Kat

I normally do a single quote at the top of my reviews, but this movie was so good I'm narrowing it down to my top dozen (or so) favorite quotes:- “I’m making German food.” “German food?” “Yeah, I found some German tourists and I’m cooking them.”- “They walk slow because they think slow”- “Now… Captain Alex: The Musical”- “Everybody in Uganda knows kung fu!”- “And know this, you diarrhea squirt: I want my brother back!”- “Welcome to Dangerous Zone”- “Ugandan Bruce Lee… we call him Bruce U”- “He fights drugs… and uses drugs.”- “We need to attack very early because I’m on vacation and want to go dancing later. And maybe go to the beach.”- “Get ready. Tighten your seatbelts.”- “Ugandan Ghetto Air Force” In the age of generative AI, I've turned to art more and more to try and feel that connection to the greater human experience. Sometimes I'm crying in museums in front of paintings, sometimes I'm listening to drivers license while wondering how heartbreak feels the same for everybody but so so different each time, and sometimes I'm watching movies that convey a passion and joy for the art form so clearly that my toes curl and my hair stands straight up. Who Killed Captain Alex? is absolutely not "so bad it's good," it's just straight up good. There is so much love for cinema oozing out of every single aspect of it that you can't help but love it. It is an ode to action and to kung fu and to mafia movies and revenge plots. It takes seriously that which other movies had already discarded to the "for satire only pile" (my dad asked if this was released before or after Tropic Thunder). One of the smartest, funniest choices is VJ Emmie. He drags you into the movie with him. He cheers, rewinds, threatens, and lets you know when he thinks something is just really fcking awesome (and he’s always right). It turns the act of watching into a communal event; instead of distancing you from the film's limitations, it collapses the gap entirely. You are not watching at the movie, but watching with it. The commitment from the actors is unreal. Nobody is winking, nobody is embarrassed. The stakes are enormous because the actors believe in them. The kung fu is scrappy and inventive and cool, and the actors clearly trained for this because they wanted to, not because a franchise demanded it. Every fight feels like a love letter to action cinema instead of a Netflix-style "oh shit we have to bring attention back to the screen between TikTok scrolls." Thank god for sincerity. Who Killed Captain Alex? feels like people declaring "we are going to make this no matter what." In a moment where so much art feels optimized for viewership, I am so so so grateful to get to see art with joy and nerve. You really just have to make things. Get a camera, get a microphone, get some friends, tighten your seatbelts, and have some fun.

LOVE SUCKS AND IS COMPLICATED AND UNDERSTANDING OFTEN COMES WAY TOO LATE TO BE USEFUL!!! CAN LOVE EVEN EXIST WITHOUT CLARITY? IS THAT TYPE OF LOVE INHERENTLY SELF DESTRUCTIVE? Astoundingly awesome cinematography and editing. All the eyeball povs?? Come on. Also, is anyone doing a better job at integrating screens/devices than Park Chan-wook (see No Other Choice)??? Love the symbolism. The eye drops that let him see clearly. Seo-rae’s wrist bruise reveal at the fish market, a wet n sloppy place where physical mutilation happens constantly and without emotion. The fog of Ipo and most people leaving because of the fog, but Seo-rae choosing to move into it. Altitude and gravity. Gloves/barriers between touch. Translation and mistranslation. Ooh!! Kicking my wee feeties and wishing I was in my high school English class again I knoooooow the first and second acts were supposed to be distinct but I felt like they didn’t come together in the way I’d have liked. When Park nails that move he nails it (The Handmaiden), when he doesn’t it leaves me feeling a little bummed out (Lady Vengeance, Decision to Leave).

Frances McDormand shines even brighter w a rewatch