Third Eye Film Society Forum Index
Author Message

<  Third Eye Film Forums  ~  Current Film Talk

bartist
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:53 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
I found Nomadland fairly easy to relate to, having spent much of my life in the west, and meeting people with that nomadic spirit. Places on her circuit, like Scottsbluff NE, South Dakota badlands, Mendocino coast, all very familiar to me. Frances McD brings that air of melancholy, mixed with toughness and humor, that makes the film seem quite real. Hard for me not to think, at the end, that she should head back to "Dave" in Mendocino and his very welcoming extended family.

_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days.
View user's profile Send private message
bartist
Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 6:30 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Admit I'm a bit intrigued by the idea of Bob Odenkirk as an action hero.

_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days.
View user's profile Send private message
gromit
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 2:07 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
A female Hong Kong filmmaker made a documentary about stray dogs in Istanbul, Stray. Filmed from a dog point of view and without dialogue. The dogs main human friends are a trio of homeless Syrian refugees. The link contains a trailer, but I couldn't really get a feel for how the feature film would play out. Interesting project and Istanbul itself is such a magical photogenic city.

From my visit to Istanbul in 2008, I don't recall stray dogs, but we noticed how the city cats were treated well. Often when we fed stray cats, there was evidence others have been feeding them. At the mosque next to the Galata Bridge, a cat just sat on the steps as people constantly passed by, and eventually just casually strolled into the mosque. The new humane canine approach in Istanbul only took effect in 2004.

I was in neighboring Georgia in 2018 and they also have a enlightened dog policy of sterilizing, medically treating and ear-tagging stray dogs, then allowing them to live their lives. It was impressive how integrated the dogs were in society -- Georgian dogs were well-adjusted, not angry or afraid. People passing by would often give the dogs a brief scratching or toss them some food. First time I experienced a country with uniformly happy, healthy, friendly stray dogs. The article I linked to notes how the strays when treated well are often better socialized than many pets in American cities (citing LA as an example). Armenia was reportedly considering adopting the same Georgian model. [Romania really needs to adopt a humane policy to curb and assist its excessive and neglected wild dog population]

_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
carrobin
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 2:58 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
"Strays" sounds very appealing--I wonder if it will show up in the USA. I haven't seen an animal-centered film since "Romeo and Juliet" with cats at our film class. (Not a joke. Look up John Hurt's film history list--he was the only human in it. In drag. About a dozen people were left in the audience when it ended. But I enjoyed it and would love to see it again. And I'm a dog person.)
View user's profile Send private message
Syd
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 7:27 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
carrobin wrote:
"Strays" sounds very appealing--I wonder if it will show up in the USA. I haven't seen an animal-centered film since "Romeo and Juliet" with cats at our film class. (Not a joke. Look up John Hurt's film history list--he was the only human in it. In drag. About a dozen people were left in the audience when it ended. But I enjoyed it and would love to see it again. And I'm a dog person.)


I think you mentioned that once before as a film that Netflix probably didn't have. I haven't found a copy, either. I have a documentary on cats that I think has clips from it.

_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
bartist
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 10:04 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Quote:
'La Dame aux Chats,' the only human character in Romeo.Juliet, is an eccentric Venetian bag lady who lives with her pet rat on a houseboat named Fellini. She saves the lives of Juliet (a magnificent cloud-white Turkish Angora) and her feline family by smuggling them onto a ship bound for the New World. Soon after arriving in the docks of New York, Juliet meets her Romeo – a smokey long-haired gray feral.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo.Juliet

https://vimeo.com/88595327

What's in a name? that which we call a sardine
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days.
View user's profile Send private message
carrobin
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 2:06 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
Thanks, Bart--I had no idea there was any trace of the film online (not that I looked very hard), and it's remarkable that it received such a reception and then vanished entirely! I'm sure our film class would have been amazed as well. It was a lovely film, with the voices of Vanessa Redgrave and other British actors speaking the Shakespeare, but only the true cat lovers and a few film lovers remained till the end of our screening. But we had the director at our class, who went over very well, especially since he brought along Juliet. The film probably would have done better with our audience if he had been at class before the screening rather than after it.

My favorite scene was the Romeo cat walking thoughtfully across a beautiful tiled floor, and striding right over a terrified mouse without even noticing.
View user's profile Send private message
Befade
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:27 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
I saw Strays recently at the independent theatre here. I found it very disturbing. Istanbul is a city I’ve always wanted to go to. This film did not show any magical side to it. Apparently the city was appalled at the kill shelters that existed and passed a law saying stray dogs were not to be captured. The homeless Syrian teenagers wanted a puppy for company so they grabbed one and lay around sniffing glue.....inspiring?

I’m a dog lover and the only place I’ve seen agreeable stray dogs was in Cuba. They looked well fed and were mostly sleeping on sidewalks. I’ve heard that Istanbul does have a problem with packs of stray dogs roaming the streets. Animal shelters can have no kill policies. During the pandemic there have been more adoptions. Unfortunately the shelters here mostly have pit bulls. I volunteer at the cat shelter and those cats adopt out fast.

There was a film about the stray cats in Istanbul which was much more enjoyable.

