what was the last 'classic film' you watched and were knocked out by?

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you two

Dan S, Thursday, 13 October 2022 02:23 (two years ago) link

if I remember right, at least a few early Dreyer films show images of creepy pages from a book

Dan S, Thursday, 13 October 2022 02:27 (two years ago) link

for example The Parson's Widow, Leaves From Satan's Book

Dan S, Thursday, 13 October 2022 02:54 (two years ago) link

rewatching the Human Condition Trilogy and the 3rd one is the best I think.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 13 October 2022 15:24 (two years ago) link

(^ this is one of the things in the arrow sale, £15 for the ~9hr trilogy)

koogs, Thursday, 13 October 2022 15:26 (two years ago) link

Panique was marvelous. The almost-lynching was as harrowing as what it's shown in The Ox-Bow Incident.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 13 October 2022 15:28 (two years ago) link

Leaves From Satan's Book

showing the titular leaves from satan's book i'm guessing

ꙮ (map), Thursday, 13 October 2022 15:29 (two years ago) link

Been saving Varda's Vagabond for a rainy evening such as this one, and it hit me like a blow to the gut. "Freedom and dirt", as Varda puts it in a 'making of' documentary about the film.

Ward Fowler, Monday, 24 October 2022 20:48 (one year ago) link

i've been meaning to dig into varda for literally years after loving the gleaner and i. feel like this week is the time.

ꙮ (map), Monday, 24 October 2022 20:50 (one year ago) link

Check out LE BONHEUR (“Happiness”), one of Varda's most subtle films.. it's a harsh toke but really beautiful to look at

Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 24 October 2022 20:59 (one year ago) link

Seconded

Eric H., Monday, 24 October 2022 21:00 (one year ago) link

Not wanting to give away the ending, I thought that the behaviour of the kid at the end of that movie was entirely off; Varda was completely weighing the scales to make her point.

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 24 October 2022 21:04 (one year ago) link

Third-degree. My theory: Assayas films like [Summer Hours/i], with their lightness and buoyancy about serious matters, and this one are connected.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 October 2022 21:10 (one year ago) link

Er, thirded. I hate phones.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 October 2022 21:10 (one year ago) link

Varda stands charged with third-degree weighing the scales.

Eric H., Monday, 24 October 2022 21:20 (one year ago) link

I really like the profound 1970sness of One Sings, The Other Doesn't and Jacquot De Nantes is a rare example of a biopic I enjoy.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 09:49 (one year ago) link

Is it a "classic film"? Probably the exact opposite of that in most people's minds, but DRACULA A.D. 1972 (which I watched on HBO Max last night) is a lot of fun. It's a perfect time capsule — not of actual yoof kulcha circa 1972, but of a somewhat conservative, censorious film industry's view of same, and it also takes on the Dracula story in an interesting way, in that for a third of its running time (it's only 95 minutes) it's a police procedural, trying to solve these weird sex-cult murders while a guy hangs around telling the lead detective "It's a vampire, I'm telling you!" and the detective says, "Great, but try convincing my boss of that." Plus, you get to see Peter Cushing running around a grimy-looking London while low-budget blaxploitation funk blares on the soundtrack. The actor playing Dracula's servant is particularly good, too — he really seems like the kind of creep who would hang around preying on fog-brained hippies. Can recommend.

but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 12:39 (one year ago) link

otm yeah that one pays off. yeah its always funny to me how many horror movies from that era are really just straight police procedurals, but its just that the criminal is a werewolf/vampire/alien/whatever.

this is a secondhand 'classic film you were knocked out by' but went with my wife to see Nosferatu the other night (Murnau not Herzog), she'd never seen and had no idea what to expect, she was chuckling at the beginning but was legit terrified by the end, was really delightful seeing someone go into it cold and completely fall under its spell.

nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 13:35 (one year ago) link

I watched Kurosawa's "High and Low" a couple of nights ago and it was astonishing. It's remarkable how many police procedurals took from this but none of them are quite as good. Also the first whole hour takes place in the businessman's room and it still manages to be riveting.

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 14:54 (one year ago) link

Yes, that one is a real nail-biter.

2-4-6-8 Motor Away (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 14:59 (one year ago) link

its always funny to me how many horror movies from that era are really just straight police procedurals, but its just that the criminal is a werewolf/vampire/alien/whatever.

ha, we just watched Wolfen and this is the exact plot

sleeve, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 15:18 (one year ago) link

I watched Wolfen last October, I think. It was pretty good, though the "wolf-o-vision" shots were pretty bad. Full frontal Edward James Olmos, too, if that's your thing.

but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 15:50 (one year ago) link

I love Dracula AD 1972 - has anyone sampled Johnny Alucard shouting “Dig the music, kids!” during the black mass?

