The Northman
- Thread starter line b
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Murphy
cat malogen
if you weren’t a slave captured by raiders, British Isles owes a lot to Norse actions, not seen film yet and fully intend to pirate
as a corollary maybe dip your toes into something akin to its antithesis, the wonderfully deadpan
as a corollary maybe dip your toes into something akin to its antithesis, the wonderfully deadpan
mixed_biscuits
_________________________
Escapism?
line b
Well-known member
of course
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Yeah Robert Eggers I've found to be very impressive, between The Witch, The Lighthouse, and this. All very stark, intense, mythical period pieces, and the latter two use Dafoe wonderfully. In both Lighthouse and Northman, his face almost becomes alien or something, surreal.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
There was a hilarious review of The Northman on Letterboxd, referencing SNL's Stefan:
line b
Well-known member
the poor box office showing being representative of anything for the industry at large is a bit overstated I think. its a very stylized film and the only directors that get away with big budgets and idiosyncratic style are Wes Anderson and Tarantino, and I think both are more accessible than this. Northman has this very Shakespearean stagey quality to it that I think is extremely off putting to the general audience.
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line b
Well-known member
and its frenetic pace and framing prevent any intimate moments with the characters which is another thing thats toxic to audeinces. I clicked through google reveiws after I saw it and half the complaints were about not getting to know the characters. This film would have probably flopped regardless of the state of cinema
mvuent
Void Dweller
i'm surprised at this positive appraisal. i assumed based on like 1 screenshot that this was just another one of those washed out color pallete, punisher bumper sticker on pickup truck, right wing / military industrial complex adjacent GUY MOVIES americans in every single surburb subsist on, dressed up in a game of thrones fur costume instead of the usual camo -- but if that's not what it is nvm.
version
Well-known member
None of this explains the poor showing as what Linebaugh's saying is only evident if you actually watch the film first and what mvuent's saying you'd expect would draw more of the general public in than if it gave the impression it was some arty thing.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Yeah it was like Hamlet meets Oedipus, not to overpraise it.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
I've wanted to see this for a while.
line b
Well-known member
people disliking it would have some affect on the box office though wouldn't it?
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
I really think the whole Marvel's killed cinema argument holds little water. There's a ton of fascinating cinema and TV these days, just check out that letterboxd list I posted recently.
I do agree with Scorcese that Marvel isn't art. I truly admire the MCU in terms of narrative logistics, having to interweave over a dozen different blockbuster franchises, but its relation to art is similar to graphic design's relation to art - technically, in an artisan sense of crafting things for purely aesthetic value, these things are art, but they rely too much on conservative, formulaic thinking for them to really constitute art in my mind.
In my opinion, real art needs to deeply contend with aspects of our existence, which often entails disrupting the sort of patterns that are relied on by the likes of the MCU. Thats just how I qualify art in a generic sense, and these overarching statements can only hold up so well to granular scrutiny.
I do agree with Scorcese that Marvel isn't art. I truly admire the MCU in terms of narrative logistics, having to interweave over a dozen different blockbuster franchises, but its relation to art is similar to graphic design's relation to art - technically, in an artisan sense of crafting things for purely aesthetic value, these things are art, but they rely too much on conservative, formulaic thinking for them to really constitute art in my mind.
In my opinion, real art needs to deeply contend with aspects of our existence, which often entails disrupting the sort of patterns that are relied on by the likes of the MCU. Thats just how I qualify art in a generic sense, and these overarching statements can only hold up so well to granular scrutiny.