hmmm…….Clint Eastwood is good, but i find his movies a little too simplistic at times. morally, and even aesthetically. His style is perfectly functional, and that’s both a good and a bad thing, ‘Mystic River’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’ were good though. Flags could have been more interesting if it was made by a more adventurous director.
I’ve seen Van Sant mentioned a lot. ‘Last Days’ goes to amazing lengths to put you inside the head of its central character in a way that few films would even dare. ‘Elephant’ and ‘Gerry’ were interesting conceptual pieces that, while satisfying to a certain degree, never fulfilled their initial promise IMO. His use of Arvo Part’s music in ‘Gerry’ really annoyed me too!! hehe.
as for cinema being dead, it certainly isn’t dead, but there is less innovation happening now i believe, even if more quality films have been released in the last few years after a dry spell in the mid 00’s.
anyway, without further ado, my favs of the decade:
Del Toro(mostly for Devil’s Backbone though, one of the most layered ‘horrors’ ever made. The symbolism is almost literary. It’s close to an art film at certain points, but not quite. Good job)
James Gray(visual and film making style unlike anything else from the U.S right now. ‘We Own The Night’ was a standard cop film on the surface but it was full of unexpected subtext. Two Lovers was like a throwback to the tortured romantic dramas of the 70’s.)
Haneke(Hidden was Haneke up to his old pretentious tricks, but i loved ‘The Piano Teacher’, ‘Time Of The Wolf’ and’Code Unknown’)
Theo Angelopoulos(The Weaping Meadow was excellent. One of the few real, uncompromising arthouse directors left in the West. Not attempts to be ‘hip’ or cool here. He makes guys like Van Sant and Jamursch seem like posers).
I agree wiith KJ about Ferrara’s ability to ‘get inside the action’, and his use of mixed media in the last decade or so is extremely impressive, maybe even innovative, as is his use of dissolve. However, i’ve found that as Abel’s movies have become increasingly improvised, and less confrontational, than they were during his peak in the early to mid 90’s, his films have continued to make little to no impact on the film world at large. ‘Mary’ was a semi-return to form, and was basically an attempt to merge his recent, impressionistic work the jars and shocks of old, and the result was not exactly seamless. ‘Go Go Tails’, on the other hand, has yet to see a dvd release anywhere as far i’m aware.
Word on the ‘street’ is that Ferrara has burnt too many bridges and people are now reluctant to invest and distribute his films. It almost feels like he is blacklisted at times.
anyway, ‘The Funeral’ is one of the most complex and underrated gangster films of all time.
Must say i’m quite surprised to see Spike Lee get so many ‘votes’ because the consensus is that he dropped off a long time ago. I’d say his films are messy, but interesting. ‘Bamboozled’ points the finger a little more decisively at the black community for their role in perpetuating negative stereotypes, but ‘She Hate Me’ was amazingly confused. Spike couldnt figure out what the focus was. In my opinion, it had the potential to be a great film about sexual politics from the male side of the equation. About how much men feel sexually and emotionally undervalued, debased and exploited in today’s poitical economy—in short, how the sexual revolution has turned against men—but instead the film plunges into an obvious treatise about corporate, civil and individual responsibility. It totally betrays its promise.
Shutter Island looks terrible IMO. I wish Scorsese would stop making Hollywood films and do a Coppola already. Even if it fails, at least he will be challenging himself.
in theory i’m looking forward to the new Godard, but i doubt i’ll get a chance to see it, so i’ll have to go with Malick’s ‘Trees Of Life’ and possibly Ferrara’s movie too. But 50 is in it, so expectations are not high.
I love Criterion because i’ve found their transfers and features are the best for the kinds of films they release. Their prices have come down somewhat over the years, and the packaging has improved dramatically. The covers are superb nowadays, and discs like Mishima and Vampyr are second to none in terms of quality and layout.
^^Why? Landis is probably a more respectable choice than Aronofsky ;-)
i agree with most of the selections here made for the ‘name’ directors, except for John Carpenter(Prince Of Darkness!?!?!) and Theo Angelopoulos(U.Gaze, Eternity and a Day, and The Weeping Meadow would be my 3! Wasn’t too keen on the Stork film).
