Nicolas Roeg

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I saw The Man Who Fell To Earth last night. I was a touch disappointed - it was certainly very good but not in the same league as the other Roeg films I've seen - Don't Look Now, Performance and Walkabout. Those three are really astounding movies. I didn't think the alien planet scenes worked, they just looked hokey and Doctor Who-like. He should have done what Kubrick did with 2001 and not show any aliens. Bowie can't act, but in this movie he didn't have to so it was fine (similar story with Jagger in Performance): his general weirdness and astonishing looks were all that was required. What a shame Bowie didn't do the soundtrack as originally intended.

Roeg seems to have not done much of interest in the past 20 years - I wonder why. Anyway what else apart from Performance, Walkabout, Don't Look Now and The Man Who... is worth seeing?

― fred shed, Thursday, 16 September 2004 09:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Ultimately what would have improved The Man Who Fell To Earth is if it were a little more ambiguous - no alien planet scenes, no Bowie appearing as a generic-looking alien at all, leaving the spectator not quite sure whether Bowie really was an alien. The whole "our planet is dying" malarkey should have been more left unsaid.

― fred shed, Thursday, 16 September 2004 10:02 (twenty-one years ago)

the reason he hasn't done much lately is that 'eureka' (1982) was a floperoo, and a costly one.

― HKM, Thursday, 16 September 2004 10:06 (twenty-one years ago)

The Witches!

― caitlin (caitlin), Thursday, 16 September 2004 10:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Bad Timing, with Art Garfunkel and Theresa Russell is great.

― nickn (nickn), Thursday, 16 September 2004 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Jenny. Agutter.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 16 September 2004 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Donald. Cammel.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 16 September 2004 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

hahahaha!

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 16 September 2004 21:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Adina

David. Gulpilil.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Thursday, 16 September 2004 21:43 (twenty-one years ago)

poor cammell, that is still sad sad so sad :(

― jones (actual), Thursday, 16 September 2004 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Wildside!

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 16 September 2004 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

it's good but not killing yourself is better

― jones (actual), Thursday, 16 September 2004 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

true. is it good though? its insane.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 16 September 2004 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

well it is silly and judging by the existing footage it's VERY difficult to accept the claim that if DC had done his own cut it would have been a lot better, nevermind a 'lost masterpiece', but it's fun. the "peachy!" pistol-whipping scene is great.

― jones (actual), Thursday, 16 September 2004 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

but just the idea of struggling with something you feel driven to make, after years of false starts and aborted projects and then winding up with Wild Side instead, i mean JESUS.

― jones (actual), Thursday, 16 September 2004 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

ha yes, i can't remember much about it but i rememeber laughing alot at a buggery scene?

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 16 September 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

(that's the one. ok so "good" is probably not the word i was looking for. i will say that the shade of green used in one of the sets is peerless in all of cinema tho)

how does one pronounce "Roeg" please?

― jones (actual), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

i want to know so that i can say "Roeg's The Witches is a top-to-bottom exercise in poor judgement!" out loud to my cat

― jones (actual), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

rogue?

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

i think roeg's last film credit was "the world of claudia schiffer" or soemthing

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

how depressing:

Sound of Claudia Schiffer, The (2000)
Samson and Delilah (1996) (TV)
Hotel Paradise (1995)
Full Body Massage (1995) (TV)
Two Deaths (1995)
Heart of Darkness (1994) (TV)
"Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, The" (1992) TV Series (episode "Paris, October 1916")
Cold Heaven (1991)
Witches, The (1990)
Sweet Bird of Youth (1989) (TV)
Track 29 (1988)
Aria (1987) (segment "Un ballo in maschera")
Castaway (1986)
Insignificance (1985)
Eureka (1984)
Bad Timing (1980)
Man Who Fell to Earth, The (1976)
Don't Look Now (1973)
Walkabout (1971)
Performance (1970)

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)

oh dear re. cammel:

Committed suicide after his movie Wild Side (1995) was recut against his wishes. This was Cammell's fourth feature film in 25 years.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:27 (twenty-one years ago)

roeg on the other hand seems perfectly content to keep churning out inexplicably awful crap so let's make fun of him instead

― jones (actual), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't know the actual dynamic of roeg's career but i think i've read that he has had a hard time getting financing for his own projects. so he takes other projects. everyone's got to make a living!!

