Last Watched

[nrh]

i like borowczyk but he can definitely be a bit of an acquired taste. goto is good but it's a transitional work between his earlier animation stuff and the live action films, i think it's good but not a film i'm overly fond of.

the consensus boro pick around here i think is blanchce, a movie that's so sumptuous in its weird medieval details that it's easy to miss the almost sardonic remove. it doesn't have the exploitation charge of some of the later work (for that i'd recommend dallesandro and sylvia kristel in the margin, or udo kier in dr jekyll) , so i wouldn't call it representative, but if you don't like that one at all i'm not sure i'd see him clicking for you.

[Monsieur Arkadin]

I actually quite like De Palma even at his most schlocky, but Body Double has never made sense to me. I definitely dislike Bill Maher in the lead, I think Melanie Griffith seems out of place and the story is nonsensical in a really off-putting way (unlike Snake Eyes and Passion which are nonsensical in a fun way.)

I like Boro. But I don't have much to say about him other than his combination of earnest austerity with vulgarity that feels semi-Bunuelian, but distinct from that in a profound way.

[MrCarmady]

Hahah they do look so alike, never picked up on that. I thought Body Double was well shot and pretty fun but not nearly as good as Blow Out which explores very similar themes.

[greennui]

I'm fairly lukewarm on Borowczyk, seen a decent amount but he has yet to click for me. Immoral Tales probably being the film I liked the most.

I'll never warm to that creep De Palma though, that's one thing for sure though.

[thoxans]

funny. body double was the film that made me fall in love with de palma. don't think i've done such a drastic 180 on another flick before

@greennui i hate to mess up your 888 post count, but have you seen carlito's way? most romantic gangster movie ever!

[Curtis, baby]

Fuck Carlito we doing shit the Devil's son's way

[Joks Trois]

Roscoe: The idea that Cats is becoming the new cult/midnight film is worrying to me because it doesn't really have much personality. It's more the type of film where you wonder how it managed to get made the way it did, but that's it.

Carlito's Way is De Palma's best film to me. Certainly his most balanced in terms of having over the top elements but being extremely well made. I haven't rated him at all since Snake Eyes, and even that only has a few good scenes. He is pretty much a hack now.

[MrCarmady]

I liked Passion, it was silly but sexy and beautifully shot.

[thoxans]

since

i'm interested in passion and redacted. thought the black dahlia intriguing, if not totally successful. had a great ending (echoing dressed to kill). always find the self-reflective/reflexive circularity of his work fascinating, as hermetically sealed as that is. it'll be interesting to watch the rises and falls in his critical stock in the years to come

[Umbugbene]

Any admirers of Waleryan Borowczyk in the house?

Pretty sure WBA's our in-house Boro admirer.

[flip]

Any admirers of Waleryan Borowczyk in the house? A friend was enthusing, and pressed GOTO: ISLE OF LOVE on me, and I suspect it wasn't the place to start.

i used to be more interested in borowczyk than i am now, but there's a big shift in his work midway through his career, and goto is right around that demarcation point. i like the early films a lot more than the late ones. i've seen seventeen of them (a lot of those are shorts) but even though goto is one of his best-known, it's not one i've seen, so i can't compare it to the rest.

i don't know your tastes all that well, but from what i do know, borowczyk is not a director it would occur to me to recommend to you.

[Roscoe]

Many thanks for the Borowczyk words -- BLANCHE is next on the agenda, it looks like, and I'll check out his animations as well.

JOKS -- I suspect the CATS cult is a marketing creation, once the realized they had a stinker they did whatever they could to squeeze a few more bucks out of it. I can't imagine anyone enduring it more than once, but there's lots of things I can't imagine going on lately.

With DePalma, I'll stick my neck out for PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE. A revisit to OBSESSION a couple years back opened my eyes to how mediocre it really is, which was a step up, believe me.

[greennui]

@greennui i hate to mess up your 888 post count, but have you seen carlito's way? most romantic gangster movie ever!

Nah, Scarface put me off from watching another AP/BDP collaboration. Just the 111 posts left until I get a shiny play button like flip and rischka!

