2009 Top 5

[5_leaves_left]

1. Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. IIAmazingly rich production. Dark and crazy lyrics including gems like "our guns is chunky" and "the economy is down so you know there's gonna be a lot of homies in the town" Homies! And most of all Ghostface's desperate rhymes where he's rapping about swastikas on churches, AIDS, and rehab. He says "they

Comments

[surrealkitten]

I read in The New Yorker about the Cohen Brothers saying something similar in regards to A Serious Man, and it reminded me badly of Eli Roth's line that he "really couldn't wait to tie up Bijou Phillips and torture her". And then I kind of lost respect for the Cohen Brothers, because I thought that was kind of a silly, middle-school kind of an approach to take as a writer, but I think they made that remark off the cuff actually or meant it in a slightly different way- they happened to need to come up with trials because of wanting to do something bigger, and then the vicarious nasty pleasure was a surprise. I think. But anyway, do you think the Cohen Brothers are suggesting that we're alone in the universe, or is that your own idea which the movie happens to support?

Do you see yourself ever watching Hunger again?

[5_leaves_left]

I don't know. I think they're saying suggesting something more or other than 'there's no god' but to me it's not obvious what that is. That's part of the film's appeal for me, it wasn't clear what they were getting at. Though, I can be dense with these things. I was also kind of fascinated by the strong reaction the Village Voice had to the film as well

I don't see myself looking at Hunger again. FIlms like that, or like Four Months, 3 weeks, and 2 Days I think are really great, but I don't really want to return to them. Especially not on video.

[surrealkitten]

thanks for directing me to the voice article, i didn't know about it. weird. i think that article suffers from not knowing enough people who live outside of the five burroughs, honestly. like listening to two dedicated gay activists fighting over the reasons why gays shouldn't want to get married. you know?

yeah, i felt that way about Hunger, too. I actually didn't finish it, which maybe was cowardly, but i kind of felt like I got it. "i feel bad, you did your job, i need to go walk in the sun". is that really awful?

[5_leaves_left]

I don't know if bailing on Hunger is awful. Even though I found it hard to watch at times I was really excited by it. I thought here is someone like Michael Haneke, who's all provocative and seemingly aware of 'the image' and whatnot. I just sort of devoured the unusual technique. Like an Ozu film.

There is a short list of things that I cannot stand to see represented in film. This film came rally close to the discomfort factor of the things on that list. So, yeah, probably not awful in my book.

[surrealkitten]

oh, also, i don't know if this is just me, but every time i read a review of a hiphop album i literally cannot tell if the review is positive or negative without serious thought and repeated reading. it took me to the word 'best' before i even had a clue.