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah i know i just didn't want this thread to stay sad! um Don't Look Now is one of my favorite movies!!

― jones (actual), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:59 (twenty-one years ago)

'don't look now' gets better and better each time I watch it.

― cºzen (Cozen), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

that's kinda weird, did you ask the video store about that?

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

my shrink's on it.

― cºzen (Cozen), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"Walkabout" is a pervert's dream. Jennie Augger in school girl clothes. And naked!

― shookout (shookout), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

six months pass...

I have just seen 'don't look now' for the first time and i really, really loved it. it was very satisfying to see inward characters with rich interior lives (well, donald sutherland anyway). and that sex scene between him and julie christie is amazing (i read an essay by jonathon lethem on nerve about that scene recently, that's why i saw this film). at the end of the day, i guess i have to feel okay about the ending, but i was, oddly, not that bothered that i found the ending disappointing because i liked the rest of it so much.

a question i have is: why does my dad say that this is the only movie that has ever frightened him? is it because he's catholic?

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

and am i alone in noting a lot of similarities between late-period bunuel (ok, non-politicized) and roeg?

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Track 29 is interesting. It's not a very good film, but it's kind of interesting, if you're a Dennis Potter fan.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

don't look now.

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 21:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Roeg's career looks a bit more impressive if you include some of his beautiful cinematography work. Check out Farenheit 451, Masque of the Red Death and Casino Royale.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

it's funny to think of someone just seeing this for the first time, it seems to always be on UK TV.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd like to read that Lethem essay but you have to pay to access it.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't Look Now aside he's done nothing that's moved me.

― NamC, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:21 (twenty-one years ago)

i'll post it here, jed.. no, scratch that, i'll start a new thread because it's worthy of discussion and a good jumping off point.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm surprised that "NamC" hasn't commented on SEXY YOUNG JENNY AGUTTER in Walkabout...

― stupid fuckign carpet thing (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:38 (twenty-one years ago)

cheers firstworldman!

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I loved Walkabout. Not just because of Jenny Agutter either (sure, she was completely naked, but I don't think the film was very discerning about her parts if I remember right...they always appeared blurry or not in plain sight or underwater). The praise for Don't Look Now had inspired me to put it on my rental queue.

― Ian Riese-Moraine. To Hell with you and your gradual evolution! (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

parts!

― stupid fuckign carpet thing (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

the ending is the best part. SURPRISE!

(saw with a friend who waited about thirty seconds after it faded to black and then said 'ah. so that's how it ends.')

― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 23:42 (twenty-one years ago)

(he repeated the same line at the end of Zardoz)

― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 23:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Essentials (as dictated by the list I love to pimp)
Performance (1970)
Walkabout (1971)
Don't Look Now (1973)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Bad Timing (1980)
Eureka (1983)
Insignificance (1985)
Castaway (1987)
Track 29 (1988)
The Witches (1990)
Cold Heaven (1991)
Two Deaths (1995)

I've only seen Walkabout, Don't Look Now, and The Witches, but I can wholeheartedly recommend all three. So, jeah.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

god i forgot about "Insgnificance" that's a riot. G.S. see "performance right now, k, thanks.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 14 April 2005 00:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, it's in my ScreenSelect queue with (I shit you not) 970 other films.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Thursday, 14 April 2005 00:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Concur with reference to his cinematography; "Fahrenheit 451" looks rather splendid, "Masque of the Red Death" even more so, and it's a better film - one of the key Vincent Price texts, and Corman does Poe-meets-Bergman.

