Recently Watched Films

[leroysghost]

i've love pretty much all the Imamura i've seen but if i'd say that Intentions of Murder and Vengeance Is Mine are probably his best. The Ballad of Narayama is good and is the most clear and direct illustration of his style and intentions, but personally i'd go for Black Rain, The Pornographers and Dr. Akagi first.

can you slightly rewrite this so it makes sense in English? I think the problem is probably around the bolded part in the first sentence, thanks.

oops. that's embarrassing, sorry.

Add a "d" to "love" and remove the "if" and it makes perfect sense.

yeah, this is what it's supposed to say

[jon abbey]

ok, thanks. I have Intentions of Murder and The Pornographers here already, so that works out well.

[leroysghost]

but you like Tarantino? to me they seem like two (or rather three) peas in a pod, either you loathe them or love them all (the Coens have made some shitty movies that annoyed the hell out of me though).

hmm. the Coens to me spend a lot of time trying to prove how endlessly clever they are, there's a feeling of condescension towards the audience quite often IMO. Tarantino has a massive ego, but it doesn't really come across in his actual films. he seems genuinely interested in making the best films he can in his own derivative-from-everywhere style, whereas the Coens often seem like their main goal is to make each other laugh.

also, while you could make a case for the best handful of Coen films against Tarantino's (I wouldn't agree, but one could make that case), they've released some brutal, indefensible duds also like The Man Who Wasn't There and The Hudsucker Proxy. Tarantino has never done anything like that, admittedly he's made way fewer films.

fair enough, but i'd argue that he Coens attempts to make each other laugh extend to the audience more often than not. they have made some indefensible duds (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Ladykillers) but i rather liked The Man Who Wasn't There and The Hudsucker Proxy. i can understand finding them quite annoying, but i wouldn't go as far as to call them duds...


Howard Hawks - Rio Lobo (1970)

Hawks' last film sadly undone by a strangely superficial atmosphere punctuated by some really poor acting all around. it's a shame because a lot of the directorial details are really nice (the train heist, the shotgun with the trigger tied back, the misfire in the bad guy's face near the end) there is just nothing there to hang them on.

[Dan Warburton]

François Truffaut, Les deux anglaises et le continent, 1971

Jules et Jim revisited, in colour: same author, but this time it's one guy and two girls, not the other way round. And I like it much more than J&J (always thought that film was overrated - and spoiled by Oskar Werner): Léaud is terrific (though if you don't like Léaud, steer clear), and I love Truffaut's breakneck voiceovers. It was a total flop when it was released, but Truffaut obviously felt close to it, as he re-edited it twice.

[mono tony]

Exit Wounds (2001) w/Steven Seagal and DMX. pretty bad, made it about 4/5 through the movie.

Hostel (2005) - surprisingly engaging. started out deceptively bad, then progressed beyond absurdity. i was dumbfounded/repulsed, and then sort of won over.

[Wombatz]

4 episodes into the Prisoner and becoming hooked. At first I thought the period-piece trappings where what its about, but there are so many off-beats in this, inexplicable mood swings, carefully worked-out details that give you ever so small wtf-moments, and hell yeah, McGoohan brings an insane amount of energy to the screen. I'm sure the famously baffling ending will feel contrived and I'll be disappointed, but this is not supposed to end anyway. It's sort of like if you take your favorite moments from the original Star Trek series to a Beckettian stage. Meta-squaredance. Very good.

[leroysghost]

Robert Aldrich - The Killing of Sister George (1968)

marvelous performances from Beryl Reid, Susannah York and Coral Browne here. remarkably free of camp too (aside from Reid's mooing at the end of the film ).
garish and unpleasant at times, but that's Aldrich all over, and this is one of his best.


Howard Hawks - El Dorado (1966)

almost as good as Rio Bravo. too bad about James Caan's character's racist and unfunny chinaman shenanigans though


Howard Hawks - Hatari! (1962)

Hawks at his purest. 157 minutes and basically no plot whatsoever...it's great.

[Dan Warburton]

Federico Fellini, Luci del Varietà, 1950

[Dan Warburton]

Marco Ferreri, La Grande Bouffe, 1973

Tête de veau sauce gribiche, anyone?

[leroysghost]

Speaking of videos, I saw that on Bonnie Jones' site: a korean horror short, with Hong Chulki music.
There's more here, also: http://hongchulki.com/index.php?/film-m ... exhausted/

damn! i've been itching to see Exhausted for a whole year now. i had NO idea that Hong Chulki was involved. now i'm positively beside myself!!! according to IMDB the film was in Leeds last month so at least it seems to be moving west...but still...fuck...nothing could make me happier now than an Exhausted/Trash Humpers double feature.

