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| Marc |
 Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:38 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| Red Road is a powerful and unforgettable film. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 2:32 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Red Road is a lot like a Haneke film, where we get stuck watching video cameras, in this case cctv monitors, and then after a long time some sudden violence breaks out.
One of those films I actively disliked.
But to each his own.
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I watched a pretty good, distinctly odd Estonian film, their 2009 submission to the Oscars I believe. The Temptation of St. Tony. A b&w Kafakesque nightmare befalls a deadpan factory manager through no fault of his own. It's an absurdist very black comedy, of the kind only people who get little sunlight in the winter can easily conjure. Religion is portrayed as extremely bitter and desolate, but still holding some moral sway.
Life is harsh and cruel and that's the way our god made it.
I especially liked the first 20 minutes. It starts with a funeral (of the father of the main character we later learn), during which a bizarre car crash occurs killing one passenger, and then our hero gets distracted and runs over a dog. While dragging the dog's carcass off the road into the marsh, he stumbles upon dismembered forearms. So we have a funeral, a death, a roadkilled dog and an apparent mass murder -- all in the first 20 minutes.
And then he meets the hot chick on the run.
But I was a little disappointed that the film veers into established indie film weird, unconventional conventions. Hot girl on the run, corrupt perverted police (think of the guys with the gimp in Pulp Fiction) and an S&M nightclub (think a low budget Estonian Eyes Wide Shut).
Still the set design is pretty great throughout, and the casting is very good. Occasional absurd moments put me in mind of Monty Python skits. And it almost seems to end with a Guy Maddin style fever dream.
And if you're going to borrow ...
But it did seem a bit like a young film in which its derivations could be seen. Still it has an interesting tone, some pretty great visuals and a very good deadpan lead. Not for everyone I suppose, but for those who like Estonian deadpan farce ... |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 8:34 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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| I haven't seen a Kafkaesque Pythonesque deadpan Estonian black comedy in...well, like forever. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:03 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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bartist wrote: I haven't seen a Kafkaesque Pythonesque deadpan Estonian black comedy in...well, like forever.
That's because the Finns had the market cornered.
Try Aki Kaurismaki's films.
Start with Leningrad Cowboys Go Amerika. Tell me those hairstyles and toting the one dead band member around aren't Pythonesque.
Estonia has a pretty big Finnish influence, with Helsinki just an hour ferry across from Talinn.
Actually two of Aki K's films take place in Estonia.
Mostly his characters are trying to get the hell out of Finland somehow.
His older brother Mika Kaurismäki all makes downbeat mildly comic films about Finnish slackers and losers. There's also more than a hint of early/mid Jarmusch in both Kaurismaki and Temptation of St. Tony. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:10 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Estonia is so close to Finland that people can get Finnish radio. When it was occupied (part of) the Soviet Union, Estonians could listen to the Finnish national anthem (which is Maamme, not Finlandia) because it has the same melody as the Estonian national anthem. |
Last edited by Syd on Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:02 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:14 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| Sounds vaguely like a Finnstonian Serious Man. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:20 pm |
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| Finland was apparently one of the big reasons that Hitler thought he could take care of Russia. Thank you, Finland. Things could have been disastrous if you hadn't given the Ruskies that black eye. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 12:50 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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| Night Moves ("75) is the weakest Gene Hackman film that I can recall. He's a noirish private eye in the funky Florida Keys, who can't seem to tie anything together. Instead, obvious situations need to envelope him before the plot can move forward. Had they made it campy, it might have worked. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 2:58 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| Night Moves is a beach noir and a classic. One of my all-time favorites with a dark dark ending. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 7:45 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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| That dark, dark ending was an unjustified jump - an attempt to add power to a story that hadn't earned it. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:53 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Fire is the first of Deepa Mehta's Elements Trilogy, which also includes Earth, which is moving up on my Netflix queue, and Water, which is an excellent film. Fire is about two women who are trapped in arranged marriages to two brothers. The elder, Radha, is more traditional, but is unable to bear children, and her husband has come under the influence of a mystic who has convinced him that desire, in particular sexual desire, is the root of all evil, so he has taking an oath of celibacy, but also has his wife tempt him occasionally to test his moral strength. The younger woman, Sita, has married a man who has a mistress, but has married Sita to produce the next generation. The mistress has enough sense and ambition not to get trapped in the family's idea of marriage.
In their frustration, the two women turn to each other and fall in love. Sita, who is not as tradition-bound, is quite willing to divorce her husband and run off with Radha, but Radha needs more convincing.
This is a decent film, but it drags a lot, and suffers from all the major characters except Sita and Radha being despicable in their own ways. These include their mother-in-law, who is bedridden and mute after a stroke and rings a bell whenever she disapproves of something, which gets old really fast; and a family servant who masturbates to pornography while watching the old lady. Sita and Radha are named after Hindu goddesses, Sita being the long-suffering wife of Rama who sings the blues. The Ramayana is frequently referred to throughout the film, including one stage performance.
I was somewhat disappointed in the film, perhaps because my expectations were boosted so much by Water. This one is much more average. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:54 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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The goddess Sita is the one who underwent the test of fire to prove her fidelity (and still wound up being exiled by Rama).
The goddess Radha is the wife of Krishna, and has a much easier time of it.
Both are manifestations of Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:43 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Agree with Marc on Night Moves; obviously disagree with yam. NM is one of my favorite movies. I will admit that a sense of humor, even slight, might have improved it, but I'm not complaining. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 6:16 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I've never heard of it. Will check it out. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:41 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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| Workin' and practicin' on the Night Moves. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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