Heh. Not that anyone cares, but I'm Danish, so: 'Fart' means 'speed', alternatively 'vitality' or 'life.' The original bit of the mistranslated 'has fart and Fart over' reads: 'har faaet Fart" - which when properly translated approx. means 'have given life to.' Google translate doesn't know how to translate the second 'fart' it because it's with a capital F, but somehow manages to translate 'faaet' to 'fart', which can only be explained as a nearly inexplicable computer-move. So, the sentence basically becomes 'the director has managed to infuse a certain speed and vitality into the situations...' If this is true, I can only doubt.
Did I mention I offer Danish lessons? heh.
Last Watched
-
Joks Trois
- Posts: 361
- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:51 am
^^We always care, but the two greatest things to come from Denmark = Dreyer and King Diamond 
The Other Side of The Wind: It is a fascinating mess, just like I expected. Was very surprised at the nudity and eroticism, especially given Welles' generally negative opinion of that stuff, but I guess that's the point, although Oja's constant nudity seemed gratuitous, regardless of intent. Some of the acting is bad. Bogo has no business whatsoever being in front of a camera. Difficult to assign a rating, but I definitely don't think it's any kind of masterpiece. N/A (for now).
Morgiana: Very cool little gothic horror fairy tale by Jerz. Perhaps he could have flipped these tropes more creatively, but he was apparently restricted by the producers. It is a visually arresting film though full of great shots and a disorienting use of fish eye lens. The main actress playing both sisters (good and 'evil') is excellent. The fact that one is considered beautiful while the other is considered not despite them not looking that much different is probably a commentary on female beauty and the perceptions and consequences of it. It dragged at times, but the overwrought vibe worked for me. Loved the hysteria. Also appreciated the dark irony of the ending too. 7/10
The Other Side of The Wind: It is a fascinating mess, just like I expected. Was very surprised at the nudity and eroticism, especially given Welles' generally negative opinion of that stuff, but I guess that's the point, although Oja's constant nudity seemed gratuitous, regardless of intent. Some of the acting is bad. Bogo has no business whatsoever being in front of a camera. Difficult to assign a rating, but I definitely don't think it's any kind of masterpiece. N/A (for now).
Morgiana: Very cool little gothic horror fairy tale by Jerz. Perhaps he could have flipped these tropes more creatively, but he was apparently restricted by the producers. It is a visually arresting film though full of great shots and a disorienting use of fish eye lens. The main actress playing both sisters (good and 'evil') is excellent. The fact that one is considered beautiful while the other is considered not despite them not looking that much different is probably a commentary on female beauty and the perceptions and consequences of it. It dragged at times, but the overwrought vibe worked for me. Loved the hysteria. Also appreciated the dark irony of the ending too. 7/10
-
liquidnature
- Posts: 556
- Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2018 3:44 am
Bataille du rail (Clément)
The Sugarland Express (Spielberg)
Both similar in how their enjoyability trumps many of their flaws. Sugarland exceedingly so. About as heartwarming and excellently made an absurdist slice of Americana as one could hope for.
The Sugarland Express (Spielberg)
Both similar in how their enjoyability trumps many of their flaws. Sugarland exceedingly so. About as heartwarming and excellently made an absurdist slice of Americana as one could hope for.
THE BAKER'S WIFE -- 10/10
Pagnol's little village comedy about a baker whose hot young wife splits for a hot young shepherd. The baker is played by Raimu, who has put me into such a haze of total delight and happiness and pleasure and emotion that I'm afraid to see or watch anything else for a few days for fear of losing this feeling of pleasure. I'll be grabbing that Criterion Blu-Ray whenever they decide to release it,which I hope will be soon. Oh my.
Pagnol's little village comedy about a baker whose hot young wife splits for a hot young shepherd. The baker is played by Raimu, who has put me into such a haze of total delight and happiness and pleasure and emotion that I'm afraid to see or watch anything else for a few days for fear of losing this feeling of pleasure. I'll be grabbing that Criterion Blu-Ray whenever they decide to release it,which I hope will be soon. Oh my.
