Strange Thoughts on Films. Turn Off Your Mind, Relax & Float Downstream.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Films That I Saw: November 2024
Coming into this year’s election, I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen as I already had expressed my thoughts about voting and why democracy is a failure. Seeing my sister put signs in support of Kamala Harris had me rolling my eyes as well as telling everyone around her to vote. I was like “oh shut the fuck up!” Then came Election Day where I just chose not to really pay attention to what is happening as I stayed in my and watched Revenge on MUBI on my laptop. I had other things to worry about as I am now in the process of cleaning out my closet and wardrobe. It is time since I purchased some new clothes, film box sets, and other things as I need to make room for the new things I had. I have already bought a bunch of new things in which I will need a new bookshelf and to do some re-organizing in my room. That is what I am focusing on other than my various projects for the year relating to my blog.
I am not entirely surprised by the results as I had a feeling that Dookie Tank would win though I do ponder the question of how did all of this happen? What happened during the Barack Obama administration that allowed people to not trust both the Republican and Democratic parties and vote for the biggest imbecile in this planet? The people I blame for all of this are the TV producers who created The Apprentice as it gave Dookie Tank a lifeline to be in the spotlight and lower our standards of what is supposed to be entertaining. Now that he will be back in power for another 4 years with his bitch J.D. Vance and the slew of dumb-fucks that will be in the cabinet including Linda McMahon as the Secretary of Education as she is unqualified for the job is a sign of things to come. It is as if Mike Judge’s 2006 film Idiocracy is now becoming a reality. All I can do is shake my head and laugh at how bad things have become while I have no sympathy for anyone in the Democratic Party because they are a bunch of whiny assholes.
There is a big reason Kamala Harris lost. It did not matter how many fucking rich people and celebrities endorsed her. It did not matter how many registered voters this pop star and that pop star brought to the table. Harris lost because she is nothing more than a younger puppet for Joe Biden and nobody wants that. Nobody wants someone who will say this and not back it up on their promises. Nobody wants to vote for someone complicit in the genocide of a group of people to support a Fascist state. Nobody wants some fucking cunt and her fucking party because they are a bunch of whiny pussies who do not know fuck about what the people want. There has been some legitimate criticism towards the Democratic party over the way they have ignored the working class and middle class and that is why they lost. They have no one to blame but themselves as it is time for the party to be abolished and try to remember that the word democracy is not mentioned in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. It is not even in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thomas Jefferson was rightfully critical of democracy as it did not work in Ancient Greece then and it has already failed here. Fuck Democracy!
Politics is something I do not think should be discussed no matter what as all it does is just cause trouble. I would rather focus on watching things that can make me feel something and not worry about the state of the world. That is why I go to cinema for answers although I have not been watching as much as I would like to because I had a niece and nephew who have been dealing with the flu that my mother had caught recently while I only had symptoms for a brief period. I wish I had gone to the movies more this year, but the timing and the lack of enthusiasm has really sunk in for me as this has not been a good year for cinema. Not enough good quality films, rising ticket prices, and lack of enthusiasm has been key.
In the month of November 2024, I saw a total of 17 films in 10 first-timers and 7 re-watches with five of the first-timers being films directed or co-directed by women as part of the 52 Films by Women pledge. Not a bad month considering the chaos that has been happening as one of the highlights of the month has been my Blind Spot film in Senso. Here is the top 9 first-timers that I saw for November 2024:
4. Four Unloved Women, Adrift on a Purposeless Sea, Experience the Ecstasy of Dissection
5. The Diary of an African Nun
6. The Boy and the Octopus
7. Agatha All Along
8. Band Aid: The Making of The Original “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
9. An Almost Christmas Story
Monthly Mini-Reviews/What Else I Am Watching
Four Unloved Women, Adrist on a Purposeless Sea, Experience the Ecstasy of Dissection
One of two short films that I watched on MUBI as this one is from David Cronenberg that is an experimental four-minute silent-film where the only sounds are what is on location. It is a short in which four waxed women figures shown dissected with their internal organs shown as if they have been raped or something. There is a lot of ambiguity that Cronenberg brings in that show these four women floating on the sea as there is nothing told that allows Cronenberg to give the audience the chance to interpret what they have just seen.
The Boy and the Octopus
From Taika Waititi is a four-minute short that is really an advertisement for Disney, yet it is a short that has a lot of heart. It revolves around a young boy who gets an octopus attached to his head during the Christmas holidays. It is a film that has a lot of humor and heart which is typical of Waititi’s work. Still, Waititi highlights the beauty of Christmas and an octopus’ reaction to the holidays.