Suicidal Variations is promising, but it really isn't much more than a nasty little provocation to hoist on unsuspecting film goers at festivals (not that there's anything wrong with that ).

[Wombatz]

Eyes Wide Shut. If I remember correctly, this was generally dismissed when it came out, but has since been reclaimed because the auteur must rule. So insipid I don't know where to begin. Let's just say that I found Kidman even worse than Cruise, and if you need a secret society doing oh so wicked fashion parties and a hooker with a Maria Magdalena complex to merely tell a story about the 7 year itch, don't even try.

The friend who gave us this DVD also gave us Mahler by Ken Russell. The front cover reads: "One of Russell's best films to date," Channel 4 film. On the back: "The best film I have ever made about an artist," Ken Russell. Mahler on the front cover is sticking his baton into a garter-belted female Jesus longinus-stylee, doing his best to look like a perverted Harry Potter. I somehow dread our next free evening.

[fearandpanic]

The friend who gave us this DVD also gave us Mahler by Ken Russell. The front cover reads: "One of Russell's best films to date," Channel 4 film. On the back: "The best film I have ever made about an artist," Ken Russell. Mahler on the front cover is sticking his baton into a garter-belted female Jesus longinus-stylee, doing his best to look like a perverted Harry Potter. I somehow dread our next free evening.

That's pretty good, actually. It's mostly a straightforward biopic except for one or two tongue-in-cheek fantasy spectacles of anachronistically Nazified Wagnerian antisemitism. It is certainly the best of his films about composers--not that that's a great achievement, most of them being comically overblown duds. You also get to hear a lot of well-picked music on the soundtrack.

[surfer]

I just saw this today and while it is a bit presumptuous to say too much about any film that contains any sort of depth on a single viewing, I can at least say that I recommend it wholeheartedly. I suppose with the Coen's some caveat's should be made, so let's just say that while I've enjoyed many of their films from the '90s I've been less then thrilled with their output over the last decade. While Burn After Reading was a relatively amusing comedy in their sillier vein, and No Country for Old Men was a beautifully shot and powerful drama, those can be seen as the beginning of a return to form after the wasteland of remakes and ill-advised comedies that made up the bulk of their output in the aughts. This film though, feels like a real Coen Bros film, the first since The Man Who Wasn't There. It also is the closest in tone (if not theme) to Barton Fink which is IMO their greatest film to date. So a welcome return in my opinion. I don't really want to go into the plot or anything (plenty of real reviews out there for that), but let me just say it was beautifully shot, impeccably acted (by mostly stage and less known actors) with a multilayered script that continuously unfolded as the film progressed. It ended perfectly as well, though I guess there has been some contention about that.

I'd still say I prefer Barton Fink and The Big Lebowski but this is certainly a top five Coen Bros. and definitely worth catching in the theater. Speaking of which my experience in the theater was particularly galling for this. The (sparse) audience was filled with mostly older couples and the ones behind me were of that ilk that exclaims at every surprise, whispers asides to each other about their interpretation and burst into uproarious laughter at the strangest times. Frankly I was surprised that they didn't try to warn the characters onscreen of unseen dangers. Perhaps if it'd been a different type of movie they would have. This pretty much is why I don't see so many movies in the theater anymore.

I saw this last night and I give it a hesitant thumbs up. I agree the cinematography was excellent, many shots and sequences (while maybe not breathtaking) had me noting how well conceived and executed they were. Acting was great. Script was fine. But here's my problem, and perhaps this is really a criticism of the Coen's generally, in which case maybe its not a fair criticism, but they (the Coens) never really fully commit emotionally to Larry (the protagonist, who is essentially going through either a mid-life crisis, a nervous breakdown, or a series of divine tests) or to the story. Its like they are holding a hook and bait in front of the audience, waiting for them to become invested enough in Larry that they go for the bait, only to have it yanked away from them by the gag bits, the Coens shaking their heads and saying to the audience, "oh you didnt really believe we were serious did you?" The jokes seem to be at Larry's expense, and therefore more than a little disrespectful to the plight Larry is being put through. Look at the movie poster and the title, they're subtly mocking him as slightly pathetic. If this were a full blown comedy, then any goes, but the Coens are trying to make "serious" portrait of a jewish man and community poised between the conformity of the 50s, and the liberalism of the late 60s. When they get too close to a genuinely poignant or insightful moment, they retreat to safer territory. They seem unwilling or scared of really going out on a limb and exposing themselves by not resorting to caricature (the redneck neighbor, and south korean, even the desperate housewife, are all frankly, pretty embarassing characters).

