Happy Friday the 13th, all! Today I want to start a brand new series—if you could call it that—where I will recommend books and films from all the continents—excluding Antarctica, 'cause as far as I know, nobody publishes from there. I think I'd call this #LiteraturebyContinent, although I wouldn't include it in the title, as it won't fit. Basically, in each post, I will introduce you to 5 books and 5 films from each continent. I will try my best to find really good hidden gems and offer titles you might never have heard of before. And, of course, as we know, each continent tends to contain quite a number of countries and nations within it—excluding Australia, I suppose—so I'll try to offer diversity on that front as well. Seeing as I come from and live in Asia, I thought I would start with the largest continent on earth, with a wide variety of complex cultures and peoples. Let me just give a disclaimer here: even though I am Asian and I do still reside in Asia, I am in no way an expert on Asia. I haven't read all the books and watched all the films from all corners of the continent, so do forgive me if I may repeat recommendations from the same country and/or region. That being said, I hope these underrated titles will pique your interest.
Wow, time sure does fly, huh? I swear Ramadan just started yesterday, yet now Eid is already upon us. How are you this past month? For me, Ramadan is always a good time for reflecting and learning more about being a Muslim. The world has been changing a lot lately, and people are more aware of the diversity all around us—whether in terms of gender, race or faith. It has opened up so many doors for people of varying backgrounds to speak up and tell their stories, including Muslim women. Recently, I just realised that Muslim representation in literature and media has been pretty narrow—usually almost always Middle Eastern, either rejecting the religion or adopting extremist views—but real Muslims have found platforms for them to voice their own perspectives. The other day I found this video by a Muslim American content creator and it pulled down a rabbit hole of Muslim content creators from around the world, especially Black ones. It inspired me to really dig deep into the media I consume and how they portray Muslims—especially Muslim women—and I'd like to share some good ones with you all.
Here is a film that I watched literally only yesterday. I've been intrigued by
it for a while thanks to
Letterboxd, as
many people seem to recommend it on that website. What I didn't expect was to
get dragged down a long rabbit hole and come out the other side a changed
human being. Needless to say, this film made it to the top of my list straight
away and, by far, has become the best film I've ever watched. Not only that,
this film is based on true story and set in 1960 in Taiwan. Directed by Edward
Yang, this film features over 100 characters—all with speaking roles!—and
gives the story a whole lot more depth than most films are prepared to do. A
word of warning, though: this film is 4 hours long! You will be
sitting down for what feels like forever, but without a dull moment in it, the
film will hook you right in. Here is
A Brighter Summer Day (1991).
It's one week to Halloween! Eep! Are you guys already deep in the spooky vibe?
I love Halloween, but I'm such a scaredy cat when it comes to the
supernatural. That doesn't mean I don't want to be spooked or scared to my
bones; it just means that I'd rather have it without the wandering spirits and
demonic creatures. I can't be the only one, right? You're probably like that
too, if you're reading this, right? Well, I thought since it's already sun down where I am, it's the perfect time to give you last-minute Halloween-themed treats leading up to the holiday with only one week left. We've got
feature films, series and short films from across the globe. There are
psychological thrillers, disturbing plots and unexplainable mysteries—pretty much everything you need for a great horror story. Here we've
got numerous recommendations that you can watch while counting down to the big
night—with one guarantee: NO GHOSTS!
Lately, with being confined at home for so long, I've developed a new hobby—which you might remember from my previous post: watching foreign films. These are non-English-speaking films that happen to be on Netflix. It's just become my greatest pleasure to explore the world through films—because, apparently, we don't have the liberty to actually explore these days. Spanish films and series, in particular, have become a personal favourite for me, but I've also tried to venture into other languages as well to see what other countries have got to offer. Aside from that, I don't know about you, but I love short films as well. So I've also compiled some really great short movies that you wouldn't find on any of the streaming services—don't worry, I've included links on where you can watch these films as well! These films vary greatly from the absolutely comedic to the heart-wrenchingly dramatic, so whatever it is that you like, I hope you'll find it here.
