MUBI

Irish Aris

I have started using my Mubi a bit more again, so I will re-ignite the thread and share my thoughts on films I see there.

Starting with The Delta (1996/1997), the feature film debut of American director and writer Ira Sachs.

I find Sachs to be a bit hit and miss. There always sems to be a vision board in his films, but the stories don't always flow effortlessly. When they do, it results to great films, like Love is Strange. When it doesn't, it requires a bit of effort to sit through, like Little Men.

The Delta, being his first long film, serves as an introduction of what will come in later years. The story is divided in 3 parts and deals with 2 characters, Lincoln and John/Minh. In the first part we see the everyday life of Lincoln. It is revealed early on that Lincoln is gay or bisexual and cruises to find other men. One of them is John/Minh and the second part shows their brief acquaintance. The last part focuses on John/Minh. There isn't much connecting the 3 parts. I guess the narrative is the struggles of gay men at that time, but everything is left kind of unfinished. Sachs opts for a very grainy/b-movie look (I suppose there probably were budgetary constraints) which creates an aura of authenticity. But it also comes across a bit amateurish or as if this is someone's film to get a college diploma. This is probably because the actors come across as non-professional (and a quick look didn't reveal any other film credits from either of them).

A just OK film so, one that didn't warm me to Ira Sachs any further, though I do have Passages, his latest film, in my radar.

Fun fact: in the film's imdb page, there is a review/comment from Shayne Gray, who plays Lincoln in the film and talk about his life before and after the film.

Irish Aris

Paris Is Burning (1991)

A very interesting documentary about the ballroom drag scene in New York in the late 80s. The film interviews/includes many of the houses that were "big" in the scene at the time: LaBeija, Extravaganza, Pendavis, St. Laurent, Ninja. We see the beginnings of vogueing, before Madonna made it famous. In fact, the documentary finishes with Malcolm McLaren's Deep In Vogue, in which Willi Ninja contributed. It is very much of its time and hasn't necessarily aged well, but is a great document of the scene in the 80s. Recommended for anyone that saw and liked Ryan Murphy's TV series Pose.

Irish Aris

Rewatched La Antenna (The Aerial, 2007), a peculiar film from Argentina.

I remember being very impressed by the visual aspect of it, when I saw it years ago. It's a black & white, almost exclusively silent film (very little spoken dialogue), as the premise is a city that everyone (bar a couple of people) have lost their voice. You could say it is a dystopian setting, though because of the approach writer/director/cinematographer Esteban Sapir follows, it never gets really dark, there is an endearing quality about it. Sapir is primarily a cinematographer, which is evident in the film, the way he sets the scenes is wonderful. But there are so many visual gags fighting for space - the phrase "everything but the kitchen sink" comes to mind (and I'm not sure I didn't see a kitchen sink somewhere in there 🤣 ). On this second viewing it was easier for me to spot the issues, so not a film benefiting from multiple viewings. Still though an interesting little film to watch once, if one is interested in a "style more than substance" approach.

batistuta9

3 months for €1 until Sunday