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"The Zone of interest"

I don't know of another movie, ever, that has so perfectly captured the banality and flat-out bizarreness of evil. I really can't recommend it enough but it's a tough watch. Horror is lurking in the background throughout. PS: If you have the chance to visit Auschwitz, you should. Or any concentration camp now open to the public. The best way for us to never revisit this monster-level bullshit on humanity again is to have to go confront it in all its ugliness, face to face. (Like when you walk around Berlin and you see all the Stolpersteine -- "never forget" -- memorials embedded in the city's sidewalks). What Steven Spielberg is doing with The Shoah Foundation will tower over any of his accomplishments in cinema. Preserve the truth. Witness.

@coreydubrowa

Mar 29, 2024

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Zone of interest

Watched it on the plane, I couldnt figure out how to turn on subtitles but it was still good

@reneezzz

Mar 16, 2025

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MOVie Review: 20 Days in Mariupol

When Russia launched its attack on Ukraine in 2022, it was rightfully met with near-universal condemnation, which lead to an onslaught of aid from around the world. As the war has dragged on though, it has become more and more politicized, with some beginning to speak out against offering any further support to the embattled nation. As the alarming images of the first days, weeks, and months of the siege began to fade from the public’s consciousness, it became easier for those who had no personal stake in the matter to simply stop caring. Documentary filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov’s Oscar-nominated film 20 Days in Mariupol aims to fix that by offering up a stark reminder of just how cruel Putin’s Russia has been towards their neighbor. Chernov shows us the footage he captured when he and other journalists decided to stay in the city of Mariupol long after others had fled due to the increasing closeness of Russian troops. Shelling can be heard from the nearby countryside and very quickly escalates to bombs landing on the city’s residential neighborhoods, to the shock and horror of everyone involved. Chaos and despair take over as some residents begin to flee and others with nowhere to go wander around the city in a daze. Mere minutes into the film we encounter a young girl, crying while huddled in a basement to hide from the bombs, who expresses aloud that she “doesn’t want to die.” Things only get bleaker from there. When Mstyslav comes to a hospital, we meet the harried staff, who are scrambling to save as many victims as they can, but with dwindling supplies are severely limited in what they can do. A doctor, angry at Putin for ordering the bombing, directs the filmmaker to another room to have him film the bloody results, and it is near impossible not to feel both rage and sorrow along with him. Graphic imagery of the injured and the dead appears throughout, emphasizing the true horror of war in ways that are rarely seen in documentary films, and it will haunt viewers long after seeing it. Harsher still are the wails of parents as they learn that their children couldn’t be saved. Eventually Mstyslav leaves the hospital to try and get his footage out for the world to see and he is confronted with a city in ruin. The images of collapsed buildings lose some of the power in comparison to what preceded them, however when he comes upon another hospital, this one with a maternity ward, that had just been bombed, the downward spiral continues anew, as soldiers and emergency workers scramble to rescue as many as possible from the ruined building. At a minimum, 20 Days in Mariupol should rekindle support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia while reminding anyone who might be confused on the matter that Putin is not a figure to be revered. It will hopefully also serve as a demonstration that war as a whole is a contemptible undertaking in which there are only losers, so that others will strive to avoid it entirely (naïve, I know, given current global events). I’ve never seen a movie like this, and the part of me that has its imagery now permanently imprinted upon it wishes that perhaps I never had, but it is important to see, to fully understand what’s happening in the world. This harrowing journey through a devastated city will always serve as a reminder of humanity’s capacity for cruelty and will hopefully inspire more of us to stand against it when we see it. ★★★★★ NOT RATED. CONTAINS GRAPHIC AND DISTRESSING IMAGES OF REAL VICTIMS, INCLUDING CHILDREN, AND STRONG LANGUAGE.

@seanf

Feb 2, 2024

Top Recs from @seanf

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Book Review: The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes

When Terry Hayes’ debut novel I Am Pilgrim burst onto the scene a decade ago, it seemed to announce the arrival of a major new talent in the thriller scene. I absolutely loved the book and was very excited to see what he would come up with when his next title, The Year of the Locust, was announced for release in 2016. Unfortunately, the year came and went without the book, as did several more, making it seem as if it might never be published. Lo and behold, 8 years later, it’s finally here, and as it turns out it was worth the wait. The book is written from the perspective of Kane, a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA. His job is to get into the places that Americans aren’t supposed to go and get back out again without being caught, and he is one of the best in the business. When we meet him, he is being sent to the borderlands of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran to try to gather information about an increasingly powerful terrorist group known as the Army of the Pure. Intel has suggested that they are planning a major attack that will endanger countless people around the world and so it is imperative that he can learn more about the organization so they can be stopped before it is too late. Of course, with these kinds of missions there is a lot that can go wrong, and Kane finds himself in some very bad scenarios, with only his wits and training to help him survive. Written in a conversational tone and short, punchy chapters (some barely a page long), the novel’s roughly 800 pages fly by. Kane is an easy character to like, and the book can sometimes feel like he’s a friend telling you a story. That story happens to be relentlessly suspenseful though, filled with some of the tensest moments of any book I’ve read in years. I would frequently find myself feeling a palpable sense of relief at the conclusion of a mission, having been every bit as invested in its outcome as the characters involved. Speaking of which, while Kane is the star, the other characters are equally enjoyable to spend time with and help to further draw in the reader. Hayes has clearly done his homework when it comes to spycraft, providing fascinating insights into that world throughout. Everything is so convincing that it can be hard to tell what’s in actual use or the author’s invention, and while it is all thoroughly explained it never gets boring. The finale takes the story into some truly surprising territory that readers will never see coming and which raises the stakes to truly astronomical levels. Parts of it require some suspension of disbelief, but Hayes pulls off the shift so well that most readers won’t have any problem going along for the ride. 10 years between books is a long time to wait, but when the result is this thrilling, inventive, and even surprisingly emotional it seems like it paid off. Though, it’s still very early into the year, I’d be surprised if I read a more entertaining book than this one in 2024. ★★★★★

