SCFZ

I'm home sick today and the Beyonce movie is a perfect pick-me-up

kanafani wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:40 am I found Let the Sunshine In disappointingly bland, forgettable and not up to the crisp Denis standards, so kind of nervous for that one, but I will most definitely watch it.

I felt the same about Let the Sunshine In. High Life was anything but bland. I really liked it.

john ryan wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:32 am

kanafani wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:40 am I found Let the Sunshine In disappointingly bland, forgettable and not up to the crisp Denis standards, so kind of nervous for that one, but I will most definitely watch it.

I felt the same about Let the Sunshine In. High Life was anything but bland. I really liked it.

That is good to hear!

In anticipation of watching Points and Lines for the 1958 poll, I wanted to check out another Tsuneo Kobayashi film to get a frame of reference for his work. I watched one of his films from the previous year, The Deep Blue Sea (1957), a very good film that shifts between melodrama, musical, and crime drama, all set within a seaport town and centered on Hibari Misora and Ken Takakura as respective bar hostess and sailor. There's lots of skillfully composed wide-angle shots that make exemplary use of the cinemascope width and its opportunity to elongate the depth of the frame in accentuating distance between characters.




There’s also an inventiveness to the staging, both in how the actors are blocked and how dramatic moments are handled in unexpected ways. For instance during a scene where a character sings wistfully about Hibari, Kobayashi cuts to his shadow on the ground and we see his shadow dancing with hers even though he’s alone in the park.




Even more routine sequences are given a little flair, such as this bit below where the characters go to various people trying to get a boat only to be rejected each time. The camera pans right and left while dissolving to each sequential location (no sound in the clip).
https://streamable.com/3069h

Le mura di Malapaga / The Walls of Malapaga (1949, René Clément)

my lb review:
Great movie, though not quite on the level of his previous work, Les maudits. Fascinating angles, great use of shadows as a form of narrative. This film is like a cross between the Italian neorealism of De Sica and the cool, murky post-war world of Melville. Clément is able to create lively little spaces within one small section of Genoa; within the fences of a city, the walls of a house, and the subterranean alcove of a restaurant. The only person who draws true sympathy from the viewer is Marta (Isa Miranda), who can't seem to attain what she most desires. A very good film that with a quality restoration could become a favorite. Clément doesn't get the credit he deserves as an auteur - yet.

Just finished Harry Dean Stanton's last film Lucky. It's essential viewing. Better still David Lynch is in it too and the man can act.

https://youtu.be/2KLLkj84GAo

I followed it up with Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction. It's a 2014 documentary which turned out to be a good double with Lucky, because through watching it I discovered that parts of Lucky were autobiographical. Both films are on Google Play.

The Notebook

I have should have never started dating.

i've been watching some interesting films for DtC -- it's a bit of nazi propaganda but the co german/US production Der verlorene Sohn (luis trenker 1934) has some great scenes of depression era new york

https://twitter.com/rbgscfz/status/1121920001185701888

as well as weird pagan/christian bavarian solstice festival

https://twitter.com/rbgscfz/status/1122115609855057920

there's a bergfilm aspect too, like all of trenker's films i think. he was the writer/director/star and was a climber himself. mainly historical interest but it's a well made film. sorry for linking twitter but it's easier than uploading all these pics

rischka wrote: ↑Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:50 pm upload

It's on one of the popular blogs.

ahh good. thx l

CHINATOWN 5/10 -- the magic resolutely refuses to happen for me with this film, but I'll cop to really appreciating Faye Dunaway's performance this time out. Nicholson doesn't convince me for a single 24th of a second here.

^^Love Chinatown.


Mary Poppins Returns: Actually watched this last weekend, but I'm posting a review about it because it was surprisingly enjoyable. It obviously doesn't top the original, but it pays affectionate and loving tribute to it. Blunt is fine as Poppins, and the blend of animation and live action is damn impressive. The songs are good, if not especially memorable, and Dick Van Dyke has a heart warming cameo. It's a very retro film that tries to recapture the old Disney magic with new technology. Obviously it isn't entirely successful, but it comes closer than most of their recent live action attempts, possibly because it doesn't stray too far from the original template aside from a blockbuster style set piece in the final act that seems a tad incongruous; but even that is probably closer in spirit to films like Hugo than to your typical contemporary blockbuster.

Having said all that, it can't escape the feeling of being in the shadow of the original. It's like a classic band reuniting decades later without any of the original members. They look and sound good, but something is inevitably missing, no matter how pleasurable the experience is.

