Last Watched

[rischka]

umbrellas of cherbourg is blowing my mind



i couldn't get through it when i last tried err...decades ago



how was this made in 1964

[wba]

Ostkreuz "Eastern Cross"
Michael Klier, Germany 1991

A great film by one of the greatest contemporary German directors.


It can be streamed with English subs in very good quality (1080p) on this website (till the middle of April) - they also have some other great German films online:

https://www.deutsche-kinemathek.de/de/o ... g/ostkreuz

[sally]

Ostkreuz "Eastern Cross"
Michael Klier, Germany 1991

A great film by one of the greatest contemporary German directors.


It can be streamed with English subs in very good quality (1080p) on this website (till the middle of April) - they also have some other great German films online:

https://www.deutsche-kinemathek.de/de/o ... g/ostkreuz

ooooohhhhh fab, thanks for the heads up, i really enjoyed their last program (found a new favourite - pia frankenberg's nie wieder schlafen - nie mehr zurück) and i really really loved klier's überall ist es besser, wo wir nicht sind (only film i saw of his so far) so will definitely check this out, cheers

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

i couldn't get through it when i last tried err...decades ago

I had the same experience a decade ago. Didn't like it because it was sad Should maybe give it another go...

[rischka]

now i find out i should've watched lola first? apparently it's a trilogy? oh well, more to look forward to

it is sad but weird to say more 'realist' than many hollywood musicals. even with people singing the entire time. i hate lala land even more now

edit: several 'critics' on twitter say it's better to watch lola second. hooray

[wba]

Ostkreuz "Eastern Cross"
Michael Klier, Germany 1991

A great film by one of the greatest contemporary German directors.


It can be streamed with English subs in very good quality (1080p) on this website (till the middle of April) - they also have some other great German films online:

https://www.deutsche-kinemathek.de/de/o ... g/ostkreuz

ooooohhhhh fab, thanks for the heads up, i really enjoyed their last program (found a new favourite - pia frankenberg's nie wieder schlafen - nie mehr zurück) and i really really loved klier's überall ist es besser, wo wir nicht sind (only film i saw of his so far) so will definitely check this out, cheers

Oh no, I missed that last installment! So no Pia Frankenberg for me. But I'll put it on my watchlist.
ÜBERALL IST ES BESSER, WO WIR NICHT SIND is also a personal favorite, and my current favorite of the Kliers I've seen.
There's so much great German cinema, especially from the 20th century!

[Roscoe]

now i find out i should've watched lola first? apparently it's a trilogy? oh well, more to look forward to

it is sad but weird to say more 'realist' than many hollywood musicals. even with people singing the entire time. i hate lala land even more now

edit: several 'critics' on twitter say it's better to watch lola second. hooray

LOLA is only lightly connected to UMBRELLAS -- as you'll see when you check out LOLA, as of course all civilized people should. If you're not helplessly in love with Anouk Aimee's Lola by film's end, or even at first sight, I just don't know what to do with you. I can't speak about a "trilogy" as I don't know how connected these two are with THE YOUNG LADIES OF ROCHEFORT, which I find absolutely unbearable and unwatchable.

And yes -- Chazelle's LA LA LAND is even more loathsome in comparison with Demy's film.

[Roscoe]

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER, is a strange movie. It continues Cameron's way of making sequels that are bigger louder and uglier than their original films, a habit that began with his ALIENS, that replaced Ridley Scott's mood piece with bigger guns and biceps and machinery. I can't deny being drawn in to certain elements of the story, and it's novel to see a multi-hundred-million dollar blockbuster be pro-conservation (that whale hunt is pretty excruciating). And I can't deny rolling my eyes at the retreads of plot elements from TITANIC and ALIENS and so on. It's gorgeous and banal, exciting and boring, smart and trivial.

SPOILER

Spoiler!

Interesting also that this film doesn't end with the same note of triumph as the original, which ended with Nature itself rising up to expel the human greedy capitalist invaders. Here there's a sort of queasy pause in the hostilities, at best.

I saw it in full IMAX 3D blowout, and can't imagine bothering with it in any other format.

Odd note -- as I returned to my seat from my mid-point bathroom break, I stepped past a party of six teenage girls, all of them checking out their phones and occasionally checking out the screen.

[Roscoe]

And on the other end of the spectrum, SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS was on at Metrograph, in what turned out to be a pretty good 35mm print. I hadn't seen it on a big screen in years, and found the old magic to still work. So glad to have been able to see this again.

