0504 – Jumanji

spacetime coordinates: New Hampshire 1869 / 1969 / 1995 / 1996 / 2016

Jumanji is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston. It is an adaptation of the 1981 children’s book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg. The film was written by Van Allsburg, Greg Taylor, Jonathan Hensleigh, and Jim Strain and stars Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst, Bradley Pierce, David Alan Grier, Jonathan Hyde, and Bebe Neuwirth.

The story centers on 12-year-old Alan Parrish, who becomes trapped in a board game while playing with his best friend Sarah Whittle in 1969. Twenty-six years later, in 1995, siblings Judy and Peter Shepherd find the game, begin playing and then unwittingly release the now-adult Alan. After tracking down Sarah, the quartet resolve to finish the game in order to reverse all of the destruction it has caused.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113497/

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a 2017 American adventure comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, and Jeff Pinkner, from a story by McKenna. It is a part of the Jumanji franchise, serving as a sequel to Jumanji (1995). The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, and Bobby Cannavale.

Set twenty-one years after the first film, the plot follows four teenagers who are transported into the video game world of Jumanji, playing as the characters they chose. Uniting with another player, they must overcome the game’s magical power in order to win and return home.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283362/

+ Sequel +

0490 – Novitiate (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  1960s Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Novitiate is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by Maggie Betts. Set in the early 1960s and during the era of Vatican II, a young woman in training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, the changing church and sexuality.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4513316/

0472 – The Lost Boys (1987)

spacetime coordinates: 1980’s beach town of Santa Carla, California

The Lost Boys is a 1987 American horror thriller comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Alex Winter, Jamison Newlander, and Barnard Hughes.

The film is about two Arizona brothers who move to California and end up fighting a gang of young vampires. The title is a reference to the Lost Boys in J. M. Barrie‘s stories about Peter Pan and Neverland, who, like the vampires, never grow up.

principal photography

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093437/

0465 – The Handmaiden / Ah-ga-ssi (2016)

spacetime coordinates:  1930s South Korea / Japan

The Handmaiden (Hangul: 아가씨; RR: Agassi; lit. ”Lady”) is a 2016 South Korean erotic psychological thriller film directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo and Cho Jin-woong.  It is inspired from the novel Fingersmith by Welsh writer Sarah Waters, with the setting changed from Victorian era Britain to Korea under Japanese colonial rule.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4016934/

0461 – My Friend Dahmer (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  1974 – 1978  Bath, Ohio

My Friend Dahmer is a 2017 American biographical drama film written and directed by Marc Meyers about the American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. It is based on the 2012 graphic novel of the same name by cartoonist John “Derf” Backderf, who had been friends with Dahmer in high school in the 1970s, soon before Dahmer began his killing spree. The film stars Ross Lynch, Alex Wolff, Dallas Roberts, and Anne Heche.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2291540/

0433 – Il racconto dei racconti – Tale of Tales (2015)

spacetime coordinates:  17th-century. the kingdoms of Longtrellis / Highhills / Strongcliff

Tale of Tales (Italian: Il racconto dei racconti) is a 2015 European dark fantasy film, directed by Matteo Garrone, starring Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, and John C. Reilly. It is a screen adaptation based on collections of tales by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile:  Pentamerone ( a 17th-century collection of fairytales) or Lo cunto de li cunti (Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones), which contains the earliest versions of famous fables like Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

The Baroque stories manage to mix real and surreal with many metaphorical usages. The three tales are La Cerva Fatata (The Enchanted Doe), La Pulce (The Flea), La Vecchia Scorticata (The Flayed Old Lady), that have been freely adapted with elements of other tales by Giambattista Basile, as well as a touch of artistic license. All three stories are told in a mixed way, pieced in fragments through the whole film, with all three briefly joining for a royal funeral near the start and a royal coronation at the end.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3278330/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_of_Tales_(2015_film)

0395 – Angel’s Egg (1985)

Angel’s Egg (天使のたまご Tenshi no Tamago) is a Japanese OVA film released by Tokuma Shoten on 15 December 1985. It was a collaboration between popular artist Yoshitaka Amano and director Mamoru Oshii. It features very little spoken dialogue. Its sparse plot and visual style have led to it being described as “animated art rather than a story”.

Prior to the production on Angel’s Egg, Mamoru Oshii lost his faith in Christianity. Senses of Cinema opined that the film “seems informed by the existential desperation caused by the collapse of one’s belief system”; Oshii himself has stated he does not know what the film is about.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208502/

Is Angel’s Egg an Overlooked Masterpiece? – Analyzed and Explained