So, uhh, this COVID-19 thing, eh? Looks like it's here to stay for a while. Well, at least where I live. I hope wherever you are, you have more luck than I do. But, if you're being responsible and staying home, you might get a little—or a lot—bored, right? Fear not! I've got a series of posts chock full of recommendations for you—films, music, books, you name it! Let's start off with some films and series recommendations. These are mostly exclusive Netflix contents as, I believe, it is the most popular and affordable streaming service out there—and one I actually have access to. Actually, I've recommended several movies and series on Netflix before—when I first tried this service—so you should go check out those too. Now I'm trying to be as diverse in choosing these titles as possible, so I hope you'll enjoy them.
If last week I shared some lesser-known Japanese movies that I love, this time I'd like to share some Japanese series of the same nature. Series take a lot more commitment, as my friend Uli once said, but sometimes it is really worth it. I try to search for those titles that aren't available in other forms and has little to no gimmicks within—i.e., fanservice of any kind. They tend to be down-to-earth stories that are mostly plausible to happen in the real world, so if you're not an otaku, it shouldn't be hard for you to swallow. Some of the stories can be quite dark and/or less pleasant, while others are sweet and serene, but I will make sure to let you know in each synopsis if there is any red flag to watch out for. Well, hope you'll enjoy them!
Since as long as I can remember, Japan has always fascinated me. It has always been my dream destination, whose culture and people really intrigue me. For years I have been consuming Japanese entertainment—including animation and drama series—as well as learning their language from scratch—since I was 12. The love may not be all that apparent on this blog, but it is very, very real—and I'd like to talk more about it, if I may. Also, lately, that feeling of great hankering for Japanese movies have really clawed onto me, urging me to leaf through various titles of TV dramas and live action movies on the internet. It has also led me to feel like sharing top 10 Japanese movies you might've never heard of before. These are titles that are, in no way, related to a series of the same kind—nor very gimmicky, as far as anime goes.
If you've been following my blog since at least last year, you would probably remember that I used to have this—shall we say—segment every month, where I compile my favourite reads, watch and listen of said month. But, since I've decided to stop being too structured, serious and planned about this whole blogging thing, I have stopped posting this segment anymore. As much as I love having the free time to do whatever else I prefer, I'm also sometimes close to bursting out with all the stuff I'm dying to share with people. It always feels kind of sloppy and/or out of place to post about them on my social media. Hence this post. These are just a few bits and bobs that I've been really digging on the interweb and I feel like everyone would benefit from having a taste of them.
The Off Camera Show
I love listening to people talk about things they are passionate about, especially public figures. Unfortunately, when it comes to celebrities, interviews with them often become one of those opportunities used by the media to really dig up dirt on their personal life. Sam Jones's conversations with various actors and actresses—be them big award-winning names or ones with subtle fame—offer a different approach and always end up making me feel closer to each and every one of these figures. You can really learn about their back story, their mindset and how they work their craft, without a stint of judgment. It's brilliantly shot in black and white and have seemingly no audience, really completing that sense of intimacy.
Yatzer
It was through an assignment, I think, that I stumbled upon this art blog. Yatzer offers news in the artistic world and introducing numerous creative and unique projects from across the globe. It often dives into the large-scale artwork, including architecture, installations and exhibitions. There are so many incredible, mind-blowing ideas that almost never make it to mainstream media, and here is a place where you can find them. These are some of the best ideas I've ever seen and it's quite unbelievable to know that someone out there has done it. Some of my favourite articles include The Spring Whispers Book Club, Gestural Sculptures of Paint and Algorithmic Portraits.
The Discoverer
Around a year ago, I got a little treat on my inbox when Nicholas, an editor of The Discoverer, emailed to tell me about this idea they were developing. That was how I started subscribing to their amazing newsletter—which I love! A little back story, The Discoverer is a community-based guide for travellers of the world. Every week they send out emails, containing all the information you'd ever need, want or ask for when visiting the week's destination—starting from the best time to go, recommended places to visit, to an experience from one of the community members. They cover a great variety of places around the world, from the most-hyped places to the less well-known ones. Honestly, I've never seen better travel guides.
