Movies: T2 Trainspotting, Frantz, Raw

Hi everyone!!

It has been a busy couple of weeks since London.  Two big museum shows. Monet: the Early Years at the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park was outstanding, made better by enjoying it with new friends from our recent trip to India.

Next was the Diebenkorn and Matisse exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and was a delight.  If you are in the area, both are well worth a look.

We are still getting caught up on films.  Here are the first few.  More tomorrow.

We will hit the road again on Monday for a family visit in Wisconsin and a quick trip to Costa Rica.  We will post from the road as time permits.  Enjoy!

J&J

T2 Trainspotting

Remember Trainspotting from 20 years ago?  It was touted as “visionary” and “groundbreaking”.  Perhaps, but I recall it was confusing.  Well T2 is hateful, sad, self destructive and caustic.

It is set twenty years later and this chapter is produced with an modern energetic look.  Still listed as a Drama/Comedy.  OK, Drama, yes (wayyy too much drama); comedy, well maybe to some viewers.  We found very little to laugh at and most of the time we did not know what on earth was happening, nor why.  More importantly, we didn’t really care.  We were relieved when it was over.

On the upside, the cast was good:  Ewan McGregor headlined, Johnny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner and Anjela Nedyalkova all giving solid performances.  Unfortunately, we didn’t care much for the characters themselves.

Let’s wrap it up by saying ‘This is not the Britain we know and love!’  Rated R for violence and language. Two hours running time.

Rating 

Frantz

Wow!  Clearly this is our pick of the week.  Set in Germany (and Paris) in post World War I, a young German woman and his parents grieve the loss of her fiance and their son when a young French soldier comes looking for Frantz’s grave.

During this period, the anguish of war is still fresh and painful.  The French and Germans did not like each other much and at times it was difficult, even uncomfortable, to watch.

It is a beautiful film by the prolific French Director, Francois Ozon.  There is an excellent cast including Pierre Niney, the French soldier; Paula Beer, the Fiance; Ernst Stotzner as Doktor (the father), Marie Gruber (the mother); and a bit part by Anton von Lucke  as Frantz.

Overall, it is an instant classic period film with fascinating twists and turns. The genre is Drama/History and runs 1 hour, 53 minutes.  French and German with English subtitles.  Rated PG-13.

Rating 

Raw

The critics overall LOVED this film.  Comments like “classy looking” (translation: shocking and gross), and “deliciously fevered” (translation: cannibal horror).  My favorite “playfully queasy and artfully gory” (translation: “it’s fun to have your stomach turn” and “blood and guts can be appealing under the right conditions…not”).

This is a French language film about two sisters attending veterinary college. The exhaustive hazing of new students is expansive and gross beyond anything we have seen at the movies before.  Granted, this is unique.  In fact, it makes one want to be a different species.

It does have a good cast of talented young actors. It was written and directed by a talented young female director Julia Ducournau.  I’m thinking we were not meant to take it seriously.  Rated R for gross images, violence, and lots and lots of blood.  Listed as a Drama/Horror and runs 1 hour, 39 minutes with s surprise ending.

Rating