Last Watched
I'm also a left defender, gonna have to check some Farocki out, represent.
Transit is wonderful and my favourite of his but I still need to see Yella, Wolfsburg, Jerichow...
Transit is wonderful and my favourite of his but I still need to see Yella, Wolfsburg, Jerichow...
The Great Escape
Disgustingly shameless American propaganda... but not a bad flick!
(This, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Escape from Alcatraz, Southern Comfort... even stuff like Collateral... why do I keep watching movies these days about being trapped and wanting to get out? Coincidence?
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Disgustingly shameless American propaganda... but not a bad flick!
(This, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Escape from Alcatraz, Southern Comfort... even stuff like Collateral... why do I keep watching movies these days about being trapped and wanting to get out? Coincidence?
)
SATANTANGO is on my radar lately, I've been dipping into it for an hour or so at a time over the past few days and getting a good deal out of it. Full disclosure, I've seen it twice complete in cinemas, I certainly wouldn't recommend the bits-and-pieces approach to those coming to it for the first time. On Blu-Ray and streaming via the Criterion Channel, it is handsome indeed. Familiarity is raising appreciation for the good stuff, and the not-good stuff is starting to announce itself, I'm afraid, mainly the feeling that nobody would notice if certain scenes were cut in half (that drunken revelry in the pub, for example). Far from a deal breaker, but more than a quibble.
These matters are best disposed of from a great height. Over water.
As much as I love Satantango, I have enough reservations about it that it probably falls into that dubious category of "guilty pleasures". I'm mesmerized by the vivid strangeness of it, but if I can only defend a movie by using adjectives that's not a real defense at all. If it weren't so damn long I would've seen it 6 or 7 times by now, and I would have come to terms with it. My first viewing was at a film festival with Bela Tarr in the audience... I was relieved when someone asked him about the cat, and he said the cat is still alive and doing fine and wasn't actually hurt in making the movie.
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Joks Trois
- Posts: 361
- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:51 am
It is a great film, but I generally watch it over 2 nights. I'm also not a fan of overly long films, and I think the longer the film is, the more you expect from it, and that's completely reasonable. That is why I have no time for Lav Diaz. His films would have to all be masterpieces for me to bother, and the chances of that are slim to none, unless he is somehow the greater director that has ever lived. I have similar reservations about Wang Bing, but his subject matter (i.e China) is more appealing to me than LD. LD strikes me as the kind of guy who watched Satantango in the mid 90's and felt that is was a great model to follow rather than a one-off.
A Rainy Day In New York: Allen should retire. There is nothing left in the tank. He has made several duds in a row, and this could be his laziest film yet. 4.5/10. Possibly less.
Vitalina Varela: Blu-ray. This looks far sharper than the versions I've seen online, and the frame rate is different too. I've watched several scenes many times, but this was the second time I'd seen the entire film in full. Costa/Simões are operating on an entirely different aesthetic level than any other film maker today. The word 'painterly' is thrown around carelessly when describing films, but it absolutely 100% applies in this case. Their skill with imagery is simply incredible. Their only real competition is perhaps Sokurov, but with his last two films Costa has surpassed Sokurov, at least in the digital realm. I can't think of a single director who uses digital as well as Costa. Mann isn't even in the conversation.
Overall, the pacing bothered me less this time, but it's still abundantly clear that VV is a much simpler film than his previous 3-4 in terms of themes, ideas and political orientation. More sidestep than genuine evolution. It's worth seeing for the visuals, its unique world building and for its 'protagonist', Vitalina, who is a monumental figure as depicted by Costa. 8/10
A Rainy Day In New York: Allen should retire. There is nothing left in the tank. He has made several duds in a row, and this could be his laziest film yet. 4.5/10. Possibly less.
Vitalina Varela: Blu-ray. This looks far sharper than the versions I've seen online, and the frame rate is different too. I've watched several scenes many times, but this was the second time I'd seen the entire film in full. Costa/Simões are operating on an entirely different aesthetic level than any other film maker today. The word 'painterly' is thrown around carelessly when describing films, but it absolutely 100% applies in this case. Their skill with imagery is simply incredible. Their only real competition is perhaps Sokurov, but with his last two films Costa has surpassed Sokurov, at least in the digital realm. I can't think of a single director who uses digital as well as Costa. Mann isn't even in the conversation.
