Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:

[foret]

black god white devil (see my thread on this)
cafe lumiere (hou hsaio hsien - very fond of this)
oprphee (cocteau's verson)
shock corridor by sam fuller, total genius

 

[baboon2004]

black god white devil (see my thread on this)
cafe lumiere (hou hsaio hsien - very fond of this)
oprphee (cocteau's verson)
shock corridor by sam fuller, total genius

Had Shock Corridor on vid for years - guess I should finally get around to watching it then.

 

[Omaar]

Must say I was really disappointed by that one, Omaar, especially given that it ostensibly lies in one of my favourite genres - the low-budget, nasty horror. When done well ('My Little Eye' was fabulously nasty), it can be transcendent, but I just didn't find it shocking/exciting in the least. But I loved Amenabar's 'Abre los Ojos' - that had style and panche to spare.

I certainly enjoyed it more that I might have normally, because of the fact that I stumbled upon it in a similar manner to how I discovered low budget horrors when I was younger - although in this case instead of chancing upon some obscure video nasty by staying up all night watching whatever played on TV, I found this by putting a random tape that I'd found lying around a flat that I'd just moved into in my video player. It's the first film I've watched on tape in ages too, and this made me much more aware of video as a medium (as opposed to dvd) which may have heightened my viewing pleasure too. And knowing nothing at all about it before watching it was great also. So, ... I may be rating it a bit subjectively, but I'd still rate it fairly highly. FWIW I didn't really get into My little Eye, though I really liked 'open your eyes'. Watched Amenanbar's most recent film over the weekend, The Sea Inside, which in several ways seemed to hark back to 80s medical legal dramas - but if sentimentality's not your thing, I certainly wouldn't recommend it. It seems to be pretty close to what is apparently referred to as 'issues melodrama', thought its pretty well crafted. Didn't really like the music which Amenabar wrote himself either (apparently he did for Tesis too, though I don't remember what was going on in that musically). Also found some of the dream sequences a bit gratuitous. Anyway, it wasn't at all what I was expecting after the above two movies and 'the others'

 

[Buick6]

Abel Ferrara's latest MARY. It is one of the best american films about the Judeo/Christian paradigm made this decade.

 

[mms]

Had Shock Corridor on vid for years - guess I should finally get around to watching it then.

you should he is very good, quite dated in some respects , also watch the big red one as well his sense of fairness and his open experimental approach to a kind of documentary narrative in ficrtional film making resonates over all his projects.

 

[Omaar]

Sans Soleil - Chris Marker, 1983

http://imdb.com/title/tt0084628/

 

[rewch]

have had it on vhs for years... & have had no video for longer

 

[MATT MAson]

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen masterfully illustrate all that is wrong with America.

 

[BSquires]

We Jam Econo - The Story of the Minutemen (Tim Irwin 2005).

As a long time fan who had never seen any footage this was made for me. I guess it is a bit light on context and the vexed question of whether they had already peaked artistically with 'Double Nickels...' but I thoroughly enjoyed it... oh and Dissensus favourites The Pop Group get a mention...

 

[craner]

The House With Laughing Windows

 

[craner]

And I just saw Milano Calibro 9 and I recommend that without reservation too. I've just cottoned onto Fernando di Leo.

 

[bruno]

Sans Soleil - Chris Marker, 1983

http://imdb.com/title/tt0084628/

love this film

 

[budub]

i need to do some catching up with this thread, but for now here's mine

Vozvrashcheniye [Andrei Zvyagintsev, 2003]
beauty of a film. it takes on an entirely new perspective after reading the speculations re: political and religious symbolism. the 'film within a film' in the menu extras is pretty fantastic, it made me wanna hug the creators

 

[tox]

Saw renaissance yesterday, a French anime in black and white - imagine Belle Ville Rendezvous mixed with Sin City. The animation's impressive, but the story and voice acting (I saw the English version) were absolutely terrible - genuinely laughable in places.

It was visually very pleasing, although I feel that it was a little self indulgent at certain points and that the animation was lacking in places (dancing animation in the club was horrible). The backgrounds and bits were much nicer to look at than the humans, who occasionally ended up looking like bad computer game characters.

Still worth a look if you have any interest in experimental animation.

 

[budub]

Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life

 

[budub]

Eros [Wong Kar Wai, Steven Soderbergh, Michelangelo Antonioni, 2004]


The first segment, Won Kar Wai's "The Hand", is the best of the three. To me, it is the most moving and the most in touch with the erotic theme of the films. Chris Doyle is director of photography and William Chang Suk-ping is set decorator and editor.

Alan Arkin and Robert Downey Jr star in the second segment. Antonioni directs the third, and if I remember correctly this is his latest film to date.

 

[budub]

Caché [Michael Haneke, 2005]

 

[tox]

The History Boys.... great film and soundtrack.

Typical Alan Bennet n if you've been to a boy's grammar school you'll piss yourself.

Oh dear, that sounds like a review from The Sun.

 

[craner]

Just saw this.

I suggest you get hold of the Raro Video DVD release, currently £18 at Amazon (it was going for £999 two weeks ago!), right now.

 

[tox]

I saw this new film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait today. Basically they follow Zidane around for 90 minutes of a Real Madrid game, kind of like Player Cam, taken to the extreme. It's proper up close and personal and very interesting.

It's the idea of the 21st Century Portrait that really stuck with me after the film though. It's as if Zidane is "sitting" for an artist. It captures a person in a moment, in the same way a painter might. It also has some limited commentry via subtitles from Zidane himself. If you can imagine the subject of the Mona Lisa or whatever giving you little insights into what it's like to be in a portrait then that goes some way to explaining what's behind this film.

Soundtrack by Mogwai, which fits right into the atmosphere of the film.

Definately one to catch at the cinema, as the atmosphere of the crowd and the physicality of the game won't come across at home (unless you live in a house off of Cribs).

Well worth a look.