I'd probably give it a 6.5/10.

john ryan wrote: ↑Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:32 am

kanafani wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:40 am I found Let the Sunshine In disappointingly bland, forgettable and not up to the crisp Denis standards, so kind of nervous for that one, but I will most definitely watch it.

I felt the same about Let the Sunshine In. High Life was anything but bland. I really liked it.

I loved it too. In hindsight, it seems logical that Denis' cold filmmaking is perfectly suited to sci-fi. Having said that, it's one of her most sensuous films. What an ending!

Just finished La Flor. Extraordinary storytelling in part 1~2 but part 3 is a bit of fallout;(

n The Mood For Love - Wong Kar-wai (2000)

TSPDT has it ranked as the number one film of this century. I disagree. But maybe I wasn't in the mood.

of course, it's not the number one film of this century. first of all, that's goofy af. second of all, we're not even two decades into the century yet. third of all, i like itmfl. i think it gets roundly shit upon by some folks cuz they're now too kool to like some overly popular flick with a criterion spine number (not saying that's the case with you). poor wong. he made some movies that peeps liked too much to begin with, and now too many peeps dislike him just as much, as if he did something wrong

happy together til the end of days

leslie cheung 5ever. also, the sequence with the home video of the crazy dude's dad in fallen angels, teardrop. genuinely good stuff

thoxans wrote: ↑Thu May 09, 2019 1:20 am of course, it's not the number one film of this century. first of all, that's goofy af. second of all, we're not even two decades into the century yet. third of all, i like itmfl. i think it gets roundly shit upon by some folks cuz they're now too kool to like some overly popular flick with a criterion spine number (not saying that's the case with you). poor wong. he made some movies that peeps liked too much to begin with, and now too many peeps dislike him just as much, as if he did something wrong

TSPDT also has it ranked as the 44th best film of ALL TIME.

To be fair I knew going in that it wasn't my type of film but because it often comes up in best of the 21st Century lists I felt it was remiss of me as a fan of cinema not to have seen it. I was also mindful of not trying to weigh it down with too much expectation. But that said I find it baffling that anyone could put it as the number film of this century or even in the top 100 of all time. If I'd gone in with no prior knowledge I would've thought it was good but I wouldn''t be gushing about it. Anyway, I'm glad I finally got around to checking it out.

saw mekas' AIWMA on 16mm. fucking incredible

mekas is one of 2 directors (the other is godard) to have directed one of my t100 features and one of my t20 shorts. fucking double-threat

The Mood For Love - Wong Kar-wai

Fuckin love it unconditionally. I don't care if people no longer think it's cool to like Wong. Any of a few of his films could be my desert island film. Chungking Express, Happy Together, Fallen Angels, Days of Being Wild, even 2046 and The Grandmaster -- all wonderful!

I've only seen Chungking Express and The Grandmaster. I absolutely loved both films. I've got plans to watch more Wong this year.

When SCFZ held a Best Films of the 21st Century poll in 2016 In the Mood for Love came in at number seventeen.

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... scfz-poll/

john ryan wrote: ↑Thu May 09, 2019 4:54 pm

The Mood For Love - Wong Kar-wai

Fuckin love it unconditionally. I don't care if people no longer think it's cool to like Wong. Any of a few of his films could be my desert island film. Chungking Express, Happy Together, Fallen Angels, Days of Being Wild, even 2046 and The Grandmaster -- all wonderful!

I tried watching Days of Being Wild and didn't finish it.

Fallen Angels is real fire, 5/5 from cha boy. Happy Together also explosively hot.



Bang bang!

It's been eons since I last watched a Wong so it's really good to be reminded. I've seen all his biggies except for Grandmaster and Days of Being Wild. I either hadn't heard of Grandmaster, or I'd completely forgotten it might have been in my many director to-see lists all those years ago. I'm excited to see it now. Maybe I'll catch it over the weekend. Also going to give Happy Together a second look/chance at some point. I remember finding it tedious and not liking its characters at all, but that's maybe down to the mood I was in when I watched it.

My Wongs:

1. Chungking
2. In The Mood
3. Fallen Angels
4. 2046
5. The Hand (Eros Anthology)

Thunder Road, D Jim Cummings. (2018)

Just saw it at the cinema. Great little indy film. Cummings directed, wrote and starred in it. Looking forward to seeing what he does next.