#cinemaniac off the leash

[batri-jopa]

I've been asked (hi there, @notasapleasure) to say what I think about the movie Wet Sand / სველი ქვიშა (2021, dir. Elene Naveriani) once I see it. I watched it recently and actually like to share my feelings with someone so...

My impressions follows:

Inspiration by the greatest ancient classics such as Antigone by Sophocles in modern popular culture is rare and always welcomed

Even more praise for showing love among elderly people - which somehow needs even more courage than showing young queers

I believe if the movie was more mainstream this jacket would go viral

Making the same actor saying similar text as in And Then We Danced seemed somewhat cheap to me at first, but then I thought it was kind of winking to ATWD fans: "Hello, we know you're there!" - so okey, that was kind of nice...

...and besides obvious similarity - the line still sounded different due to its intentions and conditions. So might it be condidered some kind of polemic with ATWD line even?

I really liked the way the title never was explained directly "in your face" - yet somewhere in the end you are shown a wave coming and going over the sand: leaving it wet, then slowly drying, then wet again, and again, repeatedly... And suddenly you realise how much it fitted the character's life

I wonder if the girl's comment on the photo (that was not itself shown to the audience) was a hint of that person being trans? (it was something like "beautiful as his mother" but I don't remember exactly)

The scene with the letter and the wine bottle has the potential to make me cry my eyes out everytime I think about it... (because yeah I definitely needed to elongate my "sob-on-demand" list, thank you movie makers...)

Yes of course I am going to compare Wet Sand and And Then We Danced even though such comparison can ONLY be justified by the fact that those are only two georgian movies I know and both happen to be queer

Best thing is that those are two very different and independent stories😋

I've seen some reviews complaining that in ATWD there were too many social issues at once, suggesting like it was forced or something... But it is Wet Sand that is literally overfilled with those, not only homophoby but also domestic violence and generally intolerance and prejudice toward everyone and everyone a bit different than the rest of the conservative community.

And no matter the kind of "happy ending" that was in Wet Sand and not so much in ATWD (more "open ending" it was than a "happy" one) - still to me ATWD felt a tiny bit more hopeful. Alright, the film concentrating on death and funeral obviously had no chances of being overall optimistic. Especially when ATWD was showing the point of view of joyful freeminded young people who still have hopes and chances for the better life before them. And we were not shown any really terrible scenes there, only hearing about poor Zaza, like it was just gossip and not a person of flesh and bones. Also I think when living in the capital city one may count on more support from community of people alike - simply because the community is larger and stronger than a tiny group of "outcasts" in the province can ever be.

There's a short description of Wet Sand on IMDB using a phrase "friendly people" and now after watching the movie it makes me feel sick to see it...🤢

...especially as some of the most terrifying acts of those "friendly people" so much reminded me of Aftermath / Pokłosie (2012) dir. Władysław Pasikowski...

...but still one of their most horrible actions - accidentaly turned out to be the right thing to do - so that was kind of a spark (nomen omen) of hope

So generally it was a good movie. Maybe not a great one. But definitely GOOD.

And, when I think about it, it reminds me of so many other good and great movies I know and would gladly recommend to anyone interested (most of them also being on my "sob-on-demand" list BTW)

Organising funeral of a lonely man a bit like in Still life (2013, dir. Uberto Pasolini)

A story about relationship and loss seems like a reversed version of the one shown in A Single man (2009, dir. Tom Ford) (my very favorite queer-themed movie before watching ATWD, now my second favorite)

Of course a bit of similarity to Brokeback Mountain (2005) dir. Ang Lee as well

And The Bridges of Madison County (1995) dir. Clint Eastwood too...

Departures / Okuribito (2008) dir. Yôjirô Takita is a similar not only because of the burial theme but also the atmosphere. No kidding, when watching Wet Sand I felt like watching a japanese movie, only with strangly not-japanese looking actors in it.

And that will be it for now.

#cinemaniac off the leash #sob-on-demand list #wet sand #სველი ქვიშა #georgian cinema #ATWD #queer movies #and then we danced #lgbt movie #gay movies #lesbian movies #LGBTQ #lgbtqia #lgbtqplus

[batri-jopa]

Is it just me or could there be more gay-movies with boys than with girls? 🤔 I realised that I already watched few movies with boys/men love but never actually watched a good movie with girls love (at least nothing I would remember * ).