I wanted to include Zhang Yimou too, but from memory The Story of Qiu Ju wasn’t quite the level of either ‘Raise The Red Lantern’ or ‘To Live’. Could be wrong though.
Traffic – middle of the road, obvious, faux-intellectual, and completely unrealistic. like most S.S movies. I’d much rather watch the drug film Abel Ferrara made around the same time, as flawed as it was, because at least it was authentic( ’R’Xmas’). S.S fits into the same category as Ron Howard IMO. the main difference between the two is that Soderbergh is a smart guy, unlike Howard, but dumbs himself down to make conventional, crowd and critic pleasing films on quasi-controversial topics that have a veneer of ‘sophistication’ about them because of their refusal to judge. The problem is that his films are almost always empty headed. as well as laughable. i honestly found Traffic laughable in places, particularly Michael Douglas and the girl that played his daughter. Her ‘performance’ was terrible.
American Beauty – The Ice Storm did everything this film tried to do better 2 years earlier and then some, and with real genuine affect too.
Requiem For A Dream – just a collection of camera tricks pushed to the extreme. empty characters, empty intentions=empty movie. And although Aronofsky and his supporters claim this is not an ‘anti-drug’ film, he could have fooled me. It honestly plays like Reefer Madness for the MTV generation. It’s the flipside of the same coin.
^^^Haneke is sometimes worth criticising in his ‘artistic integrity’ though, but when he is on, he is REALLY on.
Having said that, he is the hot director right now, and ‘The White Ribbon’ is getting more praise than usual in the U.S, and quite possibly the world, because it’s not as difficult as some of his other films.
^^^Haneke is sometimes worth criticising in his ‘artistic integrity’ though, but when he is on, he is REALLY on.
Having said that, he is the hot director right now, and ‘The White Ribbon’ is getting more praise than usual in the U.S, and quite possibly the world, because it’s not as difficult as some of his other films.
“Crash (Haggis)
A morally-correct-fetish museum of pretentiousness, dubious faux-intellect, and zero-dimensional characters that are only there to carry an endless black hole of circle-jerking and political dress-up that Haggis apparently considers a plot. Overrated by Ebert, the Oscars, nearly every mainstream Hollywood critic…”
I agree, but what bothered me most about Crash though specifically was how obviously it played the racial tensions card. After seeing the movie, you would believe that in today’s politically correct world that racism is somehow expressed openly, given the ‘appropriate’ circumstance of course, rather than the silent killer it actually is. at least in the Anglo-Saxon world anyway. So not only was it shallow and simplistic, it was also ridiculously false and optimistic.
^^Dimitris, at least Greece has foreign films that play occasionally at multiplexes. i don’t think that’s very common in America. plus what about all the indie/art theatres? there are still many left in Athens no?
I get your point about popularization through awards though. The director becomes a brand name used to sell a picture and interest is generated through publicity rather than actual content but that’s unfortunately how the machine works. It’s best for serious film fans like us(and by us i’m referring to the entire message board) to engage with the material ourselves, on our own terms, to the best of our ability, without the interference of hype.
As for Underground, BAH!! Ulysses Gaze should have won that year dammit!! ;-)
To own, i prefer dvd, but to rent, video, easily. Dvd’s get scratched and marked too easily, which interferes with the laser.
As for cultural impact, no way that dvd can be compared to video. dvd has no doubt been vital to film lovers such as ourselves, to finally see a great amount of films with pristine transfers, and in their correct aspect ratio, coupled with bonus material, and a huge source of revenue for studios all over the world. The sell through market for videos was not that big outside of the U.S or U.K before dvd. Now every man, woman and child has a movie collection. When i was growing up, i was the freak, the weirdo, yet i know everyday ‘ordinary’ 8-6 guys with 300-500 movies. Some of them have bigger collections than me!!
But video is important in terms of reply value, which undoubtedly changed viewing practices and standards.
