The last film I saw was called YO, by a spanish first-timer called Rafa Cortes.
Due to my job I watch a lot of first films from nouvelle directors, and I have to say this stands out from the bunch.
I strongly recommend this one.
Actually, I’ll email Rafa and get his film for the Auteurs.
Last I saw was tonight, “Idi i Smotri” (come and see)
and I have “Du rififi chez les hommes” for tomorrow…
I love Come and See! You mean the Soviet film about WWII right? Incredible experience, I had never heard of it before I saw it unexpectedly on the big screen…
me too!
a friend and I run a cineclub in our school and he said "I have one you won’t believe, you’re gonna watch this film tonight BUT don’t ask me what it is about, I’ll only tell you its called “come and see”
that afternoon I went to Imdb and read it was a soviet war movie (and I’m a sucker for war movies) so I went to the auditorium, and I was blown away!! the ending was truly powerful, I loved it…
at the end of the screening I told my friend how ashamed I was, I didn’t know anything about the existence of such impressive film!!
Ladri di biciclette, aka Bicycle Thieves! a real Italian Neorealist masterpiece, simply beautiful!
tesis by amenabar -not interesting i must say
I just saw Monthy Python and the Holy Grail and The Celebration (Festen Dogme #1), over the weekend. Weird mix of choices but I loved them both. It was an interesting (contradictory) movie-watching weekend, a bit like watching movies from the other side of the mirror. Seldom do you feel a drama (Festen) and think about laughing with a comedy (Monthy Python) like you do with these movies. Normally it’s the other way around (You reason clues in the drama and instinctly find things funny) . I’m messed up now… I have a confession to make.. I don’t know the capital of Assyria.
Straub/Huillet’s The Bridegroom, the Comedienne and the Pimp (1968)
Dieterle’s The Secret Bride
I just saw “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” this weekend at the theater and I have to say its just a completely flawless piece of film making. I highly recommend it.
I just saw Tod Browning’s “West of zanzibar”. starring Lon Chaney…it was slow, but interesting…
Where do you get the Straub/Huillet movies from DKAZ? Can we do an exchange? About recent movies I keep a blog with the ones I have something to say about, please visit and let me know what do you think: http://psicanzuelo.blogspot.com/
I just saw Girl With Green Eyes (Desmond Davis, 1964) English Free Cinema secret gem, the pace is so jazzy, match cuts from one scene to the next, pop existentialism with a very endearing main character.
Hi Carlos. Straub/Huillet stuff is very hard to see in the States, although if you live in NYC I believe it may be easier for a variety of reasons (someone told me a library here has a number of 16mm prints).
That particular film I saw on film in a traveling retrospective about 1968. It previously played in Berkeley, it’s coming to NYC in May, and may go on after that. One of their films, The Chronicle of Anna Madgelena Bach is available on DVD here; and there is a FANTASTIC region free and English subtitled version of their film Klassenverhältnisse released by this company with amazing extras: here. I hope that helps!
Ever since I got There Will Be Blood on DVD the other day I keep it playing repeatedly on my television. I find the film to be a true spectacle. And I just watched The Battleship Potemkin earlier; the Odessa Steps sequence is incredlible. Speaking of which, I have not seen all of Strike, which seems like it is amazing as well. Earlier this week I watched Koyaanisquatsi and Magnolia back to back, which made for a happy day.
Marionn, you didn’t like Tesis? I think it’s a truly great film. The way Amenabar slowly reveals information to change your apprehension of how the facts fit together is masterful at the level of Hitchcock.
As for what I’m watching now, my next will probably be Ozu’s I Was Born But… on the new Eclipse dvd, but perhaps not for a few days.
The Insider, a great film with great performances.
Plus of all the contemporary filmmakers I think Michael Mann is still underrated because of his tendency to do genre film. Also he gives Ridley Scott a run for his money by making anything visually spectacular.
Apart from that.
Jean Eustache’s sweet combo of Bresson and Rohmer: Mes petites amoureuses (1974)
Godard’s Week End (1967) and Le Gai savior (1969). Radical!
Just watched Husbands by Cassavettes..really great crazy home movie feel but actually had professional crew etc..would never happen now!
I watched 8 1/2 (again and again) last night, and I desire to point out the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.
“She’s my sister, my daughter, my sister and my daughter!” Guess. Awesome.
“You’re a very nosy fellow, kitty cat. Huh? You know what happens to nosy fellows? Huh? No? Wanna guess? Huh? No? Okay. They lose their noses.”
I see you brought a midget haha…. I never imagined Polanski was so short (and a good sport about it too!, cool).
On Friday, I watched Henry Verneuil’s truck driver tragedy People of No Importance which features Jean Gabin’s final really great performance. I wrote more on my blog – here
Yesterday, I watched Yuan Mu-jinh’s Malu tianshi (1937). Some solid fun, but nothing too special. Also watched Asfalto, newer noir/thriller/love story from Spain. Aesthetically nice, but it didn’t leave a huge impression on me, at least not outside of the beautiful Najwa Nimri. She’s actually better in Medem’s messy Lynch-drama Sex and Lucia but I wasn’t a big fan of that film.
the last three: Eustache’s Mes Petites Amoureuses (lovely), Godard’s Le Gai Savoir (terrific!) and Ozu’s I Was Born But… (masterful)
Jake, I like Asfalto but agree it’s not of great depth. And I also agree that Nimri is better in Sex and Lucia (Calparsoro certainly likes to show off her beauty in Asfalto, though, huh?).
watched the new Roman de Gare by Claude Lelouch. Absolutley amazing and way better than his other stuff.
Masumura’s Black Test Car (1962), corporate espionage, yeah!
dkaz and dave—- how did you get a hold of mes petites amoureuses? the french unsubtitled dvd? i came across 3 of eustaches short films on the internet, but i haven’t been able to track down mes petites amoureuses and it’s been on my want-to-see list for some time now.
Erika, Mes petites amoureuses is currently in a traveling retrospective on Jean Eustache, which is playing right now in New York: Jean Eustache’s Circle.
Daniel Kasman
What was the most recent film you’ve seen, and what did you think of it?
I just saw Jacques Rozier’s pretty-darn-hard to track down late French New Wave film Du côté d’Orouët (1973), and may write something on it for the Notebook. A strange film, but very fitting with the best of long and loose late FNW films of that era, like Rivette’s Celine and Julie Go Boating and Eustache’s The Mother and the Whore.