Last Movie You Watched

[Brian]

I just got back from an advance screening of Inside Llewyn Davis.

Visually the film is both fascinating and frustrating; if Mad Men is a realist painting of the hopes of Americana, Inside Llewyn Davis is an Edward Hopper painting viewed under a frigid blue bulb, slightly blurry and off-kilter, with fascinating sources of light. The visual style aligns with the whole; the film's tone is set by a shot in the very first musical sequence - the very first scene. From the back of the club, we see Davis on stage with the dark blurred heads of the crowd in the foreground. A waiter passes in front of the camera, and everything flashes black. One of the faceless, nearly formless audience members, not a silhouette exactly because there's so little backlight, lets out a puff of sudden bright white cigarette smoke, hanging in the air like a shining mystery. This is a film about trying to find light in the darkness.

Llewyn Davis keeps screwing up. There have been comparisons to A Serious Man, because everything that can go wrong does, but a lot of it is his fault, or just enough his fault for us to retain sympathy while conceding that he technically screwed things up. He rotates among a group of friends who allow him to crash on their couches, and takes turns alienating them and winning them back. You will have at least one friend who sees this film and feels no sympathy for Davis, because, yes, he does get what's coming to him more often than not: unprotected sex, poor financial decisions, excessive drinking, an untimely window-opening. But then you have the rotten luck, the uncooperative agent, and the unchangeability of the human character. "If only Davis could learn and grow, this time would be different," one could say, but can he, really? Can he? That's the source of the film's sadness: the idea that he's stuck in a circle. Without giving away spoilers, I'll say that the editing does suggest this pretty explicitly.

And the other anchor is the performance of Oscar Isaac, as good as everyone's been saying. He's frustrated, sad, sardonic, hopeful, rude, caring. He gets caught out showing how much he cares about a cat when Carey Mulligan wishes he'd care about her, and you can see that it's not that he doesn't, but that he just couldn't say so at the time. Mulligan's accent is a little shaky, but nothing else is. Still, everyone other than Isaac appears episodically, in packets. Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, Adam Driver, Stark Sands, F. Murray Abraham: they go by, sometimes very quickly, all on steady orbits in alignment, through whose gravity Isaac passes on his irregular course. It says a lot about the actors and casting that almost all of them make indelible impressions, in particular Stark Sands as an enthused military musician. (Don't overlook the last musician to take the stage at movie's end.) Great music, too, although a little too much Marcus Mumford and not enough 1960s.

I don't gravitate toward "sad" movies. This one contains a whole range of moods: there is dark comedy, subtle comedy, and in John Goodman's character broad comedy, but also fights, reconciliation, hope, and the erasure of hope. I don't know what happens to Llewyn Davis after the final scene, but I care. Probably, he will continue to be himself, continue to walk the circle, looking for an escape which he has already passed. Llewyn Davis is an artist whose art does not transcend his flaws. What else can he do? Who else can he be but himself?

[Octave]

Octave's post about that Japanese film reminds that about six years ago I saw this film and utterly loved it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061847/

Awesome non-Kurosawa Toshiro Mifure Samurai film.

I too thought SAMURAI REBELLION was great.  I am chuffed that there are several more Masaki Kobayashi pictures I haven't yet, now seen available for streaming; though I think they are all earlier efforts, family dramas or comedies, not period/samurai pictures.  His HARAKIRI (remade recently by Takashi Miike) and KWAIDAN are super top favorites of mine, or were the last time I saw them.

I rather liked Gladiator (and that is despite Russel Crowe and the Phoenix guy, neither of whom I like). What is it you didn't like?

Hi Neal, I'm at a loss, having forgotten almost everything of that film apart from some faint lingering impressions, such as my oddly violent booing spell.  I had the the same feeling wash over me when I saw PROMETHEUS.  A foregone conclusion?  Not long before seeing this latter, I'd watched his first few features (THE DUELLISTS plus the aforementioned ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER) and been enamored of him all over again.  I guess the later big Hollywood thrillers just seemed like "more" not offering more.  It's possible that for the most part I just hate epics, or "heroes".  But with such faded memory of the picture, I just can't insist on that old impression.

Interested to know about Graves' contribution and betrayal; I have been wanting to read I, CLAUDIUS for ages now.  I was just recently poised to buy one or two of his books on Greek mythology, but my hand was stayed by some griping I ran across from a classicist.  Still curious about them....I think THE WHITE GODDESS is on Col. Kurtz's book shelf at the end of APOCALYPSE NOW.  I wonder if Jeffrey, Cato, or anyone else knows these books (THE GREEK MYTHS or others of his mythology monographs/collections), and if they come recommended?

