Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club - Page 84

Jim_K · 12-03-2004, 07:26 AM

Accattone, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s first film will not appeal to anyone who wants to be entertained.

You're on a roll there Lew as I agree again. You could throw Mama Rosa into the mix also. Pasolini's films are rather depressing and morose. Not my cup of tea.

The highest ranking film I haven't seen is also Au Hasard Balthazar.

In fact I'm pretty much stalled with this challenge as I've run through all of the S&S films from my library & Netflix. Greencine carries 4 films that I haven't seen but I'm not going to join a second rental outfit just to squeeze out another few films. I'd still be 36 films short anyway.

I don't know whats more frustrating, being stalled with 40 films to go or with the two AFI challenges I'm stalled with one film to go.

Lew Crippen · 12-03-2004, 12:36 PM

Quote:

I don't know whats more frustrating, being stalled with 40 films to go or with the two AFI challenges I'm stalled with one film to go.

Well Jim, considering that you are in the same city as what might be the best video resource in the States, I’d think that this ought to be a breeze. Of course I think that a couple of these films are not available in any format—you just have to hope to catch them somehow or another.

For example, in the AFI list, there is really no way to see Porgy and Bess, unless one can get a bootleg copy somewhere or see a screening (which would also be a bootleg) as the Gershwin estate is dead set against the movie (and rightly so).

I’m old enough to have seen it in the theater during its first run and although I have not yet counted the movie, I’ll add it to my list if I can’t see it by the time I reach the end of one of the categories (e.g. Songs). But I think that many in the AFI challenge will be out of luck.

Seth Paxton · 12-03-2004, 02:45 PM

One thing about Age d'Or is that for me it is pure cinema released from true narrative. That sort of abstract imagary approach seems much more difficult to swallow in cinema than in any other medium (save perhaps stage plays).

I'm not sure if its because of the illusion of reality that comes with filmed events, or if we have simply been conditioned on filmed stories.

But why is it that walking through a Pollock exhibit seems to be a lot more inviting that watching pure abstract cinema devoid of any NARRATIVE structure (though certainly not without a structure of imagary and ideals)?

Of course the surrealists weren't going for abstract, but rather the undermining of realism by use of absurdity. We are led along with what appears to be a regular narrative, but which is really a trap of nonsensical logic.

Still the point remains that when a film screws with the presentation structure, audiences tend to tune out a lot quicker. Juxtaposition of mismatched images via editing seems far more annoying that when done by placing images side by side in a painting or photograph.

It just seems to me that cinema for some reason begs for a logical narrative structure even though it shouldn't have to be so limited.

In short, I half loved, half hated Age d'Or.

Seth Paxton · 12-03-2004, 02:51 PM

Quote:

I'd recommend starting with Persona or Cries and Whispers. Just kidding. Wild Strawberries would probably be a good start.

Ironically these might be my two favorite Bergman's so far. Ironic in that the very things I hate in cinema typically are what make me enjoy these 2 films. (aloof, intentionally confusing, art for arts sake almost, etc)

Bergman just works for me while Godard does not. I just get a different vibe and different intention from the two. Bunuel I'm on the fence with, leaning slightly against.

Thi Them · 12-03-2004, 07:54 PM

ANNOUNCEMENT!

It looks like the list of the members with their totals is gone for good. I will need each of you to email/PM me with your current total and, if you remember, the total that you started with when joining this club.

Thanks.

~T

Lew Crippen · 12-03-2004, 08:31 PM

Tell me you love me

We know right away in Voyage in Italy that there is about to be a change in the relationship between Katherine Joyce (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband Alex (George Sanders) when he asks her to stop driving their car and takes over.

While it seems for most of this short movie that it is the story of a marriage disintegrating, director and writer Roberto Rossellini resolves everything satisfactorily and consistently. A brilliant piece from what seems at first to be pedestrian.

Jim_K · 12-04-2004, 09:14 AM

Well Jim, considering that you are in the same city as what might be the best video resource in the States, I’d think that this ought to be a breeze.