@seanf

Feb 5, 2024

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MOVIE REVIEW: POOR THINGS

Tried and true formulas work for a reason, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with hewing to them as long as the result is still good, but it’s always exciting for me to watch a movie and feel like I’m seeing something genuinely new and different. Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster) has so far proven very adept at achieving that, even when building stories around pre-existing works, as he does here. Working off a script by Tony McNamara (The Great, The Favourite as well) based on Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel which was itself heavily inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Lanthimos has crafted an epic tale of a woman discovering who she is when freed from the restrictive, largely male-imposed norms of the society around her. Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is effectively the creation of Dr. Godwin “God” Baxter (Willem Dafoe), a disfigured but respected surgeon in a strange, steampunk-inspired version of old London, whose house is filled with various creatures he’s spliced together. When he discovers the body of a recently deceased woman in the river, he inserts the brain of her unborn child into her head and so brings both back to life. Bella’s brain is not ready to inhabit an adult’s body however, and so she has difficulty walking let alone communicating. For some reason though, the procedure causes her brain to begin developing at a highly increased rate, and she starts picking up language and other more complicated concepts very quickly. Godwin is impressed by this result and enlists one of his students, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) to monitor her and note her progress. Over time, Bella begins to chafe against the strict boundaries placed upon her by her “father” Godwin, demanding to be allowed out into the world, while also beginning to form a deep bond with the sweetly sympathetic (but still meekly complicit) Max. When she encounters the rakish lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) she is instantly taken by his promise of escape, but not fully understanding the concept of a secret, she blurts out her plans to Godwin. Surprisingly, he realizes that her need to see more of the world is not unreasonable and so he reluctantly assents to let her go. Thus begins Bella’s odyssey around the Mediterranean, in which she experiences much of the good and the bad in the world while learning to take control of her womanhood. Stone is magnificent as Bella, completely inhabiting each phase of her growth; from the temper tantrums of a child, to the passions of a young woman discovering her body, to the cool, calm demeanor of an intelligent lady who knows exactly what she wants in life. Ruffalo’s strange, unplaceable accent from All the Light We Cannot See seems to have returned here, though it works far better with the overall unusual tone, and he nails the petulant befuddlement of a man realizing that he can’t handle himself when a woman treats him the same way he has long treated women. Dafoe is excellent as always and Youssef charms in his role, though this is truly Stone’s movie through and through. The world that Lanthimos has dreamt up for our characters to inhabit is striking and captured beautifully by cinematographer Robbie Ryan (C’mon C’mon, The Favourite again). Likewise, the off kilter yet beautiful score by Jerskin Fendrix is a perfect complement to the story. McNamara’s script has stripped the original book to its most essential pieces and is rife with raunchy, absurdist humor, but it’s the film’s deeper themes that make it truly special. Bella’s life is initially completely controlled by the men around her. Even if they are sometimes well-meaning in their intentions, they are still forcing their ideas of who she should be allowed to become upon her. It is only when she is granted her freedom that she is able to grow into her true self and begin to thrive. She learns several of her own lessons along the way, with the movie even going so far as to spell out one of its main points for her and us, when brothel-owner Swiney tells Bella, “We must experience everything. Not just the good, but degradation, horror, sadness. This makes us whole Bella, makes us people of substance. Not flighty, untouched children. Then we can know the world. And when we know the world, the world is ours.” Imaginative, funny, charming, filthy, wise, engaging, weird, and wonderful, Poor Things is Lanthimos’ best work yet, and a modern adult fairy tale worth treasuring. ★★★★★ RATED R FOR STRONG AND PERVASIVE SEXUAL CONTENT, GRAPHIC NUDITY, DISTURBING MATERIAL, GORE, AND LANGUAGE.

@seanf

Feb 29, 2024

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March Crossword Puzzle

I make these for my library. Getting pretty okay at it :)

@seanf

Mar 2, 2024