at the Subjectivisten we're always looking for "doppelgangers" anyway, in Naissance, the "fat" girl either looks like Angela Merkel or Rita Verdonk (a hopelessly right-wing dutch politician)
as for the Dardennes:le Fils is awesome. i'd say their best, but haven't seen Rosetta yet. I thought L'enfant was dissapointing, best (and saddest) part in L'enfant is when the poor boy needs to hide in the cold water for the cops. i forgot what the new one was called, ah yes Silence de Lorna, not that good either i thought. Liked some of the haphazard cuts though.
― Ludo, Friday, 3 April 2009 09:48 (fifteen years ago) link
I don't really see Merkel
http://www.commeaucinema.com/images/news/150_81143.jpg
― baaderonixx, Friday, 3 April 2009 10:31 (fifteen years ago) link
you don't ever really say anything (here) either other than talk about how films were received by critics or to dismiss other peoples opinions of them
i disagree, jed, but no i don't write film reviews here, i'm not nabisco.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 3 April 2009 11:19 (fifteen years ago) link
morbs my feeling is that if a film can "say something" about its own characters' relationships to each other that seems true to the inherent difficulties of being a human being, in whatever social circumstances the film presents, that that is a big enough artistic job for anyone and a real and rare accomplishment
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 3 April 2009 11:49 (fifteen years ago) link
yes, and The Class was better than most, but not extraordinary. but y'know, Oscar Oscar Oscar, so it's all you guys wanna talk about.
As since it's almost 2 weeks since I saw it, this is my most vivid memory the mature Upper West Side audience at the Lincoln Plaza: when they're discussing Souleymane's father sending him home of he's suspended, a dowager behind me pipes up, "Would that be the WORST thing in the world?"
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 3 April 2009 13:25 (fifteen years ago) link
i don't write film reviews here, i'm not nabisco.
fair enough. it may not say anything to you but it's clearly said a lot to quite a few of us and since it's so tied to the times and the specific setting while, imo, opening out to talk about all difficult relationships then comparing it to a 40 year old film, while useful (i'll check the film out) is sort of ignoring how vital and current the films concerns are.
i agree with tracer on "that is a big enough artistic job for anyone and a real and rare accomplishment". it's exactly how i feel.
― jed_, Friday, 3 April 2009 13:57 (fifteen years ago) link
I thought ending w/ Teach and Dean (or whatever the French call him) playing football w/ the kids was a big shrug.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 3 April 2009 14:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Would really go for 'the class'; I enjoyed 'Half Nelson', and who can resist season four of Wire (might be interesting to compare that TV series to 'The Class')
Anyone have any tips for the Nouvelle Vague fest at the nft? Gonna use it to investigate more Left bank stuff (that means => Varda, the one Chris Marker doc and 'Muriel'). would like to catch any golden nuggets on this.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 11 April 2009 13:01 (fifteen years ago) link
the slightly shaky handheld thing you see now in TONS of films I blame on fucking TV like NYPD Blue, The Wire, Homicide. So irritating.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 11 April 2009 13:56 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/april_seasons/nouvelle_vague
interesting program, lot of stuff i don't know.
The 400 Blows: i tend to like the other Doinel movies better.. Breathless: worth watching for Seberg. (i bet you've seen this one though)Une femme est une femme: really nice movie, might be my favourite GodardHiroshima mon amour: hated this one Lift to the Scaffold: Malle's debut, very amusing Hitchcock/film noir stuff, lot of plot holes though, but i thoroughly enjoyed it. La Peau douce: weaker Truffaut, adultery drama.Shoot the Pianist: awesome Truffaut, one of his best.Zazie dans le métro: see up thread, you might get a headache.
if i had to recommend 2 from this list it would be Une Femme est Une Feme and Shoot the Pianist.more leftfield choices (much cooler in away) would be Lift to the Scaffold and Zazie.
― Ludo, Saturday, 11 April 2009 14:01 (fifteen years ago) link
i'd recommend 'chronique d'un ete' and 'muriel'.
i want to see 'la joli mai', 'la pointe courte', and 'la pyramide humaine'.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Saturday, 11 April 2009 14:18 (fifteen years ago) link
don't have it in me to see kast, leenhardt, etc, to see if they are worth the effort :/
you can safely avoid rohmer and chabrol (and truffaut rly) imho.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Saturday, 11 April 2009 14:19 (fifteen years ago) link
Rohmer rules imho
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 11 April 2009 15:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Showing clips and talking with his usual passion about his life and the movies, both his own and those of others, Tarantino was anything but dull.
For instance: he has an unexpected passion for the delicate films of Eric Rohmer, with the exception of Rohmer's big hit, "My Night at Maud's."
