(Reposts welcome)

Rapsodia satanica (1917) Marvelous Italian hand-painted silent about an aging countess who makes a deal with the devil to regain her youth. I wasn't completely clear that one condition of her newfound youth -- aside from losing her soul -- was that she could never fall in love. Her eternal life must be one of loneliness, so is it even worth it? The film frequently operates on a poetic level. It's notably a mechanism for lead actress Lyda Borelli to take on a series of expressive moods while surrounded by immaculate fashion and decor. Borelli's theatricality is as effective as any silent actress I've seen, and her performance is a major prototype for what became the film diva. I want to continue exploring Italian silents, as I've overlooked them to this point. I'll be watching Cabiria next.

Last night I saw 2015's Latin Lover, its a comfy italian comedy, I liked that they spoke french and spanish It felt like a very good early 2000's tragicomedy and I really liked the "protagonist". Kind of pandering at times Also I saw Giant with Elizabeth Taylor and the best part about it was James Dean, I guess I just didnt get it. Its almost too long but it looks beautiful, its a good film to watch when youre going thru a flu on the edge of death but youre surrounded by comfy pillows and soup

>>689 >good film to watch when youre going thru a flu on the edge of death You got the 'rona dude?

I watched Whisper of The Heart. It wasn't what I expected, given it's a Ghibli film with a flying cat on the poster, and I've previously seen The Cat Returns, which I'm aware was a spin off from this. Very /comfy/ film, lots of beautiful background work and while the story wasn't the most exciting, it was still nice. Also a few nice little covers of Country Roads, which were cute.

The Exterminating Angel (1962) It's a black and white spanish film about snobs having a party. It was more bizarre than expected, but i don't think it was the intention, despite supernatural involvement.

>>701 Did you like it? I wasn't expecting the story to go that way either, but I was very impressed with the film. I think I watched the wrong Buñuel films at first. I knew his surrealist stuff was interesting but none of his later films excited me until I saw The Exterminating Angel.

>>701 >spanish Mexican to be fair, production staff was Catalan. It's a surrealistic adventure of the masonic jewish elite, as with many Buñuel films of that era there's a theory it was a story made in part to make a joke around people the director knew, same with Archivaldo de la Cruz. The guests are strict adherents of strange rules and social customs, and cannot do anything at all without passing through the appropriate ritual procedures, which is basically how the whole movie moves. A good film although a bit obtuse, grinds some gears a bit too much.

>>702 I haven't seen any other Buñuel's films. Despite this something was allowing me to have somewhat high expectations from it and I wasn't disappointed one bit.

>Reposts welcome Might as well, will repost these long-winded comments to scare the anti-essay league. Going back to the Yugoslavian mainstream scene, here's 1982's Tesna Koža or Tight Spot, directed by Mića Milošević, shot by the moody Aleksandar Petković and starring Nikola Simić as "junior clerk" regular guy Pantić, this one is the usual situational comedy about a somewhat idealistic salaryman close to the boiling point working his last years in a dilapidated state-owned office, gradually going mad due to the post-Tito financial meltdown landscape tormenting the country around those years, along with his family (and the state-appointed freeloading tenant). The movie looks on all angles as the typical crass comedy exploiting singular themes, but once again i'm surprised at the firm hold the Belgrade Theater/Dramatic Arts faculty had around the mainstream movies of this era, while they lacked some of the visual flair and ruthlessness the Black Wave had, this balances out with the quality acting and scene construction; In this project i expected vulgar stuff with a madman and got a well-layered humble pie that boils down to a couple of scenes showcasing the effects of massive devaluation and a head of organization isolated from any supervisor and free from doing any supervising (the most dangerous game) Pantić is going gradually mad at the problems and his family members, all representing some point of neutral to smart sanity, nag the hell out of this poor salaryman for their everyday problems, but the appeal of the plot here is the development of how the Clerk was born in that world, molded by it, yet unmoving in his stance in trying to be decent as possible despite his near-mental breakdown demeanor. The antagonists here, a personal one in the form of the office's almost-illiterate corrupt leader, and a family one in the form of the perfectionist japanophile english teacher of the youngest son serve as ideological counterpoints, both having their own small arcs showcasing passive and active power systems with the latter having an interesting, benevolent conclusion. 80 minutes pass to see how the man's family (and characters) degrade into an angry mob repeating the same verses, proving his only sanity compass broken. As in many cases around those years, the movie is made more around the concept of teletheater instead of a conventional movie (as in dynamic camera movement with moderate editing) the cinematography's only point of mention is the, by now distinctive for me, use of cheap film and obscured, cold omnipresent environments i mentioned earlier in a Balkan Spy post (goes very meta in its critique isn't it). Majority of scenes seem to be made for theater: well-made with a defined opening, development, twist/climax, false ending and ending, they certainly don't waste a lot of film nor run time and most actors have a spot to perform well no matter how little time they get. Pretty sturdy for a comedy movie, this puppy turned to be quite successful and spawned 3 sequels, which seems outstanding considering the only thing i saw with more than 2 in that country were crass sex comedies or are they really? /k/ giving crash courses on the country's history also shines a light in the actual depth of the scripts here, in particular my previous view Balkan Spy, which i should need to take back my comment on its plot's simplicity: That one actually is chuck full of detail about the inner ideological justification of the country's existence and the hangover between its main parties: Royalists vs. Communists. This film era is all about the acting and somewhat acid situations, with Tight Spot being another one of its pretty decent trademark products. Although i have to mention it's not as dense as it sounds, even features the usual musical acts normal in movies made for the masses, but works with incisive actions good enough to strike the point correctly. A worthwhile place to invest a little time into, even for the kick of it before things get a little more intense a few years later in their decade-long war.

After a mainstream comedy it's time for a rough gem, but this one just ruffles you up a bit too much. Enter the world of misery with Amakusa Shirō Tokisada or The Rebel in its western nickname, directed by Nagisa Ôshima, shot by Shintarô Kawasaki and starring Hashizô Ôkawa as the titular Shirō Tokisada, the Samurai of God not of the missionaries living and comforting his christian brethren about the completely miserable serfdom under the anti-christian Tokugawa Shogunate. The film, considered under the Chanbara genre, moves more around the pure era drama than arm chopping ventures and while that might seem obvious due to the peaceful nature of our man here, things get really awry in the development of the peasants' mood as the laws, taxes and special treatment by the Shogun's men start to ramp up. The miserable conditions aggravate further for the protag as he is forced to take immediate action due to the people not hearing his patience pleads and secret plans to siege the region's castle to stop the lord's antics and the farmers mess time and time and time again, further fueled by men breaking and talking under massive torture schemes by the honorable samurai in the castle and ronin trying to get a piece of the action; One of the most only satisfactory moments, narratively speaking, is when Shorou finally calls out the men for harshly acting before time only to be ditched out by the serfs in fearful realization of their impending doom In terms of style and cinematography the movie starts as a calm piece with very strong use of shadows in backlit scenarios and slow shifting ensemble shots, but sooner or later goes into man on man exchanges, big textured battles in the night and reaches a climax with Ôshima, by now in his 7th film in 3 years, picking a very interesting dynamic of focusing subjects in empty, void backgrounds (either black for night or white for an overblown overcast day) sharing ideas or extreme feelings directly to the camera. A little pet peeve for me was the extended periods of the movie in which we can hear a dramatic, subdued but constant score of strings reminding us of the dread, but i felt this effect went on and on, endlessly and rarely changing tone, that ended giving us a monotonous suffering feel that might've been the point, especially with such an extremely cutthroat text at the end of the piece that just spices the poignantry or secret predicament rejoice of our hero's actions, which honestly could already be felt and heard since the events started to unravel an hour before. Nagisa was sort of a transgressor due to the topics picked and the unapologetic portrayal of those, in this case the squashing of the Christians in Japan by the Samurai class, at this point venerated in cinema, and the believers' internal in-fighting regarding the interpretation of God's word and his actions (sort of a schism between clearcut catholic subjugation, last-stand orthodox self-defense and missionaries shooting cannonballs at christians from a Lord's castle) although i will defend old Nag any day due to him actually managing to make entertainment out of it, even if sometimes a little campy. A decent era piece from a seasoned master, who slowed down after this release to do even more kink-incisive topics, although i think perhaps a viewing should be considered only for the subject's uniqueness in the genre and/or to review the director's work.

Ride the High Country with this western film, folks! The first "true" movie by the drunken master Sam Peckinpah, shot in 1962 mostly on location around Inyo Forest and Bronson Canyon by the great Lucien Ballard and starring in their last film Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott as the protagonists, two hard-boiled ex-lawmen who meet again by chance in a small town where the former is tasked to transport raw gold back from a mine uphill to make an honest living. Things don't go so well as usual, in this case by the sub-plot of the side-characters interpreted by Ron Starr and the good-looking Mariette Hartley, nothing like old-timey standards of beauty but a bit mannish at times due to nord genes. Also Warren Oates appearing as himself. Considered a "revisionist" western by critics (a term just as bad as spaguetti western) due to Peckinpah's notion of portraying things raw like they should, it actually is a bridge point as the movie plays with the usual situations that always go around in the old west such as bar fights, squashing modernization of the west by the fed, bandit gangs, family feuds and good old drunkness, but Pah makes the central point of the project the relationship between both long-time ex-lawmen gunfighter friends who reflect on past events, kids these days, their lives and somewhat a glimpse of their moral points of view regarding living and work, with the main drama coming from the opposing views life has instilled in them over the years not to mention the crooked one is about to cross his righteous friend with the help of some dude. About that, the sub-plot is some cocky recruited dude that is introduced as tough, but it's just some horny fellow who wants to live grand, in the journey our escort team find Hartley's character, a decent but very naive christian girl from a ranch that runs away to marry the only other guy she knows in the mine uphill where our team heads; Drama ensues when our horny guy picks the wrong moves, gets scolded for almost ruining the plan to steal dem gold bags and boils down when said fiance fella turns out to be a real sleazo from a questionable family of tanner/miner/brewer brothers. The movie begins very standard, not bad at all and even reminds me a hell of a lot like a The Westerner episode (which is good) but surprisingly bends a little towards the middle with the complete degeneracy of the mine town and moral ambiguities of the cast, who have a tasteful and not really forced character development, especially in the form of our young fellow who discovers self-respect and decency when he sees our maiden get almost corrupted. Pah was a good detail-polisher and "even" at this point we can see that the use of certain sound queues, character quirks, american west photography archetypes being shown in glorious C I N E M A S C O P E and weaponry give texture to the movie (mexican semi-auto rifle in a gold mine is exotic but historically correct) although the gun battles are not really action-packed, if anything a bit bland there is no blood, i know we are talking about Sam here they work well as narrative/moral watersheds and somewhat of a terror aspect, hence Sam being considered a "genre innovator" (a couple of years before the italians that's for sure). A good little piece of conservative film media with an ending memorable enough to retire both protagonists actors. If you like Pah, Ride this Pony™.

