79

%

• Howard Shore’s ponderous score immediately warns us – not for the faint of heart. The ever-smouldering Oliver Reed pouts, then smoulders a bit more, while Samantha Eggar bats her eyelashes at all the goings-on. What’s not to like?

• The people behind us thought this was the funniest movie they’d ever seen. I guess it was a laugh riot?

• Entertaining and does provide the audience with subtext to chew on but doesn’t fully get under the skin in the disturbing way the best Cronenberg movies do.

• Just plain creepy…loved it.

• Some serious acting chops make The Brood so much more than it might have been. The nuances of Samantha Eggar’s performance are especially mesmerising — it seems incredible that the actress was on set for only three days (especially given the, er, complications of the role) — and it was a thrill to experience the “strange adventure” on the big screen.

78

%

• Oh look, he’s really still disfigured. Oh no, he’s fine under there. Oh hang on, is it her or is he mad? Ah f**k it, I’m done.

• What is reality? Was it all the spiralling pathology of extreme narcissism? I enjoyed seeing an engaging ’90s psychological thriller on the big screen, though it may have lost me at the end when the convolutions became exponential and the action became exposition.

• This could not be more up my alley if the street sign had my name on it! An intoxicating, disorienting experience which starts as simple as an unlikeable man hitting on his friend’s girlfriend at his own birthday party, before spiralling into illusory nightmare and dystopian uses of technology. The labyrinthine structure might be a bit tiring for some, but it only added to the surreality of the film for me. Incredible experience!

• I found it difficult to have much empathy for the protagonist, he was so entitled and egotistical that I couldn’t figure out what either of the women saw in him, even when he was turning on the charm for the Sofia character. But it was an intriguing story, well told, and left me thinking about how I might have reacted in any of the characters’ situations. Good soundtrack, too – I don’t think I recognised any of the songs, but they were along the lines of what I was listening to back then.

• Love the internal resonances of this year’s programme, including the Phantom of the Opera callback on this disturbing dive into dream logic. Respect for tight direction by the young Alejandro Amenábar and his additional compositional chops. Good to see a late-90s web browser and the… assets of Penélope Cruz.

91

%

• The impressionistic animation style was not only beautiful, it made the film feel so much more real and resonant emotionally. It made me cry. I was with Kyona and Adriel every step of the way.

• Exceptional artistry, feeling and beauty, with universal themes made me think particularly of every fascist regime, the Jewish holocaust and the obliteration of the Palestinians, because it’s so beautiful it reminds us that humans are capable of appalling cruelty as well as the gorgeous flowing movement of this deeply wonderful, animated film.

• Utterly engrossing. The animation is fabulous, in more than one sense of the word. I wish I’d done enough prep to have realised I was watching a work of fiction inspired by a family history, as I was assuming it was based on the filmmaker’s own experiences (possibly as a result of having seen Persepolis and Flee in the past), and that might’ve coloured my appreciation of it. But I can still marvel at the filmmaker’s art and storytelling – beautiful and engaging. The crossing scene itself is just extraordinary, I felt like I was in the boat with them.

• Absolutely stunning visuals throughout. Always something beautiful and unique happening on the screen, contrasted with the devastating and sadly too common story of war and loss.

• Such a moving story told through beautiful hand-painted glass animation techniques. I was thoroughly engaged throughout the film.

89

%

• I feel like I got my money’s worth for an entire year’s membership experiencing this last night with the full live score.

• Phantom: “Haha! You have shockingly revealed my shameful secret despite me telling you not to while at the same time obviously prompting you to do so! Notwithstanding your cruelty in judging me solely by my looks, to punish you I shall confirm your every prejudice by being really quite horrid, whilst also wearing a killer set of Cuban heels.”

• A great movie – such amazing sets for the time. And a great musical accompaniment which really enhanced the film without distracting from it. Thanks for organising this. A rare opportunity.

