S&S 100 Films HTF Forum Challenge (1 Viewer)

[teapot2001]

Doug, if you have TCM and some patience, they might re-air Once Upon a Time in the West soon. I believe it was last July/August when they showed it. I happened to watch a few seconds of it on AMC a few days ago, and it didn't look good at all in P&S.

Evan, have you seen Curse of the Cat People? It's on TCM this week, but I don't know if I should watch it since I haven't seen the original.

~T

 

[Evan Case]

I haven't seen it, but the Maltin capsule makes it sound interesting (though strangely, not a horror film like the first one). It also makes it seem like a true sequel with strong plot ties to the original. Perhaps you should record it and then watch it after the first one is aired a few months from now.

I really miss TCM out here in Pittsburgh. It was okay for the past three years because I could always just email my brother a big list of stuff to record and he'd get them for me. Now that he's starting at NYU, I'll have to rely on my non-tech saavy parents to get films for me, so I'm not expecting to have nearly as many movies recorded.

Evan

 

[Doug D]

Thi, I believe it's scheduled for November (the exact date was posted in a recent thread in MHVF), but I don't have the cable, so unless I can find someone with a large heart and cable, I'm out of luck.

 

[teapot2001]

I'll make you a VHS copy. Be sure to remind me when it's on.

~T

 

[Mike Goodman]

I was wondering if I could make a late entry into this challenge? I've seen 44 so far, so I'm basically screwed in terms of completing by the deadline(Considering I'm starting school now). But I'm always up for a good challlenge, plus Maybe over my breaks I can make a splugre...;p

 

[Pascal A]

I'm just returning/recovering from vacation, so I apologize for not updating the totals. It looks as though the new totals are: Thi (42) , Brook (12), and Doug (41). Thanks for the compliment, Evan, I'm just glad to be able to share my love for film with everyone. By the way, I seem to be lost on the "butt chins" comment, so if anyone would care to point me in the right direction.
Also, Welcome to the forum and the S&S Challenge, Mike! (56) You have been added to the Participants' List. Feel free to jump in anytime on these discussions.
On a semi-tangential note, I recently got the chance to see Bela Tarr's Sátántangó again (the first time being under the heavy influence of Nyquil and Vicks Vaporub :frowning, and I'm definitely convinced that at the next S&S Poll, the film is bound to be a very strong contender. Great visuals, sweeping long pans (a la Miklos Jancso), fluid tracking shots (a la Andrei Tarkovsky), and even a hint of Robert Bresson in the chapter with the little girl who was abusive to the cat. Not only is the film a dark satire of the harsh life in post-communist Hungary (as Krzysztof Kieslowski's White was to Poland), but also quite a provocative statement on the soulessness of contemporary existence. Lots of haunting images and themes to digest on this one!

 

[Evan Case]

Pascal,
"Butt-chins" refers to the rather conspicuous chin dimples of Misters Douglas and Mitchum.
I loved the film and made the comment in jest as it was just something I happened to notice. Unfortunately, Brook read my review beforehand and was thus unable to get past the oddly-shaped skin flaps on the two actors' chins.
Evan

 

[Evan Case]

BTW, capsule reviews are coming soon, I promise.
I know you all await my findings breathlessly.
Mike - Welcome to the forum and the challenge. While initially and ostensibly a contest to see 100 of the '92 S&S winners by 12/31/02, it's now--especially with the recent release of the 2002 list--become more of an adventure to discover and discuss classics of cinema both foreign and domestic. Hope you have fun with it. I sure have!
Evan

 

[teapot2001]

Imitation of Life: This is probably my least favorite on the list. I like melodrama, but this movie was just over-the-top melodramatic. I recorded Written on the Wind earlier today, which I hope will be better.

Out of the Past: Very good noir with great dialogue.

I also saw Ashes and Diamonds which got a few votes on this year's list. Great movie! I loved the cinematography.

