0958 – Suspiria (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1977, Berlin during the height of the German Autum

(!extreme violence!)

Suspiria (Latin pronunciation: [sʊsˈpɪria]) is a 2018 supernatural psychological horror film directed by Luca Guadagnino with a screenplay by David Kajganich, inspired by the 1977 Italian film of the same title directed by Dario Argento. Guadagnino’s film, which is set in 1977, stars Dakota Johnson as an American woman who enrolls at a prestigious dance academy in Berlin run by a coven of witches. Tilda Swinton co-stars in three roles, including as the company’s lead choreographer and as a male psychotherapist involved in the academy. Mia Goth and Chloë Grace Moretz appear in supporting roles as students, while Angela Winkler, Renée Soutendijk, Ingrid Caven, and Sylvie Testud portray some of the academy’s matrons. The star of the original film, Jessica Harper, has a cameo appearance.

An “homage” to the original rather than a straightforward remake, the movie explores themes of generational guilt in Germany during the Cold War. The film also focuses on themes of motherhood, evil, and the dynamics of matriarchies.

Unlike the original film, which used exaggerated colors, Guadagnino conceived Suspiria as visually “winterish” and bleak, absent of primary colors. The film incorporates stylized dance sequences choreographed by Damien Jalet, which form part of its representation of witchcraft. The musical score was composed by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, who took inspiration from krautrock. (wiki)

Analysis and themes

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imdb /  body horror

953 – Saints Row IV (2013 video game)

Saints Row IV is an open world action-adventure video game with third-person shooter elements developed by Volition and published by Deep Silver. It is the fourth title in the Saints Row series. In the game, the playable character is the leader of the 3rd Street Saints, a street gang that has become the world’s most powerful and popular organization, and must fend off an alien invasion after becoming President of the United States and receiving superpowers.

The player is free to explore their environment while completing main and side missions at their leisure. The game incorporates elements from science fiction video games and films, and continues the series’ reputation for over-the-top parody. It was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and was later ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Linux in 2015.

The game is set in a nearly identical simulation of Steelport, the fictional city setting from Saints Row: The Third, though individual story missions have new, custom-designed levels. 

Saints Row IV‘s story parodies science fiction video games, especially Mass Effect 2, as well as films like The Matrix and Zero Dark Thirty, and other “nerd culture”. Some story missions are propelled by individual characters’ existential crises, as each Saint character is stuck in a personal simulation of their own hell, and must be rescued by the player. Other elements borrowed from video game culture include BioWare-style character romances games and a Metal Gear-style mission with an unhelpful partner.

Saints Row IV received several limited and summative edition releases, and was briefly banned in Australia.

System Requirements (Minimum) CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 | AMD Athlon II x3. / OS: Windows Vista (x86 or x64) / VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 260 | AMD Radeon HD 5800 series. / FREE DISK SPACE: 10 GB. / DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 896 MB.

steam

0950 – The Captain / Der Hauptmann (2017)

timespace coordinates: 1945. Nazi Germany (the last moments of World War II)

The Captain (German: Der Hauptmann) is a 2017 German Art House & war drama film directed by Robert Schwentke.

The film tells the story of German war criminal Willi Herold, who assumed a stolen identity as a German officer and orchestrated the killing of deserters and other prisoners at one of the Emslandlager camps. (wiki)

Simultaneously a historical docudrama and sociological examination with undertones of the absurd, The Captain presents fascism as something of a game to be played by those most gullible and unscrupulous. (rt)

imdb

0947 – Ashes in the Snow (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1941  Kaunas, Lithuania amid Stalin’s reign of terror in the Baltic region > Soviet labor camp (Siberia) > the Arctic Circle

Ashes in the Snow is a World War II drama film directed by Marius A. Markevicius based on The New York Times best selling novel Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. It stars Bel Powley, Martin Wallström, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Jonah Hauer-King, Peter Franzén and Sophie Cookson. (wiki)

imdb   /   Eastern_Bloc

940 – Wildlife (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1960 Great Falls, Montana Wildlife is a 2018 American drama film directed by Paul Dano and co-written by Dano and Zoe Kazan. It is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Ford first published in 1990. The film stars Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould, and Bill Camp; it is Dano’s directorial debut.

imdb

932 – Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (2018)

(adaptation of the German kids classic book by Michael Ende)       –imdb–

929 – FAR: Lone Sails (2018 video game)

timespace coordinates: post-apocalyptic dried-out oceanFAR: Lone Sails is an exploration adventure video game developed by the Swiss development company Okomotive. The game released on Microsoft Windows and OS X on 17 May 2018, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions in development. (wiki)

FAR: Lone Sails is a vehicle adventure game. In a unique vehicle you travel across a dried-out ocean following the tracks of a once thriving civilization. Through an array of roadblocks and through hazardous weather you need to keep your vessel going. Where will this journey take you? Are you the last of your kind? (steam)

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Windows 7+ (64-bit OS required) / Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz, AMD FX 8120 @ 3.1 GHz / Memory: 4 GB RAM / Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 460 / 650m, AMD Radeon HD6570 / DirectX: Version 11 / Storage: 3 GB available space / Additional Notes: Not recommended for Intel HD Graphics cards.