Last Movie You Watched

[SimonNZ]

Have you seen the director Fatih Akin's other films, or know if they're of a similar calibre? I've added Head-On and Soul Kitchen to my queue, but the others don't seem available locally.

[André]

I haven't. I'll inquire to my cinema programmer when I see him next week.

Joke apart my best friend since teenage years has just earned his PhD in theology by analysing "Spirituality in transnational cinema through the writings of Gilles Deleuze and Henry Cavell" .

He is responsible for a lot of the films I see these days (Kierostemi, Ozu, von Trier and Akin among others). I, in turn, have introduced him to the world of Bresson, Dreyer, Ophüls, S. Ray. A cross-pollinating experience that has lasted since the early seventies.

[SimonNZ]

Kiarostami is one of my all time favorites. Which of his films have you been watching?

[André]

The Wind will Carry us and The Taste of the Cherry. The former is one analysed by my friend in his thesis. He focuses on the fact that the main character has travelled far to watch a burial (death) ritual and ends up witnessing life through the village(r)'s day to day events and travails when Death fails to materialize.

[Karl Henning]

Always a fun watch.

Aye!

Thread Duty:

Yesterday, at last, The Last Samurai.  I had picked it up as a cheap remaindered DVD while I worked at the MFA shop (it was in the Exhibition Shop for the Japanese armor exhibit) but the DVD was defective, hanging up soon after the opening voice-over started.  DVD still wouldn't play when I got the Blu Ray player.  Found by chance a used Blu Ray copy of the movie, and this is what I was able to see at last.  I'd say it's good, but is unlikely to become a great favorite . . . feels a bit like an amalgam of Karate Kid, Dances With Wolves & Braveheart (of course, I am actually quite fond of Dances With Wolves, well all right, and of Braveheart, too).

[North Star]

I much prefer The Twilight Samurai from the same year over The Last Samurai.

[James]

It's been nearly two years since Superman's (Henry Cavill) colossal battle with Zod (Michael Shannon) devastated the city of Metropolis. The loss of life and collateral damage left many feeling angry and helpless, including crime-fighting billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck). Convinced that Superman is now a threat to humanity, Batman embarks on a personal vendetta to end his reign on Earth, while the conniving Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) launches his own crusade against the Man of Steel.

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[Karl Henning]

I much prefer The Twilight Samurai from the same year over The Last Samurai.

With good reason.

[listener]

RED LIGHT REVOLUTION    China 2010
a taxi driver loses his job and his wife and opens a local sex shop  battling officialdom but  encouraged by the neighbours
Written and directed (and in a small role) by an Australian, Sam Voutas
moderately amusing

[SimonNZ]

Finally got around to seeing the latest Star Wars. My expectations were so low that I actually ended up enjoying it, though the last twenty minutes were kind of tedious. My favorite moment from the whole thing was the bit in the photo above.

[André]

Yi Yi by Edward Yang (Taiwan, 1999). Beautiful and thought provoking. Innovative camera work allied to traditional cinematography (the influence of Ozu is patent here). Winner in Cannes, 2000 (best director).

[listener]

Early (1974) Peter Weir Australian film THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS
not surprising that we have seen more from him, unlike the ex-pat director seen yesterday.

[Drasko]

Kind of rehash of first trilogy on speed. Far too much is condensed into one movie. Too many events make every one of them fail to properly resonate, and all the characters are severely underwritten. With some serious script pruning coulda' been a contender.

[Karl Henning]

"If it didn't need re-writing, it wouldn't be a Star Wars script!"

[NikF]

Walk on the Wild Side (1962) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_on_the_Wild_Side_(film)

I'd read the book but never got around to watching the film. So we had a look. Sadly, I found the title sequence was the highlight. Apart from that we agreed the whole thing felt underwhelming.

[SimonNZ]

Knight Of Cups (Terrence Malick, dir. 2015)

Before this I would have said that I would be happy to watch whatever assorted poetic imagery Terrence Malick put before me.

But no more. Sadly I have to report that this was unexpectedly bad, and the gap between the beauty of the photography and the banality of what little script there was only emphasised criticisms of style over substance. I don't mind the near total abscence of narrative, but mind very much Christian Bale's lead character having such a lack of character (his one mopey expression throughout supposedly conveying existential despair). I also mind the various women presented rather cynically as interchangeable entertainments or distractions for the lead. And that the unceasing vulgarity of the moneyed-rich lifstyle is fetishised and glamourised and the non-rich are utterly absent non-people. And it might have been better if the film were silent than have the few moments of scattered dialogue and interior monologue and lit-crib voiceover be so embarassing.

Malick's fils can also often seem cut down from much larger films, like theres a five hour directors cut of New World or Tree Of Life out there waiting to be seen. This feels like its cut down from two years worth of constant filming, and might require a week-long final cut to do the material and overreaching jumble of ideas and preocupations coherent and meaningful.

[André]

The Depth of simplicity

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7oeyOsfSg

A fascinating short film about the cinema technique of japanese giant Yasujiro Ozu. Available on Youtube. Ozu's framing and camera technique (the 'tatasmi shot') are unraveled and explained. Possibly the best short film ever about a cinema author.

[Karl Henning]

Family Plot, for (somewhat inexplicably) the first time. Great fun.

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[Bogey]

Over the years I must have started this one six or seven times and never made it through.  Went to the well again the other night and still had to push the ejector seat button.  I may never realize its touted genius.

[Bogey]

This makes my latest viewing 0-2.  How can you make a boring spy film?  Well, start with the template that this crew put together.