Over the past couple of weeks, I've viewed two of the best movies I think I've ever seen and felt the need to share a bit about them. In addition to these two, I also saw the Daniel Day-Lewis-led film, There Will Be Blood, and highly recommend that as well. Lewis is electrifying and deserved his Oscar for Best Actor. Since that film was released over a decade ago, though, I'll focus the brunt of my attention on the two more recently released films which caught my attention upon first watching them and haven't let go two weeks later, The Square and The Shape of Water.
What these two films have in common are they're both: Unique/unusual; powerful; well produced, directed, and acted; are not what they may appear to be; and will likely stay with you long after the closing credits.
The Square is a Swedish film directed by star writer/director in-the-making Ruben Ostlund. It is essentially a satire on modern society, where a well respected art museum curator presents a show entitled "The Square," which revolves around the notion of altruism. While speaking about and presenting this art show, he manages to get his phone stolen and then has to deal with the press after some young marketing professionals he hired create and post a controversial video, promoting the show, which receives a great deal of backlash. I'm not doing the film much justice here. In all honesty, I don't think any single review or any number of words can do it a whole lot of justice. The Square is incredibly thought-provoking, has a few funny moments, and left me agasp as the end credits rolled, as I wanted to give it a standing ovation in my own home.
To this point, The Square has an 82% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average grade of 7.4/10, and the critical consensus being, "The Square finds writer-director Ruben Ostlund as ambitious as ever - and delivering an unforgettably unusual work whose challenging themes pay thought-provoking dividends."
Moving on to the next film, The Shape of Water, let's just say I thought it was fully deserving of the Oscar for Best Picture. Some late-night comedians have poked fun at the film, taking it literally as a woman having sex with a beast/monster. Sure, if taken literally, that may be the case and may come across as quite disturbing as a result. However, if there's one thing I learned while watching this film, it's that nothing in it should be taken literally. From my vantage point, the beast/monster symbolized all of the demographics whom have been marginalized throughout our history, from blacks to Muslims to LGBTs and beyond. While most people saw this beast as different, didn't understand him, and due to both reasons (and perhaps others), feared him, one woman saw beyond all of that ignorance, hatred, (those) scare-tactics, and prejudice to get to know him on a personal level. The beast is treated like an object by most, believing him to abject of genuine thoughts or emotions, physically harming him out of fear due to ignorance and prejudice. When viewing this movie, I thought about slavery, the Holocaust, civil rights struggles, and how each and every person marginalized by society had to constantly fight wars both internally and externally, to accept themselves for who they were, and to garner a greater acceptance at large. I also saw "President" Trump calling for a ban of Muslims, the deportation of DREAMers, building a wall along our southern border, etc. To me, the film was a giant slap in the face to Trump and all of his like-minded minions - a call to open our minds, open our hearts, see past what we can't help, and stand by one another to help move this country and world forward. Like I said, for those who just see it as a film about a woman engaging in intercourse with a beast, while it may make for a decent joke or two, in the end, you're sorely mistaken.
To this point, The Shape of Water has a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average grade of 8.4/10, and the critical consensus being, "The Shape of Water finds Guillermo del Toro at his visually distinctive best - and matched by an emotionally absorbing story brought to life by a stellar Sally Hawkins performance."
Do yourself a favor and check out The Shape of Water and The Square. You won't regret it!
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_square_2017/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_shape_of_water_2017/
What these two films have in common are they're both: Unique/unusual; powerful; well produced, directed, and acted; are not what they may appear to be; and will likely stay with you long after the closing credits.
The Square is a Swedish film directed by star writer/director in-the-making Ruben Ostlund. It is essentially a satire on modern society, where a well respected art museum curator presents a show entitled "The Square," which revolves around the notion of altruism. While speaking about and presenting this art show, he manages to get his phone stolen and then has to deal with the press after some young marketing professionals he hired create and post a controversial video, promoting the show, which receives a great deal of backlash. I'm not doing the film much justice here. In all honesty, I don't think any single review or any number of words can do it a whole lot of justice. The Square is incredibly thought-provoking, has a few funny moments, and left me agasp as the end credits rolled, as I wanted to give it a standing ovation in my own home.
To this point, The Square has an 82% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average grade of 7.4/10, and the critical consensus being, "The Square finds writer-director Ruben Ostlund as ambitious as ever - and delivering an unforgettably unusual work whose challenging themes pay thought-provoking dividends."
Moving on to the next film, The Shape of Water, let's just say I thought it was fully deserving of the Oscar for Best Picture. Some late-night comedians have poked fun at the film, taking it literally as a woman having sex with a beast/monster. Sure, if taken literally, that may be the case and may come across as quite disturbing as a result. However, if there's one thing I learned while watching this film, it's that nothing in it should be taken literally. From my vantage point, the beast/monster symbolized all of the demographics whom have been marginalized throughout our history, from blacks to Muslims to LGBTs and beyond. While most people saw this beast as different, didn't understand him, and due to both reasons (and perhaps others), feared him, one woman saw beyond all of that ignorance, hatred, (those) scare-tactics, and prejudice to get to know him on a personal level. The beast is treated like an object by most, believing him to abject of genuine thoughts or emotions, physically harming him out of fear due to ignorance and prejudice. When viewing this movie, I thought about slavery, the Holocaust, civil rights struggles, and how each and every person marginalized by society had to constantly fight wars both internally and externally, to accept themselves for who they were, and to garner a greater acceptance at large. I also saw "President" Trump calling for a ban of Muslims, the deportation of DREAMers, building a wall along our southern border, etc. To me, the film was a giant slap in the face to Trump and all of his like-minded minions - a call to open our minds, open our hearts, see past what we can't help, and stand by one another to help move this country and world forward. Like I said, for those who just see it as a film about a woman engaging in intercourse with a beast, while it may make for a decent joke or two, in the end, you're sorely mistaken.
To this point, The Shape of Water has a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average grade of 8.4/10, and the critical consensus being, "The Shape of Water finds Guillermo del Toro at his visually distinctive best - and matched by an emotionally absorbing story brought to life by a stellar Sally Hawkins performance."
Do yourself a favor and check out The Shape of Water and The Square. You won't regret it!
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_square_2017/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_shape_of_water_2017/
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