Here we have 1991's El Patrullero aka The Highway Patrolman, directed by the crazed and surprisingly settled down Alex Cox from Repo Man, Sid & Nancy and Walker fame, film shot on location in the north/northwestern region by Miguel Garzón (Rojo Amanecer, fucking Llamenme Mike) starring the scarred manlet Roberto Sosa as the titular, Bruno Bichir (they are 3 brothers from capital city, this is the manlet one) Zaide Gutiérrez as a northern rich girl and Pedro Armendariz Jr. on a small supporting role. The movie goes about a freshly graduated and idealistic federal highway patrolman being assigned to "a hell spot", an usual normal town in the northern region, and the subsequent path to dehumanizing himself (more so) and face the bribe life. He works as an honest guy but the idiosyncratic nature of the community (who despise cops, foreigners and civil servants overall) makes his work hard, coupled with the national sickness of government risk jobs being the lower paid ones and highly nepotistic attitudes from above our boy here succumbs to the pressure, but as the narrative goes on we are clearly told bad stuff happens to bad people. In the end our director jumps in the realm of surrealism like in Walker and things end up working for the lawman. The project starts with a quick rundown of our characters, Officer Rojas and Officer Anibal, 2 southern fellas who display all the archetypical flaws of a person from down there (southern-centric zealotry, extreme suspiciousness/douchebaggery towards americans/europeans, backhanded behavior, religious yet insidious) but usually these are bitterly displayed in cinema as good things, seen as intelligent and patriotic displays although here they are just used as characterization. But out of nowhere our protag marries the rich girl in the small town after she goes directly to his pants, then starts working as a sincere do-gooder, which builds up the atmosphere into a simple power wet dream from someone not from around the area in question, this might've spooked tons of viewers (perhaps also reason why it has a poor reputation locally and why i downloaded it), but half an hour in things start getting interesting: Both cops are seen as overly corrupt, the romance ended up being a one-sided convenience marriage to pay for her ranch's tools via bribe/contraband money, man also cheats all the time, also gets in the thin line with weed smugglers. These actions make the "man" recapacitate his actions which leads to the (even more) fantasy-realm second part of the movie, which jumps into the detective/moral trip genre along with the surrealist world of Alex Cox A fed, i mean a federal officer, starts doing his job as a cop due to grief, becomes clean, avenges his partner by catching bad guys and lives a happy marriage ever after while supporting his trusted ex-prostitute lady friend. Also implicitly turns into a drug runner in the very end?

A very Hollywoodesque/Chilango turn of events, at the start it was supposed to be like that until you get into the real thing but sadly it degrades again into the foreign wet dream to please someone, not the public that's for sure because Cox is a well known maverick. Originally this was going to be an american movie but Alex got blacklisted for being a socialist but also the kind of the ones who whine about the top 1% and also name names, hence why the patrolman attire, weaponry and range of activities in the movie is actually american-fashioned, to avoid vexing the local government the production even invented the patrolman company image and academy but also some ironic billboards which come as anti-tax. The project in its 3 phases never loses sign of the decadence and vices of the police corporation and their ill-interactions with the environment so it should be commended for degeneracy consistency. It's a decent but quite off film about just that, a Highway Patrolman, at least the clean cinematography perfectly portrays the harsh light and strong reflections in the arid region which isn't seen much in the medium (exposure value has to be tuned down a step or 2 due to direct light all over the place, which gives place to well-lit environments but shiny reflections and overly strong shadows) also the protagonist did a great job; i do have a dislike on the subtitles when i was peeking at them, all trace of ethnic slurs towards the cops and mentions of drug cartels (mentioned as contrabandists instead) were cleaned giving a much more tame atmosphere for a non-speako-spanish viewer, along with most drug runners being portrayed as american (which is as ridiculous as the rich ranch girl marrying a southern civil servant) still Alex Cox and the peruvian scriptwriter gave a lot of texture with local jokes like the antagonist's truck having Sinaloa plates (along with the directors' audio commentaries about how cops hated the thing and ticketed/asked the staff for bribes in the middle of filming also much of the casting being commies due Cox watching mexican commie movies) but these details quickly fade with the very poor work on accents by most of the main cast that were/should've been assigned one (Armendariz and Zaide are the only ones who pull it out). Can't blame an englishman and a peruvian for this as the casting crew were an insidious capital city philosophy student and another peruvian... you know what i think i can. 3 oil sweaty tacos with cold lettuce and homemade sauce out of 5 because the camera work, the setting and the main protagonist with 2 small supporting roles are quite up to goodness, but the lack of the other 2 tacos, namely the bizarre script phases and character consistency, bogged this down by quite a lot but perhaps not so much for a non-local. I'm on the edge that i don't think those 3 aspects are worth revisiting this movie although i'm very curious about the movie being produced solely by the japanese... now that's a better story, if anything the audio commentary from Cox is very appealing: The mystical scene in the movie where strong winds happened in a highway and the dust clouds made the trees and the sun behind some characters seem psychedelic while they were performing one of the surreal exchanges was mentioned by the director as a "complete accident" as it happened out of nowhere and without any planning at all, making it one of the favorite scenes in some of the cast members' careers, certainly a high-point in the movie already technically well-made by the cameramen. Sidenote: While the comments need to be focused on the movie with some general info of the director, a common trend that needs to be pointed out in Mexico's cinema is the mostly communist/socialist-friendly cast members (activists) and a rampant amount of them from the capital city after the 60's; i have my theories for the former (highly divided investment groups/producing houses) but nothing concrete, yet these leak into many portrayals and script changes with a couple of times coming in deep contrast with the subject and/or local culture at hand. I use this to gauge the fling-o-meter at the end, although many can be just pointed to bad/insufficient acting; I am too critical about it so i also apologize for it.

Don't get scared, the thread is only about a small passing comment, i just wind up and make a mess sometimes. Don't know why i stopped making these, i had fun but i keep watching too many trashy movies. Let's see if i resume one of these days and make something out of seeing only action stuff, already made some webms so it shouldn't be hard piercing some texts together.

>>715 Thanks for the review of The Highway Patrolman, I like these kinds of genre films. Definitely will going to watch it

>>715 When I was younger I absolutely loved Once Upon a TIme in Mexico by Rodriguez, that is, until I saw the original El Mariachi, which in my opinion is much better when you consider every aspect of the film and the making. Now that you have seen Highway P. and are familiar with Mexican action, what did you think of Mariachi? If you've already seen it of course

We the Living was an unauthorized adaptation of Ayn Rand's first novel, produced in fascist Italy. Although Rand's book was ostensibly anti-Soviet, scenes in the film attacking collectivism crossed the line with the fascist authorities. They banned the film soon after its release and sought to destroy all copies. The film was lost for decades until Rand's representatives located a surviving negative. Scenes were edited to remove lines that contradicted Rand's free-market viewpoint and the film was re-released with the author's (post-humus) approval in 1986. Despite the tumultuous history of We the Living, with many different forces making an impact, the film we have today is actually quite good. Alida Valli is the determined female anti-communist aspiring to build gleaming steel bridges, instantly recognizable as a character based on Rand herself. Alida falls in love with Fosco Giachetti, a young man from the aristocracy who has struggled to survive under the new Bolshevik system that scorns his kind. The third and strongest character is played by Rossano Brazzi, a Soviet secret police officer whose moral compass gradually leads him to question his political philosophy and his occupation. The climax of the film is central to the film's political troubles. One character gives an impassioned denunciation of collectivism, stressing that collectivism goes against man's natural urge to look out for himself. While I'm sympathetic to this viewpoint, I only oppose forced collectivism. Voluntary collectivism (e.g. family, community, religious & civic groups) is wonderful and essential to survival. Rand's apparent preference to go-it-alone seems an unnecessary overreaction.

>>688 Rapsodia satanica is really good, one of the films you wholeheartedly enjoy. >>701 I still wish my dear Luis went full pro-unemplyoment. >>737 >(post-humus) approval haha Anyway, I watched all blu-ray films with de funes, all pre-1989 pierre richard ones and some with other known figures of french comedy. Of those I watched, I liked Le Jouet the most. I'm tired due to weather, so I'll say just that it's good piece about slavery. It's directed by Veber who also made one of the few good modern comedies, namely Le placard and Richard/Depardieu trilogy. It's maybe too dumb but enjoyable nevertheless. If anybody knows some light-hearted comedies, recommend me some. Later on I'll maybe share my thoughts on Feu Mathias Pascal featuring lovable and incredibly charming Mosjoukin.

The only movie that ever made me smile for how sweet and innocent it is. Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy go on a mission to save their new friend from a horny pirate interspliced with some live action scenes from their owner Marcella who received the doll as a birthday present. There were too many musical numbers, plot was uneventful, and the titular stars don't advance their characters much making it a pretty boring movie but on the bright side the voice actors for both are excellent and by 70s standard the animation is good and better than anything digital that's ever come out.

Symphonie pour un massacre (Jacques Deray, 1963) I know Deray from La piscine and The Outside Man, but this film surpasses both of those due to Jose Giovanni's clever screenplay. Giovanni had an interesting personal history -- he went from criminal to convict to successful screenwriter of many of France's best crime films. In this film he also has a small acting role. The story is an engaging slow burn at first. You observe a character who moves with intention, but it takes a while for you to understand what you are witnessing. Thankfully I didn't read the imdb synopsis which spoils much of the plot. I like black and white views of city storefronts in films from this time period. Everything is bright and clean and new and modern. I recognized Billy Kearns from Plein soleil where he also plays a token American who murders the French language.

