The Act of Killing - This is a documentary about mass murderers from Indonesia reminiscing about their part in killing over a million communists and Chinese people in the 1960s. And THEN they start making movies to reenact and sometimes glorify the work they did for their barbaric government. I could only watch this film in about ten minute increments. For a while I was riveted by the bizarre car-wreck nature of it and then I just felt tired, depressed and unsure why we were giving these monsters a platform to express themselves instead of a fitting jail sentence.
Blue Jasmine - I watched this film after Ronan Farrow had his say on Twitter during the Golden Globes but before the Open Letter from Dylan Farrow was published. This is nominated for Original Screenplay which is insane because nothing much happens in the film other than flashbacks. After a couple of flashbacks we sort of get the picture of what happened and why the characters are where they are today but that doesn't stop us from a dozen more flashbacks that continue to not add very much to the here and now. There are no real character arcs and it is hard to care very much about what is going on in the lives of these people. At first I was riveted by the performance of Cate Blanchett which ranges effortlessly from comedic to tragic and back again and then I just felt tired, depressed and unsure why we were giving this monster a platform to express himself instead of a fitting jail sentence.
[P.S. Yes, I just loosely equated Woody Allen with mass murderers. There IS a difference but I wouldn't want to have dinner with either one of them. And perhaps what happened to Dylan Farrow hasn't been proven in a court of law but I'm willing to follow my gut on this one and just wait for someone to prove me wrong.]
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