SCFZ

finally watched bernie and it was pretty good! if you have a high tolerance for jack black. esp enjoyed cameos by real life townspeople

was surprised to read the film led to the real bernie's release after 16 years behind bars on condition he live with the director!

https://www.texastribune.org/2014/05/09 ... s-freedom/

sadly two years later a new sentencing trial sent bernie back to prison for 99 to life. this is about the most texas thing ever

honestly though he probably deserved it

LYDIA (Reto Andrea Savoldelli, 1968)
https://letterboxd.com/film/lydia-1968/


A border area between Bohemia and Bavaria is covered with a forest we Bohemians call Šumava and Bavarians call Bohemian forest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Forest
In Northern Bohemia, there is an area we Bohemians call Bohemian Switzerland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Switzerland
The departing point of the film LYDIA is supposed to be a "wood of Bohemia" near the municipality of Bettlach, Switzerland.
However, this Bohemian forest in Switzerland seems completely fictional (as opposed to Bohemian forest in Bavaria or Bohemian Switzerland).
And unreal is also the city of Soho, where the main hero (played by the director himself) is heading (in his rural-to-urban road trip).
This motive of a somewhat daft character making a pilgrimage — and looking at the contemporary urban life with somewhat passé (or timeless) rural (or hippie) eyes — is repeated (and made even more explicit) in Reto Andrea Savoldelli's other film called STELLA DA FALLA (1972) which i watched before and mentioned in my prior post in this thread.
Despite the main hero intends to "collect poisonous mushrooms along the way" (on his trip from the woods of Bohemian to the city of Soho) LYDIA is an experimental film devoid of hippie clichés (which occasionally occur in STELLA DA FALLA).

I remember an early-sixties movie about that area, war veteran reassigned to track down gun smugglers coming through the forest...

Maybe you mean KING OF THE ŠUMAVA...
https://letterboxd.com/film/king-of-the-sumava/
The iron curtain was running through Šumava (or the Bohemian Forest) and thus many items (mainly people — people desiring to live in the West) were smuggled through its moorlands.

jiri kino ovalis wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 2:24 am In Northern Bohemia, there is an area we Bohemians call Bohemian Switzerland.

I love how people in that part of the world call the hilliest part of their area their own "Switzerland". Sächsische Schweiz is another. Imagine if people did that around the world... the Black Hills would be "South Dakotan Switzerland", the Eastern Rift would be "African Switzerland", the Himalayas would be "Asian Switzerland", etc. I wonder if Tirol would like to be called "Austrian Switzerland"?

Umbugbene wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 3:29 am Imagine if people did that around the world...

This had me rolling.

I mean Lithuania doesn't have a single mountain, but everywhere you go, if there is a hill someplace, people always say that this is like our Switzerland.

And there is actually a Switzerland (Šveicarija in Lithuanian) Forest Park in Vilnius. And it's just a few steep hills.

!

Umbugbene wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 3:29 am Sächsische Schweiz

actually, (i said Bohemian Switzerland but) we rather call it Bohemian-Saxon Switzerland (Českosaské Švýcarsko) than just plain Bohemian Switzerland (more usual here is to refer to the whole area — on both sides of the Bohemian-Saxon border).

Umbugbene wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 3:29 am the hilliest

however, our hilliest (our Himalayas) are Krkonoše, the abode of Krakonoš (Rüberzahl)!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCbezahl



however, Rüberzahl is also a resident of Tyrol...
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0007279/
https://youtu.be/18dPJMGkdFs

and btw. (Americans here might be interested to know) the poshest ski resort in Krkonoše is Špindlerův Mlýn which is colloquially called "Bohemian Aspen".

i've heard that in some parts of europe the mike judge tv show "king of the hill" is actually called "king of schweiz"

and btw. in Bohemia we have also our "Grand Canyon" which is (not colloquially but) officially called "Big America"...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velk%C3%A1_Amerika

Velká Amerika (Big America, Czech Grand Canyon) is a partly flooded, abandoned limestone quarry in the Central Bohemian Region

that's the place we usually shoot our "red westerns".
and next to Big America is another quarry (smaller one) which is (not colloquially but) officially called "Mexico".

and last but not least, i was born in East Bohemian small town Litomyšl and a place of the same name is also in Minnesota...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litomysl,_Minnesota
the world is a mirage (a mirror hall)!