The Sustainability Project
As someone who has been trying—very lazily—to transition to the zero-waste lifestyle, I've been looking for items I can switch to. So far, I've ever seemed to only find such items in the west—the US or Europe—until I stumbled upon The Sustainability Project. It is a Singapore-based zero-waste shop, filled with amazing, gorgeous products that are plastic-free and aesthetically pleasing. They have items, like bamboo toothbrush, beeswax wrapper and stainless steel bento box. My favourite, to be honest, is the rose gold boba-sized stainless steel straw. Unfortunately, they don't really ship overseas. They tried to give me an exception once, but the shipping turns out to be way too expensive for me. In the end, I managed to find a similar store in Indonesia, but that boba-sized straw can't seem to be found anywhere else. Wish I could go to Singapore just to collect it!
Conception
A web series by New York Times, looking at motherhood through the eyes of 7 women with various backgrounds, various experiences and various feelings about it. I think motherhood is something that is still taboo to talk about, unless you have nothing but joy and elation about the experience. However, in truth, there is definitely so much more to it than that. I mean, sure, we could be happy with the arrival of a little baby, but it can't be the only thing we're feeling—especially if we have to be on its beck and call 24/7. Also, how we see motherhood in general is greatly influenced by our childhood and the people around us. These stories are truly fascinating, unpredictable and greatly touching.
What have you been loving from the internet lately? I'd love to know!
At the beginning of March, one of my friends started to create a Netflix account and was kind enough to let me have access to it for free during the one-month free trial. As someone who has always wanted to try Netflix, I wasted no time to start going through all the series I've had my eyes on. It also helps that time was of the essence here—I've got only less than 30 days to explore as many nooks and crannies of Netflix as I possibly can, which ended two days ago, in fact. It's been rather interesting and very entertaining to see how Netflix can be immensely different from TV—or cable, for that matter. Here are some of my favourite series and films and what I think about them.
The End of the F***ing World
This series is everything I want and more. It's got the aesthetics that speaks to me, with an incredibly quirky story and unexpected plot twists. It's basically the story of James and Alyssa who one day meet, decide to start a relationship and the next day embark on a journey away from their hometown. Alyssa is a hot-headed, foul-mouthed teenage girl, while James is a self-proclaimed psychopath with the desire to kill her. It is not set in a dystopian universe—contrary to what the title might have you believe. In fact, it's set pretty much in present-day Britain, although with all the aesthetics reminiscent of 80s United States. There is no set plotline, creating the illusion that anything could happen—and they do. Please let there be a season two!
Black Mirror
Or what I'd like to call, "Your Futuristic Nightmare Now on Screen." Firu and my friend Jess roped me into this one and I haven't looked back since. I finished the entire four seasons in around a week—or less than. It's so addictive! The whole premise is basically stories on how technology could take a turn for the worst. Each episode isn't connected to the other, so you can basically just choose whichever to watch and not even look at the rest. It goes without saying that most of them don't end well, although there are anomalies where things work out for the best—or leave on a cliffhanger. It's also like a melting pot of pretty much all British actors. My favourite episode is "Be Right Back," featuring Domhall Gleeson and a romantically twisted story on love and grief.
Jessica Jones
One of those series I've been wanting to check out for the longest time. Although I'm not into Marvel much, this one just reminds me so much of Veronica Mars—with added cool factor on the main character. Krysten Ritter does an immensely amazing job playing her! So different from all her other roles so far, I think. Jessica Jones is a girl who lost her family in a car accident one day and woke up to super strength. Seventeen years later, she opens a private investigator office, while having to fight demons from her past—the first being Killgrave, a mind-controlling psychopath who claims to be in love with her. Maybe his powers work on me, because I am completely in love with him! I like Jessica because she doesn't set out to be a hero and can, in fact, come off rather standoffish.
