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Drama

Personal Shopper (2016)

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A personal shopper in Paris refuses to leave the city until she makes contact with her twin brother who previously died there. Her life becomes more complicated when a mysterious person contacts her via text message.

Genre : Mystery/Drama
Country : France/Germany/Belgium

Cast :
Kristen Stewart : Maureen
Sigrid Bouaziz : Lara
Nora von Waldstätten : Kyra

Director :
Olivier Assayas

My opinion on “Personal Shopper”

“For me, Lewis was someone deeply intuitive of others.
He understood things that went unspoken.
Maybe because he knew he was going to die.”

Are you suffering from a sleep disorder lately so you always get up with giant bags under your eyes? Or are you hyperkinetic due to an overdose of cola during a night of “binge watching”? No problem. Simply start the movie “Personal shopper” and these problems have been solved without any doubt. If there would be a Oscar category called “Most boring film of the year“, this film would have won it easily. In short: The whole movie you’ll see Maureen (Kristen Stewart) do some shopping for a high-society model named Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten), driving around in Paris on her moped, meditate while smoking lots of cigarettes and sending a whole series of messages on her iPhone. And she’s also waiting for a sign of life (how ambiguous) of her recently deceased brother Lewis. Apart from some ectoplasm and flickering light phenomena, there’s nothing ghostly to see. A sleep-inducing performance. And even the few scenes in which Stewart walks around half-naked and even masturbates, won’t help. Her cup size is of the same caliber as this film. Meagre.

Personal Shopper

Did she use a different facial expression now? Uh … nope ….

Maybe I’m a bit biased, because I’m immensily annoyed by the person Kristen Stewart. On the other hand. You need a film character who doesn’t feel good about herself and who’s constantly in a melancholic mood, she’s surely the right candidate. If there’s an actress you can admire a whole movie without showing one sincere smile and a face that seems to be dipped in starch, then she’s definitely the one. I still remember this quote : “Kristen Stewart is like my refrigerator, no matter what I put in it (milk, soda, eggs, vegetables, meat), it’s always a refrigerator. And so is she“. I really can’t understand why she’s being praised by everybody. And every time I read about her, superlatives like “authenticity” and “subtle” are being used. Well, you can also say that about the Scarlett Johanssons, Saoirse Ronans, Dakota Fanningsen and even the Jennifer Lawrences in Hollywood. The only difference is that these actresses show some variation in their facial expressions.

Personal Shopper

An arthouse movie about the art of fashion.

Personal Shopper” is once again an arthouse creation. And the artificial world of fashion fits extremely well with it. Both the film and the world of fashion have the same irritating effect on me. They create an artificial product that is reasonably pretentious and targets the group of the happy few. The arthouse film lovers are those happy few who are able to see the abstract meaning and the symbolisme behind such an intellectual film. In the fashion world, the happy few are those who can afford an exclusive sewn together piece of confection. And after a certain time they’ll loudly proclaim that this expensive piece of cloth is out of fashion. By the way. Who can explain to me the usefulness of such a wire-shaped corset that Maureen wears at a certain moment? The connoisseurs will most likely scream bloody murder and call me a retard who doesn’t understand fashion. I hope for myself that that it’ll remain like that.

Personal Shopper

What’s the hidden message?

Which subject this film tries to tackle, is not so easy to interpret. On the one hand there’s the spiritual issue and the connection of the living with wandering souls. On the other hand there is the subject of materialistic thinking and the impersonal world in which we live. The primordial conversation between Maureen and the unknown (the bouncing dots and plopping sounds really started to get on my nerves after a while) is also a reference to the contemporary impersonal conversations among individuals. So how to interprete this movie? I guess you could explain it in many ways. Best you fill in the gaps yourself after watching this movie. Keep in mind that Maureen waits for the unknown person in a hotel room and shortly thereafter you’ll see doors open automatically without seeing anybody. That puts the whole in a completely different perspective. Or not? If not, then I think that the very last bang is a clear statement. But you had need endurance to sit out this long ride and witness this slightly intense moment. Ending with Maureen looking straight at the camera. Emotionless. Trust me. Me and Kirsten Stewart. That’ll never work out.

My rating 3/10
Links : IMDB

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Comedy

Netflix’s Crashing Eid Review: Love, Culture, and Differences

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Crashing Eid

If you are curious about other cultures, or maybe want to see how your culture is represented in mainstream media, then you should binge-watch Netflix’s Arabic Comedy series Crashing Eid this weekend. It’s a 4-episode long series with each episode of roughly 47 minutes. The series revolves around culture, love, differences, family, and drama.

