Formerly Ariel Esteban Cayer's blog (2009-2011)

THE END? NOT REALLY, ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!

I’m putting this blog to sleep. It’s been a good 3 years, but I’ve had enough of this free-for-all format and I need a blog that - this is going to sound pretentious - suits my plans and vision for 2012 and onward. The layout is much more visual, finally allowing myself to blog in a purely screencap-driven way, when needed, yet make my writing pleasing to the eye the rest of the time. I will not write less, but my writing will be increasingly careful and concise - as you can already see with the few posts on there. This is a secondary blog so I can’t follow back and can’t activate replies - and I think I like it that way. If you want to talk, let’s talk by all means - you’ll know where to find me, I’m sure.

The pages at the top will be my attempt at historicizing my film consumption. Give it time, they will fill up quite quickly. 

I was going to wait until January 2012 to make the switch but I got impatient, started posting, got to a satisfying level of HTML experimenting - only me riffing on an available theme, nothing major - and some people already know about it so I felt like announcing this now.

Suggested are more than welcome as well! Let me know!

I have to say both bloggers nosex and branduponthebrain were quite inspirational, as far as film blogging format & looks are concerned.

Thank you angelica for the design & HTML tips.

Oh, the adress! Not awfully complicated: filmghoul.tumblr.com. I will most probably get my own domain name in the future -and install comments - so I’ll let you know then as well.

See you on the other side! I’m actually quite curious to see who follows me there! 

-Ariel

PS. I will also complete my “2011 in film” list on this blog so expect 2 final posts!

Also, something slightly different: reviews & thoughts might be added below the screencaps retroactively so I’d recommend checking back once in a while through the main page rather than the dashboard…I realise this is unpractical but it will happen!

Looks like I’m accredited for RIDM…now I gotta figure how I’ll cover at least a fraction of the festival amidst the film I’m making and the gazillion (photo) essays I have due for school + a weekend horror class next weekend. Holy shit…!

Some films I’m interested in seeing:

• American Passages
• Paradise Lost 3
• Mondo Cane, 35mm print! ‘Nuff said.
• Putty Hill
• Resurrected Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
• The Vanishing Spring Light
• Dragonslayer
• Better this World
• Inside Lara Roxx
• Les Trois Disparitions de Soad Hosni

What I’ll be missing, for sure:

• The Jorgen Leth retrospective
• The Frederic Wiseman retrospective (and Crazy Horse)

See you on the other side…

The Children (Max Kalmanowicz, 1980)

angelicahasafeed:

A passionate cry deserves a passionate logo.

FNC 2011 via Spectacular Optical

Saya Zamurai (Hitoshi Matsumoto, 2011)

Affirming himself as a truly unique filmmaker with the kaiju mockumentary Dai Nipponjin (2007) and a master of high concept comedy with Symbol, easily one the best films of 2009, comedian/director Hitoshi Matsumoto elevates his peculiar craft to an entirely different level with this jidaigekicomedy that had me crying and gasping of laughter. Like his two previous films, Saya Zamurai (aka Scabbard Samurai) is a high-concept comedy relying on repetition of a very simple and clever idea. When an aging swordless ronin (Takaaki Nori, hilarious) and his young daughter (Sea Kumada) are captured by a feodal lord, they are given 30 days to make his son laugh, who has lost his smile with the passing of his mother. 30 days, one attempt per day – that’s it. And because Matsumoto’s mastery of comedic timing and imagination knows no bounds, hilarity ensues. But in the process, Saya Zamurai manages to become much more than a relentless series of genius gags: a film about the intricacies of creative process behind filmmaking and comedy; a film about the absurdity of bushido, mortality and life itself; a film experience unlike any you’re going to have this year. Matsumoto elevates comedy to such degrees it becomes humanistic. Saya Zamurai will illuminate your day, have you marvel at the sheer ingenuity of its cinematic devices and, most importantly, take you through a spectrum of emotions that will have you wiping tears off your face.

FNC 2011 via Spectacular Optical

Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011)

Acclaimed British visual artist Steve McQueen (not to be confused with that Steve McQueen) did not make his first steps into the film world unnoticed. Indeed, Hunger, a stunning account of the Irish Hunger Strike of 1981, in which Michael Fassbender’s star-making performance confronted us with the mental and bodily repercussions of corrupt politics, was rightfully hailed as one of the greatest debut films of all time and best films of 2008. It came as no surprise that McQueen was going to team up with Fassbender again (with whom he is evidently building a Scorsese-De Niro relationship) for Shame, his exploration of urban alienation through the lens of an excruciating sex addiction. Incredibly precise in its composition, performances and script, Hunger is the gut-wrenching portrait of Brandon, through which McQueen exhibits his rare talent as a director and Fassbender confirms, yet again, he is one of the great actors of our time. Careful framing and impeccable sound design sustain tension out of thin air as McQueen takes us through a man’s self-destructive sexuality and his single relationship with his sister (interpreted brilliantly by Carey Mulligan) – a dynamic which escalates into a grandiose and spellbinding tragedy one can simply not look away from. Furthermore, McQueen’s unshakable aesthetic– rivalled this year perhaps only by Refn’s stellar Drive – makes it one of the most pleasing visual experiences of the year, in which the architecture and colours of the city have a voice of their own, yet merely amplify the human story McQueen and Fassbender decorticate with impeccable minutiae. Fascinating, beautiful and devastating, Shame is simply one of the best films of the year.

Time Walker (Tom Kennedy, 1982)

When sci-fi meets mummies meets teenage slasher narrative, you know you have a stunner on your hands. The most fun I’ve ever had with a mummy film - and probably my favorite if it wasn't sacrilegious to prefer this to Karl Freund’s Karloff-starring masterwork - Time Walker is a schlocky genre hybrid that will blow you away if you give it the chance. Supposed to be the first part of a mind-blowing saga of cosmic time-hopping proportions, the sequel was (of course) never made…