Girlboss
Someone called this one "The most millenial series" on an Instagram story once. A fact I do not doubt, especially with Sophia Amoruso being the, uhh, mainstream female inspiration of today—creating the term #girlboss. So much so, that, at first, I gave up after watching two episodes. However, afterwards I came back round to it, decided to stick it through—if only for the gorgeous actor who plays Shane—and ended up enjoying it. In case you didn't know, this series is the (very) loose retelling of Sophia's journey to turn her eBay store into a worldwide online clothing business. I can't help but to see the resemblance to Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, to be honest—except less of an organised genius.
Atypical
A series I dipped my toes into without knowing anything about it beforehand—and ended up loving! Atypical is a story of a teenage boy with autism who starts to gain interest in acquiring a girlfriend and the dating game. It doesn't focus solely on the boy's search for love, but also how his family handles life in general. Sam reminds me a lot of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, except with manners and good intentions. I love the relationship he has with his sister Casey. The series feels, to me, a little like a Jodi Picoult novel. What I notice the most about this series is its diverse casts and their non-stereotypical roles in the story—probably the only series where I've seen a male Asian stud. I don't know, I just think that's cool.
Okja
If there's ever a reason for me to create a Netflix account, it would be this film. Having interesting casts, such as Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Lily Collins and Steven Yeun, I am very, very intrigued to watch it. Okja tells the story somewhat starting in South Korea, where a girl named Mija and her super pig friend named Okja live. Little does she know, however, that Okja is given by a U.S. company called Mirando to her family to raise and be slaughtered for meat. When they come to reclaim the 10-year cultivated animal, Mija is determined to get her back. I think it's a Sundance-selected film of 2017. The story is beautifully written and delivered—without forgetting to include comedy amidst all the drama and action.
Icarus
When this documentary feature won an Oscar, I didn't really understand why. It's not after I watched it did I realise how profound and eye-opening its content is. Here is a documentary that completely pulled back the veil from the doping system of Russian athletes. If you think Lance Armstrong was scandalous, you ain't seen nothing yet. It starts out with finding out from the inside how Russia could have possibly pulled this shit off for years without being detected—the athletes have always tested negative for performance-enhancing drugs. It goes way deeper than you probably imagine, rooting deeply in politics and putting people's lives in danger.
The Meyerowitz Stories
The way that this movie was presented is so unique and fresh: it is segmented into four segments that aren't necessarily chronologically immediate after the previous one. The story revolves around the Meyerowitz family, consisting of the father Harold who has been married three times, with two sons and a daughter—one of whom from the second marriage. Harold is an insufferable, undiscovered artist and his children compete to make him proud. Starring amazing actors, such as Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, it is a hilarious, not too exaggerated, yet touching and close-to-reality depiction of a family drama.
I Don't Feel At Home in This World Anymore
Let me just preface this by saying: this is not everyone's cup of tea. I went in knowing almost absolutely nothing about the storyline, except that I have a vague memory of hearing the title somewhere before. The story starts out simple: a woman who's been getting pushed around by people has enough when someone breaks into her house and steals some of her most valuable possessions. In the search for her stuff and her effort of reclaiming them back, she becomes friends with a neighbour and encounters some pretty gory, bloody and unexpected turn of events. Expect a lot of violence, disgusting contents—including pretty vivid vomit—and, obviously, strong language. I love that the main actors are Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood—two people who you probably would never imagine to get violent at all—but, boy, did they prove us wrong.
I don't know about you, but January is usually the month when I'm very determined to change my life. Let's just say motivation runs high. It's the perfect time to take in as many inspirational sources as possible—and I do tend to do that. This is the month I get the most job done and finish the most research. So it is crucial—heck, even critical—that I make the most of it. If you're like me too—or want to be so, I have a few recommendations of light but profound documentaries you can watch to widen your horizon and get you going for the rest of the year. Or, well, at least all through to July. These are not necessarily my absolute favourite documentaries on each topic, but they are a great introductions for newbies and a good way to kickstart your knowledge on the subject matter. Also, don't worry, they're all in English.