Don’t believe the hype. Gus Van Sant and Jim Jamursch were far more important and influential than S.S. Does S.S even have a style? can he even be called an ‘auteur’ in the proper sense? and by that i don’t simply mean a craftsman either.
“One look at the series Che, The Girlfriend Experience, and The Informant! will tell you the man has a consistent approach to his material which indicates he is an auteur. "
Maybe i haven’t seen enough of his films, but i don’t pick up a consistent shooting style, or series of styles, or even themes. An auteur is not just a craftsman. that is the common misconception nowadays. And often an auteur phase can be short too, and the director just goes back to making ‘ordinary’ films.
By the classic definition, there are very few auteurs left in cinema today.
“theres no such thing as an “auteur phase”. you either are or you arent. you cant be almost or half pregnant.”
i disagree. You are right that once an auteur gets a label, it sticks, but directors often make films that do not fit into their any kind of specific place within filmography. What i mean is, their films no longer reflect their obsessions, or at least not obviously.
Cronenberg and Scorsese haven’t really been auteurs in a while IMO. Anybody could have made Gangs Of New York and Aviator IMO.
“There are few things at this forum more off-putting than the business of dismissing
someone’s comments by bluntly claiming that they haven’t seen enough (insert director here) or otherwise
haven’t done sufficient homework.
(Or homework that matches one’s own preferences.)’
That may be the case though. There are possibly more subtle ways to go about pointing this out though without insulting the person on the other end.
“For example: “This kind of statement can only be made by someone whose thought process is grounded in US-centric paradigm.”
I’d say that considering the grand statement made by the instigator of this thread, that was a fair comment. just as i’m sure that a lot of people here don’t really know what an auteur is yet use the word as a convenient shorthand to defer artistry or greatness onto individuals they like through received opinion. Yet i’m sure most people on here are NOT like that at all.
Having said that, it’s impossible for us to escape our own preferences. we just need to be tolerant. tolerance is hard :-)
I don’t get how either History Of VIolence or Eastern Promises are serious looks at violence. they are just pretentious genre flicks IMO, and neither are as distinctive or as original as his earlier films. I liked ‘Eastern Promises’, but it felt scenes were missing to me. The trailer, the synopsis and the entire set up, made it feel like Watts character was central, but she was purely a narrative device. She got the ball rolling. after that, she didn’t feel significant at all. I can’t figure out whether she was underwritten or just too broadly played by Watts. i’m guessing it’s a mix of both. Viggo was great thoiugh.
“you yourself dont really have a solid grasp on what the concept of an auteur is. and youre using it specifically as convenient shorthand!”
No, i’m recognsing that there are phases in director’s careers. that is not a shorthand. It’s acknowledging that a director’s career is more complex than a simple label. The auteur is an inherently reductive concept. Even a lot of the original supporters of the idea eventually turned against it, or at least questioned it, including Bazin. It’s a workable idea, but too often fans try to squeeze as many films as possible into a simple theory and understanding of the director’s work.
Have you read any theories on auteurs btw? Because if you have, you would realise that what i’m saying is not wrong or off the mark at all. I’m talking academic theories. not consulting a book written by Biskin or Ebert or anybody like that.
I did my honours thesis on the role of the auteur in cinema.
“@ Joks – I use the term loosely but a “metaphysical science fiction film” is a film that uses the trappings of the science fiction genre (whether space travel, cyborgs, post-apocalypse,etc) in a metaphorical sense to explore more abstract philosophical questions such as the meaning of existence, the purpose of life, the nature of reality, how human life is defined, etc. Tarkovsky would obviously be at the top of this subgenre but it generally includes most of the good, and almost all of the great, science fiction films like 2001, Blade Runner, etc. Whether you like The Road or not, the film’s concerns are metaphysical (what it means to try to be a moral person in a amoral or immoral world, the nature of parental love, etc,etc.). Moon would be another recent example of such a film.”
i understand what you mean by the genre. I was just curious how it applied to the road. Noit sure if a ‘moral person in an amoral’ world counts as metaphysical though, but are you are right in terms of the nature of reality, the essence of human life etc etc. It definitely applies to all the other films you mentioned. I’ll have to check out The Road to see for myself.
