IdleRich

IdleRich
Ah

The word "cipher" (minority spelling "cypher") in former times meant "zero" and had the same origin: Middle French as cifre and Medieval Latin as cifra, from the Arabic صفر sifr = zero (see Zero—Etymology). "Cipher" was later used for any decimal digit, even any number. There are many theories about how the word "cipher" may have come to mean "encoding".
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I watched a decent early film by Joseph Losey with a young Oliver Reed called These Are The Damned. Reed is a kind of proto-type Alex with his gang of proto-droog teddy boys in black leather but the film goes in unexpected sci-fi directions and in fact ends up as a really bleak and nasty bit of cinema. Well worth checking, and if you do watch it don't check what it's about I'd say cos it's best enjoyed that way. Oh it's Hammer I should say.

 
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firefinga

Well-known member
As a fan of motorsports I had to go and watch "Ford vs Ferrari", and it was great. Quite close to the actual events, and the racing scenes weren't souped up too much via CGI. Oldfashioned storytelling.
 

catalog

Well-known member
has everyone seen the maradona doc?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Maradona_(film)

by the same guy who did the amy winehouse and senna (?) ones. really good. actually that same guy, asif kapadia, he got his break in the biz helping with locations in east london on full metal jacket.

but yeah, this film, it's the best of the bunch. all the archive footage of naples is great, some of the weird things people did there at the height of diegos fame (painting graffiti with him as jesus being cradled by the virgin, nurse who took his blood for a test placing a vial of it in the church of san gennaro) slightly incredible. and then the inevitable descent.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
We need a thread for films that aren't unreservedly great or bad. Whatever. Today we watched High Life from Claire Dennis with Robert Pattinson and Mia Goth and Juliet Binoche, it's closer to the totally recommend end so I will put it here. Weird film with convicts sent into space and experimented on by a renegade doctor. The non-linear narrative is unnecessary and to me merely confusing what is going on. I think that with the interesting stuff she'd put together it would have been better to have confidence to let that speak for itself instead of obscuring it like that.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Maradona was great!

I saw some great films this year at the cinema and the one that stands out is "The Farewell".
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I watched a film called The Big Bang which is a kind of pseudo-neo-noir with Antonio Banderas a the private dick who narrates the story in time honoured style to a trio of sleazy cops. There is a femme-fatale (or two) and gigantic Russian boxer and an albino dwarf and... basically it self-consciously goes out of its way to be weird, and on top of everything else there is this really random physics slant with a bar called Planck's Constant and a studio thing where Snoop Dogg (oh yeah, Snoop Dogg is in it) shoots his porno films called Schrodinger's Warehouse or something and a girl (called Fey N'man or something) with a tattoo of a diagram of an atom on her tits. It's got some almost cartoony shots that are like a nod to Sin City or something and it's a total mess... I mean, it really is a load of bollocks, especially the ending. But I enjoyed it a lot.. ok more than a bit. So, once again I'm not unreservedly recommending it, but I'm recommending it with reservations to those who like this kind of thing.
 

catalog

Well-known member
Watched A LOT of films over the last few days. I don't think I would recommend a lot of these unreservedly.

Sorry, I know that's not what this thread is about:

Blade runner 2049:

7/10.

Had already seen this and thought it was kak but decided to reassess after various friends mentioned loving it. I think the central idea of what it means to be human is very interesting, that the replicants can out-human humans through their actions. Also some good settings/cinematography. But too much digression, especially towards the end (actual end is good).

Marriage story:

6/10.

OK, some good acting here and there, but again, structurally weak. There's a big scene 3/4 of the way through and they should have had the denouement straight after, but it waddles on a bit.

Jupiter ascending:

4/10.

Disappointing follow up to the matrix from the wachowskis. Good central idea, but not enough visual innovation to go with the ideas. Just bullet time really. Mila Kunis such a poor actor, never really there. Felt sorry for her.

New star wars:

8/10.

Pretty good, sort of back to the vibes of the original in that the focus is on tortured central characters. Fight scenes a bit weak though. Too many archetypes from before as well, not enough character innovations for the bit players.

Amour:

9/10.

Fell asleep so missed the middle hour, but this was really good, as expected. Depressing as well obviously. Haneke is one of the greatest living filmmakers no doubt.

Jeanne edelman:

8/10.

Only watched half so far, but it's pretty good. Like a serious drone album. Out bresson-ing Bresson. Great camera setups, set and acting. Total restraint. Talked all the way through it, but in a good way.

Delphine et Carole, insoumuses:

10/10.