>>740 >Jose Giovanni I think someone touched his story and some of his works in the old/second board, he's an entertainment guarantee, even his personal story in which the military aspect of it is the most interesting.

>>737 >Rand's apparent preference to go-it-alone This statement has bothered me since I wrote it. I admit I'm no expert on Ayn Rand but I made a basic error. While she promoted individualism and selfishness, it does not follow that she necessarily preferred to "go-it-alone". Furthermore, it's incorrect to imply she opposed all forms collectivism. My understanding is that she favored collectivism as a means to advance self-interest. For example, a friendship can be beneficial to you. However, I still see a difference between Rand's views and the sort of voluntary collectivism (like a community group) that seeks to advance the "greater good".

Just saw Hampow93: My Brother, Which I Care For https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK9XfgDse4E It's a documentary about a pair of twins who live in South Carolina and film emergency vehicles. I went into it ready to laugh at losers but it was sort of beautiful. Like a dark real life Beavis and Butthead.

>>743 Thats an Adrew Ruse prod. right? I think there's also a Goth King Cobra documentary. I havent seen neither but I regularly watch KingCobras livestreams because his worldview is so weird and fun. He makes costum wands and says the green tea Monster is the best one. And Hampow uploads every week, dunno why im still subbed cause I never watch his vids lol

>>731 Hey there, excuse me for the long time for a reply but was out for a while. >Now that you are familiar with Mexican action, what did you think of Mariachi? Not gonna lie to you, i saw it a long time ago on TV and i don't recall being fond of it nor my uncle and cousin, subsequently when i was discussing with local film circles (actually just some dudes from the region who came for a forum and we drank and discussed how to get government money) there was a lot of animosity for it. That's a big can of worms you opened there, to this day its effects are still swinging in the local filmmaking, although in subtle touches. Speaking very strictly about the product itself i think it was a giant anomaly. Man i wrote a long winded post forgetting the first part of this line so cutting to the chase El Mariachi showcased a director with complete foreign influence in terms of style, borrowing from Hong Kong Blood Operas and italian westerns (not common nationally) and a new perspective with almost every actor being an outsider (due to being amateurs or local talent) it ticked all the boxes for freshness. Personally i liked the cinematography a lot (i'm a big sucker for wide unorthodox angles, my repeated line in all the boards i visit) but the script and characters are overly silly/non-common, it's another southern mexican power fantasy. At this point you can guess it's a common thing in well-known (aka nationally distributed) movies because that's how they get to know themselves for a wider audience aka the distributors with the connections to the USA. The movie portrays 3 main characters, the southern (foreigner) who gets everything right, the stoic northerner who comically missteps all the time and the white villain (the "foreigner") all of which are the usual archetypes that got upgraded to new levels in this movie, the villain even created a long-running joke that has many victims like Red Dead Redemption. The civilians did appear prominently which was rare in northern films (the motel guy, the henchmen) so honestly it broke ground in terms of context development, but ultimately its main narrative was the same old same soup. All in all it was a nice "accident" that left too many negative stigmas to appreciate its real value at the time, good cinematography and a risky business proposal (non-cinema-sponsored project) and to be fair, other than the real protagonist and all his side of the story, it was a movie good for the region. Now if we want to talk about the consequences of its context like how it was made, the sequels its produced and the archetypes it practically founded here (moco sickness, the legend of the budget, protag being disappeared, director being a renegade out of reject/fear) which are frankly more famous than the movie itself round these parts, then that's another bigger story. Spoilers none of them were any good, Rodriguez and his works are virtually blacklisted even in taco stands By now you might imagine northern mexico hates every single national movie out there, that's part of the big story, but the truth is the popular cult movies around here are not the usual man against men stories of tiny individuals and their meteoric rise to the top, squash people and be the boss which are popular with southern and american individuals, no, the stories people seemingly cherish here are man/dynasty against adversity stories, dudes who are in control of their lives but are against nature, tough environments or internal family/clan clashes. The Blood In Blood Outs, the Chato's Lands, the Death Wish, the Hierro Brothers, the Black Winds, those are the ones people ask for.

>>740 >>741 Giovanni/Damiani is tops, as a script writer or sometimes as a director. I don't remember how many times i've seen Le Deuxieme Souffle, somewhat retelling some of his experiences in the anti-resistance gang. For a rough corsican who volunteered for the german side in WWII and killed usurer jews in Paris i found puzzling how he, in his double identity, mingled with JP Melville who was a staunch resistance member (also a jew, hence his hack attitudes at times) and hired the jewish starlet Marlene Jobert for one of his movies. I don't blame the man, that girl was just so stupidly hot.

>>744 It's trappped, not sure if he's Ruse but yeah the same one as the Gothic King Cobra doc. KC is hilarious.

Sladké hry minulého léta AKA Sweet Games of Last Summer (Juraj Herz, 1970) Immediately following his horror classic Spalovac mrtvol, Herz took a drastically different stylistic direction with this lighthearted summer romp produced for Slovak television. The hourlong film is based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant about a group of friends, Mouchette and her five orbiters, who spend the summer gleefully boating down the Danube and lounging around an artist's shack. The film takes visual inspiration from impressionist painters, with picnics and parasols that channel Monet and Renoir. The editing tends to be impressionistic as well, arranging images and colors that create a carefree mood rather than advance a story. But as the characters' joyous temperament transcends every pitfall they encounter, you start to wonder if there's something very wrong with them.

A surprisingly underseen horror from occupied France. Perhaps one reason it's overlooked is the bland English title "Carnival of Sinners" dubiously replaced the superior literal translation "The Hand of the Devil". The story follows a failed painter who purchases a talisman -- a left hand in a box. The talisman changes the painter's fortune, immediately granting him personal and professional success. But it's a Faustian arrangement that gradually pulls him down, and he might fight to break free. Maurice Tourneur's style of horror is very similar to that of his son Jacques: regular 1940s people encounter dark supernatural forces that send their lives into disarray. These films are like paranormal noirs, shot in black and white with expressive lighting and hard shadows. As with Clouzot's Le corbeau, La main du diable is a Nazi-funded French production with a subtext of resistance. Here the film's malevolent force is a short, unassuming old man -- an easy stand-in for a Vichy bureaucrat managing the occupation.

Peter Hutton's At Sea (2007) chronicles the birth, life and death of an enormous container ship. The film has no sound, a bold choice by the director, and the camera rarely moves. Under these circumstances the primary artistic consideration is toward carefully framed and composed image aesthetics. I don't know Hutton's motivation, but my assumption is that he wanted to create "moving photographs" in the purest sense. Contrast Hutton to James Benning, a director who uses a similar visual form. Since Benning's frames have sound, they're easier to place in the real world. Hutton's silent frames are naturally more enigmatic. I have a favorite shot from each of the three sections of At Sea. First, the colorful streamers floating in the wind in front of the finished ship at its christening. Second the bright white moonlight reflecting off of the inky black ocean as the ship hauls freight. These images are a payoff of the sequences preceding them. The last shot that sticks in my head is a man repeatedly swinging a sledge hammer into the base of the giant hull, as the rusty ship is beached and being salvaged by hand. The shot is memorable not because of aesthetics, but because the man's effort seems utterly futile.

I watched Downey's Pound. It's not very good, but there are some interesting camera maneuvers and a few scenes with funny dialogue. It only vaguely stimulated my interest in the rest of his filmography.

>>845 I remember the Pound soundtrack was rare and desired but I forgot who directed the movie. Is there anything better to watch than a TV rip? For whatever reason Criterion declined to include it in their Downey box set.

>>848 Not sure of who holds the rights. I do know that through at least the 80s or 90s Downey didn't even have a copy of the film itself. The film was never released in any official format. It doesn't surprise me that people wanted to find the ost and I had no idea it was released.

Backfire (Vincent Sherman, 1950) A decent second-tier noir with Edmond O'Brien. Characters jaunt around Los Angeles to sleuth a mysterious disappearance and its ensuing trail of murders. Like D.O.A., the well-known O'Brien noir released the same year, Backfire has a backdrop of WWII vets struggling to find their place in a society that has progressed without them. With limited job options, these men feel a tug toward the seedy side of life in order to make ends meet. The flashback-heavy plot takes us through dilapidated hotels, dark bungalows, smoky arenas and swanky nightclubs. Warner Bros Swedish import Viveca Lindfors gets top billing in the opening credits despite limited screen time. Lindfors has a strong, exotic face with riveting eyes. She's prettier than Swedish icon Ingrid Bergman, and Warner brought Lindfors stateside hoping she'd become the Next Big Thing. While she's a standout in this film, Warner nonetheless declined to renew her contract. She was relegated to relative obscurity in B-movies and TV roles for the remainder of her career. Another interesting castmember is Leonard Strong, who droops his eyelids and adopts a rather silly accent to play a Chinese butler. Strong was a Utah Mormon of Welsh heritage often cast as Asian bit characters. Although imdb claims he's an "Eurasian-American actor", he had no Asian blood. So his caricatured portrayals could be seen as mildly offensive yellowface.

>>863 Here's a more exciting review from the noir thread on 8kun. I wish my writing could approach this level of quality, but I don't have the proper mindset for it. At this point it takes a lot to thrill me. I think certain writers/influencers gain a following because they can convincingly communicate their outsized enthusiasm for a film.

Over the last week I watched If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, and Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe. Both were good documentaries. If a Tree Falls definitely worked better as an objective documentary. The film proposed questions rather than definitive statements. I learned that ELF was based and didn't have their chance to attain full fruition because they partnered with a piece of shit heroin addict. Vaxxed has more of an agenda and takes the offensive . However, it's logically sound and the evidence is well presented. Are you ready to live in a world where half of the fucking population is autistic?

>>864 It's amazing how people can write such an in-depth well-written review for a movie. Lots of film review sites that show up on the top pages of google or most of the "top reviewers" on letterboxd can't do that. I can't either, probably because I'm just a superficial movie watcher.

