The real question: why aren’t we all obsessed with incest? We all enjoy sex and we all spend a lot of time with families (both of which are recurring themes in Bergman films) so…?
Tailor Of Panama – John Boorman has made some odd films but this is one of his best. An intelligent and entertaining spy film for those who don’t usually enjoy such films.
Another nod for Seconds. I accidentally caught it in the early 90s while watching a cable channel and I thought it showcases the 60s-style paranoia than something like The Manchurian Candidate.
Blow up – Kiarostami does not get the credit he deserves and this is one of his fine films: funny, sad, frightening, thought-provoking and a must for cinephiles.
My (obvious) choice is 8 1/2. It is what I would show to an alien who wants to understand the the richness and layering of the art of filmmaking. Oh yeah, it’s themes are also very ‘appealing’.
Spellbound
Lessons of Darkness
My best Fiend
Nuit et Brouillard
Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse
Cinevardaphoto
Buena Vista Social Club
Man with the Movie Camera
Elegy of a Voyage (Sokurov)
These are all ‘nonfiction’ films and some of them could be considered ‘essay films’…
I think there is a difference between bad directors and overrated directors. One can be an average director or even a good director and can be overrated.
Among the older generation, Ford is an example. He has made some very good films but there is a tendency among critics to rate him as high as, for example, people like Antonioni, Fellini, Bergman, Tarkovsky, etc. (I even saw The Searchers a second time to make sure that I am not being unfair to him.)
Among the recent filmmakers, Coppola to some extent. Godfather I II are obviously overrated.
Tarantino makes very ordinary films but, I think, he is probably highly rated only among those who don’t see a wide variety of films.
I wouldn’t call Spielberg or Lucas overrated since they are not critically acclaimed among, um, higher brow critics. They have made some entertaining films with very little beneath the surface…
Both Wes Anderson and PT Anderson are not bad filmmakers but are way overrated. The frog movie is unwatchably poor except for Tom Cruise’s character.
David Lynch to some extent. I do like some of his films. Mulholland Drive is excellent, for example, but Eraserhead is meh.
Among the foreign filmmakers, Catherine Breillat and Lukas Moodysson makes decent films but their critical appeal is baffling.
Altman has made some fine films. In addition to the justifiably acclaimed MASH and Nashville, Gosford park, The Player and 3 women are very interesting. Tanner ‘88 is one of the best things on the political process. McCabe and Mrs Miller is one of the most under-appreciated westerns. He has also made some very ordinary films. A Prairie Home Companion is a uncomplimentary end to a fine career but even there you can’t fault his directorial skills.
I think Kubrick and Godard (and to some extent Bergman) are hated by some as a backlash which is fine since that’s what this thread is about. A lot of people start watching their films when they take their first step towards true cinephiledom: if you ask most twenty-something arty hip wannabes who their favorite filmmaker is, it is fashionable to utter their names. Both have made some good films: The Shining, 2001, Paths of Glory & Barry Lyndon for Kubrick and Contempt, Vivre sa vie, Pierrot le fou, Bande à part, Une femme est une femme & Éloge de l’amour for Godard (among the ones I have seen).
That said, for the number of films he has made, the God-like reverence some people have towards Godard is surprising. I liked Breathless for its style the first time I saw it. I had to walk out of it the second time though so I can understand the complaints.
Almost all documentaries are made from a particular point of view, especially the films of Michael Moore. He is a polemic filmmaker who, like almost all documentarians, chooses to present certain facts (but his films are entertaining, I must admit).
I haven’t seen Sicko but I find the comments of Hitchens to be a ‘double ironic’. If people who are going to see Sicko are getting brainwashed, using the same argument, everyone who reads Hitchens are also getting brainwashed since, according to his assumptions, we are not capable of critical thinking and we are just passive absorbers. Silly argument…
Also, what is the context of Castro’s daughter in the film? Is she trying to sell Cuba as a paradise or is she saying that Cuba has better medical care on the average? (I know that Moore’s claim about Cuba is controversial.) Regardless of it, Hitchens appears to be merely whining about Moore giving a platform to Fidel’s daughter! Again, this is quite ironic. Should we live like Soviet Union (and Cuba?) and censor people from having avenues to express their ideas or are we going to be an open society so that we can discuss all opinions freely?
In other words, Hitchens complains about Moores being selective but Hitchens then also wants Moores to be selective when it comes to certain things. I like Hitchens but he is being absurd here.
