Saw a couple of good movies last weekend, thought I'd share.
First, we went and saw Last King of Scotland in the theater. It's about, as you might have guessed... Idi Amin, president of Uganda? Yeah. Apparently the guy was a bit crazy, and legend has it that he actually believed himself to be a King of Scotland. Hence the title. (Other craziness includes believing he knew the exact date he would die, and thus in his invincibility until that day, and having been prompted to genocide by the instructions of an archangel in a dream. The latter isn't in the film, but I turned it up doing a little research afterwards.) Anyway, the film follows David, a Scottish doctor (whom I believe to be fictional) who happens to fall in with Amin early on in the regime after Amin breaks his hand at David's village post. Basically, it's a different take on the traditional human tragedy film, from the point of view of someone close to the perpetrator (at least initially). It also serves as a sort of metaphor for Europeans in Africa: originally there with at least partly noble intentions (David sought adventure and escapism, but also I think legitimately wanted to do some good in the village where he started), quickly getting carried away by their own lack of understanding of the locals and their culture, and inadvertently (or sometimes calculatingly) enabling terrible things. The acting was really good, especially by the man who played Amin--don't know his name, but apparently he won an Oscar? So, check that out if you can.
I also watched Saw III and Closer. Saw I like as a series, partly because of the clever twists but mostly because of the ambiguity of Jigsaw. He's a perfect example of how you can be a villain with the best of intentions. It's his unswerving belief in the possibility of purification that drives him, and they play that up in the third one. This time, the victim is a man who lost his son to a drunk driver and became obsessed with vengeance, and the traps and trials are designed, in a perverse sort of way, to teach him forgiveness before he finds the driver at the end. It's not high cinema by any means, but it's a good step up from most horror films. It's a genre flick, and I wouldn't send you to see it if you don't like that sort of thing, but I enjoyed it.
Closer I would recommend you all see, as it's really expertly made cinema (directing/acting), but to be honest, it's a fucking DOWNER of a movie. The characters are all horribly flawed people, as is obvious 10 minutes into the film, but somehow watching them all ruin everything is fascinating. I ended up buying a copy, but I don't know if I'd risk watching it while in a good mood (nor even discussing the plot in depth, which is why this paragraph is shortest). Better to save it for days when "at least I'm not quite as fucked as all that" can cheer me up.
Anyway, actual goings-on this weekend. Tentatively planning to hang out with Tanya the Married Lady again, which excites me; I could use some good conversation. Also, an acquaintance who started a boudoir photography business is having a "work party." I talked this over with some friends and we think that it's going to pretty much be a regular party, but with naked photos of some of the guests. Since I am not among that particular subgroup, sounds like a great idea to me! Fingers crossed for some hilariously awkward moments.
Oh, and if you happened to read the comments on my last entry, Kirby recommended that I check out Rocky Votolato. Having taken her advice, I'm passing it on. It's basic acoustic guitar stuff, but really damn good basic acoustic guitar stuff.
First, we went and saw Last King of Scotland in the theater. It's about, as you might have guessed... Idi Amin, president of Uganda? Yeah. Apparently the guy was a bit crazy, and legend has it that he actually believed himself to be a King of Scotland. Hence the title. (Other craziness includes believing he knew the exact date he would die, and thus in his invincibility until that day, and having been prompted to genocide by the instructions of an archangel in a dream. The latter isn't in the film, but I turned it up doing a little research afterwards.) Anyway, the film follows David, a Scottish doctor (whom I believe to be fictional) who happens to fall in with Amin early on in the regime after Amin breaks his hand at David's village post. Basically, it's a different take on the traditional human tragedy film, from the point of view of someone close to the perpetrator (at least initially). It also serves as a sort of metaphor for Europeans in Africa: originally there with at least partly noble intentions (David sought adventure and escapism, but also I think legitimately wanted to do some good in the village where he started), quickly getting carried away by their own lack of understanding of the locals and their culture, and inadvertently (or sometimes calculatingly) enabling terrible things. The acting was really good, especially by the man who played Amin--don't know his name, but apparently he won an Oscar? So, check that out if you can.
I also watched Saw III and Closer. Saw I like as a series, partly because of the clever twists but mostly because of the ambiguity of Jigsaw. He's a perfect example of how you can be a villain with the best of intentions. It's his unswerving belief in the possibility of purification that drives him, and they play that up in the third one. This time, the victim is a man who lost his son to a drunk driver and became obsessed with vengeance, and the traps and trials are designed, in a perverse sort of way, to teach him forgiveness before he finds the driver at the end. It's not high cinema by any means, but it's a good step up from most horror films. It's a genre flick, and I wouldn't send you to see it if you don't like that sort of thing, but I enjoyed it.
Closer I would recommend you all see, as it's really expertly made cinema (directing/acting), but to be honest, it's a fucking DOWNER of a movie. The characters are all horribly flawed people, as is obvious 10 minutes into the film, but somehow watching them all ruin everything is fascinating. I ended up buying a copy, but I don't know if I'd risk watching it while in a good mood (nor even discussing the plot in depth, which is why this paragraph is shortest). Better to save it for days when "at least I'm not quite as fucked as all that" can cheer me up.
Anyway, actual goings-on this weekend. Tentatively planning to hang out with Tanya the Married Lady again, which excites me; I could use some good conversation. Also, an acquaintance who started a boudoir photography business is having a "work party." I talked this over with some friends and we think that it's going to pretty much be a regular party, but with naked photos of some of the guests. Since I am not among that particular subgroup, sounds like a great idea to me! Fingers crossed for some hilariously awkward moments.
Oh, and if you happened to read the comments on my last entry, Kirby recommended that I check out Rocky Votolato. Having taken her advice, I'm passing it on. It's basic acoustic guitar stuff, but really damn good basic acoustic guitar stuff.