The most similar part is the robbery itself. The robbery which Reservoir Dogs never even showed. That is it. There was a YT video that was floating around, highlighting this. Obviously the robbery is such a small part of City on Fire, but most people in the West have not seen the film so they assume most of the film is about that when it’s not.

Taste of Cherry by Abbas Kiarostami.

I found it rather engrossing. I’ve only saw it once, in a theatre so it’s easier to be more engaged, I guess.

What you refer to as “woke politics” (what is this in the film, according to you? I’m curious.) is just serious drama to me. There’s no distinguishing the two. In fact, I think it’s the crutch of the movie because it grounds it to the present world that we live in. I didn’t find it uneven because of that.

I don’t know if you can compare her performance in it to someone in a Cassavetes movie because they’re just different. Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s bad. By that measure every naturalistic actor is “good” and everyone else is “bad” when really it should be there’s good and bad naturalistic actors and good and bad non-naturalistic actors.

Even then, in this instance Lydia should be a theatrical person. She’s a conductor, not a violinist. I’ve met people like that, someone at the top of their creative field. I have literally worked backstage on plays and orchestras. Go watch interviews of some of these people. That’s just how they are.

Recently, RRR. I’ve seen it three times in theatres now and each time the crowd was wild. Confetti everywhere, cheers, claps during the songs. It was unbelievable. So much energy in the theatre for three hours! That’s with a 15 min intermission!

I saw at theatres twice. First time when it came out, I thought it was fine. Nothing special, felt like an extended YouTube short. Then over the months people are hailing this movie as this masterpiece so I went to see it again two weeks ago. Still fine, but nothing special.

I know people who hated it. It’s just not for everybody.

The original Street Fighter!

Honestly, a lot of JCVD’s movies from the 90s are pretty good candidates. I nominate Timecop and Double Impact.

I don’t understand why he needs to be in Hollywood at all. He’s built himself a pretty respectable career in Asia, in some great films (terrible ones too). So just watch those movies if you want to see him more.

Check out Peppermint Candy, Oasisand Secret Sunshine, all by Lee Chang-dong. You might know him from Burning.

He’s incredibly prolific. Makes one or two films a year. I’ve seen a lot of em, his latest one The Novelist’s Film is pretty good.

Keep in mind his films are an acquired taste. They’re low budget and minimal. I find some of his film boring but others brilliant. He often collaborates with the same actors. Most notably in the last ten years or so his partner Kim Min-Hee from The Handmaiden fame.