xvc

THE SQUARE (Östlund)
VOYEUR (Koury/Kane) -- Netflix Doc
GOOD TIME (Safdie Bros.)
THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER (Lanthimos)
78/52 (Philippe)


Need to see PHANTOM THREAD, BLADE RUNNER, THE POST, DUNKIRK and GET OUT. That's about all I'm interested in, though.

So I finally got around to see "Blade Runner" yesterday.
I had stupidly missed the fact that it was still playing at Decascoop, only on a limited number of screens and only the late night showings.

It's visually stunning (and you need to see this on a big screen) but I found the writing a bit of a letdown. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it was clearly more than something akin to a recycled version of the Hera Agathon plot from "BSG".

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That scene just reminded me of "Ghost", which cannot have been the intention of the filmmakers.  

I think much of the screenplay reveals the fascinations and obsessions of our time.

The philosophical basis of the original dealt with the nature of humanity, of what exactly constitutes life, the human soul ...
The replicants were people, their artificial nature just being the manner in which their otherness was defined within that universe (quite similar to BSG and the Cylons in that regard).
By making the sequel about a child that would be deemed extraordinary by replicants and humans alike, you somewhat undercut the first movie's subtext, imho. It's also a very 2017 thing to do, to focus on one special individual who stands above all others (hence the superhero obsession we are currently living through).

But I'm not arguing "Blade Runner 2049" is a bad film. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

*edit* I will say that I loved the cast, right down to the smaller supporting roles (It's always great to see Mackenzie Davis in anything). Especially the female characters were very well cast. I would say that the only exception was Jared Leto (I have never been a particularly big fan of his).

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Erica Ambler wrote:

It’s not about a special child so much as the convergence between humans and AI. As you say, a subject dealt with by BSG but surely too important to be limited to one TV show.

I agree the female parts are superbly cast, though it was the feminists that sunk the film. Other than the Nabakov riff, I think my favourite character interplay is this one:

I probably cannot properly articulate why exactly that aspect of the screenplay appeared cheap to me, but I can try.

I have to go back to the original film. Part of the emotional journey that the audience takes is the realization that whilst Roy and the other Nexus 6 models might employ questionable methods, their desires and beliefs are perfectly legitimate. It is a movie about recognizing the extraordinary in the seemingly mundane (within that universe). The more equivalent story line in "Blade Runner 2049" is between K and Joi. The miracle child as the main story-line somewhat misses the point of the original film, imho. Of course, that is just one reading of the material.