Film Quiz

[Drasko]

Well, I figured out A3 and A4 but don't know if should disclose it since never heard of the films before. Just managed to recognise the actor in A3 and from there was easy (and bit surprising  )

Speaking of actors, Maciek, could the guy from B5 be the same as the one in Camera Buff clip and could B2 be the leading role from Three Colors white?? 

[Lilas Pastia]

Maciek, do you confirm it's The Wind ?

The additional shot of A4 looks like it's Emil Jannings on the right. I'll go for Dupont's Variété. That, too is almost from another life (must have seen it over 30 years ago), but I'm 96% sure it's Jannings.

[mahlertitan]

nobody has seen "Los.Amantes.del.Círculo.Polar" aka "Lovers of the Artic Circle"? I am shocked, you've got to see it!

http://www.youtube.com/v/SZxNd1K359g

[M forever]

Shurayukihime I haven't seen it but I remember reading about it re Kill Bill...

I think it's Princess Blade

Yes, you are both correct:



Probably one of the best martial arts films I know (and reaaaally sad, too ) , with stunning sword action actually performed on camera (unlike a lot of those movies which are cut so rapidly, it's obvious that the actors don't really do the stuff), all the more impressive since the lead actress is actually not a martial arts artist, but a Japanese teenie idol pop star...
I supervised the international (=outside Japan) premiere of this at the International Berlin Film Festival in 2001, the main actors and the director came, and he delivered one of the funniest Q&A sessions afterwards. Although the comic book of the same title is set in historical Japan, he had filmed the whole movie in abandoned factory halls and similar locations, he just transported it into a run-down, depressive post-Industrial Japan set in an undefined future time.
The nature of these film festival Q&As is often that the people who ask the questions want to show off how intelligent and intellectual they are (most of these people probably write film reviews for some irrelevant publication or online and dream of being a writer or director, I guess... ), and it took one guy literally 5 minutes to offer his view about what predictions for the future of his country or the industrialzed world in general the director obviously wanted to make, what parallels there are to the present and all that, and to ask the director if he could elaborate on his intentions. He just said, "actually we filmed it that way simply because it was much cheaper than in historical locations and costumes" 
Another guy asked him in a similarly long-winded way what messages he wanted to transport with the movie, and the director just replied, "none, really...I just thought that since people like martial arts and Miss Shaku is very popular in Japan, if I put the two elements together, we have a sure winner and can make a lot of money, and that worked..."  Man, that was so funny!

The children's film: Great children's author... 2 kids -one boy one girl- (looking lost) in the forest..- Is it a Hans &Gretel adaptation ?

No, since no one seems to know this, let me just reveal it now. It is "Ronja Rövardotter" ("Ronia the Robber's Daughter") a great Swedish childrens film after the book by ***Astrid Lindgren***.

[Maciek]

OK, I'm back, and see you've all moved quite a bit ahead!

Here I go again (the new replies are in bold):

A1 - Méliès' L'arroseur arrosé (Lilas Pastia)
A2 - Sjostrom's The Wind (Lilas Pastia)
A3 -
A4 - Dupont's Variété (Lilas Pastia)
A5 -

B1 - Fellini - 8 1/2 (Drasko)
B2 -
B3 - Antonioni - The Passenger (sidoze)
B4 - Pasolini - Arabian Nights (Drasko)
B5 -

C1 - Takeshi Kitano - Hana Bi  (Drasko, slapping his forehead)
C2 - Kassovitz - Assassins (Drasko)
C3 - Spike Jonze - Adaptation (Drasko)
C4 -
C5 -

And now some hints for the "number fives".
(A-B-C)

1. all three are Polish films
2. all three are comedies
3. B5 has definitely got cult status, with C5 it's debatable (it is a cult film for me, though ); however another film by the director of C5 has got similar status to B5
4. center character in A5 is male; considered one of the best Polish comedy actors of his time; also considered incredibly handsome in his time (though today you'd call him stout to say the least)
5. Q: Could the guy from B5 be the same as the one in Camera Buff? A: Yes, it's the same actor, one of the very best in Poland today (he sometimes also directs).

And here are the shots plus small hints for the remaining "regular" three:

A3

(It's Jannings again - playing a Russian general this time. And go ahead, Milos, take a shot - I consider guessing is as legitimate as knowing! )

B2
http://www.youtube.com/v/wX4ER8Cxy94
(hint: officially premiered 7 years after it was filmed, won Best Actress in Cannes two years after that)

C4

(hint: both shots show the leading lady, though I must admit it's not much of a likeness; Milos is going in circles very close around this one, though it is NOT Trois couleurs: Rouge, and it is NOT Julie Deply)

BTW, Milos - no wonder you're the one who started this thread - you're excellent!

[Maciek]

Maciek, do you confirm it's The Wind ?

Yes, I've put it on the list, see?

A2 - Sjostrom's The Wind (Lilas Pastia)

[Drasko]

A3  Josef von Sternberg - The Last Command

B5  Juliusz Machulski - Seksmisja

C4  Rendez-Vous ??

[Maciek]

Yes. Yes (!!!). No (but you got the actress right).

