Simon isn't even out on DVD, right?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 14:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Doesn't look like it. I don't know if this is because it's a (semi-) short or what. Most of the Region 2 Bunuels are cheapy compilations tho.
― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 20:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Haven't seen many of the Mexican films.
Don't like "That Obscure Object of Desire" much.
Watched "Diary of a Chambermaid" recently - it's an odd film, something quite creepy and unsettling about it.
Also saw "The Milky Way" recently... totally incomprehensible!
I'm going for "Exterminating Angel".
― Tom D., Thursday, 15 November 2007 16:50 (sixteen years ago) link
So you've seen at least one Mexican film, then.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 15 November 2007 16:59 (sixteen years ago) link
ian, start with L’Âge d'or and Los Olvidados, then whatever. My other favorites are The Exterminating Angel, Diary of a Chambermaid, Tristana and Discreet Charm.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Only the famous ones! (xp)
― Tom D., Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link
I think Tristana was Hitchcock's favorite. There is a story in My Last Sigh about Hitch sitting next to Buñuel at some Directors Guild function and saying "I loved that bit about the leg" then getter drunker and drunker as the evening progressed and repeating "That leg! That leg!"
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:07 (sixteen years ago) link
That picture of every Old Hollywood director meeting at Cukor's house in Buñuel's honor is really, really odd – who'd have thought that Rouben Mamoulian and George Stevens were fans?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Certainly John Ford was to be expected, but some of those others...
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Was Lewis Milestone there?
Was Ford even there? I seem to remember seeing his eyepatch
He and Fritz Lang couldn't make it. Apparently Don Luis was quite nervous about meeting Lang, even asking for an autograph.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:26 (sixteen years ago) link
That thing he wrote about Metropolis that's in An Unspeakable Betrayal is pretty great.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:32 (sixteen years ago) link
I always thought those old directors were kind of celebrating themselves and using Don Luis as a pretext. Well, not a pretext exactly, but..
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Any excuse for a booze up
― Tom D., Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Exactly
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Ford came to luncheon at George Cukor's house that Bunuel wrote about in MLS. He mentioned that the event was notable because it was the last time any of them saw Ford alive.
― C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 15 November 2007 23:48 (sixteen years ago) link
He passed away shortly afterward, his last moments spent cradled in Peter Bogdanovich's arms.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 15 November 2007 23:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Then again, it's conceivable that the directors of The Greatest Story Ever Told and Ben-Hur loved Viridiana and The Milky Way.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 15 November 2007 23:56 (sixteen years ago) link
What about the producer of The Robe, Frank Ross?
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 16 November 2007 00:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― ILX System, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:01 (sixteen years ago) link
l'age d'or.
should have been left to make films of whatever length rather than spin them out to the industry standard.
the welles comment is, typically, cant. "A superb kind of person he must be. Everyone loves him." false on both counts.
what would be the point if everyone loved him?
why is john ford "to be expected" a fan, and "certainly" at that? everyone likes to schmooze a critical favourite, but is there some hidden affinity connecting ford and bunuel?
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Don't be cranky! Regarding Welles' comment, the context is clear: Bunuel's a superb person because of his iconoclasm. No analysis is required.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Moreover, if I were to judge his acumen by the quality of his oral remarks to the fawning Peter Bogdanovich, Welles was an intermittently superb film critic. Must have been all that time between films.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Don't be cranky! Nice try.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:24 (sixteen years ago) link
i think he one of the saddest careers really. he did actually work on, maybe even direct, a few films in the 30s... maybe in madrid even, but somehow never had the opportunities renoir had. 'exterminating angel' and 'discreet' are a great double-feature tho.
redd, i have no idea who you are but you called me a dick on some thread so whatever.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Had one of the best careers ever.
No, Enrique, I gave you a hard time on one of those films threads, but I didn't call you that (I think the only time I called anybody that was ethan during Katrina)
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:34 (sixteen years ago) link
What a Bunuel-Carriere script: Ethan During Katrina.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:36 (sixteen years ago) link
He "spun out" his best films following the "industry standard"! He learned concision and restraint -- both Surrealist virtues, no?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:38 (sixteen years ago) link
I used to get annoyed when I would tell my slacker Austin friends I was watching a Bunuel and they'd say "Cool: is it Surreal?"
(Now I remember why I was mad at him. He was accusing everybody of liberal handwringing when many were worried about actual people they knew down there)
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:41 (sixteen years ago) link
I guess I should have said: "They're all Surreal, even when they're not!"
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Saturday, 17 November 2007 00:43 (sixteen years ago) link
x to quitney
I think he got to do mostly what he wanted from 1960 til death. Which is more than most people in his line of work. The 30s movies are something else but the post-Mexico movies wouldn't've been the way they were without that experience of making commercial genre flicks. His intent and execution are along-side Hitch and Lang for me.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 17 November 2007 02:45 (sixteen years ago) link
OTM. Years ago I tried to have a discussion here about Hitch, Lang and Bunuel being three directors who had started in the silent era and were still working productively in the 60s but I can't find it. I think it went nowhere because I worded it incorrectly and amateurist jumped on me.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Saturday, 17 November 2007 03:33 (sixteen years ago) link
I voted for "Él" just because it's the craziest indictment of Latin machismo ever put on screen. And Buñuel was a bit of a machista hisself! Also, it's hella Surrealist: amour fou and all that. My second choice would be "L'Age D'or" -- especially because it's sexy as hell. But they're all great!
― Capitaine Jay Vee, Saturday, 17 November 2007 09:48 (sixteen years ago) link
There's only one word for that - bollocks.
