. Same with the ending, where they tried to create a similarly cool moment as the chainsaw, with Fin riding a shark in the tornado, but it just felt forced. Pretty much the only scene of the movie that I liked was Fin literally jumping the shark(s), and even that was ruined to some extent by going all Friedberg & Seltzer on us, overexplaining the joke (which wasn’t that clever and sophisticated in the first place). Thus, where “Sharknado” was a fresh breeze in the worn-out genre of shark movies, “The Second One” smelled rather stale and – dare I say it? – fishy.
2/10


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Coda to /slash #1: The Shining (US-Cut)

Posted on October 18, 2014 by cornholio1980

The ShiningThe Shining
UKUSA 1980
Written by Stanley Kubrick & Diane Johnson
Directed by Stanley Kubrick

While I catched bits and pieces here and there over the years on TV, I only really saw “The Shining” about two years ago – and fell in love with it right away. As I had hoped in advance, it jumped right up there for me as one of the best horror films of all time. Kubrick’s precise direction, the intense atmosphere, many unforgettable moments, the discomforting music, the great performances all around, the perfect ending in the maze… in my very humble opinion, horror doesn’t get much better than this (in case you’re interested and you can read german, here’s the full review that I wrote back then -> fictionBOX – The Shining). However, two years ago I “only” watched the considerably shorter european cut (which is Kubrick’s preferred version), so when the Filmmuseum showed the US-cut as part of their horror retrospective, I jumped at the chance to check out the longer version, and compare the two.

Obviously, all the strengths and great scenes and elements present in the european version are in there, too. So it’s still a really good horror movie. However, in my opinion both cuts are a perfect example of how important editing is. And when I say editing, in this case, I’m talking less about cuts during a scene, or the buildup and flow of the scenes, but rather the movie as a whole; what you keep in and what you take out. The european version is much more intense, because it has a shorter setup, thus it starts to build the tension much sooner. The whole flow of the movie is greatly improved in the shorter cut, which trims scenes that are either redundant (like the talk with the doctor, where we get the exact same information as later, when Jack talks to the bartender) or superfluous (like all the additional weird stuff that Wendy get’s to see during the finale – at a time where our attention should be focused solely on what’s happening in the maze). Granted, there are a couple of scenes that I wouldn’t mind having in the international cut, but overall, there was not a single moment (that I noticed, anyway) that I will really miss when I watch my Blu-Ray again. Ergo: I’m with Kubrick on this.
US-Cut: 9/10 (International Cut: 10/10)


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/slash 2014 – Day 11: 13 Sins

Posted on October 16, 2014 by cornholio1980

13 Sins13 Sins
USA 2014
Written by Daniel Stamm & David Birke
Directed by Daniel Stamm

“13 Sins” was this years “supporter & friends”-exclusive Secret Society-screening. And while I already knew the other two surprise movies in advance, in this case, I had absolutely no idea what I would be getting. This was also my last movie of this years festival (in case you’re wondering what happened to “Puzzle” and “Live”; I didn’t see them, sorry. I just was too sick and also too worn-out, and decided that I would rather go to bed a little earlier and maybe catch the special screening of “Once Upon A Time in the West” on the following day. And I have absolutely no regrets about that), which offered, at least for me, a rather so-so goodbye.

In the interest of full disclosure, let me start by saying that I wasn’t the biggest fan of last years “Cheap Thrills”, which featured a similar concept. While I thought that the idea behind it was intriguing, many things just didn’t work for me. For example, I would have preferred it if the main protagonist there wouldn’t have been laid off, and simply would have jumped at the chance to earn a few bucks. Unfortunately, they’re doing the same thing here again, adding a pregnancy and an imminent wedding on top of that. It’s like the filmmakers are trying to say that people are only greedy when they really really need the money, a claim that somehow doesn’t seem to be supported by the world around us. I understand why they’re doing it. They want us to sympathize with the protagonist, at least for a while, by showing us that he doesn’t do these things voluntarily, but that he’s desperate, because he’s standing with his back against the wall financially. Still, I think it would be so much more poignant without these blatant excuses.

Another problem is that it’s rather obvious how the movie is going to progress. Of course, the challenges start off completely harmless, and then get more and more difficult – from a moral point of view, mostly. Having said that, it was quite interesting to find out what the next challenge is going to be, and some of them actually were quite funny. Others, on the other hand, were rather grim. Now, obviously, with a movie like that you’re inevitably going to ask yourself “How far would I’ve been willing to go?”. Granted, I’m in the happy position to not have any money issues, so it’s easy for me to say, but I would have dropped out at number six. Which also means that afterwards, Elliot was on his own, and that I didn’t really sympathize with/root for him afterwards. Which only shows how futile it is to try to make him desperate in order to make us understand why he’s playing this game. Because sooner or later, he’ll lose the audience anyway.