A thought provoking story about human condition, a plot that arranges the story in an intriguing manner, acting that serves to convey the story and filmmakers (art directors to music directors) working with a masterful director to bring the story to us in the most suitable manner considering the limitations of the budget and the freedom (and limitations) of the medium.
Re. the difference between normal films and documentaries, it is a useful separation/categorization that help us communicate. Most human beings who have seen a reasonable number of films would categorize ‘Gattaca’ and ‘Man with the Movie Camera’, for example, as different types of films. Why?
What exactly is reality? Does any film reflect reality? A film is just a set of flickering images that our brains comprehend to be moving pictures anyway… ;-)
If you are the type who can, um, resist the calls of nature for over 7 hours, try to watch it Satantango in one sitting. I have been at two screenings so far. One had a single 15 minute break and the other had two 10 minute breaks. Bela Tarr was present at the beginning of the second screening and he didn’t burn the theater down so I guess he was ok about it.
But, yes, do try to watch it in a single day with limited interruptions (and a pot of coffee next to you) if you can. It is a fine cinematic experience if you can see a pristine copy on the big screen.
Btw, if you are unfamiliar with the works of Bela Tarr (who has inspired most of Gus Van Sant’s recent films), try seeing something like Werckmeister Harmonies first. He is not everyone’s cup of tea.
I was an average film-goer consuming typical Hollywood films. I don’t think I even knew that indie films existed. On a cold and snowy night, I wanted to take a break from doing homework at my University’s library but the weather discouraged me from wandering outdoors so this unsuspecting and innocent teenager walked into the next screening of our student-run film program with no knowledge about what he was going to see.
I was refreshed, or I should say, shocked by this movie’s explicitness and how this low-budget film handled the subject matter in a manner that was very alien to anything I had seen before. Thus started my odyssey, my dear readers, and here I am…
I would also add:
CLOSE UP (Kiarostami)
THE MIRROR (Panahi)
SALAAM CINEMA (Makhmalbaf)
(Yes, the Iranians are big on self-reflexive films)
LES GLANEURS ET LA GLANEUSE (Varda)
MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA (Vertov)
First, split your narration into segments. You can always add ambient and/or room sound at the beginning and/or end (or even in between narration) since it doesn’t have to continuous. Narration doesn’t have to start exactly when a shot starts or ends (depending on how you write it?). See Night and Fog by Resnais, for example.
It does help to record the narration as you are watching the rough cut footage as Chris says.
The Auteurs "Sight & Sound" Poll over 3 years ago
Add me to the list and yes, how do I participate in the poll?
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Who do you read? over 3 years ago
Moby Dick – Melville
Consciousness Explained – Dennett
Cat’s Eye – Atwood
Collected Poems – Atwood
A Roadside Attraction – Robbins
The Trial – Kafka
Contact – Sagan
Flight of the Icarus – Queneau
Open Secrets – Munroe
Tropic of Cancer – Miller
Mason & Dixon – Pynchon
Chaos – Gleick
Childhood’s End – Clarke
Selected Poems – Rilke
The Captain’s Verses – Neruda
Neuromancer – Gibson
Calvin and Hobbes – Watterson
How to Discuss Books That One Hasn’t Read – Bayard
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Can someone explain to me... over 3 years ago
The real question: why aren’t we all obsessed with incest? We all enjoy sex and we all spend a lot of time with families (both of which are recurring themes in Bergman films) so…?
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Recommend some Light Hearted/Uplifting/Feel Good FOREIGN Movies over 3 years ago
Some of the earlier Godard films are not depressing. A lot of French New Wave is playful and fun.
Many films by Almodovar, Bunuel and Rohmer are lighthearted.
Also check out films like Mes petites amoureuses (Eustache), Same Old Song (Resnais) & 8 femmes (Ozon).
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WHO IS / WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FILM ACTRESS EVER? over 3 years ago
Recently Maggie Cheung, Virginie Ledoyen, Penelope Cruz, Juliette Binoche, (pre-anorexic) Uma Thurman and Emmanuelle Beart
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Can someone explain to me... over 3 years ago
You also have to consider the fact that Freud was the rage among the intellectual classes during most of the 20th century.
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A Random Film You Like over 3 years ago
Tailor Of Panama – John Boorman has made some odd films but this is one of his best. An intelligent and entertaining spy film for those who don’t usually enjoy such films.
