Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:

[Benny Bunter]

Been trying to watch as many Spanish films as possible atm for language-learning purposes, came across this gem.

Viridiana, directed by Luis Buñuel. Not at all surrealistic as you might expect, just a really well made and directed film about how well-meant intentions and charity can end up causing more harm than good. Theres a brilliant scene that is a deliciously irreverant restaging of the last supper but with beggars that you NEED TO SEE... really smart and funny film.

Then I watched Sexy Killer for balance

 

[IdleRich]

"MMMM - I think it felt that way to me because it ultimately seemed so uninterested in the narrative themes around the abuse, and that the whole abuse/cult themes were there to provide gruesome 'thrills' rather than any genuine interest in the themes (or the central character) on behalf of the director.
You could of course say that this was because of inexperience in direction. The film ended up feeling a bit unnecessarily nasty to me though, the abuse and violence used in a titillating way. I think though that maybe the feeling was compounded by the separate issue that the director was playing with the audience by continually leaving things mysterious instead of risking explanation, so it felt manipulative in a different way also and those feelings became confused."

I'd say that the gruesome thrills were quite low-key though weren't they? I don't remember that well, I think there was a pretty sordid rape scene but it was far from titillation. And I liked the mystery, right to the end you weren't sure what, if anything, had happened, and to what extent. The ending was shockingly unexpected in a way that I haven't seen since Monty Python and the Holy Grail - though like that you could argue it was annoying rather than anything else I guess.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

i saw the original spit on your grave. dont know if the one i saw was edited but it wasnt as graphic as a lot of the reviews/hype made out, but it was still really tough viewing. stayed with me quite a while. the fact its pretty gritty looking/low budget i think helped a lot too - seemed to make it more gruelling somehow. the lead actress was really good too.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

i watched archipelago on dvd. i was prepared for this to be a bit irritating, but i actually found myself really loving it. never seen anything by joanna hogg before but i like how she films everything in this, all very much from a distance (COS THE FAMILY ARE ALL SO DISTANT GEDDIT - well thats maybe why, but what i liked about it was that it wasnt all emotionally cold like i expected despite all the silences) and very still, and as a nice link to the painter character, its all v picaresque. made me think i was watching a european director actually, or a european landscape almost, but its not. lots of good observations on the family dynamic too, as well as a broader drama/examination of m/c manners/behaviour (the restaurant scene is classic and could so so easily have been mined for laughs but its actually got a strange sort of beauty about it), but never cliched, which is what made it seem so fresh to me. the thing that let it down i thought were the scenes with the cook and the painter, not cos theyre not interesting, the conversations are actually some of the most interesting of the whole film, but they kind of undo the sort of tense atmosphere of the rest of the scenes as they seem really docu-like, its like the cook and painter are just acting as themselves, which was a bit TOO naturalistic and unaffected, borderline reality-tv-seeming actually, esp in contrast to the acting by tom hiddleston and his sister (who are both really good). i recommend it anyway. def going to search out the other film joanna hogg made.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

http://twitchfilm.com/news/2012/06/...h-theatrical-distribution-and-this-is-why.php

interesting piece on arthouse/independent cinemas..

 

[viktorvaughn]

i watched archipelago on dvd. i was prepared for this to be a bit irritating, but i actually found myself really loving it. never seen anything by joanna hogg before but i like how she films everything in this, all very much from a distance (COS THE FAMILY ARE ALL SO DISTANT GEDDIT - well thats maybe why, but what i liked about it was that it wasnt all emotionally cold like i expected despite all the silences) and very still, and as a nice link to the painter character, its all v picaresque. made me think i was watching a european director actually, or a european landscape almost, but its not. lots of good observations on the family dynamic too, as well as a broader drama/examination of m/c manners/behaviour (the restaurant scene is classic and could so so easily have been mined for laughs but its actually got a strange sort of beauty about it), but never cliched, which is what made it seem so fresh to me. the thing that let it down i thought were the scenes with the cook and the painter, not cos theyre not interesting, the conversations are actually some of the most interesting of the whole film, but they kind of undo the sort of tense atmosphere of the rest of the scenes as they seem really docu-like, its like the cook and painter are just acting as themselves, which was a bit TOO naturalistic and unaffected, borderline reality-tv-seeming actually, esp in contrast to the acting by tom hiddleston and his sister (who are both really good). i recommend it anyway. def going to search out the other film joanna hogg made.

Her other one is good, similar in style - Unrelated.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

i fucking loved cosmopolis. was expecting the worst after reading some reviews but i dont know what they were seeing. they just wanted to dislike it for being 'pretentious' i think. which is just lazy reviewing imo. was surprised by r-patz - he was def not shit. the stagey, book-like dialogue took a while to get used to but its sort of brilliant in the end. it doesnt really say anything clear as such, and the characters are very opaque too, but it just has a really great, strange sort of claustrophobic atmosphere. and a stillness about it. i was surprised just how closely ppl in the audience seemed to be concentrating, i thought people would be bored (actually thinking about it now i did hear the doors opening and closing a few times).

i saw moonrise kingdom too - i wouldnt recommend it exactly, the narrative does get a bit paper thin, but its really pretty to look at and picture perfect. and has some nice retro 60 touches here and there. its basically like instrgram - the film.

