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| gromit |
 Posted: Fri May 29, 2015 11:55 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Maybe I'll give it a try.
But I'm rather wary of LGBT films.
Last decade they started to "remake" the same old films but with females as leads. Chicks with guns. Chicks wandering around. Chicks getting raunchy and partying. Recently, slacker chicks.
This decade many of the same old films are being remade with gay characters. I'm sure there are good ones -- and Boy Meets Girl might be one such -- but most seem like retreads. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 5:22 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Believe me, Boy Meets Girl is not remotely a remake of any rom-com you've ever seen. It's a true original. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 9:32 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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It had me at every point of the emotional compass including belly laughs, weeping, and adoration for Michelle Hendley. That Schaeffer dude is someone to watch. I find it hard to compare with any other film I've ever seen. I can affirm what the Weedster said, and I have no familial bias strewing rose petals across my vision. But I do have my biases, and this film confronted them and then wrestled them into a state of blissful clarity.
Oh, and emotional compass point i neglected to mention: steamed glasses. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 11:51 pm |
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Syd wrote: In a similar vein, I watched about half of Orson Welles' version of The Trial last night before I started falling asleep. Not because of the movie, though, which moves at a surprisingly good clip, and Anthony Perkins is well-cast as Josef K. At first, I thought Jeanne Moreau was simply bad, but then I realized her character was smashed and weary to the bone. Probably because of all the noise from Josef's pornograph.
I finally finished this tonight. I guess it says something that it took me five days to get around to finish it. Some really good scenes in here. My favorite is Josef K. visiting the court portraitist who supposedly can help him. (Being a Kafka novel, there is naturally no help forthcoming.) He arrives in the lobby, and there are a bunch of teenage girls there. One of the girls asks him why he is there, and he replies that he's there to have his portrait painted. The girls start squealing and exclaiming "A portrait!" and surround him like he's a Beatle and they're 1964 rock fans. The artist's loft is fenced in by slats, and we keep switching back and forth between Josef's conversation with the artist, and the girls peeping through the chinks in the slats. Richard Lester's "A Hard Day's Night" was heavily influenced by "The Trial."
I think this is brilliant, and I was half expecting Josef to be torn apart by these Bacchae. The ending proper is a bit of a misfire; it should have been much more anonymous.
This is the best I've ever seen Perkins, including Psycho, though the movie's not quite as good. I really liked Romy Schneider as Leni, the Advocate's mistress, who also had the hots for all the accused, including Josef. In fact, given that Perkins gives off strong gay vibes throughout the movie, it's interesting how many female characters have the hots for him, which he does try to reciprocate. (It's also possible he's asexual.)
Interesting movie, and Welles's favorite among his films, which I guess shows we shouldn't trust a director's choices among his own films, since of the five Welles-directed films I've seen (the others are Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Stranger and F for Fake), this is easily the weakest, which does not mean that it's bad. Welles just sets a high standard for comparison. That said, a film version of The Trial is always going to be limited in appeal, given the nature of the material. I was surprised that I rather liked it. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 12:05 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| If the anecdote that begins the film looks strange, it's because it's the only example I've ever seen in a major film of pin animation. You do this by sticking thousands of pins into a board, and raise and lower them to form an image. Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker pioneered it, and if you watch carefully, you can see why it pretty much died with them. There have been a handful of other animators who used it, but it's a hell of lot of work and less effective than almost any other form of animation. |
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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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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 2:03 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Syd wrote: and Welles's favorite among his films, which I guess shows we shouldn't trust a director's choices among his own films
I might be wrong but I seem to recall that Welles said that at various times about almost every film he made.
Sounds like you still have The Lady From Shanghai and Mr Arkadin to go.
Chimes at Midnight is a Shakespearean film that has a good deal in common with The Trial, another atmospheric low/no budget affair .
There might be a new Welles film soon, as the legal rights to The Other Side of the Wind have finally been cleared up and they are running an indiegogo campaign to get financing to do all that is necessary to put it into final form. Welles left a lot of unfinished projects littered around the globe.
Quote: Welles's primary focus during his final years was The Other Side of the Wind, an unfinished project that was filmed intermittently between 1970 and 1976. Written by Welles, it is the story of an aging film director (John Huston) looking for funds to complete his final film. The cast includes Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg, Norman Foster, Edmond O'Brien, Cameron Mitchell and Dennis Hopper. Financed by Iranian backers, ownership of the film fell into a legal quagmire after the Shah of Iran was deposed. While there have been several reports of all the legal disputes concerning ownership of the film being settled... |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 9:07 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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| Also haven't seen Touch of Evil, Othello or Macbeth. I recorded The Immortal Story along with The Stranger and The Trial. I have no idea what it's about. |
Last edited by Syd on Fri Jun 02, 2017 11:08 pm; edited 1 time in total
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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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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 10:18 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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| Touch of Evil is one of his more fully realized films. There are some classic scenes in that. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 1:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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bartist wrote: It had me at every point of the emotional compass including belly laughs, weeping, and adoration for Michelle Hendley. That Schaeffer dude is someone to watch. I find it hard to compare with any other film I've ever seen. I can affirm what the Weedster said, and I have no familial bias strewing rose petals across my vision. But I do have my biases, and this film confronted them and then wrestled them into a state of blissful clarity.