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FREEZE FRAMES IN FILMS over 3 years ago
Wasn’t there a freeze frame a moment before the rewind in Haneke’s ‘Funny Games’? ;-)
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Mindfuck Films over 3 years ago
Another nod for Seconds. I accidentally caught it in the early 90s while watching a cable channel and I thought it showcases the 60s-style paranoia than something like The Manchurian Candidate.
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What is the worst movie ever (2000-2009) over 3 years ago
The Dark Knight
King Kong (once we get to the island)
Be Kind Rewind (which made Science of Sleep look better…!)
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Mindfuck Films over 3 years ago
Also:
Persona
Cache
Funny Games
Close up (Kiarostami)
Total Recall
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Films that are better than the books that they are are based on over 3 years ago
Blade Runner?! The film was so overrated that I didn’t read the novella for a long time – a mistake.
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A Random Film You Like over 3 years ago
Blow up – Kiarostami does not get the credit he deserves and this is one of his fine films: funny, sad, frightening, thought-provoking and a must for cinephiles.
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what makes Orwellian Science fiction the best kind of science fiction? over 3 years ago
Brazil
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If you had to pick ONE film as your favorite... over 3 years ago
There are a lot of good choices above.
My (obvious) choice is 8 1/2. It is what I would show to an alien who wants to understand the the richness and layering of the art of filmmaking. Oh yeah, it’s themes are also very ‘appealing’.
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Mindfuck Films over 3 years ago
Elements of Crime – One of Lars von Trier’s best, if not the best, and often overlooked film.
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Any good documentaries out there? over 3 years ago
Spellbound
Lessons of Darkness
My best Fiend
Nuit et Brouillard
Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse
Cinevardaphoto
Buena Vista Social Club
Man with the Movie Camera
Elegy of a Voyage (Sokurov)
These are all ‘nonfiction’ films and some of them could be considered ‘essay films’…
Go to Comment
Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 3 years ago
I think there is a difference between bad directors and overrated directors. One can be an average director or even a good director and can be overrated.
Among the older generation, Ford is an example. He has made some very good films but there is a tendency among critics to rate him as high as, for example, people like Antonioni, Fellini, Bergman, Tarkovsky, etc. (I even saw The Searchers a second time to make sure that I am not being unfair to him.)
Among the recent filmmakers, Coppola to some extent. Godfather I II are obviously overrated.
Tarantino makes very ordinary films but, I think, he is probably highly rated only among those who don’t see a wide variety of films.
I wouldn’t call Spielberg or Lucas overrated since they are not critically acclaimed among, um, higher brow critics. They have made some entertaining films with very little beneath the surface…
Both Wes Anderson and PT Anderson are not bad filmmakers but are way overrated. The frog movie is unwatchably poor except for Tom Cruise’s character.
David Lynch to some extent. I do like some of his films. Mulholland Drive is excellent, for example, but Eraserhead is meh.
Among the foreign filmmakers, Catherine Breillat and Lukas Moodysson makes decent films but their critical appeal is baffling.
Go to Comment
Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 3 years ago
Altman has made some fine films. In addition to the justifiably acclaimed MASH and Nashville, Gosford park, The Player and 3 women are very interesting. Tanner ‘88 is one of the best things on the political process. McCabe and Mrs Miller is one of the most under-appreciated westerns. He has also made some very ordinary films. A Prairie Home Companion is a uncomplimentary end to a fine career but even there you can’t fault his directorial skills.
Go to Comment
Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 3 years ago
I think Kubrick and Godard (and to some extent Bergman) are hated by some as a backlash which is fine since that’s what this thread is about. A lot of people start watching their films when they take their first step towards true cinephiledom: if you ask most twenty-something arty hip wannabes who their favorite filmmaker is, it is fashionable to utter their names. Both have made some good films: The Shining, 2001, Paths of Glory & Barry Lyndon for Kubrick and Contempt, Vivre sa vie, Pierrot le fou, Bande à part, Une femme est une femme & Éloge de l’amour for Godard (among the ones I have seen).
That said, for the number of films he has made, the God-like reverence some people have towards Godard is surprising. I liked Breathless for its style the first time I saw it. I had to walk out of it the second time though so I can understand the complaints.