“@ Joks – to me, this question is metaphysical because it explores the nature of human morality. What does it mean to be “one of the good guys” “keeping the fire?””
yep, i see your point, and Kant defined his morals in metaphysical terms too. It’s just more customary to learn and read about metaphysics in terms of reality and being, and time and the ‘soul’(ontological substance etc) etc etc. I agree with you the inquiry can definitely be understood in those terms. But morals tend to be understand more in terms of actions rather than feelings or sentiment but the question of where these feelings stem from, and where this desire to be good or do good originates, is open to such a debate.
“Of course, we know the failure of Georges and Majid to confront their inter-related past is connected in Haneke’s own mind as a distinct metaphor for the failure of the French government to honestly reveal or deal with the real massacre of Algerians in Paris (Paris massacre of 1961 – see the wiki article on the film for the link) that is the central point of Haneke’s film.”
that was the point of the film. it was more about effects than ‘intent’, so to speak. I honestly believe the question of who sent the tapes is a ruse, and Haneke is having the last laugh.
I got my blu-ray player free with my new LCD around 6 months ago and i barely watch. Yes the quaity difference is noticeable, esp on a good television, but the loading times, firmware updates etc, make it offputting for me, plus the higher unit costs of the discs themselves. As the industry is in flux right now, and blu-ray occupies a small but increasing percentage of the market, it’s difficult to say whether the format will go the distance, and until i know for sure, i’m holding back on investing in it heavily for the time being.
i own 15 discs, that’s all. I’d own a lot more of Criterion blu-rays were not locked. Stupid movie, considering their fanbase is international. I can play regular dvd’s no problem, but not blu-ray.
“Maybe there is a didactic Austrian director who will stick his finger in the eye of French history, but that isn’t Haneke.”
why not? he certainly wasn’t above poking the eyes of a certain kind of viewer with Funny Games now was he? There is definitely an element of soapbox finger waving about Hidden, just like with Funny Games. Whenever Haneke makes a genre film, i always feel it. ‘HERE IS SOMETHING COLONIAL GUILT TO GO WITH IT!’ etc etc.
i agree there is probably more to it, but don’t act as if Haneke is above cheap provocation just because he is a ‘smart’ director. A good percentage of his films are basically middle fingers to the bourgeousie.
“This movie is one of two movies that have been the closest I’ve ever come to feeling like I was watching a dream, the other being Maya Deren’s Meshes in the Afternoon. The scene when the boy is stuck in the bog just set off my, “I’m trying to run but not going anywhere wake up wake up wake up!” dream reaction, hardcore. The sound design is brilliant too, thinking of post-rock/noise/weird music.”
THE AUTEURS BEST OF THE DECADE: FILMMAKERS over 3 years ago
hmmm…….Clint Eastwood is good, but i find his movies a little too simplistic at times. morally, and even aesthetically. His style is perfectly functional, and that’s both a good and a bad thing, ‘Mystic River’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’ were good though. Flags could have been more interesting if it was made by a more adventurous director.
I’ve seen Van Sant mentioned a lot. ‘Last Days’ goes to amazing lengths to put you inside the head of its central character in a way that few films would even dare. ‘Elephant’ and ‘Gerry’ were interesting conceptual pieces that, while satisfying to a certain degree, never fulfilled their initial promise IMO. His use of Arvo Part’s music in ‘Gerry’ really annoyed me too!! hehe.
as for cinema being dead, it certainly isn’t dead, but there is less innovation happening now i believe, even if more quality films have been released in the last few years after a dry spell in the mid 00’s.
anyway, without further ado, my favs of the decade:
Del Toro(mostly for Devil’s Backbone though, one of the most layered ‘horrors’ ever made. The symbolism is almost literary. It’s close to an art film at certain points, but not quite. Good job)
James Gray(visual and film making style unlike anything else from the U.S right now. ‘We Own The Night’ was a standard cop film on the surface but it was full of unexpected subtext. Two Lovers was like a throwback to the tortured romantic dramas of the 70’s.)
