Films, not masterpieces, please!

Finally I've passed that exam, for which I had to watch 30 films in a very short time (hard life for a film student, we don't always have the time to watch all those movies we want to when we want to, so it adds up). After watching films such as: "Disorderly orderly", "Lady Eve", "All about Eve", "Bride of Frankenstein", for days, I felt like watching a film, don't care which, as long as it was NEW.

It's funny, I came to study film and I can hardly find the time of watching normal movies. You know, just go to the dvd library and take what LOOKS good, not necessarily a well known masterpiece. I must say that for now I'm quite fed up with masterpieces, or at least the well-known masterpieces of cinema. I WANT TO DISCOVER THEM MYSELF. That's it.

So, since I just renew my registration at the dvd library, I felt free to take whatever seemed interesting, without recommendations. I took 3 films: "Rabbit Fever", "Hard Pill" and "The Beautiful Washing Machine".

First I watched "Rabbit Fever". I liked the idea: all women get hooked on a the rabbit, which is a magnificent vibrator. It's a mocumentary, and I thought that this genre is probably the one I watch least, so why not give it a try. After watching the movie I can say that the idea is nice, but the film is less. It happens many times, but i get that feeling more often in documentaries. Somehow filmmakers find great stories, but don't make them into great films. In "Rabbit Fever" I felt the format of documentary-like film was misused. The story was still just its title, nothing developed. Yes, there was a character with a conflict, but we came here for the rabbit, and all we got is a bunch of women on the verge of --masturbation? It's not enough. "The rabbit" is for me its title and poster. All the rest is only potentially there.

Second was "Hard Pill". This one's about a sad gay taking a pill hoping it will make him straight and happy. I felt like I was watching "Queer as folk - the movie". Gay stereotypes with problems which are...too easy to understand. Shallow, maybe?

I think the problem of both "Hard Pill" and "Rabbit Fever" is that they were not even trying to use cinematic language. They are not films - they are dvds. I watched them while my friend was next to me with his laptop, surfing gaydar for some action. Is this the future movies? Those that are OK, watchable also without full attention? When you have nothing to miss but a line of dialog?

My third film for that evening was "The Beautiful Washing Machine". It's a Malaysian film from 2004, and I think this director also loves Tsai Ming Liang, like me. But more of this after I watch it again, without gaydar on the side, today.