robin

Well-known member
bought fallen angel by otto preminger the other day on a whim,it was really good,i'm a sucker for old film noir-esque films...
 

run_time

Well-known member
The Squid and the Whale

Went and saw The Squid and the Whale and really enjoying. entertaining and rather black humoured look at a family going through a relationship break up. Would recommend giving it a go
 

DJ PIMP

Well-known member
ascoltare said:
apologies if this has been mentioend already but herzog's grizzly man (out now at the arts) is
an amazing peice of work.
Saw this last night. Tim Treadwell was something else, emotional/personal problems aside, it was like he was perma-high.

Coupled with Herzogs accent and flat delivery this line was golden...

Werner Herzog: "And what haunts me, is that in all the faces of all the bears that Treadwell ever filmed, I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy. I see only the overwhelming indifference of nature. To me, there is no such thing as a secret world of the bears. And this blank stare speaks only of a half-bored interest in food." :D

Also recently enjoyed: Chaplin's Gold Rush, Good Night and Good Luck, Capote.
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich
"herzog's grizzly man"
I saw this and enjoyed it a lot - funny, sad etc However I found it fairly exploitative, Herzog is obviously far cleverer than all of the people involved and he seemed able to make them say and do whatever he wanted while pretending to just observe. For example when he says to Treadwell's ex "do you feel like Timothy's widow" she has clearly never thought this at all but with a bit of prompting and steering from Herzog suddenly she does. It seemed that he befriended the characters during the making of the film but I wonder how much time he spends with them now?
I watched The Music of Chance yesterday which is a film with James Spader based on a Paul Auster novel. I've never read the book but I greatly enjoyed the film although, like many of the Auster things I have read it seemed to end without any satisfactory resolution or explanation or anything really.
 

DJ PIMP

Well-known member
IdleRich said:
For example when he says to Treadwell's ex "do you feel like Timothy's widow" she has clearly never thought this at all but with a bit of prompting and steering from Herzog suddenly she does.
Agreed, but she appeared to enjoy the attention she was getting.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
 
The Trial of Joan of Arc from Bresson
Code Unknown from Michael Haneke
Close-Up from Abbas Kiarostami
Camera Buff from Kieslowski
The Sacrifice from Tarkovsky

Just picked all these up on DVD recently. Films that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
 

tox

Factory Girl
Has anyone caught Manderlay, the second part of the Dogville trilogy, yet?

I saw it the other day, and was very impressed. As much as I found Dogville interesting, it was a bit of a slog to get through. Manderlay, on the other hand is much more succinct and fares better for that I think. The division of these films into chapters works really well. Each contains its own little focus or point, which keeps you guessing as to the overall outlook of the film right to the end.

Looking forward to seeing the third part!
 

robin

Well-known member
i'm sure most of you have seen it,but i'd never seen the last picture show until the other day
needless to say i really enjoyed it...its such a beautiful film to look at,even aside from the characters and stories and so on...
 

SIZZLE

gasoline for haters
unreservedly reccomendable Japanese films:

Angel Dust by Sogo Ishii

Surreal, paranoid Tokyo serial killer nightmare with really good photography. Very uncomfortable, very beautiful and unique.

Nobody Knows by Hirokazu Kore Eda

Beautiful, beautiful film about latchkey kids, also set in Tokyo. Maborosi and Afterlife are also some of my all time favorites, this guy is massively underrated.

Dolls by Takeshi Kitano

I love Takeshi in general, he's like the gangster/comedian Ozu.

Floating Weeds by Yasujiro Ozu

And while I'm mentoning him, Ozu in color and at the height of his powers. Delicate family melodrama from the master.
 

SIZZLE

gasoline for haters
Kiarostami mention above reminded me, two wonderful Iranian films:

Gabbeh by Mohsen Makhmalbahaf, about a carpet that is a girl, beautiful lush naturalistic color, dreamlike magic, brilliant fresh film making.

Taste of Cherry by Abbas Kiarostami, depressing brilliant film about a guy driving around the outskirts of Tehran, looking for someone to bury him after he kills himself. Won the Palme D'Or at Cannes.
 
O

Omaar

Guest
Saw Tarnation (Jonathon Caouette) recently, never has a film drawn me in emotionally to such a degree so rapidly. Pretty self indulgent, but that's part of the point. Intense and Harrowing.
 

ambrose

Well-known member
recentish Kiarostami (sort of) rec:

Tickets. its ken loach, Kiarostami and this italian dude doing 3 parts each of a film about a single train journey, with characers from each film appearing in the next part. Kiarostami's is the best, didnt like the ken loach one.
 

tox

Factory Girl
2046 by Kar Wai Wong.

Realise I'm late to the party on this one, but isn't it beautiful? I'm not sure I can think of many films that match it for the sexiness of every shot. Loved it.

Had to watch it dubbed in Japanese, with Japanese subtitles, and given that my Japanese isn't that great I might have missed a fair few details, but then again perhaps that added to the whole mysterious beauty of it.
 
D

droid

Guest
I quite enjoyed Hostel. Not great, but better than your average 00's horror - and not a hint of irony!
 

SIZZLE

gasoline for haters
Gotta say, as a died in the wool Wong Kar Wai disciple (favorites are Happy Together and Fallen Angels) I found 2046 to be a bit anti-climactic. I was not a great fan of Mood For Love, though I enjoyed more than most other films, but the re-visit I found very unnecessary. I think there's some backstory here about the failure of the shoot for the futuristic parts and then a reconception of the film in editing (not a new idea for WKW who often shoots without a 'script').

Found this one a bit more flat, less luscious, strange, beautiful than some of the previous works.

Anyone know if there was ever a finished version of Summer in Beijing? Heard it was in production and saw a picture of a poster but that was all.
 

Octopus?

Well-known member
droid said:
I quite enjoyed Hostel. Not great, but better than your average 00's horror - and not a hint of irony!

Hostel was highly enjoyable. Very well paced throw-back to a 70's survival / adventure horror movie.
 

DigitalDjigit

Honky Tonk Woman
Hostel was the biggest piece of shit I've had the misfortune of seeing in a theater. I wish I walked out earlier than I did. It's stupid and vile. It's like Harold & Kumar Go To Bathory's Castle.
 

ripley

Well-known member
Brick. Totally enjoyable film noir, set in a high school. All of it was perfectly done, an ode to noir classics.

I also quite liked Transamerica, for its anti-grandiosity, it's just a rather sweet film with some truly weird and funny and disorienting moments. Felicity Huffman is awesome.
 
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