_________________
Lost in my own private I dunno.
View user's profile Send private message
billyweeds
Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:34 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
"Psycho Ape!"--the horror comedy in which I have the male lead--is currently rated 8.9 out of 10 on IMDb. If you watch it you are 90% guaranteed to laugh. It's one of the mere handful of films I have ever been in that I enthusiastically endorse. You can rent it for $1.99 at Amazon Prime. Here's the direct link: www.tinyurl.com/yy37v7fo
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
gromit
Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 1:28 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Well, you should get to Georgia, a nice ramshackle country with friendly people (once we rented a vehicle from a big bald wrestler-looking guy on the street, who was amused when I wanted to add the price on to the one page rental contract). The Georgian stray dogs were well-socialized and integrated into society. And I am very much a cat person, In fact, since I was pretty small, dogs tend to take a dislike to me for no reason at all. Dogs often pick up a vibe they don't like from me, regardless of my behavior. And I got along with the Georgian dogs fine (and many were good-sized).

So how was the Film?
Did it work and hold interest for the feature length?
Was it coherent, or just a mishmash of edited actions from various days?
Did the doggie-vision pov hold up/work?

_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Befade
Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 2:05 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
Basically the film was “A Day in the Life of a Dog”. Walking the streets. Meeting friends. Avoiding enemies. Listening to conversations. Being given a bone. Going to the park. Crossing through traffic. Nothing dramatic.

One thing I find interesting: the breed of the dogs in different countries. The lead dog looked like a Rhodesian Ridgeback. The puppies looked like Border Collies. Mostly big dogs. In India and Cuba the dogs were all one type. Same body shape and small size. Just different colors. In India they don’t interact with people. I heard they often have rabies.

_________________
Lost in my own private I dunno.
View user's profile Send private message
bartist
Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:22 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
I had a dog when I was a child, until around age 12. And multiple cats, always. The canine default position is often to view a stranger as a possible threat. To overcome their distrust, one can do a few things. Speak softly and in as low a voice as possible. Stand in a relaxed posture and let them approach you. Don't smile. If they opt not to approach, just wait and try another day. Don't put your face in theirs. And if a dog makes you feel uncomfortable, don't sweet talk them. Let them know you're offended if they're being rude, but in a calm way. If the owner is around (and this is the number one way to gain a dog's trust), stand next to them and have a friendly chat, with physical contact if possible (like shaking hands). The Georgian dogs liked you because they view the streets as a general neutral territory without "owners" and you are part of the larger society of hairless ape-things. There's no conflict, or threat, in that situation.

_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days.
View user's profile Send private message
gromit
Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 2:02 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
The Georgian dogs liked me mostly because I came over to the them with a zip-loc bag full of whatever we swiped from the breakfast buffet that day. But even when I didn't have food, they didn't mind me and often came around for a scratch. One even swam over to say Hi when I was swimming in the Black Sea. But just came nearby to see what we were up to in a curious non-threatening way.

But really dogs have often distrusted me no matter what I do. So I rarely try to make friends, I'm more in the mode of trying to walk by without paying attention to them hoping not to elicit a hostile reaction.

A few years ago, I was telling a German-Indonesian friend that dogs generally don't like me, and she didn't believe me. Then a few minutes later we walked over to a pet shop. There were two middle school girls standing there petting or looking at two medium-sized dogs. A small two foot wooden barrier keeping the dogs in, that customers could step over to enter. As we walked up the students turned and left. We stopped at the mini-barrier, and I have my head turned talking to my friend, not looking at the dogs. And after a few seconds one starts backing up and barking his head off and is agitated, all directed clearly at me. And these were friendly pet shop dogs used to lots of people. Pretty typical for me.

In Romania, we were looking for a lunch stop off what passes for highways in that land, and there was a place set back off the road, unclear if it was open. A 3-legged dog appeared and was was determined not to let me pass. I tried a little gentle sweet-talk and circled around slowly. Sure I cna understand he was guarding his territory, but then after I slowly got past, he went over to my niece who was trailing some 20+ feet. And I watched hoping she wouldn't have trouble with the dog. Who just walked up to her quietly, sniffed and then jumped up putting its lone front paw on her chest, wanting to be pet. Quite a contrast.

I have stories like that going back to when I was about 6 and we went to a neighbor's backyard party, and almost immediately their large dog just charged and bowled me over.

In Shanghai when I'm biking home and have a can of cat food in my basketball bag, I'll sometimes stop and try to feed a stray dog (especially in Winter), and often the dogs just run away despite my trying to sweet-talk them and let them know I have some food. Usually they trot away so I can't even leave food they can find later. I've largely gotten discouraged and stopped trying. I'm not even trying to get close to them, I'm just trying to get them to notice that I'm putting food down at a fair distance. SH strays tend to be skittish, which no doubt reflects how people treat them.

Cats otoh, even stray cats, like me. Of course it's a rather different dynamic.
Btw, the unofficial dog of Shanghai is a small chocolate-brown poodle. Easily the most common pet dog here. One thing nice in Shanghai is that construction workers and security guards often adopt stray dogs. In that they remain street dogs, but have a place to return to, get food, some affection.

_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Befade
Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 3:48 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
What is it about you?? I think dogs have so much to offer people that there should be no homeless dogs.

Your travel plans! What a buildup or backup you have! I really want to travel again now that I’m vaccinated. I almost booked a ticket to Santiago, Chile a minute ago. For May. I think I have enough flight miles to go free....but the site I was on was charging me. Where to go?

_________________
Lost in my own private I dunno.
View user's profile Send private message
Syd
Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 9:11 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
"Strays" sounds like a companion piece to "Kedi," the documentary about cats in Istanbul. It's the film Befade mentioned.


Last edited by Syd on Sat Mar 27, 2021 9:15 pm; edited 1 time in total

_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Display posts from previous:  

All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 3175 of 3195
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 3174, 3175, 3176 ... 3193, 3194, 3195  Next
Post new topic

Jump to:  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum