knvixen

Sometimes you have to say things that might seem elitist to other people. I've watched everything it's possible to watch by Bong Joon Ho, and I'm a huge fan of South Korean cinema in general. If you're going to see this, without understanding the films that lead to it, you won't view it as it's supposed to be seen. Having an air of whimsy and a healthy cynicism will help you to get more from it. The perfect preparation is to watch Okja, which made me cry, I'm not ashamed to admit. This is too long by about half an hour, with unnecessary build-up. It's satire, with a Trumpian egomaniac as leader. On that basis it's a feel-good romp. Naomi Ackie is still magnificent after her brilliance in Blink Twice. Robert Pattinson plays a bit of a loser remarkably well. I don't buy into the hype about him (Kristen Stewart beard?🤢) and I've seen him in some avant-garde stuff in which he's very good, but he leaves me still thinking ugh. I live in the world in which this is 8/10. If you don't it will be a lot less. That's not great for a big release film, but I'm delighted there'll be more to come from a brilliant director.

Ian McKellen will always be 10/10. Alfred Enoch is a natural, 10/10 and Bravo! For him. The story was hideously contrived, so 4/10. The camp level was a decent 7/10. Some 6/10 acting from other players, though Leslie Manville is worthy of an honourable 9/10 as she's wonderful. I have no idea why Mark Strong accepted the part, unless he was desperate to play with Sir Ian, I regret he offered a rather stiff and no more than the standard 6/10. The downfall of it all was Gemma Arterton. Her performance was as Jimmy Erskine might describe that of Miss Land. Someone decided that Gemma would always play slightly vulnerable, pretty young women. The problem is she's a terrible actor with a huge rectangular head, who has now had her upper lip artificially plumped to the dimensions of a workshop shelf. She's also 37 in this, and in an effort to give her a youthful commoner's flush she ended up resembling one fallen to scarlet fever in its most virulent. Simpering, offering cow eyes over a gate, open-mouthed gasping before a kiss, indeed all the tricks of the 13yo aspiring thesp, they just don't work in middle age, and they never did for her. This is a very poor film, saved only by being quite so absurd that it's impossible to take it seriously. I do hope Sir Ian had fun.

It's too long, and it meanders most dully. I have no idea how it would appear to anyone who knows nothing of Burroughs, or what they might enjoy about it. I have to state that I don't like looking at Daniel Craig - some faces are repellent, and the idea that he might be considered attractive is alien to me. I had Dirk Bogarde's performance in Death In Venice in my head throughout, in a way completely unflattering to the ex-Bond. His performance has no nuances. He is incapable of portraying lust, or pleasure, or jealousy; you know he is feeling those because of an action rather than his demeanour. He also fails to be a convincing junkie, as shivering is not enough. Where is the craving that inspires others to murder? Drew Starkey as the object of his affections is similarly flat and unemotional. I wanted a parallel hunger for them both from Craig, instead of which I felt he quite liked them, compared to the tedium of the rest of his life. The best actor in it, by far, is Lesley Manville, who whilst playing the apogee of her usual type, is perfect. The book was unfinished when published, and I found this ending touching and satisfying in a way that the rest of the film lacked.