Where to Invade Next
Let's start with something profound, yet quite hilarious. This documentary by Michael Moore is really eye-opening. It teaches me a lot of things about other countries and, I think, if you're a US citizen, you could benefit a lot from this. It follows Michael Moore's journey himself, going from one country to another to find values and practices that he can "steal" to take back to the US. It opens his eyes to a lot of things his country is lacking—and, funnily enough, so is mine. Although it really brushes on a lot of profound and, possibly, sensitive topics, Moore manages to edit and narrate through everything to make them a bit more comedic and lighter to watch. My favourite part is when he and the crew went to Germany and Tunisia—both national values should really be applied to Indonesia, I believe. Very inspiring and entertaining!
The Next Black
As far as ethical fashion goes, I really cannot recommend anything better than The True Cost, but I do find that is incredibly jarring and overwhelming—I myself had to watch it twice to be able to take everything in. It's probably a bit intimidating to kickstart your knowledge. Alternatively, I would suggest you watch The Next Black, which is a documentary by AEG on the future of (ethical) fashion—and it's available for free! It is presented in such a lighthearted way, that it becomes a great way to learn about fashion and the environment, without having to suffer through the horrifying—albeit inescapable—parts of it. This documentary really opens up to so many possibilities, from the dry-dyeing—which sounds insane but highly innovative—to microfarming. It would leave you in awe to know that the alternative isn't actually that far away from us.
The Red Pill
Okay, I'll admit, this one is very heavy. But I just have to put this here, because I can't find any other documentaries discussing the same subject matter. You might know this from a post I wrote about it several months ago. It is the story of Cassie Jaye's journey in digging into the Mens' Rights Movement from the activists themselves. Cassie, who started the journey as a feminist, is willing to open her mind to ideas from both MRAs and feminists on the same topic. Truth be told, I find that the Mens' Rights Activists have a lot of valid points that I've never even thought of before. Their stories and experiences actually brought me close to tears. This documentary is also very controversial—having been banned in several countries, including Australia—so a lot of people have prejudices against it. I would suggest you watch it; you don't have to like it or agree with it, but you need to understand it.
Girl's Life
On the flipside, let me offer a truce through this six-part documentary series from Wall Street Journal—each of only less than 5 minutes—following a young girl's life from various countries and cultures. I know, there are probably far greater feminism documentaries out there, but I feel like this one is a very light yet profound—notice a running theme here?—piece on the subject. The girls are all around 15-16 years of age, with various economical and cultural backgrounds. I find it fascinating to see their insights on what it means to be a girl-turning-woman today to each of them, with their various aspirations and dreams. It also lets you take a peek into the life of people from different countries—and continents. It's a good introductory piece, in my opinion, into the world of feminism—especially in terms of education. Hopefully it will lead you to find more reading and watching materials on the topic.
Before the Flood
You've probably heard of this one already, since it's Leonardo Dicaprio's collaboration with National Geographic. Before the Flood is probably the second heaviest documentary mentioned on this list. It follows Leo's journey on finding out how far climate change has affected the world—including Indonesia. It made quite a headline when he came to Sumatra to see the forest fire and orangutans and got deported by our government, without so much as an excuse to why he was kicked out. Personally, I don't think this is one of those films, where the star sits on his high horse, telling everyone else to change. Politics is mentioned as playing a huge role in fighting climate change—and also why people refuse to believe in their existence. It's a good conversation starter, like peeling off the covers of oblivion you might not know existed before, to reveal the scary melted ice caps underneath. If only just a little bit.
If you have any other documentary recommendations, let me know!
Also, another great way to start your year is by reading books. Check out the video down below to see the five books I'd recommend you start with!
There's something about surrealism that just keeps your eyes glued to the screen, don't you think? To me, it's the most magical genre—is it a genre?—in the cinematic industry. When that line between imaginary and reality blurs, I can't help but to feel intrigued and, frankly, a little bit excited. Some of these films will offer the perfect escape from our own mundane reality, introducing us to more festive and adventurous lives. Some will lead us to ask questions about reality as we know it. Either way, they will all offer a different version of space and time. Here are the top 5 that I adore.