Overall, the pacing bothered me less this time, but it's still abundantly clear that VV is a much simpler film than his previous 3-4 in terms of themes, ideas and political orientation. More sidestep than genuine evolution. It's worth seeing for the visuals, its unique world building and for its 'protagonist', Vitalina, who is a monumental figure as depicted by Costa. 8/10
thought i'd be able to watch a '36 film and a vecchiali favorite while the polls were both going, but seems like gremillon's gueule d'amour is '37 after all 
it's a great movie though. it's not surprising that people see this as misogynist, and mireille balin as a kind of femme fatale, but there's something else going on here, where both her and gabin meet under a mutually assumed romantic delusion and he is unable to understand the nature of the game, and she can't (or won't) adjust once he starts his emotional freefall. think dan callahan review in slant makes two great points - neither character lies to each other really, and by the end gabin has essentially transformed into a martyred betty davis heroine.
different than the other gremillons i've seen, more measured in its gestures but he really knows when to go for it when the time comes...
it's a great movie though. it's not surprising that people see this as misogynist, and mireille balin as a kind of femme fatale, but there's something else going on here, where both her and gabin meet under a mutually assumed romantic delusion and he is unable to understand the nature of the game, and she can't (or won't) adjust once he starts his emotional freefall. think dan callahan review in slant makes two great points - neither character lies to each other really, and by the end gabin has essentially transformed into a martyred betty davis heroine.
different than the other gremillons i've seen, more measured in its gestures but he really knows when to go for it when the time comes...
I found the tonal / genre shifts in the Gremillon a bit bewildering - it goes from screwball to melodrama to noir, and his mate is a weirdly chirpy character who's completely at odds with the film's dark third act. Curious to see more though, what would you recommend?
SATANTANGO -- once the initial shock of the cat scene passed, and I found out that the cat was fine and the scene was supervised by a vet and the cat was even adopted by a member of the crew, I can't say that it bothers me that much any more, and I even find the whole thing something of a distraction. The poor thing has a rather rough time of it, sure, and I wouldn't want anybody doing that to any cat I might own, but well, I'm a lot more disturbed by what happens to that horse in ANDREI RUBLEV.
THE SHEIK -- George Melford's 1921 fantasy of Stockholm Syndrome in the Arabian Sands, and not a particularly good movie but always a very interesting one. Much of Valentino's performance has dated very badly, it's like an unintentional compendium of Silent Film Acting Cliches. Poses, Big Eyes, Broad Smiles and Lusty Leering, that kind of thing. And then he'll just drop it all and be very still and do a lot by not doing very much. An odd little moment at film's end, where True Love Has Conquered All, sticks out like a sore thumb, where it is revealed that the Sheik isn't an Arab at all, but half Spanish and half English, thus clearing the way for our English Heroine to love him without fear of the horror of race-mixing....
THE SHEIK -- George Melford's 1921 fantasy of Stockholm Syndrome in the Arabian Sands, and not a particularly good movie but always a very interesting one. Much of Valentino's performance has dated very badly, it's like an unintentional compendium of Silent Film Acting Cliches. Poses, Big Eyes, Broad Smiles and Lusty Leering, that kind of thing. And then he'll just drop it all and be very still and do a lot by not doing very much. An odd little moment at film's end, where True Love Has Conquered All, sticks out like a sore thumb, where it is revealed that the Sheik isn't an Arab at all, but half Spanish and half English, thus clearing the way for our English Heroine to love him without fear of the horror of race-mixing....
These matters are best disposed of from a great height. Over water.
i think the first tonal shift, when gabin goes from being gueule d'amour to just lucien, is really effective, especially because it takes the poor man a long time to realize he's in a different kind of movie now. I've seen the comment that it ends up as noir a few times, but feel like it just becomes a slightly more fatalistic type of melodrama. and poor rene lefevre as the best friend has is reasons for being chirpy - as far as he knows everything is going really well for him right up until the very end.MrCarmady wrote: ↑Thu Sep 17, 2020 8:39 am I found the tonal / genre shifts in the Gremillon a bit bewildering - it goes from screwball to melodrama to noir, and his mate is a weirdly chirpy character who's completely at odds with the film's dark third act. Curious to see more though, what would you recommend?
from gremillon remorques is probably the One to Watch, but i'm really partial to dainah la matisse. we had a poll on him awhile back, i've definitely seen less than a lot of people here.
I see your point about the first tonal shift and Lefevre's character, but the film never gives us an indication that Gabin can do what he does at the end, which is what I found strange about it. Found the poll, will check a couple out.
just watched jeanne balibar's directorial debut, wonders in the suburbs, on mubi - and everyone, absolutely everyone, seems to hate it, but it's exactly the film i'd expect her to make. iosseliani does the shop around the corner with Actors. and amalric is just so sexy still.