These matters are best disposed of from a great height. Over water.
-
Lencho of the Apes
- Posts: 1900
- Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2018 4:38 am
Porque Naci Mujer/Why Was I Born A Woman? - Rogelio Gonzalez, 1968
Gonzalez was pretty anti-patriarchal in his melodramas ca. 1948-1953 (La Oveja Negra and sequel, Ahora Soy Rico and prequel) and he also made the kinda misogynist Skeleton Of Mrs. Morales (although in this movie he revisits that character and shows her neuroses and behaviors to be symptoms of her own victimization)… and this one's just a howl of protest against every aspect of conservative gender politics.
It's a parody of soap operas that makes it points by being exactly like a soap opera, from plot, tone and texture to visual field. It's basically Polyester, the John Waters sitcom, only far more deadpan and drier and funnier; the last big laugh I remember was when the blowhard uncle stood up at his brother's wake and said (freely translated) "from dust we are born and to dust we return" as though it were something memorable and profound... Everybody's weak and hateful, everyone occupies their niche in the social order in exactly the right way to make everyone around them as miserable as possible, Gonzalez never for a moment backs down from rubbing the audience's noses in the bad faith the characters act in, the bad choices that their circumstances force on them, and the overwhelming badness of the social structure they're embedded in.
It's fucking amazing.
Gonzalez was pretty anti-patriarchal in his melodramas ca. 1948-1953 (La Oveja Negra and sequel, Ahora Soy Rico and prequel) and he also made the kinda misogynist Skeleton Of Mrs. Morales (although in this movie he revisits that character and shows her neuroses and behaviors to be symptoms of her own victimization)… and this one's just a howl of protest against every aspect of conservative gender politics.
It's a parody of soap operas that makes it points by being exactly like a soap opera, from plot, tone and texture to visual field. It's basically Polyester, the John Waters sitcom, only far more deadpan and drier and funnier; the last big laugh I remember was when the blowhard uncle stood up at his brother's wake and said (freely translated) "from dust we are born and to dust we return" as though it were something memorable and profound... Everybody's weak and hateful, everyone occupies their niche in the social order in exactly the right way to make everyone around them as miserable as possible, Gonzalez never for a moment backs down from rubbing the audience's noses in the bad faith the characters act in, the bad choices that their circumstances force on them, and the overwhelming badness of the social structure they're embedded in.
It's fucking amazing.
- 3 porq.JPG (62.22 KiB) Viewed 8801 times
The opposite of 'reify' is... ?
Just completed a cross-country move from the swamps of Louisiana to the mountains of Colorado. Put my movie-watching on hold for about a week, which about killed me.
Brought the drought to a close with Crazy Rich Asians. A really pleasant, unearned rom-com ending after 2 hours of reductive stereotypes in a tourism ad for Singapore. Michelle Yeoh is awesome.
Brought the drought to a close with Crazy Rich Asians. A really pleasant, unearned rom-com ending after 2 hours of reductive stereotypes in a tourism ad for Singapore. Michelle Yeoh is awesome.
- yeoh.jpeg (129.11 KiB) Viewed 8750 times
hey john ryan can you get us some weed
-
Joks Trois
- Posts: 361
- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:51 am
Beauty and The Beast (1978): This is a criminally underseen film. I'd go as far to say that it's superior to Cocteau's version. Herz was great at creating these fantasy worlds that were gritty and dark. This is a gothic fairy tale that delves more deeply into the monster's self loathing and torment than other versions, and the beast resembles a bird like creature ala Judex. The costumes and set designs are excellent, and the relationship between the beauty and the beast is intelligently drawn. It's only in its final moments where the conventional nature of the source material gets in the way of Herz's gloomy unorthodox vision. I wouldn't be surprised if this was restriction was imposed on him by the producers.
7.5 or 8/10.