― Tom D., Saturday, 17 November 2007 13:33 (sixteen years ago) link
otm
― J.D., Saturday, 17 November 2007 22:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Bunuel's later films >>>>>> Lang and Hitchcock's.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 November 2007 22:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Where is the line drawn for "later" with the three?
― Eric H., Saturday, 17 November 2007 23:44 (sixteen years ago) link
after 1960?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 November 2007 23:45 (sixteen years ago) link
Lang made movies after 1960?
― Eric H., Saturday, 17 November 2007 23:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Personally, I'd mark the first film of Hitchcock's "late" period as Marnie, which I think is grebt. Not sure about Buñuel, tho. Everything from Viridiana on feels of a piece.
― Eric H., Saturday, 17 November 2007 23:49 (sixteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― ILX System, Sunday, 18 November 2007 00:01 (sixteen years ago) link
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse was released in 1960 and that was it. But yeah, Alfred's inequality is pretty much otm.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Sunday, 18 November 2007 00:06 (sixteen years ago) link
Two votes for Ensayo!
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 19 November 2007 03:16 (sixteen years ago) link
Why does that deserve an exclamation point? I might have voted for it and made it three.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 19 November 2007 03:35 (sixteen years ago) link
It was not a predictable choice (I like it fine).
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 19 November 2007 03:48 (sixteen years ago) link
(xpost) But maybe I add a star for that one because of the backstory of Miroslava Stern having an affair with legendary bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin, about-to-be husband of Lucia Bosé, who herself appeared in a Buñuel film or two, and father of Miguel Bosé, who played the cross-dressing judge in Almodóvar's High Heels. Who I don't think is the same Dominguin who helped get Viridiana get made, but is the Dominguin who once said something like "I have over four hundred scars on my body, and every one bears the name of a woman."
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 19 November 2007 04:00 (sixteen years ago) link
Hm. Looks like he had something going with Ava Gardner too. Yet another reason to finally start reading that Lee Server bio, Love is Nothing.
Wow, I didn't know half the story of Miroslava. Wikipedia en español has the sad scoop, calling her "a Mexican Marilyn Monroe" and providing not one but two versions of her death, one a suicide, and one a complicated mysterious plane crash.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 19 November 2007 04:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Re Lang, B-pictures like The Blue Gardenia are really pretty well done- by far the best of these is The Big Heat - but still not a patch on the pants of Spies, Mabuse, The Weary Death, etc.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 19 November 2007 06:11 (sixteen years ago) link
I gave The Milky Way my first viewing in years. Amusing for about 20 minutes in a Catholic boy having a laff sort of way. Those French films were as uneven as the Mexican ones.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 February 2023 20:13 (one year ago) link
Right. And so the Mexican films are more of a gift in that we might not have expected as much, lower budgets, less star power etc.
― Huey “Piano” Smithers-Jones (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 21 February 2023 20:18 (one year ago) link
My French 2 class seems to have ended up doing a film unit that I didn't really plan on. We have a 100-minute block on Monday. Should I show them The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie?
― Lily Dale, Sunday, 28 January 2024 02:26 (three months ago) link
Sure, why not?
― Pictish in the Woods (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 28 January 2024 02:39 (three months ago) link
yes
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 28 January 2024 13:59 (three months ago) link
Happy birthday, cabron!
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 February 2024 15:21 (two months ago) link
Was somewhat surprised how enjoyable Susana was, after catching a screening at MoMA. Buñuel himself seemed to underrate it, going by stray comments of his.
― Josefa, Thursday, 22 February 2024 15:49 (two months ago) link
I dont think he was capable of making a non good film. There's only 5 I haven't seen.
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 22 February 2024 17:19 (two months ago) link
lol i was gonna say more or less that, tho maybe i'd say non-enjoyable rather than non-good
― wang mang band (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 22 February 2024 17:24 (two months ago) link
I don't think he was capable of mixing a bad martini.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 February 2024 17:26 (two months ago) link
Thanks to that MoMA retrospective, I've now seen most of his films, and I'm inclined to agree, it's likely he's never made a bad film. Certainly some are better than others - as mentioned in the retrospective's notes, several of those films were very much commercial films with little room to do anything more - but they all have something to like and most have some measure of greatness to them. It's a testament to Bunuel that he made the best of where life took him to an extraordinary degree, going to Mexico to work as a "commercial" filmmaker when MoMA rescinded their job offer, then over the course of a decade building that into a launching pad for a third act as a European arthouse giant.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 22 February 2024 20:13 (two months ago) link
FWIW, among the Mexican films including Viridiana, which had its state of origin reclassified as Mexico, I'd say he made at least ten genuine masterpieces. Pretty remarkable considering how much his reputation probably rests on his earlier and later films simply because the availability of his Mexican films hasn't been reliable, especially in decent print quality. Hopefully that changes soon - many of those titles had great-looking and very recent restorations.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 22 February 2024 20:19 (two months ago) link
At worst Don Luis' lesser films suffer from a malnourished idea or a poor execution of a promising idea, neither of which fatal flaws for a director.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 February 2024 20:22 (two months ago) link
I really need to see Subida al cielo again. My memory is not that of a masterpiece, but I've seen so many suggest otherwise
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 22 February 2024 20:26 (two months ago) link
LOL, not surprised I said basically the same itt already
I really liked this one. Wish I could get a physical version of it to watch.https://letterboxd.com/film/illusion-travels-by-streetcar/
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 22 February 2024 21:17 (two months ago) link
Was the MoMA Mexican series mentioned yet?
― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 February 2024 21:52 (two months ago) link
Yes, I see that it was, more than once
― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 February 2024 21:53 (two months ago) link
Just finished. I had some vague intention to get over there but somehow something suddenly came up.
― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 February 2024 21:56 (two months ago) link