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My Favourite Film: Kelcey Ayer of Native Natives and Jaws of Love. on “The Fifth Ingredient”
(1997, directed by Luc Besson)
Jul 28, 2023
Images by Joey Wasilewski
Difficulty #71 – Weyes Blood and Black Belt Eagle Scout
My all-time favourite film is a bat-shit sci-fi movie known as The Fifth Ingredient. It’s one of the artistic, enjoyable, insane motion pictures ever made, and I can’t consider this was solely Luc Besson’s second English language movie (he went from Léon: The Skilled to this). It’s obtained all of the hallmarks of an important journey movie: humor, some scary moments, unbelievable motion sequences, romance, however with all these wild quirks that solely a cocky French filmmaker might pull off. It’s so colourful in each sense of the phrase, from the expansive units to the garish costuming, plus among the cutest, wobbly, chunky alien robotic guys you’ve ever seen.
And whereas Besson ought to be canonized for taking the probabilities he took, it’s the performances that seal the deal. Each side-character had sufficient charisma to hold their very own motion pictures: the mugger outdoors Korben’s condominium, the Normal, the Chinese language-food proprietor, the airport floor crew getting excessive off their flame-thrower whereas killing rainbow parasites, Korben’s mom, the blue alien opera singer, the deaf body-builder Royalty dude in white faux-fur boots… I neglect what his deal was, however the record goes on and on.
Then there are the primary gamers, each one in every of them pitch-perfect. From Bruce Willis because the reluctant hero Korben, to Milla Jovovich’s unflinching dedication as a million-year previous alien, to Gary Oldman as a lovable psychopath (per typical, however in area!), to Ian Holm because the trustworthy, nervous priest. However the best of all of them, the pièce de résistance, needs to be Chris Tucker as radio DJ persona Ruby Rhod. This is without doubt one of the most bonkers, unabashedly flamboyant, and superb performances ever captured on movie, and he ought to have been nominated for an Oscar for it (I do know it’s not an “Oscar” position that ought to have gained, I’m simply saying might have been their Jack Sparrow-nom for that yr). Plus the film has Tough in it, and in 1997 you don’t get cooler than that.
Citizen Kane can eat my ass! The Fifth Ingredient is the best film ever made! Rosebud? Attempt Ruby Rhod! Not an excellent comparability? B-zzzzzz!
(Kelcey Ayer is the singer/keyboardist/guitarist within the Los Angeles-based band Native Natives. The band’s lineup additionally options Taylor Rice, Ryan Hahn, Matt Frazier, and Nik Ewing. Native Natives’ most up-to-date album was 2023’s Time Will Wait For No One. Ayer additionally has a solo mission, Jaws of Love., and his sophomore album below that identify, Second Life, was a November 2022 launch.)
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