Further problems I had with the movie: Mark Webber looked irritably like a slighty younger Martin Freeman (I was about to write that if Peter Jackson decides to go back to Middle Earth in 10 years and do his not-based-on-any-book-prequel-trilogy to the “Hobbit”-Trilogy, and needs to cast a younger Bilbo, he has to look no further than Mark; but by that time, he’d probably be too old for that too), but without having the same acting chops (he’s not bad, but also not particularly good, either). The movie was very predictable. Richard Burgi was totally wasted in his tiny role. Eliot’s brother was no character, but only served a plot function. And the ending in the retirement home or wherever that was featured three twists in a row, the first and the third ones painfully obvious, and the second one just far too stupid for my taste. And the ending was weird too, since it seemed to imply that with his last act, Elliot ultimately won. Dafuq?

One thing where I’m still not sure what I think about it is the fact that Elliot seems to be enjoying these challenges over time, ultimately eagerly awaiting the next text message. It was something new, something that I didn’t expect, and an interesting idea. On the other hand, it made it even more difficult for me to sympathize with him. What I did like: The first half actually wasn’t half bad. It moved at a swift pace, and as predictable as the progression of the challenges might have been, it still was nice to see what the filmmakers would come up with next. It was also nicely shot, and featured some sinister, gruesome scenes. Overall, I don’t think that it’s even remotely terrible enough as to be a Level 13-worthy “sin” for a “movie challenge”-game, but it didn’t really thrill me either. However, if you (unlike me) loved “Cheap Thrills”, give this one a try.
5/10


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/slash 2014 – Day 10: Wolf Creek 2

Posted on October 15, 2014 by cornholio1980

Wolf Creek 2Wolf Creek 2
Australia 2013
Written by Greg Mclean & Aaron Sterns
Directed by Greg Mclean

I’m not sure if the world needed a sequel to “Wolf Creek”, but alas, we got one regardless. The good news is that it’s pretty entertaining throughout, and probably could have been a lot worse. The bad news is that it misses the incredible tension that “Wolf Creek” build in its second half, and overall, is just very unexceptional and disposable. Just like Mike’s victims, one might say.

One aspect where “Wolf Creek 2” actually improves on its predecessor is the pacing. There is no worn-out introduction, thus the whole movie gets going a lot faster. The movie also benefits from Mick Taylors bigger/longer appearance, and is also better shot than the first one (which had a very cheap digital camcorder look to most of its scenes). And given the fact that I’m from Austria, I appreciated that the tourist couple were visitors from Germany. On the other hand, I found the movie rather lacking when it comes to tension. The characters are bland, and some of the situations they find themselves too far-fetched to really let me identify with them and their predicaments – which, as you might recall, was one of the things that I loved about the first one. I especially had a hard time with the labyrinth/cave-scene. And the ending felt very arbitrary and didn’t seem to make any sense. There is also not a single sequence that comes even close to being similarly exciting and enthralling as the 10-15 minutes in “Wolf Creek” after Liz wakes up in the shed. Ultimately, the sequel just offers very little that’s memorable. The only things that come to mind right away are the kangaroo-scene (with the whole truck sequence supposedly offering a nice homage to Steven Spielberg’s “Duel”), and the cruel quiz near the end. Other than that, “Wolf Creek 2” serves up well-trodden, worn-out slasher entertainment. If that’s what you’re looking for, fine. Just don’t expect it to reach the same heights as the first one.
5/10


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/slash 2014 – Day 10: The ABCs of Death 2

Posted on October 14, 2014 by cornholio1980

The ABCs of Death 2The ABCs of Death 2
USA/New Zealand/Canada/Israel/Japan 2013
Written by far too many people to mention them all
Directed by… see above

This will be one of my shorter reviews; not because I haven’t got anything to say about the movie, but because I believe that it works best if you don’t know the names of the segments in advance. Finding out what deaths they came up with is half of the fun, in my opinion. This also means, however, that I can hardly talk about the individual segments. What I can tell you is that I preferred this one to its predecessor. While there were a couple of great segments in that one too, there was also some really weird stuff that wasn’t to my liking. Somehow, most of the stuff here seemed more straightforward. There was less crazy japanese shit, less toilet humor, and so on. So if those were the segments you loved the most in the first one, prepare to be underwhelmed by this sequel. My hands-down favorite segment of the movie was “S”, with “X” a close second. The other ones were mostly nice and entertaining too, and overall, they were very different, thus the movie offers a lot of variety that should guarantee that everyone will find a least a couple of segments tha he likes. But, of course, the downside of that is that pretty much everyone will have those shorts that don’t really do anything for him/her. For me, most of the animated segments fell rather flat, especially “D”. And I was a little disappointed by Marvin Krens segment (which I was looking forward to, since he directed last years opening feature “Blood Glacier”), because while it definitely looked nice, I found it to be rather unimaginative. However, overall I enjoyed this way more than the first one.
7/10