The story focuses on Razan (Summer Shesha) as she finds love for the second time in her life but struggles to convince her family for marriage. Razan is shown to be living in the UK with her daughter Lamar (Bateel Qamlo) and finds her British-Pakastani boyfriend Sameer (Hamza Haq) as a suitable match for herself. She proposes to him for marriage before traveling to Saudi Arabia, her home, to celebrate Eid. Her family is convinced that she is back in Saudi for good but Razan has other plans. She tries to tell them about Sameer but constantly fails due to fear and lack of ‘perfect’ timing. She tells Sameer that her parents have agreed to their marriage as she panics to tell him the truth.

Summer Shesha and Bateel Qamlo in Crashing Eid

Summer Shesha as Razan, Bateel Qamlo as Lamar in Crashing Eid

Here comes the twist – Sameer reaches Saudi to surprise Razan and to meet her parents! She tries her best to handle the situation and hide their relationship with the help of her daughter Lamar. At the end of the episode, the truth uncovers itself and everyone is left disappointed. The story follows Razan’s family drama, bitter relations with her mother, previous abusive marriage, her brother Hasan’s (Yasir Alsaggaf) struggle to connect with his son after losing custody, etc. Her previous marriage with her cousin affected her relationship with her own mother as she blames Razan for the failed marriage.

Summer Shesha’s portrayal of a strong woman struggling with every close person in her life but still managing to face everything with bravery is appreciable. Khalid Alharbi deserves applause for his sweet, loving, and understanding role as Razan’s father.

Yasir Alsaggaf, Summer Shesha and Amani Idrees in Crashing Eid

Yasir Alsaggaf, Summer Shesha, and Amani Idrees in Crashing Eid

Despite a fun twist challenge, representation, and Khalid Alharbi’s brilliant performance, a few parts lack perspective. The story doesn’t completely revolve around Razan yet it fails to involve Lamar’s (Bateel Qamlo) emotions in the family drama. She is seen upset at times but it’s never completely addressed. She plays the role of a typical elder daughter helping out her mother in everything and neglecting herself at times. The ending felt rushed as it doesn’t properly elaborate on how Razan’s mother (Amani Idrees) suddenly changed her mind about her daughter. Emotions take time and that’s what felt rushed.

Summer Shesha, Hamza Haq and Khalid Alharbi in Crashing Eid

Summer Shesha, Hamza Haq, and Khalid Alharbi in Crashing Eid

Crashing Eid  offers strong cultural representation, women empowerment, and how love can help you deal with almost everything. It focuses strongly on social taboos surrounding women and Muslim culture.

Crashing Eid is now available to stream on Netflix.

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Drama

Elizabeth Debicki’s Diana Stars Despite Major Fumbles In ‘The Crown’

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WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

On November 16, 2023, the first instalment of Netflix’s final season of “The Crown” premiered, leaving me feeling disappointed. Despite my eagerness to watch, life’s commitments often took precedence, making it challenging to indulge in any content. However, after finally catching up, I found myself wishing I hadn’t bothered.

With an ensemble of Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II; Dominic West as Prince Charles, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana, Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Salim Daw as Mohamed Al-Fayed, Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed, and Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles, the first instalment of four episodes is set a year after Charles and Diana’s divorce and traces the events to the late princess and her alleged romantic partner Dodi. 

I get the fact that Diana’s death was a significant event in modern British history, but the show did not feel like I was watching ‘The Crown’, I felt as if I were watching some Diana propaganda movie for the first half. Even with a legendary cast like the above-mentioned, there’s no escaping terrible writing, unfortunately. The script was demanding way too much from the cast and some scenes had me pulling my hair out. 

But the worst was yet to come, after Diana’s death, there comes Ghost Diana, who has conversations with the Queen and the Prince of Wales and at this point, my eyes were staring at the ceiling rather than the screen as I heard the ghost Diana interactions with the queen and Charles, Another point of annoyance was the petulance of Charles and this public perception war with Diana which made me ask the question: Why? To the point that he hires a royal photographer to show his fatherly side. 

