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| Ghulam |
 Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:50 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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The British product Fish Tank (2009), directed by Andrea Arnold, is a powerful portrayal of a 15 year old girl, angry, unloved, lost and rebellious, her fun loving mother and the mother's new found boyfriend. Realistic and harsh portrayal of life in housing projects. Superb direction.
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:22 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Fish Tank won something at Cannes (Jury Prize).
I disliked it, thought it kind of phony and trying to hard to seem relevant. I also disliked the pacing and style of the film.
I did however like it much better than Red Road, Andrea Arnold's first film which I thought was tedious dreck. I really liked her short film Wasp, which I'd highly recommend, but everything else she's done has grated on me.
But I've been over this before.
Interesting that FT worked for you Ghulam.
Wiki says that she's working on an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which I'll be sure to miss. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:27 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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| Never saw Smoke Signals -- somehow thought it was a Cheech and Chong movie. Will look for it now, Syd. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:46 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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There was a pretty good Indian road trip film I recced a year or two back. Iirc, it occurs in Oklahoma. The old dying patriarch tries to make amends for his errors, and gets his ex-wife to drive him back to ... where? Somewhere significant. His father's grave?
It was a pretty effective low budget film, with some good performances. I'll try to excavate the title of the film.
Barking Water
www.imdb.com/title/tt1201135/
Good film. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:44 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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gromit wrote: Fish Tank won something at Cannes (Jury Prize).
I disliked it, thought it kind of phony and trying to hard to seem relevant. I also disliked the pacing and style of the film.
I did however like it much better than Red Road, Andrea Arnold's first film which I thought was tedious dreck. I really liked her short film Wasp, which I'd highly recommend, but everything else she's done has grated on me.
But I've been over this before.
Interesting that FT worked for you Ghulam.
Wiki says that she's working on an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which I'll be sure to miss.
Never saw Wasp, but disagree about Fish Tank, which I thought was powerful and brilliantly acted. Definitely agree about Red Road, however. It was terrifically overrated; "tedious" pretty much sums it up, though "dreck" is a bit extreme. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:37 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Make an effort to see Wasp, a terrific short film. Won some awards and launched her directing career.
It used to be available online. So maybe search around. It's also on a few anthologies of short films. I think it's on the Cinema 16 Europe. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:40 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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bartist wrote: Modern Romance is added to my list (I'm loving the local interlibrary loan system, which is giving me nearly free access to a vast array of classics).
Per Billy's re-review and bart and others adding it to their lists, so am I. As a fan of Albert Brooks (he was most recently on Adam Carolla's podcast, not to mention his recent book of his view of the future), I'll give this one a try again, too. I don't remember much from my original viewing, except that it paled in comparison to Defending Your Life greatly. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:42 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: marantzo wrote: Boy, you waited a long time. My granddaughter is 22 and my grandson just turned (July 4th) 16.
Who is the parent? Not Dylan, right? (He doesn't seem old enough, or am I just getting so old that I think everyone else is a kid?)
Granddad talk. Looking forward to hearing the news, billy |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:25 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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chillywilly wrote: billyweeds wrote: marantzo wrote: Boy, you waited a long time. My granddaughter is 22 and my grandson just turned (July 4th) 16.
Who is the parent? Not Dylan, right? (He doesn't seem old enough, or am I just getting so old that I think everyone else is a kid?)
Granddad talk. Looking forward to hearing the news, billy
So is my daughter. Due date was July 7 and so far baby is still in utero. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:26 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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chillywilly wrote: bartist wrote: Modern Romance is added to my list (I'm loving the local interlibrary loan system, which is giving me nearly free access to a vast array of classics).
Per Billy's re-review and bart and others adding it to their lists, so am I. As a fan of Albert Brooks (he was most recently on Adam Carolla's podcast, not to mention his recent book of his view of the future), I'll give this one a try again, too. I don't remember much from my original viewing, except that it paled in comparison to Defending Your Life greatly.
IMO Modern Romance is much better than DYL, which, however, I also loved. MR and Lost in America are the best of Brooks IMO. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 1:37 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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gromit wrote: Fish Tank won something at Cannes (Jury Prize).
I disliked it, thought it kind of phony and trying to hard to seem relevant. I also disliked the pacing and style of the film.
I did however like it much better than Red Road, Andrea Arnold's first film which I thought was tedious dreck. I really liked her short film Wasp, which I'd highly recommend, but everything else she's done has grated on me.
But I've been over this before.
Interesting that FT worked for you Ghulam.
Wiki says that she's working on an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which I'll be sure to miss.
It was designed to bring out the ugliness of life in those ugly tenements and in a loveless home with an alcoholic parent, and how these impinge on someone in the midst of an adolescent identity crisis. I have to agree with you however on the pacing, at least for some parts of the movie.
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 2:39 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Fish Tank was something of a critical darling. The only part of that interested me was when she went to the guy's house and, uh, interacts with his family. But it took a long time to get to that.
Arnold's short film Wasp was on the Dvd for either Red Road or Fish Tank, I forget which.
Here we go:
Quote: Wasp is available on the Cinema16: World Short Films and Cinema16: European Short Films (US Special Edition) DVDs, and as a bonus feature on the Fish Tank DVD in the UK.
I've watched that about 4 times.
It's 26 minutes and pretty potent.
Should have some extra relevance these days in the wake of Casey Anthony's candidacy for Mom of the Year. No child dies in Wasp, but the mother does a crappy job of mothering while she tries to maintain a social life. Sobering. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:23 pm |
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| I have Modern Romance. Was going to watch it this afternoon but fell asleep. For some reason I prefer to watch movies in the afternoon. I'll be seeing it in a day or two. I liked Defending Your Life and like Billy I thought Lost In America was a better movie. And the best of Mr. Einstein's films. I'm expecting MR to be right up there with it. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:08 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| For me, Lost in America and Defending Your Life are Brooks' best movies. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:23 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Dragon Hunters: Here's a surprise. Dragon Hunters is a French animated film (I saw it English-dubbed) in which a little girl escapes from a castle to recruit two noble knights to defeat the World-Gobbler after all her uncle's knights have disappeared. Instead she gets two con artists, the wily and knavish Gwizdo, and the hulking, gentle Lian-Chu, who just might be a noble knight inside. They are accompanied by a weird dog-like creature that looked to me like a fire-spitting rabbit.
The film story is a bit geared to children, but the animation is generally stunning (and odd--what is it with the landscape defying gravity) , and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The dubbing is terrific, with Forest Whitaker (Lian-Chu) the only name. Story's solid with minor condescension to the kids. Available for instant streaming on Netflix and I recommend it highly. |
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