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/slash 2014 – Day 10: These Final Hours

Posted on October 13, 2014 by cornholio1980

These Final HoursThese Final Hours
Australia 2013
Written by Zak Hilditch
Directed by Zak Hilditch

A fair word of warning: I’d be surprised if there were many people who are going to love this movie as much as I did. It’s just my kind of movie. I love dystopias and/or apocalyptic end of the world-movies, and found this one to be particularly engaging. What spoke to me pretty much from the beginning was the sense of dread and despair. In “These Final Hours”, it truly is the end of the world, and there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s no drilling rig-crew that sets off in a space shuttle in order to put a bomb into the huge asteroid that’s going to hit us, no mighty Avengers that prevent those mean aliens to wipe us out, no nothing. It’s also not one of these apocalypses where at least a small rest of humanity is going to survive. The entire planet gets engulfed a huge wall of fire. Many other parts of the world have already gone, and one of the last areas that it will hit is the west coast of Australia. Nevertheless, by the time this movie starts, even for all the people who are still alive, the end is only mere hours away.

Where would you go, what would you do, whom would you meet, if you knew that in 12 hours, everyone on this planet is going to be dead? It’s a question that I inevitably had to ask myself when watching the movie. Granted, the answer the movie provides might not be the most original and/or surprising. There are raiding parties that steal, rape and kill, some choose to face the end quietly and alone, others decide to end their life prematurely instead of getting burned alive, and then there’s of course also the huge rave party going on that follows Britney Spears advice (and/or the example of “Matrix: Reloaded”) to “dance until the world ends”. The latter was exactly what James originally wanted to do. But then, on his way there, he sees how a bunch of guys drag a screaming young little girl into a house. He tries to simply go away, to tell himself that whatever they’re going to do to her, everybody will be dead in a couple of hours anyway, so what does it matter? But ultimately, he can’t simply turn his back, and saves her.

I love movies that deal with holding on to humanity in an inhumane world, which is exactly what James is doing here. I also love that he’s definitely not your typical, clear-cut hero. He left his pregnant girlfriend to face the end of the world alone in order to meet his other girlfriend at the end-of-the-world rave party. Thus, he starts off in this very unsympathetic place – but during these final hours of his life – and also humanity – when one could say that it doesn’t really matter anymore how we behave anyway, he grabs this chance to become a better person right before the end, and goes on this path of redemption. And I found his journey to be immensely gripping and engaging. I don’t wanna say anything more about what happens, but let’s just say that when the movie drew close to the end, I was at the edge of my seat, desperately hoping that James would be successful in his final quest. The last movie that managed to thrill me like that was last years “Gravity”. I just found it to be really tense.

“These Final Hours” is not a big budget affair, and there are instances when you can see and feel that. For example, there are no huge crowds around, and most of the places and roads seem more deserted than you would expect even under these dire circumstances. Having said that, the actual end of the world looked absolutely stunning. I also loved the soundtrack. It might be almost a little too reminiscent of John Murphy here and there, but since I love his work, I didn’t mind at all (I just wish they would have been able to hire him instead of going with someone else and seemingly telling him to copy Murphy’s particular style). The story was really engaging and sometimes even moving, and I absolutely loved loved loved the ending, and the thoughts and emotions it evoked (at least for me). “These Final Hours” is a beautiful, moving film that haunted me for a long time afterwards, and even though chances are that you won’t be as blown away by it as I was, I’d implore you to check it out.
9/10


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/slash 2014 – Day 10: La Danza de la Realidad (The Dance of Reality)

Posted on October 10, 2014 by cornholio1980

La Danza De La RealidadLa Danza de la Realidad (The Dance of Reality)
Chile/France 2013
Written by Alejandro Jodorowsky
Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky

Given the fact that I’m not the biggest fan when movies get too weird and surreal (as you might have noticed already), I’m probably the worst possible person to review this movie. So please take it with a grain of salt when I tell you that “La Danza de la Realidad” (my first Jodorowsky-movie, by the way) is a two-hour movie that to me felt like a three-hour movie. In the interest of full disclosure: It probably didn’t help that I was rather sick that day, possibly even running a fever (even though one could argue that in this case, which sometimes feels like a weird fever dream, that might actually have worked in the movie’s favor). If this and “Escape from Tomorrow” would have switched places in the screening schedule, I very well might have skipped “La Danza de la Realidad” altogether in order to get a little rest. Especially since it didn’t really sound like my cup of tea in the first place. But they weren’t, and I didn’t, so here we are.

