Last Watched

[St. Gloede]

I'm not sure if one is actually in development, but they have been releasing incredible restorations of each of his earlier films, so it is bound to happen over the next few years.

[greennui]

Atarrabi & Mikelats (Eugène Green, 2020) - I just loved everything about this one.

[rischka]

so...confirming karl's review this is green's best work in awhile? to mask or not to mask, that is the question

those...err...creatures look intriguing for sure

[greennui]

so...confirming karl's review this is green's best work in awhile? to mask or not to mask, that is the question

those...err...creatures look intriguing for sure

I've only seen one Green before (Le Pont des Arts) so I can't say. I liked this one more than that one though, I think, but then I'm a massive sucker for this kind of aesthetics/mythology.

[rischka]

greennui u need to watch le monde vivant

[sally]

i am absolutely sure i will love this just as soon as i manage to forget that he is a repulsive covidiot

[greennui]

greennui u need to watch le monde vivant

That one def skyrocket on the priority list.

Imagine making a film in the Basque country, in the Basque language, based on Basque mythology and then premiering it at the local film festival, only to be kicked out of your own premiere for refusing to wear a mask after being asked politely five times. Sorry Sally, I realize I'm not helping.

[---]

omg the britney doc is so good

#freebritney

[pabs]

The Assistant (Green, 2019)

The loneliness, helplessness and abuse suffered by an overworked entry-level female worker in a film production company's office. And then there's her powerlessness when she goes to HR to try to protect another vulnerable female, a hopeful young actress from the sticks, whom the boss has brought over and put up in a swanky hotel for a few days. Wow, this is intense stuff. You wonder if this poor assistant's wanting to get into the film industry's worth all the sexism, torture, humiliation and insults she constantly endures. I don't think it is.

8/10

[thoxans]

alice doesn't live here anymore (martin scorsese) depending on whether that was a sad happy ending, or a happy sad ending, this was either really disappointing, or really good...? if sad happy, then unfortunately the entire purpose of the movie gets upended with that one fateful decision; but if happy sad, then it's pretty devastating that the protag's undying optimism (which kept her and her son afloat throughout the course of the narrative) is the trait that enables her downfall into yet another toxic relationship. based on the sirkian credit sequence, and opening few minutes of the protag's childhood (idealized-to-the-point-of-unreality), i'm thinking (or hoping) it's the latter; that this is one of those '70s flicks opining the dark underbelly of the merely surface-level romanticism of the preceding decades... but damn, it's left ambiguous enough that a case for the sad happy ending can certainly be made

[Roscoe]

alice doesn't live here anymore (martin scorsese) depending on whether that was a sad happy ending, or a happy sad ending, this was either really disappointing, or really good...? if sad happy, then unfortunately the entire purpose of the movie gets upended with that one fateful decision; but if happy sad, then it's pretty devastating that the protag's undying optimism (which kept her and her son afloat throughout the course of the narrative) is the trait that enables her downfall into yet another toxic relationship.

Sorry, not remembering any suggestion at all that the relationship she's entering into at film's end is toxic in any way, which might be a problem in itself in that Kristofferson is just a little too good to be true.

[thoxans]

toxic [...] Kristofferson is just a little too good to be true

i mean...

Spoiler!

he does hit her kid after like only a few dates. personally, i wait until a few months into a relationship before i start slapping around my single mom gf's children. it's just common courtesy

but yeah, kk def came in out of nowhere, and within two secs of meeting burstyn he's burning a serious hole in her soul with his come fuck me eyes, like dude whoa slow it down a bit

[thoxans]

does the spoiler tag not work for anyone else, or is it just me...?

[thoxans]

oh well @roscoe if you quote my post, you'll see what's behind the spoiler tag

[St. Gloede]

Spoiler tags are very hit and miss here, no idea why. This one in particular is not working for me.

[Roscoe]

I think the movie wants us to be on KK's side when it comes to hitting the kid, who it seems is pretty clearly begging for it all dysfunctional kid-like. Doesn't excuse it, but I don't think Tommy's got too much to worry about from KK in terms of gratuitous physical abuse. Now Harvey Keitel's character, yeah...

[Roscoe]

BLESSED EVENT -- Roy Del Ruth's 1932 fast talking comedy, with the great Lee Tracy as a Walter Winchell parody out talking and out thinking all the lesser mortals around him, juggling assorted storylines and keeping them all in the air. When the energy flags it's because he's not onscreen. Vastly enjoyable. Check out Tracy acting out execution by electric chair for a gangster who's been trying to strong arm him. Not unusually for pre-Code works, the ending is more than a bit of a copout, but it's led up to so speedily and enjoyably that it's hard to care. And if you listen there's one little bit of profanity spoken aloud, during a slow fade to black and it comes from the last character you'd expect it to come from.

Enjoy. 10/10

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Anne of the Indies - A movie I noted through Rischka's love of it. Many thanks for the recommendation Rischka, I don't recall the last time I was this taken with a first viewing of a feature length film. At minimum, it's been months. A beautiful movie, and as delightful as fudge. I'll be sure to vote for it in our next BestOfAllTime poll.

[rischka]

hooray for lady pirates

https://twitter.com/rbgscfz/status/1361 ... 61873?s=20

british romance is so bressonian

[greennui]

Love at Sea (Guy Gilles, 1964) - Rewatched this one after a gorgeous new print became available. The FLAC audio couldn't be played on my television so I ended up watching it in silence, solely appreciating the visuals, and what visuals! The film is a bit of lyrical "mess". Gilles was 22 years old when he made this and in a way, his youth was both his strength and his weakness. It was made during the New Wave with cameos from several stars of the time yet it doesn't really feel like it's in the same universe. Perhaps it does feel a little like early Godard and Demy with unrepressed bisexual energy.


https://twitter.com/greennui_/status/13 ... 9415352324

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

unrepressed bisexual energy.


https://twitter.com/greennui_/status/13 ... 9415352324

Watchlisted!

