Anyone Want Seconds? An Alternate November Calendar

The final month of Hyperreal Film Club’s 2022 screenings calendar had it all. Lurid thrills, windy chills, and SUPA ACTION to knock your socks off. Need some more film recommendations to keep your home theater burning in these cold months before our phoenix-ish resurrection in January? As always, we’ve put together a crew of Hyperreal contributors to pair the movies we’ve screened with movies of a similar vibe. Beamed in from another galaxy, this is the Alternate Calendar for November.

Wild Things—Cruel Intentions

Coming-of-age erotic thrillers have their own flair. Sure, there’s standard fare erotic thrillers about how beauty grows callous from the efforts of those that desire it, how even the hardboiled will kill and die in pursuit of love spelled with a lower-case “L.” But, when these tropes are transposes into high school, innocence may yet be lost, and attraction must navigate the schism between the legal and biological definitions of sexual maturity. Wild Things and Cruel Intentions, which released a year apart, both feature star-studded casts in overlapping love triangles where gaslighting, negging, and love bombing are merely foreplay. Where sex is a weapon, and love a liability. But make no mistake, these nineties throwbacks are of a kind, of a time, and of a flavor, where the “guilt” in “guilty pleasure” is only part of the fun. All’s fair in love and war? Hmm. These films beg the question: what’s the difference?

Check out Marcelo Pico writing about the seductive appeal of Wild Things.

Twister—Shin Godzilla

Twister boasts incredible special effects that were revolutionary for the time and absolutely stand the test of that time. Amidst the onslaught of charismatic performances and exhilarating special effects, what really sticks with me from Twister is the story of Jo Thornton and Bill Harding. I admired their dynamic and growth, amidst all the other people doing extraordinary things against impossible odds - real crowd pleaser stuff!

If you’re looking for more carnage and drama, look no further than Toho’s 2016 masterwork of a monster picture: Shin Godzilla. Both stories center on spectacle and disaster, but the films have just as much to say below the surface.

Both movies subtly weave together big blockbuster special effects with sincere dramatic storytelling. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am an absolute sucker for that kind of moviemaking. Shin Godzilla delivers wildly engaging monster destruction sequences, yet also offers up a critique of bureaucracy as well as human hubris just as Twister showed off mind-blowing storm sequences while also offering up a tender relationship story and the dangerous obsession with nature’s raw power. Both films put on the screen deeply human stories amidst a wide array of Earth’s capacity to strike back against us.

We seldom get impressive and worthwhile disaster flicks in this day and age, and Shin Godzilla is for sure to satisfy the appetite that Twister may have only piqued!

Check out Alejandra Martinez writing on the homegrown comforts of Twister

Saved—Persepolis

If the biting satire is what drew you in to Saved!, there are myriad movies that will scratch that same itch. But if you were more drawn in by the theme of individuality under religious oppression through the lens of those universal pangs of adolescence, 2007’s Persepolis should be next on your list. Based on the autofiction graphic novel by co-director Marjane Satrapi, the plot follows Marji, a young girl growing up in 1970s Iran. Her account is a story of what it’s like to come of age under Iranian fundamentalists; while this seems much less relatable than the cool-Christian culture of Saved!, her storytelling helps us find relatability through the day-to-day angst that Marji experiences. Not to mention, the animation is absolutely gorgeous; minimal but dynamic, it’s an absolute magnet for the eyes, even when the frames are full of devastation. While they have drastically different lives, Mary and Marji could find common ground in their personal revolutions. They each learn, as Marji’s grandmother says, that “If they hurt you, remember it's because they're stupid. Don't react to their cruelty. There's nothing worse than bitterness and revenge. Keep your dignity and be true to yourself.

Check out Kathryn Bailey’s piece on growing up in and along with Saved!

Who Killed Captain Alex—One Cut of the Dead

When starting a low-budget feature, I find joy in the search for small glimpses of genius. I know that in most cases, all I will find is ineptitude but there are some that stand above the rest. With “Who Killed Captain Alex?” we see filmmakers utilizing earnestness and ingenuity to make an enjoyable (if not somewhat foolish) attempt at a Hollywood action film. In “One Cut of the Dead,” we can see how a director may subvert what we already know about low-budget filmmaking in order to make a surprising zombie picture.

“One Cut of the Dead” focuses on a film crew who are trying to make a low-budget feature. The film has a simple zombie plot with pretty ambitious set-ups and struggling actors, but that's not even close to the biggest problem…the zombies are real! And the director will put his actors and crew in the middle of the action without hesitation.

With this twisty meta-narrative, writer-director Shinichiro Ueda works what starts as a campy zombie film into a study of why people make films. Ueda exposes and distorts our ideas on what a low-budget feature can be and what we look for in the “so-bad-it’s-good” genre. Like “Who killed Captain Alex?” this zombie film is genuine and earnestly made on a shoe-string budget (far more than $82 dollars, but still) that pokes fun at our morbid fascination with failures. Both films show not only the audacity and skill it takes to make a movie, but also the heart and soul.

Check out Blake Williams’ interview with ‘Who Killed Captain Alex?’ producer Alan Hofmanis.