The portrayal of Diana’s relationship with Dodi was cringeworthy, to say the least. The fact that Mohd. Fayed was pulling the strings to get Diana and Dodi together was drama that I was not looking for: and for what? Validation from the royal family? To be considered British? The fact that he bribed journalists to stalk Dodi and Diana was going way beyond the line of fictional liberties. These liberties were taken by Peter Morgan throughout the first half of the final season making it pretty unwatchable. I somehow got through it all. I am really on the fence with creative liberties but this season, in particular, was shallow and completely unnecessary. 

But there are some moments worth praise, even though they are very few and very far in between. The scene where Charles tells William and Harry that their mother has passed away in a car accident or the scene where Harry is writing the card with the envelope titled ‘Mummy’ which is placed at the top of her coffin were moments that stood out for me personally more than Ghost Diana and the whole series at large.

Moreover, Debecki essayed Diana’s role in season five and this season, particularly Diana’s last eight weeks of her life were simply outstanding especially considering how bad the script was. The very moving scene for me was when Diana rejects Dodi’s proposal and Dodi finally manning up to his father; then the two talk about following their passions. This scene showed more maturity than perhaps the entire season before her death. 

Perhaps The Crown is plagued by the extraordinary brilliance of the first four seasons that the fifth season and the sixth season tend to fall flat, as noted by The Guardian. And more outlets across the world have dismissed it as clumsy and predictable. I know it was history and creative liberties were taken–but the show just dragged along and it was simply one-dimensional throughout. 

At this point, my expectations for the second half of the final season are way down after watching this show. The season is supposed to end with Charles marrying Camilla and William and Kate meeting at the University of St. Andrews. 

The second instalment will hit Netflix on December 14. 

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Crime

Netflix’s Bodies Review: Stephen Graham’s Mind-Twisting Series Related To Dark?

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Netflix's Bodies

If you are a fan of time travel, crime, and mind-bending suspense then Netflix’s Bodies is perfect to binge-watch this weekend. Directed by Haolu Wang and Marco Kreuzpaintner, Bodies is based on DC’s graphic novel by Si Spencer – who has been tributed in the first episode. The story follows four detectives in four different timelines and they discover a naked man’s body with one eye gouged out, surprisingly it’s the body of the same person in different timelines!

Shira Haas and Stephen Graham

Shira Haas and Stephen Graham in Netflix’s ‘Bodies’

The 8-episode series parallelly shows four detectives – DS Hasan (Amaka Okafor) in 2023, DS Whiteman (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) in 1941, DI Hillinghead (Kyle Soller) in 1890, and DC Maplewood (Shira Haas) in 2053 twisted in the same case discovering facts that are beyond their understanding. DS Hasan from the year 2023 discovers that the case she has been working on has happened before, not once but twice decades ago. Much to her suspicion, the evidence aligns with her own case which leads her confused more than ever.

Stephen Graham is not limited to one timeline, his intense performance deepens the storyline, leaving viewers jumpy. Amaka Okafor, Shira Haas, Kyle Soller, and Jacob Fortune-Lloyd’s distinctive acting and effective dialogue delivery are appreciated but Fortune-Lloyd deserves a standing ovation for his shining performance. Graham and Soller’s costumes and makeup are on point in the show.

Jacob Fortune-Lloyd

Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as DS Whiteman in Bodies

With each episode comes mind-blowing twists that keep you on edge all the time. Each detective’s personal story and connection to people close to them adds more depth to their character and the choices they make. Even till the end of the last episode, the series holds your attention profoundly. Different timelines connected to one another may cause confusion at first but it only adds more fun to the story that leaves us in shock.

Now, if it reminds you of Netflix’s other popular German series Dark, directed by Baran bo Odar, then we can’t blame you. Bodies and Dark are not related to each other but they draw strong parallels to one another and it’s mainly due to different timelines, time travel, and hard-to-understand relations between the two characters. Although characters in Bodies are not connected to each other deep and twisted like in Dark but you need to keep a close eye to understand their connection. Dark, starring German actors Louis Hofmann and Lisa Vicari, is Netflix’s one of the most popular supernatural twists series and it is safe to assume that Bodies is no less than the 3-season German series.

Time portal in 'Dark' vs 'Bodies'

Time Portal in ‘Dark’ vs ‘Bodies’

Stephen Graham’s Bodies is a mind-bending, thriller series full of brilliant performances. Its captivating narrative and depth keep the viewers engaged and entertained.

Bodies is available to stream on Netflix.

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