Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club - Page 10

Jeff Gross · 04-22-2003, 12:43 PM

I've seen several films since my last update bringing my total to 75

Seven Samurai - A+
Singin' in the Rain - A-
Trouble in Paradise - A
His Girl Friday - A
My Neighbor Totoro - B
Throne of Blood - A+
Stray Dog - A-
Hidden Fortress - A

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Chris_Richard · 04-22-2003, 02:55 PM

Saw three Kurosawa films in the theater over the weekend.

Stray Dog – I’ve seen all of the pre-Rashomon Kurosawa films I can find and this is my favorite. Lots of parallels with Drunken Angel but this is a much tighter story. Kurosawa nicely lays out the plot to show the methods the detectives use. Very good photography in the slums of Tokyo. Shimura and Mifune both put in wonderful performances.

Throne of Blood – Had no idea what to expect but completely loved this film. Has to be one of the best adaptations of Macbeth. I am definitely going to preorder the Criterion dvd.

Hidden Fortress – It’s been a while since I’ve seen this and this is a first on a big screen. I have a love/hate thing with this film. I love Mifune. The role of the general serving the princess is one of his best. The scene where is chases the scouts that leads to the duel is a classic. However, the peasants begin to grate on me after a while. They go through the greed / stupidity / begging cycle a few too many times. It was a treat seeing a very clean print in widescreen format.

John^Lal · 04-22-2003, 03:34 PM

Quote:

faith, sacrifice, integrity, humanity. That the language of those ideas is often dismissed as pretentious is just further evidence, I think, of the dumbing down of our public discourse

agreed

Matt<>Broon · 04-22-2003, 05:33 PM

A bit of a [rant]rant[/rant] here.. Sorry, I've been a bit dispirited by some recent discussions (off the forums.. damn real life.

)

I think in the main you're preaching to the converted with the regulars in this thread.

What's most depressing is that the attitude which dismisses the expression of these elements crops up almost universally.. Only the other day I heard La Dolce Vita & Rashomon were rejected out of hand as "Dreary bollocks the like of which only you and a few pretentious film students could bring themselves to watch and claim they enjoyed".

That by a friend who is far from poorly educated or unintelligent. Granted he's got an economics degree which tells you something I suppose

but even so I'd have expected him to take them on their merits.

I think we really have to ask, would Bergman, Fellini or Kurosawa have attained the success and status they did if they were starting out today. I doubt it.

Seth Paxton · 04-22-2003, 05:59 PM

Quote:

so I don't know how it compares, but the plot of the film feels like it is just in place to string together gags. Not a bad thing since the jokes are very funny.

Yes, this is quite typical of every Marx Bros film, though films like Duck Soup, Animal Crackers and Night at the Opera have better "connector" plots than some of their other films.

In the end the pleasure comes from their gags, songs, and musical performances. The rest of the people are just props and story devices.

Personally I find Animal Crackers to have the sharpest wit of all their films, but this is a point that is often debated by Marx Bros fans. Their humor is much more sophisticated than non-viewers would expect from the era, but then that's true for several other great early comedy talkies too. My point being that they could come back today and pack audiences in IMO, and without having to go a lot dirtier.

Seth Paxton · 04-22-2003, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Dreary bollocks the like of which only you and a few pretentious film students could bring themselves to watch and claim they enjoyed".

Was he describing EVERY SINGLE DISCOURSE on economics?

Educated or not, let's keep things in perspective, you must have a certain mindset to major in econ. I'm not saying econ guys are all uptight money-grubbing frumps with no sense of artistic value...but then I'm not NOT saying it either.

j/k

But would the artists achieve those levels today? Yes, because its incorrect to think that the eras in which the "masters" were doing their work was anymore receptive to high art than now.

Example, Sunrise and Metropolis both took bad hits in the BO, and Sunrise won an Oscar as well as lots of other critical praise. Even in 1915, 1925, 1935 filmmakers had to concern themselves with the idea of high art vs. popular entertainment. And in a slight bit of irony, UFA and the German filmmakers of the mid 1910's were actually trying to establish their works as higher art (by means of using more literary sources for films) in order to attract more middle-class business. Before then the cinema was seen as a seedy place filled with lusty, uncouth men lying in wait in the dark.

Now its screaming little brats and cell phones. Not all that different of an experience, eh.

edit - and its not like Kane was a BO hit either. Not sure about 2001 but I believe it was not a big hit.

Kirk Tsai · 04-22-2003, 08:04 PM

I knew my line on pretentiousness would get a few reactions. To clarify (don't see much misunderstanding, BTW), I did not mean the film is pretentious. Rather, it is my own way of discussing the film. This happens when I know it didn't connect with me on a personal level, but then to discuss it, I must use very large themes to talk about it. Therefore, it is myself that becomes pretentious since I would talk about grand themes that I don't necessary believe in, or have connected with.

Brook, I didn't think of the boy going through with the construction of the bell as based on his faith. I thought of it as his way of proving himself, on a youthful, brave, and naive basis. But your reading of the boy gives Andrei's final actions better logic.

Chris, isn't Stray Dog great? I've heard of comparisons making this Kurosawa's Bicycle Thieves, and it sort of makes sense. And that finale, wow!

Arman · 04-23-2003, 12:06 AM

John^Lal · 04-23-2003, 12:36 AM

Hey, I REALLY got sick of searching for movies from that list, so i decided to make a list according to Directors using Excel. If anyone wants this document from me, send me a message with your E-MAIL so i can send it to you.

Chris_Richard · 04-23-2003, 12:45 AM

Kirk - completely understood what you meant. At work I try to post something short and quick, then I’m usually out and seeing a film and by the time I get home to post it is late and I feel that whatever I’m writing is blather. Even now I’m writing this after midnight while watching Cowboy Bebop so if I tried to put add my views on something like Rublev it would seem pretentious.

Hey, my best field is an econ major.

Seriously, we met because it seemed like the only two people in college that thought there was more to life than our major. It’s the same with all aspects of art, not just film, many people I know have that mainstream only mentality. That’s why I love it when I meet someone who has lots of interests.

Stray Dog was really good. I’m 6 films into the 13 film Kurosawa festival here and loving every second of it. After seeing Drunken Angel last week I was expecting another good film that still hinted at everyone’s potential. I was nicely surprised. I’m also reading the book “The Emperor and the Wolf” and the second on Stray Dog includes and interesting discussion of Kurosawa and his cameraman walking through the slums with a hidden camera to get the walking through the crowd shots.