truth 24 times per second: the new movie thread

[auto-da-fey]

I have mixed feelings about Haneke--generally disliking Funny Games and Benny's Video but admiring several other films (and not having seen The Seventh Continent), but goddamn does he come off as a smug prick in the interviews I've seen with him. Does anyone else have this reaction, or is it just me?

[lastclearchance]

a-d-f, I've never seen a Haneke film but this is partly because a close friend warned me away. This friend, in addition to disliking Cache and I think Funny Games, had exactly that reaction.

OT: Why did I wait so long to see The Long Goodbye??

[hannah]

I hated Cache, but I've talked about that before here. I have a review somewhere.

edit: here, not enough words, not happy with it even 21 months later.

[auto-da-fey]

I hated Cache, but I've talked about that before here. I have a review somewhere.

edit: here, not enough words, not happy with it even 21 months later.

I liked the review, aside from the suggestion that Haneke turn the camera on himself, for reasons mentioned above. Even though I liked Cache, I wholeheartedly agree about the worst scene--it reminded me of that Bright Eyes line about making love on the living room floor/[something about a TV that ends with "war"], which totally made me start laughing while I was watching it. So, um, maybe that's the humor? The subtle Oberstian intertextualities?

Also I hadn't even thought of Le Corbeau, since I was too caught up in the Lost Highway theft. But I still liked it, damnit!

[jebreject]

I don't think I've ever seen footage of Noam Chomsky before.

REALLY?

[auto-da-fey]

Yeah, I thought everyone saw his sex tape. Dude is a cunning linguist.

[jebreject]

 

[edison]

I have mixed feelings about Haneke--generally disliking Funny Games and Benny's Video but admiring several other films (and not having seen The Seventh Continent), but goddamn does he come off as a smug prick in the interviews I've seen with him. Does anyone else have this reaction, or is it just me?

It's definitely not just you. I hated Caché as well, and I find myself in agreement with the points Hannah made in her review, especially the total absence of any kind of discernable sense of humor. I'd add that there was some painfully awkward acting in that movie, too. Oh yeah, and the fact that Juliette fucking Binoche was in it didn't help. La Pianiste I liked better, and the others I haven't bothered with.

Anyway, we were supposed to see 301, 302 as part of a festival about erotic Korean cinema in the local theatre yesterday, but there was a fire inside the theatre, so it got cancelled. I'm hoping to catch some of these Korean films before the end of the week, though, as well as Eastern Promises, which I have quite high expectations for.

Watched Murder, My Sweet on Tuesday night and loved it, regardless of the fact that the plot sometimes reached Big-Sleep levels of complexity/unclarity.

[hannah]

I don't think I've ever seen footage of Noam Chomsky before.

REALLY?

I mean, I know I have at one point or other, but I certainly never admired his gesticulating.

Did anyone else see Lake of Fire?

Re: Cache. If that review had had a higher word count and/or if I hadn't written two hours before the deadline, I think I would've focused less on Haneke's hypocrisy, which I really don't think is all that worthy of discussion, and more on the problems I had with the flashback sequences and their implications for the rest of the film. Who is the author of those flashbacks? That fucks me up, and not in an interesting way; as with the rest of the film, it seems Haneke mistakes ambiguity for complexity. Sometimes they overlap, my friend, just not here.

[das kranke Tier]

Did anyone see Haneke's Code Unknown?  I liked that one very much.

[auto-da-fey]

Did anyone else see Lake of Fire?

No, but I've wanted to for a while. I probably would've seen it a while ago, but Gaby really wants to see it too, and she's been trapped in her intense surgery rotation for 3 months, so I've been waiting for her. Surgery ends Friday (thank fucking God), so we might check it out soon. I'm actually really curious how she'd respond to the medical stuff, since it presumably wouldn't carry the same visceral impact that it (I imagine) does on people like me.

[hannah]

Let me know what you think.

The surgery didn't have a particularly visceral impact on me [edit: somehow I can't get this clause right]; I was much more affected by the interview the woman had to undergo before she entered the operating room.

But the last goddamn two minutes. Fuck you, Kaye, again.

