GINO'S
PICKS
Sorry I Couldn’t Add A Fifth Movie I Was Writing This Article.
The temps are dropping, and the sky is giving me its best charcoal-hued grin. In my humble opinion, there’s no better time to watch a movie than wintertime. To get lost in a world of someone else’s making is a magical thing, so if you’re looking for something to dive into on these cold winter evenings, here are a few of my suggestions.
Written and Illustrated by: Gino Lagrotteria
Directed by Albert Brooks
REAL LIFE
I happened upon ‘Real Life’ while watching Bill Hader’s follow-up Criterion Collection interview and it quickly became one of my favourite pieces of media of all time through its intelligent and masterfully crafted characters and narrative. Albert Brooks’ 1979 comedy classic Real Life is the future before the future, it’s Nathan Fielder if he were a demon sent from hell.
Albert Brooks, an undiagnosed sociopath, gets the funding to make a documentary movie following a family’s real life – but first, he must find a family. Through a painstakingly high-tech process (as high tech as 1970s contemporary fiction can get), he finds the Yeagers, a family who appear so regular they almost seem fake. However, underneath these suburban niceties hides something deeply dysfunctional. Albert goes on a journey to construct a narrative where there is no narrative, drama where there is no drama. Now, you must think this sounds like a recipe for disaster? Oh, it is! Culminating in one of my favourite endings of all time, ‘Real Life’ is sure to offer you an all too Real time of your Life.
Directed by Don Hertzfeldt
IT’S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY
The feeling of watching your life flash before your eyes is what 2012’s ‘It’s Such A Beautiful Day’ aims to explore. What happens within our own personal human conditions when we lose the one thing we are promised in this life, our memories? It becomes too apparent to us the viewer, that the simple stickman art style of this feature is not a mistake, presenting to us in an ever-evolving surrealist landscape how the world becomes a rudimentary, comically waking nightmare because as our minds fade so do our souls. Without the bad there cannot emerge the good. ‘It’s Such A Beautiful Day’ shows us the beauty we can find even in our lowest of lows: the way the trees wave at you, the pictures the clouds draw for us high up above, sunlight peeking through a kitchen window as the golden hour draws upon us. It reminds us all to stop what we are doing for one moment and to think of absolutely nothing particular and just take it all in because it could all disappear tomorrow.
Directed by John G. Avildsen
ROCKY
‘Rocky’ is a very lonely movie in every sense of the word, although it so beautifully and engagingly manages to capture the warmth in loneliness. That winter walk where the wind whistles in a way you’ve never heard before, the clouds so bright they remove the backdrop of our everyday lives, a particular scent in the air flooding your mind with ecstasy. This atmosphere is what makes ‘Rocky’s’ Philadelphia feel so unbelievably alive. The trains rushing across the tracks of the skyline, the hustle and bustle that drowns out our thoughts, even in the stillest of moments continuous grit and texture is the motto of ‘Rocky’.
Films in the 70s had this experimental hue to them, no matter how big a studio backing there was. You can feel it in the way the camera would move, the way they let you sit within the world simply just watching and letting your eye trace the moment – The voyeurism of the 70s is something I sorely miss. Everything about the way ‘Rocky’ is shot is like a ghost, a long forgotten friend watching from afar, unable to interact but yet when Rocky cheers we cheer and when Rocky cries we cry.
Directed by Panos Cosmatos
MANDY
DISCLAIMER: Right here, I have linked to a slow-motion video of puppies playing in a field. If you decide to watch this film, my strong advice is to refer back to it when complete
LINK: Bernese Mountain Dog Puppies Playing in Slow Motion || Ep 12
-Well, hand me a bucket of movie grade cherry-flavoured blood and tickle me RED if you’re planning to sleep after watching this film, word of advice, don’t! Straight out of a what I can only explain as a cheerful Lynchian dream, ‘Mandy’ is a visceral entanglement of everything I love out of a revenge movie. With an antagonist that’ll make you convulse and question if covered in a mystery slime substance, our secondary antagonists don’t disappoint either, crawling out from the depths of a meth biker gang’s LSD trip. ‘Mandy’ will most definitely fill you with a bubbling anxiety the whole way through. Nicolas Cage kicks the door open with one of his Best performances to date, featuring quotes such as ‘knock knock.’ ‘Who’s there?’ ‘Erik Estrada.’ ‘Erik Estrada, who?’ ‘Erik Estrada from CHIPS.’ Knock knock jokes aside, ‘Mandy’ is an enthralling experience for the ages and one that is sure to give you your fair share of thrills and chills.
