April 2024

Evil Does Not Exist (2023)

Drive My Car director Ryusuke Hamaguchi thrives on the ambiguous, and his latest effort showcases the auteur at his most mystical and implicit.

The exploration of disconnect between rural folk and urban dwellers makes way for a great deal of charm and a surprising amount of humour, acting as the humanly ingredient to the overwhelming bewilderment that much of the film left me in. To call Evil Does Not Exist cryptic would be an understatement, guaranteed to spur conversation about not just what it meant, but what actually happened. This was a difficult one to crack- but I remain intrigued. I'm certainly itching for a rewatch (if not to dive back into Eiko Ishibashi's absolutely mesmerising score); ask me about it in 5 years and I'll tell you it's a masterpiece.

It also features probably the most entertaining wood- chopping scene ever committed to film.

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)

The director of Harry Potter and the cinematographer behind The Cat in the Hat brings you two dudes crankin' it on a diving board.

Y Tu Mama Tambien has been lurking in my watchlist for years now, and I certainly wasn't let down by what I witnessed. There's an adolescent spirit here and excitement of sex that feels genuinely erotic, complimented by the rambunctious delinquency of leads Julio (Garcia Bernal) and Tenoch (Luna), and although their antics border on insufferable, the Chungking Express-style rapid locomotion of life makes their blind juvenility work, contrasting to the grey sobriety when they finally 'come of age'.

However for me, amongst the pantheon of perverse road-trip movies, Gregg Araki still remains the king with The Doom Generation, rendering Cuarón's offering slightly flaccid (hehe) by comparison.

Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

The violence pulpy, the soundtrack synthy and the lesbians. butch. as. FUCK: Love Lies Bleeding delivers on gnarly thrills.

Its schlock is where it shines, using grind-house sleaze and a musty 80s vibe to absolutely sell the potent air of exhaled cigarette smoke and congealed gore splatter, holstering up an admittedly uneven and convoluted narrative thread. A more streamlined story I feel would make the hits that much punchier and the energy that much more intoxicating, in addition to some inharmonious elements of shock-surrealism that, I hate to say it, felt a little bit 'Julia Ducournau at home'.

It's not a Titane or even a Mandy, but succeeds as a brief, raging romp of steroidal fun.

Challengers (2024)

Whilst Y Tu Mama Tambien dissociates the audience from a volatile love triangle, Challengers plunges you head-first into its steamy, sweat-soaked action.

The devilish playfulness of Guadagnino's visual language brims with innovation and is fantastically titillating. Whip pans, POV shots, the kinetic rally and rhythm of its time-jumping structure and sharp, verbal rebuttals: the cinematic invention on display lives and breathes the fundamental philosophy of "hitting a ball with a racquet" - you almost feel the need to duck as projectiles narrowly zip past the lens, grazing the furious, eruptive dynamic between the three leads, both on the court and in the bedroom; Zendaya is a downright Ice Queen here. Where it stumbles slightly in the audio mix, the serves truly soar in its filmic, optical identity and ideas. You'll never look at a churro the same way again.

Good job, potion seller. I can handle your strongest screenplays.