Aug 13, 2015

It's pretty nice. Entertaining with great performances and crafted nicely but the plot kinda lost me. Not Woody at his best but it's great to see him and Joaquin working together. Joaquin continues his amazing streak.

 

Aug 13, 2015

This is what I originally wrote, though I'm probably a little more positive on it now (no real spoilers)...

On another note, I saw Mistress America tonight with a Q&A from Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig afterwards. Despite the s-----y trailer, I really enjoyed the movie, probably even more than Frances Ha. It's often very funny, especially when it becomes a full-on screwball comedy in the second half, one that's really well timed and staged. A number of great quotables as well.

 

Aug 14, 2015

The Gospel Acording to St. Matthew

I guess we all have the same question. How Pasolini, a non-believer, could make with a big commitment such an emotionally engaging film about the life of Jesus Christ.

What i like about the film is that Pasolini told the story just like it was made, he never tried to give an interpretation and managed to avoid any bias. He also succesfully translated that energy the gospel has (whether you believe in it or not you have to notice it has energy) so it all felt so natural, you don't need to be christian to enjoy this, you simply let yourself go and stop caring about if this is true or not, Bravo Pasolini.

Another thing i noticed is that he focused more on Jesus' thoughts rather than the miracles, those happened but that's not so important here, what matter are his teachings and speech which occasionaly sounded like it came from a communist but it didn't bothered to be honest, this happened just in a few lines.

Cinematography was outstanding, the way the camera was moved was beautifull. Pasolini tried to make us feel we are part of the story rather than telling us what happened, an example of this is seen in the trials, where the point of view comes from among the crowd.

I also have to mention the score, it was really good and deserved that oscar nod.

8.5/10

 

Aug 14, 2015

follow up question: how's the end of tour?

 

Aug 16, 2015

Some films i've seen recently:

Gloria (Lelio, 2013) An excellent drama that studies the behavior of a 58 year old divorcee 8/10

Jodorowsky's Dune (Pavich) Very interesting. This documentary and even the sketches Jodorowsky made for his Dune are a million times better than that s--- a--- film Lynch made. It's really great to see Alejandro telling with so much passion how his film would've been. 8/10

By the Bluest of Seas (Boris Barnet/Mardanin, 1936). Techically ahead of its time but that's about it 6/10

The Cloud Capped Star (Ghatak, 1960) Powerful melodrama that pays off at the end but i still can't fully conect with Indian cinema 7/10

 

Aug 17, 2015

Welp, Kurosawa's visuals make his contemporaries look ancient.

 

Aug 17, 2015

Have you even seen a Mizoguchi film ?

 

Aug 17, 2015

Nah, but I have seen 50s Truffaut, Fellini, Welles, Kubrick, Wilder, Hitchcock, Bergman, etc. I did not expect such a gap to exist.

 

Aug 17, 2015

Kazuo Miyagawa, who shot Roshomon, was Kenji Mizoguchi's regular cinematographer, you should watch Sansho the Bailiff & Ugetsu if you want to see his best work.

 

Aug 17, 2015

I'm barely through Kurosawa yet, but him and Ozu were next up for Japan. I'll add it to the list.

 

Aug 17, 2015

I like Kurosawa but tbh there's a few Japanese directors I prefer over him.

Some of my favs:
Kenji Mizoguchi
Yasujiro Ozu
Hiroshi Teshigahara
Nagisa Oshima
Masaki Kobayashi
Mikio Naruse
Shohei Imamura
Hirokazu Kore-eda

 

Aug 18, 2015

What other classic non-American directors would you recommend? Bunuel, Dreyer, and Preminger are on my list.

 

Aug 19, 2015

hey qts, 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN turns 10 today so I put together some thoughts on how its the wu tang clan of comedy:
http://moviemezzanine.com/40-year-old-virgin-essay/

 

Aug 19, 2015

I can give you a list but what do you classify as "classic"? Are you looking for a specific time period or just dope filmmakers in general?

 

Aug 19, 2015

Great read, I read this earlier btw

I want to read an essay by you, on Film-Noir

 

Aug 19, 2015

I've got a list of 60 some directors from all over the world. Anything from Bollywood to the Golden Age of Hollywood to French New Wave.
Leni Riefenstahl, Ousmane Sembene, etc. Anyone worth checking out that isn't obvious.

 

Aug 19, 2015

Abbas Kiarostami
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Leos Carax
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Satyajit Ray
Max Ophuls
Eric Rohmer
Abderrahmane Sissako
Jacques Tati
Robert Bresson
Wim Wenders
Maurice Pialat
Chantel Akerman
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Edward Yang
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Jia Zhang-ke
Tsai Ming-liang
Cristian Mungiu
Cristi Puiu
Pedro Costa
Lav Diaz
Lisandro Alonso
Carlos Reygadas
Michel Franco
Hong Sang-soo
Dardenne Brothers
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Pedro Almodovar
Celine Sciamma
Christian Petzold
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Asghar Farhadi
Jafar Panahi
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Bertrand Bonello

I'm sure you got some of these on your list but I just went on listing people that popped in my head, hope it helps.

 

Aug 19, 2015

 

Aug 19, 2015

Only Bresson, Ray, and Kieslowski IIRC. I've got a nice wooden box with slips of paper to randomly pick a director to watch a movie by. This should fill it up. Sounded like a fun idea.

Edit: Kiarostami as well. Been meaning to watch Taste of Cherry for a solid year now.

 

Aug 20, 2015