― Tom May (Tom May), Thursday, 14 April 2005 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I think of Masque of the Red Death, Farenheit 451 and Don't Look Now as Roeg's "Red" trilogy. There is just something about the use of red in those three pictures that is quite strange and affecting.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 69 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Rather you than me. Dennis Potter had lost it by this point and Gary Oldman has never had it.

― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Tuesday, 27 March 2018 09:05 (eight years ago)

two weeks pass...

looks like Track 29 is on FilmStruck. anyone seen it? is there anything past Insignificance worth checking out?

― flappy bird, Wednesday, 11 April 2018 20:00 (eight years ago)

I remember little about it beyond a lot of overt eccentricity but an interesting piece I came across at the time (when I watching all of his films in a row) argued how T29 was postmodern whereas Roeg’s normal mode is modernist.

― Nerdstrom Poindexter, Wednesday, 11 April 2018 21:12 (eight years ago)

The bit with the sisters laughing when they're on their own in Don't Look Now has haunted me like very few movie images. I still don't know why they're laughing. Not sure i want to.

Saw a restored Blu of Bad Timing recently, never seen the film before.. wow that last 15 minutes or so is one nasty trick to play on your audience.

― piscesx, Wednesday, 11 April 2018 21:41 (eight years ago)

Where is Bad Timing out on blu? That’s one of my favorite movies

― flappy bird, Thursday, 12 April 2018 00:47 (eight years ago)

I've seen Track 29 but I too can remember almost nothing about it, which is probably not a good sign

― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 12 April 2018 01:53 (eight years ago)

seven months pass...

Twitter suggesting he's passed on, hell of a streak in the 70s and early 80s.

― Dan Worsley, Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:05 (seven years ago)

rip big man :(

― sign up for my waterless urinals webinar (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:09 (seven years ago)

family just confirmed, via bbc :(

― mark s, Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:16 (seven years ago)

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:18 (seven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9w41F_f9cs

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:19 (seven years ago)

Rest Well and thank you.

― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:19 (seven years ago)

Jim O’Rourke having some feelings today. Performance is so great.

― Position Position, Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:54 (seven years ago)

RIP, just the other week I bought a 2nd hand copy of the NOVELISATION of bad timing, a thing that exists

― Pierrot with a thousand farces (wins), Saturday, 24 November 2018 14:54 (seven years ago)

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFxfn3LakeM

― . (Michael B), Saturday, 24 November 2018 15:03 (seven years ago)

You made some insanely beautiful stuff, man. RIP.

― emil.y, Saturday, 24 November 2018 15:15 (seven years ago)

If real life was a Nicolas Roeg film, the next scene would begin with Nicolas Roeg waking up - then cut to a car passing by a phone box - then cut to the sun setting - then cut to Nicolas Roeg waking up again but with the sound of a car crash.

― Ashley Pomeroy, Saturday, 24 November 2018 15:41 (seven years ago)

and an intense crash zoom in there somewhere

― . (Michael B), Saturday, 24 November 2018 15:51 (seven years ago)

An accommodating and mischievous interviewee. RIP, you utterly lovely man.

― suzy, Saturday, 24 November 2018 16:18 (seven years ago)

fuck!

― flappy bird, Saturday, 24 November 2018 17:41 (seven years ago)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dsz7OwBXoAA9AAy.jpg

― flappy bird, Sunday, 25 November 2018 01:36 (seven years ago)

RIP, just the other week I bought a 2nd hand copy of the NOVELISATION of bad timing, a thing that exists

― Pierrot with a thousand farces (wins)

wtf where

― flappy bird, Sunday, 25 November 2018 05:18 (seven years ago)

what is it called?

