For cinemaholics who do not refrain from drowning into the despairing beauty of heart-shattering narratives once in a while
Up for a slow-paced movie marathon this weekend? You should definitely ditch the goofy and tune into some melancholia invested with high cinematic grandeur and ethereal beauty on Hulu.
Tryst of Two with Destiny, Minding the Gap (2018)
A coming-of-age film, Minding the Gap has something more to offer you than mere teen nostalgia. Juxtaposed against the backdrop of blue-collared Illinois, navigates through a series of hardships that asphyxiate the existence of Zack and Keire.
The fuzzy feeling radiates from the diverse confessional moments that pull viewers into the epicentre of its whirlwind. Conversations intensify, and you are at once a stranger and insider to the characters’’ tragedies. What sets this film apart is its deliberate diversion from a clear narrative trajectory for the sake of the contemplative and transient.
Nomadland (2021), a Take on the Cherished American Dream
The film is a beautiful portraiture of the darker and sordid side of the zealously coveted American Dream. A poignant tale of personal grief, of losing and finding oneself, about breaking from and stripping down, Nomadland gleams with the distinct warmth of America’s houseless community. This community engages into desert rendezvous and weaves a heart-wrenching story curated in documentary-style fashion.
Nomadland’s storytelling is certainly a visual treat, and instead of wreathed in awards, the film does not let go of humility and desolation.
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), an Adaptation of Baldwin's Novel
A gut-wrenching love story, the film is an ode to the sheroism of a pregnant black woman crusading for justice in the New York of the 1970s. The film stabs you with its realism and austerity, and if you have previously experienced Berry Jenkin’s Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk might disappoint you a little.
Nonetheless, the elegiac and melancholic tone of the film deserves a watch. You would be serenaded by the film’s poetic beauty throughout as it oscillates between two timeframes.
The Bleak yet Tender Totality of Shoplifters (2018)
The Palme d’Or winning Shoplifters was also nominated for Oscar and Golden Globes and amassed tremendous critical appreciation. At the heart of this movie and its commonplace, dreary, tender yet bleak environment is a fable-like element highlighted by Ryûto Kondô’s cinematography. As you get entrapped into the family’s sorry circumstances accentuated by the class divide in Japan, you are mildly amused by the wry humour and Dickensian flavour Shoplifters emanate.
