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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:11 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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From Television:
carrobin wrote:
Meanwhile, Saturday night Channel 13 showed a fascinating indie film called "Sita Sings the Blues." Did anyone else see it? An ancient Indian myth with twenties-style recordings of songs like "Mean to Me," plus a meandering subplot involving a screenwriter and his rejected girlfriend, all in wonderfully inventive and colorful animation. And it's very funny too. It can be found on the Channel 13 website.
Does anyone around here ever read Current Film or Couch? I have been posting about Sita for the last couple of months--and many times. I think it's one of the best films of 2009 and Nina Paley is one of the top directors. Sometimes--this is one of those times--I get the feeling one is wasting one's time writing stuff around here. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:17 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Carol--Sorry to make you the brunt of the above, but wow. I have written and written and written about Sita Sings the Blues. For me, it is one of the supreme artistic achievements of the 2000s. That someone who hangs around here could have completely missed my posts is just a little saddening to me. And maybe, yes, maybe, I'm being oversensitive, but so be it,. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 7:54 am |
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When I read Car's post about Sita the first thing that I thought was, there have been a bunch of posts about that movie. Don't be insulted but I didn't remember who said what except that it was always praised highly. I also read a review or two in the press.
Billy, put Alan Bates' name somewhere in your reviews and Car won't ignore them  |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:18 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2148
Location: my computer
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The problem with retaining information that one has read months ago is that until it becomes relevant (i.e. person rents/sees the film, either as a result of the discussion or months later), it is just another comment. Very often, I'll read a review here and decide that's the reason I need to see the film in question. Or, I'll rent a film I've heard about (sometimes because it's been mentioned here) and then find what others here have thought about it, to add my 2 cents. Or sometimes I'll rent a film, see it, and know that somewhere, somehow, someone's mentioned this film...but it could have been any number of sources I access in the course of my days. May have been here, may have been my local station's movie reviewer. Regardless, not everyone remembers everything that's been discussed, unless it's garnered pages-long discussions...
Discussion boards are like fishing expeditions. You put a topic out there, and there's bound to be at least one bite. If there's a feeding frenzy, all the better, but not everyone decides to take a nibble at the hook each and every time.
That having been said, Sita has been on my list specifically due to the mentions here.  |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:22 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Carol--Are you aware that the rejected woman in Sita is Nina Paley herself, and that the movie came about as a result of her breakup with her husband? |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:33 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Not just 20's style music, but the actual 20's recordings of Annette Hanshaw, one of the ebst singers of that decade.
Billy, happens all the time.
I asked about a movie recently and someone (Joe? Syd?) linked me to their earlier review.
I remembered the post pretty well, but had completely lost track of which film it referred to.
For a lot of new films, the title doesn't stick with me until I see the Dvd on offer here. Also, sometimes I skim the current film posts, as I don't want to learn too much about a new film.
I posted some praise for Sita about a month ago. And I remember Lady raving about it.
But people here, myself included, do tend to be a little lazy about using the search function. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:47 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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http://tinyurl.com/bu67u8
...will take you straight to Sita Sings the Blues, one of my sure-to-be Blanche nominees for Best Picture of 2009, and my favorite animated feature ever. I liked it about 100 times more than Up and Ratatouille combined.
Thanks, Carol, for the Channel 13 alert.
Dolores and I are having guests over on Saturday for dinner and a screening of Sita on the regular television screen. (The DVD is available from Netflix.) |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:22 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: my computer
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billy, have you ever seen Persepolis? I have yet to see Sita but graphic novels becoming films, done the right way, are an incredible new trend. I'd read the books (Persepolis) and the movie is, by no means, comprehensive but it does capture the flavor very nicely.
And I'm gathering you saw Waltz with Bashir, whose animation is in a category of its own. I love this brave new world of animation taken seriously - and taken to serious topics - because there is SO much that can be portrayed through graphics that cannot begin to be done even with the best actors.
