That film named Lifted that I speak of earlier in this chat is getting ready to be shown again on the Up network at 8 PM EST if anyone here is interested in checking it out. ๐๐๐
God bless you and the young man who plays the lead character always!!! ๐๐๐
Holly _________________ Me & my favorite singer James Otto
Check him out here when you can!
That film named Lifted that I speak of earlier in this chat is getting ready to be shown again on the Up network at 8 PM EST if anyone here is interested in checking it out. ๐๐๐
God bless you and the young man who plays the lead character always!!! ๐๐๐
Holly
Are you sure the "Lifted" that is going to be shown on the "Up" network is not going to be the Pixar short?
Computer Chess (2013)
Bizarre. Really funny. Some of it could have been because I play chess which made the Tzar 3.0 games funnier. I really don't know what else to say about it. It kinda lacked an overall coherency, but still worked well enough.
solid 7/10
ล รญlenรญ (Lunacy) (2006)
It made some good points regarding mental institutions, had good dialogues, but I thought it was pretty ugly tbh. Those stop motion interludes reminded me of Monty Python, but I don't mean that as a compliment. Don't think they worked... Also went on for too long
6/10
The Broken Circle Breakdown (2013)
A wasted opportunity. It had some really thoughtful moments, I think the premise of exploring this relationship by examining their core beliefs in life/death, when their daughter becomes critically ill is always gonna be difficult to do, but when done right, it can become something amazing. And for the most part, the film delivered. You could sense that it was building up to this one scene, where there will be a major confrontation and someone would blow up, and while it was paced well to slowly get there (despite being very non-linear, which I actually found to be a weakness), it happened in such an anticlimactic way! It made zero sense for the main character to act the way he did.
Back to the positives: The way the movie incorporated bluegrass music was wonderful.. Likeโฆ I really liked most of the songs, I liked how it showed appreciation for the traditions of America, while on the other hand attacking traditional beliefs... Definitely a highlight. It's just a shame that it managed to screw up so much premise by a poor final act.
+7/10
Upstream Color (2013)
Color me confused. It looked pretty, but I couldn't tie the images to anything. Either the overall message, or anything specific.
Je t'aime, Je t'aime (1968)
I wouldn't be surprised if this was partly an inspiration to Enter the Void. The way the main character is forced to relive his past and the way these scenes from the past are replayed to him. But I don't think the idea was used well enough here... Still told a good story, and I think the character of Catherine was fantastic and you could really understand the main character. He couldn't help her.
7/10
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Basically what you'd expect from a war film made by Malick. There's not much going on in terms of plot or character development or whatever, but it doesn't really matter. It's visually quite stunning, the internal monologues/voice-overs actually make way more sense and aren't as pretentious as (often) in The Tree of Life... It's good, very good.
8/10
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Was really bored for the first hour or so. I just didn't get the underlying idea, it wasn't visually that compelling, just more Tarkovsky water obsession.. But then.. Towards the end of the first part, and then especially in the second half of this, it developed into something strangely compelling. It was still slow, it still had little to tie all of the parts together, but enough to make a statement. This really is about the connection an artist has to his art. Strive for perfection, fear of losing it/failure. Who is it for? To please god? People? Visually it became far more fascinating in the second part, too. All those wide shots, with people working in the background, all those (Seven Samurai inspired) battle scenes... Colour me impressed
-8/10
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Also rewatched Blue Jasmine (still great) and fast forwarded through La grande bellezza and decided that it's my favourite film of 2013.
Watched Nightmare On Elm Street (original) yesterday then weirdly had the best night of sleep I've had in months. Pretty good film too. Interesting to see young Johnny Depp.
Upstream Color (2013)
Color me confused. It looked pretty, but I couldn't tie the images to anything. Either the overall message, or anything specific.
vague spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the film:
I would definitely go back and watch it again now that you kind of know what the arc of the plot is and try to pick up on some of the more parable elements, particularly those that integrate linear Western models of evolution and cyclical conceptions of time in other cultures. A good companion piece (and, for the record, IMO, a much better film) is La quattro volte, since it has a lot of the same themes but without the fantastical and sometimes intentionally obscure stylistic quirks.
You could also try to see it as a zeitgeisty film where overtures of corporate fascism creep into the farmer/field recorder narrative but like ultimately my problem with the film is that these elements are so clearly supposed to appeal to a bourgeois liberal reading where banks are the issue and there isn't enough nuance for me of integrating, say, the state into his abstract critique. The former reading is the one I like to go off of when I spend time with the film (which has only been a couple times and I don't find it particularly good or anything) because it's more satisfying for me that way.
JackwcQueen Of The ForumsProfile Aaaanywhere Sex: Incredible
vague spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the film:
I would definitely go back and watch it again now that you kind of know what the arc of the plot is and try to pick up on some of the more parable elements, particularly those that integrate linear Western models of evolution and cyclical conceptions of time in other cultures. A good companion piece (and, for the record, IMO, a much better film) is La quattro volte, since it has a lot of the same themes but without the fantastical and sometimes intentionally obscure stylistic quirks.
