District 9

[petronia]

Whooo that was interesting. I have a lot to say about this film, not all complimentary (it's an allegory about race and politics, that's not a spoiler), but it does... things... with characterization and narrative form that IMO deliberately set and transgress viewer expectations, and should probably be left alone to do them. IOW, don't read reviews, just go and see it. XD As a pure piece of filmmaking it is stellar and will garner not a few 4- and 5-star ratings, but you'll need a strong stomach. I went with G, who kept geeking out over Peter Jackson in-jokes that flew over my head.

Incidental FYI for those who care: I've finally started posting the STxi recs over at DW, which seems to be the most sensible place for them.

Comments

[arboretum]

wait, if you have a lot to say about this film will you maybe possibly eventually say it in a separate post? *__*

because you know, just saying, I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts in detail~~~

haven't seen the film yet but probably will before school starts up again.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Yeah yeah, I will wait until some people have actually seen it! I knew nothing about it going in and IMO it's best served that way, so.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Saw it Friday. More international-release movies should be set in South Africa cos the accent is really cool.

I liked that this wasn't a "look how much research we've done on the sociopolitical problems of this exotic land!" movie, it was a straightforward sci fi movie with a Hollywood budget, South African director, and South African actors.

[elfiepike.livejournal.com]

i agree with all of the above statements, assuming that the second one is using "like" someone ironically???

r to

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

No, I was serious: while it's nice when (American or European) directors do their research, a much better solution is to just hand the movie over to someone who KNOWS. Peter Jackson is the big name instrument through which the money was channeled into the appropriate hands. It's kind of a statement in itself to set the alien invasion in Johannesburg.

Re: r to

[elfiepike.livejournal.com]

having given it much thought, i would like to say that i never meant to imply that the south african aspect was ever something i didn't enjoy, because that part i always appreciated: that it was obviously a different place than the normal settings and there was nothing faked about that sense of culture implied there, if that makes sense. :) (obviously i'm replying to things pretty late, sorry.)

repost

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Further comment retracted, expanded here (http://sub-divided.livejournal.com/154169.html) (with spoilers).

[supacat.livejournal.com]

I just saw this (based on your cryptic LJ entry!) and I'd love you to write a longer post about it. I literally just closed VLC player on the credits, so I'm still somewhere between OMG an actually scifi scifi movie and OMG interesting race politics and OMG problematic race politics and cool mecha! and yuck.