7.5 or 8/10.
saw roma at the cinema... wasn't really expecting much, as i don't particularly like cuaron, and frankly, so many old-ass whites seemed to dig this i kinda figured it must suck. but i really dug it. maybe slightly heavy-handed at times, but overall very affecting story and beautifully composed
3.5/4
3.5/4
Burning - Chang-dong
From Letterboxd:
The dissolve used as the proper form of relating the theme of the film to the mode of narrative cinema as that form of exposition in which forward momentum always has the tendency and ability to wipe out the past and make a clean slate. "You don't have to imagine that it exists. You have to forget that it doesn't exist."
Ironically the film is entirely forgettable. The problem with playing games whose riddles have relevance only to the universe in which they are played is that the the fun is over when the riddles are solved.
From Letterboxd:
The dissolve used as the proper form of relating the theme of the film to the mode of narrative cinema as that form of exposition in which forward momentum always has the tendency and ability to wipe out the past and make a clean slate. "You don't have to imagine that it exists. You have to forget that it doesn't exist."
Ironically the film is entirely forgettable. The problem with playing games whose riddles have relevance only to the universe in which they are played is that the the fun is over when the riddles are solved.
-
Joks Trois
- Posts: 361
- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:51 am
Fedora: Put off watching this for years for good reason. Wilder was completely irrelevant in 1978, and this film is painfully slow and completely dated. Fancies itself as a kind of critique of New Hollywood and faded glamour, it actually makes a great case for why film makers like him became obsolete to begin with. I really wanted to respond to this film, especially because I like films about time passing, especially ones that address an end of an era, but this is a strictly auteurist's affair. If you are a hardcore Wilder fan it's probably great. For those of us who enjoy Wilder but aren't overly attached to him, it is simply tedious. 4.5/10
Yeah, it's a pretty sad affair all round. I seem to remember the occasional tasty little flourish, a moment where a character finds a bureau drawer filled with spotless white gloves, but SUNSET BOULEVARD it ain't.Joks Trois wrote: ↑Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:04 am Fedora: Put off watching this for years for good reason. Wilder was completely irrelevant in 1978, and this film is painfully slow and completely dated. Fancies itself as a kind of critique of New Hollywood and faded glamour, it actually makes a great case for why film makers like him became obsolete to begin with. I really wanted to respond to this film, especially because I like films about time passing, especially ones that address an end of an era, but this is a strictly auteurist's affair. If you are a hardcore Wilder fan it's probably great. For those of us who enjoy Wilder but aren't overly attached to him, it is simply tedious. 4.5/10
These matters are best disposed of from a great height. Over water.
https://streamable.com/69spo
Royal Warriors (1986)
dir. David Chung
A boilerplate 'cop vs. (insert x, in this case, terrorist veterans)' narrative services as a delivery vehicle for some very good set-pieces lead by the charismatic Michelle Yeoh. Director David Chung, best known for his cinematography with filmmakers such as Patrick Tam, Tsui Hark, Mabel Chung, and Ann Hui, blurs the line between the heroes and villains as both are primarily lead by a sense of camaraderie with little respect for anything else (see the prolonged neon-lit, glass-adorned bar room set-piece in which everything but them is basically obliterated). The villains are propelled into action when some soldiers from their old unit are killed and the final act shows the heroes similarly lead into action when their dead comrade's casket is put in peril. In both cases, the surrounding private spaces become areas of volatile potential. Airplanes windows, service trolleys, and construction-site excavators are not just weaponized but dominos to further enable the complete transformation/destruction of the space. When the villain hides in a shack propped up on stilts, the immediate recourse is to drive a tank through the stilts to topple down the entire structure. There's an operating logic here akin to Manny Faber's description of termite art, "a kind of squandering-beaverish endeavor that isn't anywhere or for anything. A peculiar fact about termite tapeworm-fungus-moss art is that it goes always forward eating its own boundaries, and, likely as not, leaves nothing in its path other than the signs of eager, industrious, unkempt activity."