[kanafani]

Funny, I watched The Black Dahlia last week. Can't say I liked it. Kind of a hot mess. Josh Hartnett... Such a flat actor, just terrible.
I haven't seen Carlito's Way in ages but I do think it is his best. I love Passion and Femme Fatale as well.

[Joks Trois]

JOKS -- I suspect the CATS cult is a marketing creation, once the realized they had a stinker they did whatever they could to squeeze a few more bucks out of it. I can't imagine anyone enduring it more than once, but there's lots of things I can't imagine going on lately.

I've considered that too, and I suspect there is something to it. The reputation of 'cult' films tends to grow more 'organically' over time. No doubt the internet speeds that process up, but not to the extent that a film achieves that status almost immediately after its theatrical release.

With DePalma, I'll stick my neck out for PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE. A revisit to OBSESSION a couple years back opened my eyes to how mediocre it really is, which was a step up, believe me.

I don't rate Obsession, but Phantom is damn good. I much prefer it to Rocky Horror.

KIDS: Didn't like it much in the mid 90's, and my impression of it hasn't really changed. Korine's script wasn't good, but Clark did an okay job with it. It helped launch a few careers, so it is not without interest. 5.5/10.

[Curtis, baby]

Love You to Death - lifetime movie

This was fucking depressing. I can't believe this is true. I just want to cry. Fuck spoiling the movie, everyone please google Gypsy Rose Blanchard and consider writing a letter to the governor of the shithole state of Missouri. I worked for the Innocence Project in KCMO, and that state is seriously fucked and public pressure is one way to fight against this

I'm seriously so fucking depressed after watching this movie

Everyone has to take care of everyone. Unless they're fascists, then just kill them obvs

[Joks Trois]

Eureka: Can we stop pretending that Roeg was a great director? Thanks. In its first 15 minutes, it works as a kind of narcotic drug addled McCabe and Mrs Miller, then it devolves into a dull, stilted and completely dated period drama with no visual compensations. When Roeg wasn't misapplying his style to unsuitable content, he was boring me to death. This is easily the most boring film I've seen of his to date. It also demonstrates how pathetic he generally was at directing actors. He couldn't even get a decent performance out of Hackman, and Russell and Hauer are simply woeful. 3/10

[Roscoe]

AMERICAN UTOPIA -- Spike Lee's video of David Byrne's greatest hits concert, and it's no STOP MAKING SENSE. The show itself sounds great, no question, and I wish that Spike Lee had let me get a better idea of what is going on on that stage -- Lee's camera is all over the place, and I'm deeply disappointed but not surprised that he continues the abominable tradition of shooting his performers from behind at every opportunity, and he makes good god-damned sure he gets his money's worth out of the camera he had mounted in the rafters, and the very careful (maybe too careful in places) staging tends to get lost in the shuffle. Still the good stuff works well enough, with the real highlight being a Janelle Monaie song proclaiming the names of victims of violence.

[rischka]

Love You to Death - lifetime movie

This was fucking depressing. I can't believe this is true. I just want to cry. Fuck spoiling the movie, everyone please google Gypsy Rose Blanchard and consider writing a letter to the governor of the shithole state of Missouri. I worked for the Innocence Project in KCMO, and that state is seriously fucked and public pressure is one way to fight against this

I'm seriously so fucking depressed after watching this movie

Everyone has to take care of everyone. Unless they're fascists, then just kill them obvs

i just googled gypsy rose blanchard and omg. ty for your work with Innocence Project bure!

honestly i want to kill that bitch myself (and i am a pacifist)

[rischka]

finally watched starman. not scary enough for the halloween thread. riding the wave of friendly aliens mid-80s but one of the better ones



i love jeff bridges' bird head

[greennui]

Karen Allen's soulful performance was my highlight of that film.

[rischka]

yeah i love her, she is in far too few films. looks like she mostly does tv now

[Silga]

For everyone who wants to watch a new film with Karen Allen, I recommend Colewell (2019), about a rural postal worker who finds out about her post office getting closed. It's a swift 79 minutes character study, but Karen Allen really makes it work.

With everything that goes around the USPS these days, it is a very fitting film about the topic.

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


It could appear in The Place if anyone wants to.

