(12337,2213,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1201167780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - Lewis Milestone','Editing is the only solution.','b7c234dd19de2bf65a3bf4ebba6479c5',0,'','lHkE6JWQ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12338,2213,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1201168440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - Lewis Milestone','Apparently at least in my Grapes of Wrath review all apostrophes were gone. However whenever I re-read something I\'ve written I usually notice a word or two of improper grammar. You never know, someone from one of my prospective schools might see my writing.','1fb3c73efb99c58f186092eb8aeda76d',0,'','stEQkdpZ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12339,2213,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1201168860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - Lewis Milestone','I hope things work out well for you.','634e9f29e80813de0e67869e85f71083',0,'','ythNLDTl',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12340,2213,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1201239240,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - Lewis Milestone','\"As for the missing punctuation marks, it\'s known to happen when a post was created with Word, and used curly quotation marks for instance. Word has a very specific language of its own, and it\'s not compatible with every product out there. In Yuku\'s case it strips out the incompatible characters.\" \r\n\r\nThat\'s the answer I got from a Yuku mod.','3a58ca6f624f0f2a1bf4b47893cc731b',0,'','MRfjb5mW',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12341,2213,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1201248660,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - Lewis Milestone','Word not compatible with Yuku, wtf? Its THE most common word processor out there.','829f28f4aa1d8ae19a33985d467548a3',0,'','aFb8T0iK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12342,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1123648800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','CULT CLASSICS','FINGERS (1978) \r\n\r\nFrom all accounts, since its rather unremarkable release in 1978, Fingers has slowly climbed up the ladder and is now considered a \"cult classic.\" And its quite easy to see why: this emotional and sexually charged drama cogently portrays its self-contradictory protagonist without ever betraying him. Harvey Keitel is Jimmy, a man perhaps capable of perfecting the art of life under the right circumstances but internal and external pressures prevent him to do so. On one hand, his mother (only seen briefly), a pianist, wants him to follow her path even though hes past the beginners age; while on the other, his father (Michael V. Gazzo), a loan-shark, often urges him to forget everything else in order to help collect his debts. We watch Jimmy doing both brilliantly playing a Bach piece in the opening sequence, and not long after, expertly drawing the owed money from a restaurateur. But as this compulsive man starts to question himself and his manhood, things start going downhill (he even stops carrying his tape player everywhere like he used to). So, to prove himself capable in more ways than one, he tries to develop a relationship with an enigmatic sculptor (Tisa Farrow), but it turns out that she belongs to a local boxer-turned-pimp (Jim Brown). Directed by James Toback, Fingers, which was his debut feature, remarkably covers a lot of ground in its short running time. Much credit certainly goes to Keitel who mightve won more accolades for his leading performance in Abel Ferraras Bad Lieutenant (1992), but hes just as good here as a man incapable of getting rid of his demons which brings this tragedy full-circle in the classic Greek sense as the final sequence unfolds. Perhaps Toback was so enamored with his character that he didnt quite flesh out the secondary ones, but then, hes cut the film lean and raw, not the way everyone likes it.\r\n\r\n________________________\r\n\r\n*FINGERS is available on DVD from Warner (U.S.).','36d33946d42a39159cc45b0b9bfa0098',0,'','DaxvndR1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12343,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1123699500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Haven\'t seen the film, I just had a hell of a time trying to figure out how to get rid of the emoticon without removing the bold typeface, Jesus.\r\n\r\nI\'m always a fan of cult cinema, so I\'ll try and contribute perhaps the next time I see Rocky Horror.','eecea34547f4cf34091d3cd765309f2e',0,'','xk5Um9GN',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12344,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1123722000,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Feel free to share how you got rid of it.\r\n\r\nLooking forward to your post(s).','6f5441b00e0232677e923fa18994b9ae',0,'','0RT6oLEn',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12345,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1123722300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','there is a box that says Use Emoticons, and it automatically has a check in it, in order to remove that crap, you just have to click the box','9741f5fdac9936f02072b4388aa1faee',0,'','f89daTxq',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12346,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1124647200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Hey Arsaib. I was really shocked (in a positive way ), to see this post on Fingers appear under a new thread here on this site. ITs one of my absolute favorite films (have it in my Top 20 on Ymdb), but no one seems to have seen it. How did you actually come upon it?\r\nLots of thanks for your favorable review, seeing it noticed by someone made this day a good one for me. \r\nHmmm, I wonder what I should post in this thread in the future, as youve raised the bar so high already...','ba18575ed28ee65f097e7df78287c910',0,'','pRetHGN1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12347,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1124672580,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Thanks, A. Your check is in the mail. \r\n\r\nI had seen Fingers before but wanted to watch it again for its remake the French recently did titled The Beat That My Heart Skipped. As you know, most originals, especially ones like this that are so involuted with time and milieu, can\'t be remade properly and that was the case here. Good performance from Romain Duris who is the French one but the rest I think is very ordinary. Fingers is available on DVD in the U.S. if you\'re interested.\r\n\r\nLooking forward to your contributions here in this thread.','e949ef929a1f19faa608add5f4ce7d26',0,'','rsdDZoyb',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12348,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1124833740,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Okay, heres a fine one, Im very fond of:\r\n\r\nEl Topo (1970 / Mexico / Alejandro Jodorowsky)\r\n\r\nThis has over the years really become a cult object, and though it is today by many considered a classic, its notorious history still hasnt come to an end, as the availability of the film is very limited, and there seem to be various edited versions in screen time and screen size. I saw a widescreen version with washed-out colors, which was a bit cut I believe.\r\nNevertheless the power and vision of this film came through my 16:9 TV screen and I experienced enough of its magic to glimpse its greatness.\r\nThe film was made as an underground project in the Mexico of the late 60s, and had difficulty finding distributors, probably because Jodorowsky had already caused a scandal with his previous film \"Fando y Lis\" in 1967 which was (reportedly after a notorious run in Mexican cinemas, where numerous fights broke out over it) banned by the Mexican government. This film too has in time become a cult object all over the world, and is available on DVD in the US along with an audio commentary by Jodorowsky himself and a documentary on its making. Though I havent seen it yet myself, I dont think fans of surreal films would be disappointed if they took a chance with it. Because all of this Jodorowsky had difficulties with El Topo, but after John Lennon urged a friend to buy distribution rights, it got a world wide release and was heralded all over the world for its weirdness and strange philosophical take. If one considers a statement by Jodorowsky where he said that he asks of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs, one can see why the hippie-generation all over the world got enthusiastic about it. But while for example a film like \"2001 - A space Odyssey\" (which also got a lot of negative press on its original release, and commercial success through stoned audiences) became later regarded as a great cinematic achievement, El Topo hasnt yet gotten the same academic \"beatification\", for better or for worse.\r\nSo a modern viewer commonly approaches it not expecting a demanding work of art, but more something along the lines of 70s pseudo-intellectual Eurotrash, spiced with some gore and sex scenes. \r\nI must confess, that this was also my own approch, when I borrowed it from a local videostore, but I was soon to be disabused.\r\n\r\nThe film features Jodorowsky himself as the main character El Topo, a gunslinger in search of himself. At the beginning he has a young son with him, but he leaves him alone in a village after finding a woman who is willing to accompany him on his travels. From this point on things start to go downwards for him, as the woman stirs up his ambitions to become something. On his search for fame and money he becomes more and more unscrupulous killing and torturing people, and even aquiring a second wife. The mission he finds himself on is a mixture of a spiritual search and a killing spree, on which he has to find four master gunmen of the desert (each with a personal philosophical stance) which he wants to defeat. After completing his task (not in an honest way that is), he is left alone in the desert to die by the two women who have apparently bscome a couple. \r\nAfter this many a viewer (and critic) would have liked the film to end, but Jodorowsky is more interested in his philosophical vision, and the expression of a humanist view of the world, and adds a final chapter to this film, which is imo crucial for its understanding and the overall quality of the film. In the last part (which is the strongest) El Topo awakes in a cave where he has been worshipped for many years as a saint who is going to rescue the clan of deformed outcasts living there. Felling guilty of his former sins, he starts digging a tunnel, to connect the cave with the outer world, represented by a nearby town. Here Jodorowsky gets deeply allegorical and crafts a pessimistic commentary about the state of things in present day Mexico. Ill only tell, that in the following El Topo encounters his son, and that the union of all people is a task that cant be easily completed. The ending shows a bit hope for the human race as a whole, though it is far away from happy. It personally reminded me of the end of Jean Renoirs \"La grande illusion\", with whom the director shares his love for the common people and his ambivalent belief in and love of mankind, though both know what horrible things it is capable of.\r\nBut above all the films quality rests in its subversive take on film and society, which has put many viewers of, and is also the most responsible factor for the films strange reputation.\r\nJodorowsky uses elements from all over the world, mixing western and eastern philosophies, using film styles as different as the western and the slapstick comedy (where Jodorowskys knowledge of film history gleams), and dialogues and a use of language that seem to come from everywhere. The use of camera-angles contrasts beautiful panoramas with repulsive stagings of human decadence, and from gore to sex scenes, to a lrelationship between a dwarf and a \"normal\" person, there seem to be few topics the film doesnt have something to say about. But this eclectisicm isnt just a show-off, but at the very center of the films whole concept.\r\nAs a whole the only satisfying comparison I found, would be to Glauber Rochas brazilian masterpiece \"Black God, white Devil\" (which was - made in 64 - surely a huge influence), with added philosophical grounding.\r\nJodorowsky has afterwards made only a handful of films (some also classics), but with this film alone he has left an important mark in film history.','7d19d49c5dfac0c8bd8c1c175ba9fefc',0,'','pgKdVFbo',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12349,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1124938800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: CULT CLASSICS','I think it\'s safe to say that Jodorowsky has redefined \"cult cinema\" with his two maverick masterpieces: El Topo and The Holy Mountain. Too bad that the film\'s been screwed around with so often by distributers. \r\n\r\nThanks for your detailed analysis, A.','6818d9b46d6020ea37f3eb94d4d2aee2',0,'','cCs9e87v',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12350,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1134887940,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','In cult movie news, Eraserhead will finally be officially released on DVD in the US on January 16th. So at long last I can get rid of the grainy old VHS bootleg I got and stop trying to find a decent print of a foreign import.','3a7f0c66c5f5e8179f35e20e737ddb76',0,'','n60uYowk',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12351,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1163568480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: CULT CLASSICS','THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS (Italy-Fra-W.Ger / 1976)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhile film critics and programmers don\'t mind scavenging through the bins at far-flung festivals and markets in order to unearth \"hidden masters,\" its remarkable how often they miss the boat on important filmmakers from major film-producing territories that have stared them in the face all along. Italian director Valerio Zurlini (1926-1982) -- a hitherto neglected post-neorealist whose career got into gear alongside such filmmakers as Ermanno Olmi and Francesco Rosi -- may not by an indisputable master of the caliber of an Antonioni or a Rossellini, but hes left behind a formidable body of work which deserves our respectful attention.\r\n\r\nAdapted from a controversial 1938 Dino Buzzati novel of the same name, Zurlini\'s final effort, The Desert of the Tartars (Il deserto dei Tartari), is perhaps the best among the 8 features he made. The film stars one of his favorite actors, Jacques Perrin (also the project\'s co-producer), as a fresh-faced young officer in the early-20th century Austro-Hungarian Empire who gets assigned to a remote desert fort on the eastern frontier, not that far removed from where Tartars reportedly roamed. Once there, it doesnt take long for him (and us) to recognize that the constant transition of ranks among the elite is the only major activity that has taken place for years, if not decades, much to the chagrin of his fellow commanding officers constantly searching for the mythological \"enemy.\" (The inestimable supporting cast includes such greats as Vittorio Gassman, Philippe Noiret, Giuliano Gemma, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Fernando Rey and Max von Sydow.) Zurlini skillfully manages the slow-burning tension as the days turn into months and years, causing the men to gradually wither away in mind and body. A few eventually find a way to wiggle out; others, including our protagonist, get caught in the bureaucratic quagmire. Set to the understated, melancholic score of the great Ennio Morricone, and shot by the renowned Luciano Tovoli -- whose on-location work in the ancient Persian city of Bam is just as impressive as his austerely lit sets inside Cinecitt, resolutely capturing the metaphysical erosion of the subjects and their ideals -- The Desert of the Tartars, in its essence, is an existential ghost story featuring silences that speak louder than words.\r\n\r\n________________________\r\n\r\n*Available in the U.S. on DVD (NoShame Films).\r\n\r\n*Extras include:\r\n\r\n-Interview with DP Luciano Tovoli (who has also worked with the likes of Pialat, Antonioni and Argento).\r\n-Interviews with actor Giuliano Gemma. \r\n-Original Italian Theatrical Trailer.\r\n-CD of the original soundtrack.\r\n\r\n*NoShame has also released a box set of two other fine Zurlini films: Violent Summer (1959) and Girl with a Suitcase (1961). (Please stay away from the poor Koch Vision edition of the latter.)','1817e044981dc5b11eacbde291fe11f9',0,'','xhci45K3',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12352,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1163637180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Glad to see you reviewing this arsaib.\r\n\r\nI purchased Dino Buzattis book as a bargain a few years ago but didn\'t try to read it until last year. Something about it intrigued me very much, but after reading a few (in teresting) pages at the beginning and the end, I thaught that the material was too \"depressing\" for me to read. Unfortunately I sold the book sometime later...\r\n\r\nWhen I watched Pasolinis Edipo Re (196 the scenes of the film that were set in the present strongly reminded me of the little I had read of Buzattis novel, and a few weeks later I discovered by chance that there had been a movie based on the book. After some search on the internet, I stumbled upon some positive reviews and descriptions of the film as well as on the \"forgotten\" person of its director. \r\n\r\nToo bad I\'m not in the US, so I can\'t check out these films myself. But judging by people\'s reactions it would be worth purchasing at least \"THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS\".\r\nMaybe you could expand a bit on your comments arsaib?\r\nHow does the filmmaking correspond to the story. Is it closer to Antonioni\'s or Visconti\'s style? What would you say?\r\n\r\nAnd I\'ll trey to get a hold of the book again in the future.','b7fe7fa786a7b7a9b734f4d1618d727e',0,'','hTMyPf6A',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12353,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1163679540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Thanks, A.\r\n\r\nI initially watched this film a few months ago (I think I mentioned it earlier in the \"last film seen\" thread). It piqued my interest enough that I hunted down Buzzati\'s much talked about novel (called \"The Tartar Steppe\" in English). You\'re right, it is \"depressing,\" and it\'s very surreal and psychological, part of the reason why it was said to be unadaptable. (Apparently, Perrin was the one who bought the screen rights. And as I hinted earlier, he had already worked with Zurlini.)\r\n\r\nAt the age of 17, Zurlini fought with the Italian Liberation Corps for a couple of years after the fall of Mussolini in 1943. Olaf Mller has stated that the residue of his experiences can be found in his early work (about a dozen shorts, which I haven\'t seen.) But Violent Summer, which is in fact set during that time-period, and The Desert of the Tartars also deal with war. \r\n\r\nHis films seem to have been made by a \"thinker,\" with a pessimistic view of man\'s inherent shortcomings. \"Zurlini\'s desparate vision of life led him to the two fundamental insights that inform all his work: just as death is certainty, it follows that relationships can never work and that love can\'t be kept alive -- and so it\'s best to abandon love while awaiting death\" (Mller). And that\'s most apparent in films like Girl with a Suitcase, The Professor and Tartars. (I haven\'t seen Family Diary, a well-regarded film.)\r\n\r\nMost of his films are small, intimate dramas. He perhaps wasn\'t a naturally talented stylist, so he studied art with the likes of Giorgio Morandi and Ottono Risai (the former was a renowned still-life and landscape painter). In fact, \"La Torre Rossa,\" an Italian painting by Giorgio de Chirico, was what convinced him to shoot Tartars on-location in Bam. (Formally, he\'s neither Antonioni or Visconti, and so any sort of comparison would be unfair and unnessessary.)\r\n\r\nThe gaze his films project is an outward one, though not explictly one of emotional and spiritual death, but rather something even more metaphysical which, not surprisingly, is difficult to pinpoint.','9e3fd12d26d861371eeca7bd9188fed9',0,'','CKvaupwi',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12354,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1163710380,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Thank you very much again. \r\nSounds like a filmmaker I should really check out.','195931e3663b77b03ed939a40c87c88d',0,'','fL1Z360l',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12355,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1178577600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','The Spook Who Sat By the Door (1973) - Ivan Dixon \r\n\r\nA film that genuinely terrified white people upon its extremely brief theatrical run. Sam Greenlee\'s book of the same name was something of a black power masterpiece, and was adapted in the wake of blaxploitation. Instead of petty revenge films about fighting \"the man\", Greenlee was openly advocating revolution. He described his book as a blueprint for guerilla warfare. The film naturally can\'t have as many details included, but it is a film that shows black people capable of organizing a widespread revolution. In the process Greenlee is vocally expressing everyone\'s contempt of black people.\r\n\r\nDan Freeman is his protaganist, but in actuality it is a barely distinguishable substitute for the author. Greenlee was the first black member of the CIA, and spent his time there doing little more than sitting still and looking pretty so they could boast they were \"integrated\". Always observant though, he learned everything he could, and moved to Chicago as a social worker. Freeman\'s character quickly trains local gangs in urban warfare tactics and they soon turn their energies against the white power structure. The picture was shot mostly in Gary, Indiana and was greatly helped by the cities black mayor, who allowed them full use of the cities police forces, and helicopter. Although set in Chicago\'s Southside, all of the shots of Chicago were taken \"guerilla\" style stolen without a permit. The film therefore has a startling immediacy.\r\n\r\nAfter being a brief hit upon its premiere, the picture was immediately pulled. Chicago\'s then mayor saw to it that any theaters showing the film would be closed. The film was distributed by United Artists originally, because the filmmakers showed them nothing but the action scenes shot and presented it to the men as another blaxploitation film. The film survived because it was stored in an archive under a false name, only to be restored 30 years later. In the meantime the film has earned a reputation comparable to an urban legend. I was surprised as hell to see the film or that it had even been made in the first place.','c675e4cbd8caa5f03bb85c86a407570a',0,'','4XpyjqKW',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12356,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1178592120,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Sounds interesting. How did you watch it?','59f372e1ff21b6a05171c21a2fa0eb2a',0,'','sacxKQge',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12357,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1178596380,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','It has since been released on DVD, and I checked it out of our library here.','17ceccf340126176b4e61a0d4a56c1ce',0,'','0bxV8U9B',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12358,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181704800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Yes, this definitely sounds interesting, and I\'ve never even heard of it. \r\nIt\'s interesting to see how many films about black people and by black people where actually made during the 70s but got almost no attention, or were banned. It seems that only nowadays a lot of it has the opportunity to be seen by a wider public. \r\nDo you happen to know how much research has been made about this period and the films (including blaxploitation) in the US, and if there are any decent publications on this subject.\r\nI watched another African-american film at the cinema about two months ago, but fell asleep and missed almost everything (it wasn\'t because of the film; I was simply exhausted). But what little I saw and what I heard from the friends who had experienced it sounded like a serious work of art. It was Ganja and Hess (1973).\r\nAnybody heard of it?','c61db2309ba3fe75a294b3e8eb397429',0,'','DyEMZmsu',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12359,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181783520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','There have been a few decent books about the subject, but titles are alluding me right now. \r\n\r\nMy most recent cult film was Monte Hellman\'s Two Lane Blacktop (1971) which is strangely sublime. Such ambivalence throughout, but really intriguing. Perhaps the best film of Monte Hellman which unfortunately was kept out of print for a long time.','89dc8f2c3eb5223b490cd75ed151dfd1',0,'','HBTiz01o',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12360,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181791380,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: CULT CLASSICS','What a coincidence. I\'m watching the film right now, or rather trying to finish it for the past two days. I\'ve only 30 minutes to go, but so far it has been so intriguing that I\'m still trying to decide if I should merely finish it or watch it again from the beginning. \r\nI have borrowed the DVD and another film by Hellman from a good friend.','625772f31e05d3c6a727bf28d6c00611',0,'','8pvgAsow',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12361,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1183451220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','The Big Lebowski (1998) - Joel and Ethan Coen\r\n\r\nBlack comedy, bowling, and film noir don\'t necessarily seem like the most likely combo for a film, but damn it if that isn\'t exactly how to describe this film, which has become a modern classic since its original, somewhat forgettable release. Fargo was monstrous in its success, and I\'m sure audiences at the time may have thought of this film as a step down. In the years since this film has probably become more ingrained in the popular culture, and certainly has carried a much greater cult following complete with Lebowski bowling tournaments, and several T-shirts of the Dude (Jeff Bridges), Walter (John Goodman), and even Jesus (John Turturrro). Nearly all of the Coen brothers films are based upon plot and this film is no different. However this film unwinds in a much more luxurious pace than the frantic twists and turns of previous films. \r\n\r\nThe Dude gets thrown into the mix as a partial genius slash complete buffoon who just happens to get pretty lucky repeatedly. Bridges seems to be challenging the slightly clumsy Philippe Marlowe of Elliot Gould in The Long Goodbye. As he tells Maude (Julliane Moore) \"I\'m keeping my mind limber with a wide regimen of drugs\". Many critics thought the film was severely dumbing it down for audiences with lots of drug references, and Lebowski seems to have a White Russian in his hand any time he doesn\'t have a bowling ball. The film makes up for a buffoonish main character with a rather intricate plot that is full of double crosses and at least as many parties as a Chandler novel. \r\n\r\nStill no doubt in my mind, and many other viewers the highlight of the film comes from the all too brief supporting work of John Turturro, a Coen regular who the two reportedly saw in a play where he played a Hispanic a decade before. Since that time they had been looking for a role to give him to fit that bill. His Jesus comes complete with hairnet and a purple jump suit, and every line of dialogue he has in the film is quotable. Not to mention Walter\'s line after he bowls \"Dude, 8 year olds\". Turturro has shined in supporting work, and has become something of a modern Anthony Quinn being called on to play nearly every ethnic group in the book. The film is a delight and like Raising Arizona probably the most compulsively rewatchable Coen Brothers film. If nothing else you can see what Tara Reid looked like before drugs and plastic surgery made her a freak show.','04e7e14ce20b59d87d34fb2d70412d92',0,'','vJMELkNF',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12362,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1183512780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Big Trouble in Little China (1986) - John Carpenter\r\n\r\nFor the fourth time John Carpenter and Kurt Russell teamed together, this time they just got plain silly. Armed with a $20 million budget and full studio support, the dynamic duo took a Western script and turned it into a kung fu masterpiece. During filming Carpenter told the actors not to play it seriously because this was a comedy, but viewers at the time couldn\'t quite figure that out. Ebert saw it as a slick well polished science fiction film with a hollow center, and due to some awful advertising the film pretty much completely lost its box office promise. \r\n\r\nLike nearly all Carpenter films, particularly the Rusell ones, this was bound to find its audience eventually. I found it the night of my graduation from Kindergarten in 1989, which was also the network television premiere. I recorded the film as I graduated, and proceeded to spend that summer watching the film on average of once a day. By the time I finally saw the version shown in theaters I memorized every single frame that was cut from the network televised version. Suddenly a whole new movie emerged and the fights that I had previously memorized were added to, and there were new lines to commit to memory. Over the years perhaps the high flying mystique and magical martial arts have lost some of its impact, but in its place I have discovered a comedic gem. Taking it seriously for so many years I was amazed at how damn funny the film really was.\r\n\r\nSeeing the film today I notice what a god awful action hero Kurt Russell is, and intentionally so. Russell\'s Jack Burton may talk a big game, but spends the entire film missing most of the action, messing up his few opportunities to shine. Instead Denis Lin shines as the real hero of the film, as Russell winds up something of a cartoonish sidekick. Hearing Russell and Carpenter discuss it, that was pretty much exactly as they planned. However you can\'t complain too much when you\'re still getting the acting, and of course have Burton to laugh at. Always a nostalgic treat, that astounds me by still giving me something new to admire.','cf517c3927a9ccdb27d73305261450dc',0,'','eRl8iFcj',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12363,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1183515600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: CULT CLASSICS','I enjoyed reading your take on The Big Lebowski. I have to agree that the film has matured over the last few years and will most likely continue to do so. And it is \"compulsively rewatchable.\"','2565c8c0584511a5a2149fb91c61bfda',0,'','P4XoQykN',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12364,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1184476620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Hairspray (1988) - John Waters \r\n\r\nWhen you hear the name John Waters a few words come to mind. Trash is usually the first, and his films have remained some of the most envelope pushing and filthiest films ever made. No one will ever forget the end of Pink Flamingos and with a breakthrough like that few would imagine Waters ever going near conventional water. Hairspray on the surface appears to be a straightforward film, with a surprising PG rating. However the film doesn\'t shy away from making us cringe even with a PG rating, after all how disgusting was the \"kids\" show Ren and Stimpy?\r\n\r\nLike nearly all great films Waters\' Hairspray is speaking to us on more than one level. Sure it is a nostalgic look at Baltimore in the 60s, which for some reason Waters always seems to be fond of. Yet the film turns teenage trauma and pop culture of the time into a tale of a country divided and an open story of class division and integration. You may think Rikki Lake\'s Tracy was not made for TV, but based on some of the voting policies of many fan based shows today, I could easily see her a fan favorite. Tracy like nearly every other main character has an alliterate name, certainly commenting on many of the names present of the time. Perhaps for royalty sake, but Waters fills this film with some of the least known dance songs of the era, but they all fit so perfectly within the show that we\'re convinced we\'ve heard them before. \r\n\r\nThe film is of course the subject of a new remake, starring John Travolta of all people in the Tracy role. Somehow I can see him doing it. After all Divine plays Tracy\'s mother, as an excellent foil to her dad played by Jerry Stiller. Divine also doubles as the producer of the show and his presence just situates this so firmly in Waters\' territory. Of course equally important is the setting, and like all of his films, this was also shot in Baltimore. Waters takes us all around the city, to the carnival, auto show, TV studios, and of course a trip to the black ghetto doesn\'t hurt. The good and bad guys are made into comic book like cartoon characters, but its all for our benefit. The main villains even come equipped with a threatening \"Von\" in their names, played brilliantly by Sonny Bono and Debbie Harry, of course two icons in their own right laughably poking fun at themselves.\r\n\r\nAbove all else in this film, the picture is fun, and sometimes that\'s what movies are about. This might not make you gag or look away, but it will make you cheer for Tracy Turnblad.','74071f4532cc251be3e2a6615aa5a294',0,'','jJY3RMle',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12365,2214,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1184825580,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: CULT CLASSICS','Joe (1970) - John G. Avildsen\r\n\r\nFor the last 30 years the line has typically been \"before Rocky, there was Joe\". The winds of change were blowing, and it seems just as Gimme Shelter showed the hippy dream to be dying, Joe seemed to capitalize on it. The film is somewhat tricky to read. Because of our association with two middle aged conservative characters, we\'re likely to take the film as a conservative picture. However the moral of the story condemns this radical conservative violence. Watching the film, and in particular Peter Boyle\'s career best performance I can\'t help but cheer Joe as much as he repulses me. He is a disgusting man, a loud mouth, and some of his ideas are just plain wrong. However I can\'t help but chuckle as he complains of the current state of music blaming it on \"@#%$ loving hippies\". \r\n\r\nWhat\'s remarkable about Joe is that despite being the title character over twenty minutes of the film go by before we even glimpse him, and without knowing the actor, he isn\'t really introduced. We simply regard him as a drunkard spouting the type of drunk rhetoric typical of a working class man. Hell I know I\'ve gotten blasted and bitched about hippies and it isn\'t even relevant. What makes the film remarkable is that Joe and Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick) actually do make a formidable duo. You expect at first that Bill is putting up with Joe because of what he knows and simply humoring him. However the two seem to genuinely form a partnership, and Bill welcomes his working class \"partner in crime\". Joe is a refreshing change of pace from his advertising ass kissers. Bill\'s wife on the other hand imagines this is simply a way to humor the man to risk incrimination. \r\n\r\nJoe admires Bill because he killed the drug dealing sleazy boyfriend of his daughter. Joe bitches about killing hippies and making the world clean and better, Bill in his eyes has actually done it. Bill on the other hand admires Joe because he is from such a different world. A hard working man without any formal education, who\'s morals don\'t seem to far from his own. Joe of course takes things to extremes, and winds up being a horribly bad influence on Bill. A lot has been written about the end, and regardless of condemnation or praise it deeply affected me. I can\'t help but love Joe. He is so backward in his thinking, but damn it if I don\'t just want to beat the hell out of some hippies. The film has recently resurfaced in certain circles after the death of Peter Boyle, and anyone remotely interested in the actor owes it to themselves to see the film. As a side note the film was also the reported film debut of Susan Sarandon, who despite appearing throughout the credits and the first few minutes, is largely unseen throughout the rest of the picture. A remarkable film that forever seems buried amidst the better respected classics of the era.','1971e1df4c317f702f0703a5ba5d84a7',0,'','Zn5VBHjX',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12366,2215,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1182713760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Sweet Movie (1974) (Dusan Makavejev)','I\'d like to write a thesis on Dusan Makavejev\'s Sweet Movie (1974) but I fear that I\'ll barely scratch the surface. I\'m actually lost for words at how tremendously transformative it is.\r\n\r\nDusan Makavejev\'s furiously idiosyncratic film is one of the most confrontational and aggressive assaults on conventional good taste ever captured on film. With the director\'s gift for literalising the non-literal, this is a film nobody can stay indifferent to in its bewildering oddities that are far too mindblowing to list. Political messages are inundated through sexual propositions, and it situates sexuality as a sentient being, a transcendence of physicality that forms a large part of our undiscovered humanism. \r\n\r\nIt joins together taboos like paedophilism, marxism, interracial sex and fetishism into a fireball of confrontation that questions why we fear what\'s in our hearts and minds and why do we shackle down uninhibited decadence. The director seems to want us to wonder if humans are bound to be restrained by reducing us to our bareness, without pretense. \r\n\r\nMakavejev takes it further in a filmic sense by also intercutting documentary footages of war and exhumed bodies to proof to us that our senses aren\'t as perturbed by that as we are when we finally see humans carry out their body functions by defecating and urinating etc. And in true Reichian style psychology, the director eases out our tensions and restive states by making us see what we don\'t want to see through his 2 hyperbolic narratives. In the first story of a virgin beauty queen, he shows us the sexual liberation in an individual taught to keep her \"preciousness\" intact. In the second story that regards a female captain of a good ship lollipop (affixed with a bust of Karl Marx) who lures young (and I mean young) boys into her den of iniquity is, by and large a political metaphor of Marxism eventually destroying the proletariats and corrupting youths. \r\n\r\nThis film is brilliant, an unconventional parable that slides in and out of the ether that essentially becomes a therapeutic experience in treating repression and indoctrination.','a858ef7412708ca40c4703818f6204ff',0,'','1jz6KwMq',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12367,2215,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1183070520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Sweet Movie (1974) (Dusan Makavejev)','By the way, it\'s available on Criterion just incase the above made anyone think it\'s a rare title at the moment.','7c98e6c5f360b84319d4fce981f075ee',0,'','gia1n5j0',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12368,2215,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1183347600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'gratefultiger','Re: Sweet Movie (1974) (Dusan Makavejev)','i saw this film in the early 80\'s & hated it,but i would like to see it again as i was wrapped up a bit too tight in the cinema that night!\r\nit was a very heavy film.','b2e9531f1bbb1f7f3d9c56a3eb1f0212',0,'','4ZR9GwoT',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12369,2215,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1206785760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Sweet Movie (1974) (Dusan Makavejev)','Has anyone seen Makavejev\'s The Switchboard Operator?','3fb68cea9c29914dea7437deeee49ba8',0,'','7o6bLBx4',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12370,2215,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1206852840,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Sweet Movie (1974) (Dusan Makavejev)','If you mean The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator then yes, and its amazing.','325c491fd556414eb541952e10837643',0,'','05CMRnYL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12371,2215,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1206854640,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Sweet Movie (1974) (Dusan Makavejev)','No, I meant Love Affair: Or, The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator. I think the film is known by at least a couple more English titles; the one I initially used is on the U.K. VHS. \r\n\r\nIn any case, I have it and I\'ll be viewing it shortly.','84dd4d3ec00470a9eaa368c263812a84',0,'','u6h2EwKm',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12372,2215,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1206873960,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Sweet Movie (1974) (Dusan Makavejev)','That\'s the film I\'m talking about, quite an extraordinary film.','abea8de317964677c49b780145d2e654',0,'','4WJQMgfq',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12373,2215,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1206939960,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Sweet Movie (1974) (Dusan Makavejev)','Yes, I know, I was kidding. Great film, indeed.','1ec4ccb0e5e9bf65c6251e2785997f2a',0,'','a9iqNj5L',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12374,2216,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1182934800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Chinese Cinema Classics','.','5058f1af8388633f609cadb75a75dc9d',0,'','QDEdXcJm',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12375,2216,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1182935280,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Chinese Cinema Classics','QUEEN OF SPORTS (China / 1934)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWidely regarded as one of the very best Second Generation Chinese filmmakers, Sun Yu (1900-1990) primarily learned his craft in the U.S.: he studied literature and drama at the University of Wisconsin before moving to New York where he delved into cinematography, editing, scriptwriting, etc. at Columbia and the New York Institute of Photography. After returning home, Sun started his career in the late 1920s but came to prominence in the early 1930s with Lianhua Film Company, a famous leftist studio. There he also met a young and talented actress named Li Lili, with whom he collaborated on a number of occasions during the early part of the decade.\r\n\r\nQueen of Sports (Tiyu huanghou), which followed such Sun and Li films as Blood of Love (1932), Daybreak (1933) and Little Toys (1933), features the latter as a charming and energetic villager named Lin Ying who travels to Shanghai to fulfill her dream of competing in athletics on the national level. She joins a sports college and begins to train as a sprinter. Most, including the handsome young coach she eyes, are startled by her talent. But a couple of her counterparts become jealous of all the attention she gets. Perhaps not surprisingly, the fame and celebrity Lin achieves during a short period of time eventually causes her to lose track of her goal. And so it becomes up to her to regain her physical and mental strength before the final tournament.\r\n\r\nReportedly written in the lead-up to the fifth National Games in 1933, Queen of Sports is a progressive/modernist effort featuring a light, almost humorous touch, undoubtedly the product of Suns familiarity with Hollywood films (Sun\'s ultimate resolution however puts most thematically similar ones to shame). It is also well shot and edited -- the competition sequences in particular are quite impressive. While the focus clearly remains on the essence of sports, Sun judiciously finds a way to integrate pertinent commentary on societys mores and values. \r\n\r\nIn his book Hong Kong Cinema: A Cross-cultural View, author Law Kar wrote that \"one of Chinese cinema\'s most popular figures was the country girl, a healthy, sexy farmer\'s daughter who first appeared in the heyday of Shanghai movies. In sharp contrast to the sophisticated but often hapless city women, they were natural beauties who embodied the hearty goodness of the land.\" Along with Wang Renmai and Xu Lai, Li was also mentioned as one of the original \"wildcats/country girls,\" and, based on the characters she often embodied in Suns films, rightfully so. Li left a mark with only a handful of films; she died in 2005 at the age of 90. Sun drew the ire of Mao and the CCP with his 1951 effort, The Life of Wu Xun. His career was never the same.\r\n\r\n_____________________\r\n\r\n*QUEEN OF SPORTS is available on DVD from Cinema Epoch. It is featured alongside Sun\'s highly political The Big Road (1934), which is arguably his most famous film.','f897502057ede5f9a18b8b1b3f523a0d',0,'','MUJhCyc0',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12376,2216,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1182949380,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Chinese Cinema Classics','We could do with such fine releases in the UK, I doubt if any distributor will pick these films up here so it\'ll be interesting to hear about further releases from Cinema Epoch and the quality of them.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','9c3281cfd0a32c65c9e132efdb35d8d9',0,'','dvSoWDN5',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12377,2216,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1183111320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Chinese Cinema Classics','If all the east-Asian counterparts of these Cinema Epoch releases were English friendly, then that would\'ve been the way to go in terms of price. John mentioned a couple of them in a thread. Quality isn\'t an issue if one\'s interest level is high.\r\n\r\nBut looking ahead, ten early Chinese films were digitally restored by the Venice Biennale Cinema as part of the \"Secret History of Asian Cinema\" project in \'05: Spring in a Small Town, The Peach Girl, The Big Road, Plunder of Peach and Plum, New Woman, Crossroads, Street Angel, The Princess of Iron Fan, An Orphan on the Streets, and Crows and Sparrows. They have been showcased on high-definition video at a number of festivals and retros.','f602dfa6ec96edcbaa46aaeaed1fe60f',0,'','WJGsqzMa',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12378,2217,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1175910900,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Two Stage Sisters (1965 / China)','Two Stage Sisters - Wutai jiemei (1965) Dir by Jin Xie\r\n\r\nA heavily melodramatic political piece with easily identifiable good and bad guys, as operatic in its storytelling as it is in the stage performances. \r\n\r\nThe rescue of a child-bride from a forced wedding by a travelling Chinese Opera troupe sets the wheels in motion for a sisterly friendship that would endure a 15+ year journey.\r\n\r\nA journey that would take us through a time where men, particularly those of wealth believed they had the power to treat women as objects to be used and cast away, disposable commodities, a bartering tool for the corrupt (a word used repeatedly to describe the decadent capitalists).\r\n\r\nThe child bride and the daughter of her rescuer become firm friends and the stars of the opera company, safety and security from unwanted admirers isn\'t an issue for them with the protection of the father, but his health takes a turn for the worse and he eventually dies leaving them in the debt (for his funeral costs) of the opera company boss.\r\n\r\nUnlike the father, the company boss is a greedy manipulative worm who would probably sell his own mother. Taking the girls to Shanghai he gets them employed with an opera house ensuring that he will receive their pay for the next three years. The strength and bond of sisterly love plus their talents as performers maintain the girls through these lean, harsh years though corrupting influences abound threatening to tear their bond apart with promises of wealth and fame.\r\n\r\nOne of the girls does fall into a state of corruption, despite all the warnings she ends up in a relationship with the owner of the opera house, believing that a loveless but wealthy marriage will be an easy option to happiness. Her marriage brings no happiness to her at all, the only thing it does manage to do is to cause a huge rift between the two friends.\r\n\r\nBut this tale is brought to a heady conclusion with the joy that the Chinese revolution brings, the corrupt are driven out and the bonds of sisterhood and friendship are strengthened. True happiness is then found as the friends finally reunite and determine to produce and perform revolutionary opera for the masses.\r\n\r\nThis is only a general skip through the plot and the film has plenty of melodramatic moments and some wonderful operatic performances, of course Chinese Opera is completely different from the variety produced by Europe, swooping high pitched singing with extravagant costumes and make up, definitely an aqquired taste but well worth making the effort for. \r\n\r\nThe actual message of the film is simplistic, with Chiang Kai-shek made to look like some sort of gangster and even the U.S. getting a less than positive mention. The film was afer all, made for a general audience and women in particular to emphasise how Communism had bettered their conditions and how the bonds of sisterhood provided strength and solidarity.\r\n\r\nDespite the obvious political overtones (or maybe because of them), this film is definitely worth seeking out. I\'m glad I took the opportunity to see this rarely screened gem.\r\n\r\nA definite recommendation if you ever get the chance to see it.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','e83ee711ac19516b7fab0158e1c2fb98',0,'','DXz3VqHe',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12379,2217,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177567860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Two Stage Sisters (1965 / China)','I this one of those chinese opera films, where the entire cast keeps singing their lines throughout? Kind of like a stage production on film, or comparable to our western musicals?\r\nI once saw such a film with singing throughout made in Hong Kong during the 70s which was quite good. You need a bit to get used to it, but it has completely its own charm. But the DVD was very bad, and the subtitles incomplete.\r\nToo bad Imdb doesn\'t list it, as I cann\'t recall its title at the moment.\r\n\r\nEDIT: I just noticed that Howard has also commented on this at imdb.','4fda01eb75a7ef7c0726d89ce859bf8d',0,'','UzkF658i',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12380,2217,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177586280,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Two Stage Sisters (1965 / China)','I this one of those chinese opera films, where the entire cast keeps singing their lines throughout? Kind of like a stage production on film, or comparable to our western musicals?\r\n\r\nAlthough the opera parts were entertaining I\'m glad the film wasn\'t a musical. Saying that though, I must admit the hugely entertaining Princess Raccoon worked very well as such.\r\n\r\nI once saw such a film with singing throughout made in Hong Kong during the 70s which was quite good.\r\n\r\nWas it The Love Eterne (Liang Shan Bo yu Zhu Ying Tai) by any chance? This was also showing in the Chapter but I had prior commitments and sadly had to give it a miss.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','ebc29fd4cbe41c14a5197c18e50eb98b',0,'','ba4TdSVG',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12381,2217,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177665420,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Two Stage Sisters (1965 / China)','No, the title referred to some hairpin which also played an important part in the plot, if I am not mistaken. It was made ca. 1977/78.\r\nI believe John Woo also directed some of these films in the late 70s...\r\nToo bad imdb still has a lot of gaps with \"unknown\" productions.','f33688594722e1a505739445f0fc0bc6',0,'','lm3w62xQ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12382,2217,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1182363540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Two Stage Sisters (1965 / China)','Hi everyone; finally internet access at caravan, but only intermittent- in one tiny corner only- so rushing answers.\r\n\r\nI really liked 2 Stage Sisters, which i picked for Brecon Film Soc several years back; not the most subtle politically, and later court scenes drag a bit, but 1st half is magnificent and beautiful. \r\n\r\nAlso recommend: The Lin Family Shop (1959)','1ef73f7bca52072318071dc285bec745',0,'','wgAW5ceM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12383,2218,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1170993480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'peppajaa','The Swimmer -1968','The Swimmer.\r\n\r\nNed Merrill finds himself in suburban Connecticut, in a plush neighborhood, and in swim trunks. Where he has been we don\'t know, but Ned is determined to swim home using the 10 swimming pools in the yards of his 10 neighbors. As he does so, we meet the neighbors and they all contribute to the mystery of Ned, who his really is and what happened to him. We learn that there have been some big changes in Ned\'s life, and that he is in a kind of time warp. Was his institutionalized? Did he have amnesia? This film was made in 1968 and it has all the flavor of that era in bright, jarring technicolor. It is a strange film to say the least, and Burt Lancaster brings this character to life in a way that will stick with you and keep you wondering.\r\n\r\nPeppa','29a9274e4d085a4447d0fefc1eb69c52',0,'','DocQ5gke',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12384,2218,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1171006560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'hengcs','Re: The Swimmer -1968','welcome to this board','8ad0d54fec089941e096b6877ede46bd',0,'','DnWux32L',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12385,2218,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1171254480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'gratefultiger','Re: The Swimmer -1968','This is a great film that i haven\'t seen in over 20 years,i would love to see it again as lancaster is excellent in this off the wall classic,thanks for mentioning it,as it deserves to be seen.','e20bd2bc258d0515c58996c316aeff2c',0,'','PawcHZ5L',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12386,2218,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181859360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: The Swimmer -1968','I have wanted to see this for a long time. It was featured as part of a New Hollywood retrospective in Slovenia some years ago, where it peaked my interest, as I hadn\'t heard about it before.\r\nThe premise certainly sounds very intriguing, and I\'d love to see the reactions of the owners of those swimming pools','2f97ed934946032b7470b9105a2c1697',0,'','jTFm2cky',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12387,2219,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1126127760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Monte Hellman - An Appreciation','It has taken a long time for American audiences to find Monte Hellman but perhaps now is the time. Hellman started his career about the same time as Scorcese, Da Palma and Bogdonovich but his films failed to connect with audiences and he faded quickly into obscurity though he developed a cult following in Europe. Heilman is perhaps best known for his role as Executive Producer of Tarantino\'s Reservoir Dogs but people are now discovering what an exceptional director he was. His films are elliptical and very intense, filled with lonely brooding characters desperately searching for connection whether it is in the Utah desert or on a drag strip. Though the medium of DVD, his works can now be fully appreciated for the masterpieces they truly are.\r\n\r\nTHE SHOOTING\r\n\r\nDirected by Monte Hellman (1967)\r\n\r\n\"Did I tell you to do something?\" - Billy\r\n\"I don\'t give a curly-hair, yellow-bear, double dog damn if you did\" - Coley\r\n\r\nFour people ride across the desert tracking a killer but it is not clear who they really are and who it is they are looking for. In Monte Hellman\'s subversive western The Shooting, just released for the first time on DVD, Warren Oates is Willett Gashade, a bounty hunter turned mine owner who returns to find his brother Coin missing, his partner dead, and a fellow worker in a state of panic. When a strange woman shows up, the three set out on a journey with an unknown destination that leads to a final bizarre confrontation. The Shooting has more questions than you can find on the SAT and it is often a frustrating challenge to fit the pieces together. Hellman shot the film on a limited budget in eighteen days in the desert country near Kanab, Utah with B-movie producer Roger Corman and a young actor named Jack Nicholson. \r\n\r\nIt was released to television and did not play in the theater until years later after it developed a cult following in Europe. The quality of the transfer is impeccable but the dialogue borders on the incomprehensible. Slow-witted but good humored Coley (Will Hutchins) is fearful as he tells Gashade that he was asleep when he heard an argument between Willett\'s partner Leland Drum and Coin. He says that Colin fled, and Leland was shot dead by an unseen gunman and tells Gashade something about Coin having ridden down \"a man and a little person, maybe a child,\" but Coley\'s not sure about that. Soon, a woman (Millie Perkins) who is not named arrives and offers to pay Gashade to guide her to Kingsley, a town that lies some hours away, beyond a dangerous desert. The woman is abrasive and complaining but Coley takes to her immediately while Willett is distanced and aloof. \r\n\r\nMystery piles upon mystery. When the riding party sets out, the woman asks to be led in the wrong direction without offering any explanation. The woman shoots her horse claiming it was lame but it turns out have no broken bones. When asked why she shot the horse, after a long period of silence, she can only muster a feeble smile. Along the way, Coley, Willett and the woman meet up with Billy Spears (Nicholson), a nattily dressed gunman with a sadistic smirk, and it becomes apparent that the purpose of the journey may be to track down the person or persons responsible for shooting Leland. Beyond that it is anyone\'s guess as to what the film means and an unforgettable climax does not clear up the confusion. \r\n\r\nThe director has said that The Shooting is a mirror of the Kennedy assassination where doubt remains about what actually happened on that day, but the connection is murky. Whatever its ultimate meaning, The Shooting is an involving ride full of twists and turns and Jack Nicholson\'s mighty performance as Billy is worth the price of admission. Actually the meaning may be revealed when Gashade says to Millie, \"If I heard your name I wouldn\'t know it, would I?\" She says, \"No.\" Then he says, \"then I don\'t see no point to it.\" She says, \"there isn\'t any.\" Perhaps like life, The Shooting doesn\'t mean anything. It\'s just there to grab your attention.\r\n\r\nGRADE: B+\r\n\r\nTWO-LANE BLACKTOP\r\n\r\nDirected by Monte Hellman (1971)\r\n\r\nLong out of circulation because of disputes over music rights, Two-Lane Blacktop, now available on DVD, is one of the most original and compelling American movies of the twentieth century. It is a road movie, a film about cars, and a search for meaning in American life that could easily be called \"Zen and the Art of Drag Racing\". Shot from the inside of a car, it is an authentic vision of what it is like to be driving across America at a specific historical moment. Promoted by Universal Studios in 1971 as an answer to Columbia\'s Easy Rider, the film was originally released to less than enthusiastic audiences but has since taken on the status of cult classic and it is richly deserved. Unlike Easy Rider, it is a film that simply observes and what it sees is pure Americana: its people, gas stations, diners, and drag strips. We feel the claustrophobia, the spaces, the speed, and the loneliness. \r\n\r\nThe film stars singers James Taylor (Fire and Rain) and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys as taciturn drag races who drive their souped-up 1955 Chevy across the country challenging locals to a drag race. The main characters are drifters. They come from nowhere and are headed east, toward a destination that is murky at best. They are people whose reality begins and ends with their machines. Everyone talks about how good life can be -- somewhere else -- in New York, Chicago, the beaches of Florida, and the coast of Mexico, somewhere up the road apiece. Warren Oates, a Monte Hellman regular, turns in a truly outstanding performance as the driver of a Pontiac GTO who challenges Taylor and Wilson to a cross-country race, the prize being the ownership of the cars. GTO is a talkative fellow who concocts tall tales about his background to impress every hitchhiker he picks up (one is a gay cowboy played by Harry Dean Stanton). He is a sad and perhaps self-destructive individual but he is human and you can reach out to him and feel his pathos. \r\n\r\nFirst time actors Taylor and Wilson express little emotion and there is scant dialogue but they also seem right for their roles. Their total focus is on their car. Though the Chevy looks old and ugly, it is as powerful as any car on the road and the driver and the mechanic treat it like their own flesh and blood, constantly fine tuning to maintain its impeccable performance. They go from town to town, just trying to survive by racing. In the words of author John Banville, they \"have no past, no foreseeable future, only the steady pulse of a changeless present\". Along the way they pick up a cherubic young roadie (Laurie Bird) who is willing to go wherever the ride takes her. After each of the boys has sex with her in motel rooms and in the car, she becomes moody and resentful and fears that she is being used but has nowhere else to go. Though the main thrust of the plot is the race to Washington, DC, the focus seems to get lost along the way, and the film becomes more of a character study of the lack of human connection than about racing. \r\n\r\nThe film looks for the soul of America in the early 1970s and comes up empty. It was released in 1971 at a time when the hopes and dreams of the \'60s counter culture had given way to the disillusion of Kent State and Altamonte, the bombing of Cambodia, and the media\'s cynical preemption of the Hippie movement.\r\n\r\nThe movie is about everything and nothing. Everyone is biding their time waiting for life to turn out rather than creating the possibility. Though they live for the moment there is no joy, only the gnawing reality of something missing. They are like many of us, skimming along on the surface of life, reminiscing about a goal that once seemed real but is now just out of reach. They look ahead to a blank future, while ignoring the life around them, what is in the present moment. Two-Lane Blacktop is an exceptionally beautiful film, a poetic description of a world without possibilities. It may also be the definitive statement of the anguish of the materialist paradigm that has begun to crumble and fall apart.\r\n\r\nGRADE: A\r\n\r\nCOCKFIGHTER\r\n\r\nDirected by Monte Hellman (1974)\r\n\r\nCockfighter, another Roger Corman/Monte Hellman collaboration, explores the popular but mostly illegal \"sport\" of cockfighting (it is banned in 48 states). The film was marketed under several different titles but it never caught on and was virtually unseen until the Anchor Bay DVD release in 2001. Based on a novel by Charles Willeford, the film contains one of Warren Oates\' best performances as Frank Mansfield, a trainer of prize cockfighters. Since he was disqualified for the \"Cockfighter of the Year\" award for excessive drinking and talking during a fight, Frank has taken a vow of silence and refuses to talk until he wins the medal. Filmed in actual outdoor arenas in Georgia (cockfighting was legal in Georgia) by cinematographer Nestor Almenderos (Days of Heaven, Kramer Vs. Kramer), the crowds at the matches consist of real fans and people who have participated in this brutal spectacle, giving the film a documentary look and feel. \r\n\r\nIn Cockfighter, we are privy to a world that none of us will probably ever see or ever want to see, a world where roosters are bred and trained to engage in a deadly battle with other birds for the benefit of gamblers and spectators. With cocks equipped with little metal hooks attached to their feet to make them more deadly, Cockfighting is shown for what it is, a violent bloody business filled with sleazy operators who have no feeling for the life and death of the animals. Though the roosters in the film were destined to be killed in matches anyway, there is animal violence in the film and those that object to this should be forewarned. I personally had to turn away from the screen on several occasions. \r\n\r\nAs the film begins, Frank has lost a match with his friendly adversary Jack (Harry Dean Stanton) and has to give up his truck, mobile home, and his girlfriend Dodo (Laurie Bird). Without wheels or money, he sells his house where his brother (Troy Donahue) and his sister-in-law (Millie Perkins) had been living and visits fiance Mary Elizabeth (Patricia Pearcy). Mansfield is a driven man, yet also one who is thoughtful and gentle and the scenes with him and Mary \"talking\" about their future with a glittering lake in the background are unforgettable. Mary loves him and wants to get married but is clearly put off by cockfighting and will not go to a match. To shore up his finances, Frank goes into partnership with Omar (Richard B. Shull) and his luck seems to turn for the better. Like most films about sports or competition, the adversaries end up in the big match, in this case, the Southern Conference finals.\r\n\r\nWhile Cockfighter contains some sports cliches, it is not a soap opera in any sense. Rather it is a thoughtful character study of a man on the edge, caught between the only profession he has ever known and a chance to escape a lifetime of loneliness. Although Oates says only a few words during the film, his facial expressions and hand gestures leave little doubt about what he is thinking and feeling. Hellman, true to the standard he set in his earlier films, has created a gritty and involving film that deserves a wider audience and Oates gives the film true character.\r\n\r\nGRADE: B+','2afc8fe17a525f16cb9dec8112b6bd39',0,'','vux24XP9',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12388,2219,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128038460,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Monte Hellman - An Appreciation','Thanks for your reviews. Here in Europe he really has some kind of cult-following, though only limited because of his films unavailability. I myself have wanted to see them for some time now, but haven `t succeeded, yet.','71a7fdf93b96fca58ba1853ececb890b',0,'','ohbwPSHN',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12389,2219,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128406140,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Re: Monte Hellman - An Appreciation','Thanks. \r\n\r\nPerhaps someday they will be more available. They are worth searching for but, like anything else, whether or not you like them or not will be a matter of individual taste.','7f480ed9514d95a0fd1ead02b9fb6bdb',0,'','UDMk9CfK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12390,2219,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181865600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Monte Hellman - An Appreciation','I just finished watching Two-Lane Blacktop (a good friend borrowed me the Amercian DVD), and wanted to open a thread for it, when I remembered that we probably already had one.','38919c8df01de5feae0fc7e056c79697',0,'','lkRgZ9Bm',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12391,2219,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181865900,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Monte Hellman - An Appreciation','Howard, I just read your review of Two-Lane Blacktop again after writing down some of my own thoughts in the previous post, and it\'s an excellent account of the excact same impression I had while watching the film. I couldn\'t have put it better!