(For the rest of this review, please pretend that I’m singing this to you. If you wonder what my voice sounds like, think of a musically illiterate Daffy Duck, but without the lisp.)

Oh, dear reader, this movie. What can I say about this movie? It was so weird, a strange combination of surreal and (seemingly) autobiographical elements. But most of the time, at least to me, it was very unclear where the autobiographical ends end the surreal starts (Well, mostly. I’m pretty sure the scene were Sara heals Jaime from the plague with a blessed golden shower didn’t actually happen like that. Call me a heathen, but I just don’t buy it). Which for some, might be fascinating, but I couldn’t really get into it. That I couldn’t relate to any of these characters obviously didn’t help. I especially had a hard time with Jaime, Alejandro’s father. I get that he kinda has to start off at his very unsympathetic place, in order to have the chance to grow over the course of the movie, but by the time that he starts to do just that, he pretty much already lost me. Especially with the bit at the dentist (the only scene at this years festival where I had to look away). That was just diabolic, man. Even Jigsaw wouldn’t do that.

Now, I get what Jodorowsky tried to do here, and on a pure artistic level, I can appreciate it. He shows you a part of his youth, but in an exaggerated, distorted way that either represents the way that he remembers it, or the way his younger self has seen and experienced it (I can’t decide which, and I think that question is wide open for debate). Thus, everything’s kinda twisted, and you get surreal, heightened elements like all those cripples, the papier-mâché tanks, or the fact that Sara’s singing all the time. I also don’t wanna trash it completely, since it undoubtedly had its moments. I loved the hilarious nazi-fight (with the aforementioned tanks), and there were other bits and pieces that I really liked. But overall, I found it to be rather tedious and arduous, and I’m pretty sure that I would have found the documentary “Jodorowsky’s Dune” far more interesting than this. Still, if you’re a fan of the weird and surreal, you should definitely follow Jodorowsky’s invitation to this strange and crazy dance.
4/10


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/slash 2014 – Day 10: Escape From Tomorrow

Posted on October 10, 2014 by cornholio1980

Escape From TomorrowEscape From Tomorrow
USA 2013
Written by Randy Moore
Directed by Randy Moore

Going in, I suspected that this would be a movie that I would either love or hate. Turns out, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I think what I love most about the movie has actually little to do with the movie itself, and more with how it was shot. To take this script and the actors and to just go to Disney World and shoot the movie without permission, guerilla-style… that’s probably a better story than the one the movie tells itself. Also… I’m in awe of that poster. I mean seriously, look at it. Mickeys bloody hand, the original disney font… how could a movie possibly live up to that? Well, turns out: it can’t.

Part of it definitely has to do with my expectations. Going in, I thought that “Espace From Tomorrow” would be a movie about a man who slowly starts to lose his mind while being surrounded of the surrealness of Disney World. Which, unfortunately, isn’t really what this is. Instead, it turns out to be a hodgepodge of different ideas and weird elements that seem to have been cobbled together with the “throw everything to the wall and see what sticks”-method, and that includes witches, a fictional illness called cat flu, a weird organisation that kidnaps guests in order to scan their brain, and so on. It starts off really strong, but then it just got this weird mess of one-note ideas that didn’t really came together to a coherent whole. It all just got a little too weird for me, until it reached a point where I couldn’t take it serious anymore. Which might have been the point, but sooner or later I simply couldn’t go along for the ride anymore. It got way too confusing and weird. I especially hated everything about the cat flu. That was just way too much for me. And the ending was completely bonkers, and finally seemed to push the movie over from the surreal and weird to the supernatural.

It was also a little weird to see famous attractions like Small World without the accompanying music. And for whatever reason (maybe one of Disney’s condition to allow them to release the movie?), certain parts of certain images were pixeled out, which stood out in a strange way. Having said all that, there were still parts and elements that I liked, and at least for a while, I really had a good time with the movie. First of all: I loved the fact that this was shot in black and white – which perfectly captures and somehow even enhances the surrealness of Disney World. Since I’ve been to Disneyland before myself, I also really liked how the movie captures the craziness of it all. The long lines, the waiting, meeting random people again, and so on. The family dynamic was nice, too. And I absolutely loved that instead of romanticising it, they showed Jim’s ogling of the far too young french girls for what it is: Creepy, disturbing and pathetic. I also think that the movie really started very strong – I just wish they would have stayed more grounded instead of going off the rails. Nevertheless, despite my disappointment with the direction the movie ultimately took, I don’t regret visiting it, and think it was worth the price of admission.
6/10


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