Probably the most well-known title on this list—especially with such a renowned director, Big Fish offers the most heartwarming story of love and adventure, in such a way that is suitable for the whole family. The story starts when, on what seems to be his last days on earth, Ed Bloom (Albert Finney) tells his son's wife (Marion Cotillard) of his adventurous youthful days. In his teenage years, young Ed Bloom (Ewan McGregor) seems to have met a giant, joined the circus, robbed a bank without fail and met a witch, who showed him his death—among other things. It is his adventures as a young man that we will see as a piece of surreal fantasy. It's as if he lives in an entirely different world from us. The aesthetics is very quirky, typical of Tim Burton, with a lot more colours and cheer than we're probably used to in his other works. I love the romance of the story—not just in love, but also in life—and the lack of need for explanation. Spoiler alert: Ed dies in the end—but the funeral was absolutely lovely and reminds me of a much more cheerful version of my Mom's.
Probably my number one favourite on this list! The Fall is such a tremendous film with great transitions between frames. It uses the term and function of surreal visuals incredibly well, using symbols at every turn and conveying a story within a story exceptionally. Set in the 1920s, The Fall follows Roy Walker (Lee Pace), an injured stuntman, when he begins telling a story to Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), a little girl with a broken arm, of five mythical heroes on a journey together. It was Roy's story, but the image we see of them in the film is evidently conjured up by Alexandria's imaginations. As the story progresses on, it reveals more of Roy's state of mind in the current predicament of his life. I absolutely adore the fluidity of form through each frame, creating symbolic meaning throughout the whole film. The story itself is very, very simple too—just a guy storytelling to a kid—but apparently contains much more depth than anticipated.
Paying tributes to The Beatles, Across the Universe creates a realm and story to fit their top tracks into. It is done beautifully, complete with the perfect choreography and set design—without making the whole film look awfully theatrical. The songs are also not seem forced to fit the puzzle, instead seeming to complete the scenes amazingly well. Set in the 60s, the story follows Jude (Jim Sturgess), a young man from Liverpool, as he moves to the US to seek his estranged father in New Jersey. There he meets the Carrigan siblings, Max (Joe Anderson) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). Thus, Jude and Lucy's love begins to bloom. The film takes you on a ride through all the significant events of the decade, including various The Beatles' references—definitely more fun to watch if you're a fan but I'm not and enjoyed the movie greatly nonetheless. The story is definitely rife with meaningful symbolic messages and political elements—what with the Vietnam War background and all—so it's still recommended even for those who don't particularly fancy a romantic film.
If you're into indie films and somewhat bleak romance, you might even have heard of this film. First off, Eternal Sunshine is definitely not everyone's cup of tea—Firu couldn't watch it to the end—but once you like it, you might never forget it. As far as surreal goes, this one doesn't really offer too much—it's not exactly fantasy-like, but definitely putting things out of place to make you question reality. The film doesn't open as straight forward as the rest of the films in this list, which already catches you off guard. Basically, the story is about Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) who were once lovers but underwent a procedure where they arranged to have the other erased from their minds. However, after a while, they meet in real life and fall for each other all over again—only to learn later on that they've met before. The memories that Joel tries so hard to hold on to are the ones we often see as surreal fragments of a separate realm from reality. Though subtle, ridden with emotions, these fragments create a deep impression on me.
Saving the best for last, I present to you the most surreal film on this list. It's so surreal, in fact, that I'm not entirely sure which one is the real world. Okay, you may notice that this one is animated—which probably seems like cheating—but I've never seen a film as surreal as Paprika before, even in animated form. In what is probably a distant future, a device that allows people to record and watch their dreams is created—and it gets stolen. The thief uses it to enter people's minds and distract them with their own dreams—thus erasing the lines between reality and dreams almost completely. All hell breaks loose. With the help of a cyber sprite named Paprika (Megumi Hayashibara), the scientists and the police try to identify the thief as they ward off his/her attacks on their own psyches. With such a tremendous storyline—and concept—this film is assisted with amazing graphics, allowing the characters and objects to have such fluid movements to confuse to viewers even more. The plot is quite face-paced to convey the exact chaos the situation has caused. Now you tell me if you wouldn't be confused about reality afterwards too.
