This is a truly remarkable film, and has been left lingering in my mind since I first saw it last December. As powerful as it is steeped with intense melancholy, as bittersweet as it is brilliantly, technically innovative, and as perceptive about life, time, existence, and love as it is hauntingly tragic. Stunning visuals, terrific acting, and a true master’s direction add up to one of the most memorable and intensely profound films of the decade. Very glad this film is coming out on Criterion!
It’s definitely flawed. Too long, the pacing is inconsistent, but it’s such a beautiful movie with a real ethereal, transcendent feeling that seems to reach beyond simple words. It’s a mood piece, front and center, and as it enchants it also says some really somber things about life, death, our simultaneous need and repulsion of time, the very nature of time as an artificial construct, the fragility and cyclical nature of a living creature’s existence… it’s so nuanced and layered with these cosmic quandaries that it just sweeps you away… past the flaws. At least it did for me.
Sorry, I just wanted to start a thread that wasn’t mindlessly bashing this film. Can’t we have a positive thread around here, or is that too much to ask?
Well I am new here and all I saw were two negative threads (“Why aren’t 17 Again and Hannah Montana on Criterion?!,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Criterion. Why?!”) so I thought I would start a positive one defending a film I happen to really love. Apologies if I caused trouble!
The prime example of film as an art form front and center, a joyous, kaleidoscopic salutation to moving pictures and their unparalleled ability to convey and elicit the most powerful of human emotions. Spectacularly compelling, overwhelmingly forceful, a supremely innovative, endlessly original biopic investigating the mind of an artist… who he is hardly matters, but in this case he is the insanely brilliant and brilliantly insane Japanese author/playwright Yukio Mishima. Exploring his exhausted, contradictory, and impossibly searching psyche, the film weaves in and out of real life and imagination while illustrating in otherworldly bursts of color his famous published works. The visuals in this movie are unlike anything else, magnificently composed, flawlessly designed set pieces and aesthetics that build in exquisite structure before your eyes like rapidly evolving origami, taking on shapes and reproducing colors that form collage-like symphonies and spellbinding operatic movements. Topped with a transcendent score from Philip Glass, Mishima’s eternal desire to have his life imitate his art, and vice-versa, has finally become true.
Absolutely brilliant, and a shame it’s so under-appreciated.
Wow, Farjad. If you would quit making such stupid preconceived notions you might know that Bergman and Fellini are my two absolute favorite directors (along with Spielberg) and that Kubrick’s “2001” is among my ten favorite movies of all time. Don’t start judging people based off silly prejudices.
But it’s more than just looking nice and pretty; it’s a beautifully, almost unbearably somber portrait of souls caught in the midst of life’s most crippling, intrinsic struggles… the ever omnipresent artificial stricture of time, a concept that cannot be detained or defeated, but one that must be accepted with quiet apathy; a unique, inevitably pressing force that is simultaneously a necessity in our lives and a great hindrance, even a fear. The film takes a brilliantly perceptive and, dare I say, spiritually enlightening look at this transcendent process and renders it all in deeply moving strokes.
It’s not just a pretty picture; it’s a dense, deeply observed life experience.
Yeah, don’t even try to decipher it. It’s art at its best and most expressive… let its wild morbid fantasia of surreal, self-reflexive psychological mind-bending kaleidoscopic images satiate your mind. Walk into a dark room after watching it and just let your head spin with its provocative, cerebral immensity. It’s a movie about feeling and scope rather than conscious clarity…
… almost as if you were dreaming the whole thing yourself…
The ones in “Cría Cuervos” are especially potent because they are mixed so seamlessly – quite spookily, really – with reality.
I’d also mention the horrifying ones in Bergman’s “Hour of the Wolf” and the very bittersweet, quietly idyllic scattered dreams through Tarkovsky’s “Ivan’s Childhood.”
Note: all movies mentioned in the following post are merely personal examples and are not meant to be presented as fact. Even though my opinions are clearly of the superior sort.
