I voted for Gertrud, and it's not my favorite Dreyer, but it's just my favorite of these films, of which I haven't seen everyone. I'm not really a fan of final films, it seems. My second place was Cluny Brown, I think.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 26 September 2013 11:57 (ten years ago) link
Gertrud is fantastic. That would have been my vote. Saw it for the first time maybe two years ago and it never registered to me as super difficult. Talky, stagey, yes, but always engaging.
Count me in the "shrug" category for F for Fake.
― circa1916, Thursday, 26 September 2013 12:09 (ten years ago) link
ok who voted Querelle
― combination hair (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 26 September 2013 12:16 (ten years ago) link
Each man votes the thing he loves.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 26 September 2013 12:18 (ten years ago) link
Sorry, but whenever I watch Gertrud all I can think about is the diseased liver transplant in The Kingdom.
― I Am the Cosimo Code (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 September 2013 12:22 (ten years ago) link
Baard Owe is awesome.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 26 September 2013 12:27 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3US46U6-fc
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 26 September 2013 13:19 (ten years ago) link
Shoot, wanted that to embed.
are those windows intentionally kubrickian or is that just a bad transfer?
― ryan, Thursday, 26 September 2013 13:31 (ten years ago) link
It's intentional.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 26 September 2013 13:32 (ten years ago) link
Man, forgot how beautiful and ghostly the lighting could be in this. Need a rescreen soon.
― circa1916, Thursday, 26 September 2013 13:36 (ten years ago) link
Watched some "Making of" extra and he talked about how difficult it was to talk slow enough for Dreyer, iirc.
― I Am the Cosimo Code (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 September 2013 13:41 (ten years ago) link
yeah i'd like to watch it again in ideal viewing circumstances.
― ryan, Thursday, 26 September 2013 13:44 (ten years ago) link
i regret that my prime cinephile days were 2000-2002 before most of this stuff was on DVD.
― ryan, Thursday, 26 September 2013 13:45 (ten years ago) link
feeling that
― I Am the Cosimo Code (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 26 September 2013 13:51 (ten years ago) link
Well, to be honest the biggest difference is something else. The ability to read about this weird indonesian director, check up on him on the internets, and a couple hours later watch one of his films on my HDTV. That is insane.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:05 (ten years ago) link
yeah i feel like i was on the tail end of the era of certain films being elusive or even apocryphal.
― ryan, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:07 (ten years ago) link
think that out of all the films ever made, there's still a relatively small proportion of them available to view, and there are plenty of movies, some of them quite urgent and key, that have never had a home viewing issue of any kind. but obv there's more than enough to be getting on with right now
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:13 (ten years ago) link
are those windows intentionally kubrickian
My friend calls late Kubrick style "glare."
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:17 (ten years ago) link
haha. i love my blu ray but i yearn to see EWS on film again. thought it was one of the most beautiful movies ever when i first saw it.
― ryan, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:21 (ten years ago) link
Baffled by that. I thought EWS was unbearably ugly, all those cold primary colors clashing with each other.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:23 (ten years ago) link
I'm with ryan.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:26 (ten years ago) link
i may be alone in that sentiment! (xp: or not!) i do like primary colors. (loved this about JLG late 60s films too). EWS is certainly "garish" in its color scheme but it just seems so information-dense to me. love how the colors seems to insist on some kind of symbolism that remains elusive. anyway, im a sucker for kubrick's hermetic late style.
― ryan, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:26 (ten years ago) link
I like JLG-colors as well, but they are considerably lighter and warmer than in EWS. I think of the red billiard table under the green lamp, and it's just ugly to me.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llcoh95nzM1qisxvio1_1280.jpg?.jpg
Ugh
― Frederik B, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:36 (ten years ago) link
that scene is so fucking great.
― ryan, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:38 (ten years ago) link
Three Colors: Kubrick
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:40 (ten years ago) link
Kubrick didn't live long enough to see EWS released in cinemas and - in the UK at least - he was, unsurprisingly, pretty exacting about the way his movies were projected. I saw EWS the day it opened in UK cinemas and was massively disappointed by the quality of the print - the colours were very washed out, the image quite grainy. The DVD/Blu-ray corrects this to some extent, but I do think that if Kubrick had lived a little longer the film would've looked better on the big screen.
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:50 (ten years ago) link
the graininess and washed out colors are part of what make the intensity of the color scheme work, imo.
― ryan, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:51 (ten years ago) link
i am one of the disgusting animals that voted for f for fake fyi
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 September 2013 15:16 (ten years ago) link
meh, horrorfans I give a pass to, what can ya do
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 26 September 2013 15:21 (ten years ago) link
Reductum ad Morbsurdum
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 26 September 2013 15:25 (ten years ago) link
haha to both of you
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 September 2013 15:29 (ten years ago) link
same principle when one finds one's copy edited by someone who writes a long thoughtful review of the new Cher album
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 26 September 2013 15:35 (ten years ago) link
Was almost going to poll this before realizing I already had.
― Dirty Epic H. (Eric H.), Friday, 19 June 2020 14:28 (three years ago) link
it still bugs me that f for fake won despite not being welles's actual last film!
(even tho i like it)
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 19 June 2020 14:59 (three years ago) link
Love Streams also not technically Cassavetes' final film.
― Dirty Epic H. (Eric H.), Friday, 19 June 2020 15:22 (three years ago) link
How did Imitation of Life not run away with this?!
― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.), Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:46 (three years ago) link
I was wondering that too.
― Dan Worsley, Sunday, 6 June 2021 22:15 (three years ago) link
I think that was because the top three vote-getters are all better films than it.
Tbf it’s been a while since I’ve seen Imitation of Life, so maybe it’s time for a rewatch.
― Josefa, Sunday, 6 June 2021 23:00 (three years ago) link
Of the eighteen I've seen, I'd have voted for The Sacrifice. My notes indicate that I saw The Ascent in the theatre, and I have absolutely no memory of it. Weakest is probably Lola Montes, a big fancy cake that spins and spins in front of the camera.I have a pet theory that if Tarkovsky had lived to make another film, it might well have been terrible. He was keeping such a careful balance of mysticism and absurdity, and I can't imagine him pushing forward from this film without that equilibrium collapsing. But who knows whether it would have been made back in the USSR or in the West, and how that might have affected the production and the reception of it.Most notable final film that's not on the list is The Turin Horse, which I regard less as a movie than a preview of dying.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 7 June 2021 03:47 (three years ago) link
That Tarr is still alive just underlines that.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 7 June 2021 03:51 (three years ago) link