DOUBLE FREEDOM

Double Freedom certainly falls under the “slow cinema” category but it also falls under the “dudes rock” umbrella. Buddy cop action movies or stoner comedies are often made the face of the “dudes rock” genre but there’s a whole other side of the masculine spectrum portrayed on screen. On paper, Double Freedom sounds like the type of arthouse film that people make those openly acceptable xenophobic jokes about because there are subtitles involved: an Argentinian film with minimal dialogue about a man and his dog living in the woods. But this has more in common with the opening scene of Commando than it does Persona or any other stereotypical “arthouse” movie.

Commando / Double Life

Men living in serine solitude and doing manual labor is another aspect of guys being dudes on the big screen. Double Freedom, and its predecessor Freedom (2001), prove that men are simple creatures. I don’t mean to offend anyone with my gender-specific assessment but it really doesn’t take much for the average single man to be content.

Lisandro Alonso’s latest film is this meme below come to life:

That’s not to say there aren’t any female-centric films like Freedom and Double Freedom. One could argue that Agnes Varda’s Vagabond or Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman helped pave the way for the films of Lisandro Alonso. But, unlike Vagabond and/or Jeanne Dielman, there isn’t a murder or a dead body at the end of Double Freedom. No one will use the films of Lisandro Alonso as case studies for male loneliness or male solitude the way folks prop up Jeanne Dielman as a feminist statement.

Alonso showing the male protagonist’s daily routine did remind me of Jeanne Dielman on a surface level.

Jeanne Dielman / Double Life

In Double Freedom we follow Miseal 25 years after the events of the first film. And by events, I mean the same solo routine of eat, sleep, chop wood, repeat. He has his manmade one-room shack, a makeshift kitchen, a new dog and a radio. He also has regular access to venture out in to the modern world when he needs to. And he’s happy. It needs to be emphasized that he isn’t sad or depressed.

The difference this time around is that Miseal’s life is disrupted when he’s forced to take care of his mentally ill sister. I don’t pretend to be an expert on the current social and political events taking place in Argentina but nationwide budget cuts are closing many mental health facilities leaving the patients/residents to fend for themselves or to be released to the care of family members that aren’t equipped to provide the proper care. In Double Freedom, the facility that houses Miseal’s sister closes and he has to take care of her. The problem is he lives in a one room shack on the outskirts of a farm. He isn’t familiar with the medication his sister needs and she’s prone to wander off and go missing. None of this is good and, *spoiler*, there is no clear resolution in the end.

I liken both Freedom and Double Freedom to the cinema of Apichatpong Weerasethakul or Carlos Reygadas. The films of Lisandro Alonso, Weerasethakul and Reygadas all focus on nature, repetition/routine, lone main characters, etc. What sets Alonso apart from the other two filmmakers is that everything is rooted in reality from start to finish (Jauja and Eureka being the obvious exceptions to this). In Double Freedom, there is no traditional payoff. The audience isn’t rewarded for sitting through “nothing” for two hours with a sudden scene of Miseal transforming in to an animal out of nowhere or ripping his own head off like we get in the films of Reygadas or Weerasethakul. Alonso commits to the routine of the film from start to finish (even when things are slightly disrupted).

Post Tenebres Lux / Double Life

I don’t know who this movie was made for besides me. I can think of two other friends I would recommend this to. Otherwise, this is a movie with 25 years worth of history that you have to intentionally seek out. You don’t just stumble upon something like this. But for anyone curious, I thought this was a masterful film.

THE FURIOUS (2025)

The basic premise of The Furious is simple; A mute father with a mysterious past and exceptional fighting skills tries to rescue his daughter from a human trafficking ring. It’s Taken meets prime Jackie Chan with the brutal fight choreography from a Timo Tjahjanto film where the characters have unrealistic healing ability and pain thresholds. Actually – Jackie Chan has already made a Taken-coded film in the form of The Foreigner so it’s really The Foreigner meets Timo Tjahjanto with characters that can shake off blows to the skull with monkey wrenches and hammers. This semi-recent genre of action movies where the martial artists have unclear powers is common now (The Raid, The Night Comes For Us, Shadow Strays, etc). This isn’t the type of movie you watch for logic and common sense. You come for the classic/simple plot and stay for the brutal Jackie Chan-inspired fighting.

In my generation, the older kids in Japan loved to watch Jackie Chan movies – Kenji Tanigaki, Dorkaholics

Wheels on Meals / The Furious

First Strike / The Furious

Operation Condor / The Furious

Project A / The Furious

Police Story / The Furious

The Young Master / The Furious

And like Jackie Chan, Tanaigaki draws from the originals sources that inspired Jackie Chan…

I love classic films like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Gene Kelly - Kenji Tanigaki, Third Coast Review

The Three Muskateers / The Furious

Jackie aside, this movie also pulls from classic 80s Hong Kong action in general

In my childhood, I loved Hong Kong action cinema - Kenji Tanigaki, Dorkaholics

Yes Madam / The Furious

If you’re willing to accept the almost fantasy-like aspect of The Furious, this is an incredibly fun movie. It’s got the old school action film sensibility with up-to-date fighting that combines mixed martial arts with Tekken finishers.

