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| bartist |
 Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:19 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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| A SCotUS without her will be more ruthless than it is now. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2018 1:30 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Three Identical Strangers, a new doc sounds intriguing.
Quote: The triplets, born in 1961, were placed with three families — one upper class, one middle, one working — by the now-defunct Louise Wise Agency as part of a study about nature vs. nurture by the Child Development Center. The center would later merge with the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, a large, 140-year-old New York nonprofit.
The study — which encompassed an unknown number of twins — was conducted through the 1960s and ’70s by Dr. Peter Neubauer, a prominent, Austrian-born psychologist who died in 2008. Without the knowledge of the children or their parents, researchers studied the children’s development
Apparently the files are at Yale under seal for another 50 years.
The successor agencies fearful of being sued. So it's unclear what the study concluded. But the story of the 3 men (now 57), is kind of crazy. |
Last edited by gromit on Sat Jul 07, 2018 10:09 am; edited 1 time in total
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2018 7:03 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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The moment I saw that the previous post was about Three Identical Strangers, I passed on reading it. Mike D'Angelo, film critic, says that if you know nothing about the case, you should cease reading anything about it until you see the film. I plan to see it this weekend and then will read the post here. In the meantime, it seems SPOILER ALERTS are an absolute necessity for anything written about this movie.
P.S. Saw the movie. It's a fascinating tale that sticks with you, although just a tad dry at times in the telling (talking heads abound). Can't talk about it any more for fear of spoilers. The plot is that surprising and that complex.
Gromit--You really should post a SPOILER ALERT in capital letters at the beginning of your post.
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| knox |
| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 8:50 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
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Location: St. Louis
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Quote: People who are not transgender have been quick to shout things like, “This is why it’s called ‘acting!’ ” and to wonder what the fuss is all about. Cisgender folks who’ve never walked in our shoes can’t believe the hubris of trans people insisting that we play ourselves in film and television roles, rather than having other people imitate us....
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/opinion/why-scarlett-johansson-shouldnt-play-a-trans-man.html
I confess I myself was quick to shout the above mentioned. I don't recall much concern about this when films like Midnight ITGOGAE, or The Crying Game, first released. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 10:05 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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| I think it's fine, but hope the casting director at least considered trans people to play trans roles. So the role goes to whoever fills the bill best. Part of the problem with this is just the nature of the film business. If you want to get your film financed, made and released, having a star attached such as Scarlett is often key. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 10:07 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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| Anyone seen or heard of Mary Magdalene, a film starring Rooney Mara in the title role. I almost picked it up yesterday, but went with an art film The Square which i'd also never heard of instead. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 10:11 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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| I thought that was the basic outline of 3 Id Strangers, but not having seen the film, I don't know at what point we learn that essential info. I assumed right off the bat. Anyways, I whited out the possibly offending part in my post. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:40 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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| Knox....I believe the 2 films you mentioned actually employed trans people for their roles. Midnight certainly did. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:25 pm |
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| Ant-Man and the Wasp is a lot of fun, as was its predecessor, with an incredible amount of mileage from the strategic use of instantaneous shrinking and restoration to normal size. Hope van Dyne, the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) particularly gets a lot of use out of this, developing a unique fighting style. Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is often struggling to keep up, but he, not she, gets to command the ants. (Does she get to command wasps?) The villainess, a phaser known as the Ghost is sympathetic despite her homicidal tendencies: her parents were arguably screwed over by Hank Pym, leaving her in a quasidimensional state that looks like it will soon be fatal. All this surrounds the discovery that the original Wasp (Janet van Dyne, Hank Pym's wife and Hope's mother) may well be alive and trapped in the quantum realm and all sorts of people want her back (and Hank's technology) for their own reasons. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 10:19 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Strong Island is a netflix documentary.
The filmmaker's brother was shot dead, no indictment was returned (self-defense was accepted by the grand jury), and the family is convinced this was due to racism. You can see how this seems timely. The family itself is interesting.
But the problems are many. First off, this all took place 20 years ago. Secondly there was a series of conflicts between the killer and victim in the prior month, and the victim acted violently at least once before. And even the victim's friend who was with him admitted that the victim-brother intended to start a fight (and at 5'9" 240 was formidable).
And lastly, we get no one except the family itself. Understandably the shooter didn't want to be involved in the film (assuming he was contacted). One investigator isn't willing to discuss the case in a phone interview. Another is willing to on the phone, but concludes that the grand jury was fair.
It was all unfortunate and unnecessary. With both sides provoking the other. Leading to the shooting death. I'm sure it sucks that your brother was shot to death and there was no trial or penalty attached. But there's definite doubt that a trial would have resulted in a conviction. And again this was 20 years ago, so it's far too late. I almost get the feeling this was made because the director is an articulate black gay female. though in another omission, we only hear her partner on the phone but never meet her.