Go to Comment
what makes Orwellian Science fiction the best kind of science fiction? over 3 years ago
Almost all documentaries are made from a particular point of view, especially the films of Michael Moore. He is a polemic filmmaker who, like almost all documentarians, chooses to present certain facts (but his films are entertaining, I must admit).
I haven’t seen Sicko but I find the comments of Hitchens to be a ‘double ironic’. If people who are going to see Sicko are getting brainwashed, using the same argument, everyone who reads Hitchens are also getting brainwashed since, according to his assumptions, we are not capable of critical thinking and we are just passive absorbers. Silly argument…
Also, what is the context of Castro’s daughter in the film? Is she trying to sell Cuba as a paradise or is she saying that Cuba has better medical care on the average? (I know that Moore’s claim about Cuba is controversial.) Regardless of it, Hitchens appears to be merely whining about Moore giving a platform to Fidel’s daughter! Again, this is quite ironic. Should we live like Soviet Union (and Cuba?) and censor people from having avenues to express their ideas or are we going to be an open society so that we can discuss all opinions freely?
In other words, Hitchens complains about Moores being selective but Hitchens then also wants Moores to be selective when it comes to certain things. I like Hitchens but he is being absurd here.
Go to Comment
What makes a film great? over 3 years ago
A thought provoking story about human condition, a plot that arranges the story in an intriguing manner, acting that serves to convey the story and filmmakers (art directors to music directors) working with a masterful director to bring the story to us in the most suitable manner considering the limitations of the budget and the freedom (and limitations) of the medium.
Go to Comment
Any good documentaries out there? over 3 years ago
Re. the difference between normal films and documentaries, it is a useful separation/categorization that help us communicate. Most human beings who have seen a reasonable number of films would categorize ‘Gattaca’ and ‘Man with the Movie Camera’, for example, as different types of films. Why?
What exactly is reality? Does any film reflect reality? A film is just a set of flickering images that our brains comprehend to be moving pictures anyway… ;-)
Go to Comment
Greatest Movie of All Time over 3 years ago
If you are the type who can, um, resist the calls of nature for over 7 hours, try to watch it Satantango in one sitting. I have been at two screenings so far. One had a single 15 minute break and the other had two 10 minute breaks. Bela Tarr was present at the beginning of the second screening and he didn’t burn the theater down so I guess he was ok about it.
But, yes, do try to watch it in a single day with limited interruptions (and a pot of coffee next to you) if you can. It is a fine cinematic experience if you can see a pristine copy on the big screen.
Go to Comment
Greatest Movie of All Time over 3 years ago
Btw, if you are unfamiliar with the works of Bela Tarr (who has inspired most of Gus Van Sant’s recent films), try seeing something like Werckmeister Harmonies first. He is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Go to Comment
movies that shake you to the core over 3 years ago
COME AND SEE (Klimov)
A must see film for all human beings.
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What is your most memorable film going experience? (Only one per post please!) over 3 years ago
WORKING GIRLS (Borden)
I was an average film-goer consuming typical Hollywood films. I don’t think I even knew that indie films existed. On a cold and snowy night, I wanted to take a break from doing homework at my University’s library but the weather discouraged me from wandering outdoors so this unsuspecting and innocent teenager walked into the next screening of our student-run film program with no knowledge about what he was going to see.
I was refreshed, or I should say, shocked by this movie’s explicitness and how this low-budget film handled the subject matter in a manner that was very alien to anything I had seen before. Thus started my odyssey, my dear readers, and here I am…
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YOUR FAVORITE SILENT FILM, PLEASE. over 3 years ago
Vampyr
Man with the Movie Camera
City Lights
Modern Times
M
Pandora’s Box
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Best Film About Film? over 3 years ago
Lots of good films so far….
I would also add:
CLOSE UP (Kiarostami)
THE MIRROR (Panahi)
SALAAM CINEMA (Makhmalbaf)
(Yes, the Iranians are big on self-reflexive films)
LES GLANEURS ET LA GLANEUSE (Varda)
MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA (Vertov)
Go to Comment
Narration? over 3 years ago
First, split your narration into segments. You can always add ambient and/or room sound at the beginning and/or end (or even in between narration) since it doesn’t have to continuous. Narration doesn’t have to start exactly when a shot starts or ends (depending on how you write it?). See Night and Fog by Resnais, for example.
It does help to record the narration as you are watching the rough cut footage as Chris says.
Go to Comment