Weeping Willow 3: The Last Night concludes Merlin Dutertre’s Weeping Willow trilogy by returning once more to the unstable contact zone between ordinary lived space and globally circulating fictional imagery. Pikachu, Spider-Man, Mario, and other familiar figures inhabit a recognisable real-world environment under the sign of imminent catastrophe. Convinced that tonight is the end of the world, they move through the film less as heroic protagonists than as displaced witnesses, exhausted icons suddenly exposed to finitude. Built by embedding images found on YouTube into real settings, the film turns some of the most recognisable characters of mass culture into fragile presences. Dutertre does not use them for parody or nostalgic citation alone. Instead, he relocates them within a subdued visual field where the comic, the melancholic, and the apocalyptic coexist without collapsing into a single register.
'An American Werewolf in London' possesses a possible queer reading in the way it envisions a heterosexual romance being undone by the presence of a creature who embodies self-contentment in the face of social alienation.
Villeneuve’s Dune is a masterpiece for its crafting process, but references to David Lynch's picture are sometimes too obvious.
Crazy Rich Asians. The title is tacky, but the actual movie is both heartwarming and cosmopolitan. After all, it takes place in Singapore!
If you’re also a major fan of the familiar strangers story between two people of different generations, here are 5 underrated films you probably haven’t heard of, but might thoroughly enjoy.
The short documentary and second place winner of the Incluvie Short Film Festival, Gender Outlaw: A Bodysurfing Story, challenges any simplistic understanding of trans people.
The gentle, emotional nuances of Evan’s coming-of-age story would have been so beneficial to have incorporated into the life of a POC character. Showing a Black, Asian or Latino young man that is afforded the space to be vulnerable, flawed and sensitive while driving a compelling and widely-loved narrative would have been a game changer.