Text (2019) Dir. Klim Shipenko Protagonist takes over a dead man's phone and tries living his life, or rather, fixing what he has left. The relationships between characters can be a bit melodramatic and trite, but how the protagonist deals with such situations is more of the focus. The psychological drama is handled quite well and subtle. We see him wandering through the depressing land, making an effort to redeem himself and find a way to escape from this miserable life, only to realize he'd be forever stuck in it. The film also describes how a complexly broken system can ruin one's life and how the human conscience stands against such circumstances. Great cinematography and editing which intensify the atmosphere and psychological aspects.

Queen of Spades (Pavel Lungin, 2016) A tale of obsession, love and addiction, this film can be seen as the opera equivalent of Black Swan, but with less tight script. The plot is rather soapy at times and the characters are painted as caricatures, but with good direction they evolves into a stylized picture as a whole. This film is more style over substance I think. I still enjoy the great opera music, beautiful set pieces and the surrealist plunge into destruction of the protagonist.

This was the most modern french thing i've ever seen, quite a trip and worth a watch.

>>1112 u wot m8

>>766 trappped is a guy named Joel who edited some mde videos. Crime is not a genre that I usually seek out movies within. But surprisingly, Vice Squad from 1982 not only turned out to be highly enjoyable, but also a quick reminder of how well shot and tightly edited thrillers and crime films used to be. This film probably has the most women beatings I've ever seen imprinted onto celluloid. I read that Scorsese adamantly defended the film and met a lot of resistance in his attempts to get it nominated at the Academy Awards. The dialogue ranges from pre-code pulp to sadistic and sharp. It's also a nice little time capsule for degenerate hollywood and has some great night time shots reminiscent of the best of Thief, which came out just a year before. While Mann's film was manneristic and slow, Vice Squad is fast and sleazy.

>>1132 We have corporate shills now or what

>>1139 I thought he was talking about the Bakshi animated films >Both are old but interesting movies

>>1139 heh, felt that way to me too, lad. >>1143 welp, there's old and then there's old.

>>1143 He was talking about Hobbit too. The whole post sounds like a VPN ad to me, lol

A satire that perfectly balances humor and pathos, Tot samyy Myunkhgauzen (1979) serves as an epilogue to the well-known adventures of Baron Munchausen. After his return home, the baron's extravagant stories and lifestyle begin to annoy some of the local townsfolk. Ultimately he's challenged by the authorities to renounce the tales which form the essence of his identity. This creates a very interesting dynamic where the Baron is forced to defend himself against a sort of show trial. At what point does a man conform to society, especially when he holds completely eccentric beliefs? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWB4k-YXJUM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw0VrqbKe7U

>>713 Interesting, I didn't know about the Walker controversy or his effective blacklisting from Hollywood. I've seen some of Alex Cox's later projects and thought it was strange that he'd make stuff like an Emmanuelle documentary (which wasn't very good) but I suppose his options were limited.

>>1221 Thanks for this post Anon. Downloaded and watching it now. BTW, do you know where I can find subtitles for it?

>>1230 There are subs on the youtube videos or at http://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/imdbid-80037/sublanguageid-eng/moviename-tot%20samyy%20myunkhgauzen

>>1234 Thanks! Something else to add to my bucket list to learn about. :^)

Mario Monicelli's La grande guerra (The Great War) stars Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi as a couple of slacker Italians recruits fighting the Austrian army in the muddy trenches of WWI. Although this film is a consensus classic with impressive battles scenes and a uniquely inspiring ending, I was never fully engaged with La grande guerra. The story is episodic without a strong through-line, so it's not always clear if events are fleeting diversions or the building blocks of something important. I suppose the different episodes are a way to explore the characters, nonetheless I think some of the filler should have been cut. The film was rather long and sometimes felt rudderless.

When a woman ascends the stairs (1960) Complex and bleak film about a bar hostess who really shouldn't be a bar hostess. Basically she starts out the movie with possibilities, hesitates over them then discovers they are a poison chalice or fraudulent, she desperately tries something as she runs out of time and ends the movie with no possibilities. I think maybe the director thought the bar hostess scene was awful. Other than that you get some of the best use of location based story-telling I've seen in a long time, great acting and a well worked theme about appearances. I thought about it for a week after watching it so there's definitely some substance here. Love Exposure (2008) I've meant to watch this one for years but the runtime put me off. It was great. You get the novel pacing/editing/character/plot decisions and high concept playful genius that the best of Japanese media seems to have. I mean you have a cult called the church of zero, their logo is a 0 with a crucifix over it and their interaction with the main character is to try to prevent him from getting an erection when presented with a view of his love interests panty clad crotch. Similarly if you ever heard someone pretentiously explain that a camera is voyeuristic you'll probably get a kick out of half the movie being about voyeuristic panty shots, including a guy telling people that their eyes are like cameras, cameras to take panty shots with. Anyway, I just wanted to say the 4hours is not that bad and I probably should've watched it years ago.

Roar This is the second time I have seen this movie, I may have posted about it here before, and it is still not something I can watch or analyze rationally. If that sounds strange, I'll tell you a little about the production and you'll get the idea. Roar was made by delusional hollywood liberals. It may, in fact, be the ultimate delusional liberal movie. So delusional that the director, a wealthy executive producer whose latest success was The Exorcist of all films, believed mankind could live in harmony with lions and sought to prove this by filming a family-friendly comedy using SEVENTY ONE UNTRAINED LIONS, MANY OF THEM MALE, and HIS OWN FAMILY AS ACTORS. This went about as well as you'd expect: production lasted over eleven years, over a hundred people were injured (many of them on-screen), the lions were on edge from having too many males in one place and being surrounded by other untrained big cats, the film bombed, and Tippi Hedren divorced the director afterwards. Watching Roar is like watching them haul the steamship uphill in Fitzcarraldo, except that scene is the entire movie and the cast is constantly taking real injuries. Even though you know it doesn't happen, there's still a real, overpowering sense that the ropes could snap at any moment, that the lion biting Tippi Hedren's head (which scratched her skull and sent her to the hospital for several weeks) could bite just a little harder and kill her. Roar awakens a sort of primal terror and hyper-alertness in me. My filmfag brain shuts off and I watch the lions like a hawk, waiting for the slightest cue they'll attack or try something playful. They frequently break out in fights, drag in dead animals, or chew on the cast. The cast (except for the director) is in constant terror of them. Reportedly they often screamed in pain the moment a take ended. You see them injured seriously on screen, repeatedly, in scenes played off as heart-warming or funny. This is the scariest movie I have ever seen, the director and his character is an weirdly vindictive madman who steals, cheats, and literally throws his own family to the lions for his mad utopian dream, and it's trying to play itself off as a family comedy. Would I recommend this? Maybe. It's an experience, something you dig up on Youtube and share with friends who think you're exaggerating. It may be the best accidental horror film ever made and the cinematographer manages some nuts shots considering he's surrounded by lions and gets scalped by one.

Beau Travail recently topped a list of "greatest movie ending of all time" which compels me to say that neither the ending nor the preceding 90 minutes achieves greatness. The film is a glossy cologne advertisement brought to life, showing the Foreign Legion as a cadre of homoerotic beefcake models partaking in a feminized soap opera. Characters stare intently into space as if something important or ponderous will soon occur, but the predictable payoff was so overdue that I'd stopped caring. Sometimes I enjoy style over substance—and these Djibutian locations are spectacular—but this film's brooding, contemplative pace is out of balance with a lack of deeper significance. I'm curious if Claire Denis fans feel differently, or if anyone can recommend something better from her filmography (I heard this was her best).

I'll probably come off as a pleb, plz no bully. Ended up rewatching Trainspotting after watching it on a friend's house many years ago. I'm sure this movie was already debated to death but there's something that I quite like about this film and is the use of music. I'm not talking about the most entry level stuff like Brian Eno or Lou Reed but the electronic music that is used in some of the segments, makes me want to dig into it since I'm very into the prodigy but I wouldn't know where to start. I think 24 hour party people had a section about the "rave scene" I think was called by the end of the movie, but I wouldn't be too sure since it's been a while I've seen it. Would definitely like to know more about that underground scene since I'm not british and this isn't the 90s anymore.

>>1485 >the electronic music that is used in some of the segments, makes me want to dig into it since I'm very into the prodigy but I wouldn't know where to start. I think 24 hour party people had a section about the "rave scene" I think was called by the end of the movie, but I wouldn't be too sure since it's been a while I've seen it. Give the original UK cut of Human Traffic a watch. The film itself is alright but the important part for you will be the soundtrack, containing a lot of the iconic shit from that time. The US version dubbed out language that they thought US audiences might have a hard time with and cut about 15 minutes of footage, but most importantly for you they changed a good chunk of the music.

>>1485 England was the hotspot for much electronica in the 90's, most movies made by anyone under 40 had strong connotations of "the scene" played somewhere. >this isn't the 90s anymore. It should be, and at some point the nostalgia for it will kick in like most decades do after 30 years. The scene in the UK was massive, some of the most important ones were Garage (UK Garage to avoid confusion with US Garage Rock), Big Beat, Breakbeat and Ambient. I don't remember much of the music from the movie as i didn't like it that much but if you liked The Prodigy then Big Beat is your dish. Among them were also The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method and Fatboy Slim. They were also pioneers as they used quirky music videos to promote their otherwise abstract lyrics and lack of frontman, much of the golden era of the format was commissioned by those artists. Which reminds me that i need to step it up with that thread.

Three Colours: Blue This probably implies I'm a plebian, especially since I haven't already seen it, but I didn't like it. I downright hated a lot of the colour grading and the woman's lover. The only thing that kept me going was Juliette Binoche's performance.

>>1603 This is a terrible post and I can probably do better tomorrow, when I'm feeling less drained.

