Vagabond Footnotes

The annual post-Oscar film roundup is a pre-blog tradition. There's The Oscars and the Year in Review, The Top Six, Noteworthy Films and the Rest (The Good, the Bad and the Godawful).

The spoiler buttons on the posts above do not always seem to be working. In the meantime, here are all the spoilers.

Parasite:

When I first saw Parasite, I debated whether it had to have its tragic ending. Does Ki Taek really have to stab Dong Ik? But I think it's instinctual, and an assertion of his humanity, that he's a person, despite Dong Ik viewing him as a lesser being and recoiling at human smells. I think if Dong Ik had said, we have to get both Jessica (Ki Taek's daughter) and Da song to the hospital, Ki Taek would not have stabbed Dong Ik. The film's biggest turn comes with the revelation about the hidden bunker, but the following scenes are also critical, with Yeon Kyo mentioning cheap panties and Don Ik complaining about Ki Taek's smell. Until that point, we and the Kims were having a bit of a laugh at the Parks, but now we know the Parks look down on the Kims, or would if they knew. And then Ki Taek and his family have to stay silent under the table and mull on those humiliating realizations while the Parks have sex.

As for the very end, I viewed it from the start as a fantasy, and that the potential happy ending in the future was a long shot and likely impossibility. It's a good choice by Bong Joon-ho, because we can admire Ki-woo's aspirations and root for him, but also recognize he may be kidding himself. So I thought the ending had a wistful, elegiac tone.

If there's one quibble I'd make about the film, it's that it would be more accurately called Parasites, plural, potentially referring the Park family as well as the Kim family and the former housekeeper and her husband in the hidden bunker. But perhaps that would have given too much away? Regardless, this is a fantastic film, and I'm glad it won so many awards and heartened that so many people appreciate it.




















Marriage Story:

The bleeding scene is kind of funny, especially with the growing stain on the shirt, but having Charlie collapse strained credulity, because it wasn't that much blood. And then apparently he recovered off-camera and didn't bleed to death?




















Avengers: Endgame:

The biggest crowd-pleasing moment is, of course, Captain America/Steve Rogers picking up Mjolnir, Thor's hammer. His ability to do so was hinted at in Age of Ultron, and Rogers is so virtuous and so in need it's plausible and not just a gimmick – although boy, he adapts to fighting with it awfully quick. Meanwhile, with Endgame, Marvel managed to give great send-offs to the two key characters of the Avengers, Iron Man/Tony Stark and Captain America/Steve Rogers. Very well-done. Also: points to Endgame for explaining its theory of time travel, and doing so with some humor. Endgame goes with the divergent stream theory, which I prefer to the other most popular theory, the closed loop.




















Pain and Glory/Dolor y gloria:

When Julieta Serrano shows up as Salvador Mallo's elderly mother, I was struck by her having blue eyes, whereas Penélope Cruz has very distinctive dark eyes. Serrano and Cruz also don't look much alike otherwise. I was wondering if Almodóvar just decided he liked Serrano as an actress, so screw continuity, but of course we see at the very end that Cruz is playing an actress playing Salvador's mother, and everything makes sense.




















Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker:

We haven't seen Force healing before in the movies (yes in the extended universe, apparently, much of which is no longer canon, for stupid reasons), but that seems like a reasonable addition. Teleporting objects is completely new, too, and kind of ridiculous, but the fans enjoyed it, so okay. The Emperor's return is ludicrous, because his body was incinerated in The Return of the Jedi, and claiming he just returned somehow because of Sith powers is some of the laziest hand-waving ever perpetrated in a major film, but as we covered above, we kind of go with it because Ian McDiarmid is awesome. But his plan at first involves Rey striking him down and then apparently him possessing or merging with Rey. (Force ghost, evil Sith style.) But then he finds out she and Kylo Ren are a dyad and he suddenly switches to trying to kill her instead. Huh? The rules of this zombie Sith possession crap are unclear and apparently change on a dime. Kylo Ren gets to redeem himself, which is kind of nice, but it's also a bit weak that Star Wars tends to kill off redeemed villains right after their moment of grace (Darth Vader being the other major example). Although it makes sense from a narrative standpoint, because Kylo Ren meeting Finn, Poe, and the rest of the Rebel Alliance leaders would be unbelievably awkward if not completely unfeasible. So it's a bit of a cop-out, but ehh. I thought the redemption arc made Kylo Ren more interesting, at least. And I did like both the Han Solo and Luke Skywalker moments, which help sell both the Kylo and Rey arcs rather than just being cameos. So well-done on that front.




















Uncut Gems:

I debated the believability of the ending, with Howard opening the security door to let in Arno, Phil and Nico. Howard gets shot and killed, of course, and I bought Phil's action, but Howard opening the door seemed unusually risky if not idiotic. I think it was somewhat plausible in that, in that moment, he's achieved the greatest gambling victory of his life and has literally beat the odds. He's gone from serious danger to (he thinks at least) safety. He's absolutely ecstatic, plus clearly he can pay Arno back now, so why would anyone possibly kill him? Arno has even shifted to cheering him on. But it does betray a lack of understanding about human nature and specifically not comprehending Phil's character. Phil's expressed his hatred of Howard and is not a rational guy. Howard would have been better off letting them leave through the outside door and promising to drop off the money later – he doesn't even have it yet. But I think his fatal error is somewhat understandable. Phil killing Arno is similarly rash but also seemed plausible, given how far Phil has gone. The film has some minor story bits I liked, for instance, Howard's earlier gambling, where he follows his bets in the car, goes extremely well, which is not what usually happens in gambling addict stories. So the cliché would be that he loses money and gets deeper in the hole; instead, Howard wins, or would have won, but Arno stops the bet, which is why Howard's still in peril for most of the movie.




















Godzilla: King of the Monsters:

A human is about to be killed by the big bad monster and then is saved at the last moment by Godzilla not once, not twice, but at least three friggin' times. That's not just lazy writing, it's bad directing, which robs the later moments of suspense.