Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) - David Yates

If Harry Potter is about minorities then Fantastic Beasts expands on this idea which J.K Rowling has been trying to convey for years. 

It is not a coincident Rowling wrote the Fantastic Beasts, if the world of magic is a metaphor of homosexuality (or any minority) then the beasts in the Fantastic Beasts are the outcasts within the outcasts. From the beginning of the film, they make it clear that the magical world/ culture is different between England and the States where they are not supposed to make any contact with no-maj’. The premise of the film is about Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), who is on a journey to write a book about the Fantastic Beasts and try to get people to understand them instead of killing them, travels to New York and accidentally his pets run away. Scamander represents an utopia for the mythical creatures, a sanctuary where they shouldn’t  be needing it in the first place. It is just like any fights on equal rights, we should even need to flight for them in the first place.

The concept of “Obscurus” is somehow literate and interesting. It refers to people, mainly kids, who are oppressed/ denied their ability in magic and for some reasons  they become the prefect host for the “virus” obscurus where dark magic takes over and they could no longer control their power and could even be consumed by the virus. Doesn’t it ring a bell? Orlando shooting, the shooter was raised in a conservative background where he was told being gay was not normal to a point he even believed it and took action on it (of course it was just a hypothesis) but it fits perfectly here. 

The idea of outcast is amplified with the characters, Scamander was expelled from school and have no friends, Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) was reassigned to a different department in MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) was an outcast of the working class, and we have Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), Langdon Shaw (Ronan Raftery) just to name a few. The Fantastic Beasts is basically a propaganda for the minorities, stop fighting within ourselves, we should get together and fight for a better life. 

The message behind was overshadowed for years but the Fantastic Beasts brought it back to the limelight. The special effects are as good as usual. It was really a delight watching it. 

Jules et Jim (1962) - François Truffaut

I know people say Les quatre cents coups [The 400 blows] (1959) is one of his best works but seriously, personally, I prefer Jules et Jim. Les quatre cents coups is a personal journey of what Truffaut went through as a kid, for which I admire. However, on the other hand Jules et Jim is more of an eternal story which no matter the time and cultural differences somewhat you could find something to relate to.

I am not talking being “friend zoned”, in my case, Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), it’s not a cliché that I relate myself as the female protagonist. I have valid reasons of my own. The fact she is candid, reckless and a little egoistic seem like a perfect description of me. I could totally see myself standing on the thin line, juggling my life as it comes. I guess I like playing with fire. Hope I won’t end up being burnt.

Jules et Jim is considerably really forward for it’s time, even today 3-way relationships are still being looked down on. Just because love is blind and it has stood before time way before our existences, it is still as represented as a taboo. I am pro-love, which means, just let people do whatever they want.

Les demoiselles de Rochefort (1967) - Jacques Demy

Hitchcock said suspense didn't have to be fear, it could be a lot of other things. The anxeity of whether the protagonists will find love is almost unbearable, especially the character of Delphine (Catherine Deneuve). Demy playfully sugarcoats the tone and the visual of the movie which is absolutely brillant. 

"Anticipation" is strongly present in Lola (1961) and in La paraluie de cherbourg (1964), but all three of them have a different interpretation of the "wait", either hopelessly or desperately in love and in Les demoiselles de Rochefort, they are more like romantically looking for the love of their lives/ their dreams. It's not sad but it's the suspense that I couldn't stand. The more joyful it seems the more painful for the audience (ME) to anticipate the end, which is brillant how Demy links the audience and the film together with the same concept.

Sausage Party (2016) - Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon

Sausage Party is really a surprise, I thought It would be straight up stupid jokes but instead it is deeper than expected. And the food porn scene will forever be in my head, I think it is a way to say “Fu*k you” to all those dirty minds out there. I simply don’t know how to react to it. It’s brilliant and explicit, it’s so wrong but it feel so right at the same time. 

How interesting they are trying to deny the existence of GOD. All we need is to believe in yourselves no matter how isolated and despair you feel. As long as you are determined you will succeed even if God is in the way.

Elephant (2003) - Gus Van Sant

What makes Elephant stood out from it’s genre is it’s subtleness, just a normal school day, everything is completely as usual and who knows what would happen next. The editing makes the audience on edge since we all know the premise. The movie keeps going back to the same moment before it happens. The suspense is unbearable. 

Sant didn’t put any emphasis on the event itself nor any political statement which I found really interesting because he leaves it to the audience to decide and judge what’s good in believing we are born innocent which is the total opposite of the movie.

For some reason this movie makes me think of the Orlando Shooting. Violence doesn’t need any justification, we put a label on it doesn’t make it any less bearable or acceptable.

Swiss Army Man (2016) - Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

This movie is not for the faint-hearted. This is the genre I personally love the must. Sometime we don’t need to explain ourselves and calculate every single second of the movie. Just let it goes out of hand and see what happens. There are so many shocking moments which make you pounder the credibility of the movie but yet you just smile your way through. 

There are a lot of similarities between almost all of Quentin Dupieux’s films (for example: Rubber 2010)) and Swiss Army Man. In terms of running wild and out of control, somehow the comedic storylines magically merge with each other and become something unexpectedly intelligent and raw at the same time. Dupieux gives us the epic monologue at the beginning however the latter integrates a shocking surprise at the end. Both ways work wonderfully. We might not be used to these eerie ideas and craziness nevertheless, they are way too captivating to ignore. It’s hard to react to these kind of over-exaggerated visions. When they are nicely made, they could be one fine piece of work itself and would be forever immortalised. (There are more and more of these kind of movies in the market, I wonder is there a proper term to describe it or even a study on it.)

Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe deliver a fantastic performance. Ever since Harry Potter Radcliffe tried very hard to break out of his Potter image and he has proven himself a serval times already. Paul Dano, no explanation needed. He has been amazing ever since I knew him from Little Miss Sunshine (2005). 

Not to mention the social issue which is the foundation of the movie. It couldn’t happen then or later, it’s relevant. The isolation deduces from social media that causes the lost of touch between people is getting serious. We never talk about it but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. 

Swiss Army Man might be one of the weirdest movies of 2016, it might not be a big fan favour now, trust me, in maybe few years it will definitely be on the lists of must-watch cult movies of all time.

Mala Noche (1986) - Gus Van Sant

Sant directorial debut, filmed in 16mm B&W. 

Mala Noche is about chasing that something we dersire, the blurred lines in relationships. In term of editing, it could be better, it's kind of confusing at times but it did a good job in conveying the message and the tone of the film,

The Gus Van Sant exhibit at La Cinémathèque française is really a good introduction of his works, what inspires him, etc.