[rischka]

i wondered if this was the earliest use of beethoven 7th in films but that honor goes to the black cat (1934)

[rischka]

I'm not halfway through it but I think les demoiselles has the best score. Bravo michel legrand



i knew this was coming

[Ofréne]

Preferred LOLA a lot to cherbourg when i saw it (years ago)
I had the same experience as you on your first time over, cherbourg is one of my most hated

[rischka]

i must say THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT not only has the best score but also dancing and is quite probably my favorite of the three. yes i'm watching it again



for me it improves on 'an american in paris' and 'on the town' - two of it's main inspirations. and i'm very fond of 'on the town'

danielle darrieux and michel piccoli are ADORABLE OMG. danielle even did her own singing ♥♥♥ MVP michel legrand et jacques demy ♥♥♥

also if you guys loved lola you have to see model shop ultimately i loved all four and now wonder if there's a demy film i wouldn't love

[sally]

nice to finally watch some non como/year poll films now that the czech frenzy has abated...

love your neighbor! - fritz magnussen (1918)

streaming here with english subs: https://www.stumfilm.dk/en/stumfilm/str ... -fra-havet

not particularly great unless you like unbending olaf the ham but i liked the way the frame was often split between the corporeal travails and the intangible powers - the sea-sky of god, with the priest's body mediating between the two realms, the ropes from the mast descending from above to make puppets of the sailors, the steps leading endlessly off-screen where the fateful decisions of power occur.....and the coils of rope symbolising scurrilous consequences...

[Roscoe]

I saw MODEL SHOP a few years back, and as a vehicle for Gary Lockwood's blue-jeaned ass, it has few rivals. Otherwise, I didn't get much out of it except sadness at what Demy decided to do to one of his characters.

I watched SCARLET STREET last night for the first time ever, and liked it mainly, but as usual with Lang's US productions, it felt rather slow and un-tense. Nowhere did I find the tension and pace of Lang's best German productions. It's okay, I guess.

[sally]

speaking of priests between sky & soil.....





jocelyn - léon poirier (1922)
view here: https://archive.org/details/silent-jocelyn

based on a loooooong poem by alphonse de lamartine (played by cute young corpse-lurking pierre blanchar).....



this is a slightly old-fashioned (for 1922) deeply conservative (yet libertarian anti-clerical) epic and despite the portrayal of the sans-culottes as grotesque, slobbering caricatures...









it's still an utterly gorgeous film, the natural mountain scenery is glorious, especially as backdrop for moody poses of the sexily bedraggled....







and despite also the fact that i am usually moaning about poor print quality, here it was magical, as if images were erupting out of dreams, or returning from the tomb...









but above all, it featured the BEST boy.....i don't think i've seen such an adorable doggie in ages, i cheered for him every time he appeared ♥

[sally]

maddalena ferat - febo mari, roberto roberti (1921)

view here: https://www.ilcinemamuto.it/betatest/ma ... erat-1920/

based on zola's madeleine férat, basic (overly repeated) plot is young girl meets flighty lover, later marries, lover returns, tragedy, death. hard to judge as a movie as there's a lot missing and not sure if the long preamble and berserk last few minutes really reflects the state of preservation or italian inclinations, but even so, this seems fairly rote for bertini. there's creepy guardian, a few jolly moments and obligatory nice scenic shots, but then it mostly relies on the full-on diva gestures: sad with goose, head in hands, rolling on the floor...the only thing that might distinguish it from the mid 1910's is the falconetti-ish close-up....

[Pretentious Hipster]

Back when it came out I REALLY loved Possessor. It was by Cronenberg's son, and it made him a director I really wanna look out for, and honestly thought he might eventually be in the same league as his dad. I was really hyped to see Infinity Pool.

The first bit was fantastic. Showing the contrast between the rich resort and the cringy rich tourists, and some fantastic stylized sections. Some really great framing in it too. I especially loved the shot where the lead is on focus, and someone is far away, out of focus, and thanks to that and the lighting he didn't come across as human-looking at all. He looked more like slenderman.

Possessor had some great concepts, but I guess they were easier to write about. He tired to make Infinity Pool a smarter film than his last. I guess I could summarize it like him trying to a Bunuel-esque satire on rich people being hedonistic through a horror lens. This is where he completely failed. It was more frustrating and grating to watch more than anything. The incredibly obvious symbolism that tries to make up for it by being disturbing didn't help either. This is especially due to the fact that rich people = bad seems like an easy concept on paper, but somehow he managed to screw it up so badly.

In the end, this came across as one of those edgy sort of films that has some incredibly style and visuals, but completely failed in the plot, and it seems like it'll only stand out for people who love disturbing and surreal imagery.