ROSE OF NEVADA

Rose of Nevada is an almost perfect Venn diagram of ghost story, traditional horror and psychological thriller. All three genres are different but they have a few key similarities like spirits, supernatural beings/occurrences and tortured psyches. This movie has the type of jump scares that you’d find in a traditional horror film. One of the main characters is plagued with disturbing visions that one might find in a physiological thriller. And this is very much a ghost story as it involves a dying town that’s haunted by the disappearance of a boat crew from over 30 years ago.
In the film, two inexperienced sailors in need of money are hired to take a boat out on a fishing excursion on the same cursed fishing boat that once carried the missing boat crew 30 years ago. The job goes well but when they return to their dock, they soon discover they have somehow been transported 30 years in the past to the exact same place but with different identities.

This is sort of a spiritual sequel to Jenkin’s last film; Enys Men. A lot of the imagery is almost identical, we see a lot of the same actors and the tone/music/pacing/ambiance are all the same. The only difference is there is more of a plot to Rose of Nevada.

Mark Jenkin even borrows/steals/pulls from the same sources of inspiration (click here and here to read my thoughts on Enys Men).

Between The Tides / Rose Of Nevada

Meshes Of The Afternoon / Rose Of Nevada

The purest film included in this collection. A camera, a voice, some music. A beautiful and apparently simple portrait of a loved one, but also a love letter to the medium of film itself; a past-tense art form that shows us ghosts and freezes time. Truly transcendental filmmaking - Mark Jenkin on A Portrait Of Ga, Vice

A Portrait Of Ga / Rose Of Nevada

I can’t articulate what effect Bresson’s films have on me, that’s the beauty of it – Mark Jenkin, Ukfilmreview.co.uk

Pickpocket / Rose Of Nevada

For me, Tarkovsky’s films exist outside of time and space. I can’t imagine how a film like Mirror sat within the cinema of its time - Mark Jenkin, Criterion

The Mirror / Rose Of Nevada

this [A Warning To The Curious] is my favourite – a highly atmospheric piece of visual storytelling with a chilling climax. I find the simplicity of the filmmaking invigorating. No doubt born of limitation, this is cinema by way of TV - Mark Jenkin, Vice

A Warning To The Curious / Rose Of Nevada

After watching this movie I think Mark Jenkin and Jean Epstein deserve to be mentioned in the same conversation. The majority of their films take place in rural/remote European fishing towns with (some) non-professional actors.

La Bella Nivernaise / Rose Of Nevada

Finis Terrae / Rose Of Nevada

L'or Des Mers / Rose Of Nevada

Mor'vran / Rose Of Nevada

The Faithful Heart / Rose Of Nevada

Much like most new releases that I post about on here, this is a movie I enjoyed very much but don’t know too many people I would recommend it to. I mostly just used this as a cheap excuse to share some side-by-side comparisons that I had fun making.

HER PRIVATE HELL

Her Private Hell is Nicolas Winding Refn doing a parody of his own films. There’s even a few direct callbacks to Only God Forgives.

Only God Forgives / Her Private Hell

Only God Forgives / Her Private Hell

If you don’t like post-Drive Refn, this movie is not for you. It’s almost as if Refn used every negative critique of his work over the years as an inspiration for his latest project. This is his slowest movie to date. There’s tons of neon lighting and homages to his favorite filmmakers. 

And the thing is...I’m not even mad at it. I will not recommend this movie to anyone. I barely know what it’s even about but I enjoyed this in a guilty pleasure kind of way.
In a dystopian future, a young actress trying to find her father crosses paths with a violent soldier trying to find his daughter. Beyond that, this is kind of a feature length perfume commercial where the pretty imagery trumps the plot (the city that the story takes place in is plagued with a mysterious gas that fogs the city 24/7 along with a leather-clad serial killer).


Instead of the typical reference points like Michael Mann, Williams Friedkin, Dario Argento and others - Refn references the likes of Kenneth Anger, Mario Bava, Kubrick and his mentor Jodorowsky. To be fair, Anger has always been a reference point for Refn but, outside of Ryan Gosling posing in the Scorpion Jacket in Drive, no one ever seems to highlight that except me (click here to read more)…

I’m not a film analyst but most of the things we do nowadays, also in advertising, lead back to Kenneth Anger’s work - Nicolas Winding Refn, Indiewire

Fireworks / Her Private Hell

Scorpio Rising / Her Private Hell

Scorpio Rising / Her Private Hell

Planet Of The Vampires / Her Private Hell

Planet Of The Vampires / Her Private Hell

Planet Of The Vampires / Her Private Hell

Vampyr has always reminded me of a mysterious dream I once had when I was very little. The film has always stayed with me. I watch it before I make every film - Nicolas Winding Refn, Criterion

Vampyr / Her Private Hell

Unique, brilliant, fantastic! I love this movie! - Nicolas Winding Refn on Tokyo Drifter, Criterion

Tokyo Drifter / Her Private Hell

A Trip To The Moon / Her Private Hell

Seeing The Shining is like watching a painting of pure terror. It has no purpose, sexuality or function other than to completely terrorize you - Nicolas Winding Refn, Moviemaker Magazine

The Shining / Her Private Hell

2001... / Her Private Hell

I offered to read the tarot for him [REFN] and from then on he had me read his tarot every time he made a new movie - Alejandro Jodorowsky, Vulture

The Holy Mountain / Her Private Hell

Refn does kind of reference Michael Mann but instead of typical stuff like Manhunter and Thief, he pulls from The Keep.