― Ward Fowler, Saturday, 11 April 2009 15:11 (fifteen years ago) link
most french people i'm met have a healthy disinterest in the new wave, they're like yeah, they're pretty good but they're really old now wtf is the hullabaloo
― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 11 April 2009 15:15 (fifteen years ago) link
i think we get too much of them, though with this season they have made sure to extend 'the new wave' beyond the five main cahiers guys... although there is then a danger it just means 'french filmmaking from the mid-50s to the mid-60s'.
there's still a lot to discover in the left bank group -- they were not much shown here at the time (nor in the US) and it's still hard to see their shit. case in point marker. but it's getting easier: william klein had a box-set, and the dvd of 'muriel' is plain essential.
chabrol-rohmer-truffaut seem to me to belong to a pretty dim and distant past -- they're pretty conservative dudes -- but the left bankers still feel 'culturally relevant'.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Saturday, 11 April 2009 15:34 (fifteen years ago) link
but what do they like? glossy romances? are any of the talked-about newer directors (Assayas, Desplechin) big hitmakers or widely discussed?
xp
"conservative," eat it
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 11 April 2009 15:37 (fifteen years ago) link
well argued
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Saturday, 11 April 2009 15:40 (fifteen years ago) link
Of the ones I've seen on that list, Chronique d’un été and Cléo de 5 à 7 are probably the two can't-miss ones.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Saturday, 11 April 2009 16:11 (fifteen years ago) link
arguing w/ enrique is so "conservative" it's pointless
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 11 April 2009 16:28 (fifteen years ago) link
Some very great filmmakers are conservative, so I don't see the problem.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Saturday, 11 April 2009 16:37 (fifteen years ago) link
when the films are mostly about relationships between men and women (truffaut, rohmer) and the filmmakers' attitude towards women is uh 'unreconstructed' then it is a problem.
there's not much exciting going on in their films in other respects, is the other thing; whereas there definitely is with rivette and godard.
i'd say 'ma nuit chez maud', 'le boucher', and '400 blows' are worth seeing, but i've seen most of their 50s/60s ish and wouldn't recommend others to do likewise.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Saturday, 11 April 2009 16:55 (fifteen years ago) link
just watched army of shadows. loved some of the aesthetics but didn't really care for the film.
― cutty, Saturday, 11 April 2009 18:46 (fifteen years ago) link
I love Jean Pierre Melville, especially Le Samurai and Le Circle Rouge, but I saw Army of Shadows at the cinema last year and I came out making a bad face. I'm struggling to remember just what I disliked so much about it, but I think it felt like the events and scenes were morally strained, forced rather than natural, rather than the beautiful existential clarity of, say, Le Samurai. Although it is also pleasingly opaque, he concluded lamely.
First time on this thread, so I just want to rep old French films like La Regle du Jeu (vicious and merciless) and pour scorn upon horrid bourgeios crap like I've Loved You So Long (more middle-class crisis pap).
― Abbe Black Tentacle (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 11 April 2009 19:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Godard is pretty much a total pig re women.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 11 April 2009 19:19 (fifteen years ago) link
trudat.
i don't stan for godard any more -- i pretty much hate him with the zealotry of an ex-stan -- but i think his films and the ideas therein (visual and otherwise) are 'productive' in a way i don't get with the other cahiers guys.
in normative terms his films -- as 'statements about human relationships' or 'stories' or what have you -- are worse than theirs.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Saturday, 11 April 2009 19:25 (fifteen years ago) link
haha yeah having seen at least 2-5 by all the 'frontline' Cahier ppl I tend to agree w/ENRQ's general assessment: Rivette/Godard have more depth in a cinematic sense than Truffaut/Chabrol, although I like Rohmer. The role of women in the films by all these people is 'interesting' once you see stuff form Akermann and Helke Sander. In the 70s there is a def shift.
I would've been happy with a whole season solely devoted to the Left Bank but I do like that this turns out to be a survey of people that were around and seem to have a tenuous connection, which might give a more sober snapshot. So yeah that's why I wanted some pointers in that direction. Will make sure to catch 'Chronique' now, thx.
"Hiroshima mon amour: hated this one"
Love this, been struggling with a couple of novels by Duras. I wish they'd screened India Song
Varda's Lions Love was probably my fave sleeper screening of last year. Filmmaker goes to make a movie in Hollywood, ends up being shooting first reality TV highlights show as she lounges around with her groupies, watching assassinations on the telly. Looking fwd to more by her. xxp
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 11 April 2009 19:37 (fifteen years ago) link
Hiroshima is Resnais right, i am too bored to look it up. Only Resnais i liked so far is Mon Oncle D'Amerique.
