Amour (by Michael Haneke)

lol it's just shitty

a few nice shots of the desert but one of the worst of those 'overseas auteurs in america' curiosities

i am mindful of seeing some other dumont tho....

Yeah, it may have caught me in an unreceptive moment, but it felt like an idiot Zabriskie riff.

FLANDRES also moves between France and an unidentified foreign country, and is not entirely successful, even within the terms of his aesthetic (which is course is p easy to parody - explicit sex, bleakness, long takes, religiosity.) but yeah, give LA VIE DE JESUS a go, maybe (there's a typically immaculate Masters of Cinema Region 2 DVD.)

In interview Dumont comes across as a real big'ead, which i think contributes to ppl's antipathy towards him, and his constant denials abt a Bresson influence are not entirely plausible - but still, I kinda like my European auteurs haughty and up themselves, that's what they're there for

That is sorta OTM. But I reserve my right to be as haughty and up myself about which of their movies I call the best of the year and which of their movies I call the worst of all time.

yeah i was going to watch LVDJ

what about l'humanité?

L'HUMANITE is prob his least 'realistic' in terms of ppl's motivations and reactions, even though it's nominally a murder mystery. the central character is played by a non-professional actor and funnily enough his peformance brought to mind Bruno S in STROSEK - another one of those 'overseas auteurs in america' curiosities (albeit a p successful one, imho)

'Overseas auteurs in america curiosities' would be a good idea for a poll except The Passanger would win quite easily I think.

Really looking forward to new Dumont in the new year.

yeah not a bad idea (although the passenger isn't very american, disregarding the finances)

incidentally i started playing the jack nicholson commentary on the dvd and these days he has possibly the croakiest most langorous voice i have ever heard

I'll watch any movie with beautiful shots of people waking around the desert

Life of Jesus is good

Is it Life of Jesus or L'humanité that begins with the close-up of the dead, raped girl's crotch and ends with the guy levitating? Because that movie was some bullshit.

L'humanité. That film was interesting imo.

I've found all of his films interesting although i haven't seen 29 palms. Hadewijch got a v limited release here Ward. I saw it at the GFT.

And 29 Palms was the couple driving across America, having sex and roaring like cavemen? Fuck that one, too.

I saw Hadewijch at the ICA. Older ones aside he and maybe Assayas are the only French filmmakers worth bothering with these days.

ohh nice jed and xyzzzz. haven't seen any of his films at the cinema, am hoping that the new one plays at the GFT. one of the things abt Dumont that i find interesting - perfect word! - is the way that he isn't afraid to cram the 'here and now' - the political-historical - into these abstract-spiritual art exercises. HADEWIJCH seemed partic successful in that regard.

there's an interview w/ dumont in the new sight and sound; his next film is abt Camille Claudel, w/ juliette binoche, which brings us nicely back to CODE UNKNOWN (that one has always seemed to me like Haneke's semi-tribute to Kiarostami, to me)

RE; THE PASSENGER commentary track - think i've heard/seen it claimed that nicholson had a bad cold or something that day - he cld be stoned, it's hard to tell 'cos we (me) almost never hear nicholson speaking out of character. if you're interested in more 'ravaged voice commentary track' curiosities, check out clive barker on the first hellraiser dvd.

the peploe commentary on THE PASSENGER disc is also worth listening to - interesting stuff abt peter wollen, someone v much of interest to me

to me

lol jack may not be the only one operating under the influence

Last time I was in the BFI shop I was looking at Wollen's bk on Snging in the Rain in that brand new cover to celebrate BFI classics anniversary - have you read it?

no i haven't - that's one of those where, i'm more interested in the writer than the film, i guess. also - they're expensive, i'm cheap, and i've never seen it second-hand.

have never seen any of the films he made w/ laura mulvey, either - have you?

yeah I've never seen it 2nd hand whenever I look, and my library only has a few of these.

There was one of their films on UBU, made a note to see it. Had another look but that's gone now.

the new cover on TAXI DRIVER by amy taubin is hideous, btw, though the interior stills look gorgeous (one i did manage to borrow from the library)

Have either of you been inducted into The Index of ILX Film Snobs yet?

Not sure whether I should be offended that I'm thought of as a film snob or that someone has only noticed it now.

That I'm listed 2nd is an insult to real snobs everywhere.

this is turning into Directors I'd Like to Waterboard

stay classy.

I'd put Bigelow on the short list of Directors I'd Like to Waterbed.

(Sorry, too easy)

for the first third i thought:"if it was'nt a Haneke film, no one would give a fuck"
but after that i realized it's one of his best films, and actually deals with his same subjects as always (only of course more subtle) but also suggests a moral solution to the "terror controls life" Haneke issues, that was missing in most of his films.

lol Josh

http://www.ica.org.uk/36047/Film/Hors-Satan.html

New Dumont in early Jan for - fans of waterboarding welcome.

An exploitation movie swathed in Schubert: Funny Endgames.

So vile.

I guess in a certain context, yeah, it could be construed as a comedy. Didn't see it that way at first, but now, yeah, wry and quirky.

'funny' as in his biggest fucking asshole movie ever.

Yeah, it's his The Patsy.

Nick Pinkerton ftw

Endemic to Haneke's dry, ratchet-turning movies is the anticipation of an Inevitable Awful Event—let us call it the "IAE"—an event in which the incipient horror of the human condition pops out from behind the veneer of civilization, an event that the veteran Haneke viewer understands, upon going in, is part of the contract. The IAE breaks the brittle surface of Haneke's style, and the bracing plunge after the crack of the ice delivers a harsh lesson. His pedantic, castigating filmmaking is a vehicle for these lessons, which have never yet confirmed man's high opinion of himself. The unit of the shot or the scene is rarely a source of pleasure or pain or conflict or resolution or beauty or individual life, only a flat and neutral plane against which the harsh truth can stand out all the more starkly....

In keeping within its limited boundaries, in applying an unflinching style to an inevitable process, Amour has a certain perfection to it, but what Haneke expresses thereby—that culture is no protection from the final horror, that death be not proud—is so meager as to make it a single-minded, barren perfection. Haneke remains, by his rules, infallible. So what? A movie in which incident is as spare as it is in Amour can certainly be great; a movie in which ideas and feelings are so sparse cannot.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-12-19/film/michael-haneke-s-chilly-lauded-amour/

Woould re-making FG w/waterboarding scenes be more to your satisfaction Morbs? xp

er complaining that a Haneke film is sparse w/feeling is a treat.

otm

This movie, more than any of his I've seen, most convincingly explains that void.

Pinkerton is pointing the ice out as a career problem.

brainy NYC audience note: during the end credits, a couple of ppl audibly wondered what had become of JLT's character.

Don't see 'ice' as a problem.

I wanted to know what happened to Alexandre Tharaud's character: Alexandre Tharaud.

It was pretty clear from the way he shifted around in his chair that MH really hated him.

He must've lost in a Chopin play-off challenge.

Pretty sure you actually are Armond, Morbs.

http://cityarts.info/2012/12/26/illness-as-metaphor/

Amour is no more life-affirming (or cinema-affirming) than The Dark Knight Returns.

Dark Knight Returns was good however I don't go to films as a way to affirm life. This idea is mediocre.

lol at armond not knowing 'the dark knight' from 'the dark knight returns.'

or The Dark Knight Rises