My choice was: Friend / Rafiki (2018, dir. Wanuri Kahiu)

[photo source pinknews.com.uk]

First of all I have to warn you that I am going to compare that movie to And Then We Danced / და ჩვენ ვიცეკვეთ (2019, dir. Levan Akin) - mainly because I love it so much that for me it's like a model-of-a-meter-from-Sevres in gay cinema😉 But also because that one movie was in fact a key reason why I chose another...

...because ATWD and Rafiki are alike in many aspects: main characters are very young adults (about 20 - and those girls just finished school so I guess they are even younger than boys in ATWD), still living with their parents (divorced parents even), in a rather poor country with huge homophobia (not as severe as in islamic countries but still). Okey, I'm not sure if people in Kenya are as poor society as the one in Georgia but those old blocks of flats seemed oddly familiar

...and Kena wears a hoodie!😆 with short sleeves but still😋 (ATWD fans will understand😉)

Now about the aesthetics (least important, I know, but I am visual artist and I can't just ignore it): all those vibrant colours and patterns in every scene are mesmerising!!!🤩

Yet I feel like the movie kind of lacks a music... I mean there sure is some music in the background but it did not left any memory in my mind after end credits. Maybe it's just my fault, maybe it was not "my kind" of music so my brain not paying enough attention? I mean I remember they were dancing with those colourful lights so there must have been some music, why do I not remember that music at all? Well, okey, I get it's not And Then We Danced with it's soundtrack (and dances) leaving me enchanted and wanting more **, bringing back all the movie emotions every time I hear it and provoking me to dig for hidden message in the lyrics and dance moves many months after first watching... (yes people, And Then We Danced is a masterpeace that does it all!). But at least I'd love to have that one song that would stuck in my head, that I could add to my playlist as a movie reminder... There was no such thing in Rafiki or I did not notice

[photo source sbs.com.au]

I loved that relationship!!!😍 I can confess now, that I was a bit afraid of what I may see and how my brain would react to that (don't get me wrong here - no matter if it's LGBT or cis-het movie I just simply don't like to see any shocking scenes! And my fear of seeing such thing has been rooted in a fact that polish and generally european "ambitious" movies seem to assume that without drug taking, doing something disgusting, raping or braking the law the movie is "not ambitious enough"🤦). But the way it was shown was very subtle, gradual and felt so natural, simply organic thus very convincing to me. It also reminded me of And Then We Danced. It's when I see them together (Kena with Ziki or Merab with Irakli) I have that feeling of warmth and comfort... I don't have any awkward revelation of "seeing gays/lesbians"... It feels as if none of them were any longer woman or man to me - I can only see two people in love... And any words to name what is between them are needless or utterly wrong and vulgar.

It's worth to mention that both characters are really "good girls": with good grades, going to study and their greatest rebellion act is staying out at night - those girls are definitely someone easy to relate to.

Girls in Rafiki talks about their relationship quite a lot while boys in ATWD do not at all (they mostly communicate with dance - but OMG what dance it is...). I guess girls are generally more likely to talk about feelings. Georgian guys might not even have words to describe what they were experiencing

And there's even religion issue. Nuff said...

[photo source es.unifrance.org]

Now for the sad part: --------------[SPOILERS AHEAD!]------------ I was naive enough to think two girls are more safe from violence than two boys would be... Yes, there is violence.

...and thinking of which parent would be more supporting, compassionate or at least the less judging you? Like I would expect that when you're living with your mom and women are meant to be more compassionate from definition, and you do not even want to talk to your dad who left you both for another woman... and when the hour of trial comes - you are just heartlessly rejected by that "closer" parent with no respect to the fact you were almost killed, I mean... People are like this FOR REAL?! I can't believe it, I don't want to believe it, yet I guess people are just fucked up more than I thought they were and that's just how they work... Maybe it's even a cliche LGBT movie trope, I have no idea...

