Review of Rhinoceros Eyes (2004) by Aaron W — 07 May 2004

What a busy week!

School is finished, finally. I took my last final this morning and didn't do as well as I would have liked. In truth, I screwed up and lost my notes for the first half of the semester and it was a comprehensive exam. So I'll probably take my first B ever, in computer science of all things. Oh well.

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Someone asked me out today. That doesn't happen often to any guy (I think), but especially not to me. I'm not bad looking or anything, but most people I meet don't seem to share my interests. As it turns out, I really do like this person, and have all semester. In fact, we did share some chemistry at one point, but I didn't pursue it. As you can expect, I'm quite happy about this event. Even though I liked her, everytime I considered making another move, I just thought about how much trouble relationships are, so I decided to do nothing. So, we'll see how it goes.

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I really hate this time of year for film. In fact, I think I prefer the very beginning of the year just after Oscar season, because there are all the late season holdovers, plus all the great foreign releases. April seems to be more of a transitionary period for all film. The good summer releases seem to come in the middle of the season, mainstream and indie alike, and that seems to be the case this year.

There are three films playing at the downtown Landmark theatre that I have a slight interest in seeing, but it probably won't happen in the theatre. Those are [b]Crimson Gold[/b], [b]James' Journey to Jerusalem[/b], and [b]The Return[/b]. There's nothing else playing in the city that I want to see, so maybe I'll start making a dent in my Netflix queue.

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Movies I've seen lately:

Somehow, even with it being finals week, I've managed to see a lot of film. I'll have to stretch this into two entries just to get the ratings in.

[b]3 Women (1977)[/b] - When Robert Altman is on, he's one of my favorite directors. He creates such vivid characters and gets great performances. Plus, he can write and I respect that he's bold enough to attempt longer takes and his films benefit as a result. Of course, he still is the director of Dr. T and the Women, along with Pret-a-Porter, but we'll try to forget that for now.

3 Women just got Criterion treatment, luckily for us (and me). Shelley Duvall's character of Millie was exquisite! She was a pathetic, lost soul, who talks and talks, and is completely oblivious to how inconsequential she is to the rest of the world. She won at Cannes and I can understand why.

[b]Shaolin Soccer (2004): [/b]A lot of fun. Cheesy fun, really. This is the Chinese equivalent of an American Scary Movie, but it's much better executed, funnier, and just overall very well done. I don't like how Miramax tampered with the film by inserting English signs and cutting it more for Western audiences. Give us the film as is, and let us figure it out.

[b]Stuck on You (2003): [/b]Better than I expected, and one of the better Farrelly movies in recent years.

[b]Rhinoceros Eyes (2004): [/b]This was the first feature for Madstone Films, who also owns a theatre chain. It was a DV film, shot by newcomer Aaron Woodley, starring Michael Pitt as an idiot. It was alright, a little too artistic for my tastes, and there wasn't a good enough screenplay to back it up.

[b]The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)[/b]: This was probably the coolest experience of the week. I saw this at the theatres with a 3-piece live band that scored the film. They were sort of instrumental indie-rock, shoegaze, with a goth twist. They sounded a bit like Sigur Ros. They did a great job with the film, and it was far better than usual as a result. Just an overall good time.

I saw a couple other films, but I'm tired of writing, so maybe I'll finish this tomorrow.