\r\nThank you again for your wonderful review.','ef2d56586531bdb243c56bde0bb31caa',0,'','cfY2FoVT',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12392,2220,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177561800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Poliziotteschi Journals','I have opened up a new thread for this, as I noticed that some films I saw recently and wanted to review for the Giallo thread don\'t really fit into that formula.\r\n\r\nTo find out more about the Poliziotteschi sub-genre and the term, here is a useful link to Wikipedia\r\n\r\nIndex','c7e524f3aeee9c6c61e6e1336a9adeca',0,'','Ypy04jmx',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12393,2220,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177562040,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Poliziotteschi Journals','\r\nMilano odia: la polizia non pu sparare \r\nAlmost Human aka The Kidnap of Mary Lou\r\n(Umberto Lenzi / Italy / 1974)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nUmberto Lenzi didn\'t always have a good reputation as a filmmaker, due mainly to his output in the 80s, which includes such questionable \'pearls\' of the cannibal sub-genre as his widely loathed Cannibal ferox (1981). But in the age of DVD and the director\'s cut, many \'lost\' films are resurfacing again, and some directors suddenly appear in a new light. Or one could also say that previously neglected and censored films lead to a necessary re-evaluation of a director\'s career. No matter how you put it, I\'d suggest that Umberti Lenzi is one of those filmmakers. If I\'m not completely misinformed he was already praised in his early days as a director and his reappraisal has already been underway for some time now. \r\nNevertheless I\'d like to add some lines of my own.\r\n\r\nMy first film by Lenzi was introduced to me by a friend who wanted me to see it mainly because of its extremely corny German synchronisation. Something that was quite common here in the 70s, most notably in the films of Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer, was to create what was probably considered a humorous German synchronisation of the original dialogue. While it was at best at least mildly entertaining in the desired form, in most cases the dubbing felt not only forced but extremely speculative and unintentionally funny. \r\nWhile this is sometimes also the case with this endeavor into the profundities of artistic liberties in the German film industry of the 70s, (with such classic lines as \"When I\'m rich I\'ll wash my dick with champagne\") it didn\'t really distract from the overall quality of the acting and the direction, as well as the cinematography and the editing, which were in my book practically flawless.\r\n\r\nCult figure Tomas Milian plays a deranged psychpath who also likes to kill for the pleasure he finds in it. A pleasure which he mostly derives from a feeling of superiority towards his unsuspecting victims. He has achieved nothing in life until the beginning of the film, and is introduced to us in his first scenes as a complete coward. He is also envious of everything and everybody else around him, and being not only a hothead but an egotist of the highest order, this mixes badly with his feelings of inadequateness (in one scene he is even shown to be impotent) . Through his actions in the film, his inferiority complex evolves into delusions of grandeur which are harrowing to behold. Nevertheless his deserving death at the end of the film serves not simply as a morally justifiable conclusion to the story, but in a highly symbolic final shot that equals the best in cinema history, reveals his case to be only a small part of a larger problem which is a part of society itself. Umberto Lenzi seems to say that Italy has spawned him and Italy has brought him down. Although there are small hints at this throughout the film, I was still shocked at the final revelation which makes Milian\'s character an almost iconic figure and another victim, in a long line of victims in the film and history itself.\r\n\r\nUmberto Lenzi cannot be complemented enough for his direction which is energetic as well as full of significance, \r\nrevealing subtle moments in the fiercest of situations. It is indeed a rare mixture, and the only satisfying comparison I know at the moment would be to the films of Michael Mann. And if we are aware of Mann\'s impressive knowledge of film history it doesn\'t seem too bold to assume that he might have been inspired by Lenzi himself. But of course there were many examples of this kind of critical filmmaking in \"commercial\" productions of the 70s, and not only in Italy, as one shouldn\'t forget the example of \"films policiers\" which were made in France at about roughly the same time.\r\n\r\nMuch of this film and the whole sub-genre of the Poliziotteschi as well as the Giallo films has to do with the political climate during the 60s and 70s. A significant increase of police violence and acts of terrorism, along with massive corruption and a general mistrust of politicians and the ability of the state to offer any reasonable solutions were important problems throughout Europe (see for instance Alexander Kluge\'s collective project Deutschland im Herbst (Germany in Autumn / 1978) which displays an overpowering atmosphere of helplessness). But it was in Italy that popular cinema seemed to reflect those issues most prominently, with politically aware directors like Pier Paolo Pasolini, Damiano Damiani, Marco Bellocchio or Umberto Lenzi dissecting the (often historical) problems in their films with an often operatic, over-the-top approach, and a similar urgency that can be felt in all of their films despite their often differing stylistic approaches.\r\nThough a cynical view of the subject matter was often the case, the best of these films also display a humanist stance, even in the face of defeat. If you cannot change the problems of society, you can at least lay bare how society opperates and point to the roots of some difficulties. Sometimes education and entertainment go hand in hand and as a warning to future generations the films have lost little of their significance. \r\n\r\n____________________________________________________________\r\nThis film has also appeared as a Region 1 DVD. Here\'s a link to a review by DVDBeaver with screencaps.','4e7a0015932f1f4f7e5c2b674117ce45',0,'','erPD8y4n',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12394,2220,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177566780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Poliziotteschi Journals','originally posted at Giallo Journals on 1/04/07\r\n\r\nSbatti il mostro in prima pagina\r\nSlap the Monster on Page One\r\n(Marco Bellocchio / Italy, France / 1972)\r\n\r\nSaw a political drama from Italy made in 1972 that has elements of Giallo. I`m not sure if it classifies, but I`m sure that people interested in Giallo would also be interested in this one. My rating was 59 out of 100, and though I know that may seem very low, especially regarding my review, I have the feeling that you need to watch films by Bellocchio more than once. This particular film also keeps growing in my memory. I saw it in the wrong aspect ratio, so I`m a bit ashamed that I wrote a review of it, and I probably tried to be more kind to it.\r\n\r\n`nough talking, here`s the LINK','07b56c610a6bbc16bcdf276e5c152d1e',0,'','96mA0WHL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12395,2220,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177661880,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Poliziotteschi Journals','Very informative, A. I\'d love to delve further into this particular sub-genre.','670cfa61839f0891feb8b91b5fd945f2',0,'','lWTZJzDr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12396,2220,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177665720,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Poliziotteschi Journals','I must really thank some of my friends for introducing me to this. On my own, it might have taken a few more years until I\'d have developed enough interest to persue more films from this direction. I hope you\'ll get your hands on some of these films and write a review or two.','f672a2123fbc60bfca70cd3fbf6ebfe4',0,'','szuMfi9H',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12397,2221,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1159996440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Gnral Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1974/Barbet Schroeder)','Gnral Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1974) (Barbet Schroeder)\r\n\r\n\r\nReview:\r\n\r\nIn anticipation of a career best perfomance by Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland, I hunted down the Criterion of this remarkably pieced together composite of General Idi Amin Dada, the forgotten Ugandan tyrant who seized power in the early 70s and ruled it with a murderous fist until his eventual ouster. The records speak for itself. The genocide, the corruption and the paranoid executions of his confidants find its way into the documentary but Barbet Schroeder\'s unique and darkly humourous focus always stays on the hauntingly paradoxical look at the avuncular disposition of the despicable despot.\r\n\r\nEssentially, and with the need to be succinct, the General comes across as a child trapped in the mans body. His small-minded view of the world, his brio for military games and his risible ballroom antics show an incomprehensible rationale for his iron grip. His scheming seductions to the media and to the outside world come through in full force as he looks for the camera before speaking. Idi Amin does not deny his Machiavellian approach to establishing his order but chooses not to dwell on them as he thinks his answers through carefully and elaborates on his imagined successes. Often, he trails off into a deranged rail on foreign countries and other African establishments but conducts himself with a manner of undeniable presence thats as compelling as it is repelling.\r\n\r\nLike a playground bully, Idi Amin is competitive and largely insecure. He is blissfully unaware of his own peoples struggles and abhorrence for his policies. Everyone else except the emperor realises that the emperor has no clothes on. His need for validation from his people belies the issues of trust that he has for those around him as he administers his version of tough love, much like a child and his pets. But ultimately it is seen that he has become out of touch with the very citizens he boasts that he goes out and gregariously meets each day.\r\n\r\nThe Iranian born director of German extraction is ironically simpatico with Idi Amins preference of people as Schroeder prods him ever so gently with nervous laughter, like one might daringly try to interest a grumpy Doberman in a game of catch. Schroeders discernment of the situation he was in with the vain General and his eventual manipulation of him allowed his documentary crew access to a conclave of the states ministers and military higher-ups. It is where Idi Amin, although aware of the cameras burning gaze, warns death on spies and warns removal of inept ministers, leading to Schroeders unnerving revelation as his camera lingers on the cold, brutality of a killer.\r\n\r\nMuch of the documentarys humour is inherent. Schroeder does not make any allusions to satire, or even impose a caricature of the man. No, Idi Amin does that all by himself. Armed with a razor sharp wit, he jokes with rooms of people, even resorting to self-deprecating humour that really only he could make. A natural charmer, he comes across early on as the jovial sort, with a disarming innocence thats staggeringly shattered when he takes up arms and spews anti-Israeli sentiments. While extolling the virtues of his mind-boggling economic and military policies, he does it without understanding how and why they do not work. And no one dares to advise him on that either. Very telling is the scene on the boat when he asks the camera crew if he should ask the crocodile to leave.\r\n\r\nWith an ambition the size of Napoleon, Idi Amin considered himself a major leader in the world stage but theres something so terribly amateurish about his regime, much like many other African regimes back then. We dont get to know his precise political thought, he does mention not entirely following the rigidness of communism and capitalism but all it does is underline his resolve to control his country by his terms. Although he lived mainly through the atavistic displays of force, he did show some progressive ideas such as implementing more women in the managerial workforce, albeit only in the hospitality industry. Mixing his awe of modernisation (risking his countrys reserves) and grandiosity with his reverence for his regions tradition, Idi Amin saw himself as a revolutionary.\r\n\r\nThe back-story of this documentary is almost as gripping as the film itself. Schroeder befriended Idi Amin, although a tenuous relationship, he gets him to open up about the things that he wouldnt tell his own cabinet of ministers. He partakes with the General in admittedly staged scenes of overt celebrations and letting him direct himself in exchange for getting him in every shot aside from the scenery (masterfully photographed by Nstor Almendros).\r\n\r\nAfter the filming, Schroeder found himself in a predicament when word got back to Idi Amin after its initial release in France and London that its audience found it to be funny like a comedy. When his demands for cuts were not met, Idi Amin rounded up the French living in Uganda and threatened their lives if Schroeder did not relent. And of course, he did. Thankfully it was restored after Idi Amins exile from the country. Even under the restrictive guise of a self-portrait, Schroeder masterfully instills a subtext that even before the cuts, Idi Amin could not properly discern because of his ego. The awkward gazes and listless looks of his employees and citizens are an inside joke for us but a reality for the megalomaniac. Schroeder lets Idi Amin present to us his own insanity within the smiles and guffaws.\r\n\r\nEven as the film fails to fully structure the whys and hows of Idi Amins maniacal views on the world, it does hint at the harsh bleakness of colonialism leaving a bloodstain with each of Idi Amins actions. But what makes this documentary much more compelling than any straight observation of a tyrannical authoritarian is its own fascination with the subject. Captivated by Idi Amins charisma, and the creeping sense of dread when the truth is finally mined, the crew found a goldmine of ideas relating to violent dictators throughout history as this documentary shaped up to be a portrait of not just Idi Amin but of all rulers. Controversial and foreboding scenes of him inviting Palestinian terrorists bore fruit years after the release of the film and a chilling symmetry with George W. Bushs war on terror is gleaned when Idi Amin exclaimed that dreams vaticinated his wars.\r\n\r\nRating: 4 out of 5','66c1c772541082d45bc6b92dc3d31b09',0,'','sv5qAthC',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12398,2221,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160050560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Gnral Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1974/Barbet Schroeder)','Great review, I don\'t think Idi Amin has ever been forgotten, certainly not in the UK, after all this country played a part in creating this monster. \r\n\r\nUnfortunately he was treated almost as an imbecilic caricature here, (pretty much as a certain G.W. Bush has been) but that didn\'t exactly help to communicate the heinous deeds he was extolling on his own people. Why did the British government do nothing to help the people of Uganda?\r\n\r\nSeems to be one rule for one despot and one rule for another. If they had found oil in Uganda it may have been a very different story. \r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','a29b669029f496d09d66a8b00d13cd4c',0,'','mizlGgYH',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12399,2221,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160062980,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Gnral Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1974/Barbet Schroeder)','Thanks Trev \r\n\r\nI didn\'t mean to suggest that his atrocities were forgotten but that the person himself is more or less secondary to the acts of terror. One despot leaves, another arises. Many merchants of death rather, still rule over many parts of Africa like feudal warlords and they go unnoticed like you said.\r\n\r\nCreating a monster is a strong theme in the film, roughly touched on because of the initial cuts and were lost during the years. I\'d rather the insight we got than a essay on colonialism and its aftermath.','a247e5c74b9a6265c1f50a0d317c9e7c',0,'','ZJDR2fxL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12400,2221,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160958720,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Gnral Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1974/Barbet Schroeder)','Good review Justin. I\'ll try to hunt the film down sometime.','aa498e5c227a3ecae80ac77ff1a5902d',0,'','vqjts5TZ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12401,2221,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181187840,1,0,1,1,1,1,'gratefultiger','Re: Gnral Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1974/Barbet Schroeder)','i noticed this film on the mastersofcinema site,being a bit of a history buff,i must get hold of it too.','61f49888da25fc32bd7c75da03038272',0,'','KlkNA6VR',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12402,2221,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181705940,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Gnral Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1974/Barbet Schroeder)','I just saw the contrived The Last King of Scotland at the theater two weeks ago. A typical exploitation of an important event that packs historical facts into a James Bond kind of thriller. Mainstream cinema that could\'ve actually been good if it weren\'t so condescending.\r\nNow I really need to see this doc!','c7f6f9a6b7bf315a63c93ce3b37f0368',0,'','GXy8TLZA',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12403,2222,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1173129360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'nate','Woman in the Dunes (1964) (Japan)','*CONTAINS SPOILER*\r\n\r\nAre you shoveling to survive, or surviving to shovel?\r\n\r\nJumpei ask the widowed woman in the 1964 film called Woman in the Dunes. In this allegory of modern life that would strike a chord to modern viewers in spite of its age has been considered a classic and won the Special Jury Prize at the 1964 Cannes film festival. The movie is shot in Black in White in a 35mm film. Written by Kobo Abe in 1962 and adapted by the author for screen for director Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964.\r\n\r\nWoman in the Dunes starts off with Jumpei, an entomologist on a local trip to a remote desert region in Japan. He has been collecting insects in the region hoping to find a new species of bugs; dreaming of seeing his name published in books along with his discovery but was stranded as the last bus returning to the city has left. The local villagers offered their hospitality and led him to a house at the bottom of a sandpit, descending on a rope ladder to spend the night with a widowed woman there. The woman served him diligently with food and water as he laugh with the woman\'s story of wood and sandals getting rotten because of the sands intervention, seeping into the walls and roof of the entire house. Life wasn\'t easy in the pit as he found the woman shoveling sands at night and hoisted by men though a rope till morning. In the next morning, the man discovered that the rope ladder was missing and he was inducted by the villagers to help the widow shovel sands in order to prevent the sands from swallowing the entire house. As she puts it, if they stop shoveling, the next household might suffer as it will also succumb by the sand. Jumpei founds it absurd as the woman puts it as \"community spirit\" and tried various ways to escape the pit but to no avail, the sand is an eerie reminder that they could swallow you whole with every struggle. He tried to keep the woman hostage in order to demand freedom but it dawns on him that he is no longer just a prisoner but one who has to shovel sand to survive. If they stop shoveling, they will be swallowed up by the sand like the woman\'s husband and daughter. Scenes of different shots of sand added more depth to the chilling undertone of life in the pit as constantly fluid, dynamic and frightening. Complemented by a musical score that is more haunting and equally mocking the characters like a waterfall of sands that plunges into their entire being.\r\n\r\nThe relationship between the two starts off predictably as they had a series of encounters that provokes sensuality as they uses visual of textures of sand, of skin and sweat. It is almost possible to be able to feel the sense of touch as if your whole body is seductively engulfed in sand. Jumpei\'s life has been reduced to shovel, sleep, food and sex has found his new measly life as unimportant has he grows frantic wanting his freedom that he found ways to entertained himself by setting traps for the crow but found ways for a water pump to work on the pit. This gave tremendous pride and a sense of fulfillment for Jumpei as he records daily changes and find other ways to make his new discovery works for their life in the pit and also for the rest of the community. In the end, as Jumpei had the chance to escape the harsh life in the pit has found new meaning in life as he watches the sea in his contentment. As he put it, he can always escape but it can wait as he anticipated his joyous achievement.\r\n\r\nWoman in the Dunes exudes itself like a modern parable of life as evident in Jumpei\'s question: \"Are you shoveling to survive, or surviving to shovel?\" It is more of an existentialist question of merely existing rather than focusing on the relevance of life itself. Modern life has been exceeded to school and work as we struggle to survive into this modern world. Do we work to survive or do we survive to work? Do we do this thing just for the simple task of simply surviving or do we find meaning to life? Although, Woman in the Dunes doesn\'t really underline this tone of thinking, it poses a lot of question for every individual viewer to ponder over.','3f6181a771fa784ecfee54b1639a2244',0,'','SMG5pixf',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12404,2222,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1173129600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'nate','Re: Woman in the Dunes (1964) (Japan)','Sorry for the wrong post, I should have posted this under Classic. Been a long time since I posted in the board. \r\n\r\nAdmin, can this be transferred to the classic section?','a333f1cd989bc6e7529bb20782ad6172',0,'','Ur2DGR0V',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12405,2222,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1173244860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Woman in the Dunes (1964) (Japan)','Good review, nate. Please try to visit us more often.','3475fe4c8667a4094fbedc4cbb6892af',0,'','x1Gru4Rp',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12406,2222,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174068300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Woman in the Dunes (1964) (Japan)','Dito. I\'m glad you reviewed this masterpiece, one of the most erotic and sensual films I know. I hope you will write more often in the future. :D \r\n\r\nBy the way, if you loved this film by Teshigahara, you should also check out some of his other work. The subsequent \"The Face of Another\" (Tanin no kao / 1966) is also a moody existential piece in the frame of a Horror film, and his last film \"Basara - The Princess Goh\" (Goh-hime / 1992) is as accomplished as his earlier work, and worthy of the same praise, although there is a change in style, which I would actually call a further development considering the fact that the Teshigahara\'s main concerns are still the same. But I would say that his last film is even more radical than \"Woman in the Dunes\". His other films like \"Pitfall\" (Otoshiana /1962) and Rikyu (1989) have also garnered a lot of praise(There is a wonderful UK DVD of \"Pitfall\" in The MoC series, while Rikyu desperately needs a subtitled upgrade).\r\nThe three 60s films I mentioned are all collaborations with screenwriter Kb Abe, cinematographer Hiroshi Segawa, editor Fusako Shuzui and composer Tru Takemitsu. That\'s probably why they are so similar in style and tone. \r\nTru Takemitsu also composed the music for Teshigahara\'s last two films, and has worked on many films by Masaki Kobayashi e.g. the masterful sound design in Kwaidan (1964 - you should check out the wonderful new MoC release).\r\n\r\nToo bad Teshigahara only made about a dozen films during his lifetime, and only few of them are known, as he is a masterful filmmaker that belongs in the Pantheon with a lot of other Japanese directors who have made works of lasting beauty. It is sad that he is nowadays remembered only for one film outside of Japan.\r\n\r\nBtw, does anyone know about the rumored director\'s cut of \"Woman in the Dunes. Imdb lists a running time of 147 min. I have only seen the shorter version.','5a22d3e95a7a6eb1a72402de60c15034',0,'','fQnEVkcN',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12407,2222,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1179228060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'nate','Re: Woman in the Dunes (1964) (Japan)','Hopefully I could post more reviews in the future but I always wanted to watch it twice and watch tidbits of the film while writing a review so it takes some time.\r\n\r\nHi A,\r\nI\'ve heard of Teshigahara\'s other works but it\'s really hard to get access of his films. I haven\'t seen the longer version of Woman in the Dunes but if I don find it, I\'ll post the added scene here.\r\n\r\nbtw, have you heard of the japanese film \"Nanami and the Inferno of First Love?\" It\'s one of the rare movies I\'m looking forward to watch.','afea29aa0a4599c41c7ce8d1bb8221fe',0,'','wtykjmsC',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12408,2222,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181705700,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Woman in the Dunes (1964) (Japan)','Never heard of \"Nanami and the Inferno of First Love\" but the info I found on it makes me want to see it. It was even nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear in 1968. And I\'ve never heard of the director either. But there\'s so much to explore and discover in Japanese film history for a westerner \r\nSusumu Hani definitely reads like somebody to look out for.\r\nThanks for bringing it up.\r\nI have two or three films by Teshigahara on DVD. The company Masters of Cinema in the UK have released two (?) of his films in beautiful editions.','edb313bca5be8924f09d5a19ce46487e',0,'','05qjMcYu',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12409,2223,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1175239680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Glen or Glenda? (1953) - Edward D. Wood Jr.','Oh lord what is wrong with people? This isn\'t directed at the strange and disjointed thought patterns of the now legendary Wood, no this is directed to critics and audiences. This film is revalatory, decades ahead of its time, the first scientific, exploitation, surreal, science fiction, romantic tragedy, comedy. There are more genres thrown in the mix, but I\'ve never seen any film so all over the place in my life. Parts of this film are impossible to look away from. Wood\'s film draws you into the action to a shocking extent. \r\n\r\nOk lets slow down a minute. The acting is some of the worst I\'ve ever seen. Wood, who plays the majority of the lead, along with his real life girl friend at the time, are horribly awful as performers. You can sense something of the real love between the two, but never can you sense that either one should have ever appeared in a movie. That\'s part of Wood\'s charm, his guerilla style of filmmaking. This is \"by any means necessary\" cinema of the most personal nature, preceding the French New Wave by nearly 6 full years. This is a cinema of its director\'s heart, made with some of the most limited resources imaginable. Comprising a wealth of stock footage that Wood claimed \"I can make a whole movie out of this stuff\", and he nearly does. His love of Lugosi and his role in the film is evident. He never seems to have any \"direction\" for Lugosi, and many have wondered if his entire dialogue wasn\'t made up on the spot. Few people could imagine Wood (or anyone) writing such lines as \"What are little boys made of, puppy tails, big fat snails, brassiers?\"\r\n\r\nIn this regard, Wood\'s formal looseness is akin to the improvisational feel of much of the avant-garde theater that was emerging at the time, some of which was even performed by Wood on the stage. There are attempts in the film to sensationalize the subject matter, making all too much of the \"feel\" of women\'s garments. In one particular surreal unexplained dream sequence a supply of good looking women tantilizingly remove clothing, get tied up, are whipped, and stripped. For a 1953 film I was amazed at the overt sexuality of this film. This would be soon eclipsed by Russ Meyer\'s enormously successful Immoral Mr. Teas, released almost immediately after Wood\'s picture. I wonder how Wood, and his entire unfortunate career would have faired had he let his actresses get completely naked. After all this was being done in European cinema at the time (at least Bergman was doing it). \r\n\r\nOne may also wonder what would have become of Wood had his cult emerged while still alive. The people flocking to midnight screenings of Plan 9 From Outer Space, Wood\'s \"Masterpiece\" began the ritual shortly after the director\'s death. As a Lugosi fan, and one who has sat through many, many, many bad films to see the legend, one can both admire and condemn Wood\'s picture. On the one hand it is putting Lugosi in a film that is unlike anything before, and aside from perhaps other Wood movies, after. On the other hand Lugosi is something of a fool in the picture, with cutaways to running bulls superimposed over him, and the ever present lightning strike. His dialogue as already mentioned is near awful, and what the hell was with the potions? As a slightly abstract concept Lugosi could be seen as an omnipotent God figure, and his counterpart, the Devil certainly makes an appearance in one of the dream sequences. Ironic that the Devil briefly appears as something of a best man, during the films abstract wedding ceremony. \r\n\r\nI can\'t help but love the film. It is disjointed, but in a way that makes it gloriously watchable. I\'ve sat through so many well made and boring films. Contemplative that are supposed to make me drag my mind through miles of barbed wire, and I\'ve gotten fed up. Wood\'s film is a delight. Its fun, inventive, criminally underappreciated, and as awfully flawed as it may be it never ceases to be interesting, Wood doesn\'t let anything last long enough to bore you. I may just start my own one man Ed Wood appreciation society.','3febd18d0d55074073be50b59127086a',0,'','cqT1AJjn',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12410,2223,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177567500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Glen or Glenda? (1953) - Edward D. Wood Jr.','You sure were impressed. I felt the energy in your review. \r\nI recently encountered another person on the internet who thought quite highly of the film, so you are definitely not alone here. And with the DVD waiting on my shelf, I might also join you in the future.','42d230b2a57b36185df9dfc5ad9e50fb',0,'','lmKUrYhw',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12411,2224,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174959060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'peppajaa','Judgement at Nuremburg (U.S.A. 1961)','Here is a film with many strengths Abby Mann\'s stunning script and Stanley Kramer\'s direction. But the great joy of this movie is its sensational cast. Possibly the best \"all-star cast\" movie ever made,Judgement at Nuremburg is a fascinating study, not only of its subject matter, but of different acting styles coming together.\r\n\r\nSpencer Tracy\'s quiet and thoughtful turn as the lead judge is a perfect contrast to Maximilian Schell\'s (sensational) passionate defense attorney and Richard Widmark\'s almost fanatically zealous prosecutor. With these three remarkable actors \"running the show,\" so to speak, we are treated to a parade of solid performances.\r\n\r\nMarlene Dietrich (in what may be the most difficult role in the film) plays the widow of a prominent Nazi general. Outside the courtroom she strikes up a tentative friendship with Tracy. Dietrich (a passionate Nazi-hater) brings a surprising depth of feeling to her portrait of a woman caught between her love for her country and the terrible times in which she lives.\r\n\r\nIn the midst of all this are two brief yet absolutely mesmerizing performances: Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland as victims of Nazi atrocities. Both are heartbreaking as individuals haunted by Nazi persecution; struggling to rebuild life and regain dignity.\r\n\r\nBurt Lancaster makes an interesting departure from his usual gutsy male hero; here he plays the chief defendant, the former Minister of Justice. Lancaster abandoned his usual bluster here; this is a terribly moving performance: the man\'s quiet surface dignity belies the guilt he lives with. \r\n\r\nA young William Shatner makes an appearance as the lead judge\'s aide, in one of his first film roles.','f2a333baa2331d890d91273676ce59d4',0,'','1KuYvR3P',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12412,2224,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1175022300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Judgement at Nuremburg (U.S.A. 1961)','I enjoyed the film as I\'ve pretty much admired all of Kramer\'s 60\'s work. The parade of stars help to eat up the 3 hour running time of the film.','b1e6f32793d768b8bc2236bc89c1a197',0,'','KRem8sW4',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12413,2224,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177562760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Judgement at Nuremburg (U.S.A. 1961)','Nice to see you posting lengthier comments peppajaa. I hope this will happen more often. \r\n\r\nJudgment is also one of my favorite films, and imo one of the best Hollywood made about the second World War.\r\n\r\nThe script and the direction are great indeed, but you also shouldn\'t forget the phantastic camerawork, especially during some of the interrogation scenes where it keeps tracking around the character\'s heads, as if trying to find an entrance into their minds. \r\n\r\nThe performances were completely stunning. At first I didn\'t even recognize Judy Garland! Almost everybody did something different this time around.','4aba9a9d0de3d8ff018cccf27ac4e919',0,'','NekMnSdX',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12414,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1159273800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Giallo Journals','There were a very specific genre in 1970\'s in Italian cinema. It\'s called giallo in italian (literally - yellow). In italian language this word means \"detective\". Somebody could call it an italian film noir, but these movies had some stylistic features (e.g. special use of camera and \"stupid\" screenplays). I believe there were not really great movies, masterpieces in this genre, but some are really interesting and original. Maybe it isn\'t worth to seriously explorate giallo here. So, here are my short takes and some recommendations. Of course, everybody is welcome to contribute to the thread. \r\n\r\nUna lucertola con la pelle di donna/Lizard in a Woman\'s Skin (Lucio Fulci, 1971)\r\nOne of the best giallo movies - who would ever thought! - is created by Lucio Fulci - the author of stupid mainstream comedies and trash horror. The film is set in London: the wife of a succesfull lawyer has obtrusive dreams about licentious orgies in the apartment next door. In one of these dreams a neighbour becomes the victim of the murder - in the morning this dream becomes real. The most interesting thing in the movie is not the Inspector Corvin investigation, not screenplay. The most interesting thing in the movie is its \"visual tone\"- so consistent and exquisite that even the scene of a banal conversation in the drawing-room captivates with its geometrical structure; its composition is so adjusted! There are several brilliant surrealistic takes: e.g. flying shadow of the swan hunting Florinda in her dream. So, forget about stupid screenplay and enjoy visual constituent of the picture! 8/10','2438d9b3769ebf3513c2d311a1c7fe2c',0,'','t3uSoLcr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12415,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1159348680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: Giallo Journals','Il profumo della signora in nero/The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Francesco Barilli, 1974)\r\nAlthough this film is too original to consider it a typical giallo, it\'s maybe the best film of this genre. Mimsy Farmer surprisingly combines adult feminity with childish delicacy. It is a Persephone for the sake of whom Hade will try to do everything possible. Brilliant cinematography (first take should be in encyclopaedia) fills movie world with surrealistic elements with allusions to Alice in the Wonderland; light transcendental features are more elegant than in Argento films. The end of the movie is very surprising and really unique - I don\'t want to spoil. This is a rare giallo that you\'ll remember for a long time as a whole, with unique athmosphere and penetrating visual themes (I would only say haunting). The director Francesco Barilli created only one more movie - Pensione paura (also giallo) that is unforunately absolutely unavailable.9/10','f34754da53d6cb7a9adbf40c20779eaf',0,'','TWXduCG5',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12416,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1159898940,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Giallo Journals','Whoa Mik. Great thread you opened!\r\nI`m completely overwhelmed, as this is for me one of the most interesting aspects of cinema history I know absolutely nothing about. Here in Germany the films you can get (at low cost) are all censored and cut, with most of the films being sold in a horrible aspect ratio (full-frame). As I try to always see the version closest to the original, I didn`t have the opportunity to watch any of these films. \r\nWhere did you see them, btw?\r\nI hope you`ll continue this thread, and much more will follow.\r\nThe images you posted are really beautiful and impressive. But it seems to take a lot of time for them to load. Maybe it would be more convenient if you could post only one or two images in a compressed form.','06f42725c051e392a636cd4b7bb8103e',0,'','GnECDaml',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12417,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1159955640,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: Giallo Journals','Wow, somebody answered! I thought nobody would be interested in giallo. Very glad to know that I don\'t post in void.\r\n\r\nYou know, I work in Moscow Cinema Museum. We got several giallo DVD from Italian embassy to make screenings (DVD projections). I promise that I\'ll write short reviews on some of them (maybe 4 or 5) next week.','4b2ba4f057ef6059255c6d6a991fbcff',0,'','bESfTkqM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12418,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160063220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Giallo Journals','You definitely don`t post in void, and I`m sure more people than just me are reading this thread. I always read absolutely everything on the board, though it sometimes takes a while till I catch up with everything. \r\n\r\nCould you post some infor on the DVDs, with running time and frame-size? Are the subs in english?','b011e0d231d7a48b6e2456a29488d961',0,'','HsVkolnb',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12419,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160065440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Giallo Journals','I\'m not the biggest fan of Giallos. Basically because there are more crap than I\'d like to know about, but this thread is interesting because I do know about those that are great (and there are no guilty pleasures). MikLosk\'s posts are helping me to weed them out Plus I always had a desire to learn more about Dario Argento.','43d845db933d3663d0b4cdba90181072',0,'','DEkB0p6R',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12420,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160561040,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: Giallo Journals','Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso/Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (Umberto Lenzi, 1972)\r\nElusive criminal kills one after another women, unified only with the fact that all of them stayed in the same resort hotel several years ago. The film doesn\'t contain garish formalistic crotchets, its cinematography isn\'t very bright, but the narrative energy of the movie keeps viewer\'s attention (unprecedented thing for a giallo film). You can guess the murder earlier than it\'s necessary, his logic is really silly, but director\'s competence is undoubtful. Besides, Riz Ortolani\'s music is very good. 6/10','372005e6a310a50cc02d18680927c378',0,'','Lrke3hZK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12421,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160561940,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: Giallo Journals','@A\r\nYes, subs are in english. Unfortunately, I can\'t give you more info: retrospective is over and discs are sent back to Italian embassy. I\'ve not even seen them: shots were made by my friend, who wrote the article about giallo for the one of russian cinema journals.','400a9ed5c49951bf5a9b0385c57734a8',0,'','wQdjT5CW',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12422,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160619480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Giallo Journals','The \"Giallo,\" one of Italian horror\'s most important subgenres, got started in the early-60\'s with such films as The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Blood and Black Lace -- both directed by Mario Bava, who along with Dario Argento, made the genre\'s initial great films. They were then joined by the likes of Lucio Fulci and Umberto Lenzi, whose popular giallos have been discussed in this thread. I probably like the ones by Argento the best (e.g. Deep Red), especially because of his intimate collaboration with the great Ennio Morricone.','e5b5e0b6bea5b54744ffb7f744c9f57e',0,'','CkqMHwv5',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12423,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166567520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Giallo Journals','I got to see two Giallo films as a double feature at a local cinema last week. Both were projected from a DVD, and unfortunately the second disc was damged, and we didn\'t get to see the ending. Imo it was even better than the first one, though I won\'t be able t confirm it, unless I watch it completely On a side note, the script was written by Tonino Guerra under a pseudonym who is a living legend. Having worked amongst others for Antonioni, Pasolini, Tarkovski, and Angelopoulos, Guerra is without doubt one of the best and most influential scenarists of all time. Parts of it could be witnessed in this film. Nevertheless I will only write a few notes on the first film. I also managed to dig out a beautiful screenshot from it. \r\n\r\nIl tuo vizio una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave\r\nYour Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key\r\n(Sergio Martino / Italy / 1972)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI think this was actually the first Giallo film I\'ve seen, and I was really impressed. Many people consider this a classic of the genre and I can see why it is appreciated. Still it has some considerable flaws, most apparent in the narrative which doesn\'t always make sense and has some apparent plot-holes. Nevertheless this doesn\'t distract too much from the overall impact. Based on the short story \"The Black Cat\" by Edgar Allan Poe, the film is more of a gothic horror film, than a giallo in the traditional sense. It creates a haunting atmosphere through an assured direction (I\'ll keep an eye out for more films by Sergio Martino), and the actors are well chosen. But the most impressive is clearly the fabulous camerawork. What Giancarlo Ferrando achieves with his camerawork can be placed alongside most other noteworthy 70s films, and I\'ve rarely seen it done any better in a genre movie. Adapting to every situation he uses lighting and color in a masterful way, switching from completely artificial sets to documentary-styled sequences shot on location. The compositions of certain images and even sequences are at times flawless, and the way he for example switches from a close-up to a long-shot is responsible for a huge part of the impact of a certain scene. Breaking some conventional rules of Hollywood cinema, his work is inventive and original. The same goes for the editing. One sequence at the end of the film is pure genius, and deploys some of the editing devices used by Eisenstein or Godard to a surprising effect. Overall this is an extremely well made film which deserves to be seen.\r\n64 out of 100','024e599f652e4000851fbfc6ff0a38c1',0,'','Wrky39FV',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12424,2225,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177562460,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Giallo Journals','After eagerly finding out Mik had opened a new thread on a branch of cinema I was completely ignorant of, something funny has happened. I have made friends with two young German cineastes who are real connoisseurs in the field of Giallo and are trying to reveal this unknown world to me. I\'m still pretty ignorant, but this is definitely going to change. So I might be able to contribute further comments to this thread in the future. I just hope Mik and the other members also get the opportunity to see more of these films. \r\n\r\nHere in Germany we are currently experiencing a kind of renaissance of Giallo and Poliziotteschi films on DVD as dozens of them have been released in uncensored and often remastered versions during the last months.','cd0a038e25f2021bef61146d8a3b250f',0,'','5s0rz6Bj',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12425,2226,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174071180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Heaven\'s Gate (Michael Cimino / 1980)','\r\n\r\n\r\nHow the West was Won\r\n\r\nA nation has been crumbling away. One glimpse at it, from the present to the past into one tiny moment of the whole, presenting the way of progress. People are difficult, and have a way of dealing with things that isn\'t merely based on the will of survival, but something far more powerful than that. To say it with the words of Aimee Mann: \"There is nothing that competes with habit\". But it is in fact very deep and very tragic, as it isn\'t only one country but all of them, each the same as the rest, as human beings couldn\'t be more similar and equal around the world. They vary everywhere, but the constellations and the mixture are pretty much the same, and the different levels, castes and classes don\'t really make it less clear. Some are struggling for more than they need, while others are struggling for the barest to live by. But if you\'d exchange the names and switch both sides, the game would still be the same. The tragedy is not the fact that a few countries exploit the others, that a small part of the population eats the cake while most only make it. It lies in the realization that almost nobody is interested in not swallowing it all. Not life as the most important thing there is, but something bigger than it: humanity. \r\n\r\nIn Cimino\'s film, the character\'s who seek transcendence find it only in death. Christ himself, portrayed by Kris Kristofferson in an interesting variation, has to suffer without the salvation of death, slowly dying while life goes on, finding himself in hell on earth. Will he continue to bear our sins? Cimino seems to imply that nothing ever stops, and the fact that life will go on is a testimony to the futile acts of man. What remains in our age is nothing at all. The path we have taken doesn\'t lead anywhere anymore. And the grace we possess has been taken from us by our own way of life. \r\nKristofferson is exactly where he wanted to be in the last sequence of the film. If we cut from his meeting his wife at the beginning at the graduation of the class of 1870 to the end, all his youthful dreams have come true. But like the remaining sailor at the end of John Huston\'s Moby Dick (1958), only a survivor can describe the catastrophe that happened in between, that life consists of. To an outsider he might seem lucky, a survivor floating on the open sea, escaped from the lifelong hunt after the phantom we dedicade our souls to. But life doesn\'t end after the credits, it goes on, and if the viewer thinks about the actual end of the story, it is an agonizing death of thirst in the light of the burning rays of the sun. After that, eaten by the fishes. Kristofferson is also a ghost from the past, telling us something we already know. And decadence is also a form of decay, although floating on his steamboat the fish can\'t quite get to him. In my opinion Moby Dick is more merciful when he finally swallows the ship. In our world the legend is dead. You decide what you\'d choose for yourself.\r\n\r\nAs the flagship that sunk United Artists, Heaven\'s Gate was worthy to do so. Founded at the end of the 1910s by some of the most successful artists of their times, it should have proved that you can also work successfully in the industry on your own. This delusion finally came to an end when the industry swallowed what it had made possible in the first place. A decadent movie against decadence, a big budget multimillion production as the prestige object of an independent company. A fitting representation of itself, the film can be also read as an allegory of Hollywood which represents the American Dream - a lot of work to create an illusion in which you can\'t live. This is the first film where I liked a poet being shot in the mouth. In an even better and more beautiful one, which could despite many similarities be described as the antipode to Heaven\'s Gate there is a line that goes something like this: \"The Gun will replace your tongue. From now on your poetry will be written in blood\". It is Dead Man (1995) by Jim Jarmusch in which the protagonist is also something of a ghost, lost in time. But while Kristofferson is despite all of his doubt and loathing searching for life and fleeing from death, Johnny Depp is portraying a man who is finally discovering life on the road to his death. Both are somehow immortals, existing in a world of their own, walking on a tight rope between life and death. But it\'s only a curse for one of them. Jarmusch\'s film could be seen as a metaphysical reply to the stagnancy in Cimino\'s portrayal of our world. But to do this he has to travel back in time, to the Indians and to William Blake. It is interesting to note that both filmmakers can\'t find their answers in the future. Although I doubt that forward movement necessarily means the loss of something, while the road back shows the way to new meaning, these symptoms in American cinema doubtlessly point to a huge problem in the system itself. \r\nWhy isn\'t Cimino making any films today? Maybe he has found the right answer for himself. To everybody else who wants to make films: Grab a camera and go on the streets. Life is too short to wait till the industry gets you.','1479e068d4e65745d29869cb4709cb93',0,'','Axz7scNb',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12426,2226,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174071300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Heaven\'s Gate (Michael Cimino / 1980)','Sorry about the size of the pic. But I couldn\'t access my \"Photobucket\" account from this internet cafe. \r\nMaybe somebody can reduce it on my behalf.','a7a749597c8a76f9ec1bc4d9bd50c93b',0,'','L9qtjpSl',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12427,2226,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174076460,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Heaven\'s Gate (Michael Cimino / 1980)','I still haven\'t seen Heaven\'s Gate, and I think I might change that today.','4dfc72836058133ebcaa9b4c439d9609',0,'','Rw5yoeq2',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12428,2226,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174157700,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Heaven\'s Gate (Michael Cimino / 1980)','\r\nI also put off seeing it for ages it seems, as the various recuts and butcheries done to the film were a no-no for me. \r\nWhen I was still quite young my mother always told me about the beauty of the film, and I think she has always watched it whenever it appeared on TV (quite many times). I didn\'t want to see it dubbed and was hoping for the new print that was shown at the Berlinale two years ago. But when I saw the DVD at the library last week i couldn\'t resist. It was a very average Region 2 DVD with a PAL running-time of 209 minutes. But we are trying to get the restored print for a screening at our cinema. Keep your fingers crossed. \r\n\r\nI\'m pretty sure you\'ll like the film btw.','b007b17587421164541a34259e64d4e6',0,'','2bDq9iLw',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12429,2227,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1169274540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Ruggles of Red Cap (1935) - Leo McCarey','Made no less than four different times, Leo McCarey\'s 1935 incarnation of Ruggles of Red Cap remains by far the best remembered and most admired adaptation. McCarey was quickly asserting himself as a master of comedy, having already helmed several Laurel and Hardy shorts as well as the Marx Brothers Duck Soup. For this film, he once again worked under Paramount and with a perfectly realized cast. His jabs were taken at the upper class, a topic that most down and out Americans found no trouble laughing at. Charles Laughton is therefore perfectly cast as the supremely tight British butler. His transformation is perfect, and even by the end where he\'s become \"Americanized\" he\'s still the British man at heart.\r\n\r\nThe film begins when his Lord Earl of Burnstead (Roland Young) loses him during a game of poker to a travelling oil millionaire from the \"boom town\" of Red Cap, Washington played by the ironically named Charles Ruggles. His wife Effie (Mary Boland) wants Ruggles to make a gentleman out of her husband that still wears checkered suits, cowboy hats, and has a mustache he\'s been growing for 19 years. However after a disastrous attempt at civilizing him, it turns out to be Ruggles who gets the education. Seeing his extreme akwardness as Egbert makes such a radical demand as to have Ruggles sit at the same table as him, are where Laughton works best. Before long he\'s not just at the same table, but drinking, and finally hopping on Egbert\'s back yelling \"whoopee\". \r\n\r\nRuggles ideas of America, particularly the west are characterized by images of stagecoach\'s and scalping Indians. He finds however that in the ancient sociology of depression era cinema, people are people. In the case of some of them, like Jackson (Lucien Littlefield) they\'re just plain bad. However the \"real\" people of the town make Ruggles feel at home, and encourage him to realize his independence. Ruggles is a direct parallel of US independence. Puritan settlers came over to the US, established colonies, and gradually lightened up and broke from British tradition and rule. So too does Ruggles come over, loosen up, make something of himself, and dismiss his British heritage and the \"loyalty\" his family has been steeped into for generations of servitude. Not surprising then that Ruggles is the one person in town who knows the most about American ideals, reciting the whole of Lincoln\'s Gettysburg address in front of a speechless crowd of drunken cowboys.\r\n\r\nEverything in the film works wonderfully. Even when the Earl comes to Red Cap, he feels the charm of America, or rather the charm of a Dance Hall girl Nell Kenner (Leila Hyams). The two work there way through a clumsy duet in charming fashion, and before long, they buy into the fast paced American way of life by getting engaged the same night they meet. Everything is different, and in the eyes of McCarey better in the US. This films\' idea of attacking the snobs worked wonders for American audiences, and its a shame that in 1952 McCarey would be responsible for making the most blatantly anti-communist film of Hollywood with My Son John. At least at this point in time, he spoke more for the people, that huddled mass, and do it yourself America. Laughton may have given his best performance here, and few classic comedies can reach this level of greatness.\r\n\r\nGrade A','78b4a0b063fa21b60f6e232e9d684b4a',0,'','Vsw7l9XT',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12430,2227,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174066800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Ruggles of Red Cap (1935) - Leo McCarey','Which are the other versions of this film and who were the directors? I suppose Carey\'s is the \"original\"? And do you know by chance if it was adapted from a play?\r\nMany questions...','a5713d5b6f0f6ffbce9206be22bcf1a7',0,'','y0Niujsn',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12431,2227,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174076520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Ruggles of Red Cap (1935) - Leo McCarey','McCarey\'s was the second version actually. Most of the other versions aren\'t available.','638db3af5416b825148eb4ac343ec0b5',0,'','zHRZ14yo',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12432,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160488500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','This early film of 30 years old australian Peter Weir (later he moved to the USA) belongs to the handful of the most enigmatic and incredibly beautiful movies in cinema history. It expresses on the intuitive, almost unconscious level something that could be considered as magic nature of cinema. Of course, you can treat Weir\'s film as a mysterious intellectual detective with very delicate athmosphere and exquisite artistic performance. Besides, the film is based on the real paradoxical accident that took place in Australia 75 years before the film was made. The accident remained unexplained and gave rise to many controversial explanations.\r\n\r\nThree students of a female college and their teacher disappeared during the summer walk near the famous Hanging Rock - marvellous rest place. Everything happened obtained metaphysical features: something horrible and incomprehensible happened on St. Valentine\'s Day. But placatory nature still \"is in the dark\" and stais in the rest, striking with innocent beauty. However, accumulating anxiety relaxes in thunderstorm, and then - stunning silence, and the world becomes much more inconceivable, its origin, entity - much more subtle and imperceptible.\r\n\r\nThis film is an amazing cinema poem, triumph of the impressionist style with delicate and soft play of light and shadows. The mystery is in the air. With the people of the beginning of the XX century we\'re scared with obscure future that hangs over us like a dark strom-cloud. 10/10','97b3a5cbd789910a3ec2bb51d02b4a66',0,'','HtF30EWL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12433,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160959200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','I have the director\'s cut on VCD, but it\'s still in my to watch pile. I\'ll try to come back to this when I see it.\r\nBut Weir is a masterful director who also made some very good film later in his career.\r\n\r\nMy favorite of his is Fearless (1993) with the great Jeff Bridges. And I\'d also urge you to see Galipoli (1981) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), both with a young Mel Gibson. His american films tend to be a bit uneven, like Dead Poets Society (1989) or The Truman Show (199 , but he also made more interesting efforts like Witness (1985), or his most recent Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).\r\nActually, one of my favorite directors.','5350c8e18a7130cc48253630cdc1e292',0,'','dTn9Du2t',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12434,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160968200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','Some excellent films under his belt and almost certainly two of the best performances from Harrison Ford, (Witness and Mosquito Coast), Master & Commander was a wonderful cinematic experience and is sadly underrated, there are quite a few other gems as well as A has pointed out. Picnic at Hanging Rock is still one of those films that I savour seeing again and again, incredibly atmospheric with a dreamlike quality, hopefully there\'ll be many more films to enjoy down the years from Peter Weir.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','44966867350f1196bd2149dbeceb40ef',0,'','tTWgDHuE',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12435,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160974080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','I thought Master and Commander was overrated, but I generally have an unexplainable prejudice to films set on water. Of his films I\'ve seen, I\'d most recommend Gallipoli, and then probably The Last Wave, the latter of which being the closest stylistically to Picnic at Hanging Rock.','ac868cc470276ea4de8d43c1e3eb0192',0,'','Ym82TygV',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12436,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1161022560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','The atmospherics of Master and Commander were perfect, the groans and creaks really brought the ship to life. The only thing that could have improved it would have been if the theatre had swayed in rythm to the sea. Sure there was nothing truly outstanding about the story but it is the only film I can remember where it was difficult to differentiate between the set, the model work and most surprisingly for me, the computer generated effects. Brilliant use of background music as well, particularly during the storm section. \r\n\r\nFar better than any other seafaring adventure that I can think of. \r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','060b142971757acb8ee751428eb1a9ae',0,'','q02cMK9F',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12437,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1161028680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','I\'ll take the Black Swan any day, not to say its a better film, but Maureen O\'hara makes it so.','13e0f104cdda4b16f8310d8868d92162',0,'','pSR1vfBL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12438,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1161058380,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','Well I thought Master and Commander was a bit overrated when it was released, because it was hailed for many wrong reasons imo. But that\'s usually what hype and the propaganda machinery of Hollywood do to films. \r\nBut after the hype died down, I think it got underrated and remains at this.\r\nI\'d probably agree with Trevor. This is also the best film at sea I have seen. And contrary to wpqx, I\'m a sucker for movies at sea \r\nI also love this kind of movies where nothing much happens plot-wise and you get to observe the interactions of people. A bit like Rohmer.','4d3ca90ed0697f58bf5fa4a417950ce4',0,'','k6wLhflr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12439,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1162837860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','Master and Commander is an excellent movie. Brilliant screenlay, editing, use of camera - everything is excellent. Really captivating adventure movie, undoubtedly the best in its genre in 2000\'s.','16f261acafa9d00f9fc885e893694fc8',0,'','c6yTZdow',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12440,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1168231320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'gratefultiger','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','If u think Picnic at Hanging Rock is good which it is.\r\nTry \"Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith\" to my mind the greatest film from down-under also \"Wake in Fright\"AKA \"Outback\" vastly underrated both of them,i have visited Hanging Rock a few times as a mate lives near there,it is mysterious when the fog rolls in,a new print of \"Blacksmith\"has been found by a fellow Aussie in the USA (it was destined to be destroyed,before this guy moved in &took the bull by the horns Oz style) so i can\'t wait for the DVD as my copy is VHS only.\r\nCheers Chas','644a84c5765d4a200c5e2497377b0e3a',0,'','ElqPCnRK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12441,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1168234320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','The US knows about this film primarily through reputation only, which infuriates me to no end. I\'ve been waiting years to see it, and it is pretty much completely unavailable in this country.','4eefd18b5097387949364dd9137f7238',0,'','3wXp9WT0',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12442,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1168250400,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','Not even through the Criterion?','a3b87c3cced0ccc69283b80e7a5992c4',0,'','lxBw2LYM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12443,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1168426320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','I believe wpqx was referring to Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith.','bc98c684c06f083329d766898e67c7ca',0,'','uYjfaigh',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12444,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1168427400,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','I see.\r\n\r\nThat will learn me good to read whole posts proper. :P','23026b523311228fbdf0322237b10ed9',0,'','U8W6Zxft',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12445,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1168428780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','Correct, and by that I mean Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is unavailable, and I really don\'t know what any legal reasons might be. I know Killer of Sheep has been long out of print because of issues relating to its soundtrack and legal clearances in that realm, but nothing have I heard about anyone in the US even attempting to release the film, even after Schepesi\'s somewhat prosperous American career.','b14a116aa4f550231ae31662e6477545',0,'','BYlvHyQb',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12446,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1170124140,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','I agree with Miklosk, Picnic is excellent; in my opinion still the best i\'ve seen from both Weir and Australia.','1e152896ed38166970a13e5562a70f9e',0,'','8ozVRsl9',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12447,2228,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174066920,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)','Darn, I still don\'t have the right codecs installed on my Laptop to watch my VCD of the director\'s cut.\r\nMaybe I\'ll hold off for a Peter Weir \"Director\'s Week\". Although he is one of my favorite directors, it has been a while since I saw most of his films.','710a5df603baf3cab738ec2b1ef298b1',0,'','vGpxLXcN',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12448,2229,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1173815280,1,0,1,1,1,1,'peppajaa','Night and the City (1950 UK)','The plot involves a small-time street hustler in London who tries to make his mark as a fight promoter, only to find organized crime\'s stranglehold (Herbert Lom) over the wrestling business tougher to overcome that he imagined. Richard Widmark\'s hoodlum, Harry Fabian, is a fast-talking small-fry, an ambitious, overreaching punk who undoes himself at every turn, and digs himself in deeper and deeper with each confrontation against the city\'s kingpin. Fabian wants to \"be somebody\" in the worst way and mangles himself more than anyone else in the attempt. \r\n\r\nGrand black and white cinematography capturing film noir at its best. Interesting supporting roles by Francis L. Sullivan, Gene Tierney, Stanislaus Zbyszko, Mike Mizurki, Googie Withers. Post-war London location was used as director Jules Dassin was blacklisted .