Have you watched any from this list? Or maybe other recommendations from this genre?
I've always been a firm believer that it's always the unexpected which changes your life forever. When we let our guards down, life usually sweeps in and shoves a tiny—but actually significant—change our way. The butterfly effect, you know. Sometimes it's the kind of change that lights up our world, sometimes it's the change we need to learn from and let go. And never in your life does change seem to more profound than when you were young, which is why coming-of-age movies are so riveting. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is just one of those movies. It's the kind of movies that you thought was going to be one thing but turns out to be something else entirely. It's one of those movies which has you clutching your sides from laughter and feeling all the emotions you're afraid of facing. It could change your life, or at least your perspective, if you just give it a chance.
The story starts out when Greg (Thomas Mann) is ambushed by his parents to hang out with Rachel (Olivia Cooke), their neighbour who just got diagnosed with leukaemia. At first he resists and makes a whole scene about not going, but somehow he finally relents and goes to see her. While at her house, his 'colleague' Earl (C.J. Tyler) calls. Greg and Earl have known each other since they were little and have been making short films with each other for years, hence 'colleague.' Later on, Earl meets Rachel and they all become good friends. Coloured with adolescent insecurities, ripe comedies and a surprisingly serious circumstance, their friendship is put to the test and Greg is forced to see who he really is.
With a bit of Wes Anderson-like quality and an all-american coming-of-age storyline and perspective, this movie first feels like a big joke, which overshadows the weight of Rachel's disease. It first asks you to laugh, not really revealing where it is actually going. It feels exactly like life with a large amount of comedy and other emotions mixed within. To me, this feels much truer to life than, say, The Fault in Our Stars. My Dad says Greg is like me, which is probably why I can relate so hard to this movie, knowing exactly how Greg feels and end up self-reflecting a lot. Movies like this are definitely worth a watch. Brb crying.
While winter is slowly fading away, summer timidly comes a-knocking. At least, that's what happens in the northern part of the world—not so much where I live, which is always blazing hot. It got me in a summery mood and thinking of adventures, youth and friendship. It is at times like this which is best used to watch summer films and dream of sunnier days—or just accepting that they're here to stay. For this, I tend to turn to Sundance, which is one of my favourite film festivals in the world. They have the best selection of indie movies, with the most awesome storyline and gleaming casts. My favourite pieces from them tend to be of the coming-of-age genre, for some reason—well, they do host some of the greatest ones. The Kings of Summer is no exception.
The film is a mix between comedy and drama which centres around 3 best friends: Joe (Nick Robinson), Patrick (Gabriel Basso) and the ever eccentric Biaggio (Moises Arias). Sick of their family, they decided to build a life in the forest during summer vacation. Despite their freedom, they often run into obstacles which most of the time turns into a hilarious happenstance. It tells the story of friendship, youth, love and—most importantly—family. They learn "to appreciate the fact that family—whether it's the one you choose or the one you're born into—is something you can't run away from." Although not particularly artistic, the cinematography is incredibly well done, capturing youth and summer superbly. The plot also encompasses all kinds of issues teenage boys tend to deal with—despite the fact that they live in the forest for most of it.
The casts have also done an amazing job, especially Nick Robinson who manages to portray the raw emotional struggle of Joe's and Moises Arias who can do pretty much anything to show off Biaggio's eccentricity. I must say that it being indie is a huge selling point for me—I'm a huge indie fan—because it makes the film seem even more authentic with simple camera handling, minimal set design and down-to-earth costume design. The whole film really feels like a memoir retold by a person who actually experienced it. Warning: this movie might cause camping fever!
