Häxan, Babel, & Shortbus

Häxan is a semi-documentary about the history of witchcraft. It's also a silent film. I also fell asleep at a couple points. I blame the Five Guys burger and fries eaten just before beginning it. Also the comfortable couch and the slightly warm room. I do, however, recommend it if you're up for it, as it's interesting, although it can definitely be watched at fast speed to get the same amount out of it faster. Not that I watched it at fast speed, which may also have contributed to my falling asleep. It's also a bit preachy, but the opening bits about the history of witchcraft and the misconceptions of early societies were quite nice, if the recreations of the witch trial wasn't nearly as interesting.

Babel is 143 minutes. And I didn't care about any of the people in it. I liked most of the actors I knew, and it was good to see Kôji Yakusho get some work noticed by the American public. He's been in some great films. And I imagine that Rinko Kikuchi goes on the list with the other GAWLIS's. Yes, new tag! Fun! Babel: Not Fun! I guess I could write more if I thought that Rinko's nudity was remotely needed. Well, maybe the ending stuff, but why, exactly, did we need to see her labia? Completely gratuitous. Amores Perros was amazing, and 21 Grams was pretty good as well, but this was just bloated.

Shortbus. I'm not sure how to discuss the film and, honestly, am not sure what to think about it. I mean, there's the porn aspect of it (and I use porn as in it has stuff that's normally only in porn, not that it is a porn film), but it's got an interesting plot, and I liked it, but I felt kind of dirty for doing so. I don't want to condemn it for not being better, but it's eminently watchable. I think that I'm one of the people who is supposed to be shocked by the film, but they forget my long history of nunsploitation and that I've seen Ken Park. Admittedly, this is the first time I've seen autofellatio. Didn't look too comfortable. I never even thought about the possibility of it being done like that. See, I just can't get away from the explicit sex and discuss the film as a story. A story about finding your place in life, basically, similar to Hedwig, but without the kick-ass soundtrack. Just an ass-soundtrack. Woo! Man, if you haven't seen the film, you wouldn't understand the pun. I want John Cameron Mitchell to continue to make movies. He's an interesting voice. Does Sook-Yin Lee get added to the GAWLIS list? Yeah, I'd say probably. It's not Great, it's just Good.