And then there's the part that I'm crying my eyes out and if it was not enough it is followed by that another scene (as if the movie makers saying: "hold on a second don't put your box of tissues yet!") - when that guy sits... Just sits near. It may not seem like any start for the community, I mean it's not that they ever even talk - they don't even look at each other. Yet they are... together. Just silently together in this. (And I suddently wish I knew that background boy character better and I want to hear his story so so much...)

I wonder about the woman in the end telling Kena not to touch her... yet as the very next thing she throws that certain information for her. Why? While watching I thought it was just another provocation from that gossiping bitch but after the film I thought maybe that was some kind of poor trial of making amend? She was definitelly a bitch and she still kind of despised Kena even now - yet I suppose all she ever wished for Kena was humuliation and not the actual severe death-threatening violence that occured - and for that she might wanted to make amend by giving the information (most probably not realising that Kena already knew)

The end is not straightforward happy but it is promising so I am satisfied ❤

__________

* Ok, there is one girl couple in Wet Sand / სველი ქვიშა (2021, dir. Elene Naveriani) but that relationship is not it's main topic and also it is more complicated than just "lesbian couple" as one person is suggested to be trans or maybe nonbinary ("born in wrong body") and the other seemed demisexual to me (if not asexual even).

** It is actually the very moment I hear the accordion of Ra Lamazia Tusheti in the beggining of End Credits of And Then We Danced and then the title appears, and... I just know I have to watch it again right this instant, and hell I know it's 2 a.m. already, and it will be another 2 hours, but who the heck would need to sleep at all when you can just rewatch your favorite movie over and over again?! So I found myself sleepless drug addict to the movie because of its soundtrack - why, thank you Levan Akin, that's exactly what I needed in my life...

#rafiki #wanuri kahiu #and then we danced #atwd #და ჩვენ ვიცეკვეთ #wet sand #cinemaniac off the leash #levan akin #and then we danced soundtrack #lgbt movie #lgbt cinema #lgbt #gay girls #lesbian movies #gay love #girls love #boys love #samantha mugatsia #sheila munyiva

[batri-jopa]

I'm digging through my drafts lately so now the time has come to speak about movies that are like milestones for me:

Collateral (2004) dir.Michael Mann

I watched it for the first time in June 2021 and it became my hyperfixation, something I've been obsessed so much that... well, I literally LIVED that movie for about 4 months and I consider it changed my life's goals' perception❤️‍🔥 I've been reading all possible reviews, comments, interpretative theories... I wanted to wrote my own review and interpretation of the film.

(Just for those freaking abt actors: ppl who hate movies with Tom Cruise in it - usually make exception for the Collateral - and if THAT'S not convincing to you I don't know what is!)

Who would have guessed that the story about heartless hitman interacting with that poor random taxi driver has a potential to change a live perspective of a 35 years old person? Vincent is so inhumane I'm not even sure he deserves to be called a "character" (not more than a killer-cyborg probably) and what he says to Max about his attitude toward the world and his life and his dreams is so provocative and cruel but... it's all so freaking true. You are over 30 already and the time to act and to change your life and to fulfill your dreams is NOW! Now or never! *

Not to mention every next victim feels like another lesson in personal developement of Max (or any viewer sympathising with him), just like those lessons given to Scrooge by ghosts in A Christmas Carol. Yes, there are five of them instead of three but it's like the first case is: "wake up!" - the next: "this happens for Real!" - then "and there's nearly nothing you can do about it..." - and "...but you got to try anyway..." - followed by: "...because it's all about you right from the start!"

(One night you may need to turn your whole life upside down)

And I know some people see the last case as lame, cliche, unbelieveble, predictible or whatever - but jeez, ppl, that's how it works in a theater play! Of course it could have been predicted and so what?! It's the story about Max's character and in my opinion: that when he gets to know about his key role in all this - in a way similar to Bastian in The Neverending Story.

And I dare to say at this point it is not about any "love" or any such thing (here, take my AroAce filter): it's about a dream, that still is to be fulfilled, about a life, that could have been, about the right to be yourself and freedom to choose your way. About an urge to fight for something so important that you simply can't turn away from it anymore. About a need to defend something that feel so close and dear to you like it's your core, like it's yourself - like it was all about your life from the very beggining!