Haneke(Hidden was Haneke up to his old pretentious tricks, but i loved ‘The Piano Teacher’, ‘Time Of The Wolf’ and’Code Unknown’)
Theo Angelopoulos(The Weaping Meadow was excellent. One of the few real, uncompromising arthouse directors left in the West. Not attempts to be ‘hip’ or cool here. He makes guys like Van Sant and Jamursch seem like posers).
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Greek Films that Define the 2000's over 3 years ago
Dog Tooth was like a cross between Von Trier and Haneke in my opinon. wasn’t bad, but Greek films don’t impress me that much.
I love Theo Angelopoulos though.
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Abel Ferrara - genius or degenerate? over 3 years ago
I agree wiith KJ about Ferrara’s ability to ‘get inside the action’, and his use of mixed media in the last decade or so is extremely impressive, maybe even innovative, as is his use of dissolve. However, i’ve found that as Abel’s movies have become increasingly improvised, and less confrontational, than they were during his peak in the early to mid 90’s, his films have continued to make little to no impact on the film world at large. ‘Mary’ was a semi-return to form, and was basically an attempt to merge his recent, impressionistic work the jars and shocks of old, and the result was not exactly seamless. ‘Go Go Tails’, on the other hand, has yet to see a dvd release anywhere as far i’m aware.
Word on the ‘street’ is that Ferrara has burnt too many bridges and people are now reluctant to invest and distribute his films. It almost feels like he is blacklisted at times.
anyway, ‘The Funeral’ is one of the most complex and underrated gangster films of all time.
Go to Comment
THE AUTEURS BEST OF THE DECADE: FILMMAKERS over 3 years ago
Must say i’m quite surprised to see Spike Lee get so many ‘votes’ because the consensus is that he dropped off a long time ago. I’d say his films are messy, but interesting. ‘Bamboozled’ points the finger a little more decisively at the black community for their role in perpetuating negative stereotypes, but ‘She Hate Me’ was amazingly confused. Spike couldnt figure out what the focus was. In my opinion, it had the potential to be a great film about sexual politics from the male side of the equation. About how much men feel sexually and emotionally undervalued, debased and exploited in today’s poitical economy—in short, how the sexual revolution has turned against men—but instead the film plunges into an obvious treatise about corporate, civil and individual responsibility. It totally betrays its promise.
What’s the St.Anne film like?
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Top 5 Slasher Films Of All Time over 3 years ago
‘Black Christmas’ the original. it predates Halloween. love it.
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What 2010 Titles are you Looking Forward to? over 3 years ago
Shutter Island looks terrible IMO. I wish Scorsese would stop making Hollywood films and do a Coppola already. Even if it fails, at least he will be challenging himself.
in theory i’m looking forward to the new Godard, but i doubt i’ll get a chance to see it, so i’ll have to go with Malick’s ‘Trees Of Life’ and possibly Ferrara’s movie too. But 50 is in it, so expectations are not high.
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What is this obsession with Criterion? over 3 years ago
I love Criterion because i’ve found their transfers and features are the best for the kinds of films they release. Their prices have come down somewhat over the years, and the packaging has improved dramatically. The covers are superb nowadays, and discs like Mishima and Vampyr are second to none in terms of quality and layout.
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What 2010 Titles are you Looking Forward to? over 3 years ago
^^Ferrara should have two films out this year. Napoli Napoli hasn’t been released yet either to my knowledge.
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Best 3 Consecutive Films by a Director over 3 years ago
^^Why? Landis is probably a more respectable choice than Aronofsky ;-)
i agree with most of the selections here made for the ‘name’ directors, except for John Carpenter(Prince Of Darkness!?!?!) and Theo Angelopoulos(U.Gaze, Eternity and a Day, and The Weeping Meadow would be my 3! Wasn’t too keen on the Stork film).