~T

 

[Pascal A]

Updated Thi's total left to 39 in the Participants' List.
I'm not too fond of Imitation of Life, but that applies to both versions (the earlier one had Claudette Colbert instead of Lana Turner), so I can't blame Douglas Sirk for that. The two Criterion DVDs, All that Heaven Allows and especially Written on the Wind are still quite campy and melodramatic, but Sirk's visual flair really elevate the films into something like kitsch as art.
I definitely agree on Out of the Past; it really immerses the viewer in a kind of "polarized" atmosphere of noir.
As for Andrzej Wajda, I'm hoping that his honorary Oscar (from 2000) is going to generate more interest in his work. It's sadly ironic that the pioneering inluence of The Cinema of Moral Anxiety from the renowned Lodz Film School (Krzysztof Kieslowski, Agnieszka Holland, Andrzej Munk, Krzysztof Zanussi, Marcel Lozinski) is now overshadowed by some of his successors (although he is still active).
Ashes and Diamonds seems to suffer a bit from the simplistic "Zbigniew Cybulski is a Polish James Dean" comparison. The film goes beyond generational rebellion, but rather, attempts to convey the questionable national alliances and uncertainty of life in (immediately) postwar Poland as the Communists were only beginning to exert their influence on the country. I especially liked the final shot of entangled laundry lines that seems to suggest that the landscape of postwar Poland looks remarkably like a wartime battlefield. Hmph! Now I'm going to have to dig up the film and watch it again.

 

[Doug D]

Not that it's entirely on topic, but I wanted to mention to the folks in this thread (who seem like they'd be the interested parties) that I'm writing a weekly column at MHVF called "An Incomplete Education", focusing on arthouse/world classics. This week's column is on WALKabout: www.mhvf.net/aie
Hope you enjoy!
Oh, and Pascal - my total's 33 left. It's been static for a while, but I've got a letterboxed copy of OUATITW, CHILDREN OF PARADISE, and SANSHO DAYU sitting here to be watched, so expect some movement soon.

 

[Brook K]

I didn't care for Imitation of Life either. It and Gentleman Prefer Blondes are the too biggest "how did this make the S&S list?!" movies I've come across.
I've watched The Apu Trilogy and Tokyo Story, so that takes me down to 8 left to go, 2 I have, Contempt will be out soon, but how I'll see 5 more I have no idea.
Here's my mini write up on Tokyo Story, I'll put something together on Apu later, but will say that I found the films more than a bit disappointing, I just didn't connect with them.
LOVED Tokyo Story, such a sad, bittersweet, honest film; but there is also a great deal of joy, beauty, and more than a few times myself and the audience were laughing pretty hard. I saw so much of myself in this film, both the hopes for my own children, and the distance from my parents. It works on so many levels and in such universal ways - the generational conflict, technology and modernism encroaching on tradition, conflicts of work and family, aging, loneliness, and on and on....
The movie has some of the most perfect framing I've come across. I think Japanese houses are perfect for films, the multiple sliding doors, long hallways, stairs, and the multitude of little rooms.
Tokyo Story completely lived up to and surpassed everything I knew/read about it prior to seeing in. I want to go buy "Good Morning" now as I remember similar shots and images. The village seems to be the same one. The movie also reminded me a lot of Yi Yi, a simple story about a family in crisis that grows increasingly more profound.
The line where the youngest daughter and Noriko are talking is just shattering;
"Life is such a disappointment"
"Yes it is"
The presentation was so-so. Emory U's screening room is one of those steep sloping college classrooms, but the screen is placed up high and is of decent size (not much smaller than the local art houses). Unfortunately the print was not a new one from Japan like I'd hoped (Emory is showing 3 Ozu films in conjunction with the Japanese Cultural Festival, and the screening was sponsored by the Japanese Consulate), but a rental from none other than New Yorker. Some of it was ok, but it mostly looked like the "before" in a Criterion restoration vid. It was basically a well-used print of a film that needs restoration, lots of damage, scratches, and speckling. It occurred to me that the reason New Yorker hasn't released a lot of great films is that they probably don't have access to good enough material to make a DVD from.
But it didn't hurt my enjoyment of the movie in any way, and that's really the most important thing.
Next Thursday Emory is showing Ozu's I Was Born, But..., I hope to see it, but I may have to work late that night and I also want to go saturday to see Kiarostami's ABC Africa and with young kids, I don't really have the luxury of going to screenings twice in 3 days.