― flappy bird, Sunday, 25 November 2018 05:19 (seven years ago)

― Ashley Pomeroy

lmfao and also otm

― flappy bird, Sunday, 25 November 2018 05:19 (seven years ago)

@flappy (hopefully this works):

https://i.imgur.com/GydIJi8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Ofmls9e.jpg

― Pierrot with a thousand farces (wins), Sunday, 25 November 2018 14:47 (seven years ago)

time for me to revisit some of these. I still constantly confuse him with Ken Russell.

― akm, Sunday, 25 November 2018 16:18 (seven years ago)

here's how to unconfuse them: if the film is any good it's by nic roeg

― mark s, Sunday, 25 November 2018 16:33 (seven years ago)

accurate

xxp thanks wins im gonna look for a copy later. If it’s based on the script it must be pretty different from the movie, since it was never conceived or shot as a non linear story if you can believe it

― flappy bird, Sunday, 25 November 2018 16:47 (seven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DehV5v-WBxM

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 25 November 2018 17:13 (seven years ago)

lol and wow @ that Bad Timing paperback!

― xyzzzz__, Monday, 26 November 2018 08:49 (seven years ago)

he photographed two rather different Dick Lester films: Petulia and Funny Thing/Forum

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 26 November 2018 18:58 (seven years ago)

Didn’t know/had forgotten about him working on Fahrenheit 451

― Gottseidank, es ist Blecch Freitag (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 26 November 2018 19:14 (seven years ago)

watched bad timing for the first time last night. that is certainly a thing that exists

― single bed mentality (||||||||), Monday, 26 November 2018 19:54 (seven years ago)

Go on

― flappy bird, Monday, 26 November 2018 20:33 (seven years ago)

a T Russell perf for the ages

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 26 November 2018 21:33 (seven years ago)

Current wrapup

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6062-nicolas-roeg-the-reinventor

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 05:23 (seven years ago)

They got Thompson on the job for the obit at S&S (nobody else was getting that gig) and its an almost exotic history of post-war Brit film.

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 27 November 2018 22:39 (seven years ago)

Thanks

― Gottseidank, es ist Blecch Freitag (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 27 November 2018 23:08 (seven years ago)

Like many directors, he filled in time making commercials (including those tea-drinking chimps),

WHAT?

― Alba, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 07:19 (seven years ago)

This PG Tips titbit is massive news to me.

― Alba, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 07:19 (seven years ago)

The S&S Roeg obit is by David Thompson with a p, not to be confused with David Thomson without a p, author of the Biographical Dictionary of Cinema.

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 07:25 (seven years ago)

Thanks Ward, I saw the 'p' and thought that wasn't how I recalled it but I was too lazy to google.

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 07:58 (seven years ago)

The no-p one is not a fan of roeg iirc

― Pierrot with a thousand farces (wins), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 08:01 (seven years ago)

What is wrong with him?

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 08:06 (seven years ago)

I think Thomson thinks he Roeg was a cinematographer, not a director:

https://i.imgur.com/jEiGuU8.png

― Alba, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 09:00 (seven years ago)

thomson on the chimp ad is brutal

― mark s, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 10:24 (seven years ago)

Whatever bubbles bubbles up

― Gottseidank, es ist Blecch Freitag (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 11:11 (seven years ago)

two months pass...

as I long suspected, Insignificance isn't very good.

bcz of his history w/ the real Marilyn, Tony Curtis is extra creepy in his scenes with T Russell.

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 7 February 2019 02:35 (seven years ago)

as I long suspected, Insignificance isn't very good.

bcz of his history w/ the real Marilyn, Tony Curtis is extra creepy in his scenes with T Russell.

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 7 February 2019 02:35 (seven years ago)

Insignificance blows. Theresa Russell's Marilyn is terrible. Don't know why it's not lumped in with the rest of his spotty & weightless 80s work - I prefer Track 29. Eureka is the end of his imperial phase even if it is too long. But the drop-off from Bad Timing to Insignificance to Track 29 is staggering.

― flappy bird, Thursday, 7 February 2019 06:25 (seven years ago)

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