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

It still seems contemporary 32 years later.

Herzog’s is a tragedy

I'm a Herzog fan, but I think what I disliked about his Nosferatu is that the unhappy ending felt arbitrary; not in a "senseless whims of an uncaring universe" way, but a twist into nihilism that I didn't feel the earlier part of the film had earned.

The film shows his slow deterioration such that the ending to me is an inevitability, and Adjani's character, thanks to her performance, is just ripe for suffering.

Now, I don't think these elements make tragedy.

What do they make … a milkshake?

Eric, dear, will you check about the hors d'oeuvres? The caterer forgot them, the varnish wasn't dry or something.

you two

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

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

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

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

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

Leaves From Satan's Book

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

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.

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

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

Seconded

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.

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

Er, thirded. I hate phones.

Varda stands charged with third-degree weighing the scales.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yes, that one is a real nail-biter.

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

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.

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

> 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.

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

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

As for me, my rediscovery was Exotica.

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

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.

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

I need to see that still

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

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

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

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.

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

oh yeah, strickland has totally seen the shout

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

Yep.

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."

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

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.

I tend to confuse those Kurosawas.

The Old Dark House

I love the pre-code stuff

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

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

The James Whale specialty.