\r\n\r\nI consider this one of Widmark\'s best performances. The actor turned 93 yrs. recently. An amazing career.\r\n\r\nPeppa','2b3b99a3522a5c8c0a0a9c2fc30b75e4',0,'','xHdVocDM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12449,2229,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1173824580,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Night and the City (1950 UK)','This is probably my favorite Dassin film. Widmark is great in it as well. Bit of nonsense that it was made in London, which was more a necessity because Dassin wasn\'t exactly welcome in this country.','607a42a4e306783230f3e612c0d5ceeb',0,'','z849naRf',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12450,2230,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1168894200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Miss Julie, Death Takes a Holiday','MISS JULIE (Frken Julie)\r\n\r\nDirected by Alf Sjoberg (1951), 90 minutes\r\n\r\nBased on a well-known play by August Strindberg, Alf Sjobergs Miss Julie depicts the struggle for survival between classes and genders in late 19th century Sweden that leads to confusion and tragedy. Because of its frank portrayal of sex between a lower-class servant and an upper-class aristocrat, the play was banned in Europe until 1906 and in Britain until 1939. It is highly regarded, however, as an important work in the literary genre that became known as Naturalism. Compellingly played by Anita Bjork who completely captures her characters erratic willfulness, Miss Julie, the 25-year old daughter of Count Carl (Anders Henrikson) is estranged from the society in which she grew up and fights against the restrictions placed on her because of her status. \r\n\r\nJulie is a rebel who treats social conventions of the time with disdain, though she still demands to be treated as a proper woman. Having recently broken up with her fianc (Kurt-Olof Sundstrm) after what would now be called an S&M incident in which she literally makes him jump through hoops like a trained dog, she is open for sexual adventure. The adventure she finds takes the form of the handsome butler Jean (Ulf Palme) whom she seduces following the drunken revelries celebrating Midsummer Eve, a pagan ritual. It is an act which, though only mildly reprehensible today, was viewed as depraved in Strindbergs time and led to the authors characterization of Julie as being sick. \r\n\r\nAlthough Jean is engaged to the cook, Christine (Marta Dorff), neither Jean nor his fianc object because they see the act as an honor due to Julies social position. The seduction, however, leads to her loss of respect from the servants as well as the loss of her own self respect. To escape from their untenable situation, the two lovers talk about leaving on the next train to Switzerland where Jean fantasizes about owning a hotel but the tangled web they have woven leads to unforeseen consequences. \r\n\r\nOne of the highlights of the film for me was the seamless inter-mixing of dream intervals and flashbacks from childhood. In her dream, Miss Julie is high up on a ledge or mountain. She can no longer hold on but lacks the courage to come down, though she has a longing to fall. Jean, on the other hand, wants to climb a high tree but is unable to reach the top. In flashbacks, Miss Julie recalls how her mother Berta (Lissi Alandh) saw herself as a feminist who was opposed to marriage and only wanted to be the counts mistress. When she gave birth to a daughter, she exacted her revenge by raising the girl as a boy and carrying on various misdeeds until the estate went bankrupt. \r\n\r\nDespite its anachronistic and morbid social outlook, Sjobergs Miss Julie is not a grim experience. The director lightens it up considerably with country scenes of folk dancing, horseback riding, and rowing, all in an idyllic setting, beautifully photographed by Goran Strindberg. Though it reflects Strindbergs distorted view of women as hysterics, Miss Julie is a superb film and a treat for the senses, both visually magnificent and wonderfully performed. It has a well-deserved reputation as being one of the greatest Swedish films of all time.\r\n\r\nGRADE: A\r\n\r\nDEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY\r\n\r\nDirected by Mitchell Leisen (1934), 78 minutes\r\n\r\nBecause I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality Emily Dickinson\r\n\r\nIf Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nations highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisens 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play \"La Morte in Vacanza\" by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained. \r\n\r\nAfter a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.\r\n\r\nTo see whats behind all the conversation about love, the suave but nave Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Dukes friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fianc, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming. More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.\r\n\r\nGRADE: B+','7ea82daa078322ba79696f45d5666288',0,'','wfL76vpH',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12451,2230,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1169071740,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Miss Julie, Death Takes a Holiday','I have just recently watched \"Miss Julie\", thanks to a friendly americna who send me a DVD copy via mail.\r\nUp until the scene when Julie and Jean sleep together the film is aspiring to greatness, but after that, Strindberg rears his ugly head too much for my tastes, with rather poor textbook psychology and a completely misguided attitude towards women. Though the film has a lot going for it, and I will certainly watch it again in the future. Judging by some of the shots, I think Sjoberg would have also been an excellent silent director. The close-ups are even more stunning than in Hitchcock\'s films. \r\nNevertheless I would give the film a negative rating. Probably C - (on my scale it was a 47 out of 100).','1a275b5bb8e24588b198b3e775f93539',0,'','8o49qMDL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12452,2230,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1169081100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Re: Miss Julie, Death Takes a Holiday','I can understand how you feel. However, I was aware of Strindberg\'s attitudes going into the film and I tried not to let them get in the way of my appreciating the film on its own merits.','f4592e91f426d0eb3ef0a36fb0a15980',0,'','y9AGCaES',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12453,2230,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1169247900,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Miss Julie, Death Takes a Holiday','Well, I know enough now before my next viewing of it. And when another Strindberg adaptation comes along, I\'ll try to be lenient.\r\nNevertheless I can never distinguish a films form from its content. To me theay are essentially one and the same, each reflecting on the other. So if one doesn\'t work, there is no way a film is going to be good, no matter how great some aspects might be.','5e543d3075a7e27dbe70d60882d00988',0,'','uVdsS1Wk',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12454,2231,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1130110500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray','Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray\r\n\r\nWell been awhile since I\'ve seen a Ray film, so I figured I was due. What I got was a film very typical of the master. It deals with peasants, it deals with the upper class, and it deals with man\'s inevitable corruptability. Survival is the key motivation in a Ray film. What a character thinks they\'ll do and what they do is always something that changes in the course of his film. It is funny in a way to see the pettiness of the main characters here, considered the most honored citizen of the town. They see a way to both help and exploit the town they live in. When food gets scarce though, they\'re the ones being exploited.\r\n\r\nI must say first off that Distant Thunder is unquestionably one of Ray\'s best films. As a matter of fact, I don\'t recall being moved as much by any of his other films (The Middleman a possible exception). The story is depressing, as most of his work is, but perhaps I\'ve seen enough of it to recognize it, and not be bothered by it. The story is like an Indian counterpart to Grave of the Fireflies. The only thing is no one really can explain the famine in this film. It was considered a \"man made famine\", and one that in reality killed over 5 million people in Bombay, some of the uncounted casualties of WWII I suppose.\r\n\r\nIt is Ray\'s first color film, and the first I\'ve seen from him in color. It is bathed in natural light, and we get a feeling that perhaps Ray should have been making films in color the whole time. It stars Soumitra Chatterjee as Gangacharan, the Brahmin. If the man looks familiar it\'s because he appeared in 14 other Ray films. He is fantastic here, and much of his performance comes just from looking. He isn\'t big on dialogue in the film, but seeing his pompous attitude at the beginning, and that sad disgusted look towards the end. He is angry with his position. He doesn\'t feel he deserves this, but on the other hand he realizes that he too needs to survive.\r\n\r\nLike all Ray films, this is a tale of humanity. The townspeople do what they can to help out, and in a moment of adversity they generally will come through for each other. Although many people starve and can\'t be helped, there is still a concern, and those who can help still do, particularly the Brahmin and his wife. It is atypical Ray, and one that should be seen by all.\r\n\r\nGrade A','9e2bc7fdcaa8732cc0cef1b1d703d7a0',0,'','63nH2meU',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12455,2231,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1131103320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray','Thanks for your review wpqx. \r\nIt is really a shame that so few films of Ray are available and thus only few people know his films. I\'ve recently seen my third film by him, Mahanagar \"The Big City\" (1962), which was very good. Especially the ending, was one of the most powerful ones I\'ve recently seen. The ending alone pulled my overall rating from **1/2 / **** to *** / ****. And it\'s still growing in my memory, like the other Ray films Pather Panchali and Aparajito I\'ve seen. I also bought a very good book in which ALL his films are written about in detail. Sad to say it\'s in German, so no recommendation.\r\nWell I\'d love to see a film by him in color.','89f919febf630045a6b5734ae16bb2e9',0,'','MqnKZtjF',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12456,2231,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166490840,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray','To update I\'ve also picked up a book about his films that covers each in detail, but as of yet haven\'t even started reading it. I\'ve seen a couple more Ray films since Distant Thunder but none coming close to its magnificence. I\'ll also add that this film isn\'t included in the Index.','383bcf84cb60067ecb5a890699a75e62',0,'','UjPY6SX9',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12457,2231,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166565060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray','I still haven\'t seen more than three of his films. I\'d have to rely on imported DVDs for that, and that\'s probably what I\'ll do next year.\r\nI\'ve finally decided that I\'ll start to import DVDs on a regular basis, something which I had planned to do for over four years now, but haven\'t been able to pull of because of my financial situation.\r\nBut as of now, things are finally improving rapidly. I\'ll have a brandnew Laptop at the beginning of the new year, and I\'ll probably also purchase an MP3 player (yes, I\'m still using an ancient CD-Player that has been repaired numerous times...).','f432ad7d448f76a699ad6016ccf3fe70',0,'','gqPTN7ai',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12458,2231,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167851040,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray','The only thing is no one really can explain the famine in this film. It was considered a \"man made famine\", and one that in reality killed over 5 million people in Bombay, some of the uncounted casualties of WWII I suppose.\r\n\r\nDistant Thunder is based on a Bengali novel set in the 40s. The famine of 1943 is referred to as a \'man-made famine\' because in the WW II context, there was acute shortage of food, and the British administration took away the lion\'s share of the civilian food supply for the upkeep of its own army, and left millions to starve.\r\n\r\nGlad you liked the film, wpqx, and Soumitra Chatterjee\'s brilliant essay of Gangacharan. My favourite moment in the film is when the proud, pompous brahmin tries to cross a rather ricketty bridge and before stepping on, tests it with his umbrella to see if it would give way. It is an iconic image from a film that talks about the dissolution of social strata in the face of famine. Gangacharan\'s transformation from a high caste man who expects privileges, to a man who begins to question the very basis of the casteist social order, is pulled together in the evocative image of the ricketty bridge that could give way regardless of the caste of the person stepping on it. \r\n\r\nM','ba5ee21f1f1f3724de9e480f1df1368f',0,'','vGiXjrxL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12459,2231,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167856320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray','there was acute shortage of food, and the British administration took away the lion\'s share of the civilian food supply for the upkeep of its own army, and left millions to starve.\r\n\r\nThank you Madhuban, too many people in the UK still believe that the British Empire was a glorious thing where we brought civilization and education to the hordes. As far as I\'m concerned, Britain owes a huge debt to each country we ravaged and raped, also to the people of those countries.\r\n\r\nAs a side line do you know of any good books written from the Indian point of view concerning our illustrious (sic) imperial days? \r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','c7f566a2dc036f94c7e3dce7207fcca5',0,'','Xl0iqSLp',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12460,2231,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167946860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray','How the hell do I tackle a question like that, Trevor! The problem is, most of my reading happens to be in this area, and there is such a wealth of extraordinary scholarship that it is hard to pick. Off the cuff, here are some books that will make provocative reading. I have also included American scholars whose work on the colonial period in India is no less significant. \r\n\r\nMasks of Conquest - Gauri Vishwanathan \r\nThe Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism - Ashis Nandy\r\nColonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge - Bernard Cohn\r\nThe Rhetoric of English India - Sara Suleri \r\nNationalist Thought and the Colonial World - Partha Chatterjee\r\nDominance without Hegemony: History and Power in Colonial India - Ranajit Guha\r\nRethinking Working-Class History: Bengal 1890-1940 - Dipesh Chakraborty\r\nColonizing the Body: State Medicine and Epidemic Disease in Nineteenth-Century India - David Hardiman\r\nRecasting Women: Essays in South Asian History - Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid eds\r\nRethinking English: Essays in Literature, Language, History - Svati Joshi (ed.) \r\nThe Lie of the Land: English Literary Studies in India - Rajeswari Sunder Rajan (ed.)\r\nCastes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India - Nicholas Dirks\r\nImagining India - Ronald Inden\r\n\r\nM','2d747b7dcb02c5eafcaefa4d3f7e213c',0,'','jXNVR2Up',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12461,2231,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167955980,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray','Thanks Madhuban I\'ll see if any of these are available through our library, should make interesting reading.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','3f84ba996b1d84dc796d696cf147c48d',0,'','srCd8qLb',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12462,2232,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167532800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Separation from family...','Now i was thinking up some films with this subject as a major theme, and turns out many of my favourite, + the greatest, films, particularly by Mizoguchi, cover it (to varying degrees, in different ways).\r\n\r\nSansho the Bailiff\r\nUgetsu Monogatari\r\nThe Life of Oharu\r\nStory of the Late Chrysanthemums\r\nOsaka Elegy\r\nTales of the Taira Clan\r\nLady of Musashino\r\nChikamatsu Monogatari\r\nThe Loyal 47 Ronin\r\nYang Kwei Fei\r\nMiss Oyu\r\nA Geisha\r\nStreet of Shame\r\nFive Women around Utamaro...\r\n\r\nof course it\'s not too surprising in Mizo\'s case, given his background- alienation from father, sister given up for adoption/sold to geisha house, mother died in his teens.\r\n\r\n+\r\nParis Texas\r\nAlice in the Cities\r\nThe Searchers\r\nTokyo Story\r\nLate Spring\r\nThe Only Son\r\nEternity and a Day\r\nApu trilogy\r\nDumbo\r\nCitizen Kane\r\nL\'Atalante\r\nSpirited away\r\nBlue Velvet\r\nYeelen\r\nFanny and Alexander\r\nMarnie\r\nEast of Eden\r\nSunrise\r\nNight of the Hunter\r\nIt\'s a Wonderful Life\r\nThe New World\r\nRaise the Red Lantern\r\nCrouching Tiger Hidden Dragon\r\nCentral Station\r\nStar Wars/The Empire strikes back\r\nMadchen in Uniform\r\nDavid Copperfield\r\nIt Happened one Night\r\nThe Wizard of Oz\r\nLa Belle et la Bete\r\nYol\r\nUmrao Jaan\r\nPakeezah\r\nCloud-capped Star\r\nKikujiro\r\nThe Return\r\nBen Hur\r\nBallad of a Soldier\r\nThe 400 Blows\r\nL\'Avventura\r\nGertrud\r\nFinding Nemo\r\nFive Easy Pieces\r\nA.I.Artificial Intelligence\r\nSophie\'s Choice\r\nRan\r\nCome and See\r\nAu revoir les Enfants\r\nIf\r\nInnocence\r\nThe Godfather\r\nMy Life as a Dog\r\nBashu the little Stranger\r\nThe Horse Thief\r\nThe Last Emperor\r\nToy Story\r\nThe Outlaw Josey Wales\r\nMonday Morning\r\nDogville\r\nFar from Heaven\r\nThe Pianist\r\nMillion Dollar Baby\r\nNobody Knows\r\nL\'Enfant\r\nThe Human Condition\r\nTom Jones\r\nSecrets and Lies\r\nThe Kid\r\nStory of the Weeping Camel\r\n\r\n+ separation from loved ones:\r\nThe General\r\nCasablanca\r\nHiroshima mon amour\r\nThe Age of Innocence\r\nDoctor Zhivago\r\nThe English Patient\r\nA Very Long Engagement\r\n\r\nseems to hit a general nerve...\r\n\r\nother films in this line? Or other major themes of great/popular films?','502988fdc90cc0d171c476283cfe95fe',0,'','Xbt1jVzo',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12463,2232,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167539100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Separation from family...','I\'d say that Street of Shame also qualifies, even though most of the relationships depicted in the film aren\'t very pleasant to begin with.\r\n\r\nIt\'s good to have you back, Mr. Mizoguchi.','84e63f9532974f7afa3242ac2b263a43',0,'','Yn2oUBNL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12464,2232,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167539340,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Separation from family...','Yes, well, i did think of including it, in fact will do- it features that classic scene when Machiko Kyo confronts her hypocritical dad. And Five Women around Utamaro also deals with the subject.','99970aa1f2154babc16b9b89359c6a64',0,'','vmFfil6P',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12465,2232,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167540180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Separation from family...','True. We also had Aiko Mimasu trying to get back to her son\'s good graces. In fact, nearly all of the women in the film had moments where the feelings of longing and remorse came to the forefront.\r\n\r\nHaven\'t seen Five Women.','272de34a43d505826263f4f557ae917d',0,'','uM7ExjUz',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12466,2232,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167782700,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Separation from family...','This is a pretty large list, and I dont really know what else I should add. I think this is a common theme in a lot of films, because these are the defining moments in many peoples lives. \r\nFor \"reconciliation\" I would recommend watching Eureka (2000).','e4a99d8cf01c12e456aa9548bf709f76',0,'','3Lf7V1qP',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12467,2232,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167796680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Separation from family...','Yes, i\'m sure you\'re right, it\'s just that it\'s not often commented on as a major theme/issue at least to my knowledge. Eureka is superb.','3025fd3f4f175929db068310a7481a5d',0,'','A3KXeTpW',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12468,2232,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167797940,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Separation from family...','Yes you are right. It deserves to be discussed in greater detail.','c541a7524aab0709efe2682dd9f5786b',0,'','43TYoMWD',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12469,2233,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166462220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','The Naked Island (Kaneto Shindo)','\r\nHadaka no shima \r\nThe Naked Island (1960 / Japan / Kaneto Shindo)\r\n\r\nThis film was made independently by Shindo, as all major companies in Japan refused to invest money in it, though he had already established himself as a film director at that time. He raised about 50 000 dollars I think, and made it on his own.\r\nNow what was the problem of this film?\r\nFact is that Shindo wanted to make a sound film without any dialogue, and he did!\r\nThe story takes place on a small island in Japan in the 60\'s, where a family of four lead a hard life, having no water or electric light, and also no technological devices. The parents have to bring buckets of water everyday from the nearby mainland, using a small wooden boat, that can only be manouvered by hand. They live from what they grow on the island, and have to take care of it eve ry day. The two boys are both very young and go to school every day on the mainland.\r\nThe film shows in beautiful tableaus how these four, and especially the parents, live in the course of a year, mostly through close-ups of the daily routines of watering the plants, collecting the water, and seemingly endless boat trips in between. \r\nAs the film takes its time to show these daily struggles of man versus nature in a slow pace, it has nevertheless many cuts, which somehow interrupts the flow of time imo, and doesn\'t work as intended. Also is the use of no dialogue problematic, as the family and other people at times appear like deaf-mutes, when the director shows us scenes where talk is much needed, but instead of avoiding such scenes, he doesn\'t know how, and there are some akward moments. At other times this problem is avoided in a good way, and the viewer only gets subtle hints. But the main problem of the film is its portrayal of a patriarchal structure, under which the woman suffers, but which is never condemned. When she tries to rebell two times in the film, it doesn\'t work out, and in the end she accepts her lot. \r\nThe conditions of this are never explained, or why the family doesn\'t live a \"normal\" life on shore. The husband is presented as cruel, once slapping his wife so hard in the face, that she falls on the floor, and never showing any signs of affection, even when later in the film one child dies. In the end the director seems to be affirmative of the husbands actions, as life will go on like before.\r\nBesides this hugely problematic portrayal of a japanese family, and some directorial flaws, the film reveals the simple acts of living under such harsh conditions, where almost every movement must lead to a goal, so that like strokes on a canvas, which in the end add up to a full painting, the very act of living becomes a work of art. Each gesture becomes important, as every second of life seems to be squeezed out of the frame, and the pearls of sweat on the forehead and the sucking of water by the plants become metaphors for the struggle of life. The film is a circle of life and death, and shows us that everything in the world is connected, and every living being is dependant on another, while it at the same time glorifies the human spirit and achievement, which creates life out of nothing, and survives under the most extreme conditions. The film can thus be seen as an ode to human endurance.\r\n\r\nRecommended for all lovers of Japanese Cinema, and World cinema in general. Personal rating **3/4 / ****','b63a53a2068154a8ffc85fc574a074be',0,'','v1uWTXEp',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12470,2233,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167147780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: The Naked Island (Kaneto Shindo)','Naked Island (1960) Hadaka no shima\r\n\r\nDirected by Kaneto Shind (Onibaba, Kuroneko)\r\n\r\nStarring Nobuko Otowa, Taiji Tonoyama, Shinji Tanaka, Masanori Horimoto\r\n\r\nVisual poetry from start to finish, Following the struggle for survival of man against nature as a family eke out an existence on a small Island off the coast of Japan.\r\n\r\nThe island is home and/or prison for the family, a desolate dust trap lacking the most basic of amenities including the most important, fresh water. The day is filled with a continuous and endless to-ing and fro-ing to the mainland to collect fresh water which then has to be carried up the steep face of the island to provide water for drinking, bathing and for the crops. \r\n\r\nWater is without a doubt the most precious and essential of commodities.\r\n\r\nA harsh existence indeed, almost medieval in feel though the fact that they are in a continuous battle against nature rather than working with it does place it firmly in the present. \r\n\r\nSilence is golden (so they say) and there is a complete lack of speech throughout the film, for the majority of the story this works perfectly, there is no need for speech as the parents go through the endless routine of fetching, carrying and watering the crops but when one of their sons falls ill the silence feels false, you want to here the worry and anguish as they search desperately for a doctor, but the silence continues, the father finds the doctor but the film cuts before he utters a word.\r\n\r\nThe story at first gives the sense of a community totally dependent on each other and with everyone on an equal footing, given the directors political leanings its almost a communist allegory but this isnt a fable. The truth is this is a very patriarchal society as noted by A or dictatorship which is revealed when the mother loses her footing whilst carrying two precious buckets of water, one spills emptying its contents into the soil. Her husband approaches with the feel that he will give her some aid and maybe commiserate, but as he reaches her he slaps her so hard she falls to the ground. \r\n\r\nThere are other pointers that you cant help but notice after this incident that show that the wife/mother is regarded as the lowest ranking of the family, most of the fetching and carrying is done by her including taking her son to the mainland for school while collecting more water at the same time, meanwhile her husband slowly, carefully waters the crops. When it comes to bathing the woman comes last as well, the sons, followed by the father have their bath while she prepares the food, only once everyone and everything else has been dealt with can she finally have a much deserved soak. \r\n\r\nThe film takes an almost documentary approach to illustrate the meagre existence by which some people choose to live, it is difficult for families to give up a way of living no matter how tough it is when its the way their families have eked out an existence for many generations. \r\n\r\nRhythmically visually poetical, a look into a harsh form of existence that asks no questions and provides no answers. The final shot takes an aerial view of the island, circling slowly, it\'s only then that you realise just how small and all encompassing the family\'s world is.\r\n\r\nA definite recommendation and vastly different from anything else I\'ve seen from Shindo, quite Bressonesque in its own way. \r\n\r\nCheers Trev.\r\n\r\nR2 dvd released by Eureka MoC, beautiful transfer and very good extras including:\r\n\r\nFull feaure length commentry from Kaneto Shindo and composer Hikaru Hayashi.\r\n\r\nIntroduction by Alex Cox\r\n\r\nStills gallery\r\n\r\nand a 24 page booklet of essays and interviews.','c4a04392bacf376385cfbc6a8a78ff82',0,'','0Sliguwo',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12471,2233,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1167782520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: The Naked Island (Kaneto Shindo)','Huhu, nice review Trevor. Id really like to see the film again, and now that the excellent DVD is out theres one further reason to do so. \r\nGlad you liked the film. It does feel a bit unusual for Shindo, although he always directs with great care, deliberately taking a lot of time for his scenes. A viewer of his films has to be patient.','b0c3154b54c4a1684a78bb845d0746a5',0,'','aQj9LEUs',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12472,2234,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166545440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Still Life (1974 / Iran)','Still Life - Tabiate bijan \r\n\r\nDirected by Sohrab Shahid Saless\r\n\r\nStarring Zadour Bonyadi\r\n\r\nImagine doing the same job your whole life, day in day out.\r\n\r\nMohammed Sardari, railway employee for 33 years, lives in the middle of nowhere with his wife in accommodation thats been provided with the job. Every time a train passes, day or night he has to be there to lower and raise the barriers for the crossroad.\r\n\r\nA desolate lonely life for this husband and wife, she weaves rugs all day while the only outside conversations he has are with the little railway trucks that deliver food etc, and these tend to last about a minute.\r\n\r\nOne day he is given a letter notifying him of his imminent retirement, this is obviously beyond his comprehension and something that has never even crossed his mind!\r\n\r\nThis is the crux of this very minimalistic study, when you give your life to something, maybe someone and suddenly your not needed/wanted, youve past your sell by date, theyve had the best years of your life and now your being put out to pasture, how would you feel, where do you go, what do you do?\r\n\r\nAs the film finished you cant help but wonder, what becomes of Mohammed and his wife as they pack their meagre belongings onto a wagon!\r\n\r\nIf you enjoy the minimalist approach, sparse dialogue etc then you will really appreciate this film. It certainly makes you realise how dispensable we all are. \r\n\r\nA minimalist masterpiece, highly recommended for those with patiance.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev\r\n\r\nBBFC rating PG \r\n\r\nShown as part of the CinemaIran season on Channel 4 in the UK.','0e6200538541e3bf6ac6eabd457aaa43',0,'','aHD9Q0ti',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12473,2234,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166642760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Still Life (1974 / Iran)','Originally posted by Madhuban 18 Dec.\r\n\r\nI have little to add to Trevor\'s review of Still Life. Just a few brief comments about what moved me.\r\n\r\nStill Life - Sohrab Shahid Saless\r\n\r\nAs a term copiously used in fine arts classrooms, \"still life\" refers to paintings of inanimate objects. In stark contrast to Naderi\'s film, Wind, Water, Dust, that attributes life to inanimate objects, Saless\' film empties out the life of a railway employee and his wife to make them look like inanimate objects. Rather than being reductive, Still Life is a thought-provoking study of humanity reduced to dull routine in a mechanical age. Even the occasional train that passes by has more life than that of the couple. The ultimate irony is that the crossing that Mohammad is in charge of and carefully tends to, hardly has any vehicles! Left unguarded, it would not make much of a difference. Yet, through 30 years, Mohammad\'s world comprises manning the crank that allows and disallows thoroughfare, and the meaning of his life has been reduced to taking care (he retains that belief) of a tiny stretch of railroad. Nothing \"happens\" in the film, and the letter announcing Mohammad\'s retirement is hardly an event. With little earthly possession and no money, retirement has none of the connotations of leisure and happiness for the elderly couple. The only moment in the film when there is a quickening of life is when Mohammad\'s replacement arrives to take his place, and the couple invite him to partake of their simple meal when they have no clue where their next meal is going to come from. Brilliantly shot, the film is an aching \"still life\" of humanity without meaning and a human world that has shrunk to and become one with a patch of rail track.\r\n\r\nM','2371e4eb45e91ebff78c1ecf43e8c901',0,'','EwRmzhCQ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12474,2234,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166643060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Still Life (1974 / Iran)','My apologies Madhuban, I moved my comments because I knew you were going to add your thoughts. But because I have only had short bursts of free time I failed to notice you had already posted on the previous thread, I hope you don\'t mind that I\'ve transfered your thoughtful composition here. \r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','05b5c0c2fd880d78c79e7ede8938c72e',0,'','jA76BYEr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12475,2234,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166649000,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: Still Life (1974 / Iran)','I saw the new thread this morning and made a mental note to move my post here later in the day. You\'ve already done that! I should be thanking you! Little free time you say, but as alert as ever \r\n\r\nCheers,\r\n\r\nM','82def90024fd76015ecb0edc5af433a3',0,'','eprs8iZy',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12476,2235,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166515920,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','A Christmas Story (1983) - Bob Clark','Well its that time of year, and every year I watch this film, and in addition every year I think \"I should write something about it\". Well this year is the time when I will. Every family has a collection of annual favorites, and this is the one sure fire film we have to watch. Like most holiday film traditions no one is really sure how this started. Clark\'s film is as old as myself, and no one is particularly sure who the first one to see it and institute as a family ritual was. Clark himself is still an unknown director, who before this film was perhaps best known for his B-movie horror. In terms of production values this Canadian produced gem was far from high budget. The cast consisting primarily of character actors who may have a familiar face but who\'s name doesn\'t ring much of a bell.\r\n\r\nThe best of the cast has got to be Peter Billingsley who plays Ralphie. He\'s stayed busy since this breakthrough, but has never quite achieved much of a noteworthy career. In fact I would vote Billingsley\'s Ralphie as the best child performance in film, a bold statement considering the numerous accolades given child actors of late. However like Orson Welles once said, \"All you need is one\". Now perhaps you can slight the film for shooting in Cleveland rather than Northern Indiana where it takes place, but such things are extremely common. The picture evokes a time and place beautifully well and you can smell the smoke from the furnace and the anxiety of having your tongue stuck to a flag pole.\r\n\r\nThe film isn\'t particularly flawless however. Some people find the fantasy sequences pointless and unnecessarily silly. Jean Shepard (who\'s book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash is the source material) also offers a little too much narration sometime. Yet being picky the one flaw I find inexplainable is Ralphie\'s guilt following Flick\'s untimely accident with the flagpole. I can understand Schwartz hiding his head when accusations are made, but Ralphie was not the one daring him and you can\'t say he was the one that put him up to it. This has puzzled me for at least a decade or so. \r\n\r\nThere is some comic gold buried throughout. Lines that have been and will continue to be quoted at nearly every family function from here on out, and isn\'t that what makes certain movies really special? The great movies make you feel, and the truly transcendent ones bring you together as friends, or family. Anyone who\'s seen the film will know what you mean when you say \"Oh fudge\", or \"You used up all the glue on purpose\". This is a film that probably ceased being really funny years ago, but now is a film you laugh at in anticipation of the next memorable line. Yet the greatest connection one will ever have with the film is remembering that one toy you wanted more than ever, and the feeling you got when opening it up Christmas morning. Unless you\'re me, who\'s still patiently looking under his tree for the GI Joe General.','f3010652d15e78c75d798ae16136eb0c',0,'','EQog7efy',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12477,2235,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166565360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: A Christmas Story (1983) - Bob Clark','Although I\'m living in Germany, this film also gets airplay every year during Winter here. But I haven\'t seen it yet, so no family connection from me. I also noticed that it gets shown regularly in Slovenia. Maybe I\'ll give it a try if I stumble upon it while hanging out with a friend.','0aed6a45e297a0163468e93f1b67bfda',0,'','Dbh8KzsU',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12478,2235,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166569260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: A Christmas Story (1983) - Bob Clark','Like Its a Wonderful Life which was wasted on me, I\'m not sure if this is a film that people would appreciate as much on one viewing.','42b2535e75db5cc3d9cee379b9e6d7a2',0,'','QWZDAwzf',1,0,'',0,0,0);
INSERT INTO `phpbb_posts` VALUES (12479,2236,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1162820160,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','L\'Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1962)','Despite her name, nervous and restless Vittoria (Monica Vitti) suffers a one for one repulse in her private life experiencing again \"problem of uncommunicativeness\" in economically stabilized society that made Antonioni one of the foremost directors of 1960\'s. This is maybe the whole synopsis of this almost plotless movie. \r\n\r\nEpisodes in the exchange are really impressive: fussy motions of people in the bounded room emphasizes their inner frivolousness. Every man tries to fill his life with drastic action, to attach a meaning to it. Everyone wants to be someone, not to seem to be. They fondly believe that they rule the world. In reality they\'re only \"puppets\", and the exchange is only outward appearence of the economics regulator. It seems that some Fate rules people\'s destinies and social alternations. \r\n\r\nIn the episode in Marta\'s apartment it seems to us that Vittoria\'s dream about other - wild, uncivilized, prehistoric - life fulfills: she changes her face, dresses up in african exotic clothes, transforms into absolutely other woman, forgets about herself. But soon Vittoria understand that it can be extremely boring in Kenia too. Emptiness (this word could be an alternative title of the film I believe) fills human\'s soul. Nobody can be saved from this all-embracing emptiness. The whole world becomes unreal and illusory, but you cannot escape. Dreadfully deserted, lifeless landscape of the night city seems to be a fantastic world. This landscape is an exact projection of Vittoria\'s subconsciousness. And deathly light of a street lamp in the last shot completes sensation of anxiety and despair. And I should say that the ending of the movie is one of the most impressive ones I\'ve ever seen.\r\n\r\nA couple of words about cinematography - wonderful b&w! Gianni di Venanzo is undoubtedly one of the greatest cinematographers ever. He could understand different directors\' styles (from Francesco Rosi to Federico Fellini). And this time he succeeded in realization of Antonioni\'s principle of romantic realism. It means that every moment is significant and unique. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Antonioni\'s camera attach a significance (and therefore a beauty) to every moment. 10/10','da72e3f92c7aa8e7cfefccc9a4d12387',0,'','oib9eamf',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12480,2236,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1163636460,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: L\'Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1962)','Heh, nice comments on one of my favorite directors.\r\nI absolutely agree with the statement that in most Antonioni every shot has also a significance in itself. That\'s why I love him so much, though I\'ve only seen few of his films. \r\nHope to enjoy L\'eclisse and more of his B&W films sometime in the future.','aaab5c68fe2a9d555dc9539e385012cc',0,'','f2AjYU8z',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12481,2237,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1161557100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','On Golden Pond 1981','I didn\'t know whether to put this in US movies or in the Classic movie forum. Surely the leads in this wonderful movie, Kathryn Hepburn and Henry Fonda, are classic, and in my way of thinking, timeless!\r\n\r\nAnyway, not being a reviewer, I still want to talk a bit about the film. For some strange reason - wakefulness perhaps - I watched this last night in the wee hours of the morning. That\'s when everything is quiet - oh so quiet - no phone ringing, no doorbell buzzing. Just the beautiful protected quiet of the night.\r\n\r\nEven though I have seen this before, last night it seemed more beautiful, more poignant, and the humor more gentle.\r\n\r\nWatching Kathryn Hepburn and Henry Fonda together made me see I was watching the best of the best. Maybe I didn\'t realize this when I watched it years ago. But last night I realized I was priviledged to be watching something magical and loving. \r\n\r\nI thought of Henry Fonda in \"The Grapes of Wrath.\" And in \"The Wrong Man\" and in \"12 Angry Men.\"\r\n\r\nI thought of Kathryn Hepburn in \"Bringing Up Baby,\" \"The African Queen\" and in the last movie she made with Spencer Tracy, \"Guess Who\'s Coming to Dinner.\"\r\n\r\nSuch a legacy each of them has. Such a contribution each has made that, in my opinion, has made our lives better, fuller, and more enjoyable.\r\n\r\n\"On Golden Pond\" is a beautiful, often funny, and heartwarming film. Everything about it seems right - from the loons on the lake, the fishing scenes, the young boy and Henry\'s growing relationship, Hepburn calling Henry loving, \"You old poop.\"\r\n\r\nAs I watched in the wee hours, I was painfully aware that both leads were no longer living. And yet I felt something stronger than pain or sadness. I guess you might say it was joy - yes, and gratitude.\r\n\r\nIf you want a real review, go to Ebert\'s at rogerebert.suntimes.com/a...10349/1023\r\n\r\nBut if you have never seen this film, maybe it is time you did.\r\n\r\nSara','67b10ec1d7b614c40bc22237f8b51901',0,'','Gg9Vhnc5',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12482,2237,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1161567000,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: On Golden Pond 1981','Well you and I have somewhat differing opinions of this film. I found it trite and mediocre. The acting may have been good, as you would expect with that cast, but certainly not deserving of the Oscar\'s they won, however Fonda was 41 years overdue for a statuette, so the Academy was being retro-active.','c70321741d9e87d5daf7f34c31344684',0,'','hzp7gw4U',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12483,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1139519460,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','SUMMER (Le Rayon Vert)\r\n\r\nDirected by Eric Rohmer (1986)\r\n\r\n\"You don\'t have to go looking for love when it\'s where you come from\" - Werner Erhard \r\n\r\nWe have been conditioned as a culture to believe that happiness lies in an ideal, future state. For example, we think it will all turn out when we finish school, when we get a job, when we get married, when we have children, then when we get divorced, or when we retire. It is always something or someplace more, better, or different but the more things change, the more they seem to remain the same. In Summer, aka The Green Ray, one of Eric Rohmer\'s most insightful and charming films, Delphine (Marie Riviere) is a young, intelligent, and good-looking Parisian secretary who has spent her life looking for \"Mr Right\". Like many who spend their life \"searching\", she is a perfectionist who keeps people away by maintaining impossible standards, then feels inadequate and unloved when things do not work out. She is interesting rather than interested.\r\n\r\nWhen vacation time comes, her girlfriend goes to Greece with a boyfriend and she is left alone and feeling rejected. Turning down an offer to visit Ireland with her sister\'s family, she decides to take a trip to Cherbourg with a friend and her boyfriend, and does her best to fit in but it only leads to more frustration. After her friends prepare an elaborate dinner she tells them that she doesn\'t meat, seafood, or eggs and prefers vegetables like lettuce because they make her feel \"light\". She won\'t go sailing because it makes her seasick and she refuses a gift of apple blossoms because she thinks it\'s wrong to tear such large branches from trees. Rohmer impeccably captures Delphine\'s intense loneliness, a feeling of isolation that is even more pronounced when the people around you are doing what they think will make you happy. Near tears, she returns to Paris after only a few days in Cherbourg, then visits the Alps thinking she will go mountain climbing but she stays only one day. \r\n\r\nWhen Delphine borrows a friend\'s apartment in Biarritz, however, she does settle down long enough to unpack. In Biarritz, the story is pretty much the same, however. Delphine says that she wants to meet people but when the opportunity arises in the form of two young men and Lena (Carita), a young Swedish blond, she runs the other way, although from all indications, leaving seems to be the most sensible option. Lena advises her to play cat and mouse with men. \"It\'s like a card game\", she says, \"you can\'t reveal your hand right off\". Delphine uses this piece of advice as another reason for beating herself up. \"My hand is empty\", she declares.\r\n\r\nDelphine doesn\'t seem to believe in much, but, like many lonely people, she looks for signs that things are going to turn out all right. She is fascinated with playing cards and when she finds a green card lying in the street, she knows that green is her color of destiny for this year. While strolling the beach at Biarritz she overhears a conversation about a Jules Verne novel about an atmospheric phenomenon known as the Green Ray and she is mesmerized. According to Verne, just before the sun sets below the horizon, if you can see a burst of green light, it will help allow you gain an insight into your true self.\r\n\r\nA synopsis of the plot, however, tells us little about what actually goes on in this mostly improvised film. Like most Rohmer works, what happens in the silences is more revealing than in the conversations. An entire world is written in the gestures, the facial expressions, and the nuances that reveal each character\'s personality. Summer is an intimate story of a woman\'s loneliness that rings true and brought back a flood of painful memories for me. Delphine, for all her warts, is very human. Somewhere up ahead always looks better than right here. When she can open herself up to the perfection of the moment, however, she becomes directly present to the world and can share its ineffable beauty.\r\n\r\nGRADE: A','d2c9d3a7607bbdf9516ae8745df32aa3',0,'','MiqSUuCk',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12484,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143242220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Johndav','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','Strange i\'d not noticed this here before- i can\'t have spent much time on this board.\r\n\r\nI absolutely love The Green Ray. It\'s true that Delphine is too sensitive, perfectionist and introspective, finding it hard to enjoy life at all frivolously, but instead wanting above all to live up to a romantic ideal. I had certain similar shy-idealist faults and qualities myself when younger (though thankfully not to that extent) so i took to her character, whereas i know some find her irritating. The film had very mixed reactions when screened at our film society a few years ago at my suggestion. Some find Rohmer films too full of dialogue, believing erroneously they\'re therefore uncinematic. In fact, Rohmer is a master at subtle expression of emotions through the surroundings (the film reminds occasionally of Rossellini\'s Voyage to Italy, a big influence on him and other Cahiers du Cinema critics turned director) and small gestures + movements. \r\n\r\nI like the improvised feel very much; it makes the film seem all the more realistic and engaging. The vegetarianism discussion for instance is clearly improvised, with Marie Riviere inhabiting her character.\r\n\r\nI love the ending, which is as uplifting a single moment as cinema has to offer, a resounding OUI. \r\n\r\nMy wife loves the film too, so you can imagine our delight when we saw the ray together one evening on holiday at Aruba, all the better for previous evenings\' dashed hopes and lowered expectations. 2 other couples saw it with us, so it was no mirage or mere wishful thinking. My dad failed to see it on ship to + from India when younger; a rare phenomenon indeed. So for us, an Afterlife (single most precious memory) moment. There\'s a bookshop in a village in Normandy called the Green Ray: a pity it was shut when we passed through! Still, we live not far from where A Summer\'s Tale was filmed. Which also brings me back to Rohmer\'s feel for the seasons. I doubt if anyone has captured the light fresh charm of Summer as well. And as with Claire\'s Knee and My Girlfriend\'s Boyfriend, he makes excellent use (sometimes symbolic or reflecting relationships) of colour.','786d0bac3ceb08321992c12099d394b6',0,'','bFpWf8nY',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12485,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143244020,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','Thanks for your wonderful insights. It is indeed a lovely film, the kind of film you want to share with those close to you. Haven\'t seen the ray as yet but I\'ll keep looking. Maybe one day I will be able to visit France during summertime.','3f6d7d780fc3a161d2d45315cc504ee0',0,'','JXgu3UQh',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12486,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143250680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Johndav','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','Well i don\'t know if France will be the best place for ray-spotting, cos i know they had enough trouble seeing it for the film! Conditions do have to be just right.\r\n\r\nI\'m quite a Rohmer fan; i like almost all the films i\'ve seen by him. My Girlfriend\'s Boyfriend is another charmer (the young female protagonist is if anything even more sympathetic and not quite so flawed, though still squite shy). A Summer\'s Tale was filmed near here in Brittany, at Dinard (but a terrible place for trying to find parking). I\'m not sure where in Brittany the film Pauline at the Beach, which also stars Amanda Langlet, when younger, was filmed. Rohmer has a knack of picking young women i like very much, and then finding the right guy for them too!','8c1fabd196176cbb41a06fa47d6f0ab5',0,'','2LmG8nbX',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12487,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143285180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','I loved Pauline at the Beach and was wondering which Rohmer to see next but you\'ve given me a few ideas.','c49f1df07868b5e06c7e1f8218eebaab',0,'','BRGtgk3Z',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12488,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143354060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','I\'ve just picked up La Collectioneusse and Full Moon in Paris, so perhaps we can get a Rohmer thread going. I\'ve only seen 5 or 6 films so far, so I\'m hardly an expert. Did see Summer/The Green Ray and can\'t say I was as overly impressed as you all seem to be. Most of his films wind up coming about even to me, I\'m yet to be overwhelmed by any of them, just as I don\'t believe I\'ve seen a masterpiece from Claude Chabrol either.','f11b6bb97418bb35de36cde505fcc03d',0,'','vwxudm6l',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12489,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145614140,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','I think Rohmer takes a little getting used to, and more importantly, a second viewing. Compared to his more flmboyant colleagues from the nouvelle vague, his films are hallmarks of understatement that you are invited to read and decipher. His films possess a curious literary quality. Rohmer himself has said that his films are closer to the novel. His self-fashioning is that of a writer because he published the Moral Fables as stories before making the films, besides translating onto film Kleist\'s \"Die Marquise von O\" Chretien\'s \"Perceval le Gallois\". This connect with literature is crucial, I think, to appreciating Rohmer. The seemingly endless conversations (most of them might seem trivial) that his characters indulge in, begin to make sense only if you map them within this larger literary structure of the classical novel. Most of the films are slices cut out of a longer narrative continuum (part of the reason why they have an axiomatic quality), and one is supposed to see the slice as illuminating the continuum. What I find most engrossing, however, are the constant journeys between the city and the country that the characters make, and the corresponding rites of passage that are implied. But, I\'m a Rohmer convert!\r\n\r\nM','9241e770e97d868a5cd022a1efb6905d',0,'','bPL4FTCe',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12490,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145992500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','What are your favorite Rohmer films?','7bcd5d2bb1b7d25e7fd04c04cdd6411a',0,'','8RBg1sxE',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12491,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146072720,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','I definitely get a sense that his films are based in the novel. The narration in La Collectioneusse reads just like a first person narrative in a novel, which might be one of the reasons why the film doesn\'t work as well as a book of the same subject might.','d807c734b1aaf30e84c90b465197a482',0,'','3o2fjYJK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12492,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146078540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','@ Howard\r\n\r\nDifficult to pick from an oeuvre that tantalises me, but \"Claire\'s Knee\", \"Green Ray\", \"La Collectionneuse\", \"My Night at Maud\'s\", \"Full Moon in Paris\", \"A Good Marriage\" and \"Autumn Tale\" (I\'m simply fond of Beatrice Romand! Nobody agrees with me, perhaps, but I find her very attractive!) are special. I am yet to watch the Rohmer segment in \"Paris vu par\", a number of his early films leading up to the moral tales, as well as \"The Lady and the Duke\" and \"Triple Agent\".\r\n\"Perceval\" also occupies a special place for its stylised retelling of the grail legend. Might have to do with my fascination with both Chretien and Rohmer, and the fact that I read the grail legends at an impressionable age \r\n\r\nM','68d0bcee6e7d9b0ab3c8706541bc42ea',0,'','M8aUHuVN',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12493,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146079860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','I have also not seen many of Rohmer\'s best films such as Full Moon in Paris, Boyfriends and Girlfriends, Autumn Tale, A Good Marriage, and several others. Wonders await.','60bb9c5eaac4228aa6699e0915d507cd',0,'','21QXgN8o',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12494,2238,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1161129660,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Summer/The Green Ray by Rohmer','Just read your review again Howard, and I really like it. Can\'t add much more to it, just that I love the ending. And it is really one of those films that is constructed towards a certain conclusion. The whole time I was waiting when things would start to happen for her. When she overhears the beautifully directed conversation about the green ray we were finally there.\r\nBUT, I didn\'t see the green ray at the end of the film... I think I may not have been paying enough attention, and it happened so quickly. And as the film was shown on TV I couldn\'t rewind it. \r\nStrange that I hadn\'t commented on this thread, yet.','969150dbedc5301a269a509f67403992',0,'','njyQYlWf',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12495,2239,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160916420,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Duck and Cover (1951) (United States)','Duck and Cover (1951)\r\n\r\nWithout a doubt, the star of the public information films released in the US during the period of the cold war.\r\n\r\nPart animation, part live action this short is so brilliant in its absurdity that even Bunuel could not have created a more surreal enterprise.\r\n\r\nAimed at children in particular, we are first introduced to the film by an animated turtle, above his head a monkey sits in a tree holding a fishing pole with dynamite hanging from it. Just before it explodes the turtle ducks into his shell and all thats left is the wreckage of the tree and the turtle. \r\n\r\nSwitch to real life and a classroom full of young children duck under their desks on the instructions of their teacher, why? Because this is going to save their precious little lives when the nuclear bomb explodes! \r\n\r\nAbsurdity after absurdity is relayed in front of your eyes; a family duck and cover under a picnic blanket while other children through themselves into walls to protect themselves. All the while a jolly little ditty plays along advising children that when they see the flash, they should duck and cover.\r\n\r\nStunningly brilliant in its stupidity and ridiculousness, of course they cant really tell the kids that once they see the flash from a nuclear bomb, they will be dead but this public information film is just so bad, it\'s worse than useless but utterly brilliant.\r\n\r\nA must see testimonial to the imbecility of humanity from an incredibly dark period of recent history. This should be shown in history lessons, itll be far more effective in bringing this time in history to life rather than just reading about the cold war, the Cuban missile crisis etc. \r\n\r\nI was laughing so much the tears were rolling down my face but am grateful that we have the opportunity to look back on wonderfully naive films like this little gem. \r\n\r\nCheers Trev.\r\n\r\nFrom a collection of short films released on dvd \"Nuclear Scare Stories of the Cold War\".','4ab97d20b692101f4b2c3923278fb693',0,'','G0Y4mwXc',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12496,2239,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160959740,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Duck and Cover (1951) (United States)','My oh my. \r\nSometimes it can be really scary to see what \"educational\" material was made some fifty years ago in our \"progressive\" countries. \r\nI still remember some of the older educational films we were shown at school, and how this often became a laugh-fest, much to the dislike of the teachers.\r\n\r\nI hope such times won\'t return very soon...','a4b7d5f4094f9fd119b17da14a1a1b04',0,'','0MRxdBmV',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12497,2240,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160393880,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Cronaca di un amore (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1950)','A rich italian businessman Enrico Fontana engages a private detective Carloni to find out the past of his young wife Paola. It turns out that Paola is still in love with poor student Guido, who\'s currently a car seller. But some secret oppresses both lovers: seven years ago Guido\'s young bride became a casualty victim.\r\n\r\nIt\'s the first Michelangelo Antonioni\'s feature film. He made it when he was 38 - rather late for director\'s debut! But in the movie an attentive viewer can see all main themes that will become subjects of Antonioni investigation in late 50\'s - early 60\'s and make his name famous. It\'s interesting that many of his movies contain (apart from love stories) detective and crime moments, though they can turn out false. Actually nothing changes, including heroes\' inner world. The plot returns to the start.\r\n\r\nIn Cronaca di un amore Paola and Guido want to love each other, but this love is impossible. Memory of the death of a girl, who was somewhen the third in their relations, leads to the suffering. Nobody can be happy due to other\'s tragedy. Although Paola tries to make Guido come back, it seems to me that she wants not to love but to control him. And she achieve her aim. And then she tells Guido to kill her husband. And he\'s even agree to do it taking down her dictation. But again casualty happens, not murder. However, it makes them oppress very hard. \r\n\r\nThis early Antonioni film still contains neorealistic motifs (first of all, hero). It disturbs making antonioniesque athmosphere and constructions. I feel some discrepancy: such \"earthy\" heroes can\'t be unhappy love victims. However, 8/10','70db4f9e49a6d83cc2281a4cd85f1e09',0,'','MTvLDyad',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12498,2240,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160466780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Cronaca di un amore (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1950)','Thanks for the review, Miklosk. I was glad when this film was released in the U.S. last year on an excellent 2-DVD-set containing plenty of extras.','885f027ceb4265b7bd0646d50df1eece',0,'','NUDBYHy1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12499,2240,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160521680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Cronaca di un amore (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1950)','It was only released because I tracked down a bootleg of it. I found the film decent, but a far cry from a masterpiece, and your rating seems a little generous.','e1607ff7a5185275680986184efcf539',0,'','LqT2HGeQ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12500,2240,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160556300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: Cronaca di un amore (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1950)','your rating seems a little generous\r\n\r\nMaybe you\'re right. But I love Antonioni very much, and there is some echo of his future films in this one. I appreciate it very much. Maybe I\'m too subjective.','1171ff2f2420d1cf994b6d1ac01ea508',0,'','aysUKH9V',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12501,2240,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1160596560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Cronaca di un amore (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1950)','We all have our favorites, and Christ knows I\'m nice to Scorsese.','6bb67dcc73867d00abda8eed9f2fd08e',0,'','bXJjWYTC',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12502,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128697320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','I saw this on DVD yesterday - a truly beautiful little film and a very loving portrayal of St. Francis.\r\n\r\nIt\'s black and white, has many non-actors, and beautifully simple. There was something about its look that reminded me of Pasolini\'s The Gospel According to St. Matthew - though Rossellini\'s film has humor in it.\r\n\r\nI found this quote by Martin Scorcese about the film which describes it so well.\r\n\r\n\"The first time I saw Flowers of St. Francis in the early 70s, I was genuinely surprised. I had never imagined that a filmmaker would dare to treat the life of a saint with so little solemnity, and with so much warmth and humanity.\r\n\r\n\"There\'s one central problem with most pictures about saints: reverence. The aura of reverence is almost always at odds with the way the saints must have felt about themselves. It\'s as if they\'d already been declared saints in their own lifetime, as if every word out of their mouths had been pre-sanctified. This reverent approach has made for quite a few perfectly nice, well-intentioned movies completely lacking in urgency, either dramatically or spiritually.\r\n\r\n\"What Rossellini did, with such grace and such apparent ease, was to make a movie about a group of men for whom existence is a neverending strugglea struggle to be good, a struggle to stay true to the word of God. At times, the stuggle becomes comic, and I still marvel at Rossellini\'s daring in these scenesthe way Francis and his brethren jump through the puddles, or the cooking of the soup, which wouldn\'t be out of place in a Laurel and Hardy short. Of course, it\'s all done in a very loving manner, and that\'s why it is at once so magical and so true. We\'re all ridiculous at timeseven those of us who are declared saints.\r\n\r\n\"For me, the greatest moment in the film is Francis\' confrontation with the leper. This is compassion at its most terrifyingly direct, without any of the boundaries or filters we\'re accustomed to in daily life. Most of us, particularly those of us who live in cities, are confronted with human misery on a daily basisand most of us, understandably, find a way to compartmentalize it. Francis\' lack of self in that scene never fails to move methe way he feels the suffering of another human being so completely that he allows it to enter into him and inhabit his own soul. I\'ve never seen another film that deals with this basic question of compassion so eloquently.\r\n\r\n\"Many artists throughout the world responded to the aftermath of WWII and the holocaust by going back to basics, simplifying, and, at least for the moment, speaking directly. Rossellini spoke with the greatest and most elemental simplicity to the question of faithin The Miracle (the wonder of faith), in Germany Year Zero (the absence of faith), in Europa 51 (the crisis of faith) and in this extraordinary film about the beauty of faith. I\'ve never seen another fillm quite like The Flowers of St. Francis, and I don\'t expect to in my lifetime.\" (end of Scorcese\'s quote.)\r\n\r\nThe DVD is available in Region 1 and the European one.\r\n\r\nThis movie was a pleasant surprise for me. A real gem.\r\n\r\nSara','11669ef350307362b4b9f8f361217663',0,'','MkS53NC6',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12503,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128719100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','Sara this is one of Rossellini\'s films I haven\'t seen but your review is excellent, certainly makes me want to see it.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','a440b94363c856c4d3d90fb3026d1266',0,'','gftqdmyb',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12504,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128726000,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','But the real substance of my review, in all fairness, came from those comments of Scorcese\'s which I quoted.\r\n\r\nDo see the film. \r\n\r\nSara','6c22298216e18929c842682812f5d861',0,'','gWCRNHpu',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12505,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128731820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','Sorry I should have realised. By the way, have you seen Scorcese\'s documentary on Italian cinema? I think it\'s called Voyage to Italy, really good coverage of neo-realism and afterwards.