SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 244 - Ghostbox Cowboy (2018)

europe1

It´s a nice peninsula to Asia
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Here's a quick list of all movies watched by the SMC. Or if you prefer, here's a more detailed examination.
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Our Director
John Maringouin

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John Maringouin was born on September 2, 1973 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Ghostbox Cowboy (2018), Big River Man (2009) and Running Stumbled (2006).
Our Star
David Zellner
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Film Overview



Premise: A dullard Texas entrepreneur reinvents himself as a cowboy in China's tech wild west, but finds himself at the mercy of corrupt American expats looking to reinvent him once more.

Budget: Censored by the CCP

Box Office:???

Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)

* Ghostbox Cowboy is the first American Independent feature shot entirely in communist China's tech sector.

Members: @europe1 @MusterX @Scott Parker 27 @JayPettryMMA @Yotsuya @HARRISON_3 @Bubzeh @the ambush @SalvadorAllende @HenryFlower @Zer @Dirt Road Soldier

 
I'm most of the way through the movie (it's been a busy week) but so far I like it. Seeing the way the main character bumbles his way through his plan just to get blasted by every problem possible at the same time was fun. But now I get to look forward to the aftermath which I am sure will be a wild ride.
 
I'm most of the way through the movie (it's been a busy week) but so far I like it. Seeing the way the main character bumbles his way through his plan just to get blasted by every problem possible at the same time was fun. But now I get to look forward to the aftermath which I am sure will be a wild ride.
<CerseiPlotting>
 
This is a pretty challenging movie. But there is something to be said for just how thoroughly it LOATHES every characters and subject in it. Every frame of this film is filled with spite. It's a true "FUCK THIS" movie.

Commercialism sucks. Every character is vapid, small-minded, and fundamentally miserable. They regularly reefer to what they're selling as "shit", and that's because that's exactly what it is, it's useless shit that nobody actually needs or wants. Shits that is sold just to be bought. "Sell this shit! Sell this shit!" the guy repeats as they're marketing that... (segway?). The protagonists device is literally a slang for a: "Big shit". Nobody cares about the quality of what they're making. They just do it to engage in entrepreneurship and live the nouveau riche lifestyle.

And man are these people miserable. Johnny Mai Thai is 68 and still partying with 20-something Chinese kids, thinking he's living the high-life. They're the kind of people who attend parties and get drunks because intoxication is the only means of happiness they know. Their life is so meaningless that slovenly hedonism is the only worthwhile way for them to pass the time. That Chinese rich guy probably got his money from marriage considering how homely-looking his wife is and that he's never sees her and instead wants to hang out with hookers. The ugly-looking American guy is constantly on about how he "hates other human beings" and tells stories about how he replaced workers with machines. These are people who want to be rich because they hate being alive and if they're rich then they can at least buy themselves dopamine rushes.

It also nails how undignified salesmanship is. You're not a person. You're an idiotically-smiling cartoon character that's presented before other people because an idiot cartoon character is the only thing they're expected to relate too. Salesmanship is entirely about degrading yourself to the basest level possible.

In the last 30 minutes, Ghostbox Cowboy goes all arthouse on us. This surrealism isn't bad. But it doesn't really feel like a climax or catharsis or escalation of what has come before. They're still talking about "selling shit." but it feels more like "selling shit" in an arthouse style, rather then some culmination of what we've seen before.

So all-in-all, actually a really good movie! I'd put it 3rd or 2nd for this entire Cycle behind only Diabolique and, maybe, The Bleeder.

Also, lol at that part where he tries to pay for the hotel room with coupons <45>
 
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Seeing the way the main character bumbles his way through his plan just to get blasted by every problem possible at the same time was fun

Yeah it's a classical story of someone who think that he's a big-shot getting a hard dose of reality. Everyone in this film basically believes themselves to be smarter then they actually are. The Cowboy fails spectacularly. Johnny Mai Thai thinks that he's a big-shoot when he's really just some go-between whose easily dispensed off. That ugly-looking Westerner talks about how nobody would hire him in the USA despite the fact that he was "brilliant" when it's plain obvious he's just some self-hating dofus. The Chinese guy just succeeded because he (most likely) married rich and so has untold amounts of capital to spend.
 
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Yeah it's a classical story of someone who think that he's a big-shot getting a hard dose of reality. Everyone in this film basically believes themselves to be smarter then they actually are. The Cowboy fails spectacularly. Johnny Mai Thai thinks that he's a big-shoot when he's really just some go-between whose easily dispensed off. That ugly-looking Westerner talks about how nobody would hire him in the USA despite the fact that he was "brilliant" when it's plain obvious he's just some self-hating dofus. The Chinese guy just succeeded because he (most likely) married rich and so has untold amounts of capital to spend.

Yah, it seems like everyone in this movie is various levels of stupid and has either survived through their own usefulness to others or because they are being bankrolled by others. It's kind of a depressing look at the chinese tech sector where if you don't have a ton resources to afford some failures or some amazing usefulness you are essentially doomed if even the slightest thing goes wrong.
 
So after a few days, thinking back on it this movie was remarkably unremarkable overall. I remember a few things about the movie, a few characters, but overall I really can't remember shit about it. No scenes really stood out, no single lines really stuck with me, nothing. It wasn't a great film, it wasnt a bad film, it just kinda exists somewhere inbetween for me. I'll remember what it is, what it's overall about, but in a few months ask me any serious details about it and I will draw a complete blank.
 
This was a ride. I looked at it like a dark, sadistic comedy. Maybe something like League of Gentlemen, the humour of dysfunctional people or societies with a lot of cultural commentaries. Although it's not as good as LoG I dug:

- how much of everyday China was on show. It's easy to get distracted in the backgrounds sometimes (I say this as a dude who hasn't seen much of China, but it's interesting to see mundane details sometimes over the choice pics)
- the whole gimmick of salesmanship and how low a career it can be is something I found interesting, especially when put in the context of China vs USA. Very weird direction they go with this but for me they got the message across, both as far as how degrading a career sales can be and the cultural divides between the countries. They also do this in a very casual, non-preachy way which is something you have to appreciate in a movie nowadays
- the film had a very aimless quality that I didn't mind. I drifted in and out of the story but visually was always engaged with what was happening
- David Zellner in the lead role I kinda liked. He has his moments but you feel like that character on paper needed to be someone with more raw charisma and instant likeability, but I think that's a problem with the writing of the character more than a problem with Zellner. His ambition and delusion doesn't really sit well with his personality, and he basically feels way underwritten considering how much time he's not doing anything
- Jimmy Mai Thai was a character I dug. I've met a few guys like this and coincidentally they're all expats perving around Asia
- there were some nice, unexpected dystopian scenes with that Ordos shit. I loved that (Don't even know if it's real of not, wouldn't be surprised if it was real)

The one angsty dude talking about how much he hates humanity was kind of a shame because I thought he was interesting outside of his emo thing.

Overall I had a decent time with this 7/10
 
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