100% agree. The horse scene taints what would otherwise be a masterpiece. I feel the same way about Au hasard Balthazar. Tarkovsky said he bought a horse that was already condemned to slaughter, but that's no excuse; it's playing God. At least the cow in the earlier scene was protected by an asbestos blanket and wasn't burned.Roscoe wrote: ↑Thu Sep 17, 2020 1:33 pmSATANTANGO -- once the initial shock of the cat scene passed, and I found out that the cat was fine and the scene was supervised by a vet and the cat was even adopted by a member of the crew, I can't say that it bothers me that much any more, and I even find the whole thing something of a distraction. The poor thing has a rather rough time of it, sure, and I wouldn't want anybody doing that to any cat I might own, but well, I'm a lot more disturbed by what happens to that horse in ANDREI RUBLEV.
finally got around to blood of the condor -- in light of recent news items. i remember javier represented sanjines in a cup but i somehow never saw this one
petzold's undine might be the worst movie i've ever seen by a director i really like. thats probably a ridiculous overstatement but it sure felt that way watching it. so here's bozon and almaric in arrieta's sleeping beauty.
also fisher's revenge of frankenstein is a weird, mean, amazing thing...
also fisher's revenge of frankenstein is a weird, mean, amazing thing...
isn't that the one with the rape. peter cushing was not happy about it as i recall
TOLL OF THE SEA -- 1922 drama about Lotus Flower, a young Chinese woman who finds a white man washed up on the beach, and falls in love with him, and drama ensues. The story is a pretty straightup knockoff on MADAM BUTTERFLY, no question. The two-color Technicolor is put to lovely use here, with some vibrant reds and greens and surprisingly delicate flesh tones. The real thing here is Anna May Wong, who displays none of the sleek sexiness of her other work here. She's charming and genuinely heartbreaking in her big scenes. What a dick that white guy is, and for a change that's pretty much the point.
These matters are best disposed of from a great height. Over water.
that's frankenstein must be destroyed, the second to last of the series (there was a big bap between this and the final one, monster from hell). isn't the best in the series (if i remember correctly) but is the moment where the cushing character becomes even more of a total monster than in the earlier films.
i watched '94 butterfly lovers. it won't make anyone forget the love eterne but it's very good
yes you're right about frankenstein (must be destroyed)..
yes you're right about frankenstein (must be destroyed)..
seema described the new hong as "let the women talk the movie." there are 3 men in the movie, and one more that is constantly discussed, but hong keeps their faces totally offscreen in very funny ways. it's great, there is an amazing zoom in to a cat joke, the fashion is great, almost studiously unlovely (there is not a single "good" framing in the entire film), just this woman approaching middle age having long conversations with old friends.
watched The Woman Who Ran at the theater where Kim Min-hee visited in the last third of this movie. one of the most memorable cinema experience of the year..
lola montes (max ophuls) wow! now this is the max movie i've been waiting for. the eye-popping colour palette! the constant back and forth between distance and closing in! the lilting elliptical episodic-like narrative! feels like a four hour epic that's been dissolved down to a lifetime of fleeting moments, glimmers of a larger world that once was, but can now be relived only in memories, like a show you've seen before that you can remember only certain parts of. while the obvs choice for a double bill would be renoir's french cancan, i think the real spiritual cousins here (strangely enough) are pietrangeli's i knew her well and harris' some call it loving
i watched 'i married a monster from outer space!' which seemed like a lame bodysnatchers ripoff UNTIL i read evelyn's very insightful review about how it's all just an allegory for a straight woman who unwittingly marries a closeted gay man. works perfectly 
thx again evelyn!
(edit: also trump supporters. some of my friends are currently experiencing this
)
thx again evelyn!(edit: also trump supporters. some of my friends are currently experiencing this
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St. Gloede
- Posts: 712
- Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2019 5:50 pm
This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection (2019, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese)
The film is simply stunning in its composition, and makes you feel incredible awe at the surroundings. So many of the shots are films with contrast to the sky - people against surroundings.
But it also opens like this:
This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection quite floored me, as it lures you in with trippy, nightmarish sounds and visuals - slowly centres you, before it unleashes you into a slow brooding and poetic work which is simultaneously gorgeous (obviously) but grieving a loss.
You may be tempted to believe the title in a more literal sense, as we find in our protagonist a grieving, elderly woman, Mantoa, who has just lost her son - but what it really captures is progress vs. tradition, or more specifically cold progress vs. people - as the entire village is set to be flooded with a new dam, and the villagers - all seemingly poor farmers - are to be relocated to the capital.
What we see is the beaurocracy, speeches and push for modernity and leaving all you know - including your dead - in contrast to Mantoa's complete disbelief, bewilderness and sorrow.