I wanted to include Zhang Yimou too, but from memory The Story of Qiu Ju wasn’t quite the level of either ‘Raise The Red Lantern’ or ‘To Live’. Could be wrong though.
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Most Overrated Movies over 3 years ago
Traffic – middle of the road, obvious, faux-intellectual, and completely unrealistic. like most S.S movies. I’d much rather watch the drug film Abel Ferrara made around the same time, as flawed as it was, because at least it was authentic( ’R’Xmas’). S.S fits into the same category as Ron Howard IMO. the main difference between the two is that Soderbergh is a smart guy, unlike Howard, but dumbs himself down to make conventional, crowd and critic pleasing films on quasi-controversial topics that have a veneer of ‘sophistication’ about them because of their refusal to judge. The problem is that his films are almost always empty headed. as well as laughable. i honestly found Traffic laughable in places, particularly Michael Douglas and the girl that played his daughter. Her ‘performance’ was terrible.
American Beauty – The Ice Storm did everything this film tried to do better 2 years earlier and then some, and with real genuine affect too.
Requiem For A Dream – just a collection of camera tricks pushed to the extreme. empty characters, empty intentions=empty movie. And although Aronofsky and his supporters claim this is not an ‘anti-drug’ film, he could have fooled me. It honestly plays like Reefer Madness for the MTV generation. It’s the flipside of the same coin.
more to come..
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AVATAR WON BEST PICTURE... over 3 years ago
^^^Haneke is sometimes worth criticising in his ‘artistic integrity’ though, but when he is on, he is REALLY on.
Having said that, he is the hot director right now, and ‘The White Ribbon’ is getting more praise than usual in the U.S, and quite possibly the world, because it’s not as difficult as some of his other films.
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AVATAR WON BEST PICTURE... over 3 years ago
^^^Haneke is sometimes worth criticising in his ‘artistic integrity’ though, but when he is on, he is REALLY on.
Having said that, he is the hot director right now, and ‘The White Ribbon’ is getting more praise than usual in the U.S, and quite possibly the world, because it’s not as difficult as some of his other films.
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Most Overrated Movies over 3 years ago
“Crash (Haggis)
A morally-correct-fetish museum of pretentiousness, dubious faux-intellect, and zero-dimensional characters that are only there to carry an endless black hole of circle-jerking and political dress-up that Haggis apparently considers a plot. Overrated by Ebert, the Oscars, nearly every mainstream Hollywood critic…”
I agree, but what bothered me most about Crash though specifically was how obviously it played the racial tensions card. After seeing the movie, you would believe that in today’s politically correct world that racism is somehow expressed openly, given the ‘appropriate’ circumstance of course, rather than the silent killer it actually is. at least in the Anglo-Saxon world anyway. So not only was it shallow and simplistic, it was also ridiculously false and optimistic.
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AVATAR WON BEST PICTURE... over 3 years ago
^^Dimitris, at least Greece has foreign films that play occasionally at multiplexes. i don’t think that’s very common in America. plus what about all the indie/art theatres? there are still many left in Athens no?
I get your point about popularization through awards though. The director becomes a brand name used to sell a picture and interest is generated through publicity rather than actual content but that’s unfortunately how the machine works. It’s best for serious film fans like us(and by us i’m referring to the entire message board) to engage with the material ourselves, on our own terms, to the best of our ability, without the interference of hype.
As for Underground, BAH!! Ulysses Gaze should have won that year dammit!! ;-)
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The impact of the DVD format over 3 years ago
To own, i prefer dvd, but to rent, video, easily. Dvd’s get scratched and marked too easily, which interferes with the laser.
As for cultural impact, no way that dvd can be compared to video. dvd has no doubt been vital to film lovers such as ourselves, to finally see a great amount of films with pristine transfers, and in their correct aspect ratio, coupled with bonus material, and a huge source of revenue for studios all over the world. The sell through market for videos was not that big outside of the U.S or U.K before dvd. Now every man, woman and child has a movie collection. When i was growing up, i was the freak, the weirdo, yet i know everyday ‘ordinary’ 8-6 guys with 300-500 movies. Some of them have bigger collections than me!!
