The film “F for Fake” by Orson Welles is a documentary/drama film that involves truths and lies. The film opens with Welles asserting that magicians are nothing more than just actors. The entire film address the nature of lies, deceit and fakery. The film made me question the whole what is real and what’s not. It made me think deeply and question if I know what is truly real or not. It seems to be so typical for any person to do that but that is just me thinking about the film. It made think that anyone could say something is real and we immediately believe whoever the author is or whoever said it. Made me realize that it could also be why so many people can be fooled nowadays. The story of Elmyr de Hory as a skilled forger and fooled museums showed me that anyone can fool anyone. In the moderm era today, people can be fooled as simple as being on social media or online shopping. Somebody will say this material is the real deal and when you get it (or if you do get it) it is actually just a piece of cheap material. After Welles made a point that the so called experts who should be able to differentiate the art pieces as real or fake could be fake experts. How are they so easily fooled if they are supposedly experts who should know or can simply see that something is fake. That whole point just effed up my mind. So for example, if I was an expert in the steel industry, trading and negotiating with another company, I should be able to tell if they are really selling the real deal. If I don’t, does that make me a fake expert? Or for a coach in any sport, if they are unable to bring the team together to play better, does that mean he is a fake? Yes he/she is a coach but does he/she know what they are doing? An example would be an NBA coach name Tyronn Lue who coached Lebron James in Cleveland. People were saying he didn’t know anything and Lebron was the coach so people were discrediting him and his position as a coach. Overall, the film was really deep. It had a deep meaning to it and I appreciate that. After the two rough movies for me being the “Lost Highway” and “The Endless”, the next films were something that was enjoyable. One being really emotionally and the other making me think. I rarely see films that have a deep meaning especially in terms of what is real and what is fake. It made think hard for awhile but that’s what is fun about filmslike this. They can make you debate and talk about with your friends and for me, if a film can do that to me after watching, it must have been really good.

The film “Kimi no Na wa” (“Your Name”) by Makoto Shinkai was an absolutely needed film for me. After the past two films, I was able to relax and actually enjoy the film. I heard from everybody that this film will make you emotional or maybe even cry. Well, they were definitely right about that. I didn’t cry but I got emotional and to put it in a more casual way, I felt the feels. Really big feels. When Taki and Mitsuha were switching bodies, it was one of the most hilarious scenes that just made me want to face palm myself. Other scenes that made me laugh was when they would feel each other’s genitals or chest (for Taki as Mitsuha). It made me wonder what if I switched bodies with a girl and the next couple of scenes of Taki writing all over Mitsuha’s arms and notebooks is what I would do if that happened to me. It was scenes like this that made the movie so enjoyable. The visuals and soundtracks of the film was one of the best that I have seen from an anime movie. With the scene of Taki and Mitsuha meeting on the mountain, that was the scene that started the emotional ride for me. When Mitsuha disappeared, I felt so sad for Taki but I thought to myself at least he wrote his name on her hand. When I saw that he wrote “I love you”, it actually made me very emotional. I was hoping that Mitsuha would make it out alive but I didn’t expect anything. After the explotion, I thought it was over and that she didn’t survive but after a few years, when Taki is looking for a job, the girl who he kept passing by made me think that Mitsuha made it. Afterwards, they finally meet after looking for each other after they saw each other in different trains. It was my first time watching the film and I was really happy that Mitsuha survived and they finally found each other. I really needed a movie like this. After watching “The Endless” and “Lost Highway” I don’t know if I would have survived another film like that. “Kimi no Na wa” is absolutely my favorite film out of all the films we have watched. The whole animation, visual effects and the soundtracks just put the film to a whole new level. I can see why so manh people loved the movie and every aspect of the film made each scene have an impact to the main plot. I hope to have another movie like this in the future. I used to watch a lot of anime before, but not as much now. I think the fact that I have an appreciation of anime made me love this film even more. But regardless if you watch anime or not, I believe that anyone will fall in love with this movie. Yes, this is film is that good.