JoeStork, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:01 (one year ago) link

> I watched Kurosawa's "High and Low" a couple of nights ago and it was astonishing. It's remarkable how many police procedurals took from this but none of them are quite as good.

it's an ed mcbain story, one of his 84th precinct books.

koogs, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:10 (one year ago) link

87th Precint... "King's Ransom"

koogs, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:13 (one year ago) link

It's been long enough (25 years?) since watching H&L to give it a second look. Thanks!

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:13 (one year ago) link

As for me, my rediscovery was Exotica.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:15 (one year ago) link

Also a big Dracula AD 1972 fan (the 73 follow-up, Satanic Rites of Dracula, isn't anywhere near as good) - one of the first Hammer films I ever saw on late night British telly, along with the equally fine Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, made the same year. Totally agree act the effectiveness of Christopher Neame's performance as the acolyte: the summoning in the church is perhaps the best scene in the film, and it's another REEL TO REEL horror, along with Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape, also AD 1972.

And I really like Alligator Man by Stoneground!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18RKwISa6JM

Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:40 (one year ago) link

Wolfen rocks.

Just watched The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane for the first time, which TCM aired as part of its October programming. Not really a horror movie, though; more of a piece with something like The Beguiled (either version, though I’m partial to Siegel’s) or Smooth Talk. Lovely autumnal vibes, with an extraordinary Jodie Foster, an adorable Scott Jacoby, and a creepy-as-hell Martin Sheen. And while I include this more as an observation than an endorsement, the film is rather startlingly frank and even blasé about adolescent sexuality in ways that would not play well today.

Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:48 (one year ago) link

As for me, my rediscovery was Exotica.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, October 25, 2022 9:15 AM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the best movie ever made

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:53 (one year ago) link

I need to see that still

David Lean's Summertime was marvellous. And a while back I finally saw Daisies and it completely ruled

rob, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:54 (one year ago) link

Haven't seen Exotica since it came out. Reminding finding it confusing at first and then really liking it.

2-4-6-8 Motor Away (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:56 (one year ago) link

i just saw the shout (1978) and idk if it's a classic but it should be

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 16:57 (one year ago) link

Haven't seen Exotica since it came out. Reminding finding it confusing at first and then really liking it.

― 2-4-6-8 Motor Away (James Redd and the Blecchs

Then and now the ending doesn't quite work, but, geez, the rhythm of the thing, the laying out of these chess pieces on the board, the poignancy of life in that strip club -- these things stayed with me and got reinforced now.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 17:00 (one year ago) link

xp
I've never heard of that, but the description sounds great--maybe an influence on Peter Strickland?

rob, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 17:00 (one year ago) link

oh yeah, strickland has totally seen the shout

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 17:06 (one year ago) link

Exotica is all about evoking a place and a feeling, which is what most of my favourite films are about.

link.exposing.politically (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 17:14 (one year ago) link

Yep.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 17:15 (one year ago) link

I saw The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane in the theater when I was 8 and it was probably the heaviest, most adult film I'd seen to that point. It raised some questions.

Dr Morbius called it "icky."

Josefa, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 17:18 (one year ago) link

it is pretty icky, especially having 13-year-old jodie foster be nude in a sexual setting (though body-doubled by her older sister)

na (NA), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 17:23 (one year ago) link

Exotica is all about evoking a place and a feeling

I feel this in Egoyan's intimate, small-scale movies like Next of Kin and Calendar, but most of his well-known movies feel too mannered to be evocative. He's like the jigsaw puzzle maker who's more concerned with how the pieces fit together than the picture itself.

High and Low is my favourite Kurosawa, and mentally I always connect it with The Bad Sleep Well as contemporary thrillers, but there's a crushing inevitability to the latter that maybe makes it less exciting.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 26 October 2022 16:38 (one year ago) link

I tend to confuse those Kurosawas.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 October 2022 16:41 (one year ago) link

The Old Dark House

I love the pre-code stuff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Dark_House_(1932_film)

| (Latham Green), Wednesday, 26 October 2022 16:44 (one year ago) link

Old Dark House is great, kind of a comedy but also truly grotesque.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 27 October 2022 09:43 (one year ago) link

The James Whale specialty.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 27 October 2022 09:58 (one year ago) link

When Saul is released from the room - at first he seems so harmless but quickly becomes one of the more strangely terrifying characters in film history

| (Latham Green), Thursday, 27 October 2022 19:49 (one year ago) link


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