luka

Well-known member
i've been rying to watch herzog feature films recently and finding it a bit of a chore. i almost got into fitzcarraldo last night but when i realised i'd only watched half of it (the one hr 20 minute mark) WHEN IT FELT LIKE I'D ALREADY BEEN oops,already been in front of the tv for 3 hours i had to give up. i might watch the 2nd half tonight though, it wasn't that bad, just a bit boring.
 
I saw Bullet Boy last night and was impressed. It may have a lot of cliches and be a one-sided presentation of the black community in Hackney but it captured an atmosphere and wasn't too preachy. It was very watchable and the acting was excellent, especially young Curtis.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
I liked the one about the funny little guy who moves from Germany to the US. a lot.

never did see fitz... someday I'd like to.

it's his documentaries that are fascinating to me... if you can find it, might be rare, there is a collection of short docs on things like an Auctioneering convention, an evacuated city in South America, and other bizzare but telling subjects... grizzly wasn't bad either.

the one I'm seeing next is "Black Earth" the doc he made in Afganistan.
 

owen

Well-known member
confucius said:
I liked the one about the funny little guy who moves from Germany to the US. a lot.
ah yes, the one ian curtis liked so much he killed himself after watching it...

i like some herzog, though is v easily parodied- heart of glass especially ('he'd decided to do a film based on 'fitzcarraldo's reviews' sez RW fassbinder)
 

h-crimm

Well-known member
they showed kaspar hauser in my laboratory a few weeks ago........... its got the "funny little guy" in :(
anyway the story is nuts isnt it? its all real - true life.
i think thats one cool thing about a lot of these herzog films. Aguirre was a real guy, Fitzcarraldo was (maybe) the Grizzly guy was real, and kaspar...
the good thing which follows on is how herzog doesnt feel bound in any way to the real story he's co-opted. the real Aguirre survived, reached the ocean, and escaped to revolt again.
I like the fact that the superficially juicy conspiracy about kaspar hauser being the abused heir to the bavarian throne isnt mentioned. its too coarse. his assasination just happens for no reason, like everything else in his life.

i saw "even dwarves started small" the other day. i think its filmed on lava fields in south america. a group of dwarves who are imprisoned and tormented by ... more dwarves decide to destroy all the trappings of the world (mainly a tree, a car, some plants and some plates). i think it was his second film made as an afront to critics and audiences who he felt were too comfortable with his first :p



p.s. partly posting to push shitty westerns off the top spot and get things back onto unwatchable eastern european mess...
 

rewch

Well-known member
lazy the first time

confucius said:
I liked the one about the funny little guy who moves from Germany to the US. a lot.

never did see fitz... someday I'd like to.

it's his documentaries that are fascinating to me... if you can find it, might be rare, there is a collection of short docs on things like an Auctioneering convention, an evacuated city in South America, and other bizzare but telling subjects... grizzly wasn't bad either.

the one I'm seeing next is "Black Earth" the doc he made in Afganistan.

ythere's a good one he made about the oil wells burning in kuwait after the first gulf war... it features the fire fighters as heroes in hell... bit pretentious but visually awesome... called lessons in darkness (lektionen in finsternis)

also the classic one on the saharan tribe where the men beautify themselves before being picked out by women... Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun (Wodaabe - Die Hirten der Sonne. Nomaden am Südrand der Sahara)
 
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owen

Well-known member
h-crimm said:
p.s. partly posting to push shitty westerns off the top spot and get things back onto unwatchable eastern european mess...

excellent!
am planning to spend most of the week at the NFT watching the 'futurist eccentrism' of Kozintsev and Trauberg- which i think ticks every available box. silent- check, communist- check, eastern european- check, avant-garde- check...
SVD1927.jpg

http://www.bfi.org.uk/incinemas/nft/seasons/kozintsev/
 

ripley

Well-known member
This is rather less highfalutin, but I would recommend Nochnoy Dozor (Night Watch) - the russian vampire apocalypse movie. For the details as much as the big stuff.
 

