IdleRich
IdleRich
I think that someone on here mentioned this before but I can't find it, anyway I watched Art School Confidential the other day and it was a complete and utter mess. At the end I had no idea what they were trying to do with it and I don't think that they did either. It started off with a few clunky shots at obvious targets (art-school students) which were mildly amusing (I liked the bare-foot girl arriving at school only to tread on some broken glass) and I settled in for what appeared to be a not especially good but watchable comedy. Then it went totally wrong, they were obviously trying to inject some kind of depth and meaning but they completely failed and all of the subplots were both boring and stupid, a real waste of a couple of hours (and it was particularly galling that to get it out I had to pay the FIFTY-TWO POUND FIFTY fine that my girlfriend had run up on the last film she forgot to take back).
Much better but also something I wouldn't necessarily recommend was the Apu trilogy which I watched this week. It's obviously brilliant but I found it very depressing at times, particularly every single second of the second movie.
SPOILER
It tells a tale of a (once wealthy?) family living in grinding poverty, their lives made bearable by the spirit of the mother and the liveliness of Durka, the daughter. By the end of the first film both an elderly relative and Durka have died and Apu has reached about eight years old. It finishes with them heading off to try and start a new life in the city.
The second film begins with them finally having established themselves and looking as though the weak but lovely father may be able to earn enough money as a priest. Sadly it doesn't last and he is soon carried off by disease. Apu's mother works hard and scrapes to save for him and manages to put him through school where he triumphantly wins a scholarship. Reluctantly his mother allows him to head off to Calcutta and the scenes of his happiness at his freedom and her sadness are really heartbreaking. Finally she becomes ill and dies with Apu arriving home just too late to comfort her.
I watched the third film last night safe in the knowledge that his whole family were dead and surely no more misery could be heaped on him (and me) but I reckoned without a marriage to a young and beautiful girl which lasts just long enough for you to revel in their happiness before the curse of Apu in the form of childbirth sends her off to join the rest of his family. By this point I'd just about given up the will to live.
Basically, it's fantastic and looks great and everything but I kind of wish I hadn't watched it.
Much better but also something I wouldn't necessarily recommend was the Apu trilogy which I watched this week. It's obviously brilliant but I found it very depressing at times, particularly every single second of the second movie.
SPOILER
It tells a tale of a (once wealthy?) family living in grinding poverty, their lives made bearable by the spirit of the mother and the liveliness of Durka, the daughter. By the end of the first film both an elderly relative and Durka have died and Apu has reached about eight years old. It finishes with them heading off to try and start a new life in the city.
The second film begins with them finally having established themselves and looking as though the weak but lovely father may be able to earn enough money as a priest. Sadly it doesn't last and he is soon carried off by disease. Apu's mother works hard and scrapes to save for him and manages to put him through school where he triumphantly wins a scholarship. Reluctantly his mother allows him to head off to Calcutta and the scenes of his happiness at his freedom and her sadness are really heartbreaking. Finally she becomes ill and dies with Apu arriving home just too late to comfort her.
I watched the third film last night safe in the knowledge that his whole family were dead and surely no more misery could be heaped on him (and me) but I reckoned without a marriage to a young and beautiful girl which lasts just long enough for you to revel in their happiness before the curse of Apu in the form of childbirth sends her off to join the rest of his family. By this point I'd just about given up the will to live.
Basically, it's fantastic and looks great and everything but I kind of wish I hadn't watched it.