[Octave]

Recently, two by Claire Denis:



1. NENETTE AND BONI (1996)
2. I CAN'T SLEEP (1994)
She's a vexing filmmaker for me, though I have hope that things will shape up, since my second viewing of her BEAU TRAVAIL was much, much better than the first.  (Britten's BUDD on the beach with legionnaire hunks in formation!  And Denis Lavant.)
NENETTE I really liked quite a bit, with my patience beginning to flag in the final third, at least before the enigmatic ending.  (Played so casually that it didn't break the trademarked oneiric drift of the picture, same as the horrible if not bloody violence of ICS.)  Also a couple inexplicably funny gags involving the sexual charisma of pizza dough and a Krups drip coffee maker (aural pleasure).  Vincent Gallo shows up a few times to do not much of anything.
I CAN'T SLEEP was harder for me to enjoy, in spite of the sometimes mildly unnerving pleasure of watching the effortless lead performances, especially Alex Descas.

Before making a name for herself as a feature filmmaker, she served as AD for both Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch on some of their famous earlier films.  I have trouble liking most of her movies, but I like the style very much...go figure.  She really seems like her own filmmaker.

[North Star]

Recently, two by Claire Denis:

1. NENETTE AND BONI (1996)
2. I CAN'T SLEEP (1994)
She's a vexing filmmaker for me, though I have hope that things will shape up, since my second viewing of her BEAU TRAVAIL was much, much better than the first.
NENETTE I really liked quite a bit, with my patience beginning to flag in the final third, at least before the enigmatic ending.  (Played so casually that it didn't break the trademarked oneiric drift of the picture, same as the horrible if not bloody violence of ICS.)  Also a couple inexplicably funny gags involving the sexual charisma of pizza dough and a Krups drip coffee maker (aural pleasure).  Vincent Gallo shows up a few times to do not much of anything.
I CAN'T SLEEP was harder for me to enjoy, in spite of the sometimes mildly unnerving pleasure of watching the effortless lead performances, especially Alex Descas.

Before making a name for herself as a feature filmmaker, she served as AD for both Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch on some of their famous earlier films.  I have trouble liking most of her movies, but I like the style very much...go figure.  She really seems like her own filmmaker.

Interesting read, as always, Octave.
I haven't seen any Denis movies, but have WHITE MATERIAL saved on the media box. There's so much stuff there though, and so little time for movies.

[lisa needs braces]

I too thought SAMURAI REBELLION was great.  I am chuffed that there are several more Masaki Kobayashi pictures I haven't seen available for streaming, though I think they are all earlier efforts, family dramas or comedies, not period/samurai pictures.  His HARAKIRI (remade recently by Takashi Miike) and KWAIDAN are super top favorites of mine, or were the last time I saw them.

Yes Harakiri is also great. I must check out KWAIDAN!

[Rinaldo]

So, curious, was he still OK when he made GLADIATOR?  I was quite a bit younger then, but I booed the end credits of that movie, out loud, in the theater; not something I ever do.  Have not given it a second chance.  I say this as a current strong fan of Joaquin Phoenix, on or off drugs.  I just have not had the heart to revisit that epic slop of a movie.

I think he started slipping around that time. Gladiator is okayish, an ordinary, albeit beautifully shot blockbuster with a bunch of strong scenes (and Phoenix gives a great performance, IMO - that's where I started noticing him) but that's about it. Wouldn't mind seeing it again though, unlike all the crap that came after it... maybe with the exception of Kingdom of Heaven which I've heard really benefited from an extended cut.

[kishnevi]

Interested to know about Graves' contribution and betrayal; I have been wanting to read I, CLAUDIUS for ages now.  I was just recently poised to buy one or two of his books on Greek mythology, but my hand was stayed by some griping I ran across from a classicist.  Still curious about them....I think THE WHITE GODDESS is on Col. Kurtz's book shelf at the end of APOCALYPSE NOW.  I wonder if Jeffrey, Cato, or anyone else knows these books (THE GREEK MYTHS or others of his mythology monographs/collections), and if they come recommended?

It's not really that Graves contributed anything to GLADIATOR.  It's rather a case of plagiarizing the main idea behind the CLAUDIUS novels and pretending it's an original story.  I read THE WHITE GODDESS years ago.  I don't remember the precise idea he was putting forward in that one, but it's a sort Grand Unifying Theory of Pagan Religion which was rather unique, and based in part on discredited theories and a state of historical  knowledge that was even then past its due date, and involved taking THE GOLDEN BOUGH much too seriously as a description of all pagan religion everywhere in everytime.  If you read it, it would be more to read the collection of fun facts he keeps popping in to collect his theory (always remembering that scholarship in the interim has decided that many of those facts are not really facts).  It was faddish reading back in the 60 and 70s, when people started talking abou New Age and Pagan revival, so Col. Kurtz was showing himself as following a slightly pretentious trend.