― Ludo, Saturday, 11 April 2009 19:55 (fifteen years ago) link
rohmer is the only one i stan for here. his films are wonderful.
― cutty, Saturday, 11 April 2009 19:56 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah its Resnais. I could easily get all best film ever about My American Uncle!
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 11 April 2009 19:59 (fifteen years ago) link
Marker/Resnais/Rouch/Varda all get major love from me.
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Sunday, 12 April 2009 05:51 (fifteen years ago) link
Well, at least Marker and Varda. I probably haven't officially seen enough of the other two yet, but think at least two each from both of them are masterpieces (Chronicle of a Summer/Moi un noir, Marienbad/Muriel).
― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Sunday, 12 April 2009 05:52 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah morbius those guys, breillat, jaoui, you know, people who come out with new movies
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 12 April 2009 09:45 (fifteen years ago) link
or in Breillat's case, moronic "transgressive" shit.
fuck new
― Dr Morbius, Sunday, 12 April 2009 10:09 (fifteen years ago) link
How much of the new wave have your friends seen TH? If its just Truffaut/Godard getting wheeled out over and over again I can understand (it must be strange to see how 'canonical' bits of your culture get seen by other countries, and the UK has always been v down on its ability to make films). But there is a variety of films to this season and its a pretty unique opportunity to see stuff that is going to be 'new' for many.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 12 April 2009 10:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Muriel on Bank holiday Monday, and more Resnais in June as the NFT are screening La Guerre est finie bless 'em
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 2 May 2009 22:06 (fifteen years ago) link
so has anyone watched any of these new french horror cinema films? at all? i'm somewhat curious but.. have a rough time watching horror movies these days.. but if they're v good, i will
― reche caldwell O_O (daria-g), Sunday, 3 May 2009 17:58 (fifteen years ago) link
that's funny, a friend was just raving about french horror last night... he said martyrs is excellent
from what I've seen (frontieres, inside) le french horror is tres brutal and they are not for the squeamish
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Sunday, 3 May 2009 18:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Inside got my motor runnin'
― neu hollywood (Eric H.), Sunday, 3 May 2009 19:18 (fifteen years ago) link
what's with you and your motor today
― Vaclav Havel mostly. (Matt P), Sunday, 3 May 2009 19:33 (fifteen years ago) link
Got my oil changed
― neu hollywood (Eric H.), Sunday, 3 May 2009 19:51 (fifteen years ago) link
No talk of Francis Veber's greatness? Really?
― litcofsky, Monday, 4 May 2009 03:35 (fifteen years ago) link
Muriel was fantastic! Its actually one of the few ones where a DVD of it would actually be useful as there are little bits that assume a significance later. So much cutting, certain sections you have to just grit your teeth through it.
This and Le Point Courte (Varda's first film) can be a lot of work but there is plenty of hilarious lines - lots of fun!
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 4 May 2009 18:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Also I'm looking to see if there are any collections by Jean Cayrol available in English and I am not having much luck on first glance :-(
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 4 May 2009 18:51 (fifteen years ago) link
see, that's the problem. i watched 'in my skin' a while back at a festival.. well, i tried to watch it. i had to leave halfway through. i'm wayyy more squeamish than i was in my early 20s.
balancing missing out on some v interesting cinema vs. seeing things i can't un-see. it's easier watching it on the small screen at least. rich fourfour thought 'martyrs' was brilliant so i was curious.
― reche caldwell O_O (daria-g), Monday, 4 May 2009 20:47 (fifteen years ago) link
catching as much of the MoMA retro of Julien Duvivier as I can:
http://www.movingimagesource.us/articles/time-regained-20090504
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 15:57 (fifteen years ago) link
French cinema went through its postmodernist phase before it went through its modernist phase.
― M.V., Wednesday, 6 May 2009 16:28 (fifteen years ago) link
Throroughly enjoyed the new OSS 117, but not sure how well it translates for a foreign audience
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 16:50 (fifteen years ago) link
Marker's La Joli Mai was fantastic, and way better than 'Sans Soleil' -- although I should revisit that now.
What really comes across a lot of the French cinema of that time is the humour (the shot of the two blokes talking about freedom/the working week/dreams cut by shots of cats) and the engagement with what seems like everything. Its nasty politics one second, the twist in a club the next, etc.
And the cats should be mentioned again -- Marker loved them, so did Rivette! A crappy theory should be made about this...
Saw Rouch's Chronique d'un ete and Pyramide Humaine earlier in the week. Also v good. Not as much flair as Marker but I'll take it.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 17 May 2009 09:34 (fifteen years ago) link
Assayas's Summer Hours is a good one, but I still prefer his Limoges china epic.
― Dr Morbius, Sunday, 17 May 2009 13:42 (fifteen years ago) link