You all know the feeling; watching a well-regarded, widely acknowledged “great film” which by the end delivers the high quality goods, if not quite the requisite emotional response to push it over the top. You admire the craft, the thought-provoking themes, sometimes the superb acting and immaculate direction, but approaching it from a personal level of feeling seems to be almost impossible (“Au Hasard Balthazar,” “The Rules of the Game,” “Breathless”). Even movies you say are your favorites, but ones that feel distant, disconnected, cold – however intentional (“Barry Lyndon,” “Vertigo,” “L’Avventura”). It’s that sort of empty feeling, that complete emotional removal that always keeps you at arm’s length from actually LOVING these “great” films.
The question is, how do you place these kinds of films side-by-side with films that profoundly resonate and touch you? Do you in the first place? Do you acknowledge that there are films you feel more moved by than others, but at the same time acknowledge they’re not as well made or worthy as those that are impeccably crafted but leave you cold? Or do films that pull at your heart automatically triumph above those that don’t? For instance, I’d have no trouble declaring “Thumbsucker” or “E.T.” more personally affecting to me than, say, “The Seventh Seal” or “Grand Illusion.” But should they then be better films?
It’s about impassioned personal response versus an accepted, collective way of thinking, although one that often times leads to an intellectual yet bloodless response. How do you differentiate between the two?
Yeah, that’s a hassle too. Then you feel like you totally missed something because the whole word is shouting its praises. That’s “Tokyo Story” for me.
“Millions”
“Little Miss Sunshine”
“Thumbsucker”
“Billy Elliot”
Although the magnitude of these film’s power to uplift will depend upon your personal tastes. I know “Thumbsucker” especially isn’t appreciated by very many people, but it’s one that struck a deep nerve with me.
EDIT: Hah, I take full blame for not reading your whole post. These aren’t exactly dark films. ;)
Anything by Buñuel or Lynch, also Scorsese’s Kafkaesque, Lynchian “After Hours.” Fellini and “Juliet of the Spirits,” also Bergman with “Persona” and “The Silence.”
Movies make me cry all the time, and I don’t hide that. It’s a beautiful thing when art becomes so powerful as to provide a sort of emotional catharsis for all your feelings; it just makes the film all the more personal and special.
The movies that really got to me:
“Boys Don’t Cry” – the last 15 minutes or so. Horrifically depressing stuff, and you just sit there and watch how these human beings are able to commit such unforgivable atrocities unto another. The film builds up to this one draining moment, and at the end you’re left breathless. And drowning in tears.
“Thumbsucker” – I acknowledge I’m probably the only one, but the ending profoundly moved me. It’s kind of a case of right movie at the right time, as I watched this being the same age as the main character and could relate tremendously to his uncertainty and frustration, not to mention his eventual departure from his parents (very tender topic) and release into the “real world” at the very closing. I felt as if I were watching the next stage in my life unfold right before me.
“The Lord of the Rings” – all three of them. Out of pure bliss, joy, and unimaginable happiness. It’s the kind of films where the storytelling and visual splendor is just so magnificent, so transcendent, you can’t help but be overwhelmed with emotion. And the characters are just so damn lovable.
“A.I. Artificial Intelligence” – you know, I could probably list a dozen Spielberg films here. I don’t give a crap what anyone says about his “sentimentality” – the dude knows emotion and knows how to convey it beautifully. Again, what really got me here was the whole mother-son angle, which by the end is both shattering and amazingly lovely.
“Milk” – man, that denouement. I sobbed like a little baby all throughout his horrifying assassination up until that breath-taking candlelight vigil, shown first as spectacular recreation then made exponentially more significant and powerful with the real-life footage, people lined up down the streets as far as the eye can see. The emotions here, not to mention the story, will resonate and be topical for as long as humans exist.