Oh, and emotional compass point i neglected to mention: steamed glasses.
So very glad you liked it so much. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 7:17 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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| The Immortal Story is based on an Isak Dinesen story. (Isak was a pen name for Karen Blixen as in Out of Africa. She also wrote "Babette's Feast.") I have a collection of her stories but those are not among them. |
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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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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:39 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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The long opening shot of The Touch of Evil is unforgettable. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:21 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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SPOILERS POSSIBLE
billyweeds wrote: The House on Telegraph Hill promises more than it delivers. This 1951 film noir (sorta) stars Richard Basehart and Valentina Cortesa in what seems to be the story of a displaced person from a concentration camp but turns out to be just another terrorized-woman tale, not unlike Rebecca or Gaslight. Basehart and Cortesa go through the motions professionally as terrorizer and terrorizee. Her character is a take-charge woman, which was rather rare for the period, but otherwise this Robert Wise-directed thriller is pretty much by the numbers.
Just saw this...knew I was hip-deep in cliche when they went with cut brake lines and swapping poisoned glasses of juice. Also an unintended humorous moment when we discover a child's playhouse has been built on the edge of a high cliff, and has a big hole in the floor directly over the cliff edge. Basehart's death scene is also amusingly melodramatic and involves an extended complaint on the burden of having to be an evil scheming bastard in order to rise socially.
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 9:46 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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The Man Who Would Be King: a rewatch of one of my favorite movies, with great performances by Caine, Connery and Plumber. Daniel's Roxanne is played by Shakira Caine, Michael's wife. I had forgotten that Daniel is actually a pretty wise king, except for this minor flaw in his plan...
One of the most beautiful scenes is when Daniel and Peachy are trapped in a cave in the Hindu Kush with no hope of escape, and they start reminiscing, which starts them laughing, setting off an avalanche which frees them. Simply a classic moment of cinema.
What you have here is a cracking good story, well-fleshed out for the cinema, with fine actors at the top of their form, one of the great directors at the top of his form, and masterful cinematography. It's a joy to watch. (9.5 of 10)
(Trivia: Karoom Ben Bouih, who played the high priest, was allegedly 103 when he made this movie. Since IMDb doesn't list a date of death, we must assume he is 144 years old now.) |
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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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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 10:09 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Agree that "The Man Who Would Be King" is a classic. I hadn't seen it since it first came out and we had it for our film class, till TCM showed it tonight. I had forgotten almost everything about it except that it was a great film with Connery and Caine. (And is there anything more threatening in movies than a room full of riches beyond the dreams of avarice?) |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:56 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Adelheid (1970) by Frantisek Vlácil is a bit of an odd film. In the wake of WWII, the Sudetan Germans are now treated badly and victimized by the Czechs. Apparently they are in camps with a pass system which allows them out to perform menial tasks. A Czech lieutenant arrives in a small town from a stint with the RAF. Not recognized at first for his position, he gets roughed up by the local Czech army. And misunderstanding and identity is a key to the film. To make up, they give him an old mansion formerly owned by a wealthy German/Nazi supporter. There he becomes attracted to the German maid, Adelheid, who we later learn is the daughter who used to live there. Adelheid in German means nobility.
Adelheid doesn't speak Czech, or maybe she does more than she lets on. Most of the film is between these two, and since they don't speak the same language, much of their relationship is wordless and full of uncertainty. There's also some doubt whether the local police chief, the town leader, is good or bad. And there's a lot of ambiguity about who is more powerful, the loner lieutenant or the established local chief.
There might be too much ambiguity in the film. And the pace is rather deliberate. I can't imagine this was a very comfortable viewing for Czechs who are depcited as victimizing the Germans after the war. Vlácil also made two impressive films set in the Middle Ages -- Marketa Lazarova and Valley of the Bees. At first, there doesn't seem to be any connection with Adelheid. But again it's a film where communication and reasoning is limited, animal and base instincts take over, power relations and uncertainty hover over everything, and violence and death can break out at any moment. Maybe his comment is that WWII and its aftermath was a return to Middle Age barbarity.
Marketa Lazarova is a real kick in the teeth. A very Hobbesian world, where violence and vengeance and piety are about all that is on offer. It seems like a film that was made in the Middle Ages. All three I've seen contain some great shots of Nature in its immensity and wintry barrenness. |
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