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','1d092220e5ec38e8a2199c3a61129ef5',0,'','Cg4ZYkTi',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12506,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128735000,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','No. I have not seen it. But I want to. I wonder if it is on some \r\nTV channel this month... Or better yet, I should see if Netflix has it on DVD.\r\n\r\nThanks, trevor.\r\n\r\nSara','3e274fc09f52ebde61fa42a0764519ce',0,'','DnauGd2f',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12507,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128754440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Novotny','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','I love this Rossellini film. I\'d relate it to some parts of Pasolini\'s \"Uccellacci e Uccellini\" rather to his St. Matthew\'s. It\'s so innocent, but in a good way\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, I think of Scorsese\'s \"Voyage to Italy\" as some kind of \"Neorealism for dummies\". There\'s hardly any new insight about Italian cinema. His approach is so simplistic. There\'s just 15 minutes or so about his family in NY, and they don\'t have any relation to real post war Italians...','33a63b511736e65b6dc7d96a7d29f01e',0,'','QNTySGJ8',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12508,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128773220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','\"Neorealism for dummies\" that\'a a bit heavy, the documentary is meant as an introduction to that period of Italian cinema not as some sort of heavyweight indepth analysis for experts. Anyway I caught it during a season of De Sica and Rossellini films and the only problem I had with it was the fact that it showed too many of the most important scenes from films.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','6456fc43e7013f4b3e31598059e30533',0,'','LAajV6w7',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12509,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128786060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','When I watched thirty minutes of his documentary, I also wondered why he hasn`t anything interesting to say about them, but chose to make this documentary. His comments bored me, but his views on the Rossellini film reprinted above by Sara are very good. Maybe the documentary gets better after a while?','30138cd067e092c34802c949892ccc77',0,'','AoLtDnFl',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12510,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1128811620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','I\'m yet to get this DVD, poverty set in at a bad time. But I\'m just acknowledging that I was the one who moved this, because it certainly falls into the realm of classic cinema, if for nothing else it was made in 1950. \r\n\r\nbtw just so I voice an opinion of some kind, I think Voyage in Italy is his best film.','af7118b0f55a36f04da5a6eb5eecf019',0,'','KlaQGbqv',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12511,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1138767240,1,0,1,1,1,1,'peppajaa','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','If you are interested in a film about St. Francis, see Francesco with Mickey Rourke. Yea, Mickey Rourke. You wouldn\'t think he could pull it off but he does. Far better film than the warm fuzzy Bother Sun Sister Moon, or whatever it was called.','03c5941e8430f32606cbc96f23d275b2',0,'','RmeBwUuh',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12512,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1142753580,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','Well I watched the film today, and I have mixed feelings about, as I do with almost every Rossellini film. It was hard for me to tell at first whether this story was taking itself seriously or not. You must always take Fellini with a grain of salt, and wondered if religious subject matter would be something to poke fun at, a little like it was in The Miracle. I\'m not a very religious man so films that do take religion seriously are usually under scrutiny from me. This film was uneven at parts, a little short, and failed to really convey any powerful message one way or the other. Some of it was comical, most notably seeing people use a monk to jump rope, that moment had to have been Fellini. The rest seemed rather pointless. The film does have it\'s own context, but is still not among Rossellini\'s best.\r\n\r\nbtw I had the same complaint about Scorsese\'s two documentaries on film, both showed too many pivitol scenes, and not enough commentary.','eea23090b358765cf06b12134c09d393',0,'','HFg6s7i9',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12513,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1153327440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','Howard Schumann\'s review re: the Criterion dvd - Link\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','57cb2e42edd600a2a2ab953abc1d924e',0,'','5BUn0gGu',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12514,2241,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1157209440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: The Flowers of St. Francis - Roberto Rossellini','What a marvellous unpretentious little film it is. The perfect antidote to Hollywood excess and i\'m so glad it\'s free in today\'s Independent (in the UK), which i get anyway. I can now see it in a whole new light; when i saw it, a long time ago now, i was much less impressed. It just shows how a film\'s soul is more important than technique; wit than size of budget or ego. The acting is certainly amateurish, the scenes in which the monks sing are faintly ludicrous (some may say laughable), what with the consistently poor dubbing/lip synching etc. Such things matter not a jot. The film loves nature as befits the subject, but never in a grandiose way. What a marvellous little scene with the goldfinch. There\'s no Bressonian mannerism, no phoney, self-important attempts at angst and meaningful soul-searching, or pompous austerity + self-righteous sermonising; instead, unexpected humour (love that bristling ogre in armour nonplussed by the simple monk who\'s just been tossed around) and a gentle spirit. \r\n\r\nIt strikes me as somehow influential on Rohmer\'s Perceval le Gallois, another medieval film, even though that of course is its opposite in terms of artificial sets compared with Rossellini\'s fine locations. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of scenes with buildings that may hint towards Voyage to Italy and Antonioni, but i suppose most obvious comparisons would be with Pasolini. I shall have to give Hawks and Sparrows another try.\r\n\r\nOne interesting scene is when the monk is trying to make himself heard above the sound of the waterfall; it would be more convincing aurally if shot from below with the peasants, looking up towards him in the distance. That\'s the obvious shot. Rossellini\'s way seems strangely amateurish, and yet an unusual and worthwhile effect is created. \r\n\r\nSuch a film is surely beyond Tarkovsky, Bergman and Bresson','f064196ba1153df3af4c9418d1be7d6a',0,'','fUw4xvde',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12515,2242,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158438840,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Murmur of the Heart (1971 / France)','From the Louis Malle boxset recently released and my viewing of the first.\r\n\r\nCouldn\'t find a review of this in the film/director index.\r\n\r\n\r\nReview:\r\n\r\nMURMUR OF THE HEART (LA SOUFFLE AU COEUR) (1971) (France)\r\n\r\nDirector: Louis Malle\r\n\r\nIts high comedy. Its French bourgeois lifestyle. Louis Malles delicate style of working with taboo subject matter reached a personal plateau with a dysfunctional household in Murmur of the Heart, an early reach back into his own garden of memories and familial idiosyncrasies that he has stringently plucked from over the years. He approaches it with an innocent intent, cheeky, but still innocent nonetheless. Through the nostalgic and mean-spirited jibes at the domestic help, clergy and stiff-lipped crust of high society, it commences on a journey of an adolescent male, Laurent Chevalier (Benoit Ferreux) in Dijon, France circa 1954. He longs to break free to that stage of enlightened adulthood that seems just within reach but yet so very far. But within its pith, its the very antithesis of melodrama. Taking on its inviolable subject matters horns with both hands, it wrangles it to the ground while giving us something to think about. Its definitely not about exorcising ghosts of the past but to let them regale us with stories of unforgettable youth.\r\n\r\nAfter 35 years, Murmur of the Heart still rings truer and closer to home than most contemporary comedies (and even dramas) revolving around the coming of age and sexual awakening in a young teen. Its also more daring and liberal in its construction of key family members being part of that very natural formation of sexual DNA and identity. They discuss philosophy. They discuss suicide. They discuss The Story of O. Laurent and his 2 older brothers consort in disrespectfully petty behaviour contrary to what their upbringing holds sacred. Laurents a top student, an intellectual that sees the world around him as a playground. Its a smalltime superiority complex as he defines his sensitive sensibilities with discernment beyond his years and a haughty disregard for divergent thoughts with a self-important air. \r\n\r\nRevolving primarily about Laurent and his mother, Clara (L avventuras Lea Massari), its a refreshing look at a parental relationship based around adoration and fondness (coming under constant mocking by his brothers) than the contemporaneous and contemptuous notion of disdain and rebelliousness surrounding the authority figures and generational gaps. It underlines the idiom of a mother being her sons first love. In its essence, it encapsulates many complicated mother-child relationships including the emotional Oedipal issues that do crop up. And through that, a lovely parallelism is wrought with its interpretation of a woman who wants to be a girl and a boy who wants to be a man.\r\n\r\nConforming to an almost sitcom style, its self-dependent, autonomous scenes and situations just about start to border on farcical proportions. Its characters place sex and carnality high up on a pedestal, while Malle condescendingly films it as something so pedestrian and run-of-the-mill, not worth the hype and excitement over it anyway. He makes the patient, inevitable buildup to a key sex scene that had caused controversy when it was first released, to seem more natural and accepting than he does the sexual encounters that actually do seem the norm in society.\r\n\r\n5/5\r\n\r\nJustin Deimen','6bb01592b637629b8a79061a74922174',0,'','PF2DZyTX',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12516,2242,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158469500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Murmur of the Heart (1971 / France)','I had watched the last 15 minutes on TV some years ago, but they did not seem as interesting as your review suggests. Since I somewhat \"discovered\" Louis Malle anew this year, it would be interesting to see it. In an interview from the 70s with Malle, which i watched recently, this film was discussed as something of a turning point in his career, a point where he started to discuss more complex issues in his films, which were not necessarily familiar to him, and which also posed a challenge to himself as an artist as well as a human being. \r\nThanks for your review. How is the transfer bz Criterion btw? I hope as good as can be expected from them.','428578622940696b113f28c24c1da3f2',0,'','BXR4CE0r',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12517,2242,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158486360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Murmur of the Heart (1971 / France)','I thought the last 15 minutes weren\'t as good as the start of the film, but still aces all round for me \r\n\r\nThe transfer was surprisingly clear, very impressed. Much better than the boxset of amoral tales by Eric Rohmer I bought recently, which was obscenely priced compared to this.','a90a65e61b7280d0358c3406283eb850',0,'','FRAkjBf3',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12518,2242,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158529560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Murmur of the Heart (1971 / France)','This has long been my favourite Malle, even if Au Revoir les Enfants goes deeper. I like the humour, the light unpretentious and non-judgemental way in which the subject is handled- qualities unimaginable in anything Hollywood might do on incest. It has a zest for life and all sorts of little pleasures, is very endearing.','bc5ef1fc6e2e5fa71eb2c5bc18858fc5',0,'','kiM468Ul',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12519,2242,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158529680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Murmur of the Heart (1971 / France)','Ok, ok, I get it. Will put it alongside some other films by Malle which I want to see in the future. \r\nInitially I had wanted to skip it, as it had seemed uninteresting to me (that is before you two mentioned it ).\r\n\r\nActually how about some recommendations on films by Louis Malle?\r\n\r\nI really liked Lacombe Lucien (1977), thought \"Elevator to the Gallows\" (1957) to be a good debut, and didn\'t like Zazie dans la metro (1960). And I also enjoyed Damage (1992) btw, which I would from memory place somewhere between the first two mentioned in terms of overall quality. I think that\'s all of Malle I\'ve seen so far.\r\n\r\nThe films I want to watch by him in the future are\r\nAu revoir, les enfants (1987) \r\nAtlantic City (1980) \r\nBlack Moon (1975) \r\nPlace de la rpublique (1974) \r\nVie prive (1962) (I like bardot, and it could be interesting to watch the couple\'s \"self-image\")\r\nand now also Le souffle au coeur (1971) because of your recomendation. \r\n\r\nI seem to remember that you are not exactly a fan of Louis Malle, John? What have you seen by him Justin, (or all of the other members) and would recommend?','733751e64fb601da2a0881da7d93700f',0,'','MTlkZKai',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12520,2242,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158532620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Murmur of the Heart (1971 / France)','Au revoir, les enfants is de rigueur when it comes to Malle.\r\n\r\nI\'ve seen the ones you\'ve seen as well as Black Moon, which I feel is vastly underrated by scholastic aptitudes but still not as good as his previous works. I\'m trying to get a copy of Vanyaat the moment.\r\n\r\nDoes anyone have thoughts to share about Valle\'s personal styles and techniques? I would really like to compare his stylings with the works of other French masters.','43ca0a4044c290fce1b75b8109de3642',0,'','EVwc4aiF',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12521,2242,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158536820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Murmur of the Heart (1971 / France)','From what I\'ve seen, i think his strength lies in observin rather than directly commenting on things. His films are very dependent on the visuals. The editing often seems confrontational to me, not smooth or invisible as in classic hollywood. I\'d say that he wants a response by the viewer to his work, and one that doesn\'t end after the film. Critical of society. I\'d say closest to Doillon, despite the fact that he doesn\'t use dialogue too much, the atmosphere is often similar, and the characters are usually outcasts or outsiders, always people between two states, lpassing from one to the other.\r\nBut of course he has worked about 40 years, so you won\'t be able to get a \"complete\" picture, but rather different periods. But I\'ve seen very little, so others have surely more to say.','fcc1af1be3cccd362e78eece722fd196',0,'','pctnNvVY',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12522,2242,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158607800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Murmur of the Heart (1971 / France)','I\'m one of the few (in fact the only person I know of) to highly rate Alamo Bay, which seems just utterly forgotten and buried amongst Malle\'s American films. A very thought provoking film dealing with racial tensions involving Vietnamese refugees. I don\'t think Malle has an overt masterpiece however, although some of his films (Atlantic City, Au Revoir, Murmur of the Heart) come very close. I\'d also like to see Black Moon, the problem is that Facets did a retrospective on all his films, before I lived half a mile down the road.','33ab79d48521a3106c6239b586ca2b90',0,'','XT6GVJ0M',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12523,2243,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158574200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'nate','Ingmar Bergman\'s Trilogy','Hi all,\r\n\r\nI wanted to ask if Bergman\'s trilogy (Through Glass Darly, Winter Light, Silence) is interconnected?\r\n\r\nI have a copy of Silence but I don\'t have any access on the first 2 films. Is it okay for me to watch the \"Silence\" without seeing the first two movies?\r\n\r\nI know I could research about it on the net but I think it\'s a much better idea to ask you guys.','479a847995507c77b0d7204730bc5587',0,'','q4uTai8f',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12524,2243,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158575820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Ingmar Bergman\'s Trilogy','Go for it, the connection between the films is purely thematic, \"The Silence\" is a great film and indeed any of these films stand up well whether you see the others or not.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','6ce834e7612beaacde3dd50c522b5330',0,'','aYc9XZ0j',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12525,2243,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158607560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Ingmar Bergman\'s Trilogy','I actually watched Silence first, then the other two, so naturally it can be done. I wasn\'t overly impressed with any film in the trilogy, just thought Bergman was taking himself far too seriously at that point, and the subtle philosphical journey of his fifties work was suddenly overwrought with excessive melancholy. I would like to watch them again, particularly the Silence, but I wouldn\'t hold them in as high esteem. Perhaps it was because I was a little heavy on Bergman at the time (I think Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light were among 8 Bergman films I watched in a weekend).','b6d70f173eb94661a6320dbe8c5c1972',0,'','pHV54NET',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12526,2244,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1157456880,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Don\'t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, Italy/UK, 1973)','This based on Daphne Du Maurier\'s story famous metaphysical thriller postulates charming hypothesis that in this world nothing is accidental, and there exists inconceivable for mere mortal\'s mind \"pattern\" of every human life. Without any attempts of interpretation Roeg uses only cinematic images and means to show viewer (all-seeing but unable to meddle observer) one of those patterns. This is a puzzle that can be assembled but its real meaning is incomprehensible for us. Despite cold severity of the plot the film is not pessimistic: it tells us that our beloved people are mortal but if the pattern of every life exists and if surrounding symbols aren\'t phantom then nothing disappears forever and nothing passes away tracklessly. \r\n\r\nIt\'s worth to mention that apart from its metaphysical secrets film suggests for viewers and more simple and traditional pleasures: e.g. marvellous athmosphere of winter everyday Venice without tourists. Laconicism of the plot turned out to be an interesting effect: it seems to viewer as if the whole empty city existed especially for married couple and everything in it was related with their tragedy and their attempts of the return to the life. Local athmosphere rarely in cinema becomes such essential part of the story: Roeg\'s Venice is a part of that inconceivable weird world.9/10','207526ebbffb509ec48fb9ae1881289e',0,'','Rs8D0ydU',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12527,2244,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1158462420,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Don\'t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, Italy/UK, 1973)','I thought an interesting interpretation of the film would also be to see it as a depiction of the process of emancipation by Sutherland\'s wife. At the end she\'s smiling, because she has come to be freer. Her husband couldn\'t deal with the \"supernatural\", couldn\'t accept some facts of life, so in the end she was the stronger person, because she could.\r\nAnyway, I really like the film. Last time I saw it, I rated it a high 7/10.','f55b97de411996e1c965d7f1864944fd',0,'','DLQSgnEG',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12528,2245,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1157365680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, USA, 1951)','My short take (have no time for full review, but want to share impression).\r\n\r\nNew York journalist Charles Tatum(Kirk Douglas) was discharged from the newspaper. He has to look for a job in province. Dreaming of the return to the city and being sure that only bad news can be sold (cause good news is no news), he waits for a proper event. Accidentally he learned that one unlucky treasure hunter is blocked in the old mine. He decides that it\'s his chance and attracts people attention to the salvage operations. The situation begins to be one of the hottest news. Then Charles decides to squeeze everything out of the situation: he asks sheriff to prolong the operation. During this week the blocked man is slowly dying in the mine! And Charles every day publishes newspaper accounts and even visits him!.. I don\'t want to spoil more.\r\n\r\nFilm that got a Venice festival prize turned out to be a great cash failure of Wilder. Harsh and straight-out movie shows not only the dirty seamy side of journalist profession, but also dependent on gregarious instinct, stupid and tactless \"average man\". Kirk Douglas\'s performance is brilliant! Wilder\'s expressiveness is incredible. Very honest picture.8/10','12a01237e1eadd9436706a3683e8c6bf',0,'','hNgY609J',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12529,2245,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1157370180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, USA, 1951)','My review from last year when I saw it in the cinema.\r\n\r\nWell I finally got to see this gem of a movie. The theater was crowded and the atmosphere was off. Much of the crowd was hysterically laughing at things that would barely make you smile, the sound was out when they first tried playing the movie, a large older man who breathed really loudly sat next to me, when there were two empty seats next to him, and a middle aged couple insisted upon making out for half the movie in front of us. With those conditions I sometimes wonder if the communial experience of the theater really is better than curling up on my bed.\r\n\r\nThe fact that this film triumphed over all these obstacles and more is a true testament to it\'s greatness. It was made during a fertile creative period for Wilder, sandwiched between the much more readily available and much beloved Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17. Truthfully though, Ace in the Hole fits like a glove between those two pictures. It evokes the cinematic style of Sunset Boulevard, the deep focus compositions, the noir lighting, and the sense of tragedy. Yet it looks ahead to the satiracle Stalag, which also mixes humor with extremely unfunny subject matter.\r\n\r\nDespite the many laughs from this crowd, the film wasn\'t exactly a comedy, although like most Wilder films it sure as hell was witty. Kirk Douglas is pitch perfect as the seedy opportunist newsman, and although the role might be familiar, his characteristic toughness makes the role special. He hits hard, but somewhere beneath his rotten exterior there is some sort of integrity, it just takes too long to come out to do anybody any good.\r\n\r\nFor those who want a quick plot synopsis I\'ll be brief. Douglas is a washed up newpaper man who winds up in New Mexico (because I can\'t spell Al beh cur key), in a dead end position. He stumbles across a man trapped in a cave while out to visit a rattlesnake fest (think of the Simpson\'s Whacking Day). He decides this is the story he\'s been looking for and he milks it for all its worth causing a media circus and therein comes the Big Carnival (which was the title given to the print I saw).\r\n\r\nSo perhaps the picture is ahead of it\'s time, but if so, why is it still kept in a dark vault? There is a market for Wilder, and I figured after his recent death that some of his harder to find films would make their way to DVD, this being the best among them. The film is dark and at times hard to watch, but so are many other, lesser films. This is a cinematic masterpiece, and I find it superior to the films preceding and following it. The Douglas of this film looks ahead to the shrewd producer of the Bad and the Beautiful, but here he\'s even more dynamic. Not so much because he manipulates everyone for his own gain, but because he deliberately throws it away. The picture is ironic as well, and I only wish I could have stopped and rewound it on occasion to listen closer to that dialogue.\r\n\r\nThis film came from a separate writing team of Wilder\'s. He didn\'t write alone, but instead of Charles Brackett, his co-authors this time were Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman. The dialogue though still has the bite of Wilder, but the hard double edged talk of noir. I can\'t attest to who wrote what lines, but perhaps this is just one of those films whose question of authorship is one that\'s impossible to answer. It doesn\'t matter who wrote what, what matters is that what was written works. Along with the great screenplay though is a great look to the picture. Despite the messy dirt and heat of the desert, the film is given all the glamour of the most prestigious Hollywood picture. It is a direct spawn of Citizen Kane, and if you doubt it, just pay attention to the last shot in the film, where in plain site is the ceiling. Count how many times you see that in a Hollywood film.','879eb36b5ddd25b2bb0ec490ddfacbdf',0,'','VbGYCTfD',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12530,2246,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1157213400,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, USA, 1943)','This tasteless, stupid title conceals one of the most athmospheric and charming black&white thrillers in cinema history. Producer Val Lewton had no large budget, no time, no stars. He got the material up to the highest level, filling it with visual poetics and classical literature allusions (the film itself is actually caribbean variation on Jane Eyre). Jacques Tourneur was the most talented director of Lewton\'s crew. He could create suspense of only athmosphere: sinister shadows and nerving sounds turned out to be more effective than fake monsters. This picture proved that Tourneur was one of unsurpassed masters of night episodes: somnambulistic walking of Holland\'s wife in the garden, famous way of Betsy and Jessica through reeds and, of course, final scene on the coast of luminescent sea. Lewton, Tourneur and cinematographer J. Roy Hunt created almost absolute perfect movie in genre \"poetic nightmare\". 9/10','68d2636171cd6df26a5f6f2383d2440a',0,'','K82XANDL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12531,2246,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1157217960,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, USA, 1943)','This is certainly one of Lewton\'s better efforts (and I\'ve seen damn near all of them). Agreed on Tournieur being his best director, something about the two just made them well suited. I always felt an amateurish quality watching Wise or Robson\'s films with him. This is actually the film vaugest in my mind however, but I do remember enjoying it, and anything is better than Ghost Ship or Curse of the Cat People.','3219052bbdc0b18edb4a7399769aa881',0,'','6ZQdpjuX',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12532,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155001200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'collectedsoul','Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','I need help. I want to do my thesis on godard\'s films and the following are some of my thoughts on \'Contempt\'. Please read them and critique my ideas or simply comment on them, whatever. Would appreciate any help...\r\n\r\nMUSINGS ON CONTEMPT A FILM BY JEAN-LUC GODARD\r\n\r\n- Shayan Banerjee\r\nAugust 6, 2006\r\n\r\nThe fight is between art and commerce. The battleground is cinema.\r\n\r\nI begin with an acknowledgement of the most beautiful theme music that a film could hope to have. Godard uses the piece abundantly throughout the film, often with great and varying effect until this gloriously haunting piece by Georges Delerue becomes synonymous with the film.\r\n\r\nIndeed the film begins with this music as we see a camera tracking towards us, the credits are read out, not shown in writing. All this to make the audience aware that this is a film they are watching. Why? Because this is going to be an essay on film-making the audience must therefore be made conscious of this fact.\r\n\r\nThe cinema substitutes for our gaze a world more in harmony with our desires. Contempt is a story of this world. With this, the camera turns to us, and what follows is an essay on our filmic gaze. This explains a lot of the film the beautiful panoramic shots, the glorifying gaze on Brigitte Bardots naked body, the deliberate movements of the actors\r\n\r\nJeremiah Prokosch, the American producer of the film-within-the-film, emerges from inside a once-glorious but now abandoned film studio (as if Godard were incriminating the American movie industry for the demise of European in this instance Italian cinema) and the camera moves away to position the eye as audience in a theatrical performance of the archetypal pompous American producer.\r\n\r\nA note on the casting of Lang Fritz Lang was one of the great exponents of thoughtful cinema in the early days when the medium was looking for direction, however his lack of popular acceptance and historical events leading to the decline of German cinema meant that he had to move to America just so he could make some money directing mass-targeted Hollywood films. This contemporary reality becomes the reality of the film-within-the-film a comment on the decline of artistic cinema and the helplessness of the artist which forces him to compromise his artistic vision.\r\n\r\nA note on the character of Paul Paul himself is another artist mirroring Langs dilemma. Once a crime novelist, now he is forced to write movie scripts in order to make more money. (Is Godard saying that even the crime novel is a more honorable art-form than cinema?) He needs the $10,000 that Prokosch offers to pay for his flat.\r\n\r\nBecause the Odyssey needs a German director everybody knows a German () discovered Troy, this is the logic the American producer provides for his selection of the German director Fritz Lang. Another ironic and this time witty comment from Godard on the skewed logic that many American production houses employ their obsession with organization and routine of bare functional knowledge sans the artistic vision jars the European film-makers sensibility; this idea is expressed on various occasions throughout the course of the film.\r\n\r\nMoremore says Prokosch by way of instruction on what the screenwriter should write for his movie on the Odyssey suggesting the aesthetic of BIG that the Americans want from their movies. The trite aphorisms from Prokosch, read out from a tiny little red book are ironic for they seem contrary to Prokoschs own boisterous and cocksure character.\r\n\r\nFinally you get the feel of Greek culture Lang says this referring and following on from his previous comment about the fight of the individual against his circumstance being the theme of the Odyssey. A mocking and truly funny comment at the expense of the American Prokosch as he expresses his frustration over the contents of the film that Lang has made. \r\n\r\nLang asks how do you say strange in Italian? rather earnestly signifying perhaps that even as an old man he still has the desire to learn.\r\n\r\nScene: Paul arrives at Prokoschs house late, followed by Francesca on a bicycle. Pauls wife stops in her tracks as she sees her pass by, she turns slowly the scene conveys the suspicion that Pauls wife has that something might be going on between her husband and the translator. But then something strange happens we see shots of Bardot putting on make-up, trying on a hat, and consequently making the audience aware that she is playing a role in a movie.\r\nSignificance: Godard, in this sequence, is making a very strong statement about film philosophy. He is emphasizing a rejection of the vicarious eye with which we receive motion pictures. The viewer is refused any feelings of emotional response to the life of the character on screen. \r\nThe conclusion one draws from this little audiovisual essay is this: \r\nThis is not the written form where the narrative is played out in the readers imagination, nor is it a painting whose representative form is determined in the viewers mind. This is motion pictures and there are real people. They are pretending to be someone they are not. Should we, as viewers of the spectacle, be stirred to emotion by this fakeness? This is a question that Godard asks repeatedly. It is one of immense significance to the legitimacy of cinema as an art-form. And it is a question that Godard poses through this simple yet ostensibly baffling sequence. The genius of the man!\r\n\r\nAnd running hand-in-hand with all of Godards little essays and commentaries is the artifice of a story of marital discord, itself deserving critical attention. \r\n\r\nWhen the scene shifts to the couples flat, the representation of this reality, that of the man and woman as couple, is a stark departure from the idealized, glossed over portrayal of man-woman scenes in popular cinema, especially Hollywood. The two characters carry out mundane activities, just like couples do in real life, and this presents a true-to-life picture that is also tinged with a certain irony the flat looks more like a set, the setting in which the couple interacts seems brazenly artificial, but the subtle turns of conversation have a very real effect in suggesting the growing distance between this man and woman. \r\n\r\nThe nature of love is another question raised in this film. Why does she stop loving him? Where does love come from? How does it disappear? Is there an event, a turning point when love just goes away? Godard seems to think the explanation is not that simple. Somehow, in the course of the day Camille has arrived at the knowledge that she doesnt love Paul anymore what the reasons are, the viewer is left to decide. This is again a deviation from the norm of establishing certainties as is done in Hollywood cinema which defines popular notions of the aesthetics of cinema. \r\n\r\nContempt is also a tragedy, not quite in the grand scale of a Greek tragedy, but a tragedy nonetheless. Paul realizes much too late, when his love has already decided to leave, that he has turned his back on his ideal that of writing plays and substituted it for the false glamour of cinema. In a passionate speech he bemoans the compromises the artist has to make to survive in the world. Why does money matter so much in what we do, in what we are, what we become? the words are powerful and yet, coming from Paul sound more like a petulant complaint. But the point is being made, this is not a world perfectly suited for artists and especially with works of cinema whose commercial viability is crucial in determining what the artist can and cannot do. For example, in this film itself, Godard was forced to shoot some nude scenes of Bardot to appease his producers, this compromise is a reality all film-makers have to deal with. As also Lang, who concludes the scene with the poignant words, One must suffer. Pauls speech thus becomes a platform for this complaint of Godards.\r\n\r\nThe final act ends with the tragedy of Camilles death, in a supremely stylized shot of an automobile accident a shot that underlines the stylish vision of the cinematographer Coutard.\r\n\r\nFinal shot: The camera moves slowly to focus its gaze on the sea, so that our gaze can finally rest upon its tranquil surface. Silencio','6a7cf071617d3fd622494108933837d2',0,'','M9wlkRjP',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12533,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155155040,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','Contmept is one of my favorite films, but having seen it only once, some time ago, I am not as \"up to date\" with it as you seem to be.\r\nAs I recall, the film is very complex and doesn\'t offer answers, instead posing questions directly for the viewer to decide. \r\nFor me the film felt like an autobiographic exercise of Godard (much more than any other of his films i\'ve seen), with the most significant thing in the film being the relationship of Paul and Bardot\'s character (sorry, I forgot her name). The focus being on Bardot, or on film, the two (woman and cinema) are - or aren\'t - on the same pedestal, for Paul. \r\n\r\nIf i would do a paper I would focus more on the situation Godard found himself while making the film (his only \"big-budget\" international production), and his relationship to Anna Karina during this period in his life. \r\n\r\nWhat i also found very important for the film is the use of several different languages throughout it. \r\n\r\nOn Lang, i would say he represents an \"uncorruptable\" person, the ideal director who can stay true to his vision whatever the circumstances may be. I think that\'s how most of the Nouvelle vague admirers of his works saw him. (see the book on him bardot is reading in the film). I don\'t think your description (later he made hollywood films) fits here, as what Godard is showing is a man who keeps his integrity (on one side Paul has Prokosch - the american, ignorant, rich and arrogant - on the other Lang - the european, with a vision, rich on tradition, and devoted to his art.)\r\n\r\nFor me this is one of the most honest films I have seen about relationships and representations, the way we perceive others and ourselves. Kind of what we put into the film (the image, the characters) will come back to us as a response. \r\n\r\nI think what you wrote above is a good starting point. Just keep to the things that interest you in the film, and speak to you. \r\n\r\n\r\nThe final shot: \r\nyou wrote: \"Final shot: The camera moves slowly to focus its gaze on the sea, so that our gaze can finally rest upon its tranquil surface. Silencio\r\nHow about seeing the final shot as the shot Lang is composing in the film. Kind of an image in an image... Maybe only film (and ideal) can be the final \"word\" in a film. \r\n\r\nWhatever the case, it\'s obvious that I would need to see the film again to be able to offer you some significant help. \r\n\r\nAnother point that came up just now. I think Bardot\'s position is less complicated than Paul\'s. At the beginning she loves him, later when she starts thinking more about his love for her, she loses the feeling and replaces (?) it with the title\'s Contempt. Has Paul actually ever \"loved\" Bardot\'s character? Or is she (like karina for Godard) a woman to project his obsessions into. An object more than an individual subject? Which gaze can make an object of a person, and how is the \"cinematic\" gaze of the camera related to this. How do you give yourself, and how do you take away from another - what is reality, honesty on film, and what manipulation and possession?','e94638f2a46657a6e33773823fac4454',0,'','wvfokzmW',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12534,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155156720,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','Even though I have it on dvd I haven\'t seen Contempt for quite a while. The relationship already mentioned by A is what has stuck in my mind, the contempt shown especially from Camille (Bardot\'s character) was so overpowering and for me so reminiscent of past follies that it overshadowed the rest of the film.\r\n\r\nThanks for your reading of it collectedsoul, one thing is for definite, I will watch it again soon even though I found moments of it quite painful in its honesty.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','636702a266bc725398fc915b3b7828cb',0,'','s6S0WJwZ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12535,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155174300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','I think you could mention Rossellini\'s Voyage to Italy, as an influence- not just the setting but the sea, statues, historical/classical heritage, and the great respect Godard and fellow Cahiers du Cinma critics turned director (e.g Rohmer) had for the film, which they championed as a new way of expressing emotion through environment/ surroundings. It was also a sort of fore-runner for another Italian coastal film, L\'Avventura. Like L\'Avventura, Godard makes telling use of architecture (the house on the cliffs). \r\n\r\nAlso a certain hedonistic urge in Godard alongside his cool intellect; the primary colours, sensuality v the film\'s cynicism + contempt for crass commercialism- he neatly turns the required Bardot nudity to his advantage, in more ways than one (and didn\'t he say film was a great way of getting beautiful women to take off their clothes? or similar). It strikes me as a more controlled, less joyfully free, film than say Pierrot le Fou.','cc74445d42f5dbcdfcd158b7eaec5cef',0,'','XkibhSD1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12536,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155180600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'collectedsoul','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','Firstly, thanks a lot to all of you for your comments and suggestions. \r\n\r\nA: I have heard that Godard\'s relationship with Anna Karina was an influence on the relationship presented between the couple in the movie. Coutard said something like \"Contempt was Godard\'s love-letter to Anna\'. But I havent been able to read much about his relationship with Anna. Hopefully I will soon in a book on Godard that I\'m getting.\r\nYou also pointed out the various languages used...I read somewhere Godard used it as a ploy so that they couldn\'t dub the movie. I\'m sure there are more possiblities there...will explore.\r\nI like what you said about \'what you put into the film comes back as response\'. This is true I think because Godard leaves so much to the viewer - also could be tied up to our \'filmic gaze\'...\r\nAnd I love your idea of the film as the final word. \r\nAnd finally, those are some very interesting questions you asked at the end of your post...will definitely ponder over them.\r\nPlease do get back with more if and when you watch it again.\r\n\r\ntrevor826: Do please tell me your thoughts once you watch it again.\r\n\r\njcdavies: Thanks for the tip about the Rossellini movie...but its very difficult to find a copy of the movie you mentioned. I only have Open City of his. I have seen L\'Avventura, liked it, but like La Notte more...\r\nI didn\'t see much sensuality in the way Bardot\'s nude form was depicted...it was more a gaze of aesthetic appraisal and approval I think. The comment is made somewhere in the film that \'show a girl a camera and she takes off her clothes\' or something like it...but that was not how Camille (Bardot\'s character) was presented. The way Bardot is presented by Godard in that gaze of aesthetic appraisal is I think Godard\'s way of foiling the attempt by the producers to make his film just another one of those that objectify the female body to make a few more bucks at the box office.\r\n\r\nIf any of you use msn and dont mind conversations with an amateur mind, my id is sayan_81@hotmail.com.\r\nThanks again for your thoughts.\r\n\r\n-Shayan','f71f091226a8669a78c25fceec7eadbe',0,'','WSmi2ehk',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12537,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155199500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','I was thinking more of Godard\'s comment elsewhere on being a film director as one job where you can legitimately get women to take off their clothes/ ask this without getting slapped. No doubt an element of tongue in cheek (if you\'ll pardon the expression). Anyway, it\'s true he deliberately avoids pressing the usual Hollywood box office sexiness buttons in that Bardot sequence but there\'s still an overall sensuality, with the colours (e.g the rich red of the scene) and setting; a sense of warmth alongside the intellectual coolness, which especially appeals to me in Pierrot le Fou (when asked about the unrealistic look of the blood in that film, he replied it\'s not blood, it\'s red).\r\n\r\nDo try and see Voyage to Italy- a very different kettle of fish to the neo-realist classics of the 40\'s; Contempt clearly pays homage to it, again as the antithesis of crass commercial cinema.','4e1da338927e3a57d4af75f3c6b61e6f',0,'','NyVJi8ru',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12538,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155210720,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','Agreed, like John, I\'m also under the impression that Voyage in Italy is a better film, and one that Godard owns some debt of gratitude. For me its very much a vital transition in Italian cinema (along with Visconti\'s Senso and La Notti Bianci) from the already rigid Neo-realism to a much more personal and existential intellectual cinema which I\'ve always found the highlight of Italian film.\r\n\r\nGodard\'s film however is great, and I\'m glad for the one good chance you get to see Fritz Lang act.','ed1a4aa2661c8e70a48c4b92e23f4369',0,'','cyFqbr6g',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12539,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155406020,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','Well, like you, I had many thoughts after watching Contempt the last time, but they have all slowly vanished or been absorbed. The above is probably the most you could get out of me, beside maybe a few more questions. I\'d like to see it again, but the film is a bit \"heavy\", and I don\'t think i\'m up to it at the moment. \r\nVoyage in Italy is a good point, I think you should check it out. But it\'s different, in that less is spoken about the relationship, and it\'s less complicated than in Contempt. The couple is kind of standard middle-aged upper middle class. I didn\'t like the film too much, but there are some beautiful and stunning scenes involving some greek mythology. \r\n\r\nBTW, I think Alphaville was intended as Godard\'s love-letter to Karina (also photographed by Coutard), can\'t imagine Contempt in that function...\r\n\r\nSadly I don\'t have MSN, but if you stick around this Forum, I\'ll surely recall your adress (or this thread), when I\'ll get it.','f200dfdcd56f12210cb1d5fa7bfdc5c4',0,'','mQEyk4nz',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12540,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155420480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'collectedsoul','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','hmm...I have to see Voyage in Italy then\r\n\r\nA: The love-letter was definitely contempt...i heard it on the commentary. I think Coutard was talking about the character Paul\'s view of his relationship with Camille...for Paul it was almost like she was a prize...he was worried about getting her things to keep her happy (the flat for example)...and Camille makes a lot of comments about indicating that Paul thinks she is intellectually inferior. I remember the scene when she\'s sitting on the can and Paul asks what she\'s doing and she says \'i\'m thinking, dont u think i am capable of it?\' and also when she\'s quoting from the book on Lang he doesnt respect her opinion like he does Lang\'s or even the translator\'s. He never really loved her as a person and I think this is how Godard thought of Anna too and through this film was trying to say that he realised he was guilty of doing this.\r\nI\'m surprised you don\'t have msn...good to know such people still exist. \r\n\r\nwpqx: I\'m trying to get Visconti\'s White Nights, havent seen any of his films yet...a question...who was the pioneer of neo-realism in Italy?\r\n\r\njcdavies: As far as Bardot\'s scenes go, I never felt the sensuality myself...I have seen her in much more sensual contexts...','61e938665dfd9a5194f5270c51191224',0,'','A0W479a5',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12541,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155433440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','I generally equate Visconti as the real forerunner of neo-realism, considering his Ossessione predates the major \"breakthroughs\" of Rossellini and De Seca. However it was rather like the French New Wave in that it was more a general trend and an outgrowth of certain new voices than a direct movement. Its inception was largely influenced by the war and the complete lack of resources. I believe Rossellini had once said that he had no concept of neo-realism he just wanted to make movies and that was the only way he could at the time.\r\n\r\nWhite Nights is one of Visconti\'s most beautiful films, and I enjoyed it more than Bresson\'s film from the same book Four Nights of a Dreamer, which is even harder to find in this country. Visconti however was far from a peasant, so for me I feel his best work generally deals with his own social class (the landed aristocracy). He does well with the decadence of this class in Sandra, which remains my favorite film of his. Although thanks to the Criterion collection for finally releasing the most complete version of The Leopard available. Warner Bros, who was his distributor of his later films, has put out Death in Venice and the Damned, and I only hope they get on the ball with the rest of them, particularly Conversation Piece and Ludwig. However Visconti\'s neo-realist films are certainly worth watching, particularly La Terra Trema and Rocco and His Brothers (although mine is dubbed so I think that detracts a little).\r\n\r\nRossellini\'s initial WWII trilogy (Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero) are all essentials as far as film literacy goes, but his films did occasionally utilize professional actors contrary to many myths and legends about the movement (as did Visconti\'s later work).\r\n\r\nDe Seca embraced the movement well, and most of that I think is attributable to his scenarist Cesare Zivittani(?), who collaborated with him throughout his early career. I\'ve not yet watched The Children are Watching Us (although it is in one of my piles), which that film also predates Open City. His films have been attacked in modern film circles as being too sentimental and although his Miracle in Milan is almost overflowing with sentimentality, I find it a rather charming fable. \r\n\r\nLike arguing over whether Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol, or Rivette was the initiator of the new wave, neorealism is also a movement without any defined figure head, but with several big high profile names, who all eventually grew out of it and made somewhat unique films in and out of the system.\r\n\r\nI rattled on too much, but luckily most of the key films from Visconti and De Seca are available on DVD, Rossellini has gotten much less love, but it is the centenial anniversary of his birth, so I\'m hoping that will motivate more.','8603c6a69078e5ea84c2d1a132fe23d4',0,'','1gTNVvwr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12542,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155463740,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','Well, Ludwig dvd (rental) is on its way to me at this moment from Lovefilm! I think Renoir could be credited as the real fore-runner of Italian neo-realism; his film Toni is clearly a major influence on the movement (even if you weren\'t aware of that, you\'d inevitably think \"Neo-realism!\" when watching it), especially on early Visconti, and of course Visconti was his assistant in the mid-30\'s, influenced by Renoir politically too. There\'s a current running from Toni, Ossessione, through Voyage to Italy to Contempt about couples\' troubled relationships (more passionate in the first two, existential in Voyage to Italy as wpqx says, and then more coolly intellectual and cynical in Godard). Still some strong links generally between French + Italian cinema, including some financial co-funding, exchange of settings, actors, in the early 60\'s.','6f67e15b5b13c2b486ab711dab8d8ee6',0,'','b0huHe2Z',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12543,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155499080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','It is interesting how film always seems to run in cycles. Neorealism in Italy was influenced by poetic realism in France, and the French new wave was in turn influenced by neorealism. Although I think the new wave borrowed more the \"make a film at all costs\" mentality more so than necessarily the ascthetics of neorealism. Reading articles from cahiers they seemed more concerned about creating a \"national identity\" through cinema, like the US and Italy had, and I certainly think they succeeded. Embarassingly I haven\'t yet seen Toni, in fact I think its the only Renoir film from the 30\'s I haven\'t seen.','0b09925043b2fac5740ae7627938bf15',0,'','6JehnSrL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12544,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155501060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'collectedsoul','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','Thanks a bunch. You guys have been a big help...I\'ll keep asking you more questions as I start working.\r\nInteresting what all of you mention about the connect between neo-realist cinema and FNW.\r\nIf I specifically take Breathless, Godard\'s first film, how do you think neo-realism has affected this film...I\'d think the way it was made - Coutard shooting on the streets of Paris with available lighting and all that perhaps borrows from the way neo-realism films were made. But is the content/theme of the movie itself following on from neo-realism?','4eb6d72222c6f8f9c6c15c7f328de58e',0,'','Es0aMfUr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12545,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155681420,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','I don\'t think I\'m as informed on neo-realism and the French New Wave as John or wpqx, so my view is more limited.\r\nIf we take Breathless, the way it was made would be it, as the film borrows more from american films from the 50s and film noir, imo. Neo-realism is (for me?) more about working-class people and their daily struggles. That\'s why some people have a problem with Ossessione being a neo-realist film, as it\'s also a crime-drama (based on Cain\'s novel \"The Postman always rings twice\"). But the people in it, are working-class, soo...','deeb9f20684cc2343fb3463e0ee18be8',0,'','cvoaUiST',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12546,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156925580,1,0,1,1,1,1,'collectedsoul','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','What films and film-makers do you think Godard has directly influenced? Especially Contempt...can you think of any films that have been inspired by and borrowed elements from it?','132503cdf353bc45b7001e7f5974a87f',0,'','6cKnu5Hp',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12547,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156962060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','Well I think there was an almost immediate influence. Arthur Penn borrowed from Godard, as Godard borrowed from Penn. I think there are some traits in this film similar to what Richard Lester was doing in Petulia, which in turn influenced Steven Soderbergh\'s films tremendously. The abundance of pop culture and more importantly cinematic language however is textbook Tarantino.\r\n\r\nAnyone else recall Angelopolos when Lang was viewing the dailies from his film, something about the greek statues in silent long shots that just made me think of Landscape in the Mist and that giant hand emerging from the sea.','37895e6345fa265874e1c0383e64b298',0,'','V1y2qhxm',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12548,2247,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1157164980,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Some thoughts on Godard\'s Contempt','Yes, those Fritz Lang scenes also made me think of Angelopoulos! Would be interesting to see what Theo has to say about this \r\n\r\nHmm, as for What films were influenced by \"Contempt\"... \r\nCan\'t say really, the film seems very unique to me. \r\nSorry, but no specific films come to my mind.','b0d41a95df8936b5967b341df2e7f057',0,'','BM1fxa3S',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12549,2248,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1134577740,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','The Sword of Doom (Japan / 1965 / Kihachi Okamoto)','I opened up a new topic on this film, because I find it criminally neglected, and hope to open up a longer discussion about it and that some of you will watch it (if you haven\'t already).\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhere to start with this one...\r\nAs I was wondering what to watch this morning and saw The Criterion Edition DVD of Kihachi Okamoto\'s \"The Sword of Doom\" on my shelf, I thought of watching it after a silent short of Wladyslaw Starewicz as a sort of light entertainment. Not expecting much, I put it in my DVD player and prepared to relax for the coming two hours. When I had seen a copy of this DVD in my local library a week ago, I had never heard anything of the director I remembered, and the back cover that spoke of lots of violence and blood, made me expect an exploitation film in the vein of a Seijun Suzuki only with Samurais and in full color. So I was surprised and a bit disappointed when the film began in black and white. But I was soon to discover something else. The films black and white photography is a stunning example of the use of light I have seen in some 60s japanese films (e.g. Seijun Suzuki\'s Branded to Kill).\r\nShot in stark contrast, the film always seems a bit overexposed, creating an atmosphere in witch the viewer may already feel some of the pain of the characters, and the harshness of the period depicted, through his own constant effort of the eyes while watching. The characters strain and stress, the atmosphere\'s tautness is matched by the films style. The widescreen format is used to its fullest by cinematographer Hiroshi Murai, almost every frame a prime example of staging for camera, achieving awe-inspiring compositions which mirror the characters emotions and obsessions, always bringing the directors intentions to light in a most original way. The editing is meticulous, being always right on spot, and at its best not only enhancing the films atmosphere and flow, but deepening our understanding of the characters psychological profiles. This combination of camerawork and editing makes the film on a formal level one of the finest I\'ve ever seen. But complementing this is an emotional richness that speaks of the directors own experience, and the life he witnessed during his time in the Army in the second World War. Being an assistant director to amongst others Mikio Naruse right after the war, we can witness Okamoto with \"The Sword of Doom\" already in possession not only of a full-fledged independent perspective on life itself, but also of a cinematic skill, only few directors were able to achieve and put to use in the history of cinema. \r\nIn an essay accompanying the DVD-edition, film-scholar Geoffrey O\'Brien compares Okamoto to contemporaries like Seijun Suzuki and Akira Kurosawa, but places him under both, calling him only a very competent genre-director, as he fails to reach under the films surface and find a sense in the films undertaking besides its obvious merits, when in fact Okamoto with this film alone must be ranked as a humanist director on par with names like Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi. And with his clear moral standpoint he is still miles ahead of the formal brilliance and playful nihilistic stance of Seijun Suzuki\'s 60s films or other genre directors of this time. Whatever Suzukis merits (and those of his colleagues) on their own may be, their filmic rebellion was one against an established way of filmmaking, a rebellion against the restrictions made by studios that wanted traditional clear-cut products that would make a maximum profit. But Kihachi Okamoto, at least with \"The Sword of Doom\", isn\'t just rebelling against an industry, but against the society that could bring such an industry to existence. The film\'s subversive nature goes so far, that it reverses the assumed creative restrictions, in a way comparable to the \"dogme\"-filmmaking in the 90s. By (unvoluntarily) restricting himself, Okamoto arrives at a freedom of expression he couldn\'t have achieved better in any other way. A rebellion that doesn\'t need to rebell anymore because it has already achieved what it set out to do within the established framework. This may also explain why the politics and social circumstances in the film are only a background for the character, who isn\'t concerned with any of it. What Okamoto is aiming at exceeds society\'s borders by far, as his endeavour takes him to one of the most pressing existential problems, the questioning of the human soul.\r\nThe beauty of the sceneries and their formal rendering are thereby a powerful contrast to the cruelty and at times outright nihilism of the characters behaviour. The years presented in the film are the early 1860\'s in Japan and the events preceding the Meiji restoration in 1868 when the power of the Emperor was restored. These years of political turmoil are depicted as a gruesome period in which traditional bonds where slowly dissolving as it was hard to arrive at a steady existential and ideological orientation during an ever shifting environment, in which violence and poverty reigned on the streets.\r\nAt the beginning we are introduced to the main protagonist Ryunosuke Tsukue, played with startling intensity by Tatsuya Nakadai, who serves as an indicator for the contradictions and problems of the times. A vessel containing all that\'s wrong with society itself he is a psychotic figure who seems to bring upon his surroundings the wrath of fate itself. Right from the start he is torn between his desire and longing for an affiliation of sorts, a redemption of all his sins (or maybe even the worlds), and a feeling that he\'s already too much an outcome of his times, being unable to lay down his sword and change his life. He\'s at once an angel fallen to earth who\'s bringing about its destruction, and a human being deeply in conflict with himself, his instincts and emotions. \r\nThe tragic of the film and the character, and thus of its time, seems to be the unability to change, to do good when it is most needed, and the powerlessness of man in the face of a human society that is bringing about its own end. Throughout the film we see Ryunosuke struggle to preserve his humanity though it has been lost to him from the beginning. In this lies the main strength and humanity of what the film tries to achieve. The Struggle of man against his fate, no matter how hopeless it may seem, even while facing defeat, is what ultimately makes a person human. To let us experience this through a seemingly nihilistic character, confronting us with a bleak world, is a bold undertaking in which Okamoto succeeds in a magnificent way. \r\nThe film was initially planned and executed as the first installment in a much larger tale, and it is a huge loss that the sequels were never made. Nevertheless this film alone, with all its ambiguities and gaps, already stands firmly on its own, displaying all the features needed to establish it as a major work of art.','0a597e9ee261bae346cd31b75296b24e',0,'','Vqi7LB5p',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12550,2248,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1134596700,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: The Sword of Doom (Japan / 1965 / Kihachi Okamoto)','Wow, nice comments A, I do have the film on dvd but only the relatively poor (certainly in terms of extras) region 2 release from Artsmagic. I haven\'t seen it for around two years but will definitely watch it again soon.\r\n\r\nYou should really transfer this to the Classic Cinema board, I can easily redo my comment if you move and delete this thread.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','b20093de7c4c4bfbaa5b46802b7cbfa4',0,'','lzjYK5vB',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12551,2248,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1134669360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: The Sword of Doom (Japan / 1965 / Kihachi Okamoto)','Yeah, I notices this too, right after the posting, but my problem is that in the PC-pool I have internet access, I can\'t use the copy and paste functions. \r\nBut if I get a chnace I\'ll transfer it. \r\nWaiting for your view, after you\'ve watched the film again','0cac11496ad843bcfba0f39558978e27',0,'','a0UWmlcJ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12552,2248,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1207462620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: The Sword of Doom (Japan / 1965 / Kihachi Okamoto)','Great review, A. It really put the film into perspective for me.','9bf4c011f1a53c33b2a995ed6ac192b8',0,'','D6LxVhSl',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12553,2249,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143425220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Boudu saved from drowning (1932 / France / Jean Renoir)','Watched Boudu sauv des eaux at the cinema.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe copy was quite old, and the sound bad, but imo it didn\'t do much damage to the film. It\'s still very beautiful, and Renoir\'s early handwriting very legible. The very beautiful and expressive photography by Lonce-Henri Burel and Marcel Lucien comes to its fullest in the sometimes long but always cinematically rich pauses of the narrative Renoir likes to use. Ordinary Observations of people and their surroundings that become transcendent. It\'s apparent that renoir loves all his characters equally, and even without the satire and social commentary the film would have kept its significance. \r\nLooking at the images, at times I felt as if I had entered a time-machine, but simultaneously the story and characters depicted are so universal that the film has actually aged quite well. What may be problematic today is the romanticised depiction of the tramp on the road, but times may have been different in the 30s than today...\r\nAnyway, the film works best as a satirical poem, and thus the poetic quality stands out more than anything else. At the end of the film we have a beautiful plan-sequence accompanied by a \"live\" version of Joseph Strauss\' \"An der schnen blauen Donau\", that reflects the same use Kubrick would put it to some 30 years later. Watching this scene evolving a wedding party on a boat in the Seine, I was reminded of Renoir the painter. An impressionistic tableau, that showcases the beauty of the moment. It is in these moments of outward calmness and inward upheaval that Renoir\'s style comes to its fullest. A movement that contradicts the apparent calm, but with a tenderness that seems to balance the characters roughness. If anything else these moments just express a love for life that is beautifully to behold.\r\n\r\nI seem to be getting into Renoir, as I\'m more and more appreciating the lyrical qualities in his work.','20a4d4a74dd4157c62716788f8dbf614',0,'','6KDc3Pf9',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12554,2249,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143476520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Johndav','Re: Boudu saved from drowning (1932 / France / Jean Renoir)','A witty poetic satire! I\'ve had a soft spot for this film since studying it on my French course at uni (a group of us were lucky to be able to have French cinema in the 30\'s as a specialist subject), years ago. I\'m sure seeing the film again the day before the exam, rather than spending time checking out critics in the library, helped improve my grade. It certainly sends up Bourgeois morals and hang-ups (imagine spitting in Balzac!), though Boudu\'s anarchic behaviour and sexual carryings-on may be either irritating or- his erotic appeal i\'m thinking of here- not very credible to many viewers. Yeah, the river scenes, as in Partie de Campagne, are not only among his most lyrical, but as you say, reminiscent of his dad.\r\n\r\nI hated the Hollywood remake Down and Out in Beverly Hills and have no interest in seeing the apparently dire moderrn French remake.','a24e234aac9c9625167968d9b12f88da',0,'','ENDPgGrR',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12555,2249,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143678660,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Boudu saved from drowning (1932 / France / Jean Renoir)','I could imagine that for the times it was made in, his behaviour may have been even more extreme than it would be today. As for his sexual attraction, I guess it is because he just is the way he is, while the others are always pretending. And the other guys in the film don\'t look much better on the outside, as far as I could tell. Anyway it\'s Michel Simon - that may have been enough reason \r\nDon\'t have a particular interest to see a remake, but it could be interesting if somebody would try to make this film in today\'s France. I wonder if it would be as positive...\r\nDo you by chance happen to remember the beginning of the film? I missed the first five minutes (or so), and would like to know if there was anything essential going on. I entered, just when Boudu lost his dog in the park (saw him still in a last frame).','3b515beeeca71e3488d7ba39633916ad',0,'','1R6nsLbr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12556,2249,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143750360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Boudu saved from drowning (1932 / France / Jean Renoir)','I can\'t remember much before that, in fact the earliest thing I remember happening is him jumping in the river. All that was shown I believe was just plot building character things, nothing really vital towards the story, but it\'s been at least 2 years since I\'ve seen it.','4b9f71b9ae6ed6db4e76b49d8d773fa4',0,'','LG8sngjr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12557,2250,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156363200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Hiroshima mon Amour','(I couldn\'t find a thread- was going to add these thoughts to it. )\r\n\r\nAn issue that sticks with me is the thin line between love that crosses national boundaries and wartime collaboration with a hideous ideology. Here we have, in the WW2 section at Nevers, a young woman with an all-consuming individual instinct for a young man who shares her feelings. Is it a selfish urge? Should she have given more thought not only to her own personal consequences, but also to the communal good? Are her actions really worthy of the punishment- with no distinction made between collaboration for greed, power, repression, and simple love that pays no heed to its situation. As a couple they are caught at a certain moment in time and space- there\'s a sense of fate/chance/destiny controlling lives; the fate that condemns so many to die from the bomb, and brings the Frenchwoman and the Japanese man together. The film blurs and quietly questions clear moral boundaries, encourages us to (re)consider standard judgements. \r\n\r\nI despise nationalism and the notion that humans must automatically obey the orders of patriotism and artificial boundaries, when we are all one race, but i also despise Nazism and everything it stood for. Is she a collaborator with Nazism or is her (and her German lover\'s) attitude in fact a form of resistance to Nazi nationalism and ideas of racial purity- then replicated in a very different, now acceptable, situation with the Japanese man? There seems to be an extra complexity through the fact that the Japanese were of course the Germans\' wartime allies. \r\n\r\nAt the time of its release, it was widely praised as among the very greatest films; its reputation deserves to be restored. Its haunting and very beautiful handling of memory and the elusive nature of truth, along with the continuing fallout of the atom bomb, was innovative and influential and it certainly stands the test of time.','08bbb893108637f4b6cfbf4db4351c10',0,'','cgUyxCiE',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12558,2250,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156368480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Hiroshima mon Amour','Oh this seems like an interesting film. I\'ve got the DVD but have not thought about it for quite a while. I\'ll take a look later this week and post my thoughts. Thanks.','8c0a83b0e63252c6361bdded081d6695',0,'','gk78cu9P',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12559,2250,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156453980,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Hiroshima mon Amour','I saw this in the cinema sometimelast year, and liked it very much (especially the wonderful beginning). But I don\'t think I have been considering your interesting questions, John. I\'ll try to keep them in mind the next time. For all others who haven\'t seen it, this is recommended.','d68148535cda5d11032c2c05adb246f8',0,'','k03GxdBM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12560,2250,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156461780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Hiroshima mon Amour','Well, i think it can be appoached from various angles as it raises a lot of interesting issues. It\'s also easily forgotten that in 1959, inter-racial relationships were actually still quite controversial in many countries- there was racial segregation in the US, for instance. The film doesn\'t labour its points- the mind boggles trying to imagine a Hollywood film handling such topics with even half the finesse- though some might find the dialogue repetitions a bit mannered and pretentious. \r\n\r\nThe early scenes remind a little of Woman in the Dunes- the sensual contours and textures of the bodies etc. There\'s a lingering sense of melancholy and irreparable damage (emotionally in Riva\'s case and physically in so many others from the bomb), something lost, a resignation; after such a first love other relationships can never quite have that edge or passion, yet she\'s intent on getting on with life, doing good, remains a decent sensitive person.\r\n\r\nAnd when it comes to it, isn\'t memory, however flawed, all we have? At the end of our lives, it will be our memories (and regrets) that count for us. Kore-eda\'s After Life takes this to a precise, less subtle, conclusion.','aa8a6075d883d4a9fb9f955adcb6b782',0,'','wkSKzQJX',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12561,2250,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156470480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Hiroshima mon Amour','My one problem was that I didn\'t like the characters, though that is surely a minor point. Your observations are really fine, and maybe I\'m writing this post simply in the hope that there\'s more to come. If you keep on writing, I might like your sentences more than the actual film.','692d3ac3e56e266b75fb8f5353eeb883',0,'','fZlnJ96R',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12562,2250,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156555440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'collectedsoul','Re: Hiroshima mon Amour','I LOVE this movie. It is one of my all-time favourites. The thing that makes it so so special is the tone, the warm, non-judgmental acutely observant tone. This film lingers adoringly on its characters trying to understand them, giving us, the viewers, time to dwell on them. I just loved the mood this film created. It is SUCH a gorgeous film. \r\nI have been desperately trying to find other Resnais films ever since I saw this one.','143ed359dd41de025c51cfe554665d8a',0,'','Hto3kJdG',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12563,2250,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156588260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Hiroshima mon Amour','I\'ve seen several Resnais films, and a couple of which I found much better, albeit different. Last Year at Marienbad is very hit or miss, I\'ve seen 5 star ratings for it, and even saw it listed in a book of the 50 worst films ever made, so its definitely polarizing. I would probably vote for Providence as my favorite fictional film of his, although his most accessible Mon Oncle Amerique is also well worth checking out. I\'d like to eventually see Muriel again as I think I didn\'t devote the proper attention to it first time around.','558dd25d3b05bf49f244d1c5402e9127',0,'','yo5lerLk',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12564,2250,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156639920,1,0,1,1,1,1,'jcdavies','Re: Hiroshima mon Amour','I\'ve had very mixed reactions to Resnais: Last Year at Marienbad is excellent too, in fact it\'s about time i saw it again. I liked Smoking/No Smoking + Providence but Muriel left me quite cold and i disliked On Connait la Chanson with its sung dialogue, though at least it showed he was still willing to experiment, take risks. La Guerre est Finie was worthwhile. Night and Fog says as much about the holocaust as, and much more economically than, the mammoth Shoah. Not seen Mon Oncle d\'Amerique, which seems to polarise reactions.','6484331c7f295acebb33c713670a8322',0,'','ifqo8gnF',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12565,2250,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156713180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Hiroshima mon Amour','Besides Hiroshima mon amour, I\'ve only seen Smoking (1993) which I found mediocre (but that might change if I ever watch No Smoking ), and L\'amour a mort (1984), which I found even better than Hiroshima. A beautifully shot exploration of death and love it is very refined in its multi-layered and fragmented approach. Colors also play an important part in it (similar to Zhang Yimou\'s ying xiang (2002)). If you like Hiroshima mon amour, this comes with a high recommendation.','6c3c4b51d639e727d5998911119c944e',0,'','sS4RZLvH',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12566,2251,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144280040,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Les doigts dans la tte (1974 / France / Jacques Doillon)','\r\nLes doigts dans la tte \"Touched in the Head\" \r\n(1974 / France / Jacques Doillon)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThis was my second film by Doillon I have seen, and also the second in the current retrospective in the \"Arsenal\" cinema here in Berlin, that is showing 15 of his films. After the lyrical Raja (2003), a musical poem weaved out of sounds and gestures, this was an early attempt from 30 years before , which surprisingly revealed a Doillon with the same mastery of the subject - a precision in the observation of characters and events and a working with the actors that allows the scenes to remain natural and seemingly improvised while at the same time a precise script can be felt, the desire of the director to achieve everything exactly as planned. The ease of the people and the landscape, contrasted with the technical precision that accompanies a clear vision. \r\nBut the most remarkable are the actors , all more or less unprofessionals who behave with an ease as if they were playing themselves, and who make us immediately experience this combined joy of acting and being. And unlike lots of similar films their actual age matches the character\'s on screen. \r\nThe story is about a young working class couple, Chris and Rosette that live away from their parents and are at the beginning of adulthood. Chris also has a friend, Lon who seems like his mirror in some and his opposite in other respects. While Chris is the better-looking and more direct of the two, Lon seems more witty and thoughtful. But both seem to complement each other, as could be the case with the young couple - if there weren\'t a hint of slight boredom on Chris`side and dependence on Rosette`s. Into this constellation enters Liv, a girl from Sweden, who though actually the youngest of them all exceeds them by far in her maturity. She naturally becomes the focus of the group, and when she moves into Chris apartment and starts an affair with him, the fragile balance starts to shift. But will anything really change after this?\r\n\r\nThe film reminded me a bit of Pasolini\'s \"Theorema\", through the enigmatic visitor who heightens the characters awareness to another level and enriches their lives. But even more it seemed like a reworking of Eustache\'s \"The Mother and the Whore\" that had come out a year earlier, especially regarding the camerawork that seemingly locks the characters in their own world, and the diary-like perspective from the \"main\" character - in Jean Pierre Laud\'s case in the form of extensive monologues and in this film through the use of Chris`voice-over. But although combining social critique (the plot also tackles unemployment and worker\'s rights) with an intimate character study, Doillon\'s directorial take is almost opposed to a classical confrontational dramaturgy, avoiding both a direct conflict between the characters as well as the taking of a definite \"auteurist\" positioning on screen. Instead we have an almost introverted movement, that forces the viewer to participate in a very different way than the almost hysterical outcry of Pasolini and Eustache. No hopes get shattered, no souls tortured, and the events seem to have no definitive and immediate impact on any of the people\'s lives. Yet a lot has changed, something that may become apparent only over the years. In this respect the viewer could get the same feeling as after watching Sohrab Shahid Saless \"A simple event\". The feeling that something profound has just happened although it may not be entirely graspable, shared with a gratitude of having been allowed to experience the everyday lives and worries of a group of people that seem as natural and as basic as if they were our own. In this seemingly detached and observant look lies the great strength of Doillon as a filmmaker, in his ability to at once bring us wholly believable characters and events on the screen that seem to literally have been born in each moment anew that invent and explore themselves without resorting to clich or formula. Here could be seen his biggest link with Eustache, and the reason why both are more or less outsiders regarding french film history. Both havinh created a personal language that cannot be linked to any movement, a way of being between two stools as a conscious opposition to any rash classification or categorization. A reinventing of the self that, unlike Godard, is already completed in the film - though experimentation has taken place, it was rather before the film than in it. But though the opening up of new horizons on screen may appear smaller, it is only subtler and no less effective or important.\r\nIn the end one is released as though nothing has happened, yet affected as if a part one\'s own life had been reflected on screen and for the attentive viewer this might as well be the truth.\r\nThe somewhat strange american title can be ignored, as the meaning of the original is stated through Liv and the director near the end of the film. The fingers in our head are the fingers of society and our upbringing from which it is very difficult to get free. But through this film the viewer may feel them a bit less, as the director carefully avoids to bring in his own. More like softly pulling them out if the viewer is willing to concur. \r\nThe characters at least seem at the end as happy as before, while enriched through a new experience - one whose importance can be revealed only gradually.','695f682568ce86ce68c98080fcbc6a1a',0,'','fzYFWbEo',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12567,2251,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144286940,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Les doigts dans la tte (1974 / France / Jacques Doillon)','\"But the most remarkable are the actors , all more or less unprofessionals who behave with an ease as if they were playing themselves, and who make us immediately experience this combined joy of acting and being.\"\r\n\r\nExcellent point! Doillon has a knack for drawing out the most naturalistic performances from his cast (Ponette is perhaps the best example of it).\r\n\r\n\"The film reminded me a bit of Pasolini\'s \"Theorema\", through the enigmatic visitor who heightens the characters awareness to another level and enriches their lives. But even more it seemed like a reworking of Eustache\'s \"The Mother and the Whore\" that had come out a year earlier, especially regarding the camerawork that seemingly locks the characters in their own world\"\r\n\r\nInteresting. I didn\'t think of it that way, but it\'s been a while since I\'ve seen Les doigts. Though Doillon, who could be referred to as a poor man\'s Garrel (no harm if you don\'t know what I meant), has spoken highly of Eustache on various occasions.\r\n\r\n(Btw, if you\'re planning on reviewing more of his films then perhaps a thread in the director\'s forum is needed. I\'ll move my review also. Keep it up!)','8085c18074a4ba277631cdf01dbe1adb',0,'','d8l6nvKt',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12568,2251,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144370880,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Les doigts dans la tte (1974 / France / Jacques Doillon)','Thanks for your encouraging response. I didn\'t know if Doillon had any connections to Eustache, but with this film it seemed obvious. \r\nDoillon as \"poor man\'s\" Garrel Interesting point. I\'ve only seen one film by Garrel, \"Les ministeres de l\'art\", (which was even better than the three by Doillon, btw) but I don\'t know to what you\'re referring exactly. To me Garrel seemed more demanding and rewarding, but judging on one film only... He\'s definitely THE contemporary director I\'d like to see more films by.\r\n\r\nI can\'t promise that I\'ll write more reviews on Doillon, though. I just write, whenever I feel like it (after a film), and if I have the time. But I\'ll watch more of Doillon\'s film, and if you want to know more about a specific one that I\'ve seen, feel free to ask.','80e97f94ac451917717ae4b0bffff1ab',0,'','RxMvrybW',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12569,2252,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155343920,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','La Luna (Italy / 1979)','No idea whether this belongs in classic or not \r\n\r\n\r\nLa Luna - Bernardo Bertolucci\r\n\r\nThere\'s some really heavy themes in this, most notably and controversially incest between the mother, an opera singer (the whole movie is quite operatic in the setting of Rome) and her son, a teenager slowly being sucked into a world of drugs as he slips away from his mother. It doesn\'t cross the line all the way, instead hovers back and forth between a loss they\'ve shared and a promise of being together at any means, albeit not in the conventional sense. \r\n\r\nLovely, epic music lacquers the scenery and intensity between the parent, who finds it a duty to be closer to the son thats torn between guilt and anger. Note though, that the physical incest is not as strong as the theme of emotional incest, which is usually the more pervasive of the two. It\'s main focus seems to be the mending of a mother-son relationship when both mother and son are wrecks to begin with.\r\n\r\nBertolucci has a fond place in my heart. As simple as this sounds, he makes films that are memorable and have something to tell us. Usually about politics and human sexuality. This film is one of his earlier works and its absolutely gorgeous. Speaking of gorgeous, Jill Clayburgh shows why she\'s so unsung, in this she plays a woman who\'s so respected to everyone but yet in shambles inside. I would love to see her in more and thank god I now have something to supplant her as Ally Mcbeal\'s mom.','d5ce9a3144805aec68b991b503fbafc2',0,'','tNvfyAMz',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12570,2252,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155872160,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: La Luna (Italy / 1979)','Hmm, sounds intriguing. I haven\'t read about the film before, and actually thought this could be a Fellini film, judging by its title \r\nCould you write a bit more about it. You\'ve really piqued my interest \r\n\r\nBut I have moved it to the Classics Forum. I\'d say anything before the 1980s, can be considered \"classic\" by now (more than a quarter of a century).\r\n\r\nBtw, the poster art looks beautiful.','a722b8ca51993d343e090388e3447608',0,'','C2j43MP6',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12571,2252,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155877380,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: La Luna (Italy / 1979)','God this movie was @#%$ awful. The worst film I\'ve seen from Bertolucci and a muddled mess of a failed abortion. By this point he was far too unstructured, and this film is painful in its lack of cinematic discipline. God awful acting to boot, and I generally like Clayburgh. Me and you apparently have some very different opinions about this one.','f6725454147b2fc53cddb5de0f034d01',0,'','NGbe8ydT',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12572,2252,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155878760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: La Luna (Italy / 1979)','This is beginning to get interesting. \r\nI would really like to know what kind of film Bertolucci directed after his epic Novecento. Should be hard to find in Germany, but I\'ll see what I can do in the coming weeks.','18f7f8459fad59a3b2467bee1b898a3f',0,'','gaCxKtSR',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12573,2252,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155899460,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: La Luna (Italy / 1979)','Its hard to find everywhere, I don\'t even know where my copy originated from, but it has never been officially released on video here in the US. Being that your quite the 1900 fan, A, your take on this film might be much different than mine. Although my rating for this film was half of what I rated 1900.','334b172de59a2976df6050b5efbac40f',0,'','imezRqur',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12574,2252,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156016460,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: La Luna (Italy / 1979)','\r\n\r\nSeems the only thing wpgx and I will agree with this is that this film is quite the rarity. I bought my DVD at a garage sale. Might be Italian though, the wordings\' are a bit wrecked on mine. Oh I wholeheartedly agree with the splendid cover art, it\'s why I even noticed it.\r\n\r\nAbout the film, it\'s quite a heavy subject matter to tackle, plenty for the psychoanalytical of us to ponder over. Quite typical of Bertolucci to polarise his viewers. I would agree that the film is a task especially its beginning but its fruitful with much symmetry composing the parent/child relationship regarding the inexplicable quandaries of love and sexuality. Oedipal complexities are never fully explored thankfully, it doesn\'t go the distance like \"Spanking the Monkey\" did but what isn\'t shown is much more primal and imperative than what is shown. \r\n\r\nI\'ve read many stinging criticisms of the film and its incomparable director of trying to shock his way through the auds. But I honestly am too blind or refractory for lack of a better word to subscribe to that.','f82dc27e000fb75e5d48b4df157c74f3',0,'','FAyHC36d',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12575,2252,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156018440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: La Luna (Italy / 1979)','The Danish DVD of La Luna is available HERE.','b6f62e3e082fb25085667441d948619c',0,'','oARmk9Ku',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12576,2252,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156183500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: La Luna (Italy / 1979)','I\'m absolutely with wpqx on this one, it used to get screened on filmfour now and again, the closest comparison I can think of is Ma Mere.\r\n\r\nI wish I had taped it just so I could send you a copy A, then you could judge for yourself.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','5a3b0fcd5a6e74a26336179deeb86fb0',0,'','XEt19y2i',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12577,2252,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1156189620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: La Luna (Italy / 1979)','Well, that would have been really nice of you. \r\nBut this way, I can look forward to it much more \r\nMaybe I will also find a copy of it at some garage sale, and then I\'ll pop in the disc, and ...will hate myself for buying it. \r\nHmm, the reviews at imdb seem to be mixed also. But there\'s a link to amazon.co.uk where U can buy the DVD.','1e6c6cd798d1c8b9e0179443abc179d3',0,'','1l8Q0xNE',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12578,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140016560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','(not review - some thoughts about favourite movie)\r\n\r\nMagic, Dreams and Freedom\r\n\r\nCinema is something magical. Writer deals only with a pen and paper, artist deals only with brush and paint - director has to deal not only with camera, but with many people who may not understand his ideas - actors, cinematographers, editors etc. He has to explain them what exactly he wants. He has to overcome producers\' obstacles. Isn\'t it a divine intent that some directors can create real art? Otto e mezzo (an example of such pure art) belongs to the handful of films for the sake of which cinema was invented. This multilayered, technically brilliant movie is undoubtedly the landmark in cinema history (along with Birth of the nation, Battleship Potyomkin and Citizen Kane). \r\n\r\nThe name of the film is just a number of movies that Fellini made up to then (including seven features and three short episodes). A succesfull director Guido Anselmi tries to shoot a new movie, but he doesn\'t know what exactly he wishes, he\'s in a crisis: crisis of creativity, crisis of love, crisis of mind. Will he be able to deal with all his problems? (Here all critics tell about autobiographical motives of the movie, but I won\'t) There is no sense to retell plot: Felllini\'s ideas are something more profound than formal structure and plot. \r\n\r\nWhat is so innovative in the movie? It was Otto e mezzo where fantasy, dreams and reminiscences became such essential and important part of the film reality (don\'t tell me about Resnais and Bergman!). There is no \"fog\" as a background for dreams - dreams are as real as life. It\'s the main reason why so many people find the film to some extent complicated after the first viewing. But if you see it several times you\'ll understand that its simplicity is one of its merits. Why did Fellini choose such confusing method to tell this story? You see, his main principle was honesty, he had to be honest with his viewer. When you say about problems of intellectual you have to get into his inner life, into his thoughts. Only under this condition you can tell full and honest story about him.\r\n\r\nThe film opens with a scene of Guido\'s nightmare: he\'s locked in the car. Theme of finding of freedom is maybe the most important in the film: inner freedom, freedom from producers, from religious constraints (that crippled his childhood), from hypocritical rules... At last Guido\'s future film itself is the problem of his freedom (or his slavery). He tries to find freedom in dreams: in scene of harem, in scene of hanging of film critic, in scene of dialogue with bishop, and opening scene is the symbol of his search. He thinks about his childhood when he could escape from the school to desired Saraghina. Where that little daring Guido? Will he be able to escape from his problems being adult?.. Fellini says \"yes\". Although the film won\'t be shooted, Guido\'ll find salvation in art, find freedom and peace of his spirit. And this Fellini\'s optimism is maybe the most powerful thing of the film. At least, for me...\r\n\r\nBTW, freedom is also the main principle of Fellini\'s directing - only free from usual stereotypes man could create such daring experimental exploration of deep layers of human spirit. \r\n\r\nIt\'s not necessary to say about numerous miracles of the movie: Federico as director, Marcello as Guido, Gianni as cinematographer (who created marvellous colourful b/w picture), Nino as composer...\r\n\r\nP.S. You know my grade','5034035b7f047cbcd426104237a982b8',0,'','gleuqDRM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12579,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140022860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','Yes, Mik, there are miracles in this movie. And I loved your saying freedom was the main principle of Fellini\'s directing - so that he created \"daring experimental exploration of deep layers of human spirit.\"\r\n\r\nYou make me want to revisit 8 1/2, Amacord, and of course, Nights of Caberia.\r\n\r\nThanks for your ideas. And by the way, it is good to see you here again.\r\n\r\nSara','c1bf81d533294ba8162f51d8fbbe6897',0,'','CybieVad',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12580,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140099060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','Sara, I\'m glad to hear that my meager thoughts makes someone review Fellini\'s masterwork. Le Notti di Cabiria is in my opinion his one more flawless masterpiece (along with La Dolce Vita). Maybe I\'ll write about it later.','0fd719e9d10c52b9a2300d4b40ff215f',0,'','1cbCHuFJ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12581,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140103200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','Hi Miklosk,\r\n\r\nYou\'ve really written from the heart about one of my favourite films. I\'m so fond of Fellini that I can even defend an over-the-top film like \"Satyricon\".\r\n\r\nM','5f28ca75ed3facade3d198dea246f222',0,'','E7GHTA6K',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12582,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140103920,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','Oh, madhuban! I\'m really glad to hear voice of Fellini fan! Il Mago is definitely the greatest director for me. Satyricon is a pleasure for me, though it has its flaws...','726dc1b1d7138a5811d37ad755da07a9',0,'','82poywnm',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12583,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140110880,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','Although I have 8 1/2 on dvd, I took my sons to see it last year in the cinema as it was a fresh print. Unfortunately it wasn\'t the experience it could have been because the sound system in the cinema was awful and made the film sound very scratchy. Still, a worthy classic. \r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','2f6e9b1265f2b312538110c15d924c71',0,'','EQoGr3z4',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12584,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140191520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','hey Miklosk,\r\n\r\nSince you are so fond of Il Mago, would like to know what you thought of \"The Orchestra Rehearsal\"? This is one of those films that most people dismiss. I like it quite a bit, at least the first 2/3rds of the film I found to be absolutely amazing!\r\n\r\nTrevor,\r\n\r\nAm keen to know what your boys thought of 8 1/2 \r\n\r\nM','2efac24087104bae5fc0ce0b6be5616d',0,'','F4iUrB6J',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12585,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140191820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','madhuban, La Prova d\'Orchestra is in my opinion one of the most entertaining Fellini movies. I laughed at it so much! Joyful! Definitely the best late Fellini. 8/10','357877269c3de50e23db2bf1ed00ff5e',0,'','PU5wXgWk',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12586,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140210540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','madhuban, the eldest enjoyed it but it was a bit to much for the others, give them a year or two though.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev','c5de017578eba958df18da7f462df60c',0,'','FWVQ53ca',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12587,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140499320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'gratefultiger','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','8 1/2 is a film making clinic, observe and learn Fellini\'s greatest film but not my favourite,that position is reserved for \"Nights of Cabiria\' an essay on \"never giving up\"','b97607bd2447514d33e2f537580fd40d',0,'','ZHF1DPj8',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12588,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1154426340,1,0,1,1,1,1,'collectedsoul','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','I saw this film a couple of weeks back...and it was one of the most frustrating movie-watching experiences for me...I enjoyed the scenes for what they were but I couldnt help but feel that there were allusions being made to personal matters which I had no clue about. I felt it was a highly autobiographical film and not knowing much about Fellini I couldn\'t make anything of the film as a whole. Am I wrong? Isn\'t it autobiographical? If it\'s not then I\'m thoroughly confused about the lack of narrative sense...','52a1f52714618b5cd7e55d9a0a1a5b67',0,'','YhFs2nRa',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12589,2253,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1154432880,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963)','Yes it is very autobiographical as was his Amarcord. Personally though I didn\'t find it a problem even though when I first saw the film I knew little about Fellini, and still don\'t really. For me the film is more about presentation. Its the way its told, not what its telling, but its a rather unique mix of fantasy and reality that many less competent directors have tried their hands at much less successfully. I still love the irony of a film about a director having no ideas for his next movie can be so overwhelimingly rich with thoughts and ideas itself. Granted this is coming from someone who thinks higher of 8 1/2 than any other foreign film.','3ceae5d402b1c1bd63a6920994b69dba',0,'','7nkVr8px',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12590,2254,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1153508760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','La Habanera (Douglas Sirk / Germany / 1937)','Hollywood director Douglas Sirk, who came to the forefront with his lush and extravagant melodramas in the 50s, was actually named Detlef Sierck, and had worked in Germany where he had made himself a name 20 years prior to his fame. La Habanera was the last film he completed before he left his homeland for good. \r\nThe film is said to have been constructed basically as a device for the lead actress, Swede-export Zarah Leander, who was to replace Marlene Dietrich as the new star in German theaters. The connection is easy to make, as Leander has a similar figure and face and a characteristically deep voice which is also showcased numerous times during the film. The exotic locations and the love-triangle in which the heroine finds herself are also a weak attempt to recreate some of the hypnotic atmosphere of Dietrichs collaboration with Sternberg from the early thirties. As with Sternbergs films the plot is paper-thin, but sadly La Habanera has nothing else to offer instead. Zarah Leander cant act (at least not in this film) the dialogue is mostly forgettable, and Douglas Sirk and his cinematographer seem not really interested in finding a way out of this mess. This isnt to say that there arent some interesting aspects to the film - three or four moments which let us glimpse some of the directorial genius that is to come in the later work of Sirk - but they are so few that mentioning them means already giving too much credit to a product that doesnt deserve it. \r\nBecause of the indifference of most, if not all of the crew towards the film, what we get in 100 minutes on screen is basically 100 minutes of boredom. As absolutely no risks are taken we get stereotypes and clichees en masse, without the panache that would have been needed to put this film above the standard productions of the year. \r\nNevertheless the film was a success in Germany and remains somewhat of a classic amongst the many films that were produced during the Third Reich. Zarah Leander became a huge star and other films with similar topics followed. \r\nFor people interested in the propaganda machine of the Nazis this is certainly worth a look, but if you came to witness some early brilliance by Douglas Sirk, you would be better off watching the notable material (ca. 2 to 4 minutes) as a bonus section on a DVD. Maybe Criterion will do us the favor. If not, you can safely skip the film.\r\n_______________________________________________________________\r\n\r\nI watched the film on german TV with a bad sound quality. The image was pretty good, given the films age. \r\nThe film is also available with english subtitles on DVD from Kino.\r\nPersonal rating: 42 out of 100','33d94c21ea36182b57e55f57b5a0cc9c',0,'','Kj4hz18J',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12591,2255,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1153429680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Rouben Mamoulian\'s Applause (1929)','Lost among the lists of vital American films is Rouben Mamoulian\'s directorial debut, Applause. Frequently listed among innovative early sound features, the film still today doesn\'t have a very high esteem critically. Perhaps it is the fact that it is dated, or perhaps its too melodramtic for some tastes. People frequently look to its freely mobile camera as one of the first films not to be burdened by the troublesome innovations of early sound. The film is much more than an example of an early backstage musical, or fluid camera work however.\r\n\r\nDespite a background in the stage, Mamoulian came to film with a uniquely cinematic eye. He had already mastered staging, lighting, and movement of his actors on the stage, but film gave him a new lease on things. Mamoulian was able to shoot on location, and explore intrinsically cinematic elements particularly editing. Applause was a rarity among early sound films, being shot on location in New York. The film is full of various overhead shots of the city, subways, the Brooklyn Bridge, etc. Which gives the film a more Broadway-esque feel to it, than a typical Hollywood melodrama.\r\n\r\nNow the casting in this film is hardly perfect, but the leads are. The film begins with a low shot of the legs of a somewhat chubby chorus line. The camera moves its way up to reveal the faces of these girls, and I literally had to laugh. This took the cake as quite possibly the ugliest chorus line in history. Every one was fat, old, or just plain ugly and I couldn\'t tell if they were supposed to be. Of course Kitty Darling (a never better Helen Morgan) is in burlesque, not Broadway, one could imagine getting a little nicer group of females for support. Not to mention how horribly bad their dancing and lackluster leg kicks were. At this stage in the story Kitty is still a big name in her small world, so again one would think the quality might be better. Mamoulian coming from stage however, should have been able to inspire better work from his background, but perhaps it was a conscious effort to downgrade it so it wouldn\'t be Broadway calliber.\r\n\r\nWe quickly realize Kitty is doomed to failure as she perpetually talks about getting out of this racket and making it on Broadway. It is certainly a lost cause, and we know it, although it takes her nearly the entire film to figure it out herself. There is a life expectancy in burlesque, and although Kitty hadn\'t hit it when the film starts, its very clear that by the time April (a very underrated Joan Peers) is grown up, Kitty should be done. It is the fear of April becoming Kitty that worries Kitty so much. She wants her daughter to grow up nice, respectable, and although possibly having a career in show business, not one involving stripping. Kitty does have a weakness, and that appears to be men. At first she seems independent, strong willed. We never know of April\'s father, and she insists upon raising her alone, we respect her will and determination. Although she won\'t let a man marry her and take her out of the life, she does consent to his advice to send her daughter away to a boarding school. This is the first sign that Kitty is impressionable. Therefore when April has been away for several years and her mother\'s lecherous boyfriend demands her to be brought back, we know what will happen. Kitty by this point isn\'t the draw she was, so naturally saving the money she was paying for school is a plus, but it is the man that corrupts her. \r\n\r\nUnlike most films woman isn\'t the downfall, the snake, or Eve if you will. Here it is man, or Adam if you will. Still the stereotype of the weak female is evident, she is not the curroptor, or the ruiner of men. Instead a gold digging male is her downfall. For this one should naturally point to Beth Brown, who\'s 1928 best selling novel of the same name is where the film came from. This gives a slightly different POV for the film, and naturally places the heaviest emphasis on Kitty and later April.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure exactly what films may have influenced Mamoulian directly, but there is certainly a deep understanding and knowledge of international cinema on display here. There is at times an expressionistic side to the film. The performances are generally naturalistic, although Morgan at times during the end does amp it up. the use of shadows and staged sets as well as the slum inspired background are borrowed from a German tradition. The editing however is equal parts Montage and Impressionism. Mamoulian\'s boldest move comes when April first gets a look at the burlesque show her mother is appearing in. We see the closeups of the chorus girls (slightly prettier this time), the salivating audience members, and random other cuts including musicians and lights. The type of montage would be used repeatedly, even by Orson Welles in a similar scene inolving Dorothy Commingore in Citizen Kane. Its juxtaposition of shots, complete with canted angles, and superimpositions however remind the viewer instantly of the work of Russians at the time. Eisenstein\'s Potemkin as well as Strike and October were already released in the US by this point, and his Old and New came out the same year, so its quite possible that Mamoulian was directly inspired by his work.\r\n\r\nMamoulian also loves to play with framing. Several scenes begin and almost completely take place without even seeing the actors faces. Including the first meeting of April with her fiance. The action takes place from floor level, and after a brief altercation, George J. Folsey\'s camera picks up the action, and follows the two soon to be lovers down the street. The love story between these two is somewhat rushed, as they often are in a 79 minute film, but it is the sweetest aspect of the film. The emotional weight in the end doesn\'t come from the deterioation of Kitty, but in the thought that her deterioration will in turn ruin April. We don\'t want the good, sweet April to have to suffer for her mother\'s sins/failures, and this sets up the final conflict. The film does resolve things in the way that only escapist entertainment can, but I must say it was damn satisfying. A landmark of early film, and one of the most remarkable debut features made from a director.\r\n\r\nGrade A\r\n\r\nApplause is now available on DVD from Kino Video.','6faa4df40c657b697fa773a789a41c5a',0,'','iPRFLxQH',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12592,2256,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1153287060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Flowers of St. Francis','FLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS (Francesco, giullare di Dio)\r\n\r\nDirected by Roberto Rossellini (1950)\r\n\r\nThe Criterion DVD release of Rossellini\'s Flowers of St. Francis offers a fully restored version in high contrast black and white of the long unavailable 1950 film, considered one of Rossellini\'s finest. It is interesting that two of the finest films about religion, The Gospel According to St, Matthew and Flowers of St. Francis, were directed by avowed atheists, (Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini), both capturing, through non-professional acting and neo-realist technique, a sense of purity and poetry missing in the heavy-handed message of newer religious films. Unlike Pasolini, however, Rossellini\'s film does not contain peak dramatic moments or even a linear narrative. \r\n\r\nIt is a series of vignettes that does not attempt a history of the period or a biography of St. Francis of Assisi as did the woeful Brother Sun, Sister Moon by Zefferelli. Rather it shows Francis, a 13th century monk who founded the order known as the Franciscan Friars and his followers (particularly brother Ginepro) in easy going and often light-hearted fashion going about their daily life with devotion and humility before God. While I do not subscribe to the idea that allegiance to God requires extreme self-denial, the film is persuasive in showing the simple compassion of the Friars and how it changed the lives of the people around them, although the line between simple and simple-minded as depicted by Rossellini is often tenuous. \r\n\r\nFlowers does not attempt to bludgeon us with a point of view, but suggests by example that there is an alternative way to live our lives that does not involve ego and greed. The episodes illustrate different aspects of Franciscan life, all introduced by intertitles. In the first, the brothers seek to find shelter in a pouring rain in a little hut they have built in the woods near Assisi. When they arrive, they discover that a farmer has appropriated the hut with his donkey and refuses to let the brothers in. Francis responds by telling his followers, \"Have we not now reason to rejoice? Providence has made us useful to others.\" In another episodes, Ginepro cuts off a pig\'s foot for a meal requested by a hungry ailing brother. Unfortunately, no one questions what brother pig thinks about his leg being sacrificed and the episode left me feeling queasy. \r\n\r\nIn other sequences, the Friars prepare a rebuilt chapel to receive Sister Chiara, Francis meets a leper during his walk and embraces him in a childlike, loving manner, and Ginepro is provided lessons on how actions rather than words win souls for God. In one of the later sequences played mostly for laughs but with a potent message, Ginepro is in danger of losing his life to a group of bandits led by the corpulent Nicolaio until the power of faith rules the day. Flowers of St. Francis presents an idealized version of a \"pure\" form of Christianity and promotes love, humility, and compassion for the poor. While the film is a welcome antidote to the cynicism and despair common in films these days, ultimately it leaves the viewer to decide whether or not excessive missionary zeal practiced by those who are convinced they alone have the true faith has been a positive or negative force throughout history. \r\n\r\nGRADE: B+','782f65c3ef5acbcf86babd466b2c051d',0,'','PYdgj0rl',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12593,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144133220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Don Lope de Aguirre','Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','The most unsettling depiction of human tragedy I\'ve ever seen, and a very powerful allegory for man\'s inability to stay in balance with nature. The greatest film ever made in my eyes.\r\n\r\nIf you haven\'t seen it, do it now.','11da7395c509474e3ad3d587c21e0cbf',0,'','7sj2xNqL',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12594,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144134180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Herzog\'s other work has very similar themes, he hasn\'t matched the heights of Aguirre, but he\'s always interesting and mostly spot on. Also possesses a very confronting sense of humour which can have you in stitches at times.\r\n\r\nLessons of Darkness, The Enigma of Kasper Hauser and the downright hilarious Even Dwarfs Started of Small are the closest to Aguirre in quality in my eyes.','a8db7b77881362a0dd1f4d89ffe353ce',0,'','hr2qs1ea',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12595,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144186560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Don Lope de Aguirre','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','I\'ve got Fitzcarraldo ready to go, and looking at the plot summary on IMDB, it looks like it deals with the same flaw in humanity as Aguirre. I could be wrong.\r\n\r\nHerzog is a guy I\'d love to explore further, especially his documentaries. Him, Godard, Antonioni and Bresson are the most intriguing filmmakers to me currently.','aa899128be5a463f6f09fa8017d92592',0,'','5UnSh2y4',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12596,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145855640,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Haven\'t seen Aguirre, but I\'ve watched some early shorts by Herzog recently. Here in germany his films are relatively easy to come by - but mabe that\'s a reason why I have seen so little, yet. \r\nMy favorite so far is Woyzeck (197 . Kinski is great as usual, but the really outstanding event is the best closing shot I\'ve ever seen. Simply eye-popping.','75e7a34895c2cdbb28d4b50935083cc4',0,'','dirSGfHt',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12597,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145905260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','I was rather disappointed with Woyczek. Fitzcarraldo is a perfect companion piece for Aguirre, the two films are inextricably linked imo. As far as Herzog\'s next best film, I would vote for Cobra Verde, but I\'m yet to find anyone who agrees with me.','c504523c2c78fb4bf3a8705d5c56077e',0,'','WE2UTYRw',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12598,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145991900,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','@wpqx\r\n\r\nI am extremely fond of \"Cobra Verde\", though it might not feature among the first three films on my Herzog list.\r\n\r\n\"Stroszek\" remains my favourite Herzog film! The only film I was a bit disappointed with was \"Invincible\". I am yet to see some documentaries though.\r\n\r\nM','80d9e7eb08ffed7812662e41dcb88f5f',0,'','JPWVRLUh',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12599,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146072840,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','I\'ve just ordered a few more films from him, including two documentaries, so hopefully I can shed a little more light on his lesser seen films. I found Stroszek difficult at parts, which might be why you enjoyed it. Hard to say what faults I had with it, but it just left me cold.','e9cd08fcf9a38a29705cd8a8401c45bc',0,'','9P41Xg3R',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12600,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146079980,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','@wpqx\r\n\r\nI tend to have a preference for those films (\"Kaspar Hauser\", \"Stroszek\", \"Heart of Glass\" and \"Even Dwarfs Started Small\") that do not have Kinski (though he was a hell of an actor, and, perhaps, because of it one\'s attention is centred on the manic protaonists he essays!) because they allow the viewer\'s attention to wander to other things that are as important to Herzog as his protagonist. \"Stroszek\" is a difficult film, but the manner in which it slowly builds up to that climactic sequence of the dancing chicken in an otherwise desolate landscape, is phenomenal. That last image, at once a shocking finale to an otherwise understated film, and a befitting culmination of everything that preceded it, makes \"Stroszek\" stand out. \r\n\r\nM','84cddb72fd2c38b77fb7057a2a69df07',0,'','mvCj51FT',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12601,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146109380,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Stroszek is strong, but not as inconclusive or as abstract as some of his other films. I get a bit tired of his recurring motifs sometimes and i preferred the way the chicken was used in Dwarfs. Also, third time in 7 years he used the spinning car motif, gets a little repetitive after a while.','f14eb209b4526c50d53837be788f9088',0,'','c3TER4Lj',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12602,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146110340,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Don Lope de Aguirre','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Why was this thread moved to Classic Cinema? What qualifies as a \"Classic\" film?','b8fb211773bde0d6850d5a80cd385e12',0,'','Ba6lWZLo',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12603,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146157140,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Matter of taste, but be happy its here rather than buried in the World Cinema thread. It does belong here however, although I don\'t think I was the one who moved it.','8844136592427b928e31f30a15be5ccb',0,'','urUT8qFP',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12604,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146158340,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Considering how the thread has spread into a discussion of several of Herzog\'s films, I\'m surprised it wasn\'t moved to the directors board.\r\n\r\nBy the way, there are two box sets available in the UK, eleven films & docs in total for 20.00 per set at HMV.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','8184f81f17fcd847e8dab8171507ab68',0,'','AnCD5JkK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12605,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146197160,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','I moved it to the classic Forum because it\'s older than 20 years. in World cinema we usually discuss \"newer\" films. It\'s not meant in a negative way, simply to keep our site a bit tidier. Classic doesn\'t mean the films don\'t have as much actuality, just that they were made a few years back. \r\nI\'ve missed something like 4 or 5 opportunities to see \"Aguirre\", (one was even at cinema where I intended to go, but things got in the way)\r\nWanting to see it for some years already, I hope it won\'t take much longer that i stumble over it. Amen.','724129b63dde4fb1c79cfbf404022b4e',0,'','8u9Tj63L',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12606,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146197280,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Btw, here in germany you have lots of Herzog\'s work available on DVD, even some of his shorts. If you don\'t depend on subtitles, import is an option.','7cc898145282753413ccd2691f87723e',0,'','vMYKBgPA',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12607,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1149452760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Well, thanks to A\'s review of Woyzeck, I should be getting it from Netflix on Monday.\r\n\r\nA said it has \"the best closing shot I have ever seen. Simply eye-popping.\"\r\n\r\nNow who can resist seeing something like that? I can\'t! \r\n\r\nLooking forward to seeing Woyzeck, especially that \"eye-popping\" closing shot!\r\n\r\nSara','1a067a510636f949a7135c99b61fb883',0,'','q8YPf3JZ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12608,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1149459960,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','well don\'t mean to contradict your information, but I found it the weakest film Herzog made with Kinski, but I\'m also a little in the minority with my love of Cobra Verde.','cfb35fa0772d8bd2392eb0f992cb0d7a',0,'','4p3xbJqh',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12609,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1149460620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','I was so intrigued by it, I kept rewinding my VHS copy to watch it again. \r\nRecently I discovered that my local library has it on DVD. I\'ll check it out in the coming months. Can\'t wait to see how I\'ll react.\r\nI wonder how you will like the film Sara. I hope you\'ll post something on it. \r\nHaven\'t seen any other films Herzog made with Klaus, so I can\'t confirm wpqx\'s statement.','4475f394727e9cb19a4f31ace1059b6e',0,'','Rjm3P0Hd',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12610,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1149891900,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Klaus was wonderful in Woyzeck. I was mesmerized by his face, his body language, his intensity throughout the film. \r\n\r\nA, you talked about the closing shots (which I agree were unbelievable) but I would like to say that the opening shot of Kinski marching - the music - and the look on his face won me right away. His face is a map of distress.\r\n\r\nWoyzeck belongs right up there with Aguirre. The scenery is not as glorious as Aguirre, but Klaus\' acting was superb. \r\n\r\nWhy in the murder scene did I keep thinking about Shakespeare\'s Othello. \"First put out the light, then put out the light.\"\r\n\r\nKlaus was so driven, but even in all of his rage and confusion and pathos, I felt he loved Marie dearly and was just so deranged and tortured by things within him, he was on a path he could not get off of.\r\n\r\nDid he live at the end? I wondered if he even wanted to.\r\n\r\nBy all means, see Woyzeck. It is one of Herzog\'s greatest, and certainly the best I have seen of Klaus Kinski. (And that says a lot because I loved him in Aguirre, Fitzcaraldo, and Nosferatu the Vampire.)\r\n\r\nThanks again, A, for telling us about this film.\r\n\r\nSara','688a213c690205a49138dcee4f6ddff0',0,'','ZJLCn6A2',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12611,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1150406280,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Yes, I remember the great opening scenes while the titles were on display. Gives you a vivid impression of the life Woyzeck had to lead before the events in the film.','67f00c2484bc6688071a90d4baa23366',0,'','q4ji90Cn',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12612,2257,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1212918660,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes','Watched the film tonight as part of my top 100 revision and man it is probably better than I remembered. Herzog provides a fairly informative commentary which is guided by an interviewer to help explain the origin of many of the shots. There is an incredibly poetic quality of the film that is impossible to explain or reproduce. Still extraordinary that seems easier to appreciate after seeing another dozen or so Herzog films since.','0c41752ee5342d7e898c81f8374a8f6c',0,'','SiQPL0hG',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12613,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137519000,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','Le Samourai - Melville','I watched Melville\'s Le Samourai yesterday.\r\n\r\nI was glued to my seat. It was an experience quite different from so many other \"gangster\" movies.\r\n\r\nThere are only a few words spoken throughout the movie. And the samourai was smart, quick, and very solitary. He rarely displayed any emotion on his face. (And by the way, he was BEAUTIFUL.)\r\n\r\nThe scenes were clear, and muted grays and blues. It was cool yet full of suspense.\r\n\r\nHere is Ebert\'s review: rogerebert.suntimes.com/a...10337/1023\r\n\r\nThis film has finally come to the US on DVD, and if you haven\'t seen it, I urge you to. It was visually a treat, and the action was wonderfully paced.\r\n\r\nSara','4536584179b05edf3e021e6a6d6def76',0,'','ZTl64VfP',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12614,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137521100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','Hi Sara, sounds like you\'ve got a thing for Alain Delon going on. Out of interest have you seen \"Ghost Dog\" from Jim Jarmusch which was influenced by \"Le Samourai\".\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','f4fa9b04e53470ad666e617b2ab60b88',0,'','UyjWbuF9',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12615,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137558300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','Hehe, you should watch more films with Alain Delon. He wasn`t only beautiful, but could also act! \r\nThe film is really cool, and I enjoyed it immensly when i saw it the last time. \r\nAnd you should follow Trevor recommendation. If you liked \"Le Samourai\", \"Ghost Dog\" may also be your cup of tea (if you don`t have problems with Jarmusch, that is ).\r\n\r\nLe Samourai really succeeded in creating a unique atmosphere. I also liked the cinematography and the editing very much.\r\nOne scene still sticks in my head after all the years. When Delon enters his apartment, and notices that something`s wrong because of his bird. That look upon Delon`s face has stayed with me...','3cf7bf507e8c6335305ed76e1e404a4c',0,'','kVb1QZqG',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12616,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137582300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','Hi Sara,\r\n\r\nSome more Alain Delon recommendations:\r\n\r\nIf you haven\'t seen Antonioni\'s L\'Eclisse, do see it. One of those films where, as A mentions, he does not only look good, but acts well.\r\n\r\nThe other one that I can think of is \"La Piscine\". Not a great film, but Delon is good. \r\n\r\nM','7fc698d337b2a83940c80175e2a18036',0,'','fv8Gl7t4',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12617,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137605280,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','Thanks for the two movie suggestions with Alain Delon. I\'ve always thought about L\'Eclisse and now I have another good reason to rent it!\r\n\r\nAnd I also put Ghost Dog in my Netflix queue - I like Jim Jarmusch. (I loved his Dead Man with Johnny Depp. It\'s one of my favorites - especially the opening scene on the train.)\r\n\r\nThanks. I hope to be watching both of the above movies soon.\r\n\r\nSara','083666358ef92e2b50ab4d421584e8c8',0,'','glvELfDP',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12618,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137794520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','If you are intrigued by Alain Delon, I would further suggest \"Les felins\" (Rene Clement / France / 1964), a beautifully shot french film noir, starring Jane Fonda.\r\nAnd he also played alongside Jean Gabin in one of my favorite films \"Two Men in Town\" (deux hommes dans la ville / Jose Giovanni / 1973 / france, Italy). This is actually a neglected masterpiece and one of the most heartfelt denunciations of the death penalty (that also existed in France!) I\'ve ever seen. Beautiful cinematography, very good editing and a gorgeous score by Philippe Sarde complement the memorable acting and a solid directing job. It also has Gerard Depardieu in one of his early supporting roles as a small-time crook \r\nBoth films are on DVD in the US I believe.','51983100aee8fad9e1c531af324a235b',0,'','pbVJ549D',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12619,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1139028060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','I just watched it too. The Ghost Dog comparisons are not without merit. I would like to add Le Cercle Rouge to the list. It is also by Melville and also stars Delon, so certainly worth picking up.\r\n\r\nAs for the film itself, Delon isn\'t the only actor that is emotionless, everyone is. It\'s a great stylized acting that is very familiar for French films of the period. Almost Bressonian in it\'s lack of emotion, although Bresson had an amazing way of coaching actors even without changing expressions. The film is quiet, moving, and how about that ending? I\'m still trying to figure it out.','d93b9b4c71bb28aca293a2438dde74a9',0,'','DS4B6Kpk',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12620,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1139523600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'peppajaa','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','Alain Delon is a favorite of mine. I\'ve seen many of his films, and if you are interested in this actor, see Purple Noon, the original Talented Mr. Ripley.','e4d8dc7d30e78261a3a3ed2dffd8eb51',0,'','rchAV1tu',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12621,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1140499080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'gratefultiger','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','ghost dog was also influenced by Suzuki \"tokyo drifter\" for instance,as can be seen in viewing it,Le samurai is the coolest of cool french films,delon is perfect.','06fe5e899bca17bf0d2a254aa6059c38',0,'','TFnybNcX',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12622,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1149053820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'impossiblefunky','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','I found Ghost Dog to be more heavily influenced by BRANDED TO KILL, esp. the \"up the sink\" shot.\r\nCashiers du Cinemart, The Only Magazine That Matters','9e1ffc888ca009bcf30f878eee46e857',0,'','sQEvVB6q',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12623,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1149056580,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','Well, obviously there\'s alot going on in it. \r\nHow about Le Samurai being influenced by Suzuki, or he by Melville? \r\nAnyone more familiar with Melville got any clues?','6cefe6a7e7e6abe80bab9a7b9178953a',0,'','xHY3Rao0',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12624,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1149057360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','I doubt it, maybe only a coincidence. Branded to Kill came out the same year as Le Samourai, and Suzuki\'s films weren\'t easily exported, and Branded to Kill was quite overlooked and forgotten for several decades. Melville\'s Army of Shadows has just had it\'s US premiere here this week, and I\'m desperately trying to catch it in the cinema, so it seems like a good time to be discovering Melville\'s work. I\'m much, much more familiar with Suzuki\'s films. Melville seemed very conscious of what he was doing, Suzuki seemed to just play with cinema because he was given such pulp material to work with, his films have a graphic novel feel to them.','8238a7f31650b2a48d970e222d094a63',0,'','mQ1CzLyj',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12625,2258,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1149069960,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Le Samourai - Melville','I would like to hear your comments if you catch Melville\'s \"Army of Shadows\". So far I\'ve read some raves from americans who recently discovered it.