Wednesday, May 08, 2019

Isle of Dogs

(Movie Review)

Negatives
* The plot moves a bit slowly at points.
* Too much sentimentality at points.

Positives
* That deadpan Wes Anderson humor is great.
* All actors are good, but especially Bill Murray and Edward Norton are great at delivering the deadpan Wes Anderson humor
* I'm not much of a cinema expert, so I can't talk about this in great depth, but it's obvious that Wes Anderson views every frame as a piece of art.  And it shows in his shot composition.
* Related to the above point, my friend the Cinephile once told me that Wes Anderson is heavily influenced by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, who also was obsessed with creating symmetry in all of his shots.  So, the Japanese setting for this movie is appropriate, and works beautifully.

Other Notes
* I know this is only of interest to me, but... Back when I lived in Japan, and was obsessed with Japanese oldies, I had "Tokyo Shoeshine Boy" in my music collection.  (This is the song that is playing in the background in the izakaya scene.)

Rating:
7 out of 10.  (In the past I've given 10 out of 10 to Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel.  But I didn't enjoy this one quite as much.  It loses a couple of points for the slow moving plot, and the sentimentality.  But... the funny parts were really funny.  (I love that deadpan humor).  So 7 out of 10.

Video Review
Video review HERE and embedded below:



Link of the Day
Noam Chomsky on Venezuela

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