Bonus: Between Michelle Yeoh's outfits, that knitted black-and-gray number Hiroyuki Sanada wears, and his kid's varsity letterman piece, this is also supreme sweater cinema.
Royal Warriors (1986)
dir. David Chung
A boilerplate 'cop vs. (insert x, in this case, terrorist veterans)' narrative services as a delivery vehicle for some very good set-pieces lead by the charismatic Michelle Yeoh. Director David Chung, best known for his cinematography with filmmakers such as Patrick Tam, Tsui Hark, Mabel Chung, and Ann Hui, blurs the line between the heroes and villains as both are primarily lead by a sense of camaraderie with little respect for anything else (see the prolonged neon-lit, glass-adorned bar room set-piece in which everything but them is basically obliterated). The villains are propelled into action when some soldiers from their old unit are killed and the final act shows the heroes similarly lead into action when their dead comrade's casket is put in peril. In both cases, the surrounding private spaces become areas of volatile potential. Airplanes windows, service trolleys, and construction-site excavators are not just weaponized but dominos to further enable the complete transformation/destruction of the space. When the villain hides in a shack propped up on stilts, the immediate recourse is to drive a tank through the stilts to topple down the entire structure. There's an operating logic here akin to Manny Faber's description of termite art, "a kind of squandering-beaverish endeavor that isn't anywhere or for anything. A peculiar fact about termite tapeworm-fungus-moss art is that it goes always forward eating its own boundaries, and, likely as not, leaves nothing in its path other than the signs of eager, industrious, unkempt activity."
Bonus: Between Michelle Yeoh's outfits, that knitted black-and-gray number Hiroyuki Sanada wears, and his kid's varsity letterman piece, this is also supreme sweater cinema.
Great idea, I just made a new topic for it under the 'regional cinemas' section!
So BLACK PANTHER -- whatever. Well enough done, and all that, the usual by the numbers crap gets freshened up a very little bit. Some fine performances, but I suspect I'll remember it more completely as being the first sign of Martin Freeman simply Not Giving A Shit Anymore.
These matters are best disposed of from a great height. Over water.
And there was ALTERED STATES -- good fun mainly, the good stuff still works, take it seriously at your peril. I'll always have a warm spot in my cinematic heart for the Hinchi Mushroom Rite.
These matters are best disposed of from a great height. Over water.
I still have really mixed feelings about Black Panther. As you say, some fine performances, but I'd add that within the genre, such as it is, the choices made are equally impressive. Boseman's reflective quiet, for example, was an excellent choice set against the more usual wisecracking or straight-laced morality of the genre, different even than that of the few other superheroes, like Batman, who's relative silence is more a traditional masculine archetype. The supporting cast's heavy reliance on the women to define the stakes and terms of engagement too was welcome, also for being different in tone than the usual feminine moral center archetype common in westerns and other heroic dramas, since here they at least provided an active debate rather than just assumed existence of social values.So BLACK PANTHER -- whatever. Well enough done, and all that, the usual by the numbers crap gets freshened up a very little bit. Some fine performances, but I suspect I'll remember it more completely as being the first sign of Martin Freeman simply Not Giving A Shit Anymore.
The sets and general vibe of afro-futurism was a delight and the importance of simply making a movie where black actors established the standard of heroic action in a mass market film is nothing to be written off as unimportant. However, as was also the case with Coogler's Creed to some degree, there is a competing feeling of need for white audience approval at play and some questionable politics in how the central dilemma is framed. Tribal rule determined by a battle to the death, for example, feels like it came straight out of Edgar Rice Burroughs, not a great look, and the main conflict between Killmonger and Black Panther plays out like being the ideology of the Black Panther organization against the Marvel comic incarnation of the idea, with Marvel's version being defined by making the world safe for white people not like that scary old real life group. A CIA agent as sidekick/hero? Killmonger turning against his own girlfriend and people for no reason other than getting the viewer to dismiss his arguments by extension? That's some sleight of hand that I'm not too keen on since it serves to allow the arguments raised to be avoided safely by the precious snowflake white folk who might see the film. Black Panther will save us from those nasty bombs and share their tech with the white colonizers even if it means killing his own kin. Tidy, but weak letting the audience off the hook for the accounting, leaving it all a black problem, between those of haves and have nots within the black community. Whew, glad to see the issue was such a simple one.
-
liquidnature
- Posts: 556
- Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2018 3:44 am
Les maudits / The Damned (1947, René Clément)
Criminally underseen near-masterpiece from Clément. Almost every shot is perfect. Toys with language and non-verbal communication, oscillating between French and German with no regard for the viewer. A psycho-thriller wherein each person wages a mental war within themselves as the outside war-torn world parades on without them. The list of ingenious visual sequences would take paragraphs to write about. And it has a cat.
expect this will get a criterion release at some point as the film gains popularity, though the gaumont dvd print is already stunning. my copy had an annoying audio glitch throughout, otherwise I would share it in the usual spot
Criminally underseen near-masterpiece from Clément. Almost every shot is perfect. Toys with language and non-verbal communication, oscillating between French and German with no regard for the viewer. A psycho-thriller wherein each person wages a mental war within themselves as the outside war-torn world parades on without them. The list of ingenious visual sequences would take paragraphs to write about. And it has a cat.
Spoiler!
Last edited by liquidnature on Wed Jan 16, 2019 8:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
yes i felt this strongly, it's a shame but what can you expect reallyas was also the case with Coogler's Creed to some degree, there is a competing feeling of need for white audience approval at play
exactly. awards buzz is ridiculous but awards have been lame for a long timeit serves to allow the arguments raised to be avoided safely by the precious snowflake white folk who might see the film
edit: cute cat!
-
Joks Trois
- Posts: 361
- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:51 am
Anyone who expects a truly radical film to come out of Hollywood should re-read Adorno and Marcuse. They were elitists, but he weren't wrong about the pseudo-rebellion in mass cultural product. His work on this is probably more relevant now than ever.
Perceval le Gallois - Like the counter argument to Bresson's Lancelot. The artifice here is too warm and inviting to be labelled 'Brechtian'. Unlike Bresson's film, Rohmer doesn't impose modern psychology on the distant past. I prefer this film to his. Love the use of diagetic sound too. Makes you feel like you are witnessing a dramatic representation of this era from the people who lived it. 8/10
There Was a Father and Record of a Tenement Gentlemen: Good films, but so far I remain unconvinced that Ozu made a masterpiece until Late Spring. The formal elements were locking into place here, esp on Tenement, 6 and 6.5/10 respectively
Perceval le Gallois - Like the counter argument to Bresson's Lancelot. The artifice here is too warm and inviting to be labelled 'Brechtian'. Unlike Bresson's film, Rohmer doesn't impose modern psychology on the distant past. I prefer this film to his. Love the use of diagetic sound too. Makes you feel like you are witnessing a dramatic representation of this era from the people who lived it. 8/10
There Was a Father and Record of a Tenement Gentlemen: Good films, but so far I remain unconvinced that Ozu made a masterpiece until Late Spring. The formal elements were locking into place here, esp on Tenement, 6 and 6.5/10 respectively
THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER
holy fuck. best movie experience i've had in years. this might make my t100. i read a review on that argues pretty convincingly that this film is about god and shit, ok whatever, i don't care about that shit
anyway, the film was most interesting to me (at least ideologically/metaphorically/poetically/whatever) in that i could easily identify with all four of the titular characters. no, that's not right. i could easily see myself in all four of the titular characters. perpetrator, victim, complicit bystander, "saviour"... maybe not "saviour"... caretaker? that's what this film is for me. fuck this religion shit about how it's The Priest, The Devil, Mankind & Jesus, it's just Four Elements of the Human. maybe (if your soul is pure) you've never been much of a perpetrator, and/or maybe (if you're lucky) you've never been much of a victim, but i think anyone who says they've never been either in ANY capacity is fucking lying to themselves
don't even get me started on the michael nyman score. those fucking haunting horn minor intervals are god damn devastating. seriously, i have been listening to the lovemaking scene theme on repeat since the movie ended and just basking in the sadness i felt watching their tender moments, knowing they would all come to a brutal and heartbreaking end
i could talk about the sets and costumes and the compositions, but i won't really. i'll just say the symmetry made me feel like i was watching something pure, pure and truthful and honest and unfettered by tricksies and sly tactics, i dunno... i've noted for years how much i like symmetry, but never really knew why. have to think on that