 

[yyaldrin]

Three Times by Hsiao-hsien Hou. Three short stories about love, each set in a different time (1966, 1911, 2005) but with the same actor and actress. It's so natural and elegant, I loved it. The female protagonist is simply stunning, what a beauty!

 

[Lichen]

i watched archipelago on dvd. i was prepared for this to be a bit irritating, but i actually found myself really loving it.

I enjoyed it too. The restaurant scene is a brilliant study of stifling upper middle class awkwardness.
The absent father was a good touch too.
I saw it at the Gate, Notting Hill so the audience demographic (mine also in fact) mirrored the characters' perfectly. Added a piquancy.

 

[luka]

red cliff. i loved that film. too long though. im gonna watch 2 soon. also i watched the matrix on the plane. its the 4th time ive seen it. its my favourite film.

 

[luka]

i also watched a film called goon
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1456635/

Labeled an outcast by his brainy family, a bouncer overcomes long odds to lead a team of under performing misfits to semi-pro hockey glory, beating the crap out of everything that stands in his way.

it wasnt very good.
and i watched The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate which was watchable but not amazing.

 

[stephenk]

i'm obsessed with pedro costa
in vanda's room is the best one i've seen so far
vanda - who is maybe not beautiful but has an extremely transfixing, striking face - spends the duration chain smoking heroin in bed
the set/location is this casbah/kowloon like slum, all narrow passages and permadark
it's very narcotic, and that's enhanced by the length which is like three hours

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

in her hands. it has some script holes and some of the developments are a bit sudden but kirstin scott thomas was so fucking good (shes like the ultimate arthouse MILF right?) and maybe it was too much cider but i found myself getting a minor tear in my eye when it came to the ending. same thing with that film a royal affair which i saw recently and cant seem to stop thinking about. best period drama ive seen in ages. i must be getting emotional in my old age.

 

[wonk_vitesse]

Roma - Fellini

not sure if this has appeared on this thread I think someone suggested it here earlier.


More info here

Way ahead of it's time and filled with life force. The clip is just a gimpse as it has a wide pallet.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

the one with the shark is better than the one with rachel weisz

 

[IdleRich]

With Fellini, for every film of his I like there seems to be one I find a bit boring. Thought that Roma fell into the latter category which I'm sure will bother him greatly.
Anyway, watched Morgiana the other day, Czech fairy-tale kinda thing from the same guy who did The Cremator. Beautiful to look up and some amazing gothic touches meant that despite the relatively basic storyline it entertained all the way through.


(the music in the clip is not from the film)

Also watched Johnny YesNo, a short noir-pastiche thing from 1982 set in Sheffield (I think it was). Low-budget and nonsensical but haphazardly enjoyable, probably for those reasons (and because it's only about half an hour long). I also watched Johnny YesNo Redux which is a remake set in the US and which stretches the original out to tedious length and updates it with darker and more explicit imagery and a more modern soundtrack which sounds a lot less original.

 

[baboon2004]

Oslo, August 31st. Very good, and possibly one of those films that one should watch without knowing anything about it. The scenes with the (best?) friend are worth watching it for alone.

Saw Uzak by Nuri Bilge Ceylan recently too - wasn't quite sure if I liked it. It was definitely good and had some incredibly beautiful photography, but some critics had gone overboard in calling it a masterpiece. One of those arthouse films in which it's clearly possible to imagine much more meaning than is actually there. Plus the 'funny' bits were mildly amusing at best.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

dreams of a life is one of the best docs ive ever seen.
up there with the arbor.
just an amazingly affecting film.

oslo i thought was great until the last 1/3 or so where it started to slip a little too willingly into downward spiral cliches.
that scene between him, his brother and sister in law earlier in the film was really well done though.

 

[baboon2004]

Oslo - I agree, i think perhaps I was subliminally swayed by reading massively positive reviews after watching it (and before posting here), cos I recall thinking I was a bit disappointed with the ending at the time. Was that guy his brother?(I'm sure you're right, I just totally missed that, thought it was his best friend) Either way, I wish he and his wife had been in the film more.

Watched La Jetee again last night. Bloody brilliant.

I really must see Dreams of a Life - thanks for the jog to my memory.

 

[baboon2004]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/aug/20/tony-scott-director-dies

I'm not a fan of his films, but this (obviously) is desperately sad. The way suicide/attempted suicide reported is always the same though, as if the 'motivation' can only be a), b), c) or d), and if not then it's completely mystifying.

Edit: jawdropping comment on Guardian website:

"I don't wish this to sound unnecessarily callous...Maybe the emptiness of his films was a mirror to the way he felt inside."