Recently Watched Films

[franz bieberkopf]

yeah, The Man Who Fell to Earth seemed pretty messy and embarrassing, when i watched it some months back.

i don't understand why criterion has been putting out a lot of the stuff it has recently when Jacques Rivette's work (for but one glaring example) remains mostly unavailable in region 1. same could be said for Pedro Costa, Phillipe Garrel, Jean Eustache, Werner Schroeter, and Chris Marker (beyond the few obvious ones... and even then: no Le Joli Mai), but i digress... i guess it's just been on my mind again recently.

i saw Werckmeister's Harmonies the other day. sadly, it didn't blow me away. it was certainly a lot better than Man From London, and it was quite beautiful. i believe at some point, Ruairi alluded to an "emptiness" (spiritually? i can't find the quote and i may be imagining it..) of Tarr's work, and that is something that has been inhibiting my enjoyment so far.
clearly Tarr has a pretty unique vision... i'm just having a tough time finding any reasoning for it slash integrity to it--and i'd happily admit that there's probably a double standard along the line there somewhere. i love the work of Hieronymous Bosch for example, without being too concerned with (at this point anyhow) what precisely is driving it (allegorically or whatevs) one way or another. maybe it's the distance which makes this possible for me? i think it might also have to do with my (becoming crochety and dogmatic?) particular slant of realist leanings when it comes to film (won't go into that here unless asked).

i think the idea of this giant grotesque mobile show (and it's contents) is a great, and beautiful one, and it was masterfully introduced as well, i should add (the shot of of this giant shadow wiping across the buildings before coming into view much later is pretty excellent and honest too!)--i'm afraid to admit tho, that i wasn't so satisfied with where it was taken. the film certainly didn't lack for length, and yet somehow the presence of the prince, for example felt very abbreviated. maybe the temporal girth of Satantango is the corrective i need?

funny tho, the more i think of this film, on paper so to speak, the more i think i am beginning to like it. notwithstanding that bizarre stampede/naked old man scene which probably best emblematizes the pockets of bullshit i felt that i stumbled upon in this chunky film.

to continue punching with the kid-gloves on, i'll belabour my taking for granted that i would love this guy's stuff when i got around to seeing it. i am far from done with it (with good reason too), but i am nonetheless carefully monitoring my responses, and wondering if my tastes are changing a great deal, or if there is something different 'tween Tarr and all these master filmmakers whose work i love to whom he has been compared a whole lot.

[Dan Warburton]

i don't understand why criterion has been putting out a lot of the stuff it has recently when Jacques Rivette's work (for but one glaring example) remains mostly unavailable in region 1. same could be said for Pedro Costa, Phillipe Garrel, Jean Eustache, Werner Schroeter, and Chris Marker (beyond the few obvious ones... and even then: no Le Joli Mai), but i digress... i guess it's just been on my mind again recently.

Amen amen amen. For Garrel, you'd have thought the arthouse DVD labels would have jumped on his early stuff after the success of La frontière de l'aube in Cannes. Meanwhile, yes, where are La Maman et La Putain, L'Amour Fou, Je t"aime je t'aime, Providence.. and Le Joli Mai, which I saw far too long ago and would dearly love to see again.
?

[jon abbey]

I'm sure some of it is relative sales, I doubt any of those names are particularly big sellers.

[Dan Warburton]

Of course they're not. But I like to think some people - yourself included - are in this business for reasons that go a little beyond simply making a profit.

[jon abbey]

Of course they're not. But I like to think some people - yourself included - are in this business for reasons that go a little beyond simply making a profit.

sure, but Erstwhile is much smaller than Criterion. Criterion has to balance art editions that few people will buy with films by Michael Bay and Wes Anderson (not equating those two, although I'm not an Anderson fan). my sales probably vary far less than theirs, mostly because the biggest sellers aren't very high to begin with, so I don't have to worry about that as much.

it's true that I wouldn't put out the equivalent of Armageddon just to make money (Fennesz/Sakamoto?), but I certainly understand why Criterion decided to do that.

[jon abbey]

here's a good thread on Criterion's economics:

http://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtop ... f=2&t=8607

"Criterion can thrive on selling as few as 10,000 units per title, though Furniss said the label fares a lot better. Industry sales estimates peg the Criterion version of The Royal Tenenbaums at more than 150,000 units."

"Currently, Criterion is enjoying robust sales for its fully loaded edition of Terry Gilliam's 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which on top of a director and cast commentary touts a track by author Hunter S. Thompson. In fact, Fear has become the label's No. 1 selling DVD, overtaking previous champ The Seven Samurai, with an estimated 300,000 units sold"

that article is 3+ years old now, though, and I'm sure DVD sales have dropped in the interim, just like everything else.

