Recommend a movie

10 posts

O'Zebedee

Been checking out the films of Kazuo Hara, a renegade documentary filmmaker from Japan. Here's a quote from him:

Goodbye CP f ollows a group of Japanese people with Cerebral Palsy. Hara is very much in the film, often being addressed by the participants, even verbally attacked by one of the wives of the protagonists for always being there. It gets very uncomfortable at some points.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/qaM_iBvXCgg

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On is about Okuzaki Kenzõ, a man who chronicles Japanese war crimes. He's infamous in Japan for having thrown marbles at Emperor Hirohito in 1969.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/FDkrunQwoLc

There's nothing out there quite like Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974 .

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/WMhjxk1weMc
Stubby

District 9 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Decent action drama, about a man who is forced to become one of the creatures he previously oppressed, and to help a group of aliens stranded on Earth and mistreated by humans. Would have been much more compelling if they had really highlighted the degenerative effects of their imprison on the aliens, making their redemption not just a victory over adversity but a spiritual reawakening. The setting in South Africa makes comparison to contemporary politics easy, which is a shame.

Inkarri
Trajan
Daisies, by Věra Chytilová

Being interested in surreal films generally and Czech films particularly (I'm a big Svankmajer fan), I thought I'd give this one a go. Well, this is the first time I've ever agreed with communist censors. 'Depicting the wanton' is right. It is simultaneously the most pretentious and the most banal product of Czech New Wave cinema.

Chylitova's mercifully brief film follows two spoiled brats as they gorge and entertain themselves at the expense of others; seriously, about half of this film involves eating. They are taken on dates with dull-looking gentlemen whom they manipulate, ditching them at the train station after their meal has been paid for. Other men they simply ignore, such as one butterfly-obsessed suitor who calls to plead forgiveness and profess his love, as the girls gleefully scissor bananas, pickles and sausages in what may be the most on-the-nose example of feminist symbolism ever expressed in film.

It's fortunate that the girls are attractive, because they are otherwise intolerably obnoxious, acting like 12-year-olds at a slumber party -- jumping around, cooing to each other, and laughing in chipmunk-like squeals. At one point there is the following exchange, which sums them up nicely: "Your legs are crooked." "Don't you know that's just what I based my personality on?" That is, beyond their pointless antics, they have no personalities. I'm sure there are those who think this kind of thing is a 'daring' display of grrl power, but in reality it could not make women look worse. "We're supposed to be spoiled, aren't we?" -- lines like this make me wonder whether the characters were ever intended to be sympathetic. (If they are intended as a self-critique, they are a critique of the hedonism brought on by liberalization of Czech society, certainly something Chylitova does not intend.) At least the conclusion was satisfying, involving a deserved death by chandelier.

Chylitova's idea of surrealism is color filters and hyperactive whimsy. A few scenes capture interest, but in general little thought is given to composition. At certain points, especially near the end, the film approaches Godard-esque pretension, which only added to my frustration. It's not just farce, it's politically relevant farce! Well, I'm not fooled.

During the film's last moments, after an intense foodfight, a typewriter scrolls the words 'This film is dedicated to those who get upset only over a stomped-upon bed of lettuce' as explosions detonate in the background. The implication is that you, the viewer, should go fuck yourself if you think you have any right to criticize narcissistic wastefulness, especially when there are wars going on. It's a perfect encapsulation of liberalism: only things which directly harm other people are worth worrying about. It's hard to imagine a more trivial moral standard, but there it is, dressed up as radical chic. In the end, there are only two types of people who enjoy this movie: quirk-addicts who want something to giggle over and make tumblr gifs with, and leftist pseudo-intellectuals, for whom nothing is too banal to justify in the name of rebellion. I'm neither, so I thought it was a piece of shit.
Inkarri
Cornelio

Some movies I've seen lately:

- Cría Cuervos, Carlos Saura 1978 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
- Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrik, 1964 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: (The best movie I've seen in a long, long time)
- Wild Strawberries, Ingmar Bergman, 1954 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
- Anatomy of a Murder, Otto Preminger, 1959 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
- Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance, 2010, :thumbsdown: (Couldn't finish it)
- To Catch a Thief, Alfred Hitchcock, 1955, :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
- Sleeper, Woody Allen, 1973, :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
- Radio Days, Woody Allen, 1987, :thumbsup:
-Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, 1958, :thumbsup: :thumbsup: (I don't understand why this one is a classic; boring movie)

Niccolo and Donkey
Cornelio

Those are some seriously low scores for both Sleeper and Radio Days. Sleeper is a classic satire and farce and should be viewed in tandem with Bananas. Radio Days is his autobio of his youth.
Bronze Age Pervert

Cornelio is to be denounced; Vertigo is the GOAT

Stubby

The Master :thumbsdown:

An emaciated and crooked looking Joaquin Phoenix masturbates in public, drinks paint thinner, and becomes the right hand man of L Ron Hubbard as he travels with his cult. Good cinematography and score, painful and irritating to watch.

Cornelio
Watched this at the cinema when it came out. Incredibly frustrating for the reasons you point out: amazing cinematography (Anderson is on the Coens' level, even superior at times), intriguing premise, top notch actors -- but no story, no plot. Nothing. Worth watching only if you admire PT Anderson's style.