[pabs]

I just read that Jeff Bridges is being treated for lymphoma.

[St. Gloede]

West Indies (1979, Med Hondo)



A political stage theatre, musical, satire and history lesson all in one: Covering hundreds of years of colonialist, slavery, exploitation and disenfranchisement.

Now this is a Hondo closer to his roots in O Soleil, and what an incredible, mad and beautiful film!

To talk about West Indies, we need to talk about the minimalist setting, and extraordinary scope. Almost every scene is set, fittingly enough, one a stage made to look like a large ship - used both as the transportation of slaves - and as the actual unnamed island home of our study. The black people, with the exception of those set forth to lead them, are always in the bay - that is their home - above them, the higher deck, is the place of parties, elites and rigged elections - and one step higher - that of the 5 people truly ruling the island - in France's stead.

Above them: France's slogen: "Liberty. Equality. Fraternity" - and as we move through the ages, the slogan changes.



We are also fitted to our secondary setting, which is also where our film opens with our 5 elites - the captain's lounge - a throne room with 5 chairs. Their faces remain the same, even as the trail through history - and see them put their "plan" into action.

Their plan: cheap labour - and, well, power. (Not to mention the complete displacement of the entire people).

Slavery, or low paid workers, it makes no difference - and as the film intercuts slave transportation with immigration - and the plot moves to have more and more French take over the island - it truly is a look at how history rhymes - not to mention the complacency and complicity for those allowed to join in the ride.



But what sets West Indies further apart is their dance numbers, and songs - playing into the seduction of France and Paris - the submission and happiness of "assimilation" for those on top - and songs of struggle and freedom of the people.

It even manages to take snipes at petty white revolutionaries, either propagating xenophobia themselves or uttering empty phrases without care and insight.

And "pretty speeches", lies, deceit and complicity is a theme throughout; no one is really spared - though the film's message is clear: take power into your hands and free yourself.



What is truly striking, beyond the scope and message - is how Hondo managed to craft it all, not just within the allegory of a slave ship, but within a literal ship - and the incredible way he plays with form and setting. Decades before Dogville, he allowed us to suspend our disbelief, and see and understand the boat to be any setting - and the choreography and songs simply feel at home in the visual and formatic landscape he created. The humour, the emotion and the al-together experience becomes something more than real life - and it is through this overt performance of history, that the nature of this reality - past and present - as Hondo sees it - can fully be expressed.

9/10.

[Roscoe]

Watched SIGN OF THE CROSS again, to check out the new Blu-Ray, and all the gorgeous restoration doesn't disguise what an ugly movie it is too. Handsomely mounted with some remarkably fluid camerawork, and a master class in high camp outlandishness from Charles Laughton as Nero, while Fredric March never looked so uncomfortable in his entire career. Overflowing with self-pity and self-righteousness, with a bunch of decadent Romans who are having a hell of a good time while the poor Christians do nothing but suffer because that's what being a Christian is all about, it seems. De Mille lays on the sexualized torture for the ladies, while the men have to fight for their lives in the Grand Guignol Coliseum finale. It's 1932 Torture Porn. There's some good fun to be had in watching the old-fashioned pre-codeness of it all, but it starts to feel rather icky by film's end. There's never for a moment any idea given of why anybody would want to belong to a club whose membership rewards result only in an ugly death by crocodile, man in gorilla suit, or pissed-off lions.

[St. Gloede]

This looks like the perfect way to sell DeMille to people who do not like DeMille.

Nicely done, Roscoe.

[Lencho of the Apes]

Acorazado/Battleship - Alvaro Curiel (Mex., 2010)

Stroszek-lite.

3 aco.JPG (65.92 KiB) Viewed 2538 times

[Roscoe]

This looks like the perfect way to sell DeMille to people who do not like DeMille.

Nicely done, Roscoe.

Well, there's something unsavory about SIGN OF THE CROSS that's hard to pin down, as opposed to the much more amusing CLEOPATRA or KING OF KINGS or the sound version of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. It's a fascinating watch.

[Roscoe]

Borowczyk Update -- I watched BLANCHE, and found it visually arresting but uninvolving. I'll look into his short films next. Many thanks for the words, all.