most of the violence in this film was a bit over-the-top, with Thief smacking folks with books or pouring soup on cats or whatever... smearing shit on dude... and lots of screaming, but (almost) no tears (even the little boy didn't cry while he was being tortured). but one scene deviated from these tendencies
when Wife wakes up lying in Lover's dead arms, she has tears on her face. and then she tells about the abuses she suffered at the hands of Thief, and it's not over-the-top at all. first of all, we don't actually see anything. it's the only time violence is DESCRIBED in the movie. so you can't really hide from it by sensing how ridiculous it looks (as when Thief's smacking a bloke with a platter or something). you have to take it for what it's worth. second of all, even if we did see what she was describing, we wouldn't be seeing a violent outburst. making her wipe his ass, making her fuck herself with household objects. it's so quotidian, the day-to-dayness of it all. and that's the saddest part. it's day. to. fucking. day. it's not pouring soup from a fancy dish on a dude or something ridiculous. it's just real shit. and that's why we needed to see those tears. boy didn't cry when he was having buttons stuffed down his gullet cos that's just some goofy bizarre movie shit. but her telling of her story to Lover, that was real shit
4/4
holy fuck. best movie experience i've had in years. this might make my t100. i read a review on
that argues pretty convincingly that this film is about god and shit, ok whatever, i don't care about that shitanyway, the film was most interesting to me (at least ideologically/metaphorically/poetically/whatever) in that i could easily identify with all four of the titular characters. no, that's not right. i could easily see myself in all four of the titular characters. perpetrator, victim, complicit bystander, "saviour"... maybe not "saviour"... caretaker? that's what this film is for me. fuck this religion shit about how it's The Priest, The Devil, Mankind & Jesus, it's just Four Elements of the Human. maybe (if your soul is pure) you've never been much of a perpetrator, and/or maybe (if you're lucky) you've never been much of a victim, but i think anyone who says they've never been either in ANY capacity is fucking lying to themselves
don't even get me started on the michael nyman score. those fucking haunting horn minor intervals are god damn devastating. seriously, i have been listening to the lovemaking scene theme on repeat since the movie ended and just basking in the sadness i felt watching their tender moments, knowing they would all come to a brutal and heartbreaking end
i could talk about the sets and costumes and the compositions, but i won't really. i'll just say the symmetry made me feel like i was watching something pure, pure and truthful and honest and unfettered by tricksies and sly tactics, i dunno... i've noted for years how much i like symmetry, but never really knew why. have to think on that
most of the violence in this film was a bit over-the-top, with Thief smacking folks with books or pouring soup on cats or whatever... smearing shit on dude... and lots of screaming, but (almost) no tears (even the little boy didn't cry while he was being tortured). but one scene deviated from these tendencies
when Wife wakes up lying in Lover's dead arms, she has tears on her face. and then she tells about the abuses she suffered at the hands of Thief, and it's not over-the-top at all. first of all, we don't actually see anything. it's the only time violence is DESCRIBED in the movie. so you can't really hide from it by sensing how ridiculous it looks (as when Thief's smacking a bloke with a platter or something). you have to take it for what it's worth. second of all, even if we did see what she was describing, we wouldn't be seeing a violent outburst. making her wipe his ass, making her fuck herself with household objects. it's so quotidian, the day-to-dayness of it all. and that's the saddest part. it's day. to. fucking. day. it's not pouring soup from a fancy dish on a dude or something ridiculous. it's just real shit. and that's why we needed to see those tears. boy didn't cry when he was having buttons stuffed down his gullet cos that's just some goofy bizarre movie shit. but her telling of her story to Lover, that was real shit
4/4
Glad you finally saw this. I first saw this in the cinema when it came out... I was just 20 years old, and after watching a couple of sanctimonious family-friendly critics on television give it zero stars, I had to check it out. It blew me away then, and it's still easily in my t100. Last summer I taught it in my film class, and I was relieved that the students liked it - I was afraid the extreme vulgarity would offend them. The Baby of Macon takes the shock value to a greater extreme, in case you doubt that's possible, but it's a less compelling narrative.