>>1603 >This probably implies I'm a plebian There was a time i thought the same and i never posted until i realized anons here are actually welcoming because it means discussing a common thing. But by the time i concluded that i stopped watching films to focus on other things heh. I recall only watching Red, it was okay, nice camera work in particular the dim-lit and sunset scenes but i don't remember liking the old man courting the elegant girl nor the lad who kept falling in despair watching his girl with another dude, which now that i think of it means i didn't like half of the movie. Clever montage have to say because the editing implies old man banged the girl like there was no tomorrow which was also not a good thing to remember.

Bian jing feng yun AKA Lethal Hostage (2012) Director: Er Cheng Quite surprised by this hidden gem. The English title/poster makes it come across as a C-level action movie but it really isn't, more of a crime drama that focuses on relationships between characters. It's beautifully shot, slow-paced, and not dialogue heavy, giving it an arthouse feel. Several interlinked stories are featured with some non-linear storytelling, accompanied with moody color schemes and great sound design that contributes greatly to the ambient. Very pleasant find.

Alien³ – I used to dislike the third Alien for a long time but after watching it on several occasions in recent years, it actually grew on me substantially. Talking specifically about the assembly cut, I think it’s actually a pretty solid film. This was an infamously troubled production and who knows how different the end result would have been if they were able to stay true to the original vision, for better or worse. But ultimately I’m fine with what we got. It’s funny to think there were times when this was considered a weak product when by today’s standards it’s an outright masterpiece. How the medium degraded… But anyway, it’s easy to see why the film is, even on conceptual level, disappointing – the first two Alien installments did seemingly everything there was to do with the premise, being sort of two sides of the same coin. You had a movie about a single alien, and then another one about multiple aliens, almost deconstructing the first one in a way. No matter what you do afterwards gonna feel derivative of either one. So they were really hard-pressed here and decided to go for the middle ground I guess, which is probably the best course of action all things considered but is undeniably lackluster since you’re not really getting anything new. The idea was to bring it back to its horror roots after Cameron turned in into an action-adventure rollercoaster with a relative happy end. With that in mind the decision to kill everyone off except for Ripley is perfectly understandable, though its execution does feel sloppy, especially if you marathon the films back-to-back. I believe there were better ways to implement the idea without it feeling like a deus ex copout. But like I said, eventually it grew on me. I did like the cast of prisoners that are the supporting cast. Even though they’re supposed to be these scary rapists and murderers, they actually come off quite likable, almost as a bunch of teenagers the way they are written. So it basically turns into Ripley and the co. fighting the alien Home Alone style. Which is kinda comfy. What I really liked about the film is its atmosphere of being stuck on some forsaken rock of rusting industrial complexes and dilapidated machinery. It’s very bleak and depressing in the best sort of way and is explored to the extent I haven’t seen in any other movie. It is an absolute joy to watch if you’re into those aesthetics. Of course all of that wouldn’t be worth much if it wasn’t filmed properly and thankfully the cinematography is absolutely excellent, with a lot of powerful wide shots and pleasing compositions. The art direction is also great; the film is roughly divided into two primary color schemes of metallic bluish gray and rust sepia, photographed with deep shadows that give everything that brooding weight. It conveys the atmosphere perfectly. Special effects on the other hand took a hard hit here and sadly do not hold up. Many people think they used CGI for the Xenomorph but that’s actually incorrect, they puppeteered a doll on the green screen and then superimposed it in. And yeah, it looks terrible, has a noticeable green outline and doesn’t blend in right in any shot. Other VFX range from okay to passable but thankfully this isn’t really an effects-driven project and everything that was shot in-camera looks good enough to compensate for that. The music is also really good and has a clear, powerful sound, though it’s largely reminiscent of the Aliens score. So it’s an interesting project, with all its production history and such. I honestly don’t think you can make a truly satisfying third Alien film that’s not gonna be a rehash or fanfiction-tier cringe, so I’m glad they instead leaned more heavily on the visual and atmospheric aspect, giving it a standout vibe.

>>1654 Know that William Gibson's original screenplay has an audiobook as well as a comic series made of it both of which are pretty wizard. But yeah, it's not great that this had not been realised as it was originally intended.

>>1662 Do you have a link to the comic?

>>1663 It's simply called Alien 3: The Unproduced Screenplay.

>>1662 >>1670 Read it. Didn't like it at all tbh. It's exactly the type of rehashed fanfiction crap that I didn't want to see. Boring meandering stuff with horrible dialog and zero style and atmosphere. Also way too many niggers, though that's probably not indicative of the original script. I now have even more respect for the actual film if this is what they were planning to do initially. I wonder myself what I would have done for the third Alien film if I had to do it. Perhaps set it in a completely different place unrelated to the first two films at all. And then have the new characters discover the craft with Ripley at the end of the film for tied continuity. Though that's basically postponing things rather than solving them since now you have the exact same dilemma of what to do with those characters in the cliffhanged "Alien 4".

>>1704 lol and i wanted to upload it to test run some graphic novel/screenplay thread, didn't because i got confused and downloaded the original early 90's comics instead of the newer Gibson ones. Alien 4/Resurrection always sparked my curiosity due to having an odd director helm it, a pre-Amelie Jean-Pierre Jeunet, always thought it was a risky move by everyone involved.

>>1706 I generally look fondly on Resurrection though I know that's an unpopular opinion since it's written by Joss Whedon who I can't stand myself. If Alien 3 is an actual film that's just rough around the edges, Resurrection is a full on schlock B-movie. Though it has its appeal due to some interesting imagery and general 90's vibe and aesthetics. It's pretty fun. And of course by the standards of today it's still a fairy decent action flick. In a way it was a good call to just turn in into over the top buffoonery when forced to make another Alien sequel, since by '97 the franchise felt dead and exhausted if only they knew.

It was shit.

Contrary to The Holy Mountain, I didn't fall asleep watching this one. Plotwise it's barebones and it feels that's just a tool for the setpieces. Good setpieces at that. That being said, the kid being naked wasn't necessary I'd actually want to watch something similar like this. There was a lot of stuff to like.

>>1910 >Plotwise it's barebones I thought the ending rounded it up nicely with the thematic of their blood line being cyclical, as the ending sequence practically leads to the beginning scene. But still it was pretty pretentious at times, with nods and references obscure enough for most publics. >wasn't necessary lol, it wasn't rare back then in rural towns to have butt nekid children prancing around but for a movie i agree it's a bit risky, thematically it kinda fits because he never had any clothes after wandering the desert and the only two costumes he knows of are a franciscan monk's and his own father's leather one. Taking into account the director and producer's background i would be very suspicious but it seems the kid Jodorowsky's own son so the usual thing to happen should've not happened... but who knows, they don't think like we humans do. >I'd actually want to watch something similar like this I remember discussing something similar and one anon recommending another film but i don't quite remember which one was, there's two names in my mind: 1970's Deadlock and 1969's Antonio das Mortes, the latter being the sequel of 1964's Black God, White Devil which goes about a gunslinger who hangs around and talks to a voodoo dude, kinda reminiscent of the scene were the Topo hangs around with The 4th Gunslinger. The director Rocha was a social character in Mexico around the same era Jodorowsky was (late 60's) so i don't doubt the chilean jew taking some tips from him or his work, can't say because i still haven't seen the films.

>>1914 >Black God, White Devil which goes about a gunslinger who hangs around and talks to a voodoo dude sounds right my alley

>>1910 I watched the first half hour of The Holy Mountain about 4 times before finally finishing it. I can't remember why I kept bailing out but maybe it's the same reason you fell asleep. if you want something similar to El topo, I recommend checking out Rafael Corkidi and Juan López Moctezuma. Both men worked on the film and exhibit a similar hallucinatory style in their own work. El topo is considered an acid western along with several other films, but I'm not sure the other acid westerns have much in common. It seems like most of those films are unconventional and unique in unrelated ways. (Although Dennis Hopper tried to channel Jodorowsky to salvage The Last Movie and it's still just a mess.)

>>1914 >Black God, White Devil I've just finished that movie, and it left me mixed feelings. On one hand, I think the first half is kind of genius. It depicts fairly well the kind of "christianity" that is held in LatAm, there's some good character development, and is interesting seeing the superstitious MC falling for the cult and burning bridges with his woman. Second half felt a bit like a waste of time. The character that becomes the focus of the movie isn't as intriguing as the movie pretends it is, it felt like there was a lot of time where nothing happened, and the bad acting really starts to show around these parts. Even then, the ending felt quite climactic. Antonio das Mortes was also a pretty good character, I liked how he was always introduced with folk music, his connections with Christianity, his mannerisms, and his appearance as well. There's plenty of scenes where his silhouette takes the spotlight and he has a distinctive look that I really like. Next to the leader of the cult he was my favourite character of the movie. I'll check out his movie later since, as I said before, this one left me a bit cold.

Fuck it, i am bored and despite having tons of movies left in the bag i haven't seen any in at least 2 years that is in the same level as you guys. I can start any day with that bag but because i have my brain fried i want to request someone here to name one film so i can comment on it in this thread, anything goes as long as i can find it. I requested the same to my irl peers to challenge my own vision but they are too hollywoodized and don't want to because i rec'd them many and they haven't watched any, so i came to the only other source i sympathize.

>>2067 Watch Andrei Rublev

>>2068 I did watch it some years ago but don't mind doing it again because it's a treat. Guess that's the first one, will make some webms and write it down.