[Roscoe]

LA ROUE -- the first two parts of Abel Gance's tale of family, passion, destiny and trains. The first four hours have moved along tastily enough. LA ROUE is, so far, about the family of Sisif, a railway engineer in France, who rescues an orphan from the wreckage of a particularly ugly train-wreck. He brings the little girl to his home, conveniently located in a plot of ground among the tracks, and places her tenderly in a small bed next to his son, whose mother had died bringing him into the world. Time passes, and they all get older, and some probably predictable tensions develop. Fascinating and less so in spots, this isn't Gance in full NAPOLEON mode, where every scene is a show-stopper and a dazzling display of awesome. LA ROUE is more of a domestic tragedy, or should I type Tragedy, or even TRAGEDY because it sure seems pre-ordained that nobody's going to end happily. It's good stuff so far.

Hoping to get to the remaining three hours in the coming few days.

[Roscoe]

Wrapped up LA ROUE, the last two parts. Some bothersome moments, the feeling that nothing takes five minutes if it can possibly take fifteen. A climactic moment becomes rather silly when the viewer realizes that a character has been in mortal danger, dangling by one hand over an abyss, for a really really long time, like those kids in the raft at the top of the waterfall in WET HOT SUMMER. It's still wrenching, though, and Gance is far too skilled for the thing to not work on some level. And the final chapter flirts with foolishness in places. It's all too prolonged to too little purpose, but it's hard not to be moved at the film's final moments, even if it becomes clear what's going to happen long before it finally does. It's rather uncomfortable feeling this many steps ahead of Gance.

Glad to have seen it, and to have the splendid Blu-Ray that I got from Amazon.fr.

[thoxans]

completed kitano's outrage trilogy; would rank as follows: 1. outrage beyond ; 2. outrage coda ; 3. outrage ; but overall, this was a poor man's (to's) election duo. had kitano taken the three separate films, and turned them into a single 3hr opus, it coulda been pretty grand. as individual films, it's interesting to see how they play off of one another, constantly counterbalancing the extremes from one to the next, i.e., outrage was 90% violence 10% story, beyond 10% violence 90% story, and coda falling somewhere in the middle

[rischka]

cottafavi's 100 horsemen (1964), not the best cottafavi i've seen but entertaining enough. the film has a light hearted, even humorous tone and wonderful colors -- right up until the final battle shot in stark B&W like it's from an entirely different film. there are no heroes or villains. i liked how whenever the moslems prayed the christians immediately started praying too. like a competition interesting score. the framing device of the painter was kinda silly imo

[Lencho of the Apes]

I wonder if there are any point-for-point comparisons to be made with Chahine's Saladin The Victorious (1966, just in time for the Egypt/Israeli war and he damn sure knew it). The dueling-prayermeets thing sounds a tad familiar.

[rischka]

I wonder if there are any point-for-point comparisons to be made with Chahine's Saladin The Victorious (1966, just in time for the Egypt/Israeli war and he damn sure knew it). The dueling-prayermeets thing sounds a tad familiar.

that's interesting, i have that film somewhere too. will have to watch

[Joks Trois]

Finally watched all Yang's films with A Confucian Confusion the last and found it really forgettable and disappointing, which is much the same experience I had with Mahjong. It just struck me as a try too hard comedy. Not really sure what he was up to with those two when the rest of his filmography seems to me to be of a much higher standard. Even That Day on the Beach is pretty decent considering it is his first film, though it has some rough edges narratively.

The Taiwenese New Wave directors are incredibly overrated, regardless of their merits. They have all made good to very good films, but there are few, if any, I would really throw down for. And my opinion of Hou is similar to Rivette's.

The Nun: early Rivette is very different from the other films of his I've seen. Interesting mix of traditional and modern ideas. Better than I expected, and the use of sound, while obviously influenced by Bresson, is quite extraodinary at times and really heightens the dramatic tension. 7.5/10.

I'm also halfway through Satantango. Arbelos blu-ray. Great so far. Second viewing.

Re: Anne of the Indies. Where does it rank in Tourneur's filmography? I've watched 10 of his films so far, and I've found his work outside of horror and noir to be very underwhelming. Haven't watched Stars yet, but I was extremely unimpressed with Witchita. In short, I don't really know where to head next after Stars and not sure if it's really worth the effort. I'm open to the idea that I'm wrong though of course.
'

[---]

Rewatching movies that it's been like 12 yrs. Interesting! I am having some wild reappraisals. It's not that I don't like the shit I liked them (tho if i were a betting man I'd guess The Wrestler and Mullholland Dr are going to be weaker on rewatch), it's that shit that was like "v interesting but didn't captivate me" captivates the freaking face of me. REALITY BITES. Fire. I think Gen X is underrated. Look, Gen X didn't so much, but they were the first generation to call all this bullshit for what it is. I know ppl did before, but they did AS a generation. That helped my generation demand shit be better. Hopefully the Zoomers will be the generation that makes it happen, we'll see. This is just my opinion as a millenial and it's rooted in nothing real

[thoxans]

Zoomers will be the generation that makes it happen

tiktok. nuff said. seriously though, mulholland dr. is still decent, but the wrastler is lame cuz, you know, aronofsky suxxx and everything...