Recently Watched Films

[hatta]

When's that documentary on Sachiko that guy was filming for at the last Amplify supposed to happen?

haha, he's been making that for a looooooong time already....

heh. Maybe its just an excuse to stalk Sachiko...

[leroysghost]

Chan-wook Park - Thirst (2009)

instead of even attempting to see Inglourious Basterds on it's opening day i decided to catch a different film that was a decade in the making

Park has been a favorite director of mine and Thirst is on par with the rest of his post JSA work. I like how he never holds your hand or over explains what is going on in his movies (which can make watching difficult because at times his films seem like they can go off in any direction all of a sudden). I also like how, despite all the blood and uncomfortable sound design, Park is really a big romantic softy, which can be a refreshing counter to the post-modern detachment feel you sometimes get from a Tarantino or Coen brothers film.

also,
Ok-bin Kim
Ok-bin Kim
Ok-bin Kim
we need to get her into more movies immediately!

on a side note, i am frequently impressed by Korean movie posters, which in some cases turn out to be better then the films themselves.

[jon abbey]

Dazed and Confused (Linklater, 1993).

made the right decision to avoid this for 15+ years, should have probably kept that streak going. not bad, but pretty superficial. dug all the seventies classics, nice to see I still know the words to songs I probably haven't heard in 20 or 25 years.

[Jesse]

I have seen 5 Kiarostami films; I have liked them all, was blown away by a few.

The ten year old boy featured in Ten, now 17, was arrested and beaten by police in June 2009, for wearing the green arm band signifying his support of presidential candidate Moussavi.

[eraritjaritjaka]

Park has been a favorite director of mine and Thirst is on par with the rest of his post JSA work.

park c-w is a long time favorite here as well, cant wait to see it. tho i confess im growing a bit tired of of song kang-ho.

[Jesse]

balance beams [Jonas Leddington, 2002]

[leroysghost]

Dazed and Confused (Linklater, 1993).

made the right decision to avoid this for 15+ years, should have probably kept that streak going. not bad, but pretty superficial. dug all the seventies classics, nice to see I still know the words to songs I probably haven't heard in 20 or 25 years.

i don't think i've seen a Linklater film that wasn't worth avoiding

i find myself both dazed and confused about the appeal of both Linklater and Steven Soderbergh

[Dan Warburton]

Terence Young, The Valachi Papers, 1972

This one got a bit overlooked when The Godfather came out, but is well worth a watch - Bronson plays the glamourless, not particularly bright mobster chauffeur straight and well. No flashy shit either from Terence Young (who also directed three out the first four Bond films). Solid. Not great, but not bad. And always nice to see Lino Ventura - speaking his native Italian for once (though one wonders whether he was overdubbed - not much of a French accent to his English).

[surfer]

Paranoid Park (Van Sant, 2008) - Probably the best VS I've seen. Works as a hour long ode to "underground" skate culture, which VS obviously has a soft spot for, and as psychological study of the lead character. I particularly like the way events and scenes are repeated cyclically, and as new information is given to the viewer, the scenes obtain a depth that we didnt gleam earlier on. The cinematography is gorgeous, the skate sequences balletic. The violent incident which forms the core of the movie is pretty graphic, and jolts you awake if you've been seduced by the sensuousness of the camera work. The actors consist mostly of younger teens and 20-somethings, and with only a few exceptions (the lead character's girlfriend is a pretty stiff cliche), they are very good. If you have any tolerance for skate videos and culture, I recommend it.

[fearandpanic]

The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970).

Sam Peckinpah's comedy-western successor to The Wild Bunch, and a notorious, career-ruining flop. Jason Robards plays the title character (and he does create a pretty memorable one), a misfit propsector who accidentally discovers water in the middle of the desert and, while living there in a shack, gradually establishes himself as a businessman. Along the way he meets a prostitute and an impossibly fucking annoying "swinging 60s"-style hip priest, who spouts annoying phrases presumably designed to appeal to what Warner Bros. imagined a young, hip audience to be. Most of the comedy misfires (with sped-up film in the Benny Hill mode), and there are some obnoxious moments of heavy-handed patriotism, but there are some touching bits in a more serious mode as his relationship with the Stella Stevens character deepens. Misfired ending also.

[MRS]

(with sped-up film in the Benny Hill mode)

oh my god

[Jesse]

Not sure why this garnered the accolades it did, it's completely unremarkable. It is numbingly repetitive, employs constant annoying split screens, and Tyson is, whatever your estimation of him, without insights. Toback gave Tyson 90 minutes to "explain". tangentially and in rambling digressions, his history of rage, rape and domestic abuse. It's akin to the O.J. project (an indulgent apologia for crimes and alleged crimes). I wanted to learn something about the fighter, didn't.
The boxing footage is ok, but poorly edited (and repetitive).

See Toback's first film, Fingers, a whole other kettle of fish.

[Dan Warburton]

The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970).

Sam Peckinpah's comedy-western successor to The Wild Bunch, and a notorious, career-ruining flop. Jason Robards plays the title character (and he does create a pretty memorable one), a misfit propsector who accidentally discovers water in the middle of the desert and, while living there in a shack, gradually establishes himself as a businessman. Along the way he meets a prostitute and an impossibly fucking annoying "swinging 60s"-style hip priest, who spouts annoying phrases presumably designed to appeal to what Warner Bros. imagined a young, hip audience to be. Most of the comedy misfires (with sped-up film in the Benny Hill mode), and there are some obnoxious moments of heavy-handed patriotism, but there are some touching bits in a more serious mode as his relationship with the Stella Stevens character deepens. Misfired ending also.