\r\nI have only seen two films by Melville, and five by Suzuki, so I\'m not overtly familiar with their work. However, your above statement about their differing approach rings very true in my ears.','33bae4f0af18eb19000313004c097f6e',0,'','GfLUBS1V',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12626,2259,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1146508920,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Prospero\'s Books','PROSPERO\'S BOOKS\r\n\r\nDirected by Peter Greenaway (1991)\r\n\r\n\"The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance\" - Prospero, The Tempest, Act 5, Scene I\r\n\r\nPeter Greenaway\'s audacious 1991 film Prospero\'s Books is the stuff that dreams are made of. The film, loosely based on William Shakespeare\'s mystery play, The Tempest, does not present the work using conventional staging but suggests it through dreamlike ballet sequences with writhing nude dancers, computer animation, lush photography, surreal imagery and the evocative music of Michael Nyman. Images are opened in boxed inserts in the center of the frame and are visually striking, but the film, while imaginative and entertaining, is obscure and almost unintelligible to those unfamiliar with the plot. John Gielgud, still magnificent in his eighties, is Prospero, the philosopher-king. He is the voice of all the other characters as well as Prospero including the witches\' son, Caliban (dancer Michael Clark), the King\'s son Ferdinand (Mark Rylance), and Prospero\'s fifteen-year old daughter Miranda (Isabelle Pasco) and, in his clearly articulated poetic voice, Gielgud allows Shakespeare\'s language to soar. \r\n\r\nThe film begins in a palace on the island where Prospero and Miranda landed twelve years ago after being exiled by the King of Naples. Prospero relates his strange story to his daughter (the word strange appears twenty-five times in the play), recounting the tempest that brought him to the island and the time when his brother Antonio conspired with King Alonso to usurp his position as the Duke of Milan. With the help of Gonzalo, Prospero was able to reach the island after a shipwreck with the twenty-four books that are the source of his magic and power (a Greenaway invention), and the film\'s title and structure are based on these. The arcane books, shown in overlapping images, include \"A Book of Water\" containing drawings of every conceivable watery association, \"A Book of Mirrors\", allowing the reader to peer into the past and the future, and \"A Book of Mythologies\" describing tales of Gods and men throughout the ages. \r\n\r\nProspero uses the occult power derived from his books to release the fairy Ariel from the pine tree in which he was buried alive by the witch Sycorax, and Ariel agrees to become his servant until he is freed by Prospero from slavery. Ariel, visually represented by four different boys, helps Prospero through magic to bring the men to the island that he has harbored a grievance against for twelve long years: King Alonso, his brother Sebastian and son Ferdinand, and his own villainous brother Antonio. The play is Prospero/Shakespeare\'s poetic inspiration that arises like a storm at sea, then returns to calm waters freed from treachery. The eternal author concerned with his literary legacy, he seeks closure as he gathers his enemies to wound and to heal. Prospero seeks revenge but, through his studies, is able to transform himself and bring his former adversaries to a new way of thinking and living and, in the process, provide for his daughter\'s future and his own reconciliation to society. \r\n\r\nThe Tempest was placed first in the Folio of Shakespeare\'s Collected works (1623) for a simple reason - it contains the unifying principles of the entire canon. Like the Greek Mysteries that preserved the ancient teachings under the veil of symbol and allegory, The Tempest is Shakespeare\'s ritual descent into the underworld. With its theme of banishment and redemption, Prospero/Shakespeare is the literary champion of the occult Neoplatonists, a magus transformed from a warrior prince to a seer, the personification of the idea that the cosmos is the self-expression of the soul. According to author Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford, The Tempest is the work of an author alienated from the mainstream, \"tongue-tied by authority\", who creates a second, artistic kingdom to challenge the status quo. It leads its audience \"through a maze towards the center of the island where they will find both the true author and their own soul-life\". Allowing us to realize a greater sense of wholeness, it is in Beauclerk\'s phrase, \"the holy book of modern Western culture\". Prospero\'s Books helps to reveal its sacred message.\r\n\r\nGRADE: A-','5a96d1586a29cd1f2453a3bee12a2d09',0,'','NSwj3ViA',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12627,2259,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148182980,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Prospero\'s Books','Again a fine review from you, Howard. \r\nI haven\'t seen the film myself, but have read a bit about it. So far everybody seemed only interested in mentioning Greenaway\'s technique (primarily the \"boxes\") without saying much else. In the end this was either used to praise the film, or to dismisse it. Very shortsighted, I should say.\r\nI would like to know where you publish you reviews, as I\'ve forgotten the adress. \r\nAnyways, keep \'em coming.','3432b95b9ee91a78d82b90a4f99cd08a',0,'','zgoCTc02',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12628,2259,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148184960,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Re: Prospero\'s Books','Thanks for your comments. This is the first time I had seen the play The Tempest in any form so I took the opportunity to comment on the play as well as the film. I hope you will forgive my indulgences.\r\n\r\nThe websites that normally publish my reviews are:\r\n\r\nwww.cinescene.com\r\nwww.talkingpix.co.uk','a2587d620ccf0517354f2e59f84f0bd1',0,'','RjN00q5C',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12629,2259,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148185800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Prospero\'s Books','Thanks for the links.\r\nIn fact your \"indulgent\" part of the review was for me the most interesting, as I didn\'t know many of the things you mention.','1d2b0a682828ca0bfb92b677950869a7',0,'','rbCtNyhj',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12630,2259,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148273700,1,0,1,1,1,1,'hengcs','Re: Prospero\'s Books','When I was in United States, I watched it.\r\nHowever, a lot of scenes were very \"dark\" (i.e., lighting) such that I could not gather much ...\r\nIf I ever have a chance, I guess I will watch it again ...\r\n\r\nPS: Hi Howard, if you are ok with it, I will include the two links in the \"Do We Click?\" (i.e., Link Page)','001f97438facd14e594c5067c7038a3d',0,'','jSGAEBTK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12631,2259,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148275080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'howardschumann(d)','Re: Prospero\'s Books','Sure that\'s fine. I\'m flattered.','a97f8060c39e783969cb61c9aaf34eb5',0,'','WvReGQgq',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12632,2259,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148291340,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Prospero\'s Books','@ A.\r\n\r\nYour comments on everybody only referring to Greenaway\'s techniques are true, the reason for this is that his work tends to be very superficial, too intellectual and quite bombastic. The technique is all there is, which is fine for some people, but i prefer work that\'s a bit more interactive, work that has a deeper soul, something to feel, rather than something to tell. I don\'t find that in most Greenaway. I didn\'t like Propero\'s Books at all. But hey, it\'s far from Pete\'s worst.','843c5b7d4658dc6b06b8dd99d1c79078',0,'','9vqXQgJ4',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12633,2259,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148349840,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Prospero\'s Books','This may be so for some people, but then I\'d like to read it in a review. I hate it, when people are talking only about technique, like this was everything a film is made of. It\'s like talking about a person and only describing the way he looks or moves. \r\nPersonally I\'m so-so with greenaway. Besides \"The cook, the thief, his wife and his lover\" I haven\'t seen a film by him I\'ve completely enjoyed, yet. He is a bit too \"intellectual\" for me also, but I like the \"bombast\" \r\nMy biggest problem with him is the construction of his films though, which is usually never very original or interesting to me, calling way too much attention to itself. He seems very egomanial, and unfortunately his ego doesn\'t seem to be close to mine, so I tend to dislike its display (contrary to most of Tarantino for example). \r\nI tend to like the personally or emotionally boasty people more than the intellectually boasty. The latter usually take themselves far more serious (like i\'s something special to have complex ideas - come on... ).\r\nBut Greenaway is also quite playful, which I see as a big plus. But his playfulness is again rarely particularly interesting to me, as it also seems very enclosed.\r\nOverall Greenaways films tend to be very enclosed in their own thinking-system, (which isn\'t very good for me, when I don\'t share it.)','f9f0c722e470468fefa19ec4abf15edb',0,'','Ht5Xqlyn',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12634,2259,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148367180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Prospero\'s Books','Yes, he\'s definitely an egomaniac and obviously holds himself in too high regard. \r\n\r\nI\'ve seen most of his work and tend to like some more than others. My favourite (and only completely successful Greenaway film) would be Z.0.0., but i really disliked Cook..... it\'s not original Pete, it\'s all been done before by better film-makers, be they French or Italian. Apparantly he asked the crew to watch a few of his favourite films before shooting in order to communicate part of what he was trying to do with the work, proof of his lack on an original idea and an ineptitude at expressing himself. This is present in most of his work.\r\n\r\nSans Soleil has been described by bombastic by some and in terms of the voice over and visual presentation i can kind of understand why they\'d say that. But it has something amazing going on that\'s not going on in Greenaways\' work, it\'s amazingly cerebral. With patience and thought, there\'s so much to feel. Which is so not the case with Peter\'s cinema.','7140aa3997e16577d1bd1b643d155ec2',0,'','V4A1drgy',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12635,2260,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144121580,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - John Ford','Well sorry for the delay, I really wanted to get this up sooner, but resources have not been on my side. \r\n\r\nIn American Literature there are few novels quite as celebrated or acclaimed as John Steinbeck\'s Grapes of Wrath. A landmark in 20th Century fiction, as well as one of the most well read and controversial books of its time. Following the success of Steinbeck\'s earlier Of Mice and Men (1939), it seemed a no brainer that this Pulitzer winning follow up would find its way onto the screen. Hollywood took no shortage of time to get it out there, and before the book was even a year old the film was already done. 20th Century Fox won the bidding war, and John Ford, quickly emerging as the studios top director was given the assignment. The man sent to adapt it however was Nunally Johnson, not Dudley Nichols who was Ford\'s main screenwriter during this period. Johnson stuck as close to the book as he could, and perhaps closer than any other Hollywood picture of the time. \r\nThe world of film however was behind most of the other arts at this time, typically because of the large cost/risk factor involved. Film always took a little longer to get up to speed, and thanks to the Production Code there were some things that could be printed in books but not shown on film. Johnson kept a lot of the dialogue the same, but there\'s a separate language in the book that couldn\'t be spoken. With the uproar caused by Gable saying \"damn\" the year before it\'s no wonder why phrases like \"sons of bitches\" and \"you go to hell\" were left out. You can\'t slight the screenwriter for this, but it nevertheless makes you wonder how the film would have sounded if certain restrictions were not in place. \r\nHollywood film, particularly of the studio era, has a fluidity that makes one not instantly pick up on details. There can be holes, flaws, inconsistencies that smooth cutting and good acting can make you ignore. Many times it takes repeated viewings just to spot these let alone be bothered by them. The Grapes of Wrath is not without flaws, inaccuracies, and holes. It would be nitpicking to mention them, so let me nitpick. For starters Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) has an older brother Noah. Now reading the novel I didn\'t really remember the character in the movie. When Tom is reunited with his family (which was also handled differently) however Noah is mentioned and shown. His whopping dialogue consists of \"Hi Tom\". Noah doesn\'t really appear throughout the rest of the film, and suddenly the family is picking peaches in California and there are only 4 men. They do mention and deal with Connie\'s abandonment, but why did they just ignore Noah running off, and never even mentioning it? Seems like a scene or two was cut here, but this could have been fixed with a line of dialogue, its as if Mr. Johnson forgot that the character was even in the movie. \r\nThe whole end structure was turned around, and somewhat unnecessarily. The scenes near the end of the movie were in the book, even Ma Joad\'s (Jane Darwell) \"We\'re the people\" speech, but damned if they weren\'t in a completely different order. In the book the Joads got to the first Hooverville (which isn\'t mentioned by name here) just as they did in the film. There was a fight with a cop, Casy (John Carradine) was arrested, and Connie ran off, this much was accurate. Then the film takes a different stance. In the book the Joads relocated to the government camp right after, here they go right to strikebreaking and picking peaches. True Casy was reunited with Tom there, and killed, but there was a distance between it. This has it looking as though it was the very next day, and why would Casy have become a labor leader in such a short time? If the time of them being in camp, and Casy actually being imprisoned, which is where he found his calling, were in the film then this scene would have its proper context. It does work, but it worked better in the novel. Tom being found out and being forced to leave his family was much different and later in the book. Here Tom is found out by a cop walking through the camp checking license plates, which doesn\'t make a great deal of sense, in the book however it is Ruthie bragging to another kid accidentally that gives him away. Tom was also in hiding at this point, because of his face, whereas in the film despite the scar he is out in the open and even briefly working. \r\nNow the film has another vital difference that can be considered a benefit or a fault depending on whom you ask. The film is a lot more positive and optimistic. The Joads don\'t starve here, and only once do they really allude to how little food they have. Tom finds work as do they all, and they\'re leaving to get 20 days of work. There is no desperation, there is no starving, and there isn\'t the community of the novel. There was a camaraderie of the poor in the novel thats all but done away with here, very little is kept, with the exception of the scene in the diner and Ma giving the camp kids stew. Which could be attributed to growing animosity towards leftist sentiments. Also the film doesn\'t deal with what happened to Rose of Sharon\'s baby. The movie makes Tom the main character, and for awhile he was in the book, but the book became Ma Joad\'s story eventually as she became the head of the family. Pa is admittedly not the head in the film, but it doesn\'t imply that Ma took over, instead it is more Tom whose considered the leader of the bunch. \r\nNow a lot of things have to do with time. Perhaps they couldn\'t show everything, and there wasn\'t time to show the Wilsons, or Al and Tom\'s knowledge of cars. There wasn\'t time to show how prospectors and car dealers took advantage of the Okie\'s desperation. Again this is a negative point, and the film wants us to leave somewhat happy, feeling that the Joads are gonna pull through, whereas the book leaves you wondering whether they\'ll survive the winter. That said the movie could have been a little longer and not gone overboard, and much could have been added, straightened up, and elaborated upon, but would the film be considered as memorable? \r\nThe acting in this film isn\'t so much a host of great performances as much as it is iconography. These people are all symbolic. The Joads have to represent all of displaced sharecroppers from the Dust Bowl. Muley Graves is all of the farmers refusing to leave his land. Casy is all the spiritually minded leaders and red agitators. Tom is everyone who stood up, and had to hide out. Ma is every head of the family struggling to keep her flock together. One cop in a camp has to stand for all the dirty police men determined to keep migrant workers out. \r\nAt the most recent screening of this film someone mentioned how timely it is. Ive always thought of it as a story of and about the depression and how it affected a certain group and we should all be thankful it\'s not like that anymore. However someone mentioned that Mexicans are todays Okies. Its true, they go to California, they take the dirty jobs no one wants, they also take any and everything they can get for it, and they\'re also feared by the land owners, because nothing is more frightening than a starving man. As the gas station clerks mention, the Okies aren\'t quite human, and its true they survive because that\'s what they have to do, and this is why they\'re hunted and persecuted, because if they are allowed to get a little piece of land, they\'ll get a bigger piece of land, and so on. \r\nHenry Fonda and Jane Darwell give the best performances of their careers here. Fonda was by this point a Ford regular and reading the book there isn\'t anyone else you can picture as Tom, it is perfectly inspired casting. Fonda goes all out in the role too. He doesn\'t push for tears or sentiment, but he\'s tough, respectable, and his face can say more than any words can, and that\'s part of the beauty of the novel as well. Hell Fonda even sings, in a horrible out of key voice, but that\'s certainly going above and beyond. Darwell won an Oscar for her work here and few people would argue with it. Ma Joad is a tough woman and it takes a certain kind to pull it off. Somehow you get the sense early on when Ma and Tom first are reunited that these two actually could be mother and son. Three years later they would be reunited in William Wellman\'s The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), and Darwell was far from a kind mother figure in that. \r\nJohn Carradine was a man that needed direction. Left to hack scripts and B movies he could be laughably bad. In the hands of a man like Ford however he could be expertly used. He is Casy, you feel it, his speech, his actions, even the bony, haunted, angular face is perfect for it. You get the feeling that when he says something it\'s worth paying attention to, and you respect him just as the Joads do, even if he may be slightly off center. Carradine unfortunately despite making a lot of films was never as good as he could have been. Just as he was emerging as a great actor, he seemed to take the wrong turn and the rest of his career, despite a few more Ford appearances, was all downhill. \r\nThis film holds a special place among Ford\'s work as being one of only two films to feature Greg Toland as the director of photography. It is also said that the work of Toland on this film is what brought him to the attention of Orson Welles. Toland was given a much freer reign shooting The Long Voyage Home (1940), but here his camera work is very much another character in the story. Everything is in focus, and so much is shrouded in shadows. Look at the scene where Tom and Casy go to the abandoned Joad home. Tom lights a candle, and in typical Hollywood fashion that would light up the room as if someone turned on a 100 Watt light bulb, here it is still a candle light and everything else is still in shadow. It was a remarkable accomplishment to photograph with so little light, and helped to set up the dominant postwar style of noir. There is no real explanation why Toland and Ford didn\'t make more films together, but it was most likely studio related, although Ford did keep a very consistent crew throughout his career. \r\nThe film on the other hand is a typical Ford picture. It is ironic that the great director of Westerns won all four of his Oscars directing films in every genre but the one he was most famous for. Grapes of Wrath however is a Western. Sure it isn\'t about cowboys and Indians, but it is still of the same vein. The passage out west could just have easily been a family traveling to San Francisco in the great gold rush, or some homesteaders making their way across the Oregon trail. Fonda\'s Joad is just as much a western hero as his Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine. The folks still have square dances, like to drink, get in brawls for good fun, all hallmarks of Fords westerns. Even the brief appearance of Ward Bond is enough to remind one that it is a Ford film, and his cop could just as easily be the sheriff from the Wagon Master (1950). So when people say this film is contrary to Ford\'s other work, you may want to look a little closer. \r\nAlfred Newman was a resident Fox composer, and worked on pretty much every studio film for them, just as Franz Waxman worked for Paramount and Max Steiner for Warners. His score is typical of many of the era, but there is a theme to the film, and thats \"The Red River Valley\". The song pops up at the dance, is played in the opening credits, and the orchestration features variations on it throughout, including Tom\'s final departure and that last shot of him silhouetted on the hilltop. The music is memorable, and whenever you hear that standard, chances are you\'ll recall this film, and that\'s what great movies and great movie music can do. \r\nThe ending is a matter of controversy, and not just because of how it differs from the book. The legend is that Ford wanted to end the film with Tom\'s departure and that final shot of him on the hill which bears a great deal of similarity to Ingmar Bergman\'s last shot in The Seventh Seal (1957). The studio apparently wanted a more uplifting ending, and therefore they threw in Ma\'s speech. The speech is corny and almost ruins the entire movie, but it is in the book. It just came at an earlier stage, when Tom was still with the family, and their spirit was very much still intact. I think it is used poorly here, and the ending that Ford supposedly shot and preferred few would debate as being the better of the two. On my own however, I would stop the film after Tom\'s departure, and consider that the final shot, it makes the film have a much more poignant conclusion, one to even rival the novels. The ending in the film is one that reminds you that not only is this a film, but its one from Hollywood, and one trying to manipulate you, or one that apologizing to you for being so depressing for 126 minutes.','df3f07f93c0ff050ad6250565f23e420',0,'','HNFCsc5u',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12636,2260,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148180400,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - John Ford','Thanks for the review. \r\nI haven\'t read the novel, but this is actually ma favorite Ford film from the four I\'ve seen (the other three are Stagecoach (1939), The Iron Horse (1924) and The Searchers (1956))\r\nI like it very much, and to me the deficits you mentioned didn\'t appear as striking. In fact I got a sense of the things you missed in the film. Quote:There is no desperation, there is no starving, and there isnt the community of the novel\r\nI saw all this in the film...\r\nAnd I like the neding very much, though it would have been probably even better without the speech.','68a38a86156eaa53122dc12b1a87053f',0,'','E3bDeW2u',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12637,2260,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148366520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - John Ford','Yes it\'s my favourite Ford too, one of the strongest films ever to come out of the USA.','422f6ec33aab319b33db8733f27d9335',0,'','EzkUm0VS',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12638,2260,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1201237260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'sfdavide','Re: The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - John Ford','My screenname on many sites is Tomjoad so that should tell you how I feel about this film. I think Henry Fonda\'s performance in American screen history.','395da405b1373946735118ca83f43388',0,'','Xwe0qR2S',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12639,2260,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1201248840,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - John Ford','I read the book a few days before the last time it was shown (I thought it would be a 35mm projection but they just played the DVD in a theater), to get a perspective on how they compare. Hence the reason this review is largely just a compare and contrast. Glad I wrote it, because already my memory of the differences is fading. \r\n\r\nI just rented Ford\'s Tobacco Road so slowly but surely I\'ll get through his available filmography.','6b0bf00e1202a0e35c27a8ad466a627b',0,'','Yu6HCLr2',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12640,2261,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1139662260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, Italy, 1952)','Indigent pensioner in poverty-stricken post-war Italy barely makes both ends meet. He spends almost all his money for a food for his dog (he madly loves it!). The landlady of the flat where he rents room dreams of the moment when she will be able to evict him: she\'s tired of his permanent debts and want to have more floor space. At last she starts repair and he has to go away and knock about the world. He thinks of suicide but what about his only beloved creature - the dog?..\r\n\r\nNeorealists cannot but irritate: general poverty that leads to visual poverty of the picture, dreadful non-professional actors that destroy all director\'s effort, forced mawkish sentimentality etc. All this problems are in this movie too.\r\n\r\nSimple (I\'d say - banal) story is told straightforwardly, without any crotchets: camera just follow characters and don\'t express any feelings (excluding the only one scene that I\'d like to choose especially - when cat on the roof wakes housemaid Maria - and then she goes to the kitchen, it\'s strangely but the reality is shown with boundless love in this scene); editing is such impotent that cannot create emotions. Unfortunately, the film is too shallow - no wisdom, no profundity. Sentimental melodrama and no more. One of the greatest disappointments of last time for me.\r\n4/10\r\n\r\nP.S. My disappointment is so great that I don\'t know what to write so excuse me for such short review on the classic movie.','2947d4f373559e4b4d63403c6d1bd73b',0,'','shYmTHyc',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12641,2261,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1139674200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, Italy, 1952)','Just when I thought it was actually going somewhere, the film finished. That was my reaction to Umberto D, not exactly De Sica\'s finest hour. Miklosk, I\'d like to hear your opinion on \"Bicycle Thieves\", hopefully you\'ll have something more positive to say about that.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','0e8464d2e83ed659354635f51f544f50',0,'','qyY7V96d',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12642,2261,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1139756640,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, Italy, 1952)','Trev, I saw Bycicle Thieves long time ago. My thoughts about it were rather positive, but now I\'m not sure. I\'m disappointed in De Sica and Rosselini. They seem to be too sentimental and impotent in directing, and that terrible non-professional actors... So I don\'t know what I\'d said if I saw Bycicle thieves today. It should be rewatched by me, but honestly I don\'t want to see it again.','340b9aba83877203e85926c4055be092',0,'','y4zQ2rln',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12643,2261,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1139902860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, Italy, 1952)','Before you condemn Rosellini watch Voyage in Italy, certainly one of the best Italian films ever made, and with professional actors to boot. I\'ll admit that much of neorealism is sentimental and sappy, hence the reason that Bunuel\'s Los Olvidados is much more potent today than most of those films. I did enjoy Umberto D, but I can agree with what you say. The acting in The Bicycle Thief I for one found to be quite good for non-professionals.','7858bb538cc24f123ffcc8fadd24aa1a',0,'','QeVG9j2u',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12644,2261,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1139923380,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Re: Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, Italy, 1952)','wpqx, I watched Voyage to Italy, and did enjoy it. I said about neorealism, not about Rosselini\'s creativity as a whole.','e4d0e7250c1f679b448a2ba6f12bcf89',0,'','cbAjfD8H',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12645,2261,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148175480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, Italy, 1952)','Ok, I\'ll try to answer some of the problems discussed. But first let me say that I regard Umberto D. as one of the greatest films ever made. A departure from neorealism and a defining film t the same time, I think it is first of all a cinematic poem that is so rich in humanity, beauty and lyricism that I was sitting in awe when i saw it the first time. De Sica\'s direction is marvellous, and the ending one of the best I\'ve ever had the pleasure to witness on-screen.\r\n\r\nMiklosk said:\r\nQuote:general poverty that leads to visual poverty of the picture, dreadful non-professional actors that destroy all director\'s effort, forced mawkish sentimentality etc. All this problems are in this movie too.\r\n\r\nI cannot agree with this statwement. Visual poverty of the picture? I don\'t know what copy he watched, but when I saw it on the criterion DVD I was absolutely amazed by its visual beauty. The photography was done by Aldo Graziati, one of the best cameramen ever (Senso, La terra trema) and it shows! The play with light in the film is again one of the best I\'ve seen. The movements and angles chosen also form compositional brilliance.\r\nThe main actor is imo a perfect example of a great performance that isn\'t grounded in \"acting\". He is believable in what he does through his very being.\r\nAs for the sentimentality, of all the neo-realist films I\'ve seen, this film had the least of it. But it\'s at the same time very emotional. I would call De Sica\'s direction observational honesty paired with a respect for everything living and vital as well as a forgiving attitude toward human faults. Even the most horrible persons are treated with a restrained anger. De Sica is always showing, never judging himself. But he is so precise in what he does that there is no doubt of his intentions. \r\nThe story by Cesare Zavattini one of THE greatest writers in film-history is at once very true-to-life and precise in the description of everyday events, as well as deeply allegoric. Compressed while at the same time leaving an enormous space of interpretation it is for me a prime example of great screenwriting.\r\n\r\nWhat Miklosk finds as lacking,\r\nQuote:Simple (I\'d say - banal) story is told straightforwardly, without any crotchets: camera just follow characters and don\'t express any feelings (excluding the only one scene that I\'d like to choose especially - when cat on the roof wakes housemaid Maria - and then she goes to the kitchen, it\'s strangely but the reality is shown with boundless love in this scene); editing is such impotent that cannot create emotions. Unfortunately, the film is too shallow - no wisdom, no profundity.\r\nis imo an utter lack of involvement with the film. \r\nThe film doesn\'t shove any emotions in your face, instead you have to bring your own emotions to the film. If you are sitting in the park and observing some people walking by only casually you might be bored soon by the banality of life. But it is only this banality that can in the end transcend ordinary life. For if you look closer the whole beauty of existence and of each and every person reveals itself to you. \r\nThe editing of the film is not \"Impotent\", but is the opposite of what you would call editing that calls attention to something. Instead the editing is very precise, staying true to the rhythm of life itself instead of pointing out anything specific.\r\nThe film is in the end one of the most complex and profound films that you will possibly encounter in films that deal with the everyday banality of our lives. Because it shows that banality comes only into existence IF WE DON\'T PAY ENOUGH ATTENTION TO THE THINGS WE ARE DOING! If you are aware of the world every moment is profound. \r\nIn Umberto D. this is exactly what happens to the main character: he gets ignored. So it is up to the viewer to discard this petty notion. The humanity of this film is so big that compared to it most \"humanist\" classics pale in comparison (e.g. Pather Panchali by Ray - which I admire very much, btw.). But the best thing I can say about this film is that it will ultimately make you a better person after watching it - that is if you watch carefully. For me it was a revelation that showed me once more the power cinema can have in affecting people\'s lives. \r\nYou see I can\'t even write a proper review of the film, as i get drowned in superlatives describing something that is beyond description. The film is so great that like life itself it becomes impossible to grasp it completely. \r\nTo quote Howard\'s quote in his review of Mallick\'s \"The New World\": Truth is beauty, and beauty is truth.\r\n\r\nOne of the most beautiful films ever created. \r\n10/10','1b281f39ec7bedb0c086479315c07e62',0,'','pGgz9oPj',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12646,2261,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148364300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, Italy, 1952)','Impotent directing is a strange criticism of Rossellini, have you seen Rome, Open City or Paisa, the guy was a genius with non-professional actors!\r\n\r\nI\'m not a fan of De Sica, his work is very sentimental and hilariously simple. Not so with Roberto, his work is multi-layered and morally complex, they\'re not just plain neo-realist films, they\'re very artful. Even though neo-realist is just another stupid category that was used to box cinema in by stupid critics, I\'m sure Rossellini never intended to make a \"neo-realist\" film, or a film that fits into any pre-defined classification. He was just expressing himself.\r\n\r\nI found Umberto D quite dull actually. Too plain, too straight-forward.','94a2071a1434a84cc8d43bd93d078d97',0,'','DEitao1X',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12647,2262,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143878160,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Foreign Films Made During World War II','I\'d like to get together a comprehensive list of films made outside of the US during WWII. I mean there are a few films extremely well known in this period, but basically the only films really known from that era (roughly 1940-1944) are American. I\'m just looking over my list of films by year, and these years are almost completely covered with US releases, and the few European films seem to be British, which isn\'t much different. So anybody who knows of any off beat masterpieces or worthwhile films from the era, put \'em here. I\'ll start with the few I have.\r\n\r\n1943\r\nDay of Wrath\r\nLe Courbeau\r\nOssessione \r\n\r\nThat\'s it, wow very sad @#%$ right there. At least according to the films I have listed, that\'s all I\'ve seen from the whole five year stretch. Anyways this is obviously a weak area for me, so feel free to help me out, I know there were some worthwhile Japanese films made this time, including Kurosawa\'s first, but we need names, and preferably films that can be tracked down.','0a028d5b0c6e1ffb9abdf8caeb4394ba',0,'','aZM0R2fj',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12648,2262,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143889920,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Foreign Films Made During World War II','Well, let\'s see. A few that come to mind are: Mizoguchi\'s The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939, I believe -- and I\'m sure you\'ve seen it) and The 47 Ronin (1941); Naruse\'s The Song Lantern (1943); Ozu\'s The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941) and There was a father (1942); a couple from Italian neorealists ; Eisenstein\'s Ivan (1944)... etc.','a261ddc33c321552868797d5ccf7592e',0,'','01eYUq2Z',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12649,2262,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144054620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Foreign Films Made During World War II','Apart from the ones already mentioned, here\'s a couple more that i\'ve seen.....\r\n\r\nAniki Bobo (1942) - Manoel de Oliveira\r\nJudo Saga (1943) - Akira Kurosawa\r\n\r\nRossellini\'s \"Rome, Open City\" was made during the war, but not released until after. But i suppose it does count.','f65839b4037a4e6a255fbfe52a84d344',0,'','T8Ju1k9f',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12650,2262,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144117980,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Foreign Films Made During World War II','Thanks for those, I forgot about Ivan, I guess I don\'t have it on my index yet. Yes you are right arsaib, I have seen Chrysanthemums, but I wasn\'t counting 1939, considering you could also add Rules of the Game and others if that were the case. But as I can see from the small lists I\'ve gotten, that there aren\'t an overwhelming number of films to offer.','dc9ae9070f751aa2fb38978a21fcb81b',0,'','JvWyCcSM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12651,2262,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148179560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Foreign Films Made During World War II','Hmmm, actually this is the film-period I have the least knowledge of...\r\nBesides the films you have mentioned, the worthwhile \"foreign\" films I have seen that were made during WWII would be:\r\n\r\nLes Dames du Bois de Boulogne The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne\r\nLes Enfants du paradis Children of Paradise\r\nas far as I know, both were made during WWII\r\n\r\nand also:\r\nLa nuit fantastique \"Fantastic Night\" (Marcel L\'Herbier / France / 1942) which is available on DVD (by kino?)\r\n\r\nBut how about some other classics that are considered highly?\r\n\r\nEmberek a havason (Istvn Szts / Hungary / 1942)\r\nHimlaspelet \"The Road to Heaven\" (Alf Sjberg / Sweden / 1942)\r\nLes visiteurs du soir \"The Devil\'s Envoys\" (Marcel Carn / France / 1942)\r\nL\'ternel retour \"The Eternal Return\" (Jean Delannoy / France / 1943)\r\nLe ciel est vous \"The Sky Is Yours\" (Jean Grmillon / France / 1943)\r\nLes anges du pch \"Angels of Sin\" (Robert Bresson / France / 1943)\r\nLumire d\'t (Jean Grmillon / France / 1943)\r\nMechta \"Dream\" (Mikhail Romm / Soviet Union / 1943)\r\nOrdet \"The Word\" (Gustaf Molander / Sweden / 1943)\r\nHets \"Torment\" (Alf Sjberg / Sweden / 1944)\r\nRaduga \"The Rainbow\" (Mark Donskoi / Soviet Union / 1944)\r\nUnter den Brcken \"Under the Bridges\" (Helmut Kutner / Germany / 1944)','68e754b9be06462d76ab1f90e11273d0',0,'','LWsGdhNc',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12652,2262,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148251500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Foreign Films Made During World War II','That\'s perfect A, just what I need.','f6e17b77390e9e952c2b7dddda52c870',0,'','ev396hEx',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12653,2262,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148263200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Foreign Films Made During World War II','Yeah, took me quite some time to gather the information. Your demand initially really caught me off the heels. \r\nDifficult era to tackle.','1fa35e72a255595dbb851efd139ea08c',0,'','8u9hnc0G',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12654,2263,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145343600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Don Lope de Aguirre','Journal d\'un cur de Campagne (1951)','Journal d\'un cure de Campagne is about a young priest who, whilst suffering from an illness, is assigned to a new parish in a French country village. The story is told by the priest recounting of his experiences in his diary. This itself is a powerful narrative device, as we not only understand the experiences of the protagonist, but also how he reflects upon them with hindsight, relating his observations to faith and human nature. As he carries out his duties in his new parish though, he is treated with animosity and hatred by many of the villagers, because they see him as an unwanted intrusion into their lives. As he becomes estranged, and to an extend outcast by the townspeople, he increasingly relies on his faith for strength and comfort, however even this begins to fade as he witnesses the townspeople purvey sinful and malicous behaviour, damaging his faith in human nature.\r\n\r\nThe films of Robert Bresson, although wonderful, can at times seem austere almost to the point of being drained of any emotion. Before passing judgement though, it is important to understand his aims and understanding of film making. Bresson believed that the theatrical performing of actors had no place in cinema, and so typically cast non-actors for his films. The reason for his desire to suppress performing, was to avoid the melodramatic histrionics common with conventional acting as he believed it shortchanges the complexities of human emotion that in real life are much more subtle and not always on the surface. A large part of who we are he believed, is determined by experience, circumstance and environment. These elements affect the way we \'perform\' and obscure who we are at the core essence of our being. Bresson was much more concerned with this person, whom we are when all our affectations are removed and we are laid bare. In Diary of a Country Priest, Bresson had Claude Laydu repeat scenes many times in order so that he would rid himself of all natural desire to perform. This suppressed emotion re-introduces the intricately nuanced expression, replacing the scenes with a delicate and contemplative lilt. It forces the viewer to replace the lack of gratuitous emotion with their own feelings, resulting in moments of genuine pathos and emotion.','84bac2c00a5f32b9b135cd43a3f8249a',0,'','aKgYn9Lt',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12655,2263,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145429820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Journal d\'un cur de Campagne (1951)','Nice comments, i especially like the last view sentences, i\'ve been harping on about similar things for a while. His stripped down approach to the aesthetic was very similar to his approach to performance and a lot of people seem to look past that. I can\'t believe viewers can refer to his visual style as limited when he\'s left so much space for people to meet the film on their own terms.\r\n\r\nSometimes i think that after i\'ve seen Mouchette and Balthasaar he\'ll be very very close to the top.','a2a7f9407058498e15c3078d1353e544',0,'','tblrho6z',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12656,2263,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148180640,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Journal d\'un cur de Campagne (1951)','Fine comments Don, I enjoyed reading them. I hope you\'ll post more in the future. \r\nYou should watch Au hasard Balthazar Anasazie, it\'s my favorite Bresson film so far, and I\'m sure your opinion of him will rise further after a viewing.','05c690e7165c7d21437944d08d317601',0,'','qXoC2ZM5',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12657,2264,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143115860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Johndav','Claire\'s Knee (France, 1970)','CLAIRE\'S KNEE.\r\n\r\nDirector: Eric Rohmer\r\nCast: Beatrice Romand, Jean-Claude Brialy, Aurora Cornu, Laurence de Monaghan\r\n\r\nFRANCE, 1970. CERT: PG. 105 MINS\r\n\r\nA title and a film to cherish. The fifth in Rohmer\'s series of six Moral Tales, Claire\'s Knee covers a month of full summer at Lake Annecy in the French Alps. Away from his rather severe-looking fiance, a 35 year-old diplomat (Jean-Claude Brialy) encounters a female Romanian novelist friend (played by the writer herself, Aurora Cornu), who encourages him to flirt with an amiable teenage girl at whose lakeside home she is staying. When his attentions divert to the pretty but disinterested 17 year-old step-sister, he fixates on the eponymous feature. \r\n\r\nAs in his previous, equally-assured masterpiece My Night with Maud- indeed, as throughout a prolific and consistent career spanning the six decades since he and fellow \"Cahiers du Cinema\" critics Godard, Truffaut and other New Wave stalwarts turned director - Claire\'s Knee is a lucid analysis of temptation, moral choices and the fine details of relationships, all delivered with a gosssamer dexterity. \r\n\r\nWhere Maud\'s crisp black and white was instilled with a cool wintry precision, Claire\'s Knee captures the essence of summer with the agile grace of a swallow. Cinematographer on both films, Nestor Almendros delights in the warmth of the season, the lush vegetation and the gorgeous blues and greens of the setting, which once captivated the painter Cezanne. \r\n\r\nA typically deft and wholly cinematic Rohmerian blend of insightful observation, generous humanism, delicate visual touches and sophisticated dialogue (though the director\'s sophistication invariably exceeds that of his characters), the film gently punctures the protagonist\'s tendency to condescension by exposing to the viewer realities of which he is blithely unaware. The concentrated eroticism of the moment when he caresses the specific object of his desire is astonishing for both its circumstances and also an understatement which shames Hollywood\'s ludicrous grandstanding. \r\n\r\nFilled with deeply satisfying sensual and intellectual pleasures, Claire\'s Knee has retained all its charm and freshness; as seemingly ageless as its ever-youthful creator.','905ca2710f98d29dd3217e5fdc6a0336',0,'','FnewVk1m',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12658,2264,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1148176560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Claire\'s Knee (France, 1970)','Many thanks for your fine review John!\r\nSince I watched my first Rohmer film some 4 years ago (\"An Autumn Tale\"), many of its images still linger in my mind. It was so simple and so profound at the same time, with a masterful direction. Sadly I\'ve only seen one more Rohmer film since, \"The Lady and the Duke\" which I saw in the cinema. This film confirmed my previous feelings about Rohmer and I found it even better than \"An Autumn Tale\". But this is also already two years passed. \r\nI\'m anxiously waiting for another Rohmer film. But I don\'t seem to be luccky in stumbling over a copy without dubbing here in germany.','b296025678e194b31494bdbb5797e99c',0,'','3WlyzgYV',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12659,2265,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1132401240,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Lacombe Lucien (1974) - Louis Malle','Part of Malle\'s unofficial autobiographical WWII trilogy. This one tells the supposedly true story of Lucien, a country boy in Vichy France who finds himself more than willing to work with the enemy. Lucien is a rotten character, and it takes nearly the entire movie before we can even remotely identify with him. He\'s not the likeable sort of anti-hero we could secretly cheer, no he\'s a degenerate, and a horrible person.\r\n\r\nFrom the first scene in the movie we see him take out a slingshot and randomly kill a bird. Not a great first impression. This brings up my first question to Malle, why all the cruelty towards animals. Sure Lucien is the worst of the bunch, but every animal dies in here, it\'s pointless and wrong. In fact much of the film is pointless, but the fact that Lucien is a cruel soulless bastard could have easily been established with that first gratutuitous animal slaying, no need to add chickens, rabbits, and other animals to the list. This is a rare film where animal deaths far outweigh human deaths. Although Malle seems to have a hard on for showing animals get killed on camera, he keeps nearly all of the human deaths off camera, only once do we see someone get shot, the rest of the film\'s characters get killed off camera. I find this necessary to point out, because few if any reviews will mention the fact that animal cruelty runs rampant here, and this type of thing should be warned about.\r\n\r\nThe film itself is about a sense of conformity. Lucien can\'t join the resistance because of his age, but winds up working easily for the German Police, even though his father is a prisoner in a German camp. He seems to have one motto \"I don\'t like being talked down to\". That and self preservation. Like any young adult, he\'s sick of being treated like a kid, so he\'ll join up with whoever will respect him as an adult. The nazis give him some power, which Lucien has no problem abusing at any time. However we can\'t help but hope that he\'ll wake up. This kid needs to snap out of it and take a stand, do something. We get a chance to see him make some sort of retalliation, but it doesn\'t really help, the damage has been done. Perhaps he has saved one or two people, but it doesn\'t quite make up for the countless he\'s either killed, or helped to get killed throughout the picture.\r\n\r\nThe film was received horribly in France, where most people had illusions of the French being brave during the occupation. Malle was there, and he\'s telling his own story, one that says that they weren\'t all agreeable. This may have been easier to swallow after Ophul\'s Sorrow and the Pity, which makes a very strong case of the French collaborating during WWII. One of the things Malle does that is effective, is that although he shows people working alongside their enemy, he lets them get some dirty words in when the doors are closed. Sure there are plenty of French helping out the German Police, but all of them resent it. They know and hope that the Americans will soon liberate them, even if their own future is in jeapordy for collaboration.\r\n\r\nThe main plot point is Lucien\'s love of France (Aurore Clement) yes that\'s a characters name. I find the name mroe than ironic as was most likely the point. Lucien doesn\'t love his country, but he loves France through this girl, and eventually does right by her. His love seems completely passionless, and he bullies his way into their home. It isn\'t until far into the end that you get a sense for the first time that they may actually feel anything for each other. Pierre Blaise plays Lucien so dryly that we don\'t get the feeling he has any emotion for anything. He\'s a cruel SOB, and he seems incapable of any positive emotion. He can be jealous, he can be greedy, he can be manipulative, but he can\'t seem to care. The whole love story seemed forced, and seemed to be used to motivate the plot, I found Blaise unconvincing, and the whole thing was durragatory. \r\n\r\nDue to the reception it got, Malle had to make his exit for America shortly after, we he embarked on a string of interesting pictures, that I for one think are his best. Malle made Black Rain shortly after, a very experimental and poorly received film, before making his exit, where he stayed away for a full decade. He never really stopped being controversial though, and Pretty Baby wound up getting him in the hottest water of his career, but a fascinating film nonetheless. Lacombe Lucien isn\'t a particularly bad film, but I can\'t jump up and down and say it\'s a masterpiece either. It was shown as part of Facet\'s Louis Malle Retrospective. It\'s the only film I\'ve managed to catch so far, unfortunately I missed The Silent World last week, which believe me I wanted to see arguably more than any film, certainly more than any Malle film. I will of course keep you all posted if I can catch any more.\r\n\r\nGrade B','21ba1f2ec6df5393e2a9b850ff970cd3',0,'','i1Rb4USC',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12660,2265,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1147414440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Lacombe Lucien (1974) - Louis Malle','From the four films I\'ve seen so far by malle (the others being \"Damage\", \"Lift to the Gallows\" and \"Zazie dans la metro\") this one seemed clearly the strongest, and the closest to a masterpiece. Besides the marvelous photography I thought the main performance brilliant. I\'ve rarely seen a more gripping and touching love affair depicted on screen. Contrary to wpqx I could almost always feel his desires and emotions, and identified with him from the beginning. Of course he isn\'t a likable character, and presented in an ambiguos way, but t is his total lack of expressing himself in a way that can be understood by his surroundings that is fascinating. he\'s locked in, and has his own beliefs, while on the outside he seems to conform. But the conformism is only a scheme, as well as an ego thing (of finally being accepted). He\'s more like an invisible person, because he is almost the only one who\'s alive, searching for something, while all the other characters are locked in their views of the world. Only through France he feels in the end understood. I loved the ending, as it seemed quite positive to me. It is clear that such a person cannot live in the restricted society that surrounds him. It is only in the end\'s out of the norm days and weeks that he seems to find peace. \r\nThe love of Lucien towards \"France\" was for me filled to the brim with (restrained) passion, something Malle manages to pull off quite effectively also in some of his other films (Damage, Lift to the gallows). \r\nI think I now maybe like it even more than when I initially saw it.\r\nImo a must see film.','4ee3c8b82d9bfb4adf22350d3d2167e5',0,'','nJN4EKZf',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12661,2266,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1129264080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','A simple event (Sohrab Shahid Saless / Iran / 1973)','Yek Etefagh sadeh \"A simple event\" (Sohrab Shahid Saless / Iran / 1973)\r\n\r\nTwo days ago I went to the cinema to see a rare screening of Iranian films that have become classics but are somehow forgotten today. The screening was the beginning of a weekly series, that will show every wendnesday films that have inspired the work of Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, who has an exhibition of some of her work and her newest video here in Berlin until December this year. After reading some info on her, I will probably pay it a visit, but even this new film series would have been good enough for me. The two next screenings will be on a film by Kiarostami and one by Kurosawa, which I\'ll hopefully be able to catch.\r\nBut let\'s get back to our main issue. The two iranian films were \"The House is Black\" by the famous iranian poet Forugh Farrrokhzad who was only about 27 years old when she made the film. It\'s about a leper colony, and what it\'s like living with this disease, but primarily the film seemed a contemplation about nature\'s ugliness, which turned to flaming beauty through the insisting eye of Soleiman Minasian\'s camera, which forced every image directly at the viewer, so that I at times felt like Alex in \"Clockwork Orange\" - it seemed impossible to look away. The fast paced editing and Farrokhzad\'s magnificent poems, read by a beautiful female voice (her own?) both contrasted and supported the images of deformed people. It reminded me in many ways of Stan Brakhage\'s \"Window Water Baby Moving\", but while the lack of sound in Brakhage\'s short freed your imagination and your mind from the actual situation and opened up spaces, the use of sound in \"The House is Black\" achieves a similar effect - another layer that lifts reality into another dimension, so that the truth can be experienced more intense. \r\nBut I came too late to the cinema and missed the first 5 to 10 minutes of the film so I can\'t really state a \"complete\" opinion on it, as the film has a running time of 22 minutes.\r\nInstead I\'ll focus on the second film.\r\n\"Yek Etefagh sadeh\" was, as far as I know, also the first - but luckily not last - attempt of the now legendary Iranian filmmaker Sohrab Shahid Saless to direct a film. The print I saw must have been very old, with lots of scratches and streaks on it, and english subtitles. Maybe it was still the same copy that had been shown at the 1974 Berlin Film Festival, where the film garnered critical acclaim and two awards. At the same time another film by Saless, Tabiate bijan \"Still Life\", was shown in Competition and won him the silver berlin bear for best director and the FIPRESCI award for the best film.\r\nIf you want to know where the current Iranian cinema takes its strength from and what are its traditions, you may look at Kiarostami and Makhmalbaf, two seemingly different poets of the cinema who helped developing Iran\'s film industry internationally and nationally, but both must have been heavily influenced by Saless\' films. After watching \"A simple event\", Kiarostami\'s beauty and watchfulness, his awareness of time and space, seem not just inspired, but heavily indebted to this classic (and I\'m sure there\'s even more to discover in earlier Iranian cinema)- a direct line from the past. \r\nThe film was made in 1973, and is a glimpse into the life of a small boy and the underprivileged classes in the Iran of those days. The camera follows him on his everyday routines, starting with a walk to the school in the morning and his going to sleep in the night, after he has brought home a canister of water from a nearby well. In between he has to help his father, a fisherman, sell his bait after school, buy bread on his way home, and help his mother who never leaves the house with some tasks while studying for school. These line of events is repeated throughout the whole film until the moment where the title\'s \"simple event\" occurs. This simple event is the unexpected death of his mother, which doesn`t seem to affect the son as much as the father, though both remain more or less stoic, not up to the situation fate has chosen for them. But even afterwards things don\'t seem to change that much although the end may show a glimpse of hope. The father wants to buy a new suit for his son, and this has certainly nothing to do with his son\'s achievement, who is bad at school, and was even at the verge of being expelled. But the suit is too expensive, the father can only afford two thirds of the lowest price he\'s being offered, thus angrily striding out of the shop, cursing the owner, his son following on his heels. Together they walk along into an unknown past, but although it may not have anything positive in store for them, they could have established a more personal relationship. The father showed for the first time an attempt to do something for his son, while through the other parts of the film he was mostly accupied with fishing and drinking, so that he could go fishing again the next day. The ending hasn\'t the same vibe as say, the end of De Sica\'s \"Bycicle Thieves\", but that\'s because of the overall vagueness of the film, which leaves everything kinda hanging in mid-air. Interestingly this stylistic device enables the director to say much more about a situation, as the viewer has to make up his own mind. But the difference to other film using the same device is that in this case it is not because of the complexity of the characters and the multy-layered narrative of the film, but is, quite the opposite, due to its simpleness. There are strokes against a hypocritical and opressive society, and the film has a very critical \"second layer\", but the events are nevertheless shown as consistent occurencies that have meaning through themselves. The repetition of ever the same course of events doesn\'t become boring and meaningless through the film, because to show this routine is part of the concept of the film. They were as meaningful as the viewer wanted them to be the first time around, same as the last time. Logically the film thus ends the same way it had begun. What we have seen was a section from the life of a person, and what we have learned therefore varies from viewer to viewer. I dont know which superlatives could describe accurately the simplicity and beauty of this film, without contradicting the films own intentions. One of those films were you get what you put into it, and if you try hard it can be very much.','8f7bc8611d20a6285c140353eb4e29bf',0,'','G7hUQtEK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12662,2266,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1130905260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: A simple event (Sohrab Shahid Saless / Iran / 1973)','I\'d love to see A Simple Event someday. The House is Black is just masterful (it\'s now available on DVD here). Thanks for the reviews.','2ad5973f05e1386920a6847a56b75f66',0,'','kz186lnb',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12663,2267,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137688440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Johndav','The Only Son','My first belated taste of pre-war Ozu, and somehow it came as a surprise to find such a fully rounded mature and characteristic masterpiece for his first sound film. He\'s certainly already mastered with subtlety the unobtrusive little sounds that add to his prodigious sense of \"off-screen space\". Considered conservative for lateness in adopting both sound and colour, it may be he simply wanted to ensure he\'d properly mastered both before taking them on. \r\n\r\nThe Only Son is about a widow who sacrifices her material wellbeing, slaving in a factory and through years of poverty to ensure her son gets a good education. Quite soon we jump ahead, from 1923 to 35, to find out along with her, (visiting him in Tokyo for the first time) whether he\'s become the great man she\'d hoped and expected. \r\n\r\nAnd i hope i\'m not giving away too much (i\'m not sure i\'d wanted that outcome, even though early in the film, revealed on my dvd cover) in saying that things, a la Tokyo Story, prove disappointing for her; the son turns out to be married, with a baby boy, working as an underpaid teacher and living in near poverty himself. In any event i was initially unconvinced by the son\'s hiding of his marriage, but later explanations and developments prove largely satisfactory. \r\n\r\nThis is one of Ozu\'s most delicate films, beautifully edited, making pure poetry (not for the last time) out of a few chimney stacks, washing lines, pylons, a simple flashing light- in his usual quiet fashion. No great histrionics, no needlessly extended speeches or sequences. Shots and objects repeated or revisited take on a new emotional resonance. It\'s delicately balanced too in its approach to the main characters\' views and social expectations: the mother\'s critical determination for her son to be more ambitious, his self-disappointment and renewed will to better himself (in part for the sake of his own baby\'s future, neatly mirroring his mother\'s maternal instinct) along with the knowledge that success through education is not a given (his own admirable teacher had hardly thrived when moving to Tokyo either), and then his mother\'s genuinely proud appreciation of an act of compassionate generosity; her acceptance that there\'s more to being a succesful individual than career status, that decent character and humanity may be better forged in poverty than riches. \r\n\r\nCho(u)ko Iida is utterly convincing as the toughened and resilient, quietly caring, troubled, toothily cheerful, polite, occasionally bewildered, fiercely demanding and ultimately very touching mother. One scene when her face crumples is all the more emotionally piercing for the restraint that\'s preceded it. \r\n\r\nOh, and good to see Chishu Ryu (in a supporting role) already mastering different ages. Such a young idealistic face, when 17 years later he famously played Tokyo Story\'s elderly grandfather. \r\n\r\nOzu was 34 when the film appeared in 1936. Already a very wise man and a great master. The Only Son is an unfairly neglected little gem. \r\n\r\n(just 2 little niggles- children crying in Ozu films not the most convincing! But does it matter? And of my own 5 favourites by Ozu, none are from his later colour period. Was there a very slight decline?)','3c05e8efc57fe45be718c6e70836406f',0,'','CQMP5zFr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12664,2267,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137696240,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: The Only Son','How was the codition of the film John? I have it on video but the print itself is not that good. Is it a French release dvd?\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','2e5793983e9a016e9ab3bc4bda140a05',0,'','7sbhxLur',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12665,2267,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137697560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: The Only Son','There was an Ozu retrospective in Calcutta last November, and this film was shown! I was working away in Bangalore \r\nYour review inspires me to find this film and see it asap.\r\n\r\nM','d9a0d0241cde7426b7f09835657fe8bc',0,'','Sg9YDRpW',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12666,2267,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137793980,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: The Only Son','Guess I\'ll try to see any Ozu film I can lay my hands on in the future. Sounds really like he already started with his \"family-dramas\" at an early age.','e2e1b344ff1b99c3d763bb0116fe5708',0,'','cynh9ENi',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12667,2267,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137817020,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Johndav','Re: The Only Son','Well, he\'d already made over 30 films (compare that with careers these days!) so i shouldn\'t have been too surprised by his mastery, but as it\'s not among his more famous films i\'d expected something a bit rougher round the edges. He\'s already closer to his eventual peak than Mizoguchi was at the same time (much as i like Mizo\'s 2 classic films from 1936)','392254f639d449e7cc92a3618021f822',0,'','atDc3XAj',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12668,2267,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145418780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: The Only Son','1936 was Mizoguchi\'s peak John, Osaka Elegy was Mizoguchi\'s peak. One day you\'ll realise that.......or..... maybe not','f56b2c2014c03be465a3e1e7df3404b8',0,'','H7XKLfBg',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12669,2267,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145554620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: The Only Son','Osaka Elegy is a masterpiece from Mizoguchi, but I don\'t think Sisters of the Gion holds up even half as well.','33f145f6baeb8661bf279a274be39fc4',0,'','cu0dt5BV',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12670,2267,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1145589360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: The Only Son','I agree WP, i was continuing my attempt at trying to convince Johnny that Osaka Elegy is easily Mizo\'s best film and that his 50s work is too melodramatic.','5a220a94ae8c521222c9ec0cca6a8bf3',0,'','ArdtxmVz',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12671,2268,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1135094460,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Unregistered(d)','British 60\'s drama\'s','Could anyone suggest a few titles. I think it was called the kitchen sink school, or Angry young man films?','c551d522037820c56f28ef2b5642e291',0,'','3NrDx5iR',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12672,2268,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1135096080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: British 60\'s drama\'s','Kitchen Sink Dramas, the mainstay of the British film industry. I\'d suggest looking at the films of Ken Loach for a start, \"Cathy Come Home\" and \"Kes\" are two good examples.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','ec3c9c1dea63370942e00b82287c9f78',0,'','xVEbW1M9',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12673,2268,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1135101060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: British 60\'s drama\'s','For \"angry young man\" try \"If\" from Lindsay Anderson.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','96559e85772298c2a449024c67320750',0,'','1sD5EltQ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12674,2268,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1135288620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: British 60\'s drama\'s','I can only recommend Kes and If..., which were mentioned above. Haven`t seen any others, yet.','d094bfdd1c5dfb02e6e331a56ce1026a',0,'','Gmntr9Fy',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12675,2268,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1135373340,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: British 60\'s drama\'s','I wouldn\'t suggest If for angry young man films.