The Diary of an African Nun
The second short that I saw on MUBI is a 16-minute student short film by Julie Dash made in the late 70s for UCLA on 16mm black-and-white film about a nun doing missionary work in Uganda. It is short that plays into a woman fascinated by her need to help people through Catholicism, yet she is tempted by her surroundings as well as the rituals that is happening in Uganda. The short is written by Alice Walker as Dash creates a story that plays into a woman’s struggle with her own identity in a world where her ancestors come from.
An Almost Christmas Story
From David Lowery and producer Alfonso Cuaron who also co-wrote the story comes this animated short film from Disney+ about a young owl who gets himself into trouble only to hide in a hawk and later find himself in New York City. There, he meets a young girl who is also trying to find her way home as they trek throughout New York City. The story is not that strong, but the animation is incredible while the ensemble voice cast includes Natasha Lyonne, Jim Gaffigan, Alex Ross Perry, and John C. Reilly as a homeless folk singer as he is a highlight of the short film.
Band Aid: The Making of The Original “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
This month will be the 40th anniversary of the song Do They Know It’s Christmas? by the Band Aid charity as a documentary about the making of the song has been unearthed and restored for this anniversary. With the original footage directed by Nigel Dick that had been in a vault for 40 years, the documentary displays how Bob Geldof and Midge Ure created the song with the latter providing demos as guide for the other singers to sing. The fact that the group featured many of Britain’s top pop stars at the time is astronomical considering how big they were and the rivalries they were having yet they put aside their own egos for a good cause. There are even moments where these young musicians are in awe of watching Phil Collins lay down live drum tracks as well as moments where George Michael and Boy George would find ways to improve the song on their own vocals. It is a short that fans of the original song should watch.
Agatha All Along (episode 7 & 8)
The last two episodes of the series are intense in terms of what is at stake as well as in what one of the witches gain on the Witches Road and what the character of Billy Kaplan has learned on this journey. For Agatha, the series highlight her own back story as well as the loss she had gained over the centuries in which she would continue to live. She would also do whatever she can to avoid death but eventually realizes that she could not escape death but her decision in the end would allow her to guide Billy into his next journey as Joe Locke is great as Billy Kaplan/Billy Maximoff/Wiccan. I hope that character will eventually find Wanda Maximoff (she is not dead), Vision, and whoever is his twin brother in Tommy/Speed.
That ‘90s Show (season 2 episodes 9-16)
The announcement that the series has been cancelled is upsetting but not entirely surprising given that Netflix would cancel shows just as it was starting to get interesting. Even as the show brought in more developments for Leia Forman and her friends with Nikki and Nate going through their own break-up as the latter finds himself dating Jay Kelso’s older half-sister Betsy, who is played with such humor in Kira Kosarin, that doesn’t sit well with Jay because he knows that Betsy is trouble. There is some good storylines with a finale that unfortunately feels abrupt due to a big incident that is never going to get resolved. For that, it is a shame that the show has been cancelled as I would have love to know what Donna’s decision in returning to Point Place and Eric Forman’s eventual meltdown over The Phantom Menace that might even scare Red. If this show doesn’t find a new home, then it is another missed opportunity from Netflix who would continue to churn out shit films and shit live events such as that awful Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight (which I was so glad not to have seen because I knew it was going to be shit).
Well, that is all for November. For the next and final month of 2024. I will announce the list of films I will be watching for the 2025 Blind Spot Series while also watching my final Blind Spot pick of the year in Berlin Alexanderplatz. I have no clue what theatrical releases I will be watching before the year ends though I will try and find the time to watch whatever 2024 films that are available including Emilia Perez. I also hope to finish my Auteurs piece on David Lean before the year ends in which I will make an announcement on the upcoming filmmakers that I will profile for the Auteurs series. Before I bid adieu, I want to express my condolences on the following who have passed away this month that include Jim Abrahams, Silvia Pinal, Barbara Taylor Bradford, the Mighty Inoue, Rey Mysterio Sr., Earl Holliman, Chuck Woolery, Colin Petersen and Dennis Byron of the Bee Gees, Jon Kenny, Paul Teal, King Crimson lyricist Peter Sinfield, music producer Shel Talmy, jazz drummer Roy Haynes, basketball player George Lehmann, novelist Dorothy Allison, Tony Todd, and Quincy Jones. We will miss you all. This is thevoid99 signing off…
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