(And what if: maybe it all would never had happened if not for Max symbolic giving away his dream "island"?🤔)

I love how the provocative speech of Vincent to Max and all the uneasy questions he gives to him are meant to get him out of his comfort zone: your job is to take the client from point A to B, never before have you cared what they gonna do there, maybe all of them where going to kill or hurt somebody, so why did you not care about it ever before? Why would you care about it now? What the difference if the bad thing is happening close to you or far away from you? What's the difference if you do or do not know about it? And what actually changed in your case now - anything other than that now you know? In all this you are irrelevant, COLLATERAL, you are only a fucking meaningless, powerless cab driver! Look at you, you're not even the one to decide your own route! And if you decided to only always do your job without the second thought - then why don't you just do your fucking job right now?!

And then it's like: you can run from your problems and avoid hard decisions for just so long - there's literally no more place left to run and hide, and you got to face your greatest fear... To save a life.

Not your life though.

You'll be reminded it's NOT about you. That it's not your business. So you can simply step back and live. Just keep on being nobody, not having anything to say, not having any power over bad things happening around you. You'll be reminded that you're weak and you can keep the safe distance and remain comfortably numb just as you always used to be...

You could remain COLLATERAL

Only would you be able to live with knowing you haven't even tried?

As much as I hate guns IRL - I loved to learn about the "mozambique drill" (some fans probably breaking new record of rewatching "yo, hommies" scene over and over again) and reading other viewers' interpretations of what actually happen in the final shooting... and of why he could not or would not reload... (as a neurologist I'd vote it's bc of his brachial plexus) and finally thinking about the spontaneous act of previously non-spontanous character - winning over cold routine of the one always talking about "adapting to enviroment"... Like Max've won over him by actually learning his lessons!

This movie is filled with symbols and allegories. Starting with the silver gray Vincent: I like to compare him to a heartless cyborg T1000 from Terminator 2: The Judgement Day, or see him as an angel of death, or even - as mirror giving a dark reflection, like an evil alter-ego of the main character! (there's the allusion of policemen that a taxi driver might get rampage and kill ppl around the town - followed by Max's mother asking "Who?" like not noticing Vincent - to the point Max actually "acts" Vincent - all these priceless little hints that Vincent might not even exist in a first place...)

My own favorite interpretation is that Vincent is personification of a coyote - the spirit animal meant to teach you life lessons that are many times very uneasy but really rewarding

(And don't listen to director talking about Vincent, it seems to me that Michael Mann did not himself get any deeper meaning of this guy at all!😑 Like treating his past history seriously? Oh please, have mercy...🙄 Vincent's power derives from the fact he's so perfectly inhumane he barely touches the earth! Or at least he's the perfectly neutral transparent everyman... who's empty of emotions. And you can treat as a symbol of anything you want!😋)

The story takes place in the middle of the night - with the broad streets of the great town being almost empty - and it's such an unusual view it gives an almost dreamlike mood. Perfect time and place for a life-changing story about changing your life.

All in all this story is so brilliant someone definitely should have made a movie about it!

😆

PS. And I love the soundtrack.

_______

* What I mean by changing the life perspective: I can imagine it does not feel like this for everyone, if you have a partner, kids, a family - you may not have any thoughts like this. But I speak as a single person who was spending a lot time at work, many times for many years... Way too many times working much more than my married workmates were. I've been constantly staying later or replacing someone - because I could, because of not having children, because of not being in a hurry... Well, I guess everyone presumed I probably was not having any life on my own anyway, right? So I could and should always be the one to sacrifice and set prorities of others over mine... I've been told for all my life what I should be doing, what I must not be doing and so I tried all my life to live due to these expectations simply hoping to be resepected accepted. And still I feel like I never managed the higher level of acceptance just because I'm different, my interests are different, the way I'm spending my free time is different, I feel and think differently - so yeah, it's not even worth to ask me about my feelings or interests anymore, or to ask me to go out together, rather keep on looking down at me and treat me like a dumb kid... And so I gradually learned that no matter my struggle I always will be treated differently by that "heteronormative majority" of couples and families with kids...

