Dear friend,
this was the hottest week in Europe, and sitting on a sofa, even in the evening, was quite unpleasant. This might have affected my ratings for the films of the week, but… no, not really. I’m probably just getting a bit tired of watching movies, and feeling like I need a new passion. So maybe Weekly Visions will become Weekly Crochet. Who knows.
HIM, directed by Justin Tipping, co-written with Skip Bronkie and Zack Akers, US, 2025 - ⭐⭐⭐
The reviews for this film were so bad that I postponed watching it even after its arrival on Netflix, despite Jordan Peele’s name attached to it. I couldn’t care less about football (American or otherwise), and a lot of it is over the top and repetitive and overall a bunch of nonsense, and the two parts of the ending are one worse than the other.
Still, this is one of those rare films where atmosphere and the style are enough to keep me entertained.
Everyone on Letterboxd is raving about Julia Fox, whom, I must admit, I didn’t know much about (despite having watched Uncut Gems) and who seems to be an interesting person. Tyriq Withers gives a very different performance from the one in I Know What You Did Last Summer from the same year.
Zoolander, directed by Ben Stiller, co-written with John Hamburg and Drake Sather, US, 2001 - ⭐⭐⭐
Watching this film immediately after HIM made me notice some unexpected plot similarities.
Also known as the only Will Ferrell performance that makes me smile once or twice, Zoolander is considered almost a masterpiece by comedy lovers: I was hoping to enjoy it more than the first time, and I confirm there are some funny bits, but most of the jokes are at the expense of Stiller’s lead character (Bee Gees’ I Started a Joke is very much on point), and laughing at people because they are ‘simple’ is not my kind of fun.
Then there are the dozens of cameos, but not everyone is David Bowie - and some don’t really support escapism today.
On the plus side, it was fun to identify the young man that will become Alexander Skarsgård. And I can happily report that my version of the Magnum is powerful enough to unlock my laptop.
Diary of the Dead, written and directed by George A. Romero, Canada/US, 2007 - ⭐⭐
Kind of the same thing happened while watching Diary of the Dead: that young woman looks a bit like… wait, she looks a lot like… is she really Tatiana Maslany?!
I wish there was more Maslany in this film. Because basically her presence is the only redeeming element in this found-footage that doesn’t even bother to try and be one, plagued with irritating characters (worst of all is the alcoholic English professor who has combat skills ‘because he studied at Eton’), didactic inserts, pedantic insistence that zombies can’t run, and a plot without surprises.
Hotel, written and directed by Jessica Hausner, Austria/Germany, 2004 - ⭐⭐½
The setting and the premise (a young woman takes a job at the reception of a hotel in the German-speaking part of the Alps - with an investigation ongoing about the death/disappearance of a woman) make this film feel like the original version of Cuckoo.
The actual development is much, much different, and very serious.
Rather than supernatural events - which might or might not be at play, thanks to the creepy doll of the Lady of the woods - this one focuses on the unease of being alone in a new place, trying to do your best and fit in-to an environment that has its own unwritten rules.
Yes, that is basically the definition of ‘folk horror’.
For my taste, this was effective in communicating loneliness and dread, but a bit too psychological and introspective, with the few events in the plot not really flowing into an interesting and believable story.
It would probably deserve a more focussed, attentive second watch.