The cinema thread

[Faust]

Watched Billy Elliot. Good, endearing film.

[Diego]

recently:

Let the right one in
Piano tuner of earthquakes
Dumplings (again)

[BECOMING-INTENSE]

8 Femmes François Ozon(2002)

[Huxley]

[chameleon]

what did you think of it? I haven't seen Invisible Waves but I love love love Last Life... and really enjoyed Ploy as well.


I've just seen both Il Divo and The Consequences of Love. Sorrentino + Servillo + Bigazzi is an amazing combination. Fantastic films. Also saw La Giusta Distanza. It was decent. Worth spending a lazy sunday afternoon on, mainly because of Bigazzi's cinematography and the beauty of Valentina Lodovini.

[maldoror]

AH! so many great movies on this page.

Piano Tuner of Earthquakes is a dazzling piece of work.

All Ozon is fantastic, although imo 8 women pales in comparison to some of his other films (e.g., at opposite ends of the aesthetic spectrum, sitcom & under the sand)

Likewise, as much as I enjoyed Invisible Waves (especially the cruise section in the middle) I definitely preferred Last Life in the Universe.

I thought there was a lot to like about Martyrs, particularly in regard to the meta-architecture of its story (how the vector of its action, esp. anna's plight during the last third, reflects the viewing experience) but feel extremely conflicted about the film overall. however I think that's it's being wrongly grouped with a l'interieur, which is a through and through horror film, because of its attempts to justify or even legitimize its violence. in this way, I think a better regional comparison might be Noe's work, and I find that I like the film in much the same way that I like Noe's oevre, i.e., as this particularly potent form of exploitation that flirts with the idea of being something other than, something more (salo might be the first cinematic example of this)

psyched for sauna, which went ifc ondemand today. the buzz has been good and the trailer has some truly unforgettable imagery...

[maldoror]

are you familiar with kargl's Angst? after seeing it I couldn't look at noe's work the same way again...

even so, I agree with you that noe > laugier; but both enter the void and laugier's hellraiser remake rank among my most anticipated films of 09.

[maldoror]

let me know what you think (and if you have trouble finding a copy pm me)

[Fuuma]

Watched Intacto, a present day "gambling" (not in the conventional sense) story infused with magical realism, where luck is a tradable commodity that very lucky individuals take from average suckers. The idea is better than the execution but the idea is really great.

Also saw the first partof the Mesrine dyptique, not bad.

Ozon is pretty good, I'd say my favourite one is the Fassbinder play (water on burning rocks), especially when they burst into song and dance in the middle of their wicked psychosexual antics.

[BECOMING-INTENSE]

Watched Intacto, a present day "gambling" (not in the conventional sense) story infused with magical realism, where luck is a tradable commodity that very lucky individuals take from average suckers. The idea is better than the execution but the idea is really great.

Also saw the first partof the Mesrine dyptique, not bad.

Ozon is pretty good, I'd say my favourite one is the Fassbinder play (water on burning rocks), especially when they burst into song and dance in the middle of their wicked psychosexual antics.

Yes, Ozon and Fassbinder is a fantastic combination, one
of my favorites to.

8 Femmes has a lightness, and a line up actresses to make
you blush a little, but you're right Maldoror not his best.

[Jorge Hache]

recently:

Let the right one in
Piano tuner of earthquakes
Dumplings (again)

Nice selection Diego, i'm waiting to watch Let the right one in theathers but it's still not available in Guadalajara, i'm ordering now from amazon along with von trier's europa in the criterion collection version.

On monday i was teaching a class of "history of image" for students of visual and digital arts, and show them the piano tuner of earthquakes, from 28 students in the class just two loved the movie, a bunch fall sleep, start talking or making noises or keep playing with their phones....sometimes it's a little frustrating to try to educate people, like throwing jewels to the pigs....

[Diego]

a bunch fall sleep, start talking or making noises or keep playing with their phones....sometimes it's a little frustrating to try to educate people, like throwing jewels to the pigs....

You should apply the battle royale program to them . Piano tuner and Inland empire are proof that HD video can work sometimes.

edit- Sauna looks very interesting

[Huxley]

what did you think of it? I haven't seen Invisible Waves but I love love love Last Life... and really enjoyed Ploy as well.

Loved it, and I'm going to watch Ploy really soon. Anyways, recently...

-The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover

-Don't Deliver Us From Evil

[maldoror]

man, I just spent like an hour trying to find a screengrab of the girls reading les chants de maldoror together in bed but turned up nothing

either way, both great films (The Cook... is my fav greenaway).

went to the video store today for my weekend viewing and came home with the following:

masque of red death
mill of the stone women
dead waters

in the midst of a gothic moment of late. I blame it on all the lovecraft books on tape I've been using as my work soundtrack (wayne june may have the greatest voice in human history)

also, recently saw nuit noire. def rough around the edges, but has some absolutely brilliant moments.

[todestrieb]

Can't say I'm a fan of Garrel's recent works but his early output, created under the auspices of the counter-Cahier collective, Zanzibar films, are hard not to delight in. This one here is more than a match for anything historically resembling cinematic brilliance.