\r\n\r\nThe movement began really with Look Back in Anger, and also from Tony Richardson you should check out Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. There\'s also Anderson\'s first film This Sporting Life. Aside from those Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is something to look for. Drawing a blank on others right now.','87276257b9b5bd15334a949df61bd345',0,'','tf3HNj47',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12676,2268,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1135637220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: British 60\'s drama\'s','Yeah, I forgot Saturday Night and Sunday morning. That`s a classic that perfectly fits the bill.','929df3a43818a9c2ea0f1daa29ae8ae3',0,'','WNxXz08S',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12677,2268,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1135720560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Johndav','Re: British 60\'s drama\'s','An overrated time in British cinema, imo- many have dated badly and some \"swinging sixties\" efforts come across as very sub-par French new wave wannabes or striving too hard and theatrically for grim realism.\r\n\r\nAs well as Kes and If, try The Servant (Losey). Billy Liar is also worthwhile, hardly a masterpiece, but with the great advantage of Julie Christie who epitomises the era. Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (also with Tom Courtenay as main young protagonist) perhaps has the edge. Antonioni\'s Blow Up not up to his highest standards but very typical of the period. \r\n\r\nAlfie was recently voted by Empire readers the best of Bristh that decade, but it\'s pretty naff. The Italian Job was a flag-waving crowd-pleaser from 69 also with recent Hollywood remake. \r\n\r\nNot forgetting the Bond films and Pink Panther (not dramas admittedly)....','6ae3e8e04d957a95107b9fe2f62cbded',0,'','rdQMEhte',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12678,2268,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1135896420,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: British 60\'s drama\'s','I always figured Billy Liar was the first \"non Angry Young Man\" film from the 60\'s. But as a 60\'s drama I say it works, as does Schlessinger\'s follow up Darling, a much better film imo. The Servant might not be a gem of realism, but it remains my favorite Losey film and one of the best British films I\'ve ever seen.','f581aae1ccdba4234abb6fcb4cac533e',0,'','63CkW4P1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12679,2268,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1138767120,1,0,1,1,1,1,'peppajaa','Re: British 60\'s drama\'s','Anything with Dirk Bogarde!','6f5aa26bbfcc938da92cfabcbead448e',0,'','54EtCwTx',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12680,2269,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1118012820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Pierrot Le Fou (1965) (France)','Jean-Luc Godard is a filmmaker that makes any aspiring director want to give up. He is too brilliant, and when he is on there is no one better. Pierrot le Fou is one of those occasions when Godard was on, and he proved that he was the most innovative filmmaker around. His first film signaled the beginning of modern cinema, and five years later he had perfected a new style of kitchen sink filmmaking.\r\nGodard always believed that everything can and should be put into a film. When you think of what everything means, that would entail a lot of details in cinema. Not surprising that he made as many films as he did, and each was filled with a remarkable amount of originality. He tries everything, and when something works he seems to make a note to use it again later. Weekend was the culmination of everything good in his sixties films, but Pierrot le Fou was the first film that proved this all-inclusive style of filmmaking could work.\r\nThere are things in Pierrot le Fou that dont exactly work. The pace of the story is somewhat screwy and things seem to go on a little too long. There is also no way of adequately identifying with any character in the film. A common complaint may also be that Godard is substituting style for substance. Unable to formulate a real meaningful film he instead decides to be as abstract as he can, figuring it is easier. Yet it is precisely these things that made Godards films so fascinating when they were new and so vital today.\r\nHollywood is in shambles today just like it was in the sixties. Studios are pumping out more and more big budget films than ever, and for what? Remember the early sixties when epic upon epic was released. It seemed that you couldnt get an Oscar nomination if your film was under three hours long. Godard and the collective new wave cinemas of Europe offered the most remarkable alternative cinema ever known. Their ringleader was Godard, and along with Claude Chabrol he was also the most prolific. Unlike Chabrol however, Godard didnt stay on the same ground for long. He wasnt a genre man, and in most of films, he switches between gangster films, musicals, comedy, romance, and drama.\r\nPierrot le Fou is one such genre hopping film. It is hard to even remember that the film has two production numbers. Like the music in Godards neo realist musical Une Femme est une Femme, the songs arent too memorable. Godard only gives us the singing voice of Anna Karina twice and that is enough. The songs arent really worth the effort, but they let us know that we are in Godards world and anything can and will happen without warning.\r\nThe first time I saw the film I thought it was pointless. It seemed to derive too closely to Breathless and I couldnt get into it. The second time I saw it I wondered what the hell I was thinking. Pierrot le Fou is what cinema should be. It is a constant advance forward, and it is a relentless thrust at convention. Godard made the most interesting films of all time, and this is close to his most interesting. Good or bad, a Godard film is always interesting and worth watching. Sometimes his experiments fall short, as in Le Petit Soldat, but when it comes through it tops everything.\r\nWhy is Pierrot so brilliant? Well lets take a look at what we are given. Godard was still somewhat experimental when it came to color in 1965. He had made a couple of films with it, but was yet to fully explore its possibilities. So in the first fifteen minutes Godard does as much with color as one could think possible. At the party sequence in particular he shoots nearly every shot with a different tint. In one particular set up there is even a jump cut switching from blue to green. When we see Ferdinand (Jean Paul Belmondo) and Marianne (Karina) driving the car doesnt seem to be going anywhere, but a constant stream of different color lights reflect against the front windshield. \r\nIt is at this time that Godard makes one of the films first noticeable manipulations of sound. Before the two step out we hear thunder and rain. As the car starts moving we still hear the two, but we see the windshield and not a single drop of rain falls on it, nor does it appear as though one previously did. It is impossible to tell exactly where the hell they are driving and instead of rear projection, Godard simply avoids background entirely. He knows it isnt important to the film, and the focal point is more on the actors and their dialogue.\r\nDialogue is always a remarkable thing for Godard. His characters recite poetry, repeat lines, and openly speak of politics and religion. There are numerous references to film beginning with a typical Godard mainstay Johnny Guitar. Lots of talk is overlapping as well when Marianne and Ferdinand seem to finish each others sentences without being on screen. Godard has always used voice over narration, and like his other films you dont really know what the point of it is. There is no real plot to the film, and even what they are saying isnt advancing it. Again he has his actors speak to the camera, and when asked whom he is talking to, Ferdinand replies, Im talking to the audience. It is the first direct reference Godard makes to the fact that this is a film.\r\nIt isnt the last time however, and Marianne seems to supply most of the other references. When they burn their first car, she makes a comment about it being a movie, and when she wants to leave the island, she says she wants to get back to her gangster film. It is also Godards way of guessing that the audience might be bored with this lack of violence, and they expect to see more robbing and murder. \r\nIt is obvious that Marianne and Ferdinand are robbers. They keep having money, which they keep getting rid of. It isnt until far into the film that we actually see them robbing anyone, but their money had to come from somewhere earlier on. They are also wanted for murder, and this is treated in an extremely casual way. When the two get up after their first night together again, there is a dead body lying on a bed. No one knows who it is, or why hes there, but it is pretty clear that Marianne killed him. Like any great gangster film the bodies pile on top of each other, but every time the killer is Marianne.\r\nThe only person that Ferdinand kills in the entire film directly is Marianne at the end. He remains non-violent, but when she screws him over the last time, he figures she has it coming. Since Godard has already hinted that the two will cause their own destruction, it isnt surprising that Ferdinand decides to join Marianne in eternity, his method is somewhat original though. Not too many people paint their face blue and tie forty sticks of dynamite around their head.\r\nAll of this makes perfect sense in the world of Godard however. Things are explained that dont need to be, other large details are left unresolved, but the film isnt about finding out a mystery. We have to give ourselves over to Godard at the beginning. Although a skilled filmmaker, this isnt the safe roller coaster ride one might expect from a Hitchcock. With Godard you simply close your eyes and dive head first. You never know what is coming next, but you dont question anything when it comes. Simply marvel at the fact that someone has the audacity to make movies so damn interesting.\r\n\r\nOh and if we\'re grading, this get\'s an A, or whatever else is the highest rating possible.','cf89baee86d356353d557fe50cb57504',0,'','M521rwKc',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12681,2269,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1135719120,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Johndav','Re: Pierrot Le Fou (1965) (France)','I think it\'s great too and you\'ve covered why pretty fully. Quintessential Godard and New Wave, in fact among the handful of films best placed to represent the 20th century imo. Genre-hopper, use of primary colours (though i think Contempt was pretty impressive too and see also Rohmer films), range of cultural references including pulp, influence on Tarantino (a thieving magpie film geek dwarfed by Godard) and then so many others, beginning, middle and end but not necessarily in that order, drawing attention to film-making process/\"Brechtian\" distancing devices/ direct-to-camera, continuing relevance (US imperialism etc), unmistakably a product of the 60\'s but effortlessly modern, explosion, film as emotion..\r\n\r\nI love its warmth, joyful vitality and sensuality (encapsulated in Anna Karina), a hedonist\'s delight with the sun and locations in South of France (again reminder of Contempt in Capri), its wonderful sense of freedom- plot, characters, travel, as well as film-making itself. That scene with the fox on the table is among my favourites in cinema and the whole romantic idyll by the coast is ravishing.\r\n\r\nTop rating from me too.','199bdbf7b05ed06e7ac0ad7b6c01a85f',0,'','jElcNXaK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12682,2269,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1137069300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Re: Pierrot Le Fou (1965) (France)','my favourite Godard film period.','8035bae404ac9ed862284fdc2a9a2b5c',0,'','Lo9aNDt3',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12683,2270,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1136676060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','El Dorado (1967) - Howard Hawks','Well well what was the last great western you saw? A question sometimes without much of an answer. El Dorado picks up loosley where Rio Bravo left off, and features the only man fit enough to make a western with, the Duke. Howard Hawks returns to the genre after quite an absence, and a few somewhat shaky films. The result is a return to form and one of the last great old time western films.\r\n\r\nThe genre was in it\'s old age by this point, and the first wave of Italian westerns were making their way to the US when this film was being made. The old time simple stories of good vs. bad were far out of fashion. Yet El Dorado stands out not as a bastion of old time fun in a self critical age, but as a damn good western, and like the best films of any era this transcends time. You don\'t watch El Dorado thinking \"this came out in 1967\", instead you think \"this is a great western\". That\'s the only way to look at it, and maybe it was out of touch for viewers in 1967, but looking back on it today it stands just as high and mighty as Rio Bravo, Red River, or any other classic western.\r\n\r\nWayne gets to skip on being the sheriff in this film, leaving those duties to Robert Mitchum, and his comic deputy Bull Harris (Arthur Hunnicutt) taking the former Walter Brennan role. An old Indian fighter, who like the rest of the characters doesn\'t seem like he\'d be much of an assett, but proves himself worthy countless times. Hawks seemed to rejoice in a band of misfits, cripples, old timers, and gun men who can\'t shoot. His posse is hardly grade A lawmen, more like the New York Mets. Somehow, like the Mets on two occasions, they actually do manage to win, and despite their physical and mental handicaps they do the job and it\'s a lot more rewarding.\r\n\r\nHawks seemed preoccupied with the notion that people will do the right thing. This film as well as Rio Bravo remain direct responses to High Noon, where just one man faced his foes with a town full of cowards. Here no matter how much you tell people you don\'t want their help, they\'re still right behind you. But everyone eventually makes good, and therefore you can rest assured, that perhaps Will Kane would have had it a little easier if someone would have taken him up on his offer.\r\n\r\nNot to necessarily compare, but this film is instantly more enjoyable than High Noon. It is a fun western, with enough humor thrown in to know that come victory or tragedy this is still going to be a fun ride. There are characters you can certainly root for, pull for, and the reward of their success is much greater. Fine performances all around, particularly by Mitchum as the half drunk half sober sheriff. James Caan has an early starring role here as Mississippi, quick with a knife but horrible with a gun. But he manages to prove himself a little smarter than one would expect, and like the rest of the bunch he two winds up learning. Rio Lobo was made as a bit of a follow up to this, but seeing how I\'ve not yet seen it, I can make no comments regarding this unofficial trilogy.\r\n\r\nGrade A','316f11ff346f7b03823f3110957b3682',0,'','kB1meaiG',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12684,2271,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1132903200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Onibaba (1964 - Japan)','Onibaba (1964) \r\n\r\nDirected by Kaneto Shind\r\n\r\nStarring Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Sato \r\n\r\nTall reeds sway back and forth hypnotically, amongst the reeds a samurai helps his wounded comrade as they limp along slowly. Hidden from chasing samurai on horses by the height of the reeds they crash to the floor exhausted. After a rest they start up to continue their journey, rising up slowly only to be cut down, mortally wounded by two spears shooting out from the reeds that had been so protective and had hidden them so well from their pursuers.\r\n\r\nTwo women, one obviously a lot older than the other creep out from the reeds, poking and prodding the bodies of their victims.ensuring that they are dead. Armour and weapons along with robes are removed before the corpses are dragged to a deep dark foreboding hole where they are unceremoniously dumped with only the crows for company.\r\n\r\nThe women gather up the booty and return to their ramshackle hut where they collapse after the exhaustion and excitement of the kill. Tomorrow they will trade the weapons, clothing and armour for a pitiful amount of food. This is the base level of existence they have come to after years of war and destruction in 16th century Japan. \r\n\r\nThe men-folk have been dragged off to fight for a Samurai overlord, left to their own defences they have managed to survive, this nameless mother and daughter in law. The trader who metes out a couple of miserable bags of millet for their hard earned prize is a nasty little piece of work who offers the mother an extra bag if shell sleep with him, she has a little pride left and gives a straightforward no. They have enough to survive on until the next victims appear.\r\n\r\nBack from the war after escaping his unit comes their neighbour Hachi, he had been taken at the same time as the son / husband. After eating several bowls of food he relayed the story of how they both escaped from the field of battle only for the other to be beaten to death by a group of farmers after they were caught foraging for food. The first reaction from the two women is anger and bitterness at the news of the death, the loss of the husband / son is a blow to them both and Hachi takes the brunt of their anger.\r\n\r\nDespite the bitter feelings they work together, continuing in the same trade of supplying weapons and armour to the trader though with Hachi on board, they get a far better deal. Hachi has his eye on the recently widowed young woman and she responds, the older woman can see whats going on and decides to intervene. She tries to put off the younger woman by telling her that hes only out for one thing and that if she does go with him shell end up in purgatory with very descriptive examples of the tortures that await her there. \r\n\r\nThe longing for male companionship is too strong though and the young woman and Hachi arrange illicit rendezvous while the older woman is asleep. This goes on for a while and they enjoy the warmth and touch of each others passion and longing but one night, the young woman is followed by the older one. She spies them in a passionate embrace until she is overwhelmed by her own sexual feelings and frustrations, running off through the long reeds determined more than ever to end this relationship.\r\n\r\nWhy? Her son is dead, her daughter in law a widow. Why is she so determined to tear the lovers apart? One reason is jealousy, the younger woman is desirable and despite being older, she still wants and needs sexual gratification. Another reason is fear, while she has the daughter in law; she has company and someone to help her in their dirty business. She knows shell never manage to murder and plunder on her own, which is exactly where she can see herself if Hachi has his way.\r\n\r\nEvents take a turn when the older woman is forced to help a wealthy samurai who is lost within the wild reeds, she notes his demonic face mask and slowly but surely leads him closer and closer to the hole, at the last second she skips across it, the samurai fails to notice and falls to his death. Clambering into the blackness and over the piles of skeletal corpses, she reaches her goal and removes the mask from the samurais heavily scarred face. \r\n\r\nShe has a plan and the mask is a vital part of it, a plan to scare the hell out of the younger woman and regain the control shes losing, but things dont turn out quite as she expects!\r\n\r\nThis is a classic film by any standards, the acting especially from is Nobuko Otowa is outstanding, you get a real sense of the danger, the desperation, the anger, fear and frustration. The editing and camera work are also excellent, a lot of the filming is done at night time but is still clear enough to follow everything. The atmosphere is heady, you feel the humidity and the relief that the rain brings, the tall reeds, both friend and enemy, a defensive cover but also a cover for those waiting to attack or surprise. \r\n\r\nOnibaba is an outstanding film in every department and one that I heartily recommend.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.\r\n\r\nBBFC rated 15\r\n\r\nR1 ntsc dvd available from Criterion and a slightly better (though both are of a very high standard) R2 Pal dvd is available from Eureka Masters of Cinema Series.','77a58957119884544651bb8d668a8ff4',0,'','4BagoxrF',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12685,2271,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1133152020,1,0,1,1,1,1,'gratefultiger','Re: Onibaba (1964 - Japan)','Couldn\'t agree more,this is an outstanding film,very sensual & beautifully filmed,just saw the criterion release 2 days ago at home as i hadn\'t seen the film in years it is excellent.\r\ntop review champ keep up the good work on underappreciated\r\nfilms suich as Onibaba!','89a90f8efa2ab6a39ffb774de5a85cb1',0,'','sfVSna47',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12686,2271,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1133397000,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Onibaba (1964 - Japan)','Thanks for the fine review.\r\nHaven\'t seen the film yet, but I\'d like to recommend a similar film from Shindo he shot some years later: Yabu no naka no kuroneko \"Kuroneko / The Black Cat\" which is an outstanding film for transcending it\'s simple story and the horror formula into an existential piece of cinema. Expressionistic and surreal, this could probably make a good double-feature with \"Onibaba\".','c734468759964ae4864c5f460706fc4c',0,'','UDe87CmF',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12687,2271,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1133409060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Onibaba (1964 - Japan)','It\'s been a good few years since I last saw Kuroneko, I\'d love to see it again. I do remember that both films are sensual, Onibaba in a very earthy way while from what I can remember, Kuroneko was more ethereal.\r\n\r\nHopefully I\'ll get a chance to see it soon.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','38d4f5e552f54673787f19ac675967ec',0,'','ytYjlcAs',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12688,2271,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1133410860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','Re: Onibaba (1964 - Japan)','Onibaba was a wonderful film. I loved the grasses and the reeds blowing in the wind.\r\n\r\nAnd the mask is unforgettable.\r\n\r\nSara','5ac7046fa2b315b6d49efa6de197bbbf',0,'','zxe0FJrX',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12689,2272,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1130595120,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','The War Game (1965 - UK)','The War Game (1965)\r\n\r\nDirected by Peter Watkins \r\n\r\nA documentary/drama made for the BBC but banned from being shown on television for twenty years. \r\n\r\nMade in the middle of the cold war this film gives an idea of what it would probably be like if a nuclear attack on Britain took place. Using elements of the news of the time with the problems between East/West Berlin and the looming war in Vietnam along with data collected following the bombing of Hamburg, Dresden and of course, Hiroshima and Nagasaki plus details of the governments survival plans, it paints a grim picture of the resulting attack and the after effects.\r\n\r\nIm sure wpqx has probably seen this as it won an Oscar for best documentary and to be honest, I think its the sort of film everyone should see. Its frightening, both the visual details and the facts and figures thrown at you, if this doesnt make a pacifist of you, nothing will. This is almost, if not more harrowing than Barefoot Gen, this is scary stuff and just proves what a bunch of retards human beings are as a species.\r\n\r\nSome of the facts dealing with life after an attack like this or any form of disaster where normal society has collapsed reminded me of the reports following hurricane Katrina. This film has more truth and integrity than all the government pamphlets and instructional films put together, painfully honest and horrific.\r\n\r\nHighly recommended, a must see film in my opinion.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.\r\n\r\nBBFC rated 15.','c8c2b754141b2f379d263c9f6dce7869',0,'','i2Zqhcod',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12690,2273,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1124655300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','L\'Anne dernire Marienbad (1960) - Alain Resnais','A milestone in French cinema, Alain Resnais\' Last Year at Marienbad (1960) was a cinematic exercise in what can be done with a film. His characters have no names, their identities are mysteries, and what space they occupy will change in the blink of an eye. Describing the story seems pointless, because this is in no ways a plot film. It is more an experiment in how to tell a story.\r\n\r\nResnais was already hot in the cinematic world for his breakthrough Hiroshima Mon Amour, released one year prior. This film takes some of it\'s style from there, but whearas that film eventually settled into a love story, this film never does quite find it\'s plot. Instead it\'s details are unravelled like a mystery that has no intention of being solved. We are left with a vast array of clues rather than any concrete explanation. And by the end of the film we don\'t really care. There is no point in learning whether or not the supposed love affair occured, who this guy is who keeps insisting that it does and why can/can\'t the female remember.\r\n\r\nI tried to pay attention to the structure of the film this time around, but couldn\'t really discover any clues. The game played with cards I couldn\'t figure. I couldn\'t tell if there was some significance to the card sequencing, or if the point was to show how impossible it was for the mysterious \"M\" to lose. Perhaps it is this impossibility to lose that makes the most sense, because he is the one with \"A\". If she runs away, it will be his loss, and she can\'t run away, so is this game equating that the man can\'t lose anything? That\'s a lame interpretation I must admit, but for now that\'s my story and I\'m sticking to it.\r\n\r\nIt\'s clear to see the fascination with the hotel Marienbad. It\'s corridors never end, and the camera never runs out of places to visit. In fact I can\'t recall the camera actually staying still for any scenes in the film. It is constantly tracking, panning, or zooming, there are no static shots. With a set this grand, you can see why cinematographer Sacha Vierny wants to roam. \r\n\r\nWhat makes this film Resnais is something to examine in and of itself. Resnais was never really a screenwriter, and this film was written solely by Alain Robbe-Grillet. Yet somehow it fits perfectly into Resnais\' catalogue. He never tired of experimenting with space and time. His future films never logically unravel plot, and although most of his later work had a more cohesive structure to it, this film was in many ways an indicator of his films in teh future. There is a Resnais style, and it is very evident in this film. \r\n\r\nThe hypnotic grace however may be misleading. I nearly fell asleep the first time I watched the film, and on a second viewing felt my eyes getting heavy once more. Films with this sort of deliberate pace (another way of saying they\'re slow) can do that. They are so hypnotic that they occasionally lull you to sleep. I can\'t necessarily say Marienbad is Resnais best film, but it is the most realized Resnais film. It is the most pure representation of the kind of filmmaker he is. The film one should point to in trying to assess his style and what makes him an autuer.','a39fd208c060affbd89a0d1ef3b2b4e3',0,'','u5xDJgHQ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12691,2274,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1123880340,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Bernardo Bertolucci\'s The Conformist (1970)','Well I was gonna watch it again, and re-watch I have. This time there was no formatting to fit my screen, and no English dubbing. Instead it was the film as it should be seen (minus the movie theater of course). I noticed two things about the film with this new varation. First off, it wasn\'t too much different in it\'s original language, because the film very well might have been shot silent with dialogue dubbed in later, as was common with Italian films of the time. The second thing I noticed is that this film\'s genius is more attributable to Vittorio Storaro than to Bertolucci. It is a cinematographer\'s picture, and not a shot in the film seems wasted.\r\n\r\nThis film should be used for textbooks on staging and lighting. From the beginning it is noticable, the first shot of Marcello (Jean Louis Trintignant) in his hotel room, shrouded in neon shadow, we are constantly aware of the visual nature of the film. Storaro uses extreme pans, beautiful tracking shots, subjective POV shots, and lights every scene as if it were a painting. Even things as simple as the first scene with Marcello\'s wife (who\'s then only his fiance) played by Stefania Sandrelli, Storaro uses light from the Venetian blinds shining through likes bars. True to visual splendor, her dress perfectly matches the lighting scheme. We are aware of the lighting, and why? Giulia represents a form of prison for Marcelloe. She is dull and lifeless, and if you get a little alcohol in her, she acts the fool. I thought watching the dubbed version that the voice used for her was terrible, then when I saw Sandrelli herself voicing her lines, I realized she\'s supposed to be that irritating. The point is being made that this woman is someone you DON\'T want to end up married to.\r\n\r\nThe narrative structure is where Bertolucci gets to shine. The film is so fast paced, that he rarely has the patience to wait for one scene to end before starting the next, cross cutting between flashbacks within flashbacks, and flashforwards within flashbacks. If it sounds confusing, don\'t worry, visually it all works. It did take me awhile to notice exactly what Marcello and Manganiello (Gastone Moschin) were heading towards in the car. I\'ll abstain from mentioning it because it becomes the climax of the film.\r\n\r\nThe point of the story may be that conformity in and of itself is a bad thing, but Marcello isn\'t so much a conformist as he is an adapter. He doesn\'t want to draw attention to himself, so he plays by whatever rules are established by whatever side is currently winning. His character is a survivor like the protaganist in Europa, Europa (1991). He will pledge allegiance to anyone to keep himself out of harm\'s way. Only once do we see his loyalties quesitoned, and that is during the \"test\" given to him by Professor Quadri (Enzo Tarascio). He is asked to deliver a letter to an anti facist operative in Italy, knowing full well that Marcello works for the Italian government. The letter is just a blank sheet of paper, but his failure to turn it in, lets us know that perhaps his country isn\'t his top priority.\r\n\r\nBeing a guy, I found the most interesting scenes to be the ones featuring Anna (Domonique Sanda) and particularly her scenes with Giulia. There is a sexual undercurrent throughout the film, but Anna represents the sexuality that both Giulia and Marcello wish they could have. There is a fire in her, where Guilia and Marcello barely have a spark. And well looking at Sanda, it is very easy to see why anyone would go through hoops of fire to get to her. In fact Marcello\'s guilt over his assignment to investigate Prof. Quadri is more for not wanting to harm Anna. His loyalties again shift, from his mentor to his mentor\'s wife (who\'s about half his age). \r\n\r\nSome people have attributed his weak will and desire to blend in from his latent homosexuality. We only get one clear example of this, from his childhood, which is also the first time Marcello kills somebody. The shooting seems rather silly and unintentional, but perhaps it was Marcello\'s own fear of his homosexuality, or perhaps his fear of his young sexual urges, because at this point in time he\'s still a child. Our first image of him as a child though is him getting beaten up by about a dozen local boys on roller skates. He is obviously the outcast in childhood, and wants to fit in. His goal in life is to be one of the bullies, not the bullied. This first sexual experience, and killing is what helps him to become that. He has had the ultimate power, taking a human life.\r\n\r\nStaging is everything, and Bertolucci likes to show his actors occupying separate rooms while talking. He does this early on with Giulia and Marcello in one room, while Guilia\'s maid (whom Marcello is also sleeping with), stands in the hallway looking on. It is repeated throughout, with Marcello looking in on Anna and Giulia, and towards the end with Marcello and Giulia having a conversation from different rooms in their house. He is visually showing the distance these people have, and in particular Marcello\'s. He\'s unable to really get close to anyone, because he puts up a wall in front of him, sometimes quite literally. It is because there is no real identity in Marcello. He is whoever you want him to be, or whoever he needs to be, for that he may be weak, but it gives him an edge. \r\n\r\nbtw do whatever you have to do to see this film, it\'s one of the absolute best pictures ever made, and would sit somewhere in my top ten foreign film list.','1b94a54668c7a4a821d23c15854cc1e9',0,'','eXs5PQAS',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12692,2275,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1118374080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Xala (1975) - Ousmane Sembene (Senegal)','Im elated. Thats the only way I can quite describe the feeling I had finishing this film. Ousmane Sembene films are about as hard to come by as atomic weapons, maybe even harder, because at least the WMD were made at one point. The fact that Xala, along with Mandabi have both been released on DVD makes me jump up and down with sheer and utter joy, the grandfather of African Cinema can now, for the first time ever, be discovered on home video. With any director whose work is so well hidden, expectations can be impossibly high, which perhaps makes the triumph of Xala, even more exuberant.\r\nThe film is simple, but it takes awhile for us to find that out. Sembene sets the film up to be a satire on politics and politicians, as well as Africans selling out in an attempt to mimic their European conquerors, particularly the French. The film is in French, so even the dialogue helps support this. Although the story shifts from these natives pretending to be European to the story of one man, it still remains satirical. Sembene is saying that with a conversion to European customs you may lose what it means to be a man.\r\nGender issues are of the utmost in this film, and early on El Hadjis third wife is even being lectured on the differences between men and women. His earlier wives are instructing her on the lessons that men are superior, and it is her duty as a woman to be available whenever he sees fit to use her sexually. It is a backwards notion, but the ironic twist is that she wont be used sexually, because this superior man is in fact impotent. It may be just his age, but soon enough they become convinced that his impotence is not a matter of growing old or his wifes fault (She is described as being able to wake the dead). Like most men his sexual problem begins to be blamed on an outside source, a curse or Xala.\r\nThis leads him all over the country seeing specialists who are little more than witch doctors telling him some of the most ridiculous ways to get rid of his problem. Herein lies the comedy of the film, because this civilized African with the makings of a European gentleman is seen with a bone in his teeth crawling to his wife, and bathing in holy water to get an erection, not exactly the measure of the modern man. His political position becomes secondary, and he even recruits the help of the president to help solve his problem. In the meantime the women in his life, ridicule him behind his back for the most part. One of these inferior creatures eventually lays down some kind of law when his second wife comes to see him at work, asking for money, and saying that hes done with the child. She wants her turn, and she figures his Xala is nothing that a little loving cant fix.\r\nA band of derelicts at one point seem to be just a subplot. They do originally connect, because it is El Hadji who asks the president if he can help get rid of the socially undesirables that surround his business. This band of people, some cripples, others just round up at the wrong time, spend the rest of the film wandering. They eventually wind up in the home of El Hadji, and lets say their revenge is at one point revolting and on the other hand it made me want to stand up and applaud, even though I was the only one in my room watching it. I can understand now why Moolaade, the only other Sembene film I have seen got a standing ovation in a movie theater (the first and only time Ive ever seen a film receive that reaction). Sembenes work empowers us in some way. He takes the womens side frequently, and this mans inadequacy may very well be a feminist move. I did chuckle that El Hadjis daughters room had a poster of Le Noire De (which was Sembenes first film). The grandfather of African cinema is a legend, and this film is one of the best reasons why. \r\n\r\nGrade A','f631f4ef1881faa3425e54f4ed759926',0,'','8Q6G3Emy',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12693,2275,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1118375520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Xala (1975) - Ousmane Sembene (Senegal)','Fantastic post! Your review is the best I\'ve read for this film. I have seen the film but now I\'m gonna see it again, and it\'s all your fault.','d81d2e77622fa5eeda332b4f129c1bcc',0,'','iYpRVsob',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12694,2276,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1117027380,1,0,1,1,1,1,'MikLosk','Tristana (Luis Bunuel & Catherine Denueve, 1970) (France','What films do we usually remember when talk about \"the best Bunuel movie\"? There are several standard contenders: highly praised by critics \"Viridiana\", extremely popular among wide audience \"Discreet Charme of the Bourgeoisie\", classical genre-defining \"Un Chien Andalou\" and \"L\'Age d\'or\", his best anti-religious \"Nazarin\" and \"Simeon of the Desert\". But I\'m going to make a strange announcement now: his best films are \"Belle de jour\" and \"Tristana\" with great Catherine Deneuve. \r\n\r\nI\'ve recently watched his retrospective and have now a very distinct opinion about his stuff. Nobody can deny his great influence on world cinema (one of the greatest among european directors), but I think the quality of his creativity itself is slightly overrated. He\'s too categorical and severe in his movies. Besides, he\'s a self-repertory director: if you watch all his movies in the row you\'ll see how obvious is that fact. BUT! Two movies that I\'ve mentioned above are unexplicably magnificient. It\'s Catherine Deneuve whose talent and subtle power of performance fill his movies with mysterious charme and cheerful lightness. \r\n\r\nNow let\'s talk about \"Tristana\" itself. It tells about the young chaste girl (Catherine Deneuve) who moved to the old philanderer (Fernando Ray) after her mother\'s death. No wonder, she\'s becoming his lover. He claimed himself as a \"man of free customs\". He said that she\'s absolutely free in her love affairs, but his real wish is to hold her nearly and not to share her with any of that \"damn young ladies\' men\". As a result, she\'s fallen in love to the young artist. Soon she left her husband-trustee and moved to another city with the new lover. But not for a long time: in a several years she\'ll become ill and he\'ll become rich - so, her return is inevitable...\r\n\r\nThis film is one of rare \"straight stories\" in Bunuel filmography. Yes, it has several surrealistic (I\'d say \"bunuelesque\") features: funeral-like wedding (one of the best scenes of the picture) and head instead of a toung of a bell in Deneuve hero\'s dreams. But the whole film is a simple and straight (but really scary and sad!) story of the moral falling of one girl. There are several real succesfull Bunuel\'s achievements in the movie: history of the getting older philanderer who is apt to narcissism; wedding scene that I\'ve already mentioned; using of town streets to create a specific mood. But power of Deneuve\'s performance is so great (I can\'t remeber such a striking turning from the innocent \"ewe lamb\" to the cold arrogant debauchee in cinema history) that it affects the movie itself and destroys author\'s irritation and cruelty (so common for Bunuel\'s movies!) and fill the movie with specific soft athmosphere. Deneuve becomes one of authors of the movie - and Bunuel (fortunately!) can\'t avoid her influence.\r\n9/10','1297ea72130add9d104082afcb25c18a',0,'','optVljZD',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12695,2276,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1119658800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Tristana (Luis Bunuel & Catherine Denueve, 1970) (France','Just watched this, first time I\'ve seen it for years. Deneuve\'s performance makes the film but theres not a great deal I can add since you\'ve covered everything so well in your comments. Mind you, the socialist spoutings of Don Lope were hilarious considering he was nothing but a bourgeois philandering freeloader.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','fcb5a80b235da9854c615324e4c67a2f',0,'','bW3kQnUl',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12696,2277,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1118378520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Weekend (1967) - Jean Luc Godard (France)','Capitalist Hell\r\n\r\nIn the world of cinema no one pushed the boundaries of the medium quite like Jean-Luc Godard. He was considered the most inventive filmmaker since Griffith, and he set the bar for experimentation so high that he himself has hard times reaching it again. The sixties were his golden age, and Weekend was his crowning achievement. It is the film that best expresses all his quirks and ideologies before turning too self-indulgent. It is a vicious attack on capitalism and Euro/American Imperialism centered on a greedy couple and a never-ending traffic jam.\r\nGodard was one of five major critics-turned-directors from the French film journal Cahiers du Cinema. He was parallel with Francois Truffaut in terms of international popularity, slightly ahead of Jacques Rivette in terms of experimentation, and about even with Claude Chabrol in terms of productivity. Of the group, his films were by far the most political.\r\nFor Godard capitalism was the evil of the world, being wrought on unsuspecting cultures at the hands of American Imperialism. He radically opposed US involvement in Vietnam, as well as Frances participation in the war on Algeria. He was a Marxist, followed Mao, and generally spoke out against any foreign influence over any nation. Weekend was one of the first and still most successful times that this became center stage for one of his films.\r\nNot to make things too easy though. He doesnt set the film up as a political forum. Instead it is a simple trip to the country that gets more and more absurd as the film progresses. It is safe to say that there is no real plot to the film. The series of events that occur just seem like a slight digression ultimately concluding in radical Maoist guerilla warfare fighting cannibals.\r\nFor Godard capitalism is death. It destroys national identities, exploits races, and imposes its will upon all. This concept of death equating capitalism is symbolized through automobiles, the ultimate symbol of Western, and capitalistic society. Not even the multi car pile up in Blues Brothers can compare with the amount of wrecked cars strewn about throughout the picture.\r\nThe film even begins with a discussion of an accident where seven people died. The married couple of the story each wish the other was involved in it. They consistently wish that either Corinnes (Mireille Darc) rich father or cruel mother were the victim of some horrible accident. For their love of his money they have poisoned his food every week for months.\r\nBefore the couple even set out for their routine trip to Corinnes parents there are two fights resulting from cars. The first takes place as Corinne and her lover are discussing a potential murder for her husband Roland (Jean Yanne). People down in the parking lot start honking their horns incessantly, and then we get a look at the action. Not in a typical dispute over a fender bender mind you, but a rather violent interaction. They swing chains and leave the instigator for dead. Corinne hardly notices, only saying she wishes it was Roland.\r\nThe other interaction involves Roland and Corinne, as they are about to leave. Roland backs into a neighbors car and gets in an argument with the whole family. Ironically the pestering kid who gets his mother is dressed as a Native American. Godard throws in an attempt by Roland to just through some money at him to shut up. The American imperialism has been commented and satirized for the first but not the last time in the film. Rather than hurt the woman as she comes out, they threaten her with spray paint to her designer dress. Not surprisingly though, that interaction ends with gunshots.\r\nGodard next uses the country as his battleground, and this is where he predominantly stays for the rest of the picture. The first scene in the country is a ten-minute long take of a traffic jam. Godard is showing the invasion of unspoiled country by Western ideology and their products. Along the way are overturned cars, bored motorists playing volleyball, dead bodies, a sailboat, and a convenient Shell oil truck. Godard cuts the humor of the scene short with a blood bath at the end of the jam. The dead bodies are casualties of capitalism, and despite police officers directing traffic there is no ambulance.\r\nIn fact despite all the death and wrecked cars throughout the film, there is never an ambulance. Godard makes a point of showing us how desensitized towards violence society has become. People die every day at the hand of American forces. Godard uses the never-ending supply of casualties to comment on the war in Vietnam, as well as US and European involvement in Africa. The African garbage worker claims Africa suffered a form of Nazism at the hands of America, England, and France. Sometimes this is done via direct narratives, but throughout the film the body count represents our shrugging off of death. Godards use of inordinate amounts of blood, in a bright red color are a stab at the violent media televising war.\r\nGodard makes this point even more clearly with his slaughtering of animals. No one watching the film seems to care how many dead bodies are lying about, and no one in the film pays any mind as well. Yet we only react to the murder of Corinnes mother when Godard cuts to a skinned rabbit being covered in blood. Likewise we dont seem to shocked at the raping cannibals, but have to look away when they show a pig and goose being slaughtered. \r\nThe married couple is more concerned with what the victims are wearing than whether they are still alive. Roland takes sport coats off of several dead men. When their own car is wrecked, Corinne is screaming over her Merdees handbag, not even asking if Roland or the people in the other two cars are alive. \r\nMaterial possessions are the top priority for the couple throughout the film. The whole trip is motivated by an inheritance totaling fifty million francs. When the two are forced into giving a ride to the Exterminating Angel (a reference to Luis Bunuel), he promises them anything they want for a ride to London. Rather than an idealistic world peace or end to hunger they wish for a new Mercedes, an Eves St. Laurent evening dress, a Miami Beach hotel, to be a natural blonde, and a weekend with James Bond. Not surprising they get nothing but a rabbit under the glove compartment. \r\nGodards stance on religion is mixed throughout. At times he does take the communist stance of religion being the opium of the masses. The Exterminating Angel claims to be the Son of God and thus God. He claims to be the offspring of a homosexual affair that the Lord had, saying Gods and old queer. He also reasons I am God because Im lazy. The couple refers to Jesus as a communist, and Christianity is defined as The refusal of self-knowledge, its the death of language. \r\nThe film itself is set up as a capitalist hell. Nothing goes right, everyone dies, and months go by without any change, perhaps another Bunuel reference. Godard and cinematographer Raoul Coutard set most of the film up in extremely long single shot scenes. It may seem at first to be Godard showing off his visual flair, but it becomes a metaphor for hell. The long takes arent hellish in nature, but their length is symbolic of eternity. \r\nMoney is the form of satire throughout Weekend. Godard even comments on the money required to make the film itself. The picture was a French-Italian co-production, and Godard shows the Italians in only one shot, casually passing by, with a comment from Corinne. Godard knows that even when a communist wants to make a movie he has to deal with big business.\r\nGodards anti-American stance seemed quite harsh here. When Roland tries to get a ride, the driver asks if he would rather be screwed by Mao or Johnson. When Roland replies Johnson, the driver goes off calling him a Fascist. Godard seems to be linking America with Fascism, also evident from the earlier African Nazism comment.\r\nWeekend remains one of Godards richest, and in my opinion best films. There is plenty more being said throughout the picture. He comments on film as an art, as well as literature, the state of modern music, and sentiments of racism. There are numerous talks about class society, including a title card saying Class Society. Yet at its heart it is a film brewing with contempt for all the negative aspects of capitalism, and the evils of a culture that wants what it doesnt need.','efda6aa88fbbe46c7c1d1676f1044753',0,'','VBTpdkc1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12697,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1170558780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','D W Griffith','I have seen roughly 30 short films by Griffith, but few if any of them could I remember anything about. I\'m going through my set of his films once more, and trying to at least write about them as I see them. Now there has been a tendency in film history to just lump every techincal development to Griffith, and he himself did a great deal to perpetuate the myth that he was the \"Father of Cinema\". However no director of his generation can even come close to matching his skill as a storyteller, a filmmaker, and even as an innovator. Perhaps with any luck I\'ll be able to revisit some of his features as well, but for now this brief look at his short films is as much for my benefit as yours. Oh and in case you\'re wondering, I have to go to work, and don\'t have time to watch a full length film, hence the reason the Oscar watch is on hold.\r\n\r\nIn the Border States (1910) \r\n\r\nOne of if not the earliest Civil War film Griffith made, this one takes his extraordinary attention to detail and applies to a rather humanistic tale. Taking place near the Mason-Dixon line, this involves two families from opposing sides as one daughter or a union soldier wards off a confederate soldier in their home. Taking place on Griffith\'s typical house, the same room shown in nearly all of his films. An actor portraying Robert E. Lee appears here, and just as in Birth of a Nation, you almost feel a little history coming to life.\r\n\r\nThe House With Closed Shutters (1910)\r\n\r\nAnother Civil War short, this one is powerfully feminist in its implications. A man is drafted to fight for the Union, but chickens out, and rather than risk family disgrace, his sister dons the uniform and goes to fight for him. She winds up being killed, and as a result the cowardly brother is made a prisoner in his own house, never to show his face. The film is overtly patriotic, and deals with a moral code of family honor that may make it seem horrifically dated. Still the thought of not just a woman impersonating a man, but actually going off to war and being braver than the man is a novel concept indeed. Try not to get too distracted with the \"black\" servant who\'s very much a white man in makeup.\r\n\r\nThe Fugitive (1910)\r\n\r\nIt is odd to think about it, but during Griffith\'s time if you wanted to make a war film you basically had the Civil War to choose from. Before either World War, and after the decidedly uncinematic Spanish-American War, this was your stomping ground. The Fugitive makes an extensive use of location shooting, moving far out of the typical one room studio. An early sense of parallel editing is present, as Confederate soldiers are tracking down a Union fugitive who\'s killed one of their men. The ironic twist is he hides out in the house of the mother of the boy he\'s killed. Griffith, one of the earliest humanists, and a decided pacifist shows that North or South we\'re all Americans. In many ways tied to the similar themes of In the Border States. Griffith unfortunately gets left off the list of the great humanist directors, but lets be honest Kurosawa, Ray, and Renoir all owe an enormous debt to Griffith thematically if not from a techincal standpoint. The Fugitive shows much more of the guilt of killing in war than previous pictures.','214f2197e232ae0e3c1adb09a918e266',0,'','D25EHc49',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12698,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1170559680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','His Trust (1910) \r\n\r\nOne of the hardest of Griffith\'s films to watch, this features one of the most controversial shots in all of silent cinema, featuring a young white girl ride an old black servants back like a horse. This same servant in horrific blackface makeup to boot. Now looking at this scene isolated is tough, however in the context of the film this is remarkably liberal. In the film the black servant winds up saving the daughter\'s life, as well as the recently deceased master of the house\'s sword (his honour). Taking a very pro-Confederate stance though this illustrates the \"happy slave\" mentality that makes it rough. The picture depicts the Union soldiers as looting muderers, and the nobile Southerners as good people, inspiring devotion in their black slaves. This was the first of a two-part series followed by His Trust Fulfilled right after. Not having the extra time to watch the sequel as yet, I\'ll have to let you know how it concludes later.','70c5e7eb23019d0e44a915e53059c379',0,'','hjBJLiP7',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12699,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1170636540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','His Trust Fulfilled (1910) \r\n\r\nWell as our story continues, it is once again the faithful servant who must come to the aid of his ill equipped and proper white masters. He sends himself into poverty to keep his former masters from the same fate. The second half does not have quite the same power as the first, nor the texture but if you\'re wondering whether they all lived happily ever after here\'s your answer. The little girl grows up and marries, which if I\'m not mistaken she married her cousin, but hey it is the south and these things could still fly. \r\n\r\nSwords and Hearts (1910) \r\n\r\nOnce again the loyal slave is given due corse. While the man of the house is away fighting for the Confederacy he is unknowingly the object of one of the farm hands daughters. She risks her life, even taking a bullet to save him, meanwhile after losing the war a band of bushwackers comes to raid the house, and only the servant has forseen it. The house is burnt down and looted, but not before the wise old slave manages to bury the families most valuable possessions. Anyways love conquers all and such, and again we are led to believe that slaves just love their masters, or at least the one\'s who get to work in the house.\r\n\r\nThe Battle (1911) \r\n\r\nThe one film on this set that didn\'t seem to get any restoration, at first its jarring to watch, but within a few minutes you forget how horrifically deteriorated the print is. The story involves a victorious Union battle fought at heavy cost and the redemption of a coward. Something like the retribution that the man from The House With Closed Shutters wished he had. The battle scenes, particularly the Confederate charge seem to be the blueprint for Birth of a Nation. Not much of a face is put on the Confederates here, as the battle is pretty much all on Union perspective.','a56d0dbfbe8d4aae55fb42d65e8e1742',0,'','PrdaiNRA',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12700,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181352540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','True Heart Susie (1919)\r\n\r\nIt\'s been a long time since I\'ve seen a feature film from Griffith, and after watching this picture I\'d say its been too long. True Heart Susie is a remarkably unpretentious film of Griffith\'s that harkens back to his simpler days making films at Biograph. In fact the time setting of the film is roughly ten years before it was released. Lillian Gish again appears as the cheerful and good natured small town girl who does everything to help the man she loves suceed. Some of the twists and turns are a little predictable, and sometimes you have to wonder how much life must have sucked back then, but its a simple moral and it is very effective. Griffith makes us care for these characters particularly Susie and William and we genuinely feel for their situation, even if in 1919 death was the only acceptable solution to a bad marriage.\r\n\r\nRocky Road (1911) was also included on the Grapevine DVD.','656998917185f06a58cb1e26a5d96c83',0,'','pfCPDWKh',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12701,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181679540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: D W Griffith','I agree with your statement that Griffith is often forgotten, or simply ignored when it comes to humanist directors due to his more controversial films (which definitely seem racist, imo). Like wpqx I think he definitely belongs next to renoir and Kurosawa, though!\r\n\r\nI\'ve seen about a dozen of his early shorts, most of which were remarkably good. I liked The unchanging Sea (1910) the most because of its beautiful photography and its pacing, even though the direction was a tad bit too melodramatic at the end, as is often the case in many films by Griffith. A Corner in Wheat (1909) was also remarkable. What I like about him is that the acting is also quiet subtle at times (of course there are also expressive bouts), at least compared to some other films from this early period of cinema. Griffith is imo a very good director when it comes to actors. \r\n\r\nIt\'s true though, that his films tend to merge somewhat in memory, as the styles and stories are often very similar.\r\nBut I still vividely recall the stunning images he conjured up in An unseen Enemy (1912), when Lillian and Dorothy Gish are on the run from the housekeeper who tries to kill them. The image of the hand with the gun sticking through the door is terrifying and haunting! \r\n\r\nFrom the films you mention I\'ve only seen His Trust (1910). I wouldn\'t call it racist, but it remains very ambivalent. While Griffith clearly isn\'t portaying the slave as a negative figure (quite the opposite) his view is simplistic and condescending, not so if you watch only this film, but if you are aware of the fact that he uses this view of black people over and over in many of his films. Of course some of the people surely had been naive, and loyal to their \"masters\" but the majority probably wasn\'t. Talking about the times the film was made in doesn\'t make it much easier to watch.\r\nIt\'s interesting that almost all black people were portrayed by whites in blackface in American films up until the mid 20s. This wasn\'t something one should particularly blame Griffith for. To me it\'s rather a document of its time, similar to the fact that men had to play female parts at the theater in Britain during certain periods. Like in ancient Greece and in Europe during the middle-ages women weren\'t allowed on stage.','5b66d7310921037b5b882d74359d8a85',0,'','RVJgil7z',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12702,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181683500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','True, but you sometimes wonder whether Griffith could have had black actors and challenged the status quo.','e09099ac689ef79061e370d9cce45643',0,'','6GJgPUrf',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12703,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181703600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: D W Griffith','That would have certainly been something. But then again, he definitely wouldn\'t have made The Birth of a Nation','358c467f096f2f4ec2d736eacb872fa8',0,'','U9LBlsFa',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12704,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1185329700,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','Judith of Bethulia (1914) \r\n\r\nConsidered by some sources to be Griffith\'s first feature. He made this film in open defiance of Biograph\'s demand that his films shouldn\'t be longer than two reels. Griffith ignored this and made a four reel historical spectacle. Utilizing a 12 mile backdrop, he meticulously recreated ancient Jerusalem and proceeded to make an update of this legend of a recently widowed woman who is believed to be justified in her murder of her people\'s enemy. Watching the film I wonder if it needed to be four reels. Much of the film simply consists of fighting, and done in such a chaotic way that its hard to even tell who\'s who. The film is certainly rich in historical significance. It was considered something of an American Quo Vadis, just as Intolerance was considered Griffith\'s answer to Cabiria. However the film feels much more like one of DeMille\'s religious epics. Lots of flash, but not a great deal of substance. The ensuing anger Biograph had at Griffith resulted in his leaving the studio and becoming an independent filmmaker, and led directly to his making Birth of a Nation.','149c93e7a4a23f4ed549ba57b67b1cda',0,'','hM3JFayf',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12705,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1185330840,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: D W Griffith','Kael agrees with you: \"Seen now, this D.W. Griffith 4-reeler (which was one of the first 4-reel films made in America) appears to be a warmup for the splendors of his Intolerance. Judith of Bethulia is not an altogether likable picture, but it has its heavy pseudo-Oriental charms.\"','76e668b11af7fe96411eade710be9125',0,'','d7QuNpBf',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12706,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1185332100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','Always nice/surprising to agree with Kael.\r\n\r\nHome Sweet Home (1914)\r\n\r\nHard to watch one Griffith film without another. This film although featuring an almost identical cast, and being produced in the same year as Judith, the films could hardly be more different. John Payne, the composer behind the song \"Home Sweet Home\" is shown here as his life if intercut with several groups of people who each seem to be effected in a different way by the title song. This shifting group of protagonists make things a little hard to follow. The length of this film unfortunately makes it hard for us to really care for any of the particular characters. In all honesty this is not one of Griffith\'s best works, and its historical significance is negligible. Gish commented that the film was the first \"all-star\" picture, but in reality the cast was pretty much the Griffith regulars. As one of Griffith\'s more contemporary films this allows to carry on most of already well established themes. Few characters seem completely bad, and everyone seems to be redeemable. The ending is a little silly, but is one of the few moments of fantasy in a Griffith film I can recall. That said, Gish commented that she can\'t watch the ending with a straight face, oh well.','a96150c7c8c77ba9be884dd75e0f9a94',0,'','N3MerckY',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12707,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1187050320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','The Avenging Conscience (1914)\r\n\r\nWhen hearing the phrase \"silent movie\" we don\'t quite think of them as silent. I picked up The Avenging Conscience on VHS courtesy of Grapevine video and the film really is silent. There isn\'t even a score on the film, and that can have a surprising effect. I watched Paul Frejos\'s Lonesome earlier today and that had a poorly tacked on score of classical music that didn\'t seem to fit the film, but at least it gave it some rhythm. Without any score, ill-fitting or not it can be hard to follow a film. At least when there\'s no score or dialog, thus hammering home how important music can be in a film. This film another of Griffith\'s early ventures into feature film territory is about a man who reads a little too much Edgar Allen Poe. He is given the choice between marrying the girl he loves and inheriting his uncle\'s fortune. He chooses love, but love doesn\'t choose him. So spitefully he murders his uncle, and puts his body behind a brick wall, but hears his heart beating until he goes crazy. The girl stricken with grief over what she did winds up trying to throw herself off a cliff. Of course there\'s more to it, and the ending isn\'t that dreadful. The film did prove however to be an enormous influence on many films after it, and much was appropriated by the German\'s during the next decade. Not one of his best remembered films, but one well worth hunting out, and I\'ll likely keep my eyes peeled for a restored edition with a soundtrack, because this was hardly the most pristine of editions.','10078bf6d0d680741ba7249c348b8aca',0,'','e8yLPbE1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12708,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1215571860,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','The Hearts of the World, from the silent film journal thread. Sorry forgot about the Griffith thread temporarily.','f0a634cc2527e67ca2a32545f413c989',0,'','lpLFmyB6',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12709,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1215833700,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','The Mother and the Law (1914-1919) \r\n\r\nThis film had quite the strange fate. Shot relatively quickly after Birth of a Nation was completed the film was not released immediately following promotional tours for Birth. After that film proved so successful Griffith decided that small films were out and his next film (and all others) must be huge and epic, so The Mother and the Law was quickly absorbed into Intolerance. New scenes were shot, some were cut, and the film was done, or so he thought. Intolerance was too epic so this story again had to be trimmed, so more scenes were redone and re-edited and put in Intolerance. When that film proved unsuccessful the idea to release this story individually was done to help recoup some of the losses. So Griffith again shot some new scenes and re-edited the film restoring some of the cut footage and changing others. This new, new version finally hit theaters in 1919 and surprise it wasn\'t successful either. Being an immense fan of Intolerance I\'ve always believed that the contemporary story was the best part of the film. However with the entire story here it almost seems too much, not in a really over the top way but the tragedy is heaped on mighty thick here. Parents die, lovers go to jail, babies are taken away, and intolerance precedes everything. There is still an enormous emotional power in the film, but cut with three other stories it is far more compelling than this individual slice. Perhaps Griffith should have left well enough alone. Mae Marsh tries a little too hard at the beginning to seem young and innocent and it comes off a little creepy and condescending. Many of the other performances suffer from that lack of credibility and excess common that so many people criticize silent films for. Worthy on its own merits this probably should have been included with the DVD release of Intolerance to give people the option of comparing.','6a1b229d0a8b8a0ee58431ace00f71bb',0,'','SyNDen0A',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12710,2278,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1216428300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: D W Griffith','The Sorrows of Satan (1926) \r\n\r\nMy first experience seeing a Griffith film in a theater was not entirely a success. The film was shown with no musical accompaniment, started late, and the film itself caught fire three times. I got the impression during the film that Griffith might be the most moral of all filmmakers. There is always a side and agenda coming through, which makes Intolerance all the more interesting because there he\'s moralizing moralizers. Now no Griffith film would be complete without a lengthy and wordy prologue, and here we see Satan being cast out of heaven and told that he\'ll have an hour at the gates of paradise for every soul that resists him. So now we have our story. Two young would be writers live across from each other in a low rent boarding house. They obviously love one another but have little to show for their literary aspirations. One night they have rolls and coffee (all they can afford) and the man suddenly gets aggressive, trying his hardest to be invited back into the girl\'s room. She confesses his love and next thing you know they\'ve slept with each other, quite scandalous for 1926. The next day they plan on getting married, get the license and everything seems great, even the girl sold one of her stories. The man goes to pick up a check for reviewing other people\'s books when he\'s told that his services are no longer necessary. Believing money is the only thing that matters he offers to sell his soul to any devil that\'ll buy. It got a laugh out of the audience when Adolphe Menjou suddenly appears telling him about a rich old uncle that just died. So he wines and dines him and introduces him to a cardboard cutout vamp named Princess Olga. Suddenly he must think of his position and leaves the girl behind and of course the age old \"be careful what you wish for\" nonsense pops up and tragedy has to strike before redemption. The films most impressive sequence comes when a car takes away the man and the woman tries yelling at him in a great montage that shows Griffith could compete with the Russians he helped inspire. The film is typical heavy handed griffith.','e4c20733b051b3c1a5ea881a2c69c03d',0,'','AP2FTtxh',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12711,2279,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1155784620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','some comments on the \"Black Film\" Movement','Saw three shorts from Zelimir Zilnik and two from Karpo Godina from the late sixties, early seventies, that could be classified as belonging to the then much-maligned \"Black Film\" movement.