The film could so easily have taken the classic route of the underdog fighting back, trapped in a beaurocratic mess, but this is not what the film is concerned with.
And yes, you do have futility - and the idea of the new and old god - and we see how those in positions of power try to nudge the people along:
But this is not really the story.
Even the backdrop of government workers cutting down trees, or the more solemn clarity in the chief informing all that it is the king's land, not theirs - are really the story.
Instead we peer into humanity, and into what stands to be lost. We spend time in the beauty and serenity of the village, we see the bonds form, we see the pain in leaving, we see Mantoa's despair - and we feel it.
8.5-9/10
The film is simply stunning in its composition, and makes you feel incredible awe at the surroundings. So many of the shots are films with contrast to the sky - people against surroundings.
But it also opens like this:
This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection quite floored me, as it lures you in with trippy, nightmarish sounds and visuals - slowly centres you, before it unleashes you into a slow brooding and poetic work which is simultaneously gorgeous (obviously) but grieving a loss.
You may be tempted to believe the title in a more literal sense, as we find in our protagonist a grieving, elderly woman, Mantoa, who has just lost her son - but what it really captures is progress vs. tradition, or more specifically cold progress vs. people - as the entire village is set to be flooded with a new dam, and the villagers - all seemingly poor farmers - are to be relocated to the capital.
What we see is the beaurocracy, speeches and push for modernity and leaving all you know - including your dead - in contrast to Mantoa's complete disbelief, bewilderness and sorrow.
The film could so easily have taken the classic route of the underdog fighting back, trapped in a beaurocratic mess, but this is not what the film is concerned with.
And yes, you do have futility - and the idea of the new and old god - and we see how those in positions of power try to nudge the people along:
But this is not really the story.
Even the backdrop of government workers cutting down trees, or the more solemn clarity in the chief informing all that it is the king's land, not theirs - are really the story.
Instead we peer into humanity, and into what stands to be lost. We spend time in the beauty and serenity of the village, we see the bonds form, we see the pain in leaving, we see Mantoa's despair - and we feel it.
8.5-9/10
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Joks Trois
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- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:51 am
^^A debut film too right? It looks interesting.
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Evelyn Library P.I.
- Posts: 1370
- Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:36 pm
Oh my pleasure, glad to see it get more loverischka wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 10:29 pm i watched 'i married a monster from outer space!' which seemed like a lame bodysnatchers ripoff UNTIL i read evelyn's very insightful review about how it's all just an allegory for a straight woman who unwittingly marries a closeted gay man. works perfectly
! One thing that doesn't come through as much in that review I wrote is that what I love most about it is the double meaning of the title: it's unclear whose the referent of the 'I' pronoun and whose the 'monster from outer space'. From that perspective, the film's sympathy could be with Tom Tryon, a poor queer person forced apart from their queer home world and into an alien outer space straight society that forcibly marries Tryon to that gay/trans panic monster Gloria Talbott. That's the way of approaching it I love the most, though it's admittedly unlikely that that was how it was intended. I guess I take my trans affirmation where I find it, but then I also just love every and all fifties sci-fi/horror movie automatically, so that helps.-
St. Gloede
- Posts: 712
- Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2019 5:50 pm
He made the essay film "Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You" first I believe, or at least it was released first (both are from 2019). It is in contrast a very sparse black and white film, for which he was also the cinematographer. In fact I just saw it - had to after This is Not a Burial, Its a Resurrection.
Mother shows a great eye for visuals and building tension, but is a lot rougher around the edges: Essentially the essence of a strong student film, inuding certain moments that may feel "weird for the sake of being weird" - which I don't mind. The cinematography itself shows the budget, but the blocking and composition is far more impressive and you can see certain similarities to Burial/Resurrection.
It has a strong emotional drive as a woman is reading a letter addressed to "mother", which could very well be Lesotho itself. The voice feels broken and hurt, lamenting the situation of the country, reflecting on memories and talking of hate and love - juxtaposed on top of visuals from Lesotho, of the people, children, mothers, etc. It builds atmosphere and mood well, and shows off his talent, even if it was not a knock it out of the park success in my view.
Really can't wait to see what he will do next.
i love that reading, she is terrifyingEvelyn Library P.I. wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:58 pmOh my pleasure, glad to see it get more loverischka wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 10:29 pm i watched 'i married a monster from outer space!' which seemed like a lame bodysnatchers ripoff UNTIL i read evelyn's very insightful review about how it's all just an allegory for a straight woman who unwittingly marries a closeted gay man. works perfectly