(no subject)

[shadowkat]

1. So, Parasite cleaned up at the Oscars. Having seen three of the nominated films, and knowing enough about the others...not surprised at all. It really was the only one that haunted me afterwards that I saw. I discussed it with various co-workers.

Frustrated Screenwriter Co-worker approached me to discuss. He'd seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and was working up to seeing Parasite. He's a film buff and a huge fan of Korean Cinema, specifically Bong Ja Hoon. We spent a good thirty minutes discussing cinema -- why Once Upon a Time didn't deserve a nomination, and why I felt Parasite did. During our discussion, up pops my Boss, who apparently saw ALL the nominated films.

Me and Frustrated Screenwriter: You saw all of them?
Boss: Yep. The best one by far was Jojo Rabbit. You have to see it. (Spreads his fingers). Five Stars!
Me: What did you think of Parasite?
Boss: I loved it up to the last 20 minutes. I did not like the last 20 minutes.
Me: Yeah, I can kind of agree with that...it didn't quite work for me either.

So, I guess I need to rent Jojo Rabbit on Amazon or Netflix. I think it's on Amazon.
(That's why Jeff Bestos was in the audience.)

I'm kind of watching it on demand at the moment -- because my mother told me about four musical performances that I want to see. We'll see how long I hang in there.

2. Better mood today, although don't know why. I didn't sleep any better than usual - still got about five hours of sleep, if that. Even though went to bed at 10 pm.
Ugh. I envy people who can get up at 7 - 7:30 am. But, I didn't want to kick people today.

It's cold and rainy, and will be cold and rainy for most of the week. Reprieve on Wed, which I am taking off for physical/blood-work, and then it dips into the low thirties and 20s for two days, with 17 degrees at night, then we jump up again.
Very odd winter -- mostly wet, with frequent forays into low temps, then up to the 40s and 50s again in time for more rain. So if it is sunny = bitterly cold, but if rainy or overcast = moderate.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

Our weather is very weird. We go from days in the 80s to sudden drops to the upper 30s at night and highs in the 50s. It's the strangest winter I ever remember having.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, my Aunt who lives in Tampa reported temperatures in the 20s back in January. And my mother is in the 70s right now, but has also dipped into the 30s. While here -- we've received no snow, lots of rain, and anywhere between 10 degrees to 68/70 degrees in a given week.

[cjlasky7]

I thought Parasite was going to win Best For--excuse me, Best International Film, and then bow out gracefully. Once Bong won Best Director, I was saying, "Wow...it might have a shot."

As I said before, the second half didn't engage me as much as the first. That may be because the first half raised my expectations for a real class struggle throwdown between the Kims and the Parks. How far could the Kims' ingenuity and grifter smarts go in elevating their station before they hit a wall?

But Bong wasn't interested in that. The rich control the resources, and the poor fight for the scraps. It seemed so reductive. (But maybe that's just me.)

That said, the sequence where the Kims work their way across the city in the middle of the deluge was absolutely spectacular. That nailed "Best Director" down for me right there.

[shadowkat]

It surprised the director as well, I think. Certainly surprised me, last year I wanted Roma to get picture, but knew it wouldn't. And this year, I figured it would go the some route.

Yourlibrarian made an interesting point in her journal -- which was that "American Dad" vote got split five-six ways among The Irishman, Once Upon a Time, The Joker, 1917, Ford vs. Ferrari and Jojo Rabbit, leaving everyone else to vote for Parasite. And probably a scant few went for Little Women.
I honestly think that's what happened.

But having discussed these films in my work place, and seeing some of the responses on Face Book, I'm less surprised Parasite won now. It did better box office than any of the other films nominated, with the possible exception of The Joker. Also, no one liked Once Upon a Time, actually you are the only one I know of that liked and appreciated that film. Everyone else was either bored by it, or annoyed. One co-worker (the frustrated screenwriter who is in his 60s) disliked Once Upon a Time and felt it was a pointless piece of crap. He really hated it, and loves Boon's films.

As I said before, the second half didn't engage me as much as the first. That may be because the first half raised my expectations for a real class struggle throwdown between the Kims and the Parks. How far could the Kims' ingenuity and grifter smarts go in elevating their station before they hit a wall?

But Bong wasn't interested in that. The rich control the resources, and the poor fight for the scraps. It seemed so reductive. (But maybe that's just me.)

I felt exactly the same way. It reminded me a little bit of US, except was far better executed. US sort of was trying for the same themes, but got a bit muddied by too many disparate themes.

Bong accomplished what he set out to do. I might have liked it better if I went into it cold with lower expectations. The co-workers who saw it with no expectations liked it better than I did.