I'm Thanking of Anding Thangs

Wow. Harrowing. I'm gonna go lie down and wish I'd never been born

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Bill Ross IV/Turner Ross, 2020) - The fact that I haven't set foot in a bar since the pandemic began made this even more lovelier and poignant. Merry Xmas ya'll.

i decide to finally watch 36th Chamber, on xmas, and the main dude is given the buddhist name..... "san ta"??

o________________0

YESTERDAY i watched No Name on the Bullet, and it was amazing, and you're all wrong, even Jerry, who gave it 4.5 stars, no, wrongo, it's actually the best western ever

if they weren't so widely seen i might do a theme for the cup called "Me and My Girlfriend" about bros who ain't got shit but their gun: No Name on the Bullet, The Gunfighter, i dunno probably others

TOBY DAMMIT -- cleaned up and restored in that Criterion ESSENTIAL FELLINI box, relegated to mere "Extra" status alas, alas because it deserves better. Probably Fellini's grimmest work, and no less entertaining for all the bitter bitterness of the enterprise. That demented Ferrari trip is really something.

Cronenberg's CRASH, in the new 4K UHD disc thing, and very handsome indeed. A few moments are too on the nose (we're given the main character's name and profession in almost comically blatant exposition) but the best skin-crawling moments are all still effective. A shame that even the master of the unshowable David Cronenberg is as grossed out by male homosexual activity as any other major breeder filmmaker -- he's even more skittish than Luca Guadignino in that regard. Whatever. The tasty cool vibe of the proceedings is most seductive.

O que arde / Fire will come (2019, Oliver Laxe)



Fire Will Come does not open with fire, but rather harrowing, hypnotic destruction - as trees fall - seemingly by mystical forces - in the midst of night. We see them lifted up, we see the forest torn apart - while what can only be described as a bass sending us further into a uneasy trance.

Then: hands - a document being sent from person to person - no faces shown: an arsonist will be released - and his face - alone, in a bus, going down the highway, is the first face we see - though even here we drift - following his gaze at the apparent nothingness outside - all accompanied by classical music.

Fire Will Come - a forewarning akin to There Will Be Blood - makes it clear where this will all end. This foreboding tension - the knowledge that fire will come, makes the understated scenes of aging mother and son, as well as the slow scenes of daily chores and herdics cows in the galican countryside eerie, and adds a more intense bite to the soft melancholy as we attempt to read anything into Almador's muted expression.


I could also give a few negatives, though as they will border on spoilers I'll abstain beyond wanting the fire - when it does come - to be even more mystifying - but this is a thoroughly wonderful film and one of the best of 2019.

I also really wanted to highlight two Cuban films I saw recently:

El Otro Francisco / The Other Francisco (1974, Sergio Giral)



The Other Francisco is not just an adaptation of a famous "anti-slavery" book from the colonial era, it is a dissection of its realism, the true nature of slavery, the intentions of the author and the society/culture he was writing within and for.

In this aim we are shown both the story he wrote - starting with its ending - his presentation of it - and then a more linear adaptation - that at pivotal moments reflects or presents an alternative - or even cuts back to the author himself and what words he used to describe his creation and inspiration - as well as real events of the time, and after.

This makes it an essay film above all else, and one of the films within the genre closest to fiction. I have a particular affinity for this style, as it encourages introspection and thought throughout - and creates a critical glance at the presentation of one slave, Francisco - with a simultaneous though of "the other Francisco", that is, a Francisco that could really have existed - along with a dissection of the bourgeois middle classes with an aim to simply be "nicer" to their slaves. 

Unfortunately, the current print is in dire need of restoration, but it is still clearly a raw and well-made film: it is just harder to give it full marks on aesthetics - however - with the intelligent and challenging deconstruction the visceral function is still well served - that is you are already reflecting on what you are shown - the images in themselves are not the most important - and they are still effective and often: brutal.


Hotel Nueva Isla (2014, Irene Gutiérrez Torres, Javier Labrador Deulofeu)



If you want to be engrossed in a contemplative and beautifully cinematic documentary that could honestly have been a drama by Costa or Tsai, do give Hotel Nueva Isla a viewing. This is a film that really showcases just how much you can communicate about a life with minimal dialogue, and no interviews. We follow an elderly man as he searches for treasure and contemplates renovating/selling a completely broken down hotel: of which he is the last resident.

Along with his sole regular companion, a dog, he walks the corridor and rips off/digs into walls and any other potential hiding spots - often with beautiful views from or of the ruins. Clocking in at a mere 70 minutes you are drawn into his life and quest - and the few conversations he has with visitors give a great outline of his personality, life, flaws and hopes. It also draws a picture of poverty in the ruins of luxury, and lets you feel the hotel - as well as our leads quest. Absolutely beautiful!