But video is important in terms of reply value, which undoubtedly changed viewing practices and standards.
Go to Comment
Soderbergh's Decade over 3 years ago
Don’t believe the hype. Gus Van Sant and Jim Jamursch were far more important and influential than S.S. Does S.S even have a style? can he even be called an ‘auteur’ in the proper sense? and by that i don’t simply mean a craftsman either.
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Soderbergh's Decade over 3 years ago
“One look at the series Che, The Girlfriend Experience, and The Informant! will tell you the man has a consistent approach to his material which indicates he is an auteur. "
Maybe i haven’t seen enough of his films, but i don’t pick up a consistent shooting style, or series of styles, or even themes. An auteur is not just a craftsman. that is the common misconception nowadays. And often an auteur phase can be short too, and the director just goes back to making ‘ordinary’ films.
By the classic definition, there are very few auteurs left in cinema today.
Go to Comment
Soderbergh's Decade over 3 years ago
“theres no such thing as an “auteur phase”. you either are or you arent. you cant be almost or half pregnant.”
i disagree. You are right that once an auteur gets a label, it sticks, but directors often make films that do not fit into their any kind of specific place within filmography. What i mean is, their films no longer reflect their obsessions, or at least not obviously.
Cronenberg and Scorsese haven’t really been auteurs in a while IMO. Anybody could have made Gangs Of New York and Aviator IMO.
Go to Comment
Soderbergh's Decade over 3 years ago
“There are few things at this forum more off-putting than the business of dismissing
someone’s comments by bluntly claiming that they haven’t seen enough (insert director here) or otherwise
haven’t done sufficient homework.
(Or homework that matches one’s own preferences.)’
That may be the case though. There are possibly more subtle ways to go about pointing this out though without insulting the person on the other end.
“For example: “This kind of statement can only be made by someone whose thought process is grounded in US-centric paradigm.”
I’d say that considering the grand statement made by the instigator of this thread, that was a fair comment. just as i’m sure that a lot of people here don’t really know what an auteur is yet use the word as a convenient shorthand to defer artistry or greatness onto individuals they like through received opinion. Yet i’m sure most people on here are NOT like that at all.
Having said that, it’s impossible for us to escape our own preferences. we just need to be tolerant. tolerance is hard :-)
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Why has "The Road" not gotten any love? over 3 years ago
how was this film ‘metaphysical’? I haven’t seen it, but what warrants that description?
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Eastern Promises 2??? over 3 years ago
I don’t get how either History Of VIolence or Eastern Promises are serious looks at violence. they are just pretentious genre flicks IMO, and neither are as distinctive or as original as his earlier films. I liked ‘Eastern Promises’, but it felt scenes were missing to me. The trailer, the synopsis and the entire set up, made it feel like Watts character was central, but she was purely a narrative device. She got the ball rolling. after that, she didn’t feel significant at all. I can’t figure out whether she was underwritten or just too broadly played by Watts. i’m guessing it’s a mix of both. Viggo was great thoiugh.
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Soderbergh's Decade over 3 years ago
“you yourself dont really have a solid grasp on what the concept of an auteur is. and youre using it specifically as convenient shorthand!”
No, i’m recognsing that there are phases in director’s careers. that is not a shorthand. It’s acknowledging that a director’s career is more complex than a simple label. The auteur is an inherently reductive concept. Even a lot of the original supporters of the idea eventually turned against it, or at least questioned it, including Bazin. It’s a workable idea, but too often fans try to squeeze as many films as possible into a simple theory and understanding of the director’s work.
Have you read any theories on auteurs btw? Because if you have, you would realise that what i’m saying is not wrong or off the mark at all. I’m talking academic theories. not consulting a book written by Biskin or Ebert or anybody like that.
I did my honours thesis on the role of the auteur in cinema.
