as for the sex scenes, i thought they were handled very well... i actually thought they were totally erotic. some douchebag in front of me was taking camera phone pix though and after putting up with it for about 15 seconds i leaned forward in my chair and said in his ear quite loudly, "Put your phone down." apart from that distraction, which well and truly took me out of the movie, i thought the sex scenes were great. maria bello and viggo mortensen are both very sexy, sexual seeming people. i thought that when maria bello said 'we never got a chance to be teenagers together', she didn't mean it to be serious. she meant it as an enigmatic setup to a fantasy that she had always wanted to live out. the sex scene on the stairway is a surprisingly common fantasy among a lot of women. to be raped safely by someone who loves you. this was obviously a little bit removed from that, but it did have the added notion of just being another role playing exercise. i don't know how to get into the mechanics of explaining it, but i've been with girls who have fantasized about that. danger/thrills are sexy to most people.
the scene with william hurt was hilarious... for some reason, the setup actually reminded me a little bit of the cremaster thing in the guggenheim... sort of similarly videogame-esque.
and to end it the way this ended, knowing that a happy ending would probably come eventually, but not feeling the need to go on any longer showing it happen, left it feeling very real and honest.
and other thoughts....
― firstworldman (firstworldman), Sunday, 2 October 2005 22:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― ----------, Sunday, 2 October 2005 22:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― firstworldman (firstworldman), Sunday, 2 October 2005 22:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 2 October 2005 23:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― melton mowbray (adr), Sunday, 2 October 2005 23:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 3 October 2005 00:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Monday, 3 October 2005 00:19 (eighteen years ago) link
I've seen every movie of note he's made in the last 20 years, except for M. Butterfly.
― 100% Nice (nordicskilla), Monday, 3 October 2005 01:19 (eighteen years ago) link
Did I mention I also hated Sin City?
Magnum Force is a'ight.
― 100% Nice (nordicskilla), Monday, 3 October 2005 01:29 (eighteen years ago) link
...
― 100% Nice (nordicskilla), Monday, 3 October 2005 01:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 3 October 2005 01:36 (eighteen years ago) link
I sure am! Both Dirty Work and the Cronenberg film are agreeably superficial examinations of violence.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 3 October 2005 10:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 12:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― sfxxx, Tuesday, 4 October 2005 12:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 12:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 12:49 (eighteen years ago) link
Also, they should have just tried to hire Adam Brody as the son rather than getting someone with the same mannerisms and the same hair.
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 15:02 (eighteen years ago) link
This is true.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 15:12 (eighteen years ago) link
2) How the fuck did this POSSIBLY get an R rating?? Surely that's some of the most graphic violence ever seen onscreen (I lean towards the notion that the gore is dwelled on to emphasize the range of emotions that can be conjured by such extreme violence - horror, disgust, shock - then awed laughter - then back to disgust). I mean, "Ichi the Killer" is one thing, but I thought this was much more intense.
3) I was also sort of surprised by the first sex scene - is there another instance of two lead characters in a flagrant, fairly graphic 69 in a mainstream movie ever?
― Stuck to a Seat in the New Beverly (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 18:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 18:04 (eighteen years ago) link
hardly
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 18:05 (eighteen years ago) link
xp
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 18:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 20:20 (eighteen years ago) link
HOTT
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 20:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― -rainbow bum- (-rainbow bum-), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 20:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― dan (dan), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 20:49 (eighteen years ago) link
Ach, I was using a bit of poetic licence here. With some hindsight, I think the main problem is the family dynamic. I do think there is something in the use the use of a "smalltown America" construct. It is supposed to imply universality, even if the majority of the audience for this film will be childless people who live in major urban centers. There is nothing exceptional about these characters at the beginning of the film, and we're supposed to identify with them, but we're also asked to laugh at them as well as fear for them.. It's totally flawed.
On top of that, all of the characters who make up the family seem totally disparate, their reactions to each other follow no discernible pattern of emotional logic and our understanding/enjoyment of the film is key to seeing them as a family unit, even before we can see them as compromised or fragmented or in danger.
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:05 (eighteen years ago) link
Sometimes a tear is just a tear!
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:17 (eighteen years ago) link
the last scene reminded me of something but I can't remember what.
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:20 (eighteen years ago) link
I don't think I really get Cronenberg as a director. Though I did love Spider. There's some kind of deliberate thinness or something to his style. In my head I think it's a Canadian thing.
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:24 (eighteen years ago) link
but that doesn't explain Rush.
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:25 (eighteen years ago) link
yes I know Egoyan is a vastly superior director; they get compared only because of their candian-ness.
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:28 (eighteen years ago) link
OK, so let's say it was a "genre exercise" on Cronenberg's part. Something to be appreciated for its formal aspects. Well OK, thought that's never going to make for a very satisfying thriller. It makes it neither one thing nor the other. I dunno. I'm rambling now. I just know that my friend at work thught it was appalling and I realised that I'd have a hard time defending it by any criteria I am comfortable arguing for the use of.
Ha ha - x-post with all this Canadian talk.
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:30 (eighteen years ago) link
This is only true until his last two movies which are just okay.
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:32 (eighteen years ago) link
Although the bloody faces were cool.
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:34 (eighteen years ago) link
All my Canadian friends on ILX r gonna hate me now. but I called it, didn't I?-- @d@ml (nordicskilla@hotmail.com), April 1st, 2004.
-- @d@ml (nordi
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 21:36 (eighteen years ago) link