THE TOWN -- Affleck's cops and robbers thriller has a few too many holes in the story, and settles for a few too many cheap resolutions -- that ending, my fucking god. The performances are very good overall, and the heist scenes are suitably tense. It winds up being less than the sum of its parts.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Hitter, 2020)

Slice-of-life tale of a 17 year old girl from Pennsylvania who can't get a legal abortion in her state without written consent from her parents, so she's forced to catch a bus to New York. Powerful, simple story well-told with excellent acting. So real. It's pure, unsentimental, straight-talking social commentary as good as any by the Dardenne brothers.

7.5/10

i watched red salute from 1935. stanwyck is in love with a commie but her dad the general doesn't approve. after a lot of shenanigans she hooks up with red blooded soldier boy robert young, who manages to convert the commies with stories about the flag. this after his telling her repeatedly she should be shot and much complaining from the brass about 'abuse' of free speech. also turns out her commie bf, with no trace of an accent, is here on a 'student' visa to corrupt our youth! soldier boy to the rescue, starting a riot that gets the commie deported. now get back in the kitchen and stop having opinions barbara. it's the american way

The first film I saw this year was in a cinema on the 1/1/21 and it was fucking excellent!

Nomadland (Zhao, 2020)

Frances McDormand was sublime, as was what I believe was a mostly non-professional cast. I loved it from start to finish. A moving portrait of people living on the edges of what's left of these capitalist labour-camps we call "free economies". Heartbreakingly bleak. I rarely give films an 8.

8.5/10

I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being the best film I saw in 2021.

Well it's good to see that Zhao's putting that newfound Eternals clout to good use. The Eternals might be the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie I'm actually slightly excited to see just in hopes Zhao is able to sneak some of her more usual interests into a superhero film, albeit an odd one as Kirby's Eternals are a different sort of thing than Iron and Ant Men.

THE SCARLET EMPRESS -- von Sternberg's grand fantasia on Catherine The Great, an orgy of art direction and cinematography and design. It's outlandish, and I dig it more with each viewing.

It’s only January 7th, but I’ve already seen my first masterpiece of 2021: Jacques feyder’s la Kermesse heroique, an absolute delight, and every bit as good as anything Renoir was doing around the same time.

still watching the pirate it's an eyeful

fear city (abel ferrara) clunky, sure, but it still brings enough of that ferrara grittiness to make it more than serviceable. while berenger doesn't make a convincing italian in the slightest, he does rock a mean jheri curl, and wears leather jackets like a champ. most interesting though was the gradual shift from the sensual dance of the girls in the strip clubs to the gritty 'dance' of two guys beating the shit out of each other in an alleyway. also, '80s nyc is da best nyc. double bill with body double, if you wanna crush hard on pre-plastic surgery melanie griffith

the host (bong joon-ho) hmmm. pretty sure this could be wildly misinterpreted in this our pandemic age. still decent though, despite the pacing issues, social commentary padding, and overreliance on slowmo

I was really impressed by The Host pulling off some drastic tonal shifts, especially the slapstick in the warehouse survivors scene after the monster's first attack. Would be a fun flick to watch in the cinema. The ones he made either side of it are better, though, as is Snowpiercer.

forever reason watched mike flanagan's shining sequel doctor sleep (in the 3 hour director's cut) and it is a very strange movie. king famously hated kubrick's movie and i can't imagine reclaiming one of his favorite of his own books wasn't part of the reason he wrote a sequel; based on everything i've read about the doctor sleep book it seems to be pushing elements of king's original novel that kubrick's film doesn't seem interested in at all.

which makes it weird that flanagan decides to make it both an adaptation of king's book and a direct sequel to the kubrick film in the most 2010s ip franchising way possible - casting a shelly duval lookalike as ewan mcgregor's mom in flashbacks, recreating specific shots and design choices from the 1980 film, most distractingly casting a guy who sort of looks like jack nicholson but not really he just has the same hairline as jack torrance's ghost.

on a narrative level you can just have the danny torrance/ewan mcgregor character say "when i was a kid my dad tried to kill me because of ghosts and it sort of fucked me up for awhile" and everything would work alright. i'm not the biggest flanagan fan but he is clearly trying to make a real movie here; this isn't disney putting cgi actors into the stars wars side sequels, but something about the slavishness of the visual references makes it feel that way. even the shameless early '00s attempt at redoing red dragon to fit the silence of the lambs ip didn't have this kind of slavish devotion.

i kind of enjoyed the movie though. it's a 3 hr long, incredibly earnest genre film that often plays like an off-brand 1980s new mutants comic book arc than a horror movie. the beginning and ending are rough but the middle is works. cast is great, music sucks. movie totally bombed, which only makes sense; it's mildly funny and totally indicative of the reasoning behind this whole project that the studio already commissioned another sequel script before it even released, thinking i guess they'd have some shining based movie franchise for years to come?