Modern cinema owes a lot to this film. This is the third Akira Kurosawa film I’ve watched, and it’s insane. It’s a 3.5-hour film, but the pacing still feels very lively, especially with the final payoff, which is absolutely worth it.

The ending, set in the rain, with all the screaming, the sound of horse hooves, and the mud, feels so intense that you can’t look away. Even though it’s chaotic, the audience never feels dizzy or lost. John Wick fans will definitely be surprised by how fragile death feels here.

A brilliant and painful deconstruction of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alisha doesn’t fall down the rabbit hole for a magical adventure, she walks into it willingly just to burn her own “Wonderland” to ashes.

The collaboration between Mouly Surya and Joko Anwar was insanely bold for Indonesian cinema in 2008. Ladya Cheryl is terrifying here. She doesn’t need screaming or chainsaws; her empty stare and faint smile are already enough to haunt you. The way she manipulates reality to live out the “fiction” of the guy she’s obsessed with feels weirdly romantic and deeply psychotic at the same time.

You see, in this world, there are two kinds of people, those who watch and those who don’t. And I watch.

Peak