• Rounded up my rating due to the outstanding musical accompaniment, but I’m surprised how well this holds up after 100 years. Favourite part: the scene on the roof, with the gorgeously billowing red silk and pigeons fluttering around the statuary.

• An amazing experience. The print with its colour tint was great – I loved the masquerade sequence with its individually coloured costumes, particularly the Phantom as the Red Death. Lon Chaney’s performance was amazing, and it’s so easy to look at his horrifying prosthetics and flashes of humanity and anguish, and see a clear lineage of sympathetic movie monsters starting with him and carrying on through to the movies of Hammer Horror, David Cronenberg, and Guillermo Del Toro today. But the live music really made it something special – what a great performance from that trio!

93

%

• What a privilege to hear from Annie Collins before tonight’s screening. Vital, urgent documentary-making that feels utterly essential today.

• There’s nothing really that compares in the Aotearoa film canon. The violence, the prejudice, the urgency. We’re conditioned as audiences to think of historic documents as unhurried and sober affairs, so it’s rare to find PATU shot and cut like a blockbuster.

• Really groundbreaking yet so simple in it’s approach to give it to you as it was, no sugarcoating on either side & one of the least “emotionally manipulative” documentaries I’ve seen but still so emotionally resonant. Really powerful in showing the connections between Māori and black south Africans and how indigenous and ethnic minority solidarity exists and always has. I thought about Palestine a lot while watching this and the solidarity we’ve seen from both Māori and South Africans there. Merata Mita really did decolonise the screen, I’m glad this was shown on such a big screen.

• Much more immersive than I’d imagined. I could just about feel those batons & the barbed wire. And the discordant strains of the national anthem fit perfectly. It was a bit sobering to realise how little progress we’ve made on racism since then. The bravery of those activists was both awe-inspiring and depressing. Hard not to judge myself harshly against them in these dark times. Only quibble is I would’ve appreciated a few more identifiers for the people who spoke on camera.

• The best NZ film I’ve ever seen, and the best experience at Film Society I’ve ever had. Incredibly shot, and incredibly relevant.

81

%

• I fall deeper in love every time I watch Suspiria. It was truly a treat to see (and especially hear!) this surreal, nightmarish film in gorgeous 4k on the big screen. Those dazzling reds and blues bring out so much texture, making this one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen in a cinema. Truly the best way to see it, as the collective nature of the cinema only enhances the unreality of the film; we are all trapped together in this nightmare, only free when our heroine is too.

• I was on the fence about going to Suspiria but am not sorry I saw it. There are some pretty cringe-inducing scenes and performances but also some genuinely unsettling ones. The music was excellent at scraping its metaphorical fingers on the blackboards of our imaginations.

• It’s often been said that a good film score enhances the viewer’s experience of the film without actually drawing their attention to the music. Thankfully no one told Goblin, who provided a musical score so overwhelmingly prominent and menacing that even Suspiria’s lurid super-saturated visuals struggle to compete. The film is a glorious assault on the senses, and I’m here for it.

• Exhibit A in the style over substance trial… for this juror, erratic dashes of visual flair and Carpenter like synth sweeps do not overcome a complete disregard for any conventions of storytelling. I found it very difficult to connect with.

• Wonderful – I had seen this many times but the giant screen allowed me to see background details I’d never noticed before. It’s easy to call this style over substance, but when the style is this flamboyant and with so many allusions and ideas embedded in it, it IS the substance.

87

%

• Shout out to the punter overheard on the way out saying “this is a movie about how it’s cool to shoot your boss.”

• A movie so specific, it spirals out into a whole universe. It’s a gangster movie, it’s a samurai film, it’s an accidental period piece, it’s a western (as so many samurai films are), it’s a feature on the plight of the urban pigeon… I could have shaved 15 minutes off the last hour, but damn, it gave me joy!