[rischka]

riotsville USA 2022 -- a nice reminder that we're living in the dream deferred. not shocking that fbi had a secret program to train police to handle civil disturbances and that gov't constantly fantasized about 'outside agitators' and feared the civil rights and anti-war movements joining forces (WOKENESS EGADS) nor that white citizens sided with LEO who likewise didn't consider them a threat. it's not over - the 1968 kerner commission tried to address structural racism but the only concrete result was militarization of police and mock towns like riotsville where law & order types staged urban riots to polite applause from the brass







come for senators accusing martin luther king of inciting violence and stay for commission findings that most so-called 'snipers' were simply LEO firing on each other. includes many clips from National Education Television - a PBS precursor and target of 'liberal' education-hating conservatives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXSoAdorWdA

[nrh]

run hot and cold on shymalan (often in the space of a single movie) but i had a really good time with knock at the cabin this weekend. it is the smallest and most controlled of the movies he has been making since his turn to self financing with the visit (that is maybe even smaller but the filmmaking seems looser, more experimental), and there is a real joy just in seeing him explore the limited space. he doesn't often manage to make his more stylized dialogue work with his performers but here everyone is great, especially dave bautista, showing his range after being a fun caricature in the awful glass onion...

[rischka]

monrovia, indiana (wiseman 2018)

i know i shouldn't be shocked these people spent their town council meeting trying to figure out how to expand the tax base without letting minorities move in

altho one person did point out their sports ball teams are much improved since a low income housing area was built near by

cw for animal cruelty (cow and pig farming and a dog's tail being 'docked')

the land is beautifully shot, the people are unrelentingly dull. the coach expounding on the history of local sports teams GAH

no wonder young people flee, there's nothing to stay for

[rischka]

watched a couple of westerns too - the return of frank james (1940) lang and fonda are reliable, mythologizing of criminals, avenging your fam - check. and los hermanos del hierro (literally the brothers of iron but cynically called 'my son, the hero' on letterboxd) - d. ismail rodriguez (1961) - i've seen this awhile back and i still enjoy it in spite it's a bit harsh on columba dominguez, a widow who raises her sons to avenge her dead husband. they witness his murder (by emiliano fernandez) in the first scene. 'kids shouldn't have guns, even toy ones,' - a character in this film. on youtube in restored version w eng subs. julio aleman (literally 'german') as the young sociopath is giving james caan here

[wba]

Watched MEINE FREUNDIN BARBARA ("My Girlfriend Barbara" - directed by Fritz Kirchhoff, Germany, 1937) at the cinema, another Screwball Comedy masterpiece from the 1930s. The Germans made so many of those, it's incredible!

[sally]

la morte bella (napoli, 1820) aka pepeniello (napoli 1820), aka nel mare della vita - alberto degli abbati (1914)

already seen (and liked) i mille (1912) by this director so now wondering if someone can dig up any more than that and the one above, that's streaming here:
https://www.ilcinemamuto.it/betatest/la ... 1820-1914/

aside from hitting my sea/harbour-based inclinations there's a really tight economy here of bunches and lines of people to concentrate/direct emotional affect. (also arm-crossed rebel was hot) and it's nice to see for once that 'innocence' is not free from consequences...(stupid little brat)....

[rischka]

a wanderer's notebook (naruse 1962) - takamine plays down her looks in this biopic of early feminist writer fumiko hayashi, whose works were the basis for a number of naruse's films. and it's very good with a lively heroine who nonetheless falls into abusive relationships with men



fumiko herself was quite extraordinary, rising from a background of extreme poverty and writing her experiences in a way that eventually brought her literary success. during the war she became a correspondent in support of japan's militarist regime, which sullied her reputation

this is often cited as takamine's finest work - like in hollywood, it's considered a feat for pretty girls to play homely. she does manage to lose herself in the role. kinuyo tanaka plays her mother, not sure this is the only time that happened.

[Curtis, baby]

u guys seen "He's Just Not That Into You"?

wow. had to unfollow everyone who gave it 2.5/5 or higher. never done that for a movie before

[wba]

u guys seen "He's Just Not That Into You"?

Lord, have mercy!

[Silga]

u guys seen "He's Just Not That Into You"?

I see I gave it 1.5/5. It was a date and we went to see this film.

From what I remember, it was a bad movie, but a good date.

[rischka]

the walking hills (sturges 1949) - there's a lot to like here. film noir cast and dialogue with western trappings in death valley



ella rains plays a tough cowgirl, randolph scott his no-nonsense self, arthur kennedy as a very young punk and josh white, folk singer and civil rights activist



the plot suffers from unwieldy flashback structure - there's just too much story here. but it's a lot of fun

[wba]

Watched ECHO IN THE MOUNTAINS (1959) by the genius that was Masahiro Makino. My 4th Makino and it was excellent!