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Why has "The Road" not gotten any love? over 3 years ago
“@ Joks – I use the term loosely but a “metaphysical science fiction film” is a film that uses the trappings of the science fiction genre (whether space travel, cyborgs, post-apocalypse,etc) in a metaphorical sense to explore more abstract philosophical questions such as the meaning of existence, the purpose of life, the nature of reality, how human life is defined, etc. Tarkovsky would obviously be at the top of this subgenre but it generally includes most of the good, and almost all of the great, science fiction films like 2001, Blade Runner, etc. Whether you like The Road or not, the film’s concerns are metaphysical (what it means to try to be a moral person in a amoral or immoral world, the nature of parental love, etc,etc.). Moon would be another recent example of such a film.”
i understand what you mean by the genre. I was just curious how it applied to the road. Noit sure if a ‘moral person in an amoral’ world counts as metaphysical though, but are you are right in terms of the nature of reality, the essence of human life etc etc. It definitely applies to all the other films you mentioned. I’ll have to check out The Road to see for myself.
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Why has "The Road" not gotten any love? over 3 years ago
“@ Joks – to me, this question is metaphysical because it explores the nature of human morality. What does it mean to be “one of the good guys” “keeping the fire?””
yep, i see your point, and Kant defined his morals in metaphysical terms too. It’s just more customary to learn and read about metaphysics in terms of reality and being, and time and the ‘soul’(ontological substance etc) etc etc. I agree with you the inquiry can definitely be understood in those terms. But morals tend to be understand more in terms of actions rather than feelings or sentiment but the question of where these feelings stem from, and where this desire to be good or do good originates, is open to such a debate.thanks for clarifying.
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Hiding out in the open over 3 years ago
“Of course, we know the failure of Georges and Majid to confront their inter-related past is connected in Haneke’s own mind as a distinct metaphor for the failure of the French government to honestly reveal or deal with the real massacre of Algerians in Paris (Paris massacre of 1961 – see the wiki article on the film for the link) that is the central point of Haneke’s film.”
that was the point of the film. it was more about effects than ‘intent’, so to speak. I honestly believe the question of who sent the tapes is a ruse, and Haneke is having the last laugh.
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blu-ray is kinda bullshit over 3 years ago
I got my blu-ray player free with my new LCD around 6 months ago and i barely watch. Yes the quaity difference is noticeable, esp on a good television, but the loading times, firmware updates etc, make it offputting for me, plus the higher unit costs of the discs themselves. As the industry is in flux right now, and blu-ray occupies a small but increasing percentage of the market, it’s difficult to say whether the format will go the distance, and until i know for sure, i’m holding back on investing in it heavily for the time being.
i own 15 discs, that’s all. I’d own a lot more of Criterion blu-rays were not locked. Stupid movie, considering their fanbase is international. I can play regular dvd’s no problem, but not blu-ray.
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Interested in restrained horror films over 3 years ago
Nosferatu – Herzog
The Devil’s Backbone – Del Toro.
the rest haven’t already been mentioned.
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Interested in restrained horror films over 3 years ago
Vampyr too.
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Hiding out in the open over 3 years ago
“Maybe there is a didactic Austrian director who will stick his finger in the eye of French history, but that isn’t Haneke.”
why not? he certainly wasn’t above poking the eyes of a certain kind of viewer with Funny Games now was he? There is definitely an element of soapbox finger waving about Hidden, just like with Funny Games. Whenever Haneke makes a genre film, i always feel it. ‘HERE IS SOMETHING COLONIAL GUILT TO GO WITH IT!’ etc etc.
i agree there is probably more to it, but don’t act as if Haneke is above cheap provocation just because he is a ‘smart’ director. A good percentage of his films are basically middle fingers to the bourgeousie.
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Called the greatest World War II movie ever.... over 3 years ago
“This movie is one of two movies that have been the closest I’ve ever come to feeling like I was watching a dream, the other being Maya Deren’s Meshes in the Afternoon. The scene when the boy is stuck in the bog just set off my, “I’m trying to run but not going anywhere wake up wake up wake up!” dream reaction, hardcore. The sound design is brilliant too, thinking of post-rock/noise/weird music.”
The bog scene is unforgettable. no doubt.
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