And then came the COLLATERAL like katharsis, set my emotions free and gave me the sudden realisation: it's the fine time to think about myself! To quit living due to expectation of others, supressing what I love to do for so long, pushing all my creative passion for the forever "maybe later". Only because everyone tells me it's not the right time for that... So when the "righter" time will be?!

"Someday? Someday my dream will come? One night you will wake up and discover it never happened. It's all turned around on you. It never will. Suddenly you are old. Didn't happen, and it never will, because you were never going to do it anyway. You'll push it into memory and then zone out in your barco lounger, being hypnotized by daytime TV for the rest of your life."

Vincent, Collateral (2004)

#I'm serious about a movie should be made about it #I'd see it as a fantasy road movie with a mission and some magic and with a dragon... #fantasy version Collateral AU😆 #collateral #collateral 2004 #michael mann #vincent collateral #max Collateral #(finally no mentioning ATWD!) #(though I could have said I hate guns while loving Collateral just as much as I hate cigarettes while loving ATWD😉) #tom cruise #jamie foxx #digging through my drafts #cinemaniac off the leash #movie recommendation

[batri-jopa]

Whenever I decide to watch some great, old and permanent-trauma-causing japanese cartoon [links are to wikipedia description] - it must be under certain circumstances:

In december 2020 I had Covid-19: laying with 39 degree fever for more than 3 days, sweating and exhausted - and then I watched Chirin's Bell (チリンの鈴, Chirin no Suzu) 1978

In july 2021 a had Salmonellosis, with not only 39 degree fever but also constant very dehydratating diarrhoea lasting more than 2 days - I watched Barefoot Gen (はだしのゲン, Hadashi no Gen) 1983

In 2022 I planned to watch Perfect Blue ( パーフェクトブルー ) 1997... But thank goodness I never was that sick!!!👍

#permanent trauma causing old cartoons are the best ones aren't they... #movie recommendation #cinemaniac off the leash #just me #japanese cartoons #Youtube

[batri-jopa]

Eka, a girl on the bus

Eka, a girl with... hidden power

Eka, a wet girl with a cigarette. And with older sister

Eka, a girl that enjoys the wedding. As well as everything that lead to it

Eka, a girl with a bruise on her face

Eka, a girl dancing on her own

Eka, keeping it all to herself

Eka (Lika Babluani)

In Bloom / გრზელი ნათელი დრეები (2013) dir. Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß

.

#გრძელი ნათელი დღეები #in bloom #georgian culture #georgian girl #georgian cinema #Georgia #Lika Babluani #cinemaniac off the leash #(Note to self: you better quit identifying with every movie character living in a postsoviet country #being the always quiet and good behaving younger sibling trying to silently ignore all odds #and keep it all to yourself thanks to your inner power and self respect #but eventually wanting to fuck them all and just shut the door behind you... #...for you can not dance kintouri in the first place)

[batri-jopa]

Me previously: A-ha! Levan Akin says he made the first georgian movie with a gay theme - while there has already been "I'm Beso"!

Me now: A-ha! So Levan Akin did made the first georgian movie with gay theme that is worth mentioning and coming back to!

#Well not exactly a bad movie. Just the fact I checked the time every 5-10 minutes of it #and every 15 minutes I asked myself: 'why am I watching this?' doesn't make it a bad movie. But there was no pleasure I would come back to. #At least there was no trauma. Well okey one really bad fight mentioned but nobody dies. #If it was polish movie only difference would probably be father drinking more and somebody would surely die in the end. #And the fact that I would never force myself to watch it. #Only watched this out of curiosity because it's Georgia - just to see that poverty and hopelessness attached looks very alike everywhere... #Nothing exotic here... (despite maybe Beso's brother's outfit XD) #Teenager's perspective makes it all tiny little less hopeless - he still have some hope for the future with his idea of rapping #I don't think he would make it but it's nice that he still believes #Oh and the gay theme - that's why I started watching: well it's... there. It's not bad. There's even a brother talk. Quite nice. #Now couldn't all this be a 15 min short movie instead?🙃 #I'm Beso #მე ვარ ბესო #georgian cinema #gay movies #gay cinema #cinemaniac off the leash