Padraig

Banned
owen said:
ah yes, the one ian curtis liked so much he killed himself after watching it...

i like some herzog, though is v easily parodied- heart of glass especially ('he'd decided to do a film based on 'fitzcarraldo's reviews' sez RW fassbinder)

Well, let them parody it: it is still, along with Fata Morgana (often favourably compared to 2001) and Aguirre: The Wrath of God, among his (or anyone else's) best cinematic achievements [BTW, it would be very odd if Fassbinder had expressed such a sentiment, given that Fitzcarraldo was made 6 years AFTER Heart of Glass (1976) and given that Fassbinder had died before its release ... but you never know]. Mythological documentary seems to be hHerzog's film-poetic specialty, best realised, though, via the fictional feature film form (rather than documentary).
 

owen

Well-known member
well spotted padraig, the RWF quote is actually about kaspar hauser- my mistake...

i suppose what i don't like in herzog is that he's so bloody outdoorsy-- but yes, obviously aguirre is a masterpiece, etc...
 

ivansmagghe

in the wrong meeting
more melville

hello, new to the forum. looks pretty cool.

"Le Cercle rouge" was my dad's fave movie (i am a french man living in london). it is beautiful even if probably Melville's less abstract movie. Have you seen : 'Le Samourai", his most stylised work, or "un flic", less perfect but great nonetheless.

there is a double dvd un flic/ bob le flambeur, available in the uk.

le samourai is available in the US, criterion if i remember. copies possible (swaps)/




WOEBOT said:
"Le Cercle Rouge"

This is a great super-cool French crime movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065531/
 

ivansmagghe

in the wrong meeting
other recommendations

apart from melville (see below)

George Romero's 1974 "Martin" has just been reissued in France. his fave movie. quite interesting. quite different to his other stuff.

Nicholas Ray's "Johnny guitar" is my fave ever.

also "indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetta" (investigation on a citizen above suspicion). incredible 1970 political italian movie. i have been looking for a copy on VHS/DVD for years and years. any help?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065889/

a very good resource for movies: www.subcin.com
 

Immryr

Well-known member
Wow i just got done watching Martin and i thought it was fantastic.

Now i know what the Soft Cell song of the same name is all about :]
 
D

droid

Guest
Immryr said:
Wow i just got done watching Martin and i thought it was fantastic.

Now i know what the Soft Cell song of the same name is all about :]

What a great film! that home invasion scene is brilliant... and the ending!!! :eek:

One of the most idiosyncratic horrors ever made.
 

Broken Witch

New member
Awesome film

I would have to say the best film I have seen recently is Show me love directed by Lukas Moodyson

It's a story of 1st love and the awkwardness that comes with being a teenager, it's sweet and moving...
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
apologies if this has been mentioend already but herzog's grizzly man (out now at the arts) is
an amazing peice of work.
 

robin

Well-known member
i would unreservedly recommend the cameraman,a buster keaton film i saw in paris a while ago
appearently it was lost for years and they only just found a print of it or something
anyway,its incredible,every other film i've seen by him i've loved too,but this was the first and the longest,not a moment wasted
i actually saw it on my own initially while my girlfriend was shopping,i decided to go and see a film on a whim and wandered into it,not knowing much about buster keaton except that he was meant to be good,and i enjoyed it so much that i went and met up with my girlfriend again afterwards,got a meal,and then went back to see it with her at the next showing that night!
she loved it too,i really cant see anyone not enjoying it...

also,i just watched hannah and her sisters,which i cant recommend unreservedly because i know a lot of people have a problem with woody allen but i was blown away by it...
the characters are beautifully drawn and all really well acted,new york looks amazing in it as always,there's nice music throughout,some great one liners,parts of it were genuinely moving,i just enjoyed every moment of it...also i love the way,as in most of his films,most memorably manhattan,he manages to work in,amongst all the emotional themes, the importance art has in his life (in this case the marx brothers)

ps-droid,i'm sure you probably know this already,but just in case you don't-theres loads of beckett stuff on in dublin in april,including waiting for godot,which is the most obvious thing but still great,and engame and krapps last tape,both of which are superb...
 

zhao

there are no accidents
Raw Patrick said:
HMV sale:

Miyakai's Spirited Away DVD (a fiver)
Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers DVD (nine quid)


ahhh... both worth having around the house.
 
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