• I was a little worried I wouldn’t love it as much, so many years later, but it’s as riveting as ever. Every time, I believe in Ghost Dog so hard that it never occurs to me to question how or why he became who and what he was. Outstanding performance from Whitaker. Also great work from the soundtrack – hip hop isn’t my usual jam but somehow it fits the meditative nature of this story. There’s a lot to love in the film – the mutually unintelligible yet perfectly simpatico meilleurs amis; the laughably inept yet chillingly, callously, violent mobsters who can’t even pay their rent; the little kid who likes books just as much if not more than icecream; and not least the delight in observing the behaviour of birds. (The casual racism from the mobsters is a bit confronting – it’d be nice to think nobody would talk like that now, 25 years later, but I suspect some still do.)

• Many, many years back when this played in the Film Festival I wasn’t able to go – so glad that WFS was able to bring it back so I could experience RZA’s soundtrack over the Embassy sound system.

• This film was not afraid to trust the audience. There were lots of subtle references to American history and social movements. It was also filled with so many lovely small moments. The contemporary reviews of this film as “weird” are lost on me… the influences are clear, and there were lots of other equally mildly ‘experimental’ films from this and prior eras.

64

%

• Dreamy and nostalgic. The over-saturated and orange hues of the day were contrasted with the dark and sharper colours of the night. Highlighting the dazed effect of island life against the dark and gritty underbelly of the island’s politics.

• I made my peace with the fact that I didn’t understand what was happening, and managed to ride the waves of the film without getting too frustrated with it, but there just wasn’t enough story to hold onto for three hours. Jaw-droppingly beautiful, but it feels like it gave up telling an interesting tale a third of the way through.

• I’d be lying if I said I didn’t check my watch a couple times but overall a beautifully shot film that expertly crafted a sense of anxiety in the unknown in both its characters and the viewer.

• I absolutely loved this. The layers. Menacing dark belly. Imagery and themes of colonism. Vanity. Greed. Loved the admiral dance scene. The use of dance creating dark chaotic madness atmosphere through themes of violence/sexual overtones. Just the best!

• Inside this bloated and self-indulgently ‘arthouse’ looong (and boring) takes, there’s a great plot trying to get out. Interesting for the beautiful scenery, local people, and colonial attitudes, portrayed by the unlikeable ‘hero’. The most believable thing was the attitude of the Captain to nuking a cluster of islands for French machismo agrandisment, and the arrogant disregard for civilised norms a la Rainbow Warrior: too small and too far away to matter…. I prefer my films with the boring bits taken out; ironic that the least boring and memorable sequence (though still too long) was the totally irrelevant surfers in the huge tube breakers.

77

%

• So many tiny quirky things — it felt like flicking through a well curated set of Instagram reels. We laughed, we happy cried. It was a truly fantastic film.

• Can I rate this six stars please? What a roller coaster. Bonkers and brilliant. Also, some of the best dancing on screen I have ever seen!

• After a not terribly promising start, Hellzapoppin’ becomes a mostly enjoyable romp with overacting and sight gags galore, obviously inspiring later comedy classics – I would not have been surprised if Leslie Nielson showed up part way through to wish us all good luck. Definitely of its era though, with easily excised black dancing (incredible, and a definite highlight) and the treatment of women… well. Always appreciate being exposed to these through the Society, so thank you again!

• Brilliantly mad and way ahead of its time in terms of comedy, the movie brought heaps of laughter to the Embassy. Often surreal, breaking the third wall the movie reminded me of the Marx Brothers, Abbot & Costello and Will Hay. A cornucopia of delight!

• Wonderfully crazy!!! In my case, it turned out to be the perfect way to round off my 81st birthday. 🤡🥳😂

82

%

• WE SOBBED.

• Heartbreak and Joy and the heaviness of saying goodbye to someone you love has never been presented with more empathy and beauty.

• Assured, honest and sad. Pulls you in immediately and never lets go.

• A disconcerting film that seems to imbue everyday living and normal family friction with horror movie-like suspense and dread. The slow realisation that being a child in an adult world, facing adult things like death, is scarier than any ghost.

• I loved the naturalism and how it captured the messiness of everyday life, the strange mixture laughter and mourning. The empty room at the end was a real gut punch.