Great doc, there's a really good exhibition about Delphine seyrig at Reina Sofia ATM and this doc is the companion. Never knew about any of this. Total revelation. Probably this one would be the one I recommend the most out of everything.

Souvenir:

7/10.

OK, sort of sums up the issues with the British film industry though, in that it's full of people who really don't live on the same planet as most others. At least she's showing her truth tho, instead of trying to fake something. Some good context and acting. Story gets a bit ploddy after the first hour.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Also I should say that we watched What? the Polanski film the other day (it has another title in English I think but I forget). Totally different from all his others that I've seen in that it was a kind of surreal comedy. The campy almost grand guignol atmosphere reminded me of Fellini, and not just cos it had Marcello Mastroianni (if I've spelled that right it's a miracle) in it as an aging pimp ("Oh I've left that life way behind me, it's in the dim and distant past.... almost seven months ago now") and a small role for Polanski himself. It reminded me a bit of Black Moon or Alice Ou La Derniere Fugue, surreal films about a lost girl who is trapped in a mad world, or in this case merely a mad house, and who has lots of insane adventures as a result. I don't really know what the film was supposed to be about but I enjoyed the ride well enough I guess.

WhatPolanski.jpg
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Also I should say that we watched What? the Polanski film the other day (it has another title in English I think but I forget). Totally different from all his others that I've seen in that it was a kind of surreal comedy. The campy almost grand guignol atmosphere reminded me of Fellini, and not just cos it had Marcello Mastroianni (if I've spelled that right it's a miracle) in it as an aging pimp ("Oh I've left that life way behind me, it's in the dim and distant past.... almost seven months ago now") and a small role for Polanski himself. It reminded me a bit of Black Moon or Alice Ou La Derniere Fugue, surreal films about a lost girl who is trapped in a mad world, or in this case merely a mad house, and who has lots of insane adventures as a result. I don't really know what the film was supposed to be about but I enjoyed the ride well enough I guess.

View attachment 2050

https://cinecittastudios.wordpress.com/2013/10/03/what-roman-polanski-1972/
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I did enjoy the scene with the tiger skin, or rather its fall-out

"Did he defile you?"
"Yes"
"Completely or just a little bit?"
"Oh, completely"

No mention of Fellini though in your (excellent) analysis? It really felt that there were several nods to his stuff... I dunno, City of Women (but with men) or, perhaps Cassanova or even Satyricon.
We watched MacBeth recently as well in fact, we've having a bit of a watching/re-watching Polanski season at our house for some reason. I love virtually all versions of it though so....
 

catalog

Well-known member
I'm still not really understanding what that ten out of ten one is... or is about at least.

Carole difficultsecindname started making a doc about her mate Delphine seyrig who died in 2009. Seyrig is like Catherine deneuve and been in loads of iconic french films. Carole basically unearthed an archive of all the feminist video work they did together in the 70s and 80s. Then carole died in 2018 I think. So the film has been put together by someone else, calisto McNulty.

Anyway it's just a compilation of a range of stuff they did, pro-abortion and prostitution expression videos, stuff about how women get fucked over in the film industry, culture jamming type stuff. It's all really interesting and quite thought provoking in a good way.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I watched a film called The Big Bang which is a kind of pseudo-neo-noir with Antonio Banderas a the private dick who narrates the story in time honoured style to a trio of sleazy cops. There is a femme-fatale (or two) and gigantic Russian boxer and an albino dwarf and... basically it self-consciously goes out of its way to be weird, and on top of everything else there is this really random physics slant with a bar called Planck's Constant and a studio thing where Snoop Dogg (oh yeah, Snoop Dogg is in it) shoots his porno films called Schrodinger's Warehouse or something and a girl (called Fey N'man or something) with a tattoo of a diagram of an atom on her tits. It's got some almost cartoony shots that are like a nod to Sin City or something and it's a total mess... I mean, it really is a load of bollocks, especially the ending. But I enjoyed it a lot.. ok more than a bit. So, once again I'm not unreservedly recommending it, but I'm recommending it with reservations to those who like this kind of thing.

So it's basically physics puns and female nudity?

Sounds terrible.
 

entertainment

Well-known member
Black Narcissus (1947) was really good.

Beatifully shot psychological drama about a group of nuns who move into a old palace in high in the Himalayas to start a school and hospital for the folks in the village below. They are gradually affected by a strange atmostphere in the palace and the constant winds that blow through it and begin to question their faith. A lot of looming death and repressed eroticism.
 
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