[Lilas Pastia]

For this role in The Last Command (which I haven't seen) Jannings won an Academy Award. I didn't realize it was directed by Sternberg. He had just moved to Hollywood, where he also made Underworld, a great gangster movie and one of the best films in the twilight of the silent era.

A bunch of swedish, german and austro-hungarian film artists flocked to Hollywood in the mid-late twenties, among which Moritz Stiller, Sjöström, Murnau, Sternberg, Ernst Lubitsch,  William Wyler, William Dieterle, Karl Freund, actors Bela Lugosi, Greta Garbo, Lars Hanson, Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt, Marlene Dietrich. Some made it (Lubitsch, Wyler, Dieterle, Lugosi, Garbo, Dietrich), but many found the Hollywood world too alien to their artistic sensibilities or linguistic abilities (among which Jannings) and eventually returned to the homeland.

Another wave of german-austrian emigration started in 1930 which brought Fritz Lang, Peter Lorre, Otto Preminger, Michael Curtiz, Billy Wilder and no doubt dozens of other famous names. It can safely be said that no single wave of Hollywood immigrants had a greater impact on american filmmaking pre-1960 than the germans.

[Maciek]

For this role in The Last Command (which I haven't seen) Jannings won an Academy Award.

It's a brilliant role. One of his best. But then all of his roles seem brilliant and best, don't they? The screenplay itself has its weaknesses and considering how vulgar and cliché many of the silent era stories are to today's sensibilities, it always seems to me an acting (and directing) miracle when they manage to pull it off. But they usually do, and that is quite amazing!

(PS - I mean "vulgar" in an aesthetic, not an erotic way )

[sidoze]

I consider guessing is as legitimate as knowing! )

For some reason I consider guessing as good as pointless. I suppose the sense of curiosity is enough of a motivation in this, but I don't see any reason for it. I will look at some of your films though. This afternoon on the way home I read a short article on the production and distribution history of The Passenger, a film I would certainly count in my top 10.

[Maciek]

For some reason I consider guessing as good as pointless.

Oh, well, nobody is perfect.

Yes, The Passenger is a 100% masterpiece. I could watch it every week. But currently I don't have a copy (I used to have it videotaped but I don't have a player anymore).

[Drasko]

Oh, well, nobody is perfect.

[Maciek]

Oh, and I was about to add two more beautiful shots!

[Edit:] Oh, and love your drawing technique!

[sidoze]

Yes, The Passenger is a 100% masterpiece. I could watch it every week. But currently I don't have a copy (I used to have it videotaped but I don't have a player anymore).

Then you might have seen Antonioni's dreaded MGM release, which apparently cuts 5 minutes from the film. I believe one of the missing shots was of Locke returning to his house in London after assuming the other identity.

[Drasko]

Then you might have seen Antonioni's dreaded MGM release, which apparently cuts 5 minutes from the film. I believe one of the missing shots was of Locke returning to his house in London after assuming the other identity.

Just bought DVD few days ago, it's Sony and the case says running time is 121. Is that complete?

[Maciek]

In case someone didn't get Drasko's cryptic answer, here are 2 more photos from C4 (why waste them if I can post them? :

[Drasko]

Oh, and I was about to add two more beautiful shots!

Please do, I haven't seen it. Saw White (which didn't particularly like) and Red (which was some time ago but remember liking it more).

That red van in the first picture threw me off and Binoche in second looks very young.


edit: you wuz quick

[Kullervo]

I think the number of Kieslowski shots outnumbers all other directors on this thread. Am I right?

[Maciek]

Saw White (which didn't particularly like)

Oh, I hate White. Have no idea what he was getting at... Comedy simply wasn't his genre. Blue and Red are my favorite films of his. Red used to be at the top, nowadays it's the other way around.

Anyway, here's another update with the new replies in bold:

A1 - Méliès' L'arroseur arrosé (Lilas Pastia)
A2 - Sjostrom's The Wind (Lilas Pastia)
A3 - Josef von Sternberg - The Last Command (Drasko)
A4 - Dupont's Variété (Lilas Pastia)
A5 -

B1 - Fellini - 8 1/2 (Drasko)
B2 -
B3 - Antonioni - The Passenger (sidoze)
B4 - Pasolini - Arabian Nights (Drasko)
B5 - Juliusz Machulski - Seksmisja

C1 - Takeshi Kitano - Hana Bi  (Drasko)
C2 - Kassovitz - Assassins (Drasko)
C3 - Spike Jonze - Adaptation (Drasko)
C4 - Kieslowski - Blue (Drasko )
C5 -


It's probably apparent but I'll mention it just in case: the remaining three are all by Polish directors.

B2 - Here is the clip and the photo, followed by two more photos:
http://www.youtube.com/v/wX4ER8Cxy94
(old hint: officially premiered 7 years after it was filmed, won Best Actress in Cannes two years after that)


(new hint: probably the best and most authentic communism-related Polish film; I think you should be able to recognize the actress - her screen debut was in a famous Wajda film, of her roles abroad the most notable must have been in Szabó's Mephisto)