[Dan Warburton]

Richard Fleischer, Soylent Green, 1973

Seem to recall some discussion of this over at Bags a while back; hadn't seen the film for a long time but (unlike Roeg's TMWFTE above) this one holds up better. Heston is as awfully wooden as ever - never been a fan, sort of John Wayne without the self-derision - and is too old for the part he has to play, but it's hard to think of any other actor at the time who could have brought it off as well (Eastwood?). On the other hand, Edward G. Robinson is superb - the beef stew scene is especially touching.*SPOILERS*Many great and disturbing images - the "scoops" shovelling up people like trash, the corpse conveyor belt, and Robinson's suicide (a Nic Roeg link here: one of the images he sees is from John Schlesinger's Far From The Madding Crowd, on which Roeg was DP) - even if Fleischer's vision of 2022 looks like, umm, 1975 (arcade video games, the furniture in Joseph Cotten's pad etc).

[Chromosome]

Tarsem Singh, The Fall (2006)

[kangaroo?]

jacques rivette's La Religieuse

pretty bold in its effort to depict the psychology involved & great direction in general. On top of that, the soundtrack is by Jean-Claude Éloy

[Dan Warburton]

I love this movie - the sound is so harsh! Is this back out on DVD? I've never seen a copy in the shops - I had to borrow one from a friend (have to return it too).

[kangaroo?]

just an .avi with custom subtitles i'm afraid. bless the internet

[Gaendaal]

The Reader (dir, Stephen Daldry)

I have to admit that, even if this had been a completely engrossing film, the realisation that I was going to have to listen to English actors putting on woeful, woeful German accents for the duration put paid to any chance of getting into this film. Apparently this was done under the instruction of Bernhard Schlink (author of the book the film is based upon) but I don't fully understand why. Anyway...

Why this film has got the plaudits (and, for Winslett, awards) it has is beyond me. I was bored by the characters' empty and flat lives, irritated by the this-is-an-emotional-section score and completely underwhelmed by what little message was squeezed out between the cliches and lingering shots of people trying not to cry.

It's hard to talk about the plot without giving away too much of the story (perhaps one of the things that detracted from my enjoyment of the film) although Michael's realisation of his lover's crimes and her secret shame should come as no suprise to anyone watching the film (especially as it's signposted by a 'Sixth Sense'-esque montage of the relevant clues). It's this, more than the lacklustre characters and the mawkish dialogue, that lets the film down for me. The twists and the apparent revelations draw yawns more than gasps and are (quite shockingly, for a film about the Holocaust) ultimately uninteresting.

And whoever thought the aging effect used on Kate Winslett's character actually looked good, as opposed to making her look like a muppet, should be shot.

[O'Grady]

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Angst essen Seele auf (1974)

Simple and affecting, even if some moments bear their age.

[surfer]

Killer of Sheep (Burnett, 1977) -

"And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them.
But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten.
With their seed shall continually remain a good inheritance, and their children are within the covenant.
Their seed standeth fast, and their children for their sakes.
Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out.
Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore."

Ecclesiasticus 44:9-14



Thank you to tarfumes for mentioning this movie.

[fearandpanic]

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Angst essen Seele auf (1974)

Simple and affecting, even if some moments bear their age.

Which ones?

[surfer]

This seems like a list that is similar to one I would have made if I had seen any movies this year, which I havent except for the awful Slumdog Gazillionaire.

http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reve ... _best_2008

[O'Grady]

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Angst essen Seele auf (1974)

Simple and affecting, even if some moments bear their age.

Which ones?

The moments where the characters make openly racist comments about Ali. Also the way that Emmi's family react to her marriage with Ali. I don't mean that times have changed and racism has been eliminated. I just mean to say that racist sentiments are mostly expressed a little subtler in our politically correct climate. I'm also not suggesting that it is any less malicious or that it is less of a problem. I know that my comment is based on a partial assumption of how the past was.

[fearandpanic]

The moments where the characters make openly racist comments about Ali. Also the way that Emmi's family react to her marriage with Ali. I don't mean that times have changed and racism has been eliminated. I just mean to say that racist sentiments are mostly expressed a little subtler in our politically correct climate.

Yes, that's interesting, thanks.

[Dan Warburton]

Yes, it's hard to imagine anyone kicking a TV to pieces at the news today, excellent idea though that is

[surfer]

Umberto D. (De Sica, 1952) - I believe this is the Italian version of Marley and Me.