You could also try to see it as a zeitgeisty film where overtures of corporate fascism creep into the farmer/field recorder narrative but like ultimately my problem with the film is that these elements are so clearly supposed to appeal to a bourgeois liberal reading where banks are the issue and there isn't enough nuance for me of integrating, say, the state into his abstract critique. The former reading is the one I like to go off of when I spend time with the film (which has only been a couple times and I don't find it particularly good or anything) because it's more satisfying for me that way.
My response to your first paragraph:
...anyway, yeah, I saw the thief and the pig farmer being a metaphor for the American banking system, and the story itself being about the financial crisis of 2008 (and, I mean, I don't have to tell you the obvious historical use of pigs to denote institutions). In the end, the disenfranchised public rallies against the banking system and reverts the country back to a public model. The thief represents corporate self-interest and he is enraged in the end when he realizes the system can no longer bend as easily to his will. I feel the state is in fact present in his critique - the irl bank and Chris' job I think were stand-ins for the government and Shane is accusing them of being too idle and blind to the banks' actions. _________________ A dick that's bigger than the sun.
...anyway, yeah, I saw the thief and the pig farmer being a metaphor for the American banking system, and the story itself being about the financial crisis of 2008 (and, I mean, I don't have to tell you the obvious historical use of pigs to denote institutions). In the end, the disenfranchised public rallies against the banking system and reverts the country back to a public model. The thief represents corporate self-interest and he is enraged in the end when he realizes the system can no longer bend as easily to his will. I feel the state is in fact present in his critique - the irl bank and Chris' job I think were stand-ins for the government and Shane is accusing them of being too idle and blind to the banks' actions.
It's admittedly been a bit since I saw it, so I probably will just agree with you for lack of clear memory. I also hope your reaction to my first paragraph wasn't too negative ๐
^ I'll keep those things in mind when I see it again, thanks.
Anyway, since that post, I've seen:
Vals im Bashir(Waltz with Bashir) (2008)
rewatched
Sort of reviewed it on letterboxd
10/10
Umberto D. (1952)
Not really as effective as Ladri di biciclette, but still a nice (and thankfully not too preachy) story.
7/10
Visitor Q (2000)
Jeez, Miike, thanks for this. I'm not sure if this actually had any relevant commentary, or if it primarily just tried to shock. It was quite funny though, in a bizarre and very dark way.
6/10
Krugovi (The Circles) (2013)
I expected this to be more about the effects of war and the ethnic tensions between the characters, and I think it would be more effective that way. Because in that case the conflict between characters (and the main incident that the film revolves around) would be more about these intangible things that keep a grip on us, even when there's nothing there anymore (and the war is long gone). Instead, all the stories here very clearly define who you have to "cheer" for. What bothered me most is that the film never really tries to make these people into actual human beings, they're just "bad" or "good", and the only implication for that is the one central incident, which the makers decide to split in two parts - a decision that honestly brought nothing to the table, I guess they wanted to build the story on this "mystery" of not knowing what happened, but it's useless, as the distinction between "good" and "bad" guys is too heavy anyway.
There was one story though, a bit different from the rest that I liked and it was because both of the guys were (implied) good, and the conflict between them was in something that none of them had anything to do with. Still, even this storyline almost got ruined by the end, by needlessly dropping subtlety to reiterate the point that any audience member that isn't a retard would get anyway.. As for the other storylines, the less said the better.
5/10
Phew, don't know why I thought I needed to write so much about this, but whatever...
Nostalghia (1983)
Honestly, it feels like a parody on Tarkovsky. There are things that I like here, it's a beautifully shot film, I like the way the main character feels connected to the poet he's writing about, or the lunatic he meets... But then you have a scene where he's walking around the room for what feels like ten minutes, and then you have his continuing obsession with water. It's everywhere, even when it's not on screen it feels like you can hear it leaking somewhere in the background.
-6/10
El Topo (1970)
Surrealism at its bloodiest, western at its trippiest? Weird as fuck, but it's got a lot going for it. Will have to give this another watch, as well as The Holy Mountain...
+7/10
L'amour l'apres midi(Love in the Afternoon) (1972)
I'm still a complete newbie to french new wave, but Eric Rohmer is shaping up to be my favourite director from this "movement" (if you can call it that). He seems to portray the relationships with a lot of understanding of all the complexities that come along, every piece of dialogue just seems so natural.
Still waiting for something that will blow me away completely though.
+8/10
Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
A complete mess, devoid of any fun and imagination, as well as the elements of self-parody that made me love the first film so much. Also looks terribly, and I have no idea why you need to use CGI for vomit and shit.
-3/10
Le Ballon Rouge(The Red Balloon) (1956)
Very sweet, loved the ending. Not sure how much more I can say about it, I think it succeeded in everything it set itself to do.
Double Indemnity (1944)
A little bit disappointed to be completely honest. There weren't many twists and turns in this, the main plot point was pretty obvious from the get go, so the whole last act kinda fell flat. Dialogue was actually the best part of this, very engaging and snappy, though on the other hand also kinda unnatural. It looked alright, but again felt like it doesn't stand out among other noirs.
-7/10
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