I like this much more than you seem to do - so did SP, who described it as his favourite film on several occasions. Nor do I think the comedy misfires (it's always more difficult to agree on questions of humour): fastmotion for humorous effect was very much l'air du temps back then - there are good examples of it in Richard Lester's The Knack, Tony Richardson's Tom Jones and Pasolini's trilogy - and Peckinpah doesn't use it much. Idem the zoom in & out on Stella's breasts, very much in line with the bawdy bordello humour of 60s cowboy flicks à la Cat Ballou.
The "priest" is an odd character for sure, but I think the chemistry between Robards (superb as always) and David Warner (who interestingly enough also appears in Tom Jones, and as Henry Niles in Straw Dogs) works. Don't mind the ending either - what didn't you like, Cable's demise or the surreal appearance of a chauffered-driven limo in the Nevada desert?

[eraritjaritjaka]

all documentaries:

Discovering Electronic Music - Bernard Wilets
educational video about analog synthesizers. some cool gear and has the charm that comes from
being a technology-hyping video thats long out of date.

Crazy Rulers Of The World - Jon Ronson
interesting 3-part documentary series. the general theme being 'members of the ruling elite can be
as dumb/paranoid/odd/crazy as anyone else'. lamb-carrying peace-warriors, soldiers staring at goats
and hamsters with the intent to kill them using their minds, music as weaponry/torture, remote viewing,
and frank olson are all featured topics here.

Small Town Ecstasy - Jay Blumenfield
story of a guy who gets a divorce and goes through a mid-life crisis/second childhood, and begins
experimenting with drugs, ultimately taking ecstasy with his children. on camera. and things kinda
unravel from there.

Okie Noodling - Bradley Beesley
what the title says, pretty much. entertaining look at the niche-sport of noodling and its
attendant personalities, with a bit of a sly wink at the audience here and there...not derision,
but more like a good-humoured commentary on ironies/personality quirks/etc.

[leroysghost]

William Wyler - The Letter (1940)

good expressionist, almost noir-ish atmosphere. probably a high water mark for everybody involved.

you might be tempted to balk at the racism, but after you consider that the protagonists are unethical, adulterous, murdering imperialists, the eurasian dragon lady comes off looking pretty good.

[fearandpanic]

I like [The Ballad of Cable Hogue] much more than you seem to do - so did SP, who described it as his favourite film on several occasions.

I'm sure he felt that to a certain extent, but I also think he was rubbing the studio's nose in it for having dropped him because of it. From what I gather they saw it as a bit of an embarrassment (rightly or wrongly), and his comment has a perverse ring to it. I wonder how many Peckinpah admirers would agree with him. Even in the best light, it's still a minor entry.

Nor do I think the comedy misfires (it's always more difficult to agree on questions of humour): fastmotion for humorous effect was very much l'air du temps back then

As you say the fast-motion gags are only fleeting, and, while not really funny, they have a certain retro throwback value (as they have in some of Pasolini's films). But that's not really what I had in mind when I said the comedy misfires. The central gag of the film is that the priest character is a sex-fiend who only has outward respectability. In reality he's a carouser. The minute he arrived on screen I though, god, when is the film going to move on from this single joke. Never does.

The "priest" is an odd character for sure, but I think the chemistry between Robards (superb as always) and David Warner (who interestingly enough also appears in Tom Jones, and as Henry Niles in Straw Dogs) works.

By keeping him on as a central character the writers must have intended some parallels to be drawn with Cable, but Stevens's character fits that bill much better. I dunno. I think it would have worked better without Warner. He's presumably mostly only there because Cable spends most of the time isolated in the desert, which isn't very conducive to dialogue. But the parts I enjoyed most were actually Cable's monologues (addressing God) or his first trip into town by himself.

Don't mind the ending either - what didn't you like, Cable's demise or the surreal appearance of a chauffered-driven limo in the Nevada desert?

The car thing is fine, even if it's a bit heavy handed as a symbol (and the last shot is cars travelling one way, horses another). The actual ending seems fairly pointless. I think the couple heading off together would have been more dramatic.

[Dan Warburton]

All good points. Still like it. Meanwhile, last night's delight was



François Truffaut, Baisers Volés, 1968

Of course, Jean-Pierre Léaud ("Antoine Doinel Antoine Doinel Antoine Doinel!") and Delphine Seyrig ("Fabienne Tabard Fabienne Tabard!") steal the show, but Michel Lonsdale (above) is hilarious as Tabard, the shoeshop manager.

[Stephen]

Last couple of weeks:



Kieslowski Camera Buff Whoever it was made the recommendation in the films about film-making thread: Thanks, had never heard of this before and was fairly blown away.



Kurosawa Seven Samurai Can't believe I hadn't seen this before. I don't know if this came before or after Throne of Blood but you can really see the Shakesperian in him.

and then at the cinema:


Fukunaga - Sin Nombre which was a bit too 'City of God' for my liking, though it has some amazing moments, like losing a lead character in the blink of an eye between two train carriages.

[fearandpanic]

The Angel Levine (1970)

Bizarre religious fantasy with an angel (played by Harry Belafonte) being sent to help a poor old man (played very well by Zero Mostel) and his dying wife. All three characters are Jewish; much is made of a ceremonial meal they have together; but the film's twist on the familiar story is that Mostel's character is suicidal, has lost his religious sentiments, and refuses to make the leap of faith. It's all very muddled. Didn't really enjoy it, all told.

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Okay. River Phoenix is good in it.

[MRS]

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Okay. River Phoenix is good in it.

The house cleaning fetish is pretty hilarious. Keanu Reeves, worst Prince Hal ever?