[Karl Henning]

Greg's response to the one-word post thread had me wondering . . . what is the consensus on the second Ghostbusters movie?

[Todd]

what is the consensus on the second Ghostbusters movie?

Several one word options come to mind:

Horrible
Terrible
Awful
Hideous
Garbage
Trash
Junk
Steamer



Take your pick.

[TheGSMoeller]

Several one word options come to mind:

Horrible
Terrible
Awful
Hideous
Garbage
Trash
Junk
Steamer



Take your pick.

I agree with Todd. It's a shame really, with how good the first one was, that the sequel was so bad. A dumb plot.

I know have the quote stuck in my head..."When someone asks if you're a God, you say yes!"

[Karl Henning]

Thank you both for the warnings!

[Bogey]

Easy, Karl: Does not exist in my little world. nonexistent

[Bogey]

Starting a noir run....but has to be flicks I have never seen.  So, let's see what I can rummage up.  Started with this:



An almost serviceable film....Powell is always decent and Burr is good, but a bit too unbelievable.  The film rolls out in a predictable pattern and does not make you guess at any turn.  Sort of like a Father Knows Best noir. 

[SonicMan46]

Well, some new BD arrivals, all DVD replacements - ratings from Blu-Ray Website (5* is maximum):

Blade Runner (1982) w/ Harrison Ford & Sean Young (Video = 4.5  Audio = 4.5)
Bus Stop (1956) w/ Marilyn Monroe & Don Murray (Video = 4.0  Audio = 4.5)
Grapes of Wrath, The (1940) w/ Henry Fonda et al (Video = 5.0  Audio = 4.5)
Jaws w/ Shaw, Dreyfus, & Scheider (Video = 4.7  Audio = 4.6)

   

 

[Todd]

Rewatched Tarantino's second best flick.  It's been a while.  Mr Jackson's virtuosic use of profanity is a marvel to behold.

[North Star]

Roma città aperta
Roberto Rossellini
 

[Octave]

Interesting read, as always, Octave.
I haven't seen any Denis movies, but have WHITE MATERIAL saved on the media box. There's so much stuff there though, and so little time for movies.

Late thanks for this nice comment, sorry for the delay.  I saw WHITE MATERIAL a couple of years ago and was mildly frustrated but still really liked the look and flow of the film.  I cannot remember ever not being interested in watching Isabelle Huppert; she seemed more in 'comedy' mode in this one---not to say it's a comedy. 
(I felt a sharp personal discomfort re: Denis herself upon seeing the little documentary of her attending a film festival in Cameroon.  Suffice to say it just sharply qualified---blunted---the seriousness of the film as a 'post-colonial' statement.  I just saw a Parisian jetsetter complaining about a lack of niceties in the hinterland.  That is external to the film itself, of course, but....maybe not immaterial.  I started to wonder if Denis is a scenester 'slumming' when she leaves the dreamworld, or suggests that her dreamworld has something to say about history, or politics.  My hesitations about the formal aspects of the films are easier to set aside; in fact, they've largely subsided.)

I think Agnès Godard has lensed all the Denis films I have seen, plus some notable films by others, e.g. THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS, STRAYED etc.

As a technician you have to be a chameleon and adapt to different directors. But I don't like the idea of simply illustrating a script. A script is pages and words, and the image is the basic unit of the film's language. So it's very important to work out the transition from word to image. [....]
I don't like feeling like a voyeur. The most inexhaustible landscapes for me remain faces and bodies: I like to look at people, to look at them in order to love them. It's like dancing with someone, except with a camera you don't touch them. I just want to tell them that I'd like to put my hand on them.

from a very brief Village Voice profile from 2000.

Roma città aperta
Roberto Rossellini

So good!  So, so good.  Two of those images stick in my mind vividly....Anna Magnani in the street and "resistance whistling".  Both still give me chills when I think about them.
Magnani is legend.  I keep thinking of her earthy character's braying laugh in MAMMA ROMA, for some reason.  It popped into my mind the other day and made me chuckle.  I think of that sound when I reach for a definition of "lusty". 

[Octave]

TUVALU (Veit Helmer, 1999)
I liked it, especially the Tati-esque reduction of dialogue to virtually only grunts and monosyllables and laughter and exagerrated sound effects.  And Denis Lavant! 
I could not shake the feeling that it was a post-communist allegory of some kind (the 'robust 90s' apparently being pretty terrible economically for Bulgaria, where the film was shot); but I tried to resist that kind of interpretation as a needless distraction.  Still: the transplant of a beautiful, outdated (mechanical) heart into a nomadic vessel.  And the comic mantra "technology, system, profit" being the most dialogue I can remember ever being spoken at one time.
I kept thinking of those two Caro/Jeunet films, DELICATESSEN and CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, though the similarities probably don't run too deep....RIYL.  I see at a brief webglance that I am hardly the only one to compare these movies, esp. DELICATESSEN.  Actually, it did seem that TUVALU was referencing the aforementioned, plus L'ATALANTE and some other predecessors...maybe a bit persistently.

