The cinema thread

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Sid and Nancy with Gary Oldman. A great portrait of squalor, this actually felt like one of the most 'realistic' rock & roll films I've ever seen.

[MASUGNEN]

Antichrist can – should – be overlooked, overlocked. It's a lousy film, so hysteric and tendentious. It's discusting, unfocused, just plain silly. Trier's depression is evident and destructive (lacking creative potential).

Watch Corneliu Porumboiu's Poliţist, adjectiv (2009) instead. It's a great movie, thought-provoking and – funny; contrasting it to its predecessor A fost sau n-a fost? (2006), Swedish critics have supressed the factual humour. This is sociorealism at its best.

Porumboiu have refuted a wave of Romanian cinema, but obviously he is wrong. Several of the best films over the last years have been Romanian: Moartea domnului Lăzărescu (2005) and 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (2007), just to name two. This group gathers also Poliţist, adjectiv.

[Servo2000]

I'm much too german so there's no way that I could have not liked this movie.

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Pan's Labyrinth, it was a beautifully shot film, but other than that I am scratching my head as to why this film is hailed as the classic it is. One of the cruelest, least redemptive 2 hours I've had the displeasure of sitting through, I was constantly checking the DVD timer.

I've been interested in checking out Antichrist, just because, but after the viewing of the above film and in light of MASUGNEN's comment I can understand where the sentiment to avoid certain films comes from. Will pass.

[Faust]

Strange, FtB - I thought it was absolutely redemptive in the way it showed how hard it is imprison our imagination regardless of what cruel experiences we go through in life, and how tenacious children's love is (maybe that hit me more because I am a father - I don't know).

I have only seen three cruel films that were not redemptive - Requiem for a Dream, Irreversible and Liliya 4-ever (disclaimer - I have not seen Salo or any Jodorovsky - I leave such freakishness to other SZers). Even Lars von Trier's work does not feel wasteful to me.

[Jorge Hache]

Strange, FtB - I thought it was absolutely redemptive in the way it showed how hard it is imprison our imagination regardless of what cruel experiences we go through in life, and how tenacious children's love is (maybe that hit me more because I am a father - I don't know).

I have only seen three cruel films that were not redemptive - Requiem for a Dream, Irreversible and Liliya 4-ever (disclaimer - I have not seen Salo or any Jodorovsky - I leave such freakishness to other SZers). Even Lars von Trier's work does not feel wasteful to me.

Agree with Faust comment about Pan's, not being biased because the director is from my hometown, but it's a picture about innocence, imagination and yes, redemption.

Salo is far from being redemptive, it's a movie about cruelty and deshumanization, a hit in the face for the fascist bourgoise. A complex movie not for everyone. Jodorowsky is surreal, grotesque and funny. His movies are very entertaining once the viewer overcame tons of nudity, fake blood and shocking images. Freakish yes, they are.

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Crazy Heart - a mature film, a great film, because it treats its subject and audience with dignity and knowing. Jeff Bridges rightfully earned his Golden Guy.

[MASUGNEN]

I have only seen three cruel films that were not redemptive - Requiem for a Dream, Irreversible and Liliya 4-ever

Ah, you wouldn't state Liliya 4-ever as redemptive? I've only seen it once, when it was released in Sweden in 2002, but I remember interpreting the closing scene – the post mortem fantasy with Liliya et al. bearing angel wings – as quite redemptive.

I like Liliya 4-ever very much, but dislike Moodysson's general messianism – explicit in Liliya 4-ever, quite aggressive in A Hole in My Heart (2004). I therefore appreciate the more modest approach in Mammoth (2008).

[Faust]

I don't remember her having wings in the final scene - maybe I was too crushed by the rest of the film?

[KM80]

Really you were into it? It infuriated me, I hated the Gylenhall girl and her child, and with how rough and rock bottom some of the real old country guys got I thought they could have taken it further.

Colin Ferall a country super star!!?!!? oh hell no.

I did think Jeff Bridges was good, but that's about it.

And how's that kid going to cash his royalty cheque 15 years later? Surely the record label will have gone under long before then.

Crazy Heart - a mature film, a great film, because it treats its subject and audience with dignity and knowing. Jeff Bridges rightfully earned his Golden Guy.

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that thing you mention about the rough and real country guys is true, but for the sake of accuracy woven into this particular narrative, if they did that it would be a whole other movie, and in order to pack everything it'd have to be a whole lot longer too. It'd be unfilmable. I did read a short interview with Duvall recently where he mentioned knowing some country legends in the flesh who took $1,500 up the nose every day, but those are pretty different circumstances than what Bad Blake found himself in. Crazy Heart was a nice and neat little portrait imo.

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Has anybody seen Nick Nolte: No Exit yet? I just read about it, youtube'd the trailer, looks fascinating even though it probably finishes leaving the viewer with even more questions than when it began. Probably the only actor more enigmatic than Brando.

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How do you spell 'man'? R-O-B-E-R-T-M-I-T-C-H-U-M.

[Servo2000]

I watched Heat since it popped up on Netflix as being recommended and I was in the mood for a crime film. For whatever reason I feel like it was a big influence on Nolan's A Dark Knight / kept reminding me of it in a weird way at the very least. Am I insane!?

[MASUGNEN]

On Monday I watched Winnebago Man (Ben Steinbauer, 2009). Have you seen it? Are you familiar with the Angriest Man in the World myth generated by the Winnebago commercial clips on Youtube?

I found this movie highly interesting in its (more or less delibarate) take on postmodern Internet fame. But I don't want to say anything about it before you actually see it, before we can discuss it properly.