For the film “Lost Highway” by David Lynch is a mystery/thriller movie that I am just not fond off. In general, I am one of those people who just cannot deal with any mystery, thriller, horror or any creepy or scary movies. I will be the first to say that I am probably the most cowardly person anyone will meet in terms of watching any film like “Lost Highway”. So, by saying that, I didn’t really like the movie just because I am not fond of these types of movies. However, in terms of its story/plot, it was actually pretty good. The scenes with the “Dick Laurent is dead” and the whole mystery man and filming and chasing Fred was just too much for me. I had a hard time composing myself after the film because I was trying to calm my mind saying it was just a movie. But here is the thing about how I feel when people that these our just films. Some of these films are based on a true story. Either that or they got inspiration maybe from experience or a story they heard from someone. Any film, book or any form of literature that involves these types of things are things that I don’t mess around with. I wouldn’t know how to feel if all of a sudden people just kept mocking it then all of a sudden bad things start to happen to them. I guess it could just be me being very scared and cowardly but that’s just my point of view. I would have to commend the movie in terms of it being a mystery/thriller movie. It really delivered with the plot and even if there were people dying here and there, it was still how I think a mystery/thriller movie should be. Yes I was extremely bothered but I still tried my best to pay attention to it. These movies is my main weakness in which I am unable to fully watch the film because I just couldn’t bring myself to look at the screen. I easily get jump scared, startled and would even panic because I don’t know what is going to happen next. And I think that is the key to a great mystery/thriller movie. To be able to keep things unexpected at the right time and place is what makes a film like “Lost Highway” a decent film. Maybe not a decent film in my eyes since I was totally scared but decent for the other viewers who aren’t as scared as me. And besides, after watching “The Endless” by Justin Benson and and Aaron Moorhead, I think that constant state of panic or stress from watching those types of films carried over to “Lost Highway” therefore I was even more terrified of watching back to back films of the same genre. However, even with my limited time watching it, it was still sort of decent. Aside from the creepy calls and murders and chase scenes etc, it kept me on my toes for the rest of the day but not in a bad way. More like an adrenaline rush.

The film “The Endless” by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead is a sci-fi/thriller movie which I was not prepared for. I remember when the film began with that tape being played on the tv, I immediately searched online what genre the film was and it turned out to be a sci-fi/thriller. It would have been okay if it was just sci-fi but unfortunately for me, it was also a thriller. I am not a big fan of thriller thus the reason why I didn’t like it as much compared to others. I remember that scene with the huge monster creature below the lake and I thought that it was just some random shape that the lake had but I then realized it look like a giant creature and with the toolbox and tape that was found, I started to get a little more tense. With the following scenes with Hal and and Justin, I got even more tense with the whole discussion about cult leaders and the entire camp. It’s reasons like these I am not a fan of these types of movies. Scenes like that already causes me to get tense and nervous. If there were a lot of scenes of jump scares, blood, murders etc I don’t know if I would survive the next two hours in class. As someone who is easily afraid, I still try to watch and analyze the films. Even if I know I’ll be really terrified at many points of the film, I believe it is what makes these types of movies likeable to people. However, the plot will always play a factor. Personally, I felt the film“Unfriended” by Levan Gabriadze was even scarier than this and “Unfriended” was not the most terrifying movie that people have seen. Yes, even low rated horror, thriller, mystery filmsscare the hell out of me. I am in constant stress everytime I watch a movie of that genre but I still try to appreciate them giving the film some positive points. Overall, “The Endless” was still a decent film to say the least. Even if I would look away at times and try to block out what the actors were saying, I think the plot itself was quite unique with the whole camp cult type of thing. I don’t remember seeing any movie of that genre have that plot (yes I have watched a few films of that genre since I was dragged by my friends) which is why I say it is unique. It wasn’t all blood, religious type of ghosts or spirits trying to haunt you or some lady coming out of a tv so it was sort of a nice change of pace even if I was still terrified. I don’t think this will be a movie that I will want to watch twice but I am still some what glad that I got to see the film. It was a challenge to keep watching at times or pay attention to what was going on but at least I tried.