I'll check out that Letterboxd review. I see the movie as a historical allegory; one of the biggest clues is to see what's missing from the ensemble.
I'll check out that Letterboxd review. I see the movie as a historical allegory; one of the biggest clues is to see what's missing from the ensemble.
-
Joks Trois
- Posts: 361
- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:51 am
^^It's a real shame that many of Greenaway's best films have yet to receive proper HD releases. There must be rights issues involved. He isn't as popular as he used to be, but The Cook........is quite fondly remembered.
the early michael nyman band was great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPLPoYLM_BA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPLPoYLM_BA
-
MayaDeren_fan
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:04 am
- Contact:
So I just watched Enoch Arden (1911) by DW Griffith. I've been meaning to see a good amount of DW Griffith's short films before I get to The Birth of a Nation, and Enoch Arden looked interesting enough, since it deals with seafaring and stuff. Anyways, it mainly ended up being a longer, more expanded, however less interesting version of The Unchanging Sea. Too much time spent on the beach and too little time spent at sea.
Despite my disappointment in that aspect, the final 5 minutes were very good. This is where Enoch Arden diverges from The Unchanging Sea, asking whether the main character has the right to come back into his family's life after they had assumed him long dead. His family has moved on and are content and happy with their situation. In this light, Enoch Arden becomes very interesting. However it does come a bit late into the movie considering its 3 times the length of The Unchanging Sea.
One of the most appealing things about DW Griffith is how simplistic his storytelling is. It has a raw primeval sentiment to them, as seen ideally in The Lonedale Operator. Anyways, a fine film, nothing spectacular. If anyone has any Griffith shorts I should watch soon, let me know.
Despite my disappointment in that aspect, the final 5 minutes were very good. This is where Enoch Arden diverges from The Unchanging Sea, asking whether the main character has the right to come back into his family's life after they had assumed him long dead. His family has moved on and are content and happy with their situation. In this light, Enoch Arden becomes very interesting. However it does come a bit late into the movie considering its 3 times the length of The Unchanging Sea.
One of the most appealing things about DW Griffith is how simplistic his storytelling is. It has a raw primeval sentiment to them, as seen ideally in The Lonedale Operator. Anyways, a fine film, nothing spectacular. If anyone has any Griffith shorts I should watch soon, let me know.
we did a dw griffith poll in our previous home on the internet, so if you're interested to know which griffith shorts other scfz members recommend, you could check out the poll results at the end of this thread:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_aut ... 8-s30.html
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_aut ... 8-s30.html
https://letterboxd.com/thorkell/film/th ... her-lover/
That's the review in question. I'm curious to hear more about your interpretation of the movie as an historical allegory.
-
Evelyn Library P.I.
- Posts: 1370
- Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:36 pm
Alongside Lonedale Operator my favourite Griffith shorts I've seen are:MayaDeren_fan wrote: ↑Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:14 pm If anyone has any Griffith shorts I should watch soon, let me know.
— Those Awful Hats
— The Girl and Her Trust
— An Unseen Enemy
— The Painted Lady
Griffith's use of enclosed spaces and his representation of gender in these films is peerlessly affecting and interesting to me, though, of course, they are problematic for many of the same reasons. I hope to write a paper one day on the sexual charge of these films, phallic symbolism and enclosed spaces = Your Vice Is A Locked Room and Only I Have the Key.