Backlog, backlog.

Houhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun

If it’s Ghibli, it’s good. My motto still holds. The story of the Yamadas has a distinctive look that floats the movie even when the storyline falters. Not that there would be that much of a story anyhow; it’s mainly just thinly connected vignettes that sort of chronicle the life of an ordinary Japanese family.

However, it’s Ghibli and therefore damn good.

Smultronstället

I can value Bergman’s film as a character study. I’m not quite so sure I enjoyed it as a movie, though. All this probably means I’m a redneck who wouldn’t recognize a classy flick if it bit him in the ass (and my choice of words more than proves this), but I still find Bergman to be Tarkovsky’s equal ie. vastly overrated. Mighty fine artists, very boring filmmakers.

Siriuksen vieraat, Delegaatio

Matti Ijäs would definitely qualify as an auteur. He writes his own stuff, has a large oeuvre and a distinctive style. Plus I happen to like his movies, at least the ones I’ve seen.

Siriuksen vieraat was scripted by Arto Melleri of all people and unfortunately it shows – the whole thing is a bit of a mess, an artsy-fartsy semi-coherent story that doesn’t really gain anything from its would-be lyrical dialogue.

Delegaatio is a different story altogether. It’s funny, makes a point and isn’t too long. Quite simply it’s a damn-near perfect telemovie. Hilarious.

Scratch

How very, very boring scratching vinyl albums sounds like. And how very, very entertaining it can look. As a documentary Scratch really isn’t that special – the same things could’ve been told in a five-minute infomercial, but as timewaster the movie works. DJ Shadow and the other diggers, the unbelievable bodyrockers (or whatever it was called) and standard-fare keeping it real chitchat make this a nice romp into one of hiphop’s less appreciated footnotes.

Hotel Room

So even Lynch can fail at times. His segment in Hotel Room is just pure ellipsis. The second sequence in this ultra-cheap HBO teleplay is the best but that still isn’t saying much. Better steer clear of this one.