>>2067 Sex Survey Results I am not joking

Lately I've become intrigued by Thomas Ligotti's short horror stories. Ligotti is popular in the dissident sphere -- in some ways he's a successor to Lovecraft -- but I only heard of him recently. Many of his stories are read by amateurs on youtube, making for handy podcast-length listening. Ligotti's writing creates such powerful visuals in my mind I was interested to see screen adaptions of his work. Unfortunately the film version of his story "The Frolic" was a big letdown -- even though Ligotti himself worked on the screenplay! The original story involves a prison psychologist at home in the evening, speaking to his wife about his meetings with a strange murderer. As the psychologist goes into deeper details about the murderer, the atmosphere in his home is one of escalating dread. The short film has less focus on atmosphere and more focus on acting, perhaps unavoidably so, but most people would see it as a downmarket Silence of the Lambs where main attraction is the wEEeeEird yet brilliant murderer. Instead of slowly building suspense, the film is peppered with cheap jump scares. Another great thing about the original story was its ambiguity, giving the reader a puzzle that demands attention to every small detail. The film throws this away by adding scenes that explain far too much. It's disappointing that this project turned out so poorly because the work deserves much better. Regardless, here are some Ligotti stories for your listening pleasure: The Bungalow House, The Town Manager - https://pseudopod.org/people/thomas-ligotti/ Gas Station Carnivals - https://youtube.com/watch?v=w-UY6DtZLDA The Frolic - https://youtube.com/watch?v=w11mfpEVSDw

>>2068 I've been in rocky situations for some months but how about this, when i finish reading a couple of books i've been meaning to about cinematography i will review it and then analyze its photography aspects using the tools i hope those pdf's give me. I haven't watched a single movie by my own will since your reply so don't think i skipped it >>2109 Jokes on you i watched it back in the day along with all the stuff they released quickly when they revived the channel, a tough watch because narratively speaking it does not move the plot or "joke" other than the very few odd responses like the recurring caller being specific or drunk calling. Hell, why not, i will do the same as i said up here except i now know there's not much in-between other than the clock and sky actually moving realistically, the ironical Tarkovskian warning ("are you still watching?") and said recurring caller.

1st post this month, lol.

Today i can say i like action films, i've been watching action films for the past 3 or 4 years, trashy action and the more violent the better but there has to be intention and elegance if possible hence my predilection to Hong Kong flicks although i've only explored thoroughly the 60's to the early 80's, just a bit before the established HK blood opera era but have delved into its defining early years (82-86). Skipping extremely important figures in the 80's and 90's (and a particular one in the 70's) has only made this journey thrilling because i know i am still in for a treat. Due to considering these joints low-class and really nothing much other than their excellent choreography/stuntmantship and particular focus on loyalty & brotherhood, two topics i particularly enjoy, i haven't really got much of a thought in writing about them in "last movie you've seen" threads of the past and this one thinking not to waste your time, in fact i could definitely say due to my safest bet in entertainment and "turn brain off" being such movies and depending them all the time in these my latest struggling years i have neglected 3 to 4 years of watching "good" films or at least ones that go beyond punches. Partly because of this "guilt", partly because i have seen a clear distinction in eras and styles of the all-eternal hand-to-hand fight scene (along with gun shooting antics or "gun fu") and greatly part for being amused and inspired by what HKanon did time ago in that Top 50 Fight scenes thread i've been thinking and cooking a thread about action in general, with my initial punch at it being the review and video samples of a couple famous action coordinators' basic and intermediate filmographies (in Asia these fellas being the de-facto main directors concerning fight scenes hence consistency among their works) this dump should include 20+ initial movies and also wanted to write a very basic summary regarding what i've seen in idiosyncrasy of themes, movements, styles and other minutia of what composes the chinese action genre. Due to trying to polish my sketching skills to illustrate such visual figures to you i've stalled it more than i would like to admit. Today, after saying i've watched 120+ such films ranging from early Shaw Brothers to late Golden Harvest (which is little considering how much shit they churned out) not to count the non-Hong Kong action stuff from America and Europe which might range in the 300+ altogether, i can safely say i've watched the most violent, gut-kicking movie of all by a not-so-shabby margin... at least in the opinion of this guy here writing this post who lives in a relatively contemporary but gangsterish society making friends along the way and going out to see for myself, add to it that plot-wise this dude concerns himself in loyalty & brotherhood, a consequence of valuing such things IRL along with maintaining my position against people trying to put someone down and conducting oneself with mental integrity/ideological consistency. I am not a tough guy but i can say i usually have my pants up, metaphorically speaking (sans one time i was caught mentally and physically very off but worked for it to not happen again no gay or NTR stuff happened let's not worry but i don't forget it) still having said this corny declaration i found myself forced to do so because this movie comes to me in a particular state of mind and knowledge plus personal experiences that make its action way too close to a nowadays person seeing it as a viewer, a voyeur, a witness to people geting punched or harmed with in movies and get their minds worked by feelings IRL. It will sound even more corny to say that this declaration of "the most" is made because the movie takes the psychological realm, "hurr durr words are the real violence" is such a tripe declaration especially when the genre at hand features fighters castrating opponents in mid-air with their bare hands or chopping people in half vertically like an anime, but when a movie very clearly kicks both the on-screen characters AND the viewer in different ways both at the same time while also having thematic and behavioral consistency, a rare thing in cheap films, then things escalate a notch to the point that after having seen the movie i feel with the obligation to write such post.

Such movie does not feature the best gun scenes, they look like plastic dollar store revolvers that shoot spark powder plus no technique or tactics yet the shock of pulling a gun on something is there; it also doesn't have the best hand-to-hand combat, far from it really considering the experts cast although it is nervous arm-flinging fighting in desperation, the same that makes seasoned trainers look like fear-stuck thugs; its plot is not even that good to begin with and "suffers" from the classic Shaw Brothers syndrome of its late years in trying to inject gear-grinding comedy into many scenes but at the end of the day the thing that strikes me the most is that characters, as poorly or greatly as they might be written, have in them action consequences and intentions that make this movie not feel like two ritualistic men personifying elegant animals in combat or two quasi-immortal hitmen flying with a gun in each hand, but a pair of seemingly-competent protag and villain committing several not-so-much mistakes but instinctive, idiosyncratically-coherent actions that doom their lives. All this context and now-long-winded post was simply to say that this picture despite having its shortcomings seems to have, for me, all its pieces work and work well, so well in fact that due to said production attempting to do several things at once and achieving them with both the characters suffering the physical & emotional consequences and the viewer the "i have no mouth and i must scream" sentiment of being a witness in a shitshow that this visual narrative effort i believe, no, i refuse to accept that this was an accident of circumstance or an entire sentimental product of my personal collective experiences being moved slightly. Said product might not be 9 or 8 in a 10 scale of action goodness, nor a 8 or 7 in a very specific sub-set of rules like H2H, set design or gun fighting, but this movie certainly is a 6 in many areas some of which i haven't seen being combined so effortlessly or that i knew could be tackled directly into a gangster movie although that may be because i checked it without expecting nearly as much consistency. This consistency, including the "shock" moments which are predictable but you still don't want to see them, is coupled with a crucial thing in the script (which i repeat don't think were made without thinking about them) said thing is the rational irrationality of its characters, being unnervingly pushed over or cornered like desperate animals, it sounds dumb but people are animals sometimes and i've seen such cases IRL, they are not often showcased on film because it makes seemingly smart characters dumb or merely said actions "are not realistic" for people in their positions. But it happens and it happens a lot, people are irrational, the dumb act on instinct and the clever are ritualistic, common sense is not that common. That's what makes this movie feel real without feeling like watching a real documentary, it's a dramatization of violent men who start acting way too real mid-way for someone who has seen stuff, it is dumb and doesn't make sense but in its explicit ways it does make sense when seeing the characters act in primordial instinct and out of fear/rage which in turns becomes vulgar displays of power: Irrational but with a shallow, implicit logic sense behind them that often were also unjust. This felt like real violence. To put it shortly in a lapidary, "quote this on the poster" way: This movie taken in parts is not that special, if anything it is toned down and not very developed for what it is in the blood opera genre to the point of smirking or chuckling, but as a whole it's the first time i've seen something that felt like watching Saw and cuckold porn at the same time in terms regarding the type of feeling, and boy it is not arousal. It is funny to think one of the kung fu genre's most emblematic villain actors wrote, starred and directed it. I might be overselling this by a mile but i repeat this is a rock i stumbled upon in my journey and own belief system, this was a defining point on what violence really looks like to me other than the villain not killing the children (absurdity!) or hate-raping the co-protagonist, as acid and unglorified it seems in its "small" but most important scenes. A rock for you might be another particular movie that grabs your balls in a way your gonads do not like or haven't encountered before. For me this made me reach a certain entertainment-wise peak, this case violence, that i think will not be surpassed in a short while... and for that i think this is an interesting gem to see for people deep into a genre who prouds its stock characters in moral and logical behavior high grounds, if you see this without a similar trip you might as well watch City On Fire again (or for the first time, good movie). Still, i might feel like this because it's only the fifth film i've watched in 5 or 6 months but also the fifth in the last 5 days.

>>2378 Did you mention the title somewhere in there?

>>2380 Sorry for the late reply >Did you mention the title no :^) but i left strong clues It will probably be underwhelming hence said reaction but i can make a visual map on how everyone gets fucked in the end in both physical and psychological ways if you want me to resume it and drive my point straight on, spoilers galore tho or i can simply tell you but part of me still thinks this movie simply went too hard on me as a old chivalry porn watcher, a normal viewer foreign to this i think wouldn't mind the movie that much hence the expectation part played an important role. It works in pairs/dual destinies which is a karma/asian thing to do. As i said this doesn't feel like an accident, it seems to be based on the usual karmic system old kung fu movies had but moves it to an urban environment and goes away with the normal chivalry/honor conventions that people were used to, hence the shock when trust is easily betrayed and violence becomes primal rage rather than ritualistic elegance. It plays somewhat in the same ballpark as earlier works' conventions and that's why i think its deconstructive nature in other conventions works so well, or at least for me. That's a "problem" i have with these kind of plot movies, it seems confusing how some works feel intuitively like complex narratives, as if it was an adapted work from a detailed source, but in reality they are very simple and made with quickshot scripts. Yet the feeling stays there as if someone planned every detail and it's executed in a somewhat shallow or quickfire way, as if it could be fleshed out way more but they opt to just not. The Kid with the Golden Arm has a similar feel to it, mindless action (and not really on par with other works from the same guys) but the characters' personalities and conceptual interaction and traits among them make it feel like it was adapted from a major work or had way too much planning and too little time to film it, and that is because the characters and their personalities as a whole make sense and complement its thematic story up to a t. Some heroes are not that different from some villains, their motivations are just different and what mostly takes them apart is benefit to society or to themselves, yet some egos are fed with certain acts without actually fully realizing their collateral damage. That, for example, is a not-shallow take on what seems a pretty straightforward morally black-and-white wuxia movie, but that message seems to be clearly there as all the interpretative pieces are presented despite never being acknowledged by the narrative itself.