[batri-jopa]

SHIT 'N' STUFF NOBODY AWAITS "Movie-night" part 1 of 3

So I'm after my movie-night and I have some conclusions (more than "going to bed at 4:30 is the most stupid idea I don't recommend" - for this I knew already😆)

So the first movie I already knew by heart and longer than I can say, though not rewatching it for few years. If anything new - probably first time watching it alone? Still loving it nevertheless but it feels whole a lot better watching together with someone who loves it too😕

Oh, and first time imagining how it could feel to be a viewer who never was a believer looking at the character speaking, disputing and puting all his hopes... looking into what, the empty sky?😑 Jeez, that would be one of the saddest thing I've ever seen🥺 His faith is all that is left to him when he's losing almost everything else, it's giving sense to all the struggles, making him feel that even if he suffers a lot, it's not completely pointless, that there's a meaning in everything... If anyone - poor and suffering ppl will always need hope.

Also: never before I felt so much for rebellious character (probably never sympathising with him before bc he was leftist?🤔 And everybody keep on saying "He's a little crazy"😅 Anyway I grew up to finally understand his motives🤷)

And since the very beggining I understood the tradition that was meant to make you feel safe in this unsteady world - is the first thing going to be proved so wrong... Like I knew it always but never felt it so intensively

And relation with constable. With "I wish you were Jew". I wonder how did they met for the first time? And how it feels to be not evil man who have to obey orders but thinking "better for them it was me than someone worse"?

Oh, and the dance, always!!!😍 The language of dance! The intercultural dialog of dance!!!🥰 What's more to say, I hope I will never get tired of it🥲

And of course the father figure. Like personification of a nation that tries to hold all the threads: of love and understanding toward his kids and the tradition that he believes is best for them all, even if seems oppressive. Well, it's all just "trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck"...

Main conclusion? Even when knowing something by heart - there's still something new to discover👍The film is not changing with time - but you are!

#fiddler on the roof #perchik #tevye #cinemaniac off the leash

[batri-jopa]

I feel like making my personal ranking of queer themed movies I watched and #PrideMonth seems like the perfect excuse for that 😉

So here it is - from worse to best rated by emotions the movie🌈 gave me:

[the hint: I hate to see violent violence, raping and generally feeling mentally sick]

TITLE (production) - ME: during / after the film

Płynące wieżowce (2013, Poland) - 🤮 / 🤮

Skoonheid (2011, South Africa, France, Germany) - 😱 / 🤮

Boys Don't Cry (1999, USA) - 😱 / 😫

Brokeback Mountain (2005, USA) - 🥺 / 😞

Venkovský učitel (2008, Chech Republic) - 🤔 / 🙂

The Kids Are All Right (2010, USA) - 🙂 / 😊

Breakfast with Scot (2007, Canada) - 😄 / 😊

The Road to El Dorado (2000, USA) - 😆 / 😂

[Note: of course that cartoon is officially NOT QUEER but chemistry between those guys is just palpable... and throwing a girl with enormously huge buttocks onto them may be enough to fool some homophobic parents but not enough to fool me!]

In & Out (1997, USA, starring Kevin Kline) - 😂 / 🤣

[Note BUT SPOILER: the movie is quite old and so the character is kind of forced to claim to be "gay" only because of not being heterosexual - although nowadays one can see he actually is not homosexual either: being in platonic relationship for years, not having any sexual crushes and instead - being all into music, poetry, movies and his job - he probably is asexual or maybe even aroace! But that was obviously not an option back in the 90's 🤷 Anyway the film is silly and funny and the scene "Manly Man do not dance" is just enough to love it!🤣]

A Single Man (2009, USA, starring Colin Firth) - 😀🥺😭 / 😍🥰🥰

და ჩვენ ვიცეკვეთ (And Then We Danced, 2019, Sweden, Georgia) - 😍🥺😃 / 😍😍😍!!!

#queer movies #movie ranking #transsexual #homosexual #gay movies #lesbian movies #asexual #aromantic #aromantic asexual #aroace #lgbt movie #pride🌈 #pride month #cinemaniac off the leash