Well technically I'm a suburbanite. All of the great video stores around me have closed up & all I have left are the Ballbusters & Hollyweird videos. If I had the time & inclination I could take a drive into the North side of the city were there are still a few hold-out cult video stores. The prospect of all the time & effort it would take (I'd have to go back & return the damn thing) turns me off. Not to mention the fact that there's no guarantee I'd find the films I'm looking for. Purchasing any of the remaining 40 films just to see it is not an option.

If something pops up in the future on DVD & it's available from Netflix or my Library or it's played on something like TCM I'll pop back in. Otherwise I've taken this as far as it can go for the time being.

Here's my remaining films I'd need to see to complete this. If anyone knows of any future release plans for any of these I'd appreciate letting me know so I can keep an eye out in the future.
Never seen
A Moment of Innocence
Angel
Au hasard Balthazar
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Bigger Than Life
Black God, White Devil
City of Sadness
El
Europa (Zentropa)
F for Fake
Fires Were Started
Floating Clouds
India Song
Jeanne Dielman
La Région centrale
Lacombe Lucien
Le Fantôme de la liberté (Phantom of Liberty, The)
L'eclisse (Eclipse)
L'Enfance nue (Me)
Ludwig
Make Way for Tomorrow
Masculin féminin
Meghe dhaka tara (Hidden Star)
Oedipus Rex
Pakeezah
Stalker
Still Life
The Rise to Power of Louis XIV
The Round Up
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums
The Time to Live and the Time to Die
Through the Olive Trees
Two or Three Things I Know about Her
Vidas Secas(Barren Lives)
Voyage to Italy
Xala (Curse)

Seen parts of or very long ago (not counted as having seen)
Faster Pussycat Kill Kill
Germany Year Zero
Salò
The Conformist

For example, in the AFI list, there is really no way to see Porgy and Bess, unless one can get a bootleg copy somewhere or see a screening (which would also be a bootleg) as the Gershwin estate is dead set against the movie (and rightly so).

P&B is the remaining Passions film I'd need to see to complete that list. I had no idea it was unavailable in any format, thanks for the info. I'll be able to scratch off my remaining Laughs film in a week or so as it's playing on TCM.

After that it looks like I'll be free to expand my horizons in a different direction. In fact theres plenty of old Noir films that I want to start hunting down so maybe this is a good thing.

Lew Crippen · 12-04-2004, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Here's my remaining films I'd need to see to complete this. If anyone knows of any future release plans for any of these I'd appreciate letting me know so I can keep an eye out in the future.

A whole lot of these are available on VHS. I am very sure that Facets will have copies for sale and rent. They are in Lincoln Park--and you indicated that this would not be convenient. But they do rent by mail—you might check it out.

george kaplan · 12-04-2004, 11:08 AM

Jim,

Germany Year Zero played not long ago on TCM, so the odds are it'll show up again at some point in the future. However, they called it by it's Italian name, Germania Anno Zero.

Lew Crippen · 12-04-2004, 01:28 PM

God is dead

A theme in Rosemary’s Baby, Roman Polanski’s tour de force horror movie. Or is it? Can one make a horror movie with no special effects (other than perhaps a very modest use of a very wide angle lens, with no particular special makeup or costumes or sets?

Everything about this movie seems normal—to the point of being unsetteling. When strugglening young actor Guy Woodhouse (iconoclast John Cassavetes) and his wife Rosemary (Mia Farrow) look for a new apartment everything seems normal—except possibly for the puzzling, unfinished note left by the previous tennent.

So too do the new neighbors (Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer playing Minnie and Roman Castevet) seem: normal to the point of being tedious and overbearing. So normal that it is unsetteling.

And so it goes. One normal thing after another that all add up to a sense of unease that we feel as the tension mounts. Here Polanski demonstrates a skill that equals the best of Hitchcock. And this movie too, is on that level.