>Vortex-Gaspar Noe, 2021 "For My Damaged Right Eye" but weaker. I was expecting the editing cuts to at least mean something like you expect the series of events to be consecutive but it's actually multiple events occurring as part of a schedule that all happen differently, but no, it's just split screen on analog 16mm(?) film because Gaspar thought it looked cool. At best I can say it depressed me because it reminded me I can't live for myself but have no one to live for. At worst, it was bland, Noe should stick to rape.

>>2587 I've seen all of his feature films up to Climax. I wasn't too interested in Vortex until I saw he cast Dario Argento. I didn't realize it was based on a gimmick...

>>2588 I mean if you're someone who enjoys basic arthouse slice of life family drama films Go watch The Stranger(1991) it's far better written and I had seen it before handhell the scene between the mom and grandma in Disney's capeshit show Ms Marvel is better written than this regardless of quality as it's not as well written or does anything of value with editing choices or cinematography which waters down what could be a artistic technique to just that a gimmick then you can give it a watch.

>>2589 Everything All At Once: Good introduction, didnt really feel it developed from a movie act 1. Details to come.

Just saw 12 Angry Men (1957) Its an excellent film, wouldn't bother to post about it if it wasn't, its mostly just talking, but it got really intense for me early on. Made me wonder, how far would i be willing/able to go against such pressure of majority before giving up on what i think is right and would i even try. It was time well spent, recommend.

>>2636 Geez you guys, it is none other than Louis C.K.! What are you doing visiting this humble board about actual films and motion pictures from around the world? We've never had a celebrity visit before (other than medieval film anon) especially not one from someone who has appeared in media we certainly haven't watched but it is good thing anyways. Also what do you mean posters are mad? what is your job here? all your reply text seems confusing but i know very well who's behind the post. Have a blessed day my man

not sure if you can call it a film, but its a series of 3 episodes around 40 mins each. i liked it to say the least! some elements were a bit too showy or dramatic even for an anime like when a massive skyscraper tilts like 35 degrees it was able to right itself with some gyroscopic control without anything breaking. i'll still say it felt like everything i wanted in an 80s/90s cyberpunk style anime and then some. loved the psychic elements to each episode, dug the action sequences, music was i guess pretty choice. didn't understand it and my translated subs version looked like it was missing the mark on lyrics idk. still highly recommend. check it out if you haven't. hopefully you'll wish it had more than 3 episodes like i do now.

>>2634 While Sidney Lumet was a genius when it came to film making, it's clear he knows jack shit when it comes to the legal system. Even more present in his other legal drama, The Verdict (which I would highly recommend watching next).

>>2648 With 12 Angry Men I fault the writer since it was originally a play. I might say a little more about it if I have time. But what was wrong with The Verdict? I haven't seen in in a while.

>>2649 >it was originally a play teleplay, my mistake

Watched original The Manchurian Candidate. Loved the visuals they weren't over the top and were dynamic enough. Surprised at how much depth the main character had. I feel the script is very focused and there is very little bloat. Overall I loved it, only issues I had was with Sinatras character and some of the decisions by the government pulled me out of the experience.

It was American Psycho but this was the 20th time I watched it.

Law Abiding Citizen I enjoyed the concept a lot more than the execution.

>>2696 I felt the same. Would of been much improved if it took a hard anti-establishment tone and made Gerard Butler the unquestioned hero, i.e. Death Wish.

Il mulino del Po AKA The Mill on the Po (1949) A bit of a hidden gem here -- underrated on imdb with Carlo Ponti producing a Fellini screenplay, photographed by Aldo Tonti. Factional disputes arise in a farming community along Italy's greatest river, pitting the local land baron against his peasant workers, labor organizers against individualist entrepreneurs, the king's tax collectors against a tax-dodging business, and two families of a prospective marriage. Most of these factions get a realistic rendering from Fellini, who avoids puerile advocacy for one side or another. Instead he creates characters who posses a mixture of noble intentions and moral failings, with a healthy sprinkling of provincial idiosyncrasies to keep the story entertaining. But as everything builds toward an exciting climax (and hopeful resolution to the community's many divides), the story takes a poorly-motivated divergence to an entirely new conflict, bringing the film to an unsatisfying end.

Saw The House That Jack Built (2018). It felt like jew propaganda aimed at intj types.

>>2742 It's not good, but I still think it's one of the better Lars Von Tryhard films.

La Haine Someone wanted to watch this with me (very out of character, in hindsight), and I figured I'd finally give La Haine a try. It was very well done, and I wish I could give a good writeup on it for you guys, but my experience watching it was overwhelmed by one thing: Fuck the french. I really enjoyed the acting, writing, and cinematography, and it had a lot of memorable moments; the problem is that it's french lowlifes, french police brutality, and ugly french architecture. I look at the movie as a whole and instead of thinking about characters or themes (which I can think of for fragmentary moments), I find myself asking: what the fuck is wrong with France? Why are they like this? It's as though they used to have something beautiful, then pissed all over it and themselves. I realise that the filmmaker likely intended this on some level, but he and his film are part of this as well: this disgusting Parisian, post-French Revolution rot on a nation that used to be beautiful and likely still is in places. This film feels as though it is turning me into an inverse ouiaboo. It gives me a desire to seek out and learn more about the French so I can learn how they disgust me so and what they had before they succame to this disease. Yuck.

>>2752 >this disgusting Parisian, post-French Revolution rot on a nation that used to be beautiful and likely still is in places. >This film feels as though it is turning me into an inverse ouiaboo. It gives me a desire to seek out and learn more about the French so I can learn how they disgust me so and what they had before they succame to this disease. I feel the same way about America and when it wrong, and because of film, memory, and anecdotal proximity we can contrast how much had changed in 10, 40, 100 years across psyche, race, emotions, logic, and architecture among its people whereas you're going to have to crack open some books and dig on the internet for say France. As for the French what the great Aryan chimpout of 1789 entailed for the rest of the country was the genocide minorities, by tongue or lives, and Paris' cementation as the nation's cultural hegemon. Every minority language in France is dead or languishing except Elsässisch and Basque (I think) which have significantly fallen in the number of speakers whereas the rest of the country has vague or superficial notions of a true local culture like yankee v. southerner in America. Many people I feel do not understand the scope, damage, and similarity to the Russian Revolution that the French Revolution's ramifications had on a cultural level, what liberalism and nationalism were when they were new and paving the way for other petty governmental ideologies, what was lost, the insanity of the new age religions that sprang up, and what it turned the people into. Were the French always so snooty and insufferable? Or is that just Parisians, as Paris still composes and makes up the country as its cultural epicenter deeming what is and isn't and how it is like Hollywood does for American culture. How many voices have been ignored or silenced in 230+ years or tinged by perception of stereotypes of France and Paris. It puts into perspective that we've been living in the same political era for 2 centuries and that mindsets have not changed much to an extent.

Although Loves of a Blonde was a breakout film for Milos Forman, nominated for a foreign language Oscar, it's one of the least impressive Czech films I've seen. It can't even be the best Czech film from 1965, as Intimate Lighting (directed by Loves of a Blonde co-writer Ivan Passer) and probably even The Shop on Main Street are both superior. To be fair, the film has a hilarious scene near the beginning where middle-aged army reservists attempt to woo young factory girls at a local shindig. But the film's central concern -- one girl's struggle to keep a man around for more than an evening -- just isn't very interesting, as her character has little appeal beyond her blond hair.

I watched Crash (1996) and did not like it much. For all of the sexual content in the film it sure wasn't sexy, so I'm pretty sure the intent of the film wasn't pornographic; perhaps watching the film roughly approximates the feeling of being the only normal person at a fetish club and just witnessing everyone else. Vaughan was probably the most interesting character, with everyone else more or less just along for the ride. Probably wont' watch this one again any time soon.

>>2921 I haven't seen it for a while. Since sexual deviancy has become more mainstream recently, I was thinking the film may provoke more disgust for helping promote it. I did enjoy The Atrocity Exhibition, more experimental and also based on Ballard.

>>2923 >I was thinking the film may provoke more disgust for helping promote it Perhaps. I couldn't really tell if the film was some sort of weird extended metaphor or if it was just an attempt to explore/normalize bizarre fetishes and sexual depravity, much like Secretary (2002). I watched Primer (2004) yesterday and enjoyed it, but I think I'll need to watch it at least another two times before I start to get it.

Méditerranée (1963) Postcard photography of grand sites around the Mediterranean are spoiled by the voiceover of a dour Frenchman muttering about the banality of existence. Death is a recurring theme in the collage of images, seen in a mummy's face, the grounds of a dilapidated estate, a beautiful girl on a gurney, and (most cruelly) a matador teasing and slaying a bull. This short film's influence on Godard's Contempt stems from its sunnier beach scenes and Greek architecture.

Honestly would of been a much better overall film if the main character wasn't a dyke.

I recently watched Mystery of the Wax Museum and then Doctor X, its sister movie from the year before. I'd say they're pretty standard movies, but the two-color Technicolor look is a nice gimmick. It feels really strange to see people like Fay Wray, Frank McHugh, Leila Bennett, and even Mae Busch in color back at the heights of their careers. I recall seeing Lionel Atwill in Son of Frankenstein but didn't remember what he looked like. I'd recommend Mystery of the Wax Museum over Doctor X. I found Glenda Farrell's reporter character to be more likeable than Lee Tracy's and the wax museum setting to be more memorable than the relatively run-of-the-mill medical academy featured in Doctor X. I thought the Doctor X climax was pretty good, but that to me was the best part of the story. The mad scientist equipment looked pretty cool, I'll give it that. They're nothing spectacular but are interesting for the novelty value.

>>2972 I watched Wax Museum a couple years ago. I forgot about the wisecracking reporter character. I've noticed that newspapers seemed to be a topic of great interest in films of that era. Maybe there's nothing to it -- journalism is a handy narrative device and newspapers were the primary method of mass communication at the time. But there was no similar trend of films about the television industry when that technology was eventually adopted.

