ZooScope

Tag: HAR: Food

  • The Platform (El Hoyo). Dir. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia. Festival Films & Netflix. 2019

    Of course, it is odd to gaze from social isolation into absolute claustrophobia while still in a lockdown: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s twisted dystopian Sci-Fi thriller El Hoyo (in international release The Platform) is about being trapped in a large concrete construction that resembles a maintenance hole.  It is also about social hierarchies constructed as a result:…

  • The Ant Bully. dir. John A. Davis. Warner Bros. Pictures. 2006.

    The Ant Bully chronicles the adventure of Lucas Nickle, who demolishes an anthill one day in frustration over being bullied by the neighbourhood kids. In response, the ants shrink Lucas down and sentence him to live and work in the colony as one of their own, with the hope of creating “a brighter future for…

  • Raw. Dir. Julia Ducournau. Focus World. 2017.

    When Julia Ducournau’s debut feature film Raw (2017) was shown at Toronto’s Film Festival, paramedics were called to the scene after cinema-goers fainted during the screening.  Raw tells the story of highly gifted 16-year-old vegetarian, Justine (Garance Marillier) and her journey into a merciless and dangerously seductive world during her first week of veterinary school. During a gruesome hazing ritual,…

  • The Platform (El Hoyo). Dir. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia. Festival Films & Netflix. 2019

    In the twisted dystopian science fiction movie “The Platform,” inmates of a vertically piled up prison, with two inmates on each floor, fight for bare survival due to the lack of food for the entire population. An extensive buffet of the finest hearty and sweet food travels, from top to bottom through the middle of…

  • Ernest and Celestine. Dir. Benjamin Renner. StudioCanal. 2012

    Ernest and Celestine[2] (2012) is a French animated film that presents the unorthodox relationship between a bear and a mouse. Introduced as a struggling musician, Ernest is starving and on the hunt for food; Celestine is on the hunt for teeth when they form an unlikely pairing to help one another. Due to societal constraints and animal…

  • Okja. Dir. Bong Joon-ho. Netflix. 2017.

    Okja[1] is a South-Korean/American film about a girl called Mija and her best friend, a ‘super pig’ called Okja. When Okja gets taken by the company who made her, the Mirando corporation, Mija leaves her idyllic mountain-top home and goes on a dark adventure, determined to find Okja and bring her back home. At the…

  • The Road to El Dorado. Dir. Bibo Bergeron, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Don Paul. DreamWorks Pictures. 2000.

    The Road to El Dorado subverts humanity’s usual place at the apex of creation. In this scene the High Priest, Tzekel-Kan, explains to Tulio (whom he believes to be a God) the importance of human sacrifice in gaining the fear and worship of the people, thus placing humanity somewhere near the bottom of a divine…

  • Mon Oncle . Dir. Jacques Tati. Gaumont (France), Continental Distributing (USA). 1958.

    The release of Mon Oncle (Gaumont, France) in 1958 saw the return of Monsieur Hulot to cinema screens, following the successful Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot five years previously. The first of Tati’s films to be released in colour, the film follows the character of Hulot (Jacques Tati), an awkward but incredibly endearing man, and…

  • White God. Dir. Kornél Mundruczó. InterCom Zrt. 2014.

    White God (dir. Kornél Mundruczó, 2014) depicts the story of Hagen [Bodie and Luke], a mixed-breed dog, and his relationship with Lili [Zsófia Psotta], a young girl who is sent to live with her emotionally distant father [Sándor Zsótér].  Unwilling to pay the newly implemented ‘mongrel fee’ imposed by the Hungarian government in a desperate attempt…

  • Oldboy. Dir. Park Chan-wook. Show East & Tartan Films. 2003.

    Park Chan-wook’s 2003 film Oldboy is at its core a thriller, a revenge story of Oh Dae-su (played by Choi Min-sik) imprisoned in a room for 15 years without any knowledge of the reasons why, and who is then suddenly released back into the world and told by his captor to try to work out…