Also, the music choices, which are always hit or miss in Coen brothers movies, I thought were pretty far off the mark. Particularly, the use of "Machine Gun" by the Band of Gypsys during the Sussmann story (the hebrew characters on the back of the goy's teeth). Distracting and puzzling choice. If there isnt a specific reason you want to use the music, leave it out. That scene would have been so much better without any music at all. Likewise a lot of the Jefferson Airplane songs - though I admit the elder Rabbi quoting Somebody To Love was a cute scene.

The ending I wholehearted liked and found surprising. Great ending. The rest of the movie is just about what you imagine it would be like. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing.

[walto]

The friend who gave us this DVD also gave us Mahler by Ken Russell. The front cover reads: "One of Russell's best films to date," Channel 4 film. On the back: "The best film I have ever made about an artist," Ken Russell. Mahler on the front cover is sticking his baton into a garter-belted female Jesus longinus-stylee, doing his best to look like a perverted Harry Potter. I somehow dread our next free evening.

That's pretty good, actually. It's mostly a straightforward biopic except for one or two tongue-in-cheek fantasy spectacles of anachronistically Nazified Wagnerian antisemitism. It is certainly the best of his films about composers--not that that's a great achievement, most of them being comically overblown duds. You also get to hear a lot of well-picked music on the soundtrack.

I have to admit I really enjoy those composer movies--even if they are crap. Delius is a real kick.

[walto]

Like Hatta, I'm quite fond of Lebowski and Fink.

[leroysghost]

André De Toth - Dark Waters (1944)

Merle Oberon is pretty good here as an unstable survivor of a shipwreak that killed her whole family. she seeks out her last living relatives and winds up on a louisiana bayou plantation inhabited by some exreamly creepy characters (Thomas Mitchell, Elisha Cook, Jr, Fay Bainter and John Qualen, all excellent) who imediatly attempt to gaslight her. a solid bit of Gothic Horror all in all, and a less sexist, stagy and patronizing alternative to the Cukor/Bergman Gaslight from the same year.

i was a little let down though, that nothing came of the almost equally creepy vibe that Oberon's doctor/boyfriend Franchot Tone gave off, but then i read about the original ending that De Toth envisioned:

Tone was one of many people up for the part of the doctor. The producers wanted a happy ending. But I wanted something else. I did not think you could have a happy ending in a case like that. So I had to create an atmosphere, like an orchestrator, of anxiety, not just from Cook and Mitchell but also from Tone. I had imagined a final scene of them, [Leslie and the doctor], together somewhere else. She would be at the piano inside, and outside it would be snowing. A band would be playing carols, on the corner a man would be selling chestnuts, and Tone, [the doctor], would be walking home. And on the corner, a little girl and her mother would be buying chestnuts. And suddenly the little girl would run over to Tone, yelling “Daddy, Daddy.”

André De Toth - Pitfall (1948)

a nice inversion of the film noir (and Double Indemnity in particular) in which the supposed femme fatale is more or less the only one who isn't calculating and deceitful.
Raymond Burr is the standout here, but there is solid acting by all parties involved [except maybe Byron Barr, who (funnily enough) was the daughter's boyfriend in Double Indemnity].

[Dan Warburton]

Federico Fellini, Il Bidone, 1955

[Dan Warburton]

Jim Jarmusch, Down By Law, 1988

Shame my cheapo DVD didn't subtitle Roberto's Italian rants - the Robert Frost poem he quotes is important, especially for the final shot of the film.

[Enoah_Ballard]

Hi there, this is my first post.



I recently watched Kiju Yoshida's AKITSU SPRINGS, probably his most melancholic movie (from the titles I've seen so far). I'm interested in Japanese New Wave as I just finished a research project on Shohei Imamura's oeuvre. So, as you can see, I was drawn to this board by some of the discussion related to him.

(Great community, by the way)

[leroysghost]

I just finished a research project on Shohei Imamura's oeuvre. So, as you can see, I was drawn to this board by some of the discussion related to him.

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.


yesterday i saw some top shelf film noir (including Where the Sidewalk Ends, which to me is by far the best of the Preminger/Andrews/Tierney/What Have You collaborations):

Otto Preminger - Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)


André De Toth - Crime Wave (1954)


Joseph H. Lewis - The Big Combo (1955)

my second viewing of these last two, and i think i liked them even better this time around. i noticed, watching them back to back, that the "rounding up of the usual suspects" shot in The Big Combo is the exact same one used in Crime Wave!