The Movie (and TV show) Watching Thread

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

V for Vendetta - It's an interesting watch in light of current events. There's a lot of things I like (V has a lot of great lines. Natalie Portman has majestic hair, etc.), but I just can't get over the presentation of stockholm syndrome as the cure for anxiety. S for Stockholm?

I haven't seen that in years, but looking back on it, it does romanticize domestic abuse in a certain lens, especially given that it's pretty clear the relationship between V and Evey was more than a platonic one.

But from what I remember, V's intent was to make Evey more dedicated to the cause by making her experience the conditions of prisoners living under the Norsefire regime. A pretty cruddy way of going about it, and the fact that Evey feels liberated after all of it and falls in love with the guy is... slightly disturbing. But it's still incredibly well-made and one of my favorites.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

1. The Green Mile (1999) (9/10) - Simply put, a masterpiece. Tom Hanks makes pretty much any movie good, but overall it's just a fantastic movie that's made me more against the death penalty, even though, to my knowledge, Old Sparky's been retired. But the dry sponge execution scene was the most disturbing thing I have ever seen in any movie. If anything, it is easier to have sympathy for the heinous killers than the correctional officers, who themselves are dressed like Nazis. (Incidentally, the actor who plays the officer responsible for the botched execution isn't such a good guy in real life either; he groomed a 16-year-old girl at one of his acting workshops, married her, and abused her. So he definitely got a good role here.)

OH, and I would be remiss to not point out the obvious Christian symbolism throughout this movie! Or at least, if Pulp Fiction is a Christian movie, then this is practically a retelling of the Gospels if they took place during the Depression.

2. Gone with the Wind (1939) (7/10) - Above-average movie, but it's way too long. And although it was made in 1939, the problematic aspects are clearly visible. The slaves are content and affable, and no one really expresses their dissent to slavery. Ashley seems to have some moral compass with regard to how slaves are treated, but he's still kind of an oddball, bragging about his marriage to his cousin. Although he does make one remark about war that stuck with me:

"Most of the miseries of the world were caused by wars. And when the wars were over, no one ever knew what they were about."

But he's not exactly a moral exemplar, and neither is Rhett for... reasons I'm not gonna spoil.

And, although it is a controversial film and quite a product of the time it was made, it did make Hattie McDaniel the first black person to win an Oscar. But it also typcast Butterfly McQueen as the black nanny figure in her subsequent work, which she retired after so many years of it.

Anyway, if you want to see a truly neutral version of the Civil War from the perspective of the South at the time, I can't recommend it enough. It's earned its place in history, warts and all. I would've rated it higher if wasn't four hours long. I had to watch it in increments.

One last thing I'll point out, which isn't too spoil-ish but definitely remarkable, is how

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after Scarlett is forced to free her slaves, she simply moves from slave labor to prison labor, and makes no bones about either practice. Life truly imitates art.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Lords of Chaos (2018): 5/10

This actually came out for me several years after reading the book that it's based on of the same name: the true story of the Norwegian black metal scene, and the ensuing arsons and later murders in a race to see who could be the Most Metal™. The events are already pretty well-documented, so I'm not going to be particularly hesitant about spoilers. What I will give is my impression of the movie and how the characters and narrative are portrayed.

Still, the details are graphic enough that I should avoid pissing off the mods and just post everything as a spoiler.

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So, those who do know about the Norwegian black metal scene knows that there really are no heroes. The only truly sympathetic character (and also the real pioneer of the black metal genre Euronymous claims to have created) is Dead, but Euronymous takes credit for everything from the first Burzum album released under his record label to the arsons to the murders to his role in 'inventing' the genre by exploiting Dead's illness and marketing photos he took of his suicide. Varg is initially on rocky terms with Euronymous, who calls him a "poser" before listening to his first tape. (At this point, Dead is dead, Euronymous is running his own record store and label along with his band, and Varg is still a solo artist trying to gain publicity). Varg becomes the new bassist for Mayhem, replacing Necrobutcher (the only remotely 'good' guy after Dead, as he leaves immediately after Euronymous creates what may or may not have been fake necklaces carved out of Dead's skull - and spreads a rumor that he ate bits of his brain).

But the Varg we first encounter is not so much the neo-Nazi he eventually becomes rather than an artist yearning for success and acceptance from the right people, and that is why he burns the first church himself, and subsequent churches with Euronymous and other Mayhem members. Basically, he does everything that Euronymous ever said he wanted to do: burn or bomb the old churches in Norway, spread terror, market his first album, and only after Faust murders a gay man does Euronymous begin seriously evaluating how high-profile he wants his "creation" to be.

At this point, he is the most rationally-minded person in the film, understandably furious at Varg for leaving a trail that could follow him and his "Black Circle". After Varg voluntarily turns himself in to the media (and to court, but is dismissed due to lack of evidence) is when Euronymous makes the infamous secret threat to shock Varg with a taser and make a snuff film - which Varg catches word of.

And that is what leads to his demise: when instead of mailing Euronymous the signed contract releasing ownership of Burzum's work to Varg, Varg personally goes to Euronymous' apartment and stabs him until he dies slowly. And still Euronymous initially sees this as an opportunity for another publicity stunt, the attempted murder of a fellow band mate, which only infuriates Varg further after having already been told by him that the Dead skull fragment necklaces were fakes.

So in a sense, the film is presented as your classic band movie gone freakishly wrong: two members of a growing band become rivals. Varg takes Euronymous' infantile ideology and turns it into his and his music's ethos, and all these events are brought on by the suicide of Dead, who - and this is not seriously analyzed in the film - was likely a sufferer of Cotard delusion, possibly brought on by when Ohlin/Dead was bullied so badly as a child that he did spend some time in a hospital clinically dead.

I wish I could say the acting and the lines were mostly exaggerated, but Euronymous' portrayal is, I would assume, not far from reality. At the very least, the events of the movie are faithful to what was reported in the original book and described by most of the people who were involved.

But looking at it now, I doubt that Euronymous ever really intended to kill Varg. He clearly wanted the contract mailed as a way of parting ways with him, so for Varg to drive hours from Bergen to Kråkstad definitely casts doubt on the "self-defense" excuse he used (and continues to use, to this day) in court before he was finally imprisoned.

I realize this became less of a film review and more about musings on the story of an uncommonly f#cked up music scene, but I don't have very many complaints about the film itself. There is no 'serious' way to present the events that occurred in the way they did.

Not a very feel-good movie and not one I endorse watching late at night unless you are an insomniac like me. But it's a movie that did its job.