I agree, very underwhelmed. Carey Mulligan was great, I thought, and Alfred Molina stole all his scenes from his cast mates, but the movie is just too darn safe, too predictable, too rushed. It’s the kind of sweet, innocuous film I could see many older people just falling for, but for me I prefer some bite to my movies, some real dramatic intrigue. This was a typical coming-of-age story that is pretty much what you see is what you get. A solid 95 minutes, but I certainly wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near approaching greatness.
It’s a wonderful movie and one of the most unique, visually captivating film in recent memory. The images take on an almost otherworldly lucidity that at times feels like a spiritual out-of-body-experience. Haunting.
Beautifully put, Josh. I adored its extraordinary ability to capture both the wonderment and frustration of being a growing child, and done in a way that carries that theme through images that evoke our imaginations.
Such a fantastic film about 3 years ago
This is a truly remarkable film, and has been left lingering in my mind since I first saw it last December. As powerful as it is steeped with intense melancholy, as bittersweet as it is brilliantly, technically innovative, and as perceptive about life, time, existence, and love as it is hauntingly tragic. Stunning visuals, terrific acting, and a true master’s direction add up to one of the most memorable and intensely profound films of the decade. Very glad this film is coming out on Criterion!
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Such a fantastic film about 3 years ago
It’s definitely flawed. Too long, the pacing is inconsistent, but it’s such a beautiful movie with a real ethereal, transcendent feeling that seems to reach beyond simple words. It’s a mood piece, front and center, and as it enchants it also says some really somber things about life, death, our simultaneous need and repulsion of time, the very nature of time as an artificial construct, the fragility and cyclical nature of a living creature’s existence… it’s so nuanced and layered with these cosmic quandaries that it just sweeps you away… past the flaws. At least it did for me.
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Such a fantastic film about 3 years ago
Sorry, I just wanted to start a thread that wasn’t mindlessly bashing this film. Can’t we have a positive thread around here, or is that too much to ask?
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Such a fantastic film about 3 years ago
Well I am new here and all I saw were two negative threads (“Why aren’t 17 Again and Hannah Montana on Criterion?!,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Criterion. Why?!”) so I thought I would start a positive one defending a film I happen to really love. Apologies if I caused trouble!
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Mishima: A Masterpiece almost 3 years ago
The prime example of film as an art form front and center, a joyous, kaleidoscopic salutation to moving pictures and their unparalleled ability to convey and elicit the most powerful of human emotions. Spectacularly compelling, overwhelmingly forceful, a supremely innovative, endlessly original biopic investigating the mind of an artist… who he is hardly matters, but in this case he is the insanely brilliant and brilliantly insane Japanese author/playwright Yukio Mishima. Exploring his exhausted, contradictory, and impossibly searching psyche, the film weaves in and out of real life and imagination while illustrating in otherworldly bursts of color his famous published works. The visuals in this movie are unlike anything else, magnificently composed, flawlessly designed set pieces and aesthetics that build in exquisite structure before your eyes like rapidly evolving origami, taking on shapes and reproducing colors that form collage-like symphonies and spellbinding operatic movements. Topped with a transcendent score from Philip Glass, Mishima’s eternal desire to have his life imitate his art, and vice-versa, has finally become true.
Absolutely brilliant, and a shame it’s so under-appreciated.
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Such a fantastic film almost 3 years ago
Wow, Farjad. If you would quit making such stupid preconceived notions you might know that Bergman and Fellini are my two absolute favorite directors (along with Spielberg) and that Kubrick’s “2001” is among my ten favorite movies of all time. Don’t start judging people based off silly prejudices.
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Such a fantastic film almost 3 years ago
And if you pressed my name and saw my profile you would see that, as well, along with a huge picture of Ingmar Bergman plastered right on the front.
Way to go.
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Robert Bresson almost 3 years ago
I’ve only seen “Au Hasard Balthazar,” and was underwhelmed. Don’t think Bresson is for me.
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IF WE IGNORE 81/2 AND DOLCE VITA, WHAT'D BE THE BEST FELLINI MOVIE? almost 3 years ago
Neither of those are even his best in the first place. It’s “Nights of Cabiria” all the way.