I'll set some time aside and watch Sita - I was unaware until today that it's available online. |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:26 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Lissa--Never saw Persepolis, but saw Waltz with Bashir. I admire it greatly but thought it lacked...something. Catharsis or something. Wildly artistic, however. |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:31 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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billy, if you can, get the books - or book (my library had The Complete Persepolis - she wrote it in two parts) first...I have it on my list to buy when I can. It is riveting. Marjane Satrapi is candid and starkly so, about her years in Iran and out of the country; the film is minimalistic graphically, but that adds to the effects of the story. Even if you don't read the book, the film will grip your attention.
And I'll probably take this conversation over to the Books forum, but graphic novels are highly underrated. Maus is a must-read for anyone with a heartbeat. |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 3:15 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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In Sunshine Cleaning, Rose (Amy Adams) is a former head cheerleader who is now a single mom working as a cleaning lady and having an affair with the former quarterback who now is a policeman with a pregnant wife. (I get the impression the marriage may have been because of a previous pregnancy.) Rose's son is having problems at public schools, so she decides to send him to a private school but needs money. Her lover has mentioned that biohazard cleaners make pretty good money and Rose should look into that. So she hooks her rather feckless sister Norah (Emily Blunt) and starts a free-lance business which consists mostly of cleaning up crime scenes and houses of people who died alone. Of course, they have no idea how this kind of cleaning is different from the sort of thing Rose is used to doing, except with a lot more gore and nauseating odors.
The movie starts off like it's going to be a dark comedy, but eventually the writers mostly give up and turn it into a drama, although there is a humorous late scene at a baby shower where Rose is asked what she does for a living and she proceeds to tell people. Not the sort of thing you expect to hear at a baby shower. There is a subplot of how the girl's mother committed suicide when they were children and the girls found the body. It never seems to occur to them that it might not be a good idea to go into a business where you are going to be cleaning up after a lot of suicides.
You also have Alan Arkin as their dad. He has a tendency to develop schemes to make money that wind up not working.
I'd have to put this movie into the class of noble attempts that didn't work. A lot of the problem is tonal inconsistency; that is, plot elements that don't work well together. There's also the problem that, because of their inexperience and incompetence, a bunch of the stuff the sisters do is illegal, but they never seem to get into trouble for it. It's nice to see Amy Adams and Emily Blunt in a film together. I'd like to see them do some lighter comedy.
EDIT: It's Sunshine Cleaning dammit, not "Sunshine Cleaners." I thought I'd corrected that. |
Last edited by Syd on Wed Oct 07, 2009 12:50 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Marj |
| Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:23 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Manhattan
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:07 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| It looks like Emily Blunt is taking more leading roles, including one as the young Queen Victoria, the main actress in The Wolfman, the Queen of Lilliput and a science fiction movie with Matt Damon. She's actually pretty good in Sunshine Cleaning, great in a supporting role in The Devil Wears Prada, and was the only one who gave a really good performance in Dan in Real Life. I'm glad to see her getting more substantial parts. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:54 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Syd wrote: It looks like Emily Blunt is taking more leading roles. (She was) great in a supporting role in The Devil Wears Prada...,
So much better than Anne Hathaway, who was remarkably inept for an actress who soon after proved so terrific in Rachel Getting Married. Hathaway is a very uneven talent. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:24 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Just saw The Girlfriend Experience, the low-budget Steven Soderbergh exercise from earlier in the year. I was mesmerized and transfixed by its relentless focus, its unique POV on prostitution and relationships, and its riveting lead performance by porn actress Sasha Grey, who is uniquely herself in a way that's hard to describe but impossible to ignore.
I remember a lot of people on the forum dissing this movie. Not me. Soderbergh has achieved a 2009 one-two punch with this and The Informant! Not as amazing as Spielberg with Jurassic Park and Schindler's List in 1993 or Michael Keaton with Beetlejuice and Clean and Sober in 1988, but right up there with his own previous double-whammy of Erin Brockovich and Traffic in 2000. |
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