The Keep / Her Private Hell

This could also be seen as a reference to everything from Demons to The Fog

The Fog / Her Private Hell

The Fog / Her Private Hell

Demons / Her Private Hell

I'm hesitant to compare anything even slightly weird to David Lynch, but Refn is a fan and there are some very specific Lynch-isms in Her Private Hell

film is such an early medium in a way. You know what I mean? If you go through the history of painters, you can always say that somebody was inspired by someone to do that or to do this, and of course, it's the same thing with film. Every art form is an exchange to someone else, whether it's generational, whether it's of an experience, of an opportunity - Nicolas Winding Refn on influence of David Lynch, nrftsjournal

Inland Empire / Her Private Hell

Wild At Heart / Her Private Hell

This indiewire article from a few years ago serves as a nice companion to Her Private Hell (click here).

If anything, this was just an excuse for Nicolas Refn to make a movie collage of his inspirations (which gives me an excuse to make a bunch of side-by-side comparisons to share). 

YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER

People have been comparing Bassam Tariq’s latest film to Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog just off of the trailer. After watching Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother last night, I can confirm that the comparisons are more than understandable. Tariq himself admits to drawing inspiration from Ghost Dog.

When I watched it [Ghost Dog] a long time ago there was this feeling where I was like, 'Oh there's this man that lives in an urban environment that wants to follow some kind of ancient code - Bassam Tariq, Huffington Post

Ghost Dog / Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

Both movies are about proud stoic Black hitmen that live by a conflicting and somewhat vague spiritual code. In Ghost Dog it’s Samurai-ism and in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother it’s Islam with a mixture of various eastern philosophies sprinkled in. Both films also find our hitmen with targets on their backs after a job goes wrong (classic hitman movie trope). Both films also have interestingly misplaced moments of awkward/dry humor. At the start of Ghost Dog we get a quick peek in to what might have been a lost loved one while Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother opens with our main character’s wife passing away. 

Ghost Dog / Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

Ghost Dog / Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

Both films are rooted in hip-hop. Rza did the score for Ghost Dog and was a huge part of the promotion of it. This time around, Mahershala Ali credited Ka’s Honor Killed The Samurai album as an influence on his portrayal of Latif (I imagine an alternate world where Ka was alive to score this film).

 

Both movies even have similar opening scenes!

Ghost Dog / Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

The major difference between the two films is that Ghost Dog is a loner. In Your Mother, Latif has to juggle his violent occupation with single fatherhood.

It should be noted that while Ghost Dog is an excellent film, it is a loose remake of Jean Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai. But what’s incredibly fascinating is that outside of the mysterious hitman living his life by a cool-sounding spiritual code, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother takes from all the elements that Ghost Dog didn’t lift/borrow/redo from Le Samourai. There are social and racial elements to Ghost Dog and Your Mother that aren’t in Le Samourai. Bassam Tariq's movie is sort of a looser remake of an already loose remake.

Le Samourai / Ghost Dog

It also wouldn't be right to not make the obvious comparison to Lonewolf and Cub. There's an action sequence involving Ali's Latif fighting his way out of a strip club/church with a baby strapped to his chest.

Lone Wolf and Cub / Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

On paper, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is very cartoonish and unbelievable. This story is set in a sort of underground world within Houston, Texas made up of Mormons, Muslim hitmen, gun-toting religious cult leaders with gold fronts and lactating ex-porn stars. Bassam Tariq somehow makes these cartoonish elements seem somewhat believable. Had another director worked with the same source material this would have been a mess. Even though this movie is filled with spiritualism and grief that is meant to be taken to heart, you have to view it on the same level as something like Hard To Kill or Commando. This is a slow-burn action movie at the end of the day. 

Now...I’m still grappling with the finale. I don’t know if it fully works but I appreciate what I think Tariq tried to do. Sensical people will write it off as silly whereas folks that like open endings will be dissecting this for quite some time. I also think there was an opportunity to go full-on John Woo in the end but it only goes half way.

At the end of the day this is a collage of Ghost Dog, Lonewolf and Cub and the residue of the failed Blade movie (both Tariq and Ali were attached to the Blade reboot before it was scrapped). I’m hardly the first person to note this but Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is the positive result of another failed project. I would have loved to see what Mahershala Ali would have done with the Blade character but I’ll settle with this.