gumdrops

Well-known member
not sure about unreservedly but i would definitely recommend the killer inside me. even though i liked it a lot, i did feel at times like it could have done with a bit more dramatic meat maybe to counter all the understatment. obv THOSE two scenes did do that but i mean meat without resorting to brutal violence. not that there needs to be any more commentary on that, but i didnt think the first one was really necessary tbh. i get why its there - how else would he have generated so much publicity and fuss? - but it really is too long. and i think it could have done with less shots of her face getting completely pumelled. i really had to turn away a few times. which i suppose is the point, and well kudos to him for making it so its so horrific theres nothing appealing about it at all. but that doesnt mean it was totally necessary.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
I watched Kurosawa's Throne of Blood last night. Dear God, what a film! Straight up killer. It's an adaptation of Macbeth, and according to the notes, is recognised as one of the greatest Shakespeare films ever made. I can well believe it.

Even watching on a relatively small Mac screen, the sets and shot composition looked incredible. Amazing dark, sparse landscapes, howling wind, and horesebacked samuri disappearing in and out of the mist - it really is a vision of the otherworld. Toshiro Mifune as the Macbeth character is absolutely incredible as well.
 
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slim jenkins

El Hombre Invisible
Just watched the first part of Fassbinder's World on a Wire - extremely stylish sci-fi with interesting ideas which have been done several times since but probably never so well.

Yeah, I'm watching that at the moment...interesting...not least the 70s futurist decor and dream/zomby-like acting/atmosphere.
 

mms

sometimes
i watched peter weir's 'the last wave' the other night - that's a magnificent film, it followed picnic at hanging rock, lush spookyness - a kind of sort of Australian Wickerman.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Wanted to see The Wave for a while.
I've been watching parts six to ten of Dekialog, ten shortish films by Kieslo... Kies... the guy who did Three Colours - all really good melancholic but amusing and diverting little vignettes of Polish life, more affecting than his more famous films for my money. Also, L'enfer de Clouzot a documentary about the French maestro's ill-fated attempt to make his most ambitious film that ended in failure and heart attack. Really interesting and the footage that does exist from L'Enfer tantalisingly shows what a masterpiece it could have been. Not sure about their decision to film some of the scenes from the script with modern actors against a black background though.
 

slim jenkins

El Hombre Invisible
Also, L'enfer de Clouzot a documentary about the French maestro's ill-fated attempt to make his most ambitious film that ended in failure and heart attack. Really interesting and the footage that does exist from L'Enfer tantalisingly shows what a masterpiece it could have been. Not sure about their decision to film some of the scenes from the script with modern actors against a black background though.

The scenes from the film are amazing...tragic that it was never completed.
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
I watched Kurosawa's Throne of Blood last night. Dear God, what a film! Straight up killer. It's an adaptation of Macbeth, and according to the notes, is recognised as one of the greatest Shakespeare films ever made. I can well believe it.

Yeah, it's great, I like it a lot more than Ran actually (which is Kurosawa doing Lear, if you haven't seen it).

The English title "Throne of Blood" was apparently an attempt to make it sound more racey / more what an English-speaking audience wanted from "the Orient". The Japanese transliterates as something like "Castle of Cobwebs". :D


Really blown away by 'Noise'. Australians do fucking depressing slice of life stuff so, so well. I don't know how they regularly make stuff that looks .. well, just depressing, something more on screen. Makes me despair for the state of the NZ movie scene, which has been extra-rooted by Peter Jackson's success. :(

(Rooted = fucked, btw.)

Mind you... 'Boy' is a good thing. It's a bit of a stretch, but reminds me of Von Triers 'The Idiots' in the way it makes you laugh at something for a while and then suddenly brings you down. With good reason, in this case. :p
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
Not a film as such, but Secret Cinema. Blade Runner in the heart of Canary Wharf, noired up to the max with strippers, dwarves, noodles and security nazis in shiny black PVC.
 

polystyle

Well-known member
The Last Wave"

i watched peter weir's 'the last wave' the other night - that's a magnificent film, it followed picnic at hanging rock, lush spookyness - a kind of sort of Australian Wickerman.

Just saw "Wave" again recently on cable, still feels fresh and 'essential' in the story it tells.
Makes the best out of a not so large budget too.
 

slowtrain

Well-known member
Yeah, it's great, I like it a lot more than Ran actually (which is Kurosawa doing Lear, if you haven't seen it).

The English title "Throne of Blood" was apparently an attempt to make it sound more racey / more what an English-speaking audience wanted from "the Orient". The Japanese transliterates as something like "Castle of Cobwebs". :D


Really blown away by 'Noise'. Australians do fucking depressing slice of life stuff so, so well. I don't know how they regularly make stuff that looks .. well, just depressing, something more on screen. Makes me despair for the state of the NZ movie scene, which has been extra-rooted by Peter Jackson's success. :(

(Rooted = fucked, btw.)

Mind you... 'Boy' is a good thing. It's a bit of a stretch, but reminds me of Von Triers 'The Idiots' in the way it makes you laugh at something for a while and then suddenly brings you down. With good reason, in this case. :p

Yeah, what happened to the 90s?
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Cabaret. Lives up to all the hype and more. Liza Minelli puts in an astonishing portrayal of someone desperately repressing her real pain, and the way in which that makes her act towards others. As much a psychological film to me as a political one, but works brilliantly on both levels.
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Cabaret. Lives up to all the hype and more. Liza Minelli puts in an astonishing portrayal of someone desperately repressing her real pain, and the way in which that makes her act towards others. As much a psychological film to me as a political one, but works brilliantly on both levels.

I'm always shocked at how dark Cabaret is everytime I watch it. I know there's that kinda Baby Jane/Virgina Woolf darkness often bandied around in gay classic films, but Cabaret is truly...horrific, it's really nightmarish. So well done, it's like the obverse of camp. Mein Camp, actually, now I think of it.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
The intention was presumably to portray how, once one starts denying things to oneself, it's incredibly easy to deny obvious truths in the wider scheme of things (in this case, fascism).

Highlighting the link between personal integrity and collective integrity is pretty high ground for a film, but it manages it superbly.

And yes, dark as fuck.
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
And it does it as a fucking musical! It's kind of unfeasible. You can imagine the pitch for that being laughed out of Hollywood now.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
70s Hollywood really was unbelievable. Film after film with amazingly dark premises, all shot on big budgets and looking spectacular. An era that could maybe, practically speaking, never happen again. The sheer thought of Cabaret/The Graduate/Five Easy Pieces/The Conversation being made as huge projects is thrilling.

90s American/Canadian indie film is perhaps another golden era, but obv never reached as many people.
 
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