>>2973 >I watched Wax Museum a couple years ago. I forgot about the wisecracking reporter character. I've noticed that newspapers seemed to be a topic of great interest in films of that era. Maybe there's nothing to it -- journalism is a handy narrative device and newspapers were the primary method of mass communication at the time. But there was no similar trend of films about the television industry when that technology was eventually adopted. I don't know how long the trend continued for, but I immediately thought of While the City Sleeps. But I suppose that was made at a time when TV was just catching on. I do think that it's more of a narrative device than anything. In a sense the audience can put themselves in the shoes of the reporter, since both are just gradually figuring out what's really going. It's an easy way to get away with exposition that could otherwise seem clumsy and also provides motivation for a character to involve themselves in potentially dangerous situations. Incidentally, I learned that Glenda Farrell continued playing a reporter like she did in Mystery of the Wax Museum with by starring in most of the Torchy Blane movies. Her portrayal provided the basis for Lois Lane in the Superman comics. The name "Lois Lane" came from Lola Lane, who was one of the two other actress to play the role. I've never seen any of those movies, so I can't say how much they really have in common. >Big News >Robert Armstrong I should watch that one. I've always liked Robert Armstrong's over-the-top acting style in the movies I've seen him in. I should give Blood on the Sun a try at some point too. Not only does it feature Robert Armstrong, but it has him in yellowface playing Hideki Tojo. It sounds pretty wacky. Plus James Cagney's the star, and he's probably my favorite actor. Robert Armstrong was an honorary member of the "Irish Mafia," so I guess it shouldn't come as any surprise that him and Cagney had a few movies together. >Libeled Lady I feel like I watched this one years ago because William Powell was in it but unfortunately don't remember much of it. Maybe I'm confusing it with My Man Godfrey, or maybe I saw both and don't remember either of them very well.

The last movie I watched (that wasn't a rewatch) was this Invasion of the Body Snatchers copycat. While I wouldn't say it gets the feeling of hopelessness and paranoia across as well, it's a decent variant of the formula. The protagonist is the wife in a newly married couple who realizes something's wrong with her husband. He's stopped showing interest in her and comes across like a completely different man from the one she fell in love with. There seem to be homosexual undertones, and interestingly enough the actor playing the husband ended up dying of HIV-related complications in the early '90s. It can't touch Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but I think it gets a bit overlooked due to the title sounding about as cliche as you can get for a '50s science fiction movie.

In William Wyler's The Big Country, New England seaman Gregory Peck takes a galloping stagecoach to meet his Texas fiancee, only to find her cattle baron father locked in a violent feud with a neighboring rancher. Speaking out against the use of violence, Peck becomes openly critical of his prospective in-laws as the feud escalates. Peck is supposed to garner the audience's admiration for his moral clarity. He's correct that the family is being too vindictive toward their enemies, but his aloof, antagonistic attitude towards these country folk is more annoying than any misbehavior on their part. What fun is a western move that henpecks western tropes and western people? The story tries to pump up the masculinity of wet-blanket Peck -- devising situations where he does see fit to use violence -- but this just makes his flamboyant moralizing seem arbitrary. I also note the ugly scenery of this film. There's nothing appealing about empty flatlands of dead grass stretching to the horizon. Also, most of the action takes place on a cattle ranch that is said to contain thousands of animals, Yet as characters ride horse all around the area there's not a cow in sight. A much better Gregory Peck western is William Wellman's noirish Yellow Sky, where the actor is cast against type as a bank robber on the run. I'd recommend it more than Wellman's more popular The Ox Bow Incident.

I love 80s period pieces that aren't neon NYC hair metal yuppie sludge or member berries porn. This film's apart of that 2000s fad of documentary style cinematography, with shaky cam and varied camera angles that are more observational and not slick and cool. It works here in a way that something like Taken or that Will Smith Muhammad Ali couldn't handle well. It feels 80s like a McDonalds ash tray, but Billy Bob Thorton and the soundtrack is what really raises the movie from another Remember The Titans. Having this ambient rock soundtrack really adds onto the visuals. Though honestly, I bet people prefer the fictional tv show to the biopic movie

Arsenal (1929) was a struggle to finish. I could barely understand what was happening and quickly didn't care. The basic story is of veterans returning from war and randomly becoming commies The film goes though wild mood swings, with wide-eyed closeups and frenzied action that starts and stops on a whim. The more emotional they get, the more confused you get. At one point a team of horses runs at full gallop to carry a dead soldier to his gravesite as fast a possible because his dying wish was to be buried within half an hour. Why is this important to him or to the viewer? In another scene, disgruntled veterans launch an armed attack on the rich people of their city. Those rich people had done nothing particularly harmful to the veterans, who seem entirely motivated by a few declarations of boilerplate Bolshevism. Despite several instances of impressive photography, I can't recommend watching this.

>>3002 It has to be said that Dovzhenko is hailed that a hero of Ukrainian cinema, yet this film is explicitly against Ukrainian sovereignty. His 1930 film Earth is anti-kulak propaganda in service of the forced starvation of the Ukrainian people. I wonder if he disavowed these messages later in life.

Day of the Dead (1985) it was pretty good, but not even close to the first one it's just that it was more spectacle than anything else Touch of Evil (1958) one of Orson's best, just be sure to watch the reconstructed version it has really nice camera techniques and a really kino tale of corruption

>>3037 >just be sure to watch the reconstructed version Do I understand that to mean this one, Anon? : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_of_Evil#1998_release

>>3038 Yes

>>3037 Day of the Dead was a grower for me. I disliked it the first time I watched, but when I saw it again years later with tempered expectations I think I actually preferred it to Dawn of the Dead. What turned me against it the first time I saw it was that despite that cool opening, most of the movie was set indoors and felt claustrophobic. When I rewatched it, I just treated it like a more standard post-apocalyptic survival drama that just happened to have zombies in it. Also, John Harrison's music is pretty good. Night of the Living Dead is still my favorite of the trilogy, although second place is up for grabs.

I don't have the patience for this type of rudderless film anymore. The director seems to be on vacation in Bruges with the loosest possible plan for making a movie. As if it wasn't obvious enough, the film follows the uninspired formula of a film about a director struggling to make a film. In practice this amounts to dull chats in cafes after several takes of filming an actress meander across a bridge. Eventually the distributor shows up to demand better product, but alas, his wishes are futile.

>>3050 At least tell me he got someone else to play the director.

I just watched Heart of Glass to familiarize myself with Werner Herzog's work more and didn't really care for it. There were some nice shots of nature, but it felt too out there for my tastes and I didn't really get a lot of it.

>>3071 Since I made this post, I followed Heart of Glass up with Woyzeck, Fitzcarraldo, Burden of Dreams, and then rewatched My Best Fiend. I didn't think Woyzeck was amazing or anything, but I can see myself coming back to it eventually. I enjoyed the scenery of the little Czech town they filmed in. I was also surprised at how much better Eva Mattes looked than in Stroszek, which was shot two years earlier. Fitzcarraldo I think I liked more. Going in I pictured a decent chunk of the movie spent dragging the boat along through the jungle for whatever reason. It's probably a good thing it wasn't like that. One thing that surprised me was the presence of Miguel Angel Fuentes. I thought I was crazy for thinking he was the guy from The Pumaman, but it turned out that was exactly who he was. It's a good movie, but out of Herzog's two Amazon River flicks with Kinski I prefer Aguirre. Burden of Dreams is a good supplement to Fitzcarraldo. It shows all the trials that went into making the movie. It's kind of surprising the movie wasn't a failure with how troubled the production was. I have to say, I think it's it's for the best that Jason Robards and Mick Jagger left the production. My Best Fiend is well worth watching for insight into the kind of weird relationship that Herzog and Kinski had with each other and to see what kind of a maniacal prima donna Kinski really was.

>>3072 Plebbit tier

>>3073 In what sense?

Watched Cobra Verde last night. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It doesn't seem to get as much attention as the other two Herzog-Kinski collaborations with South American connections, but I really liked the premise of an outlaw getting a job as a plantation overseer, getting sent to Africa for knocking up the master's mulatta daughters, and then going Lawrence of Arabia with a force of Dahomey Amazons. The only remaining Herzog movie with Klaus Kinski for me to see is the Nosferatu remake, but I think I'll pass on that one. I wasn't impressed with the little bit I've seen compared to the original.

>>3076 I think the Klinski dracula added quite a bit to the original

>>2971 Agreed. The story felt like it was clearly written for a man. Wish they'd made it with a good lead; now it's just another oscar bait that has been completely forgotten.

Some of the films I watched the past couple of months. Satantango -- watched it in a cinema like a retard and fucked up my neck for 2 weeks afterwards. It rains, there's mud, peasants are cruel, people were audibly upset at that one scene and someone who probably spoke hungarian was laughing at the dialogue so it's potentially quite funny. Communism is mostly about walking everywhere and then trusting a petty criminal with your future before you get drunk and try to forget about it all. As I watched it I kept thinking about how Tar fully foresaw the streaming miniseries format of extensive walking shots as filler. What a genius. The Chaser -- up there with I Saw the Devil in terms of pure south korean cynicism. Was it good? Yes. Would I recommend it? eh watch the Wailing instead it's at least fun. Noriko's Dinner Table -- You've got to appreciate the ability to perfectly characterize someone in less than a minute. Or introduce an extremely novel plot point and then make it seem oddly normal, if that isn't an oxymoron. Antichrist -- there's a part in this where dafoe is being attacked by a crow in foxhole and I just kept thinking about how good it would be if Miike had directed this.

>>3079 >The Chaser Watched it way back after someone recommended it in the old place, it's the korean school of pain and misery but without the comedy that characterized the early attempts like 2002's Public Enemy which i find similar. >Would I recommend it? I would, it's well made if a bit of a downer for the normalfags due to being "pure south korean cynicism", it's not a K-Drama, it's people getting fucked and fucking others although i've heard people talk about some of their gook series and being mildly appalled at the details they mention, maybe they are as cynical as the 00's movies were. >The Wailing Many mention the need or at least the familiarity with gook customs to be able to fully enjoy it but i haven't even checked it despite being in my folder for a really long time.