It really is a study of a family affected by a tragedy and on that level works reasonably well. In terms of racial injustice and legal failure, the film is less persuasive. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 10:32 am |
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Location: Shanghai
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Agnes Varda's Visages Villages is interesting and charming. Basically the idea is bringing art to common people and making art out of common people. In this way, the van they drive in disguised as a giant camera on wheels is a perfect metaphor. It all works quite well, including the pairing of Varda with young collage artist JR. Again a seeming mismatch that brings out more than expected.
About the only weak point was the Le Havre section which wasn't bad but felt shoehorned in, along with its forced feminist message. And as Agnes herself points out the docks aren't exactly a village. Pretty impressive, especially considering she's 88 with bad eyes. And of course, Varda being Varda, she works her faltering eyesight into the film.
I especially liked the bar waitress who becomes a wall mural icon and is rather ambivalent about her unexpected fame. The artwork is a rather simple idea, expanded and worked upon and adapted to available public spaces. Simple and clever. I liked the art on industrial spaces (train tank cars, water towers, etc). I would have been a bit interested in the process of making these giant images, and the internal workings of the photo booth/poster-making camera-truck. But the film really wanted to focus on the people and results, and have the artwork somewhat magical.
Good film. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 12:43 pm |
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knox wrote: Quote: People who are not transgender have been quick to shout things like, “This is why it’s called ‘acting!’ ” and to wonder what the fuss is all about. Cisgender folks who’ve never walked in our shoes can’t believe the hubris of trans people insisting that we play ourselves in film and television roles, rather than having other people imitate us....
I confess I myself was quick to shout the above mentioned. I don't recall much concern about this when films like Midnight ITGOGAE, or The Crying Game, first released.
Was Dill transgender or transvestite? It is has been a long time since I saw TCG. Never saw MitGoGaE because, having taken a horse drawn guided tour of Savannah felt there was no need. "Let's stop for five minutes here and see where some obscure action in Midnight etc, happened. trot trot trot ifyoulookquicklytoyourleftyoucanseeFlanneryO'Conner'shouse trot trot trot We'll stop here for five minutes so you can look at a wrought iron gate that featured in a shot in the movie Midnight etc." |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 8:48 pm |
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whiskeypriest wrote: knox wrote: Quote: People who are not transgender have been quick to shout things like, “This is why it’s called ‘acting!’ ” and to wonder what the fuss is all about. Cisgender folks who’ve never walked in our shoes can’t believe the hubris of trans people insisting that we play ourselves in film and television roles, rather than having other people imitate us....
I confess I myself was quick to shout the above mentioned. I don't recall much concern about this when films like Midnight ITGOGAE, or The Crying Game, first released. I wonder if insisting transgender people play transgendered roles will not ultimately result in ghettoizing transgender actors into ONLY transgender roles.
Was Dill transgender or transvestite? It is has been a long time since I saw TCG. Never saw MitGoGaE because, having taken a horse drawn guided tour of Savannah felt there was no need. "Let's stop for five minutes here and see where some obscure action in Midnight etc, happened. trot trot trot ifyoulookquicklytoyourleftyoucanseeFlanneryO'Conner'shouse trot trot trot We'll stop here for five minutes so you can look at a wrought iron gate that featured in a shot in the movie Midnight etc."
Dil was transgender but only partway though the transition. Fergus is straight, which is why the emotions are so complicated in the film. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:14 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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| Pose features 5 transgender actresses who are main characters. Some men do make beautiful women. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 10:45 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Claire Foy has a noteworthy role in "Unsane," as an office worker who goes through a harrowing involuntary commitment to a private mental hospital (part of an insurance scam). The plot is fairly off-the-shelf in a "bad day keeps getting worse" motif (turns out her former stalker is now an orderly at the hospital), but Soderbergh's experimental approach (which includes shooting the whole film secretly, on an Iphone) makes something that could have been generic quite fascinating. This is NOT a "found footage" film, btw - the production quality is actually excellent and I did not realize until after watching the brief DVD extra that the film was made on an Iphone.
Foy is an actress to watch - considerable talent and screen presence who, in this film, shows her power to completely inhabit a character. There's a scene where she is brought breakfast in a padded room and you feel certain she went full Method Acting on this - skipping a couple meals perhaps - and wolfing it down in a way that I rarely see actors do. No fake chewing here - that girl was hungry.
(after two seasons of "The Crown," what fun it must have been to cram half an egg mcmuffin into one's mouth in front of a camera) |
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