“Sorry to Bother You” was a movie where I got a little bored but as the movie progressed, it got my attention due to the weird things that were happening. These weird things got weirder and weirder and weirder and I got quite uncomfortable. From scenes such as Detroit standing on a stage speaking with people throwing things at him to the scene with Cassius figuring out WorryFree’s intentions with the whole half horse half man thing, this movie just makes the word weird to one of the most understatement things anyone can say about this movie. It was weird yet funny but for the most part just plain weird. The movie even shows Cassius living in his uncle’s garage to working for RegalView as a telemarketer with a “white voice”. I wasn’t sure if this was racist or what not but seeing a black man talk like a white man just…I honestly don’t know what to say about that but it just looked so wrong to me. It was like a man’s soul was placed in the wrong body causing this person to act really weird and look strange. That is the best way on how I can describe Cassius talking like a white man. I could see the creative style with why they would make a black man talk like a white man. Maybe they used it for comedy purposes or just simply to use it as a way to strengthen the plot. Honestly speaking, this was the first time I have seen someone talk like another race so casually so I was quite thrown off. But other than, it grew on me so I was not too bothered by it as the movie went on. Afterwards, Cassius becomes a Power Caller and was able to pay his uncle and buy an apartment so I felt happy for him. Eventually he has a meeting with the CEO of WorryFree which he attends but it goes wrong right away. He sniffs a substance from the desk and goes to the restroom right after. He enters the wrong room and finds the half horse half man people and is forced to go back to the office. He then realizes that the substance he sniffed could be the thing that transforms people into those creatures. He eventually goes public but it works in WorryFree’s favor and he eventually becomes that half horse half man creature. This series of scenes may have solidified this movie as the weirdest and f’ed up movie I have ever watched in my life. It surpasses “Schizopolis” in my opinion by far. “Schizopolis” was weird but not f’ed up. “Sorry to Bother You” was weird and f’ed up. A little more f’ed up than weird for me which is why I was quite uncomfortable. In conclusion, this movie exceeded the weirdness of any of the movies we watched. And this may be one of the more memorable movies just because of its f’ed up plot but at least it left a lasting impression on me despite how weird the plot is.

First of all, as a person who is extremely hemophobic and is a coward for horror films, I was quite worried for this film since it gave me a vibe that was more on the horror genre. I was very relieved when I found out the movie was going to be more on the punk rock genre so I was super glad to hear that. The beginning of the movie was extremely odd and confusing and weird all together. A guy gets stopped by a policeman and he opens the trunk and gets vaporized. In my head I couldn’t help but think to myself that is this movie gonna be another “Schizopolis” or something? A few scenes later, Otto’s in bed with his girlfriend and all of a sudden, when he leaves to get a drink, his girlfriend was cheating on him with one of his friends. In my mind, it was a “what the hell” moment since it escalated so quick and it was something I didn’t expect. Of course Otto became depressed but a guy named Bud asks him if he can drive his other car out of town. After he drives his car out the city, he realizes that bud is a “repo man”. I have never heard of a “repo man” in my life so I was quite confused. Was it a guy who just steals other’s cars and owns or something? From what the word “repo”, the first word that came to my mind was “repossession”. I just assumed at the time that it was just people who repossess cars which is why they bring them to an agency or office. From how the scenes portrayed what a “repo man” is, I then realized that a “repo man” is someone who retrieves cars or items with or without compensation. Which is why they just get the cars without telling the person who owned/borrowed it. Eventually the focus of the movie became about a Chevy Malibu (the car that vaporized the policeman at the beginning). This was when I understood the beginning of the movie or at least somewhat. The car had a huge bounty of $20,000. After scenes including the Malibu being stolen and a guy dying when he opened the trunk, the Malibu is glowing a green color and this was the second weirdest scene after the opening of the movie. I understood that there was speculations that aliens had something to do with the Malibu but that just got me off guard. In the end, it was nice how the movie was structured. As someone who didn’t understand what a “repo man” was, to the story of the Malibu, it was a movie that is still understandable and followable for viewers like me who didn’t understand much about the plot to begin with. I commend how the director was able to structure how “repo men” work and what they do as their job. As for the plot about the Malibu, it was funny and quite odd but overall, still made sense to the movie’s plot. It made sense of the opening scene and it was great how they tied everything from the Malibu from start to finish.

“Velvet Goldmine” was a movie that gave me the theatre/musical feel. It reminded me somewhat of Bohemian Rhapsody or at least the vibe reminded me of it. The first few minutes immediately caught my attention with the fake murder scene. The name of the guy who faked his death was Brian Slade. My initial thoughts were somewhat how rock bands back in the 70s, 80s and 90s look like with the crazy outfit and outrageous style. When Slade was supposedly killed, I had a feeling it was staged since they showed his body and there was no blood or at least I did not see any blood visible on his body. It then transitions to a guy named Arthur Stuart who is a British journalist trying to found the whereabouts of Slade. Arthur talks to people about Slade and what they remember about him and things such as his sexuality and bisexual rock stars at the time allowed him to come out Rock shows and its fashion contributed to how the culture of the youth was at the time. If it was one thing that gave me strong impressions while watching the movie was the emphasis on homosexuality. There were several sex scenes and kiss scenes between gay men which showed me the the culture and how homosexuality was viewed. Today everyone is so sensitive about the topic whether it is about gays, lesbians, bisexuals and even straight people so to see the movie having many scenes about it seemed something new to me. However, I personally haven’t seen many movies that have homosexuality as part of the plot so it is a new experience for me. I’m not saying that I am against movies that include homoexuality if that is what you are thinking. It was actually quite nice to see a different perspective about the very sensitive topic of gays, biexuals, lesbians etc. I have to admit that some of those kiss scenes made me feel a little bit uncomfortable but it was nice that homosexuality was used to start a campaign of sorts of homosexuals and rock music. Even if the movie was about finding what happened to Slade, it didn’t feel like the entire movie was just to find him. Rock music and homosexuality played one of if not the biggest role in this movie. I wouldn’t say it was a movie about finding someone but rather about rock music and homosexualities at that time which contributed to the culture in Britain. It just so happened that the movie was focused on finding out what happened to Slade but in my opinion it was so much more than that.

Overall, Velvet Goldmine seemed to be a classic movie for its time. Like I said, it was a whole new experience for me and a very enlightening one at that. To see how homosexuals and rock music shaped the culture of Britain, it was a nice feeling that it gave them the opportunity and bravery to come out as homosexuals. Today, homosexuality is a very sensitive topic and to see a movie that involves that topic was eye opening to me.

The fifth movie we watched for this semester was entitled “My Own Private Idaho” directed by Gus Van Sant. The first thing I have to say about the movie is that just like most of the movies we watched in the past weeks, I was very confused. I was not surprised that this movie confused me and that I would go as far to say that this is the 2nd most confusing movie this semester. The most confusing being “Schizopolis” of course. The movie started off with a scene in the middle of nowhere and I thought to myself “oh boy here we go again”. I was bracing myself for something crazy and confusing to happen. To my not so surprised reaction, I just got plain confused about the whole plot of the movie. It just felt like as if it was just showing the everyday lives of  Mike, Scott, Gary etc. There were scenes where Mike collapsed and I didn’t understand why and how that happened. The scenes such as Mike confessing he loves Scott and the scene where Mike was going to have sex with a woman and then collapses again just made me confused. Honestly, this movie sort of bored me a little bit. “Schizopolis” was weird and confusing but was kind of funny. “Futureless Things” was confusing as well but sort of understandable especially towards the end. “Shin Godzilla” was actually entertaining and not confusing. And lastly, “Trainspotting” was funny and in my opinion the most entertaining movie thus far. “My Own Private Idaho” just made me confused for majority of the movie. There were scenes that was just random in my opinion but I still tried to make sense of what was going on. However, the scene with the guy dancing as a prostitute was just plain funny and the most memorable scene for me. It was just so random and out of nowhere and I really appreciate it since it made me laugh even for a while despite being confused.  

Overall, the movie gave me a unique experience in terms of trying to know what is going on in the movie. Most movies I watch are understandable or at least understandable enough. The past four movies have been mostly confusing but like I said, it is still understandable. This movie however, challenged me to try understand the movie’s plot and what was going on. It challenged me to stay attentive and pay attention to the different scenes. Even if I didn’t understand some scenes, I knew I still had to pay attention. The movie had elements of comedy at least for my perspective. When Mike collapsed twice I found that to be really hilarious as well as the guy prostitute dancing with the lamp. It was a mix of comedy and a whole lot of confusion. For me, the movie was not the most entertaining but I have never watched a movie where the whole thing was just boring and bland. I try to watch it from a different perspective depending on the genre and how the movie is structured. For this movie, I just felt that most of the scenes were just talking so maybe that is why I found it a little boring but nonetheless still a good movie.

“Futureless Things” in my mind, was going to be Korean Drama with a lot of romantic and touchy moments. I did not realize that it was not purely about romantic relationships or touchy moments between the main guy and girl. Instead, it was just set in a convenience store with different people handling the store. There was a male employee and a female employee who  were running the store first but the female employee has plans of leaving. The next employee was a guy who was auditioning for a part (I was assuming a theatrical play) but was held back by several customers which frustrated him. After that employee was a woman who was being harassed by a man while she was working and ends up crying because the man was insulting her for being a North Korean. This continues to other people throughout the entire movie. And at the end, it seems like all the people are connected somehow by the convenience store as all of them were shown in the convenience store together.

The movie gave me mixed feelings throughout the entire thing. I felt a little bit cringey in the scenes where the girl was trying to kiss her girlfriend and the guy talking to his boyfriend. Personally, I’m not really into those super cheesy lines and moments but at the same time I felt happy for them. However, I would say that for the majority of the movie, I felt very confused. I didn’t know why the employees were changing. I didn’t understand the scene with the box and why the guy had to look after it. And with the scene where the store seems to be robbed by three people and it was replaying the scene with the first male employee with his boyfriend. I have to admit that this is the 2nd movie out of the four we have watched that made me confused. The other being “Schizopolis”.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. Even if I didn’t understand the plot of the movie and the point of certain scenes, I just took it as different perspectives of people who worked in the convenience store and what it’s like for them to work there. That is why I assume that there were different people running the store and each time was something totally different from the last person. I am not too sure if the people who worked there were changing as the time would change or if it was a totally different day but, I feel like maybe they were changing shifts. The changing shifts were evident with the scenes showing the time of the day which made me assume that those people were switching with the previous employee. I also believe the movie took a place throughout the course of one day since it starts in the early morning up until nighttime so by the ending scene, the convenience store has become a mess. But the odd thing here is that they played the events of when the first male employee was talking to his boyfriend and the difference was that the store was destroyed and robbed. This adds to the confusion that I felt watching the movie but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

Trainspotting is a movie about Mark Renton, a heroine addict in Edinburgh with four friends who’s nicknames were Sickboy, Begbie, Tommy and Spud. For the most part of the film, I personally felt sort of “high” in a sense that the scenes that were depicted were somewhat crazy and stupid that I felt like I was in the situation Renton was in. The scene with the worst toilet ever was the scene that started the “high” feeling for me. Renton being no longer constipated defecated in an extremely dirty toilet and shoved his hand in it to get a white pill which was handed to him. He eventually falls in the toilet and at that time, seemed like he was swimming in an open ocean. I admit that I looked away for most part of the scene since I literally felt nauseous seeing that scene.

As the movie went along, Renton was brought to the hospital by a taxi driver because of overdose of heroine. It was at this moment where I felt the “high” feeling I felt throughout the movie. Renton was brought home and was isolated in his room by his parents to force him into withdrawal which started to make him go crazy. In my opinion, the fast soundtrack that was playing in the background matched what Renton was going through at that time since he wanted heroine but the absence of the drug made him go crazy. He began to scream and have visions of different things which lasted for I think over 5 minutes. I had to look away for awhile since staring at the long scene sort of made me dizzy. I never felt a hangover in my life but I felt like that scene gave me a glimpse of what a hangover feels like since a drug addict goes crazy without it and an alcoholic has bad headaches and vomits at least that is how I would describe what I was feeling at that moment.

After that long scene, Renton eventually moves to London and seems like he has given up on heroine and has his life straightened out. However, Begbie comes back and influences Renton to go back to his old ways. They both return to Edinburgh because of Tommy’s death. Shortly after, Sickboy, Begbie and Spud reunite with Renton and force him to try out a new heroine’s purity. They eventually earn £ 16,000 which they split it amongst the four of them (£4,000 each). They celebrate in a pub but Begbie causes a fight and the following day Renton steals the £16,000 but leaves £4,000 for spud since he felt bad for him.

It was after the long withdrawal scene that I felt “normal” again since I believe the movie did a great job putting the audience in Renton’s shoes. In the end, I felt happy for Renton since he was able to move on from the negative influences surrounding his life. Even if he did betray Begbie, his other two friends Sickboy and Spud also left him which made to believe that they all moved on from a negative force that kept bringing them down.