He was good in Reinfeld. Very believable. 
There are 2 Nicolas Cageās. I like both of them even though neither of them are the greatest actors. But they do have their moments.
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Anyone else seen August in the Water?
Pretty obscure 90s Japanese film. Hauntingly beautiful soundtrack and nostalgic aesthetic. Plot is completely nonsensical. I really enjoyed it. Best watched in the middle of summer or when you are pining for it imo. Can be found on youtube.
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Great reviews.
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I sort of remember not liking it much
Iām surprised itās not a bit more well known. I only heard about it by chance about 6 years back but didnāt see it until recently because I couldnāt find it anywhere.
Saw this a few days ago. Not bad. Almost never see a āMacaoā film. Nice cameo, in English, by Anthony Wong é»ē§ē. For those unaware in last decade or so:
Wong is a supporter of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, a series of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. This has reportedly led to limited acting opportunities for him in mainland China. He has also voiced support for the 2019ā20 Hong Kong protests. On 18 April 2021, Wong was approved for Taiwanās Employment Gold Card, allowing him to work in Taiwan without needing to apply in advance. It also allows him to receive tax incentives and National Health Insurance.
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@tango42 , you might like this movie. Pretty good one. Some of us foreigners might see subplots that we can relate to even in Taiwan.
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I thought this was fantastic, itās on Netflix (but unfortunately, not on Netflix in Taiwan).
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Blue Moon
Good movie from classical style. Ethan Hawke is a great actor. Donāt know how they managed to make him look short during the whole movie.
Edit: To make Ethan Hawke appear short in Blue Moon, director Richard Linklater used clever old-school practical effects and perspective tricks instead of CGI, including Hawke walking with bent knees, co-stars standing on hidden apple boxes, digging trenches in the set, using different height chairs, and adjusting camera angles and shot composition, all while Hawke also adopted a hunched posture and wore a combover for the role of the real-life short composer, Lorenz Hart.
Hereās a different Still Life that Iāve been meaning to rewatch. Slow and artsy. thereās also a slightly lower res version on YT with proper english subs
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Recently watched this one. Also directed by Jia Zhangke č“¾ęØęÆ. From the late 90s. Pickpocket å°ę¦
Another Oscar-worthy tour de force from Nicolas Cage. Donāt miss this one if you consider Cage one of cinemaās finest living actors and donāt take kindly to anyone who is foolish enough to say otherwise:
I watched that on Criterion a couple of months ago. I definitely needed to be in the right frame of mind for a slow film, but I liked it a lot. It was my first Jia Zhangke film; A Touch of Sin, which I watched later, may be a better start in that itās a lot closer to how typical films work!
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I was hoping to find more of his work on YT but there really isnāt, so Iāve only seen those two. I think I saw Still Life on TW Netflix quite a while ago. Maybe Iāll finally come back to Criterion.
Youtube movies are such a crapshoot, often edited without disclosure - recently watched Sorcerer (wages of fear) and about halfway through realized the Tangerine Dream soundtrack had been removed (not necessarily a bad thing btw).
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I wonder what his top 10 worst films are. Zandalee(1991) might make the cut.
They had a big collection for him a few months ago, but most of those have left the channel - for now. Things cycle on and off.
The Coppolas are a strange breed. They all seem to do their best work early on and that success triggers some kind of delusions of grandeur they never recover from.
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