[elpollodiablo]

Probably needed more Ed Norton

[hannah]

Already had too many men

[auto-da-fey]

I cringe at needles, so I imagine an abortion would do a number on me--not by virtue of being an abortion per se, but simply by virtue of being an invasive medical procedure where things are stuck into people.

Did anyone see Haneke's Code Unknown?  I liked that one very much.

Yeah, I wouldn't say "very much," but I liked it too. It felt like his loosest, most human film--admittedly his loosest hardly being like Altman or anything.

I actually like Time of the Wolf too--very Shame-era Bergmanesque.

[das kranke Tier]

I was just curious, as no one had mentioned that one, and it seems the antithesis of what everyone was complaining about. 

I'll have to check that one out, Whit.

[edison]

Just back from a screening of Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage and I'm at a loss for words - I've seen some truly amazing Bergman films before, but this, this.. I don't know. It nearly killed me. In a good way, not the Caché way, mind you. I would say more, but I'm not sure I can without sounding ridiculous.

[lastclearchance]

This has to have come up before but just in case: Cinefile Video's Most Metal Director tees (sadly only available in store).

[das kranke Tier]

I really want that Fassbinder one...

[jebreject]

those shirts are incredibly, incredibly stupid.

[Greg Nog]

That Fassbinder one would have totes kickass if they hadn't fucked up the angles of the first and last letters.  Couldn't afford a protractor, huh?

[Andrew_TSKS]

C. Affleck is a private detective, and he brings his girlfriend everywhere he goes.

she's supposed to be his PARTNER not his GIRLFRIEND. ok, well, actually, i think they date in one or two of the books in the series, but in the first book they work together and she's married to someone else, and by the last book they've broken up. the deal is that they work together and run a detective agency, and end up dating years after they've been working together. sounds like the transition from book to movie totally ruined the way that relationship is supposed to work.

Watched Murder, My Sweet on Tuesday night and loved it, regardless of the fact that the plot sometimes reached Big-Sleep levels of complexity/unclarity.

both based on raymond chandler books, so it's not surprising.

sorry if you already knew that and i'm just being captain obvious.

[G.C.R]

Col and I finally finished watching "Kiss me Deadly" last night- one of my favourite films of all time. He knows a lot about films except those of the 40s and 50s, and I think I misled him with the type of film kiss me deadly was- I think he was expecting a classic along the lines of "vertigo" or "magnificent ambersons" I mean in 'quality' not subject matter, and was a little surprised that its such a B movie, and yeah, it is flawed as hell, but dang man, its so good.

kiss me, mike
I want you to kiss me
kiss me with the liar's kiss that says I love you

goddam thats a good film.

[Andrew_TSKS]

ok, and i saw one and a half movies tuesday night, so they're getting their own post.

first, "sweet and lowdown", a woody allen mockumentary about a fictional 30s jazz guitarist named emmett ray, played by sean penn, who was a total douchebag but could play brilliantly. this movie cracked me up and did a really good job of parodying all the old cliches about jazz/blues guys of that era. not much to say about it, but i did enjoy it quite a bit.

second, "natural born killers". i've heard lots of stuff about this movie, both good and bad, but i figured i should check it out before i made any judgment calls myself. well, within 5 minutes, i was pretty sure i hated it. the first scene wasn't too bad, but after that, all the ridiculous and stupid visual effects, and the "surreal" "narrative" really knocked me out of the movie and made me wish i hadn't bothered to watch it at all. i forced myself to sit through it for a while in the hopes that it would improve, but by an hour into the movie i just couldn't stomach it any longer and went home (i saw it at a friend's house). i know why so many people hate this movie now, but what i don't get is why anyone likes it. what a disagreeable trainwreck.

[rockmeamadeus]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

the one where Val Kilmer is a (sorta) gay PI and Robert Downey Jr. is a dude from New York in LA to get a big acting gig.

There is a murder, and mystery, and silliness.

I can't rate the movie straight up. I mean, it sucked. It really sucked.

But I watched it, alone and trashed. And it was fucking awesome.

know what I mean?