Recently Watched Films

[MRS]

Martyrs -- Pascal Laugier, 2008

jesus

[leroysghost]

Martyrs -- Pascal Laugier, 2008

jesus

yawn

[Jesse]

The 2 minute trailer for Martyrs is all I need to see, what a fucked up trend this *torture porn* is, what a fucked up state of things that there apparently exists a robust audience for each *new* artfully realized act of cruelty.

[MRS]

I watched it at a bar after hours last night with the entire kitchen staff. I'm out of it in most current circles, didn't know this was a part of some tide. Anyway, all I'll conclude with is not my kettle of fish.

[Jesse]

Schau, my response was to the trailer, wasn't slinging an accusation at you-I, of course, knew nothing of the circumstances of your viewing it.
Yeah , there are sub-genres in rape/torture films, some of which receive festival/arts council accolades. There is a French name for the new wave of you-call-that-extreme-I'll show- you-extreme flicks. Worth asking what that speaks to in a collective psyche.

[Jesse]

[img]http://auteurs_production.s3.amazonaws.com/stills/10367/Vagabond.jpg[/img]

Vagabond [dir: Agnes Varda]

So good, beautiful framing of every shot, without sentimentality or sensationalism. I watch this every several years.

[Enoah_Ballard]

good to have you! any discussion of Imamura here would be most welcome, particularly the mysterious (in america anyway) '67-'75 period.
please feel free to start a thread.

Thanks for the kind feedback. Actually, the Japanese postwar period is not so much a mystery since John Dower's monumental work Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II - not to mention others. In regards to films however, and specifically the Japanese New Wave movement, David Desser's Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema is unequaled in scope and analysis. I think I read it at least 10 times while watching Imamura's films.

And speaking of Imamura, I uploaded a collection of essays edited by James Quandt for everybody's enjoyment. Link here.

And to keep it within the topic of this thread, I recently watched one of Fassbinder's best:

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/698/198_box_348x490.jpg[/img]

[Dan Warburton]

Thanks for this, and the links. Angst essen Seele auf is terrific. Meanwhile, last night felt like a bit of sunshine



René Clément, Plein Soleil, 1960

I prefer Anthony Minghella's 2000 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley story to this. Frenchmen pretending to be Americans somehow doesn't cut it, and the snobby class war undertones of the original, not to mention the Fitzgerald-esque decadence, seem to get lost. Maurice Ronet's Philippe (Dickie in the original) is so thoroughly detestable you're rather happy when he gets knocked off, and Marie Laforêt's Marge is drab and vacant. Delon steals the show (cute dimples too, oops, sorry shouldn't say things like that here), but he ends up getting caught at the end, which is not what happens in the book.

[leroysghost]

René Clément, Plein Soleil, 1960

I prefer Anthony Minghella's 2000 adaptation

funny, i totally prefer Plein Soleil. the Minghella version (1999 if you want to be a stickler) wreaks the whole psychology of the thing by adding the homosexuality (like any true sociopath, Ripley doesn't want to fuck Greenleaf--he wants to be him). Delon is the perfect actor for this part, and while i was a little disappointed to see that Ripley gets caught, i thought the ending itself was really well staged. overall i think it's a successful thriller in it's own right.

[leroysghost]

And speaking of Imamura, I uploaded a collection of essays edited by James Quandt for everybody's enjoyment. Link here.

thanks so much for this. i'll be sure to get around to reading it in the near future.

what's your taste in music by the way? i'm curious if anyone has ever joined this forum solely for the film board.

Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin - Little Fugitive (1953)

quite a gem indeed. not sure if the part of the mother was really necessary, but a near perfect film otherwise.

[Dan Warburton]

René Clément, Plein Soleil, 1960

I prefer Anthony Minghella's 2000 adaptation

funny, i totally prefer Plein Soleil. the Minghella version (1999 if you want to be a stickler)

You win the white carnation!

the homosexuality (like any true sociopath, Ripley doesn't want to fuck Greenleaf--he wants to be him).

He overdoes that in the film, for sure (the other musician character on the boat at the end is too much), but it's a sinister undercurrent in the Highsmith original (as it was in Strangers On A Train - and Hitchcock spotted it and dealt with it with great subtlety)

i think it's a successful thriller in it's own right.

No apostrophe in "its", if you want to be a stickler

[leroysghost]

carnation(')s for everyone!!!

[Dan Warburton]

Yes - Happy Kissmush, and all that. Glad to see you were checking out Little Fugitive there. Meanwhile, last night:



Alfred Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder, 1954

Shame Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams) didn't end up with his own series. What a great movie - every shot, every word just where it should be.

[leroysghost]

but [homosexuality is] a sinister undercurrent in the Highsmith original (as it was in Strangers On A Train - and Hitchcock spotted it and dealt with it with great subtlety)

i haven't read the books unfortunately, but as far as these films are concerned i'm not so sure. there certainly is some homoeroticism, but it's the homoeroticism of competition. plus, in Strangers you have the whole doppelgänger business to complicate things even further (and IMO Bruno clearly has a thing for girls in glasses).

Alfred Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder, 1954
every shot, every word just where it should be.

yes, it is almost annoyingly flawless. something of an underrated Hitchcock i think (if such a thing a possible).

[anastasia vronski]

Thanks for link to booklet.
I've read Partricia Highsmith 's Ripleys and I agree with Leroysghost . He is more attracted with easy life than by anything else .He is a sociopath weak and listless . If he thinks about living with Dick it 's for ''la dolce vida'' . I've not seen the Minghella and except for Matt Damon dimples I would not.

[Dan Warburton]

Thanks for link to booklet.
I've read Partricia Highsmith 's Ripleys and I agree with Leroysghost

LG isn't commenting on the book, I am. He's commenting on a film which you don't mention, and I'm commenting on a film you haven't seen.

[anastasia vronski]

hey, I'm just a cynical old thug

[mudd]

hey now.

m

[Enoah_Ballard]

thanks so much for this. i'll be sure to get around to reading it in the near future.

what's your taste in music by the way? i'm curious if anyone has ever joined this forum solely for the film board.

It's true, I didn't join here for the film board. I was drawn to this forum by my enthusiasm for avant-garde music, particularly the IHM compilations. I am also an avid collector of everything released by the Avant Garde Project. I also love and own everything by Vangelis, Kitaro and Jean-Michele Jarre - although they'd probably be a little too mainstream (at least their more recent albums) for the general taste of this forum - so you can say that these artists reflect my musical inclinations. I'm also an avid listener of octopusarmy.com.

It's just so happens that my first posts were in this thread.

So here I go again. Last movie watched: Woman in Berlin.

[anastasia vronski]

Answer to Enoah Ballard:

and Elem Klimov Come and see



Who knows one with Americans?