Joanna Hogg, painterly, modernist Brit filmmaker utilizing static frames, uneasy vibes

There's just something about the fact that the mother is played by Tilda Swinton and the daughter is played by Tilda Swinton's daughter that gets my back up. I know we are so used to this horrendous nepotism in the UK, maybe elsewhere, that we become inured to it and I also know that there exist think-pieces about how it's all perfectly normal and makes sense within the world she's portraying etc. but that makes it worse. She's a decent filmmaker with a singular vision who's made one good film so far (Archipelago) and she's being given huge leeway because she is fucking posh!

exhibition was pretty good too

we need some kind of venn diagram that connects xyzzz and ward's politics to this sort of aristo masturbation fantasy.

I've not seen it. Also, I've just drunk a bottle of wine.

xp it's interesting and boring. I dunno if it's good. It's unique though.

I mean, I've seen Exhibition, not this new thing.

I don't get posh = bad or what makes Hogg posh. This is description, not criticism.

it's more to do with privilege and access rather than =ing bad. You don't have to ask why it equals that she's posh, she's posh, it's just a fact.

This was excellent, almost a Taiwanese approach to character and exposition (less Tsai than Archipelago though). Major points for making Anthony a Tory prig to whom the audience never warms. Honor Swinton Byrne's un-actressy mannerisms are effective and affecting.

I laughed several times aloud. The old ladies in my audience were ready to pillory me.

And, I must say, to watch film by a female director about a budding director should not feel as fucking refreshing as it does in 2019.

best I've seen this year

and this is how the early '80s looked

sorry about being wasted upthread.

will have to see this

wau -- Morbs and I agree on a favorite of the year.

and this is how the early '80s looked

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius

yes, Anthony's endless cigarettes affected the film stock

best offkilter romance since Phantom Thread

most poignant use of Tilda Swinton too

I sensed a jape early on when she dropped "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" on the soundtrack

btw she's now shooting the sequel, and Robert Pattinson had to drop out bcz Batman etc

I read it earlier today. Maybe she can get Timothee Chalamet.

I thought The Souvenir was terrible, just interminable, Swinton Byrne was such a doormat and not a good actor at all, and just the most pallid color palette and boring, unpleasant people. Worse than Rocketman

and I see now there's a part two being filmed? excuse me?

Swinton Byrne was a marvelous camera presence.

My review.

btw the iMdB is of no use here: what other films have used the Fall's "Totally Wired"?

Silence of the Lambs used "Hip Priest", could swear i've heard "TW" used before tho

also, speaking of not spelling things out, especially for a non-British audience... I *almost* figured out what the repeated shots, and references to Julie's fondness for shopping at Harrods, was building up to. When the BOOM occurred, I knew what was up because I remember the event, but wonder how many younger Americans were puzzled.

No, just napping.

Richard Ayoade (hilarious) will be back in the sequel as the "c*nt" filmmaker; I was wondering if he was based on anyone who had a career...

I liked the screen presence of the POC giving her advice.

/Silence of the Lambs/ used "Hip Priest", could swear i've heard "TW" used before tho

I had almost forgotten Ariane Labed in the van scene near the end, but I couldn't really understand a bloody thing she was saying.

iMdB only mentions "TW" being used in an episode of "Skins."

Very few of us have the documentation of our early life that Hogg used to make this film.

from the New Yorker profile:

The night before the couple’s departure, the (Venice) trip was almost scuppered by an apparent robbery in Hogg’s apartment, in which her jewelry, her cameras, and other valuables were stolen. Hogg quickly realized that her lover had faked the theft, and had sold the items for drugs; nevertheless, the trip went ahead. “I had spent months planning, and didn’t want to give up on the plan,” Hogg said. “The show had to go on, and there was so much in the show—so much dreaming, all the ideas. It was creating a piece of work.”

The proximity of these scenes was confusing, to the degree where I wondered if the trip might not be a fantasy.

we need some kind of venn diagram that connects xyzzz and ward's politics to this sort of aristo masturbation fantasy.

LOL! I guess my answer would be, the film industry in Britain has always - with a few obvious exceptions - been utterly middle class, and I'm struggling to think of any 'creative' industry that isn't riddled with nepotism and the workings of the old boys' network. So I admire the fact that Hogg doesn't try to hide her poshness, or pretend to be something she's not; and (haven't seen this new one either) her films feel much more like a critique than a celebration of middle class privilege.

In a similar vein you can't help where or to what class you are born, its all material stuff to do things with, play with, things to discover and show and tell.

After the first Anthony breakup, the scene of the young man stripping and getting into bed with Julie drew uncontrollable giggles from a male Brooklyn filmgoer. Men are really not used to seeing nude men under the female gaze.

and dismissed as a trick!

I'm seeing online complaints that the relationship "had no context," which doesn't make any sense at all to me. There was all kinds of context!

The Souvenir now digitally available

I watched it again. Holds up like hell. How does anyone still think Julie and Anthony have no chemistry?

amusingly I watched this immediately following a set of conversations with a friend of mine who is concerned that contemporary film and storytelling are getting too self-obsessed/autobiographical/inward-looking due to fear of accusations of misrepresentation or falsehood. probably for the best I caught this one solo lol

Richard Ayoade (hilarious) will be back in the sequel as the "c*nt" filmmaker; I was wondering if he was based on anyone who had a career...

richard ayoade IS steve mcqueen in The Souvenir II: Souvenierer

If I didnt like "Exhibition", is there much chance I will like this one?

Was really enjoying the bougie dialogue and the odd couple relationship but fell asleep. I presume her character wasn't naive enough to take the old "had a bit of an accident" excuse when she sees the gammy arm with needle tracks! Definitely going watch it again from the start.

Michael B, as I liked Exhibition i can't say with any confidence, but it is different (while still recognizably hers).

This has more in common with Archipelago, notably the uses of lacunae,

that's a good word word to describe the vibe I was getting the other night which was a feeling of the emptiness of being around other people - if that makes any sense. I've never really got into her movies before but this one has piqued my interest. It's Hiddleston's furrowed brow and godawful acting that put me off her previous movies, can't deal with anything with that prick in it.

he's only in Exhibition for about 5 minutes tbf

Ah that's the one with Viv Albertine.. Thank god!

second view, clearly a great leap fwd

he seemed like less of a tosser this time

yep

I'll have to think about that whenever I do see it again because yeah, a negative charisma zone who thinks himself special. (Which, good job on the actor nailing that part of the character! A lesser actor wouldn't've managed it.) That said I take at face value the fact that there is an attraction, however invisible to me on the one hand but clearly shown in the film on the other.

That said I also think there's something to be said for reading this through a double lens of its setting in the past and in another country because viewing it from a 2019 lens meant that I couldn't help but think of the opiate explosion and lingering impact, and how we treat/talk about addiction now, but again, specifically, here, not the UK. As with other things in the film you fill in the gaps as you choose.

Music choices great, obv.