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| yambu |
 Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:18 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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ehle64 wrote: I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Babel a "masterpiece", but it was the best film of 2006 for me.
Ehle, I'm sorry you missed the Babel discussion earlier this week. And I agree. For me, it knocked Pan's Labyrinth down to second favorite. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 4:36 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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When I saw the film for the first time, I didn't realise that the doctor's wife was played by Gillian Anderson.
She's looking good.
She gets lets of small parts, but rarely a lead. |
Last edited by jeremy on Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:35 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:46 am |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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jeremy wrote:
When i saw the film for the firs time, i didn't realise that Doctor's wife was played by Gillian Anderson.
She's looking good.
She gets lets of small parts, but rarely a lead.
Lest someone think that was part of the Babel discussion, that photo is from The Last King of Scotland in which Gillian Anderson has a supporting role. I had no idea she was in it until her name appeared in the opening credits. And I agree with jeremy's assessment; she was quite fetching in that part. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 12:25 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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I've been catching up on Japanese cinema of the post-war era.
Just watched Onibaba the other night. And I realized how many of the 50's and early 60's Japanese films (at least the ones I'm watching) tend to revolve around a lone central character (or in the case of Onibaba, two) who have to struggle to stay alive and maintain sanity amidst a chaotic and crumbling social order.
Many of these films are set during times of war or other upheaval in Japanese history (in Hara Kiri, it's the lack of war which has led to turmoil, as many ex-samurai find themselves out of work). All of these films wrestle with conventions and codes of behavior during a time where the social structure has come unglued. But clearly WWII and the changes being wrought on Japanese society in its aftermath are being investigated.
Ichikawa's Fires on the Plain and The Burmese Harp are both anti-war films, in which one soldier (during WWII) is able to step away from the discipline and structure of the army, enabling him to witness and process the full horror that war is. In The Burmese Harp, Buddhism and music represent more civilized, enlightened paths. In Hara Kiri, the hypocrisy and corruption at the heart of the martial warrior code is exposed.
Woman in the Dunes[/b] and Onibaba are more psychological/existential dramas, and add sexuality into the equation. I'm not quite sure what to make of Onibaba (which could be retitled Women in the Grass), but war has turned everyone nasty and brutal. The older woman who tries to limit the freedom and passions of her daughter-in-law and enforce certain social laws gets punished for her selfishness.
It's interesting how much all of these films focus on the role of the individual within a corrupt and discredited system. |
Last edited by gromit on Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:00 am; edited 1 time in total
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:05 pm |
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Guest
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| Apropos of an earlier discussion; We are going to have to hire one of the recently unemployed NYT moderators to straighten this mess out. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:02 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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LOL
I remember the haunting Woman in the Dunes. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:08 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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I'm SO behind in Japanese Cinema.
Just got back from Targay, got Children of Men. WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!
The S-Man hasn't seen it and we have joyous home viewing toodles. |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:15 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Norman, OK
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Speaking of Japanese film, I spent yesterday evening at a Godzilla watch party. Among others, we saw the original Gojira. If you haven't seen it, you should. The original Japanese version is much better than the American version. It's a more serious film, with quite a different tone -- darker, and definitely more of a cautionary tale about radiation. Yes, it's early suitmation, and crude suitmation at that, but despite that Godzilla is actually scary at times.
We also saw Mothra, which I hadn't seen in a while, and followed it up with one of the recent Godzilla-Mothra-Mechagodzilla films. This one has one of the actors from the original Mothra returning as an older version of the same character. I understand one of the actresses from the original Godzilla returns as the same character in one of the recent films. I like touches like that. Some of these recent Japanese monster movies have much better special effects, and are a treat to watch. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:34 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| I've wanted to see Gojira for a while now. Thanks for the comments, Nancy. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:06 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: NYC; US&A
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| Upon second viewing, Children of Men has become my favorite film of 2006. I mean, Babel and Le temps qui reste both resonated so strongly to me on a personal level, whereas Children of Men came off to me as a more "golly fucking gee whillickers" what filmmaking. Hey, I'm not complaining, 2006 was a great year for film. |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:45 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Joe Vitus wrote: I've wanted to see Gojira for a while now. Thanks for the comments, Nancy.
You're welcome, Joe. The original Japanese version of Gamera is worth seeing also. |
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"All in all, it's just another feather in the fan."
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| Marj |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:16 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Wade,
Did you get Children of Men through Netflix? I've been waiting forever for it.
For those interested, Brick is on Cinemax right now. Seems pretty fast BWTHDIK? |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:44 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| I first saw Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage on PBS in 1977. The original was shown on Scandinavian TV in 1973, and consisted of 6 episodes, 50 minutes each. The Criterion version (or theatrical version) that I saw today is 2 hours and 43 minutes long. It continues to maintain its grip and remains very involving. The dialogue is rich, very incisive and rich in existential angst and reflective of crisis in beliefs. Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson are superb. The scenes are very intimate, and often are prolonged shots of closeups of faces. The story is of two individuals deeply attached to each other irrespective of whether they are married at the time, or separated or divorced. Johan is introduced as a strong and self-confident man, but as the movie progresses, turns out to be more vulnerable than he appeared. The dependent Marianne, on the other hand gains in strength and independence as the movie progresses. We get to know them intimately and feel empathy for both of them. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:01 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:11 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Quote: Yes, it's early suitmation, and crude suitmation at that, but despite that Godzilla is actually scary at times.
I've been waiting for Gojira to turn up here.
Speaking of suitmation, there's an old Japanese TV show called Ultraman which is (or was) regularly shown on Chinese TV. A guy in a silver suit and streamlined mask (Ultraman!) ends up wrestling with a guy in some monster outfit in each episode, among a miniature set. It's so basic and low budget and fake-looking that I love it. I picked up the Ultraman movie on dvd, but haven't watched it yet. I sure hope it doesn't have much of a budget and keeps the low-budget approach in tact. |
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