 

[Mark_Wilson]

I just found this great thread! I noticed that list is pretty out of date as far as released titles. Is there an updated one somewhere?

 

[Pascal A]

Update Doug D. and Brook's totals on the Participants' List.
Brook, definitely try to catch I Was Born But... if you can. Ozu's earlier films were a bit more socially "expository" than his later, more insular gendai geki home dramas. While his later films only show the influence of the outside world into traditional family life, his earlier films tended to show the sorrows and disappointment of the outside world.
I've seen a great many films since Tokyo Story, but this one has not only stayed with me, but has grown with me as well. I guess it's no secret that I was hoping that this film would end up as the #1 film on the 2002 S&S poll, but it was not meant to be. :frowning: For me, the closest to Tokyo Story is An Autumn Afternoon in its sweet-natured, funny, but also bittersweet presentation of the inveitability of change.
Mark, I've been updating the S&S films availability on the Participants' List (link above) on one of the back pages since the originator of this thread disappeared on us, and we can't edit the first post.
I've just changed the status of Sunset Boulevard and Germany Year Zero to correspond with their release date information.

 

[Ted Todorov]

I finally have some progress to report: I saw Tarkovsky's Stalker and Mirror, both on 35mm at the Walter Reade Theater.
I was stunned by how good they are -- Tarkovsky's visual sense is second to none. Between the two, I enjoyed Stalker more because of what I felt was a stronger narrative.
Another great strength of Tarkovsky is just how expressive his actors are. After a steady diet of pretty boy & girl blandness coming from Hollywood, his actors are a refreshing change indeed.
The subtext of Stalker -- what the Soviet Union had become in terms of decrepitude, grime and pollution is absolutely devastating. Tarkovsky was uncanny in his choice of locations and scenic design. I can't wait to watch more of his work...but must, until after the NYFF
My left to see count goes from 35 to 33.
Ted

 

[Doug D]

Watched CHILDREN OF PARADISE. By and large, an astonishing and wonderful movie, with lots to recommend it.

But *SPOILERY* I found the end exceptionally frustrating. It's not even ambiguous so much as it just stops before at least one inevitable event occurs that would change things.

Anyway, that makes 32.

 

[Brook K]

Yes, I could definitely see Tokyo Story making it on to my top 10 of all time list. I wish I was able to see it again and again.

Didn't make it to I Was Born But... I had a project due that day and had to work late.

I've watched M. Hulot and Mon Oncle over the past two days, so will probably get to Playtime tomorrow.

Ted, Stalker is my favorite Tarkovsky film. Not as dense as Mirror or Nostalghia (though 2nd viewings of both would probably be more meaningful) and even better at portraying man's struggle in the world for life's meaning...

 

[Gary Tooze]

Gregory Meshman has updated the list to include alternate region DVD releases. He has also included links to the DVD Comparisons on my website (where there are more than 2 versions) and/or reviews.
You can access it HERE
Personally, I have 8 left.
Regards,

 

[Brook K]

I'm down to 7 since I watched Playtime awhile back. Harder to get into than M. Hulot or Mon Oncle, parts of it I really liked, but the scene in the nightclub just goes on and on. But I'm sure this is a completely different experience in 70mm.
I still have Greed and have had it for close to 2 years now, but I've just never sat down to watch it all.

 

[teapot2001]

I highly doubt I will finish the challenge in time for the deadline. I'll eventually finish though, in a year or two.

Brook, which version of Greed do you have? Of all the movies I've seen on here, I think it's one of the best to end the challenge with.

~T