It is a shame that the USA DVD edition (from First Run) was poorly formatted; at least, I had to fiddle with my player to fix a strange aspect-ratio clipping that sometimes happens (greedy letterboxing plus black "1:33" type bands on the left and right) and even then the image seemed distended.  Occasionally with older DVDs I have this problem.

[Octave]

BARBARA (Christian Petzold, 2012)

The third film I've seen by this director, all three starring actress Nina Hoss, in whom I have become very interested, though I am still not sure why.  She has a Mona Lisa effect, but I can't place why her rather than any number of other actors.  Here the sheer amount of hurt left offscreen (prior to the beginning of the story, and very possibly resuming after its end) is conveyed with such restraint, even the restraint isn't foregrounded.  I really didn't find myself thinking of it as an "art film", for example.  It's a specific kind of angst: not "Antonionian existential crisis and ennui", but the suffocating mutedness of life in and in spite of a police state.  I didn't love it, but I'm not sure it's that kind of film.  I really did admire its particular quietness; I think there might be something else happening in his movies than in the usual, even accomplished, slow arthouse movie.

Here's some bits of Michael Sicinski's review.

[Petzold] is a poet of anomie, an artist of penetrating sociological insight whose ongoing topic of exploration has been the crisis of reunification. Whereas Petzold's recent films Yella and especially Jerichow examined the lingering impact of the German Democratic Republic upon post-communism's displaced nomads, Barbara is a period piece, situating his benighted characters within the terror and malaise of the East German 1980s.
[...]
Barbara finds the normally austere Petzold shifting toward a more conventional, humanistically inclined art cinema. His work certainly doesn't suffer for this broadened accessibility. Petzold invests Barbara with a warmer, more classicist look than usual; he has quite deliberately sanded down the more jagged edges of his directorial style. Nevertheless, Barbara retains the filmmaker's clear-eyed materialism — not a surprise, since the film is another of Petzold's frequent collaborations with leftist documentarian Harun Farocki. Power and violence saturate everyday life to such extent that they become a leaden weight in the body's cells, an added gravity that ever so slightly impedes basic movement. Life under communism isn't a glamorously horrific experience but a dull, throbbing banality — a slow grinding death. Compare this to the sensationalism of 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, or the bromides of The Lives of Others, and Petzold's contribution shines all the more brightly.

The whole review
(I mainly just excised the plot recount.)

[North Star]

Late thanks for this nice comment, sorry for the delay.  I saw WHITE MATERIAL a couple of years ago and was mildly frustrated but still really liked the look and flow of the film.  I cannot remember ever not being interested in watching Isabelle Huppert; she seemed more in 'comedy' mode in this one---not to say it's a comedy. 
(I felt a sharp personal discomfort re: Denis herself upon seeing the little documentary of her attending a film festival in Cameroon.  Suffice to say it just sharply qualified---blunted---the seriousness of the film as a 'post-colonial' statement.  I just saw a Parisian jetsetter complaining about a lack of niceties in the hinterland.  That is external to the film itself, of course, but....maybe not immaterial.  I started to wonder if Denis is a scenester 'slumming' when she leaves the dreamworld, or suggests that her dreamworld has something to say about history, or politics.  My hesitations about the formal aspects of the films are easier to set aside; in fact, they've largely subsided.)

I think Agnès Godard has lensed all the Denis films I have seen, plus some notable films by others, e.g. THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS, STRAYED etc.from a very brief Village Voice profile from 2000.

[Re: Roma, città aperta]: So good!  So, so good.  Two of those images stick in my mind vividly....Anna Magnani in the street and "resistance whistling".  Both still give me chills when I think about them.
Magnani is legend.  I keep thinking of her earthy character's braying laugh in MAMMA ROMA, for some reason.  It popped into my mind the other day and made me chuckle.  I think of that sound when I reach for a definition of "lusty".

Alright, looking forward to seeing it.

As for Roma, città aperta, agreed, such a great movie, and such great characters! Shame about the shoddy stock.

Also saw DU RIFIFI CHEZ LES HOMMES (1955)
Dir. Jules Dassin
Jean Servais, Carl Möhner,  Robert Manuel, Jules Dassin, Janine Darcey, Magali Noël

Great stuff, love the long heist scene with no music and little talk, and, well everything else, too!