\r\n\r\nThe three by Zilnik (Lipanjska gibanja (1969), Nezaposleni ljudi (1968 ) , Crni film (1971) with camera by Godina) were early efforts to show poverty and homelessness in Yugoslav society (a fact that was being denied by the government), and his attempts to start dealing with this conciously through the usage of film. A kind of wake-up cry for himself and probably other filmmakers. They were quite interesting, but more as documents of their time and of Zilnik than as films per se.\r\n\r\nThe two by Godina (Gratinirani mozak Pupilije Ferkeverk (1970), Zdravi ljudi za razonodu (1971) - he photographed, edited, directed, wrote and produced them himself with the help of other members of his team) were more allegorical, and tried to create an impact through the opposition and interrelation of the topic presented and the use of music, editing and framing. The photography is both times excellent (as can be expected by Godina), but the films were imo lacking a bit of substance, (or were maybe just too cynical for my taste).\r\nBoth shorts were forbidden. Zdravi ljudi za razonodu because it ridicules the possibility of different ethnic groups living peacfully together in the autonomous region of Vojvodina, while Gratinirani mozak Pupilije Ferkeverk was declared \"decadent\".\r\n\r\nOverall these experimental outings seemed to me on more or less the same qualitative level, with Zilnik\'s concentrated more on the subject matter and Godina\'s on its (re-)presentation. Structuring was created primarily through editing and - with Godina - framing. \r\n\r\nI\'ve also seen two films by Karpo Godina (which he directed)last year on slovenian TV, as part of the 100 years of slovenian cinema series (unfortunately they were also the only films I saw). \r\nThe first Rdeci boogie (1982) is somehow already a \"classic\" slovenian film, that deals with a young travelling band of musicians that are supposed to heighten the spirit of the rural workers through music. It\'s set in the 50s shortly after the war, and shows the repression of the people under the dictatorship in a seemingly lighthearted and casual but finally very effective way. Comes with a recommendation.\r\nThe second, Umetni raj \"Artificial Paradise\" (1990) is about Fritz Lang\'s stay in Slovenia during the First World War. In the background story Lang reminisces this stay from his new-found home in Hollywood during the thierties. The film is interestingly constructed, but imo ultimately failed as a whole. The history lesson and characterstudy was overall too heavy-handed to enjoy. \r\nThe most impressing is his camerawork, which can be imo compared with some of the best around the world. His way of lighting, and use of space and time can create astonishing effects. He prefers long deep-focus shots and plan-sequences. Both films are very slow, and on the surface not much seems to be happening, but the camera acts as observer and commentator. Another film he has photographed and I\'ve seen is Radio.doc (1995) which was made for TV (you can find a short review by me in the slovenian films thread).','f99957af93c84cd52f89f69eb09680e8',0,'','pykv9eEU',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12739,2281,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1200382200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Apichatpong Weerasethakul','[Moved from Asian Arena thread - OP 08/24/05]\r\n\r\nMYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON (Thailand / 2000)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAn abstract title such as Mysterious Object at Noon is perhaps an apt one for a film that is one of the most unique and innovative to come out in recent years. It is neither a documentary nor a fictional account of a tale draped in local pop and mythological surrealism. (According to critic Chuck Stephens, the Thai title of the film, Dokfa nai meuman, translates as \"Dogfar in Devils Hand,\" with the name Dogfar breeding a certain familiarity to the Thai audiences aware of their melodramas of the past.) Made by a then twentysomething Apichatpong after graduating with a masters degree in Film from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, this 16mm black-and-white effort employs a storytelling technique known as \"exquisite corpse.\" That requires various writers to add their ideas to the main story in small doses without knowing what has come prior. Therefore, with that in mind, Apichatpong traveled through Thailand, visiting various small villages collecting anecdotes for his \"main\" idea. And this idea -- involving a disabled young boy and his \"alien\" female teacher (Dogfar) who is responsible for the mysterious object of the title -- stems from a woman we witness early on when shes asked to tell a fictional story. When its all said and done, we get to watch a theatrical rendition from adults, end up listening to some wildly imaginative kids, not to mention the version from an eccentric old granny, among others. However, its not all fun and games. The woman who created the idea also tells the camera her true story about how she was sold into slavery by her parents. We also hear another account of a couple of young boys who met the same fate. Apichatpongs film is like a local travelogue even though the focus isnt on anything in particular. But this experiment is neither self-sufficient nor some sort of a calling card for higher acclaim. The fact that Mysterious Object has by now played at hundreds of festivals around the world is a true testament to Apichatpong\'s vision, which has remained quintessentially Thai.','8492a6e950f6120cad7cf711fd8381ef',0,'','6JjZwvxk',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12740,2281,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1205743080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'hengcs','Re: Apichatpong Weerasethakul','I guess I have never shared my views about his films ... \r\nSo, here are some quick thoughts ... \r\n\r\n... In general, I think his films are credited mainly for his style, which is rather atypical from a traditional story telling. But is it that \"atypical\"? or is it merely a borrow from some other artform? ... \r\n\r\n(1) Mysterious Object at Noon \r\n... arsaib4 noted the storytelling technique as \"exquisite corpse\". \r\n... when i first watched the film (becos of all the accolades), i liked the film but i was NOT crazy over it ... why?! in terms of story telling style, i thought it was sth i was very familiar with, except that it was not filmed and screened in cinema. when i was young, we always played this game in class (and even in a competition), we always tried to invent a story with different people connecting it up, with or without the knowledge of what happens prior ... so in a way, although i thought the film was well executed, i was less surprised by the technique than the effort in transforming it into a film ... \r\n\r\n(2) Blissfully Yours \r\n... I thought the beginning was a bit draggy (i.e., the medical checkup scene) etc, the pace took a while to pick up ... \r\n... In the theatre that i watched, i recall a number of people walking off half way ... i guess they find it too boring, and not knowing where the film is going ... \r\n... why do the legs in the stream scene reminds me of Children of Heaven?! \r\n... i have to admit that by asian standards, the ending was shocking ... \r\n\r\n(3) Tropical Malady \r\n... Of the four films i listed, i like the SECOND SEGMENT of this film best ... \r\n\r\n... i think i wrote it in the OLD board ... when i first watched the film till the end of the first segment, i was still very puzzled by how it managed to win so much accolades (because the first half can be considered rather weak without the second half) ... but by the end of the second half, i thought the film was deserving ... \r\n\r\n(4) Syndromes and a Century \r\nAgain, another film that impresses with style ... when i watched it, i like the cinematography, i like the well execution ... but i was not totally intrigued by the \"novelty\" of the story telling ... i had seen a similar act/sketch/play in a HongKong variety show in the 1980s before (that\'s 20 years ago!). In the stage sketch, they were even better, in my humble opinion ... why?! they used exactly the SAME lines to depict two vastly different MOOD and SCENARIOS ... They acted on a split stage, with the same lines being delivered in separate \"screens\", NOT one version after the other (like in the film). The contrast was much starker in the stage version! So, in a way, my experience with the earlier act/sketch discounted slightly the number of stars i would award this film ... Still, I think it was a well executed film which deserved to be watched ... \r\n\r\nPS: In sum, I want to say that I do appreciate his works and would recommend people ... but I am not necessarily crazy over them ... becos sad to say, I have come across some earlier works that are of similar style, except NOT in the medium of a film ...','62e2ff52fd949fcdeecd9c05405a0a07',0,'','M1piWm4v',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12741,2281,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1205809680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Apichatpong Weerasethakul','Good post, hengcs. I\'ll respond shortly.','aa3ca2b4986d1ef3f612b187ce58acd5',0,'','8K409Zg1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12742,2281,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1205828040,1,0,1,1,1,1,'hengcs','Re: Apichatpong Weerasethakul','The following is cut and paste from another thread ... \r\n\r\noriginally posted by  arsaib4  (17-Mar-08   08:02 PM) \r\n\r\n\"(3) now back to Syndromes and a Century ... very humbly, i think it deserves a technical nomination at least for its style ... now i recall the controversy, it has to do with the depiction of monks, religion, etc ... \" \r\n\r\nApichatpong and his producers tried to argue that violent and disrespectful films are approved every week for mass consumption. The committee claimed that the film depicted Thai society in a bad light and has no artistic merit (which is laughable to say the least). Incidentally, the scene in which a monk plays a guitar was deemed to be okay. The kissing scene between the doctor and his girlfriend wasn\'t, and neither was the one in which a group of medical professionals share some whiskey. It goes deeper, I think. Apichatpong\'s sexual orientation has been an issue for a while now, and it seems to me that attempts are made to humiliate him at every turn. \r\n\r\noriginally posted by hengcs  (17-Mar-08   11:06 PM)  \r\n\r\narsaib4 wrote: \r\n\r\n\r\nIt goes deeper, I think. Apichatpong\'s sexual orientation has been an issue for a while now, and it seems to me that attempts are made to humiliate him at every turn. \r\n\r\nI am not sure what happens. \r\n\r\nBut very humbly, I think the Thais are pretty open to different sexual orientation. \r\n\r\nEven for the film awards, 2 of the films that got a lot of nominations did win and they were loosely classified as gay films even though they dealt with bigger issues ... \r\nclick \r\nhttp://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/02/02/entertainment/entertainment_30064182.php \r\n\r\n(i) Love Of Siam - 13 nominations, finally 3 wins (Best Picture, Director, Sup Actress) \r\n(ii) Bangkok Love Story - 8 nominations, finally 3 wins (Best Cinematography, Sound, Screenplay) \r\n\r\nSo, I am not sure what exactly happens btw the director and the authority. \r\n\r\noriginally posted by  arsaib4  (17-Mar-08   11:32 PM \r\n Yes, my comment specifically referred to him and his situation. I\'m not interested in the sort of films that won the awards. \r\n\r\noriginally posted by hengcs  (17-Mar-08   11:38 PM)  \r\n\r\narsaib4 wrote: \r\n\r\n\r\nYes, my comment specifically referred to him and his situation. I\'m not interested in the sort of films that won the awards. \r\n\r\nguess we need some insider\'s news or some published info ...\r\n\r\noriginally posted by hengcs  (18-Mar-08   01:10 AM) \r\n\r\nsince arsaib4 brought up the issue of censorship for Syndromes and A Century ... \r\n\r\nhere is some info i found on the web ... \r\nclick \r\nApichatpong gives up, film cut further-Wise Kwai','423fdb16f3150ad827d8b351ccbc1198',0,'','T8Hpcjxw',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12743,2281,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1205830920,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Apichatpong Weerasethakul','See, I was up-to-date...','088fd628dcc8247daf38ab0386a4c41b',0,'','ArGfcMk4',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12744,2281,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1205901120,1,0,1,1,1,1,'hengcs','Re: Apichatpong Weerasethakul','Full reviews \r\n-- Syndromes and a Century (2006) \r\n-- Tropical Malady (2004)','3573277065b77500e237bdd51c5dc87d',0,'','DqwCQzFe',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12745,2282,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1196414220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Arturo Ripstein','While doing my Luis Bunuel research I constantly here the name of Arturo Ripstein brought up as a legitimate heir to Bunuel\'s thrown. Now I am ashamed to say I\'ve never seen any films from this so-called legend. So I\'ll most likely work on this in the upcoming months. In the meantime if anyone has any thoughts on his films, what\'s worth seeing, what DVD\'s to look for or beware of, let me know.','a73e3b89c5d86b844734c291aefb29d9',0,'','3jTtoQqf',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12746,2282,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1196495100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Arturo Ripstein','I\'m not surprised that you did. Ripstein, who I think is the best Mexican filmmaker working today, served as an uncredited assistant to Buuel on The Exterminating Angel. He was only a teenager at the time but one who had already been influenced by Nazarn. As I\'ve stated before, I wish Ripstein was better known. He\'s very well respected in certain European and South American countrries, arguably even more so than in his own: at least eight of his films have played at Cannes, three in-competition. Ripstein\'s recent experimentation with digital-video hasn\'t really fetched him further acclaim. And I\'m sure he\'s perfectly content with the status quo since his oeurve reflects an extremely personal vision which is uncompromising in is presentation. Ripstein\'s films often feature claustrophobic milieus and are, in most cases, based on the society\'s marginalized. The ubiquitous mixture of extreme melodrama and surrealism is fascinating to watch. Ripstien\'s long list of collaborators include the likes of Gabriel Garca Mrquez and Carlos Fuentes. But since the mid-80s, he\'s primarly worked with screen-writer (and now-wife) Paz Alicia Garciadiego. The surreal and psychological Deep Crimson is his best-known work stateside; it\'s also one of two of his films that\'ve been featured at the NYFF so far. Two other fine efforts, The Place Without Limits, which was part of Somos\' list, and the newer Such Is Life were recently issued on DVD in the U.S. All in all, about ten of his films are available on DVD here, including such key efforts as The Realm of Fortune and Cadena Perpetua. I briefly discussed a couple of them a while back, before we had our technical problems. I\'m glad that you\'ve started this thread. His oeuvre needs as much exposure as possible. I hope this was helpful.','adbe3f1c4ef086430b96f43e069a3193',0,'','xBXQ6RVy',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12747,2282,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1196511180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Arturo Ripstein','I\'ll add his work to the never ending list of films to look for.','93d4e864e3029d6b9f912bca3339a86a',0,'','6iZjwJoV',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12748,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143684660,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Don Lope de Aguirre','Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','1972: The Godfather 10/10 \r\n1974: The Godfather part 2 9/10 \r\n1974: The Conversation 9/10 \r\n1979: Apocalypse Now 10/10','b8d505e6b5be983c1a18b0818d6aa43a',0,'','jq4WEZit',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12749,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143768660,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Sara','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Another A+ director especially for the Godfather 1 and 2 and especially for the opening scene in Apocalypse Now.\r\n\r\nSara','b27091b376c9a5d29ce2a42c28ab0b16',0,'','1apMLlb8',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12750,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143791100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Without doubt one of the strongest USA-ians to work in film.\r\n\r\n1. The Conversation (1974) 9/10 \r\n2. Apocalypse Now (1979) 9/10 \r\n3. The Godfather (1972) 8/10 \r\n4. Rumble Fish (1983) 7/10 \r\n5. Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988 ) 7/10 \r\n6. The Godfather: Part II (1974) 7/10 \r\n7. The Godfather: Part III (1990) 7/10 \r\n8. The Outsiders (1983) 6/10 \r\n9. The Rain People (1969) 6/10 \r\n10. New York Stories (1989) (segment \"Life without Zoe\") 5/10 \r\n11. Dracula (1992) 3/10','c5ca1ab20ebcf04642675f6c8b6a509b',0,'','BjhsRNyr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12751,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143836820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Rating the Godfather anything less than a ten seems insane, but perhaps we have a different set of criteria for great cinema. I still would like to promote One From the Heart, which along with Apocalypse Now is his most visually stunning film, and the last of his independent productions.','62cba4f5773fa2c7095ed83c74561760',0,'','su4UC2q7',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12752,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143853440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Don Lope de Aguirre','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','\"Rating the Godfather anything less than a ten seems insane.\"\r\n\r\nWhy do you say that?','f7815dc6f808f683b7ca4687f70ac69f',0,'','EB2CVvDn',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12753,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1143877500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Because I think it\'s probably next to Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time.','c87bdcc258c0755a32e16a879da02904',0,'','U6S1CwlF',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12754,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144045080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','@WP\r\n\r\nIs that your own opinion or did a whole host of critics tell you that?','8e77714ddbc96d403d5da9b61b4625e3',0,'','7P3Ua9CZ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12755,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144045260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Don Lope de Aguirre','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Regardless of how others view the film, I\'d love to hear your thoughts on The Godfather, Anasazie.','bfd96739fa730152fafab7a39f69bd6a',0,'','e8xJDsVp',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12756,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144045620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Don\'t you think it\'s already had too much attention?','23a1e9af5c8d8ce67e80c9c6c11300d9',0,'','i37ePp8q',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12757,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144045740,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Don Lope de Aguirre','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','I\'m guessing you\'d rather not elaborate?','9a1699de5c2a7dd81209d1e9a32c8d44',0,'','BC0fEi1c',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12758,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144046100,1,1,1,1,1,1,'Don Lope de Aguirre','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Fair enough. I respect that.','dc783f85e46ad0a52188642db81b5a84',0,'','RKVv9eYn',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12759,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144046160,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Not right now, it\'s like spending my valuable head space formulating all the reasons why Citizen Kane is not the greatest film ever made either. I just feel these films have had too much focus and don\'t want to contribute to too much more.','16f3179f4662ecd127867bb2f363a93b',0,'','WDxUtFaK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12760,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144122060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','I don\'t, you\'re in the minority. Please explain why Citizen Kane isn\'t the greatest film of all time, and what\'s better. Unfortunately I believe I\'ve lost my most recent review of the first two Godfathers which I\'d be happy to use as support for my argument considering their greatness. You should try not to hate something because its popular, there\'s a reason certain films have a reputation, its because they\'ve earned them. And I didn\'t have to read a host of critics to enjoy the Godfather, they didn\'t make me watch it 6 times, but irregardless critical opinion can help you to find some films, makes it a lot easier than just blindly going to a video store and renting something with a pretty box.','75a33de11918d688b4e5a94f81c9d5fe',0,'','5hbHCGcV',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12761,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144122240,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Here are my somewhat odd comments on One From the Heart, figured I don\'t want to start another Coppola thread, and since I\'ve mentioned the film it seems appropriate. I\'m not particularly pleased with the review, but its certainly favorable which not many reviews of this film are.\r\n\r\nOne From the Heart (1982) \r\n\r\n   Hail that magnificent folly. Every director has an inkling to go over the top, and the public just waits for their eventual downfall. Francis Coppola (who dropped the Ford for the credits here) seemed incapable of failure in the previous decade. Apocalypse Now (1979) was a nightmare to make, but the film was still well received, and ended the decade on an extremely high note, complete with yet another Oscar nomination. The gamble on that film had paid off, and today most people still regard Apocalypse as a true masterpiece. History has not been as kind to his follow up.\r\n   Today, nearly 25 years after the film first premiered it has not found its audience. Even in the glorious midnight movie circuit the film hasnt quite caught on, and it seems perfect for it. One From the Heart is a film dying for reappraisal and reevaluation. A disastrous bomb, that forced Coppola to close his dream studio and set him in a decade long downward spiral, that some people still argue he never fully recovered from. It isnt right though, sure you can see why the film failed, but that doesnt mean that it should have failed.\r\n   It is a simple film of complexity. The story is just a love story, a mix of musical comedy, romance, and drama. Yet that seems to be the only thing simple about it. Just looking at the stills from the film you wonder if the whole picture is a dream sequence. Watching the film it stays in its own world. There is nothing really fantastic or absurd about its construction, but it looks like no other film. A monument to set construction, art direction, brilliant lighting schemes, and of course an absolutely flawless film score. \r\n   One From the Heart is groundbreaking in its style. A film that attempted to be digital, electronic, but still doomed. Watching the film today though you just sit in awe. The images are powerful, theyre memorable, but there is something else in the film. There is a story, a heart, and characters that you care about and root for. The pace is quick, and when the plot slows down, there is enough in every frame to carry it through. The music is just as vital as the cinematography. Tom Waits provides the score here, and it is a gorgeous array of lounge music but with that impeccable Waits charm that leaves it somewhere left of center. He shares the singing duties with Crystal Gayle, and the two compliment each other perfectly.\r\n   The comedy isnt really funny though. There arent a lot of laughs, and the few attempts at deliberate comedy such as Frederic Forrests entanglement on top of the motel. But there is an absurdist charm, in the same way that Rules of the Game (1939) is a comedy. Yet the film got to be made Coppolas way, even though today we might laugh at the huge budget of $26 million dollars. Hell one actor alone can get almost as much for his work today. Despite being a failure it did still get released in its original form. There might be large tales of the films financial disaster, but it stayed in tact. This isnt a studio butchered piece of a directors vision being undermined. \r\n   The acting is first rate in the film. Forrest was a veteran of Coppola films, and I cant think of a film where he was better utilized. Terri Garr likewise hasnt had nearly as much of an opportunity to shine. Natassia Kinski and Raul Julia are both charming as the exotic tempters. Kinski seems to be from another planet here, and that makes Forrests attraction utterly convincing. Even Harry Dean Stanton and Lainie Kazan are perfectly matched as the comic best friends. Their performances have been somewhat overlooked because of the overpowering visual splendor of the picture. So by all means see the film, give it a shot, sure its a love it or hate it film, but I think that time will eventually catch up to it, and just praise shall be rewarded to it.\r\n\r\nGrade A','05425e94f096072fd02b23ec903a6d7c',0,'','gSvmXUhH',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12762,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144122900,1,0,1,1,1,1,'Anasazie','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','I prefer European and Asian cinema generally, i find it contains a bit more subtlety in it\'s exploration of the human condition. Why\'s that hard for you to understand?\r\n\r\nI\'d rate both Citizen Kane and The Godfather amongst the greatest USA-ian films of all time. That doesn\'t really mean i dislike them does it?\r\n\r\nI\'d say i\'m probably in the minority amongst Western English speaking cineastes yes, but what does that mean? That my opinion is wrong?\r\n\r\nIt\'s got nothing to do with anything being popular, that\'s a really misguided and quite naive view to take. I rate of lot of highly regarded (popular?) films amongst the greatest. If i made a list of the 250 strongest films i\'ve seen, i imagine both of the ones in question would be on that list. I just don\'t love them as much as you, it\'s all subjective WP, there is no fact of opinion.','125dacac64be879ac88c9d90204aa53d',0,'','Kw0oPVaq',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12763,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1144878780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Thanks again wpqx for your review. I\'ve read quite a bit about \"One from the Heart\", and everything suggested an extremely interesting film. And the essays and reviews I read were, like yours, very positive. The one Coppola film I want to see most.\r\nAs to his other films, again I have seen them too long ago to rate most of them properly. I only revisited The Godfather trilogy last year, so I can say something about that.\r\nOut of the films I\'ve seen though, I\'d probably rate Apocalypse Now and The Conversation the highest. And I enjoyed Dracula very much (seen it multiple times, but again too long ago). Will add more ratings in the future.\r\n\r\nThough I like The first two Godfather films very much, personally - unlike wpqx and Anasazie - I would never include them even in an American Top 250, let alone an overall Top 250. Let me say that all the possible merits one may list... I would probably agree. Nevertheless for me they aren\'t quite enough to place them under the greats.\r\n\r\nThe Godfather (1972) 8/10 \r\nThe Godfather: Part II (1974) 7/10 \r\nThe Godfather: Part III (1990) 6/10','9390dddd87cf6ac913f1c5052eac359d',0,'','Tfeg27Yv',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12764,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1232446620,1,0,1,1,1,1,'R6dw6C','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','Having seen only a bit part of his work, I feel that Coppola is an extremely ambiguous directer whose love for cinema went into the right, modest direction regarding his way of referencing to the directors he \r\nadmires. However, I tend to find him a bit too \"shy\", too controlled and, though that may sound absurd, a bit too \"un-egocentric\" as well. It should be mentioned that I just watched the first two GODFATHERs within the last two weeks for the very first time (I purchased the newly \"restored\" box set as a Christmas gift) and was immensely impressed and consider both to be real examples of greatness, but, for a reason I don\'t know myself, wasn\'t overly enthusiastic about them. \r\n\r\n1. [Dementia 13] (1963) 7/10 \r\n2. The Godfather (1971) 9/10 - 22/25 \r\n3. The Godfather: Part II (1974) 9/10 - 23/25 \r\n4. [The Conversation] (1974) 9/10 \r\n5. The Godfather: Part III (1990) 9/10 \r\n6. [Dracula] (1992) 8/10 - 21/25 \r\n7. [Jack] (1996) 4/10 \r\n8. [The Rainmaker] (1997) 7/10 \r\n9. [Youth Without Youth] (2007) 8/10 * - 11/25 \r\n\r\n* Note that this rating isn\'t meant to be serious and indicates the entertainment value of the film rather than its poor quality - definitely a guilty pleasure in the truest sense of the word. A, for example, didn\'t like it at all, unfortunately. The 11/25 is the more serious rating which displays my shock that a filmmaker like Coppola seriously unleashed an esoteric, ridiculous potboiler of that kind. \r\n\r\n[ ] = German dubbed version.','182c942a98e00a0c3c01ebded3e3c2c0',0,'','r6Ly2jaN',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12765,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1234034220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','No Apocalypse Now or One From the Heart? \r\n\r\nYour opinion might greatly change.','8595e03c58dcb315c119ec04ce9c8168',0,'','4DtVrnqo',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12766,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1234049760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'R6dw6C','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','No, not yet - but I\'m anxious to seem them - \"Apocalypse Now\" is said by many to include the most \"Coppola Ego\" and this certainly intrigues me. What is your opinion on the \"Redux\" version? Among my friends, there are many who prefer it to the theatrical cut but also some who dislike it strongly... \r\nI believe you got a point in praising \"One From the Heart\" as underrated - Coppolas reputation probably already was a bit \"single handed\" at the time he made it and I put it on top of my to-see list of his films.','fb40e984614c46a64d697cc140d053a7',0,'','zteysKJU',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12767,2283,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1234143540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Rate the Director: Francis Ford Coppola','I though parts of Redux were a welcome addition, but I was one of many who thought the colony sequence was rightfully cut and it just comes out of left field, slows the film to a crawl and adds a painfully unnecessary \"romantic\" interest.','9b171265de5dc69dcc144d20a73e2e4b',0,'','fk25FUln',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12768,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166456520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'madhuban','Eclipse','The following is from the japanesenewwave mailing list:\r\n\r\nMizoguchi. Naruse. Ozu. Imamura. \r\n\r\nWhen you hear these names you immediately think the history of Japanese cinema. Well, the Criterion Collection has spawned an offspring and it\'s name is Eclipse. The filmmakers above are just a few of the names mentioned to be represented in short series rumored from the new and exciting company. \r\n\r\nOfficially announced over the weekend, the Eclipse branch of Criterion Collection his finally coming to fruition.\r\n\r\nHere is how Eclipse is going to function:\r\n\r\nEach month they will release 3 to 5 films focusing on particular director or theme \r\nWhile not pristine like that of Criterion, Eclipse will release the best print available \r\nThere will be no supplement material \r\nThey plan to keep the price of each disc under $15 \r\nRelease schedules and film titles have yet to be announced but it seems like first up out of the gate will be the early films of Ingmar Bergman.\r\n\r\nFinally, the mission statement on the back cover will tentatively read as followed:\r\n\r\n\"Eclipse presents a selection of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films in simple, affordable editions. Each series is a brief cinematheque retrospective for the adventurous home viewer.\"','f60ecff1477e71689d2facaf5dd6eb58',0,'','SfMTixso',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12769,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166481300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I am partially excited about this. I was wondering what was going on with Bergman as I\'ve been stumbling upon vast amounts of his films released on VHS from Home Vision that have yet to appear on DVD. Getting a chance to see Summer with Monika and Secrets of Women has opened up a relatively closed section of the masters work, so it would be nice to see these get their official release. The only problem is of course the absence of special features, which makes it hardly worth upgrading from VHS. Now if Immamura and Oshima get some films that have been as of yet unavailable, then I\'m all for it. Of course I\'m broker than Christ, so not entirely good timing. I\'ll keep an eye on an official site and see what\'s on the horizon.','969375e8c5a6ab181a8528638579a6f8',0,'','xB23PvoN',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12770,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166504400,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Thanks for the info, Madhuban. I\'m looking forward to their releases.','56565f41d76fe404cf31d8aaa33fd699',0,'','1mZYeCdT',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12771,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166509500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I read the official press release, but have found no information as far as a website, release dates, etc. Hearing rumors of Malle\'s early documentary work is enough to convince me of the worth of this company. I\'ve been dying to see The Silent World for years.','43bd864e554d3cd686ac024c8e3103b8',0,'','lcLiv0CE',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12772,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166517060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Looks like the first series is devoted to early Bergman:\r\n\r\nCrisis (1945), Port of Call (1948), Thirst (1949), To Joy (1950), and Torment (1944), which Bergman co-wrote and Alf Sjberg directed.','fab208e8b390753f94d51b3353db0a0d',0,'','lfmwNB6r',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12773,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166522820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Wow they weren\'t joking when they said early Bergman. This is fine with me as I\'m yet to see any of those films.','c214f74cda777540b667a7975c36b0d3',0,'','aVsbQW1z',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12774,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166563500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','Read the good news a couple of days ago and I\'m all for it. The important thing is that more films are available. You can always release better editions afterwards.\r\nCriterion are as usual doing a great favor to every cineaste.','70123a61a78eac8fba9ae28a4922c22a',0,'','2tXMDmGp',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12775,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166604480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Ever since Image Ent. took over Criterion, I\'ve missed the consistent output from the-almost-dead Home Vision. Hopefully, this will rectify things to some degree. I don\'t expect much in terms of quality, but if Facets can release important films on subpar transfers, so can they.','6e0a965e562d4ab2c3839df3404c9ea2',0,'','6JezCly3',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12776,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166635260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','I think the Eclipse series will still try to release the best possible material. There just won\'t be any restoration work. So I hope their DVDs will in general be much better than the poor transfers Facets is churning out too often.','ff1a0a7f600e6d2edb762fc9c116b675',0,'','bdB0CuaT',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12777,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166676060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'trevor826','Re: Eclipse','The Tartan Video transfers are certainly watchable so I would think that the Eclipse copies would be to the same standard at the very least.\r\n\r\nCheers Trev.','7ca6eba5c9ea5899bfb5d2229abc9886',0,'','nrNDQKTy',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12778,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166676420,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Let\'s hope that turns out to be case.','5a8ae7f73f2d595a5e75738a4cb9bcf5',0,'','0yB7HDTm',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12779,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1166691180,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','In the case of Eclipse I think the emphasis is more on just getting the films out.','df21e82dada272c4c8701c1eb6868677',0,'','SfU4HkLY',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12780,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1169204280,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Series 2 will contain a few Louis Malle documentaries. It\'s possible that they will be the same ones included in the French set released in late 2005: Vive le tour, Humain, trop humain, Place de la Rpublique, Le pays de Dieu and A la poursuite du bonheur.','79d5e87be1a22ce9a724b317b2a11db9',0,'','cH6C4vml',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12781,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1169211300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I saw a moderate listing of those films, but the only Malle film I\'m desperately wanting to see released is The Silent World, co-directed by Jacques Cousteau','2c790b276d5be9d4b97c54954fb2ac47',0,'','FgBdt0qs',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12782,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1169893320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','The 6-Disc Set titled The Documentaries of Louis Malle will include Vive le tour, Humain, trop humain, Place de la Rpublique, Phantom India, Calcutta, God\'s Country and ...And the Pursuit of Happiness.','4533d25ac5cafdacb72371f9bf6d4e26',0,'','MwxJckC1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12783,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1169942760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','This set deeply upsets me. For more years than I\'d like to count I\'ve been dying to see Malle\'s Silent World, and hearing that his documentaries were going to be released, I felt convinced that this would be among them, but alas no such luck, so I can curse myself even harder for missing it the one time it showed during a Malle retro two years ago.','49584b28013694e6776b36a462c78b22',0,'','hBWcd2uv',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12784,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1170088080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','I think it probably isn\'t considered as much a Malle film. After all he was \"only\" an assistant to Jacques-Yves Cousteau. \r\nMaybe on a Cousteau set, though god knows how long we will have to wait for this...','955b49769060a8d05a20c03ea96fec1d',0,'','qdEUeCzS',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12785,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1170119100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I even saw a Cousteau set, and this wasn\'t on it.','559bd2b699cefb994e1db90144ef859f',0,'','bSHtGoyT',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12786,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1172726220,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Series 3: Late Ozu\r\n\r\nEarly Spring / Tokyo Twilight / Equinox Flower / Late Autumn / The End of Summer','a236a2a0e2394fdc9e88b79c09815bb1',0,'','zWXpVfsG',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12787,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1172751780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Nice, as he has a vast amount of unreleased films. I wonder why An Autumn Afternoon isn\'t included in the set, considering it was his last film. Makes me hope that perhaps a more \"bells and whistles\" release is in store.','e49f854a30538f99cd246ebf53c2ac36',0,'','MpExPdqz',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12788,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1172899440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Autumn Afternoon is part of Tartan U.K.\'s Ozu Volume Four, now available. It is rumored to receive a proper Criterion treatment in the near future.','2e274b3cc8b093d23ed18120ed7b30ad',0,'','WTCzXYoS',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12789,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1172900100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Sounds good, hopefully I\'ll be able to check out that import.','03c140974a50fb10b79ece77fd08ab54',0,'','f39xtwVo',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12790,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174158300,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','It\'s good news, but most of these films are already available on DVD. I would have been more pleased by \"Early Ozu\", 20s and 30s. Or the little talked about films from the 40s.\r\nBut any Ozu is good Ozu. \r\nI\'m crossing my fingers for this rumored extra treatment of Ozu\'s last film. SO far it\'s my favorite of his.','700389bf4e5ad6e78d02c9c6711d2653',0,'','uym3YHwU',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12791,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1174259760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I haven\'t seen it yet, but many of the late Ozu films are un-avaliable here, at least officially, so I\'m pleased with the announcement.','8ed392dd712844d048432cff856f0d9a',0,'','enyMXmER',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12792,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1176073440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Eclipse','Hopefully will get the Bergman Eclipse set this week. The last package wasn\'t the one I ordered so I had to get a recall.\r\n\r\nTruth be told, I\'m waiting for Malle\'s documentaries more than Bergman\'s earlier films which have been sketchy to say the least.','6bdef2e9bc3087c143f2364378f6dbe1',0,'','JBhMksYr',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12793,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177740600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Series 4: Raymond Bernard\r\n\r\nWooden Crosses / Les Misrables','52b7e1f41fc1044840ac4dbfbcfe04aa',0,'','dCj4urWT',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12794,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177745640,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','Haven\'t seen anything before, so this sounds good to me. \r\nThere has been some discussion about it on criterionforum.org\r\nHave you seen anything by Bernard arsaib?','553b97d2f6414169d905df82c09877a6',0,'','tZvaxP7F',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12795,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177747080,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Nope, nothing yet. His Hugo adaptation is considered as one of the very best, so I\'m definitely interested.','d7c5f097ef4e4b8bec37db7eab6a01d7',0,'','nHCVl0Gm',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12796,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177761240,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I\'m in the same boat, was Ozu the 3rd installment, because I still thought Malle\'s films were the latest announcment?','da52fcc9c53860bb449ea5d7d982e4c6',0,'','7PoRpHhM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12797,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177912440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','The Bergman and Malle sets are currently available. Yeah, Ozu was third; the set comes out June 12th. Bernard\'s is scheduled for July 17th.','9d996211df666f6360ff3b334f8c333b',0,'','r5jSUbop',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12798,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1177978740,1,0,1,1,1,1,'justindeimen','Re: Eclipse','Just received Series 2 of the Eclipse collection with Louis Malle\'s documentaries.\r\n\r\nI\'m starting with Calcutta then Phantom India.\r\n\r\nAt this point in time, I\'m deeply entranced by the culture as well as shaken by the images of poverty in the country that by all accounts must have been exacerbated 40 years later. Plenty of fodder for a review however and a write-up of it would definitely serve as a carthartic experience.','c6b24a8c0ae05ffb6354f374aff95c80',0,'','pAtXmaY6',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12799,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1178872320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Looking forward to the reviews.','6080e3466f2b9abece735d1b17c67c28',0,'','hT69RgXd',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12800,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1179709680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Series 5: The First Films of Samuel Fuller\r\n\r\nI Shot Jesse James / The Baron of Arizona / The Steel Helmet','ed3c49aa9d327d2859896f9d4c148b0b',0,'','djtgCq6U',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12801,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1179783960,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Gotta love Fuller. I noticed though I\'ve been drastically slowing down my rentals, and there have been a lot of worthwhile releases lately.','359f5b6cf4b0eaa4e2a19183b726bdaf',0,'','ynuB3Rbw',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12802,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1179801540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','\"As far as Im concerned, Americans dont have any original art except Western movies and jazz.\"Clint Eastwood\r\n\r\nSince the Series 5 news broke, I\'ve been contemplating whether to still make a short trip to catch a double-bill of Philip Kaufman\'s The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid and Fuller\'s aforementioned I Shot Jesse James, or to bite the bullet (pun intended) and made do with home video.\r\n\r\nThere certainly have been some great releases lately, and many more are scheduled for the upcoming months.','5827853e61b055e6e6beb9e7aacbcdc4',0,'','iVog4v8Y',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12803,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1179803040,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Guy Maddin\'s new movie just got released here, I\'m gonna try and catch it sometime this week. I personally would probably wait for the Eclipse release on Fuller. However I still have my calendar marked for White Dog, and some of the upcoming Rivette films.','a0b33924655f81e183be68159291ff0a',0,'','dgXFcqnm',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12804,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1179817320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','A was less than enthusiastic about Brand Upon the Brain!, which he watched at the Berlinale. But the film has received some good notices in the U.S. from the likes of Dargis, Ebert, Foundas, etc.\r\n\r\nYeah, I\'m leaning towards the Eclipse set also. Good luck with the Rivette screenings.','6b6b1ae55087eda5ddc07d681e0115c1',0,'','S2xlnTgM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12805,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181664480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','Yes, Brand upon the Brain! was quite a disappointment. But it wasn\'t designed as a regular film. I\'ll certainly give it another try in the future, though. \r\n\r\nI read that some of the next Eclipse sets are supposed two be Mizoguchi and Naruse. \r\nYummy! (even if I\'m not yet a fan of Naruse ).','ded19ee7818079370399d871382f0e38',0,'','DoRpCraB',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12806,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181683800,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Always excited about new Naruse, Floating Clouds remains on the top of my films to see list. Here\'s to keeping our fingers crossed.','ca6fcb18dac53ce4a00aea12e6490a09',0,'','n0fAXiHs',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12807,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181722680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Floating Clouds is available from Eureka/MoC but it\'d be great if Eclipse were to release it here. It\'s considered by many as one of Naruse Mikio\'s very best films.','85dc6972157bdd2ad0601a731cb17930',0,'','aRbk9mh0',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12808,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181741760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','I had the luck of seeing it on the big screen, but I wasn\'t impressed at all. I can see why people would be so enthusiastic about it, but so far it\'s not my cup of tea.','b273fa01d882c9db215afc31942918cb',0,'','2rMLuoEc',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12809,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181783820,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Well Facets still doesn\'t carry it, so as far as I\'m concerned its unavailable here. I\'ll be honest though, of the three Naruse films I\'ve seen, I can\'t really remember any of them.','e04a22e06dd82286d9256cc5b64a6f65',0,'','y9MYFWpZ',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12810,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1181860260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I picked up Tokyo Twilight from the Ozu set, and I\'ll try and get it viewed in the next few days, and report back on the quality.','1630f0e82675560d9bfe80e6da310f9b',0,'','mVn7q2s4',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12811,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1186556880,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Series 6: Carlos Saura\'s Flamenco Trilogy\r\n\r\nBlood Wedding / Carmen / El amor brujo\r\n\r\n*Manuel Yez Murillo on Saura','abef3806c1270ebccccc3fcfb6872a55',0,'','nsVZ12Bi',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12812,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1186559160,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Good news. I\'ve seen Rosi\'s Carmen but Saura\'s has been on my list for years now. He hasn\'t gotten much attention, and I\'ve only seen three of his films so this is something to look forward to.','7d9882f39dce536dc29a808a47d4009a',0,'','oda8SXJK',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12813,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1186562400,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','I was quite impressed by Blood Wedding, which I caught at the Saura retro earlier this year. Looking forward to another viewing of the film.','cd93d280d08848cf6986da643a8aaefa',0,'','5Vu94m8W',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12814,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1188053040,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','I\'m a bit disappointed they didn\'t choose some of his other films that aren\'t available and as well known. I\'m also very fond of \"Blood Wedding\" and would like to have a rewatch. Carmen was a bit disappointing for me. Haven\'t seen the third.','be2ec0311c867ca30834c6ed416ca485',0,'','rJ8MegCE',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12815,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1188084360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I\'m pleased with the release, the quality of some of the available Saura films is pretty poor. I\'m still looking forward to watching the Fuller films, I\'ve read a few sources saying The Baron of Arizona is one of Vincent Price\'s best performances.','9820a9bea68780fb7c3c09c7792a8db1',0,'','b4J1nuog',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12816,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1188087480,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','It\'s a good choice, but I\'m always hoping for the best. \r\n\r\nI need to see more Fuller. The fragmentary The Big Red One was outstanding, and his only other feature I\'ve seen, I shot Jesse James, was interesting. I know you\'re a huge fan, so in my defence I can at state that Forty Guns is waiting on my shelf and begging me to watch it','2b58f98263c1636c35f524e2ccab0e7c',0,'','YsZHSkqp',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12817,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1188101280,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I\'ve seen about 12 Fuller films, and unfortunately the film I\'d probably say is the best was White Dog. I say unfortunately because its never been in print in this country. At least there are good transfers of Shock Corridor, Pickup on South Street, and The Naked Kiss which can all just as easily be my favorite film from him. I\'m sure I\'ve stated it elsewhere numerous times but I\'m a HUGE Vincent Price fan and the review I saw of Baron of Arizona said his work there was among his least hammy and therefore best performances. Ironic then that my favorite Vincent Price performance is arguably his most hammy when he practically parodies himself in His Kind of Woman. Its a supporting role, but he completely steals the show.','8551134b274f740ea3c759d68e4d9b8c',0,'','F1ueVLC0',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12818,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1188107580,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','If I read it correctly, a \"generic\" DVD of White Dog is scheduled for 9/11. The Criterion version is reportedly in the works.','e1d2f076d7229ef0b2e4be0638b13a69',0,'','ymYQo2DE',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12819,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1188110100,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','That\'s good, at least then no one will have a decent excuse for not seeing it. A similar problem occurred during its initial release, the film wasn\'t put in theaters until five years after it was made, and then it was only shown in select theaters.','5a30ab9423bbe20242c15cf8438c94bd',0,'','13f5gdZe',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12820,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1188178260,1,0,1,1,1,1,'A','Re: Eclipse','I remember it being shown quite often on German TV. Unfortunately I didn\'t catch it when I still used to watch synchronizations.','9ab8311728661d1e629a01c0c779fbb7',0,'','cjQKyvsm',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12821,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1192868940,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Series 7: Postwar Kurosawa\r\n\r\nI Live in Fear / The Idiot / No Regrets for Our Youth / One Wonderful Sunday / Scandal','a025f540d48af45828c1a7364bb4d357',0,'','C1Dth9n7',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12822,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1193120520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Ironic seeing this batch after my Kurosawa marathon. Many of these films I had to suffer through horribly inaccurate subtitles and deteriorated picture quality.','343bbf4aa81a4ac6e86907631fc7a798',0,'','nxgE0mJv',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12823,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1193130660,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','I did think of that, and, trust me, I do feel for ya. But what you\'ve accomplished for the guests and members who haven\'t yet seen those films is quite invaluable, and I\'m sure it\'s appreciated!','8181ca79c09ba570b0274771eb9777f0',0,'','e2gJ6aRk',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12824,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1193138760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I still feel that The Idiot is deserving of the \"Criterion Treatment\" and would have liked to see that one given its due. The other films are largely dismissive curiosities.','bde5fe47141b11902b27d6b985ae2bd9',0,'','jEKRVAyv',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12825,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1195467060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals\r\n\r\nThe Love Parade / Monte Carlo / One Hour with You / The Smiling Lieutenant\r\n\r\n*Lubitsch thread','ce2cc50e6c17b67def7a0d7291629a87',0,'','20GzNmZX',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12826,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1195470540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I have just shed a tear of joy. By far the best DVD release news I\'ve heard in years.','fc62b20466dfb469f236591dcc4510ea',0,'','RqoKhBrW',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12827,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1195550700,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','This will most certainly be part of my year-end\'s DVD list.\r\n\r\nBesides The Love Parade, which you wrote about, what others have you seen?','bd410a0d6430303e6b14287cbda4faae',0,'','SvCLzVmD',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12828,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1195685880,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I\'ve seen The Smiling Lieutenant. The film is decent but a little by the books Lubitsch. The best part about the film is that it features Miriam Hopkins and as we\'ve discussed elsewhere my admiration for her knows no end. A professor of mine had a copy of Monte Carlo and I\'ve spent the several months bugging him for a copy of it, but it looks like I don\'t have to worry anymore. One Hour With You was nominated for a best picture Oscar, so there\'s even more reason for me to be excited about that.','df826819f98b10dc5d551acde822d21d',0,'','Za89vUkS',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12829,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1195721940,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','The release date is Feb 12.\r\n\r\nNot to be outdone, Kino is putting out The Doll and Robert Fischer\'s new feature-length documentary Ernst Lubitsch in BerlinFrom Schoenhauser Allee to Hollywood on a single disc on Dec 4. It will also be part of a 5-DVD box set being released on the same day.','e6807f1f4d4352139bae5bf7e086b895',0,'','Mu9exAqc',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12830,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1195747440,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I\'m glad that Kino has put out so many of Lubitsch\'s earlier German films, and hopefully I\'ll get around to reading Kristin Thompson\'s book on them. However, I find his Hollywood work infinitely more accomplished and entertaining and hope that we can see more of it in the future, particularly The Man I Killed and Forbidden Paradise.','3e7124abb86a8e3ab81ba579432495da',0,'','aJKe0qFy',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12831,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1198054680,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Series 9: The Delirious Fictions of William Klein\r\n\r\nModel Couple, The\r\nMr. Freedom\r\nWho Are You, Polly Magoo?\r\n\r\nand in case you\'re wondering I\'ve never heard of any of these either.','e87c49ca0d97a0dae126964906de14ae',0,'','peR8BzCh',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12832,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1200915780,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Series 10 - Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies\r\n\r\nTokyo Chorus / I Was Born, But... / Passing Fancy','0c1c24276626395b3abcb055d9123da8',0,'','UNp7EuGe',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12833,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1200916200,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Glad to hear it on the Ozu, its a shame so many of his silent films are now lost though.','923e91118b49b8ea7d9e60d120ded6f7',0,'','D6bkwmRa',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12834,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1200916500,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','I Was Born, But... didn\'t strike me as particularly comedic, so the title surprised me a little, but it\'s finally coming out on DVD and that\'s all it matters.','ea108db34999cd5b256709c69e76ae3c',0,'','Mhqm82ao',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12835,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1200917760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I think I\'m the only person on Earth who doesn\'t love I Was Born But. I found the pacing horribly slow and much prefer the (semi) remake Ohayu. I would however consider it comedic if not an outright comedy.','6c480696d62fc69e696526711a1914da',0,'','T5Nn9s18',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12836,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1200986760,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','Correct, it was remade as Ohayô/Good Morning.','ae6d1b61d9368b5202b11c02d61b3c6f',0,'','xyTPlvMC',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12837,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1208075520,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','DVDBeaver on Silent Ozu','e7b812c66722cdde2b7a878b290155b0',0,'','mD28SyUw',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12838,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1210928280,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','\r\nWings / The Ascent','788d7921bd5b016ea105bada655498bb',0,'','VmbXH6EM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12839,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1210974540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','I heard some supposition about the Shepitko. I did get a chance to see The Ascent, but am curious for Wings. I wonder what accounts for the rather lengthy delay between Eclipse releases? \r\n\r\nAlso anyone pick up the silent Ozu films?','1bf1db3066f30665208d7c1493a7f83e',0,'','lFLrvVc6',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12840,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1213995540,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','\r\nAriel / The Match Factory Girl / Shadows in Paradise','e99ebc93342c78b184adfde1012df919',0,'','rGegadQM',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12841,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1216275060,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Eclipse','\r\nOsaka Elegy / Sisters of the Gion / Women of the Night / Street of Shame \r\n\r\nWas I right or was I right?!','785dc0189726d993e3c26b712e772646',0,'','zMvga1eC',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12842,2284,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1216309560,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Eclipse','Bravo. Interesting that they would cover varying periods with Mizo, but glad he\'s finally getting his Eclipse turn. Not familiar with Women of the Night unless it has an alternate title, so that\'s something to look forward to. Now just cross my fingers and hope for Louis Feulliade\'s 20\'s features and we\'ll be all set.','95de7379e5108fe8e7c856bc15fda5fb',0,'','iuoQ4zB1',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12843,2285,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1199445360,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Best DVD\'s of 2007','Not my list, but DVDbeaver has put up their annual ranking.\r\n\r\nwww.dvdbeaver.com/DVD_of_...m#winners0\r\n\r\nListed below is an Alexander Kluge set (Region 0 with English subs) which apparently has everything he ever did on it. I\'ve heard nothing about it, but man would I love to get my hands on that.','51fea14e5254acb35691687e5b3f757d',0,'','fpHrmdwo',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12844,2285,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1199448420,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Best DVD\'s of 2007','First Place for Ford AT Fox! Pleasantly surprised about both Marketa and Our Hitler since they were just released a couple of weeks ago.\r\n\r\nThe Kluge set reportedly consists of all the features and shorts he produced for the cinema from 1960 through 1986. Don\'t worry, your patience will be rewarded soon.','6ed7acf9cda7e30bd6f070cba39a807a',0,'','aXcdhbuU',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12845,2285,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1199448600,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Best DVD\'s of 2007','I forgot to add that we could use this thread for our own lists as well.','286628799a02981154407a7d90d817d0',0,'','Ww7FEVzH',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12846,2285,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1199449320,1,0,1,1,1,1,'wpqx','Re: Best DVD\'s of 2007','I figured as much, but since I\'ve purchased a grand total of about 2 or 3 DVD\'s this year, I can only comment on what I\'ve rented.','067b4056e0e83b19d24dfa4e7ce3f2b7',0,'','GVsE9dDN',1,0,'',0,0,0),(12847,2285,3,1,0,'69.120.114.47',1199449740,1,0,1,1,1,1,'arsaib4','Re: Best DVD\'s of 2007','That\'s fine. As long as one was actually able to see a particular DVD/set, it should qualify for consideration.','07978d76e78fbfd96bc936d02fa3b70b',0,'','GobSpw27',1,0,'',0,0,0),