Anybody here heard of Bill Forsyth?

He sure as fuck does. COMFORT AND JOY pops up on cable sometimes, but all I’ve got is a crappy DVD I burned from my VHS of HOUSEKEEPING.

It is shocking that Housekeeping isn’t available on DVD. And I hadn’t realised that the Comfort and Joy Region 2 now seems to be out of print.

Having said that, I wish the That Sinking Feeling DVD was out of print because of the horrendous posh voice dub it has (though whether non Scots would find it as repellent, I would be interested to know).

His work is shamefully neglected, even in Scotland, beyond Local Hero and Gregory’s Girl. Or should that be especially in Scotland. His meet the director event at the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival was far from sold out.

But I was wondering if anyone had seen Andrina, as I’ve yet to meet, or even hear of anyone that has.

I love Local Hero and own a copy. It is a film that’s nearly impossible to describe without making it sound like “one of those quirky small town movies”- I think its success has to do with the light touch of its masterful director.

A BILL FORSYTH Criterion Box Set, hopefully someday would be great, so I can get a Reg. 1 copy of That Sinking Feeling. The voice dubbing in the old vhs copy wasn’t too bad really.

“It is a film that’s nearly impossible to describe without making it sound like “one of those quirky small town movies”- I think its success has to do with the light touch of its masterful director.”

Yeah, this nicely describes why his films work so well. Hell, he gets away with a film about dueling ice cream trucks. I would like to rewatch Breaking In as I haven’t seen it since I was a kid.

But is Being Human actually not as atrocious as it sounds? Given the plot description and the presence of Robin Williams, it sounds like a candidate for one of the worst film’s ever made. Sad that it seems to have destroyed his career but what a poor choice of project….

BEING HUMAN isn’t as bad as you’ve heard. It has its ups and downs, but is well worth a look if you’re a Forsyth fan.

note to criterion: I would buy a Bill Forsyth box set! (hopefully I’ll be “un broke” by then)

Nicely said, TwoPlus. Forsyth’s light touch and the splendid performances from Peter Riegert and Denis Lawson, among others, lift this film above the kind of “quirky small town” silliness that can get so cloying.

A bump to a great filmmaker. See LOCAL HERO.

Bill Forsyth is fast becoming a favorite director, just for his light touch and ability to capture quirk and great performance.

Breaking In was on the other night and (fourth time I have seen it) I have to say I like it better than Gregory’s Girl (have yet to see the sequel to that one) and Local Hero which were previously tied for my favorites.

I understand that he is working on something even tho to hear him tell it (I googled an interview from a few years ago that I cannot find now) he is no fan of cinema these days and only goes about once a four years to see something.

I’ve never seen anything by him, but his film synopses sound wildly intriguing. I’ll add this one on my thread collection on my profile!

If all his films are available I would rep him in the next DC. But he has only made 9 so I would want them all available which is likely a problem.

By all means see Local Hero. Absolutely Forsyth’s best, A wry, funny, gentle and ultimately quite touching film. Gregory’s Girl is also delightful, a tender, comic look at first love and teen awkwardness. Forsyth’s films are all character-driven and he so clearly loves his characters.

Local Hero will be on TCM November 9th. I’ll be watching!!!

Reminder about Local Hero.

A bump to one of the great filmmakers.

Bill Forsyth’s brilliant and criminally under-rated masterwork HOUSEKEEPING is available on itunes for just under ten bucks.

The deal of the year.

cool

Of course others have already pointed out http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0287025/

At first I thought maybe you were referring to William Forsythe, as Rocoe mentions his master-work Housekeeping. Then I thought, william forsythe the more recent actor http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001235/ who is maybe the person you’re thinking about. He’s done some interesting bit parts, relegated to B-movie stuff that frequently goes straight to DVD now.

Bill Forsythe always reminds me of his film Being Human with Robin Williams – an interesting character study of a young Williams, a chance to see him stretching away from just comedy into more dramatic roles.

I’ve only seen Housekeeping, and I agree it’s underrated—especially if we’re talking about quality mainstream family dramas. Christine Lahti’s performance is wonderful in this. I suspect the novel it’s based on is quite good, too. (I’ve read later novels by the same author.)

The novel HOUSEKEEPING by Marilynne Robinson is indeed very good. The film follows it very closely, for the most part.

The film does have a literary quality to it. Local Hero has been on my “to see” list for a while. I need to get around to seeing sometime soon.

HOUSEKEEPING is now available on DVD from Warner Archive. Essential. Buy it. NOW.

http://www.wbshop.com/Housekeeping/1000249751,default,pd.html?cgid=ARCHIVENEW