Denouement Renouement

Tag: 2021

  • Hooptober 12: 哭悲 (The Sadness) (2021)

    Film #30 — 4/5 Zombie Films; 5/6 Countries (Taiwan)

    By C. Ramsay

    Another film from the peak era of COVID that examines illness, how we choose to respond to it, and who we choose to protect. With the introduction of the “Alvin virus” and its highly transmissible mutated form that initiates the pandemic, a young couple named Jim and Kat become separated. The audience is given time to follow both as they must suddenly fight to survive in an attempt to reconnect before settling more consistently on Kat and her plight.

    Though not immediately fully evident, after the first couple of encounters we learn that the infection draws out a gleeful indulgence in sadistic violence, both physical and sexual, with copious levels of misogyny thrown in for victims who are women or feminized. Aside from some facial expressions showing shock or fear from people at risk of attack, this element is never given deeper consideration than being needed as a component to progress the current set piece. The film also lacks a deeper exploration of its minimal bureaucratic focus, to its detriment as this angle could be used to help analyze the dominant social structures of modern society and better round out the focus on misogyny and sexual violence, in particular.

    (more…)

  • Hooptober 12: We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021)

    Film #28 — 3/3 Wildcard Films

    By C. Ramsay

    Jane Schoenbrun has a knack for capturing such a specific melancholic type of nostalgia in their films, with World’s Fair ramping it up uncomfortably high. Centered on a teenager named Casey, we quickly learn she spends most of her time in isolation in her attic bedroom with no friends to really speak of and a neglectful father who seems to find her presence a frustration. Like many kids who have found themselves in the same circumstances, Casey turns to seeking community through unsupervised Internet access, diving too deep into niche rabbit holes of horror-based subcultures and exacerbating untreated mental health struggles in the process. After taking part in the initiation process of the “World’s Fair Challenge,” we stay with Casey as she lives day by day, continuing to record videos of herself possibly experiencing post-initiation changes, and striking up a relationship with another World’s Fair participant who goes by “JLB” and happens to be a middle-aged man.

    There is such a deep sadness surrounding Casey. Her depression and loneliness are palpable to viewers, especially those who can relate more explicitly to the specifics of her experiences, but all of it is rooted in empathy. The film also capitalizes on more deeply immersing the viewer through exploiting what can be accomplished via multi-sensory experiences, and the format of including videos within videos makes the audience feel involved through the sense that we’re accessing videos of Casey the way she is of others. 

    (more…)