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Quick Question About The Passion of Joan of Arc almost 3 years ago
Woah woah woah. The music is absolutely brilliant with it… gives it a whole new level of transcendent beauty.
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Alien vs. Aliens almost 3 years ago
ALIENS, also the greatest action film ever made.
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Ingmar Bergman makes a war movie... almost 3 years ago
It’s one of his top five films, for sure, from the best director ever.
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Such a fantastic film almost 3 years ago
But it’s more than just looking nice and pretty; it’s a beautifully, almost unbearably somber portrait of souls caught in the midst of life’s most crippling, intrinsic struggles… the ever omnipresent artificial stricture of time, a concept that cannot be detained or defeated, but one that must be accepted with quiet apathy; a unique, inevitably pressing force that is simultaneously a necessity in our lives and a great hindrance, even a fear. The film takes a brilliantly perceptive and, dare I say, spiritually enlightening look at this transcendent process and renders it all in deeply moving strokes.
It’s not just a pretty picture; it’s a dense, deeply observed life experience.
Go to Comment
What's Your Thematic Interpretation Of Mulholland Drive ? almost 3 years ago
Yeah, don’t even try to decipher it. It’s art at its best and most expressive… let its wild morbid fantasia of surreal, self-reflexive psychological mind-bending kaleidoscopic images satiate your mind. Walk into a dark room after watching it and just let your head spin with its provocative, cerebral immensity. It’s a movie about feeling and scope rather than conscious clarity…
… almost as if you were dreaming the whole thing yourself…
Go to Comment
Best Dream Sequence in a film? almost 3 years ago
The ones in “Cría Cuervos” are especially potent because they are mixed so seamlessly – quite spookily, really – with reality.
I’d also mention the horrifying ones in Bergman’s “Hour of the Wolf” and the very bittersweet, quietly idyllic scattered dreams through Tarkovsky’s “Ivan’s Childhood.”
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CONTEMPORARY FILMS THAT HAVE A 70S VIBE almost 3 years ago
An obvious one is “Michael Clayton.”
“The Wrestler” for sure, too. Good choice.
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was bergman mad? almost 3 years ago
Yes – brilliantly, ferociously, fantastically mad. The best of them are.
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Andrew Dominik: Visionary or Wannabe? almost 3 years ago
Based solely on “Jesse James”… visionary. One of the most spellbinding films of the decade and, yes, one of the greatest.
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how do you describe Criterion Collection to the unintiated? almost 3 years ago
That every other DVD looks like crap compared.
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A Serious Man (2009, Joel/Ethan Coen) Trailer almost 3 years ago
I think it looks fantastic. And I absolutely loved “Burn After Reading.”
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Movies you LOVE vs. movies you RESPECT almost 3 years ago
Note: all movies mentioned in the following post are merely personal examples and are not meant to be presented as fact. Even though my opinions are clearly of the superior sort.
You all know the feeling; watching a well-regarded, widely acknowledged “great film” which by the end delivers the high quality goods, if not quite the requisite emotional response to push it over the top. You admire the craft, the thought-provoking themes, sometimes the superb acting and immaculate direction, but approaching it from a personal level of feeling seems to be almost impossible (“Au Hasard Balthazar,” “The Rules of the Game,” “Breathless”). Even movies you say are your favorites, but ones that feel distant, disconnected, cold – however intentional (“Barry Lyndon,” “Vertigo,” “L’Avventura”). It’s that sort of empty feeling, that complete emotional removal that always keeps you at arm’s length from actually LOVING these “great” films.
The question is, how do you place these kinds of films side-by-side with films that profoundly resonate and touch you? Do you in the first place? Do you acknowledge that there are films you feel more moved by than others, but at the same time acknowledge they’re not as well made or worthy as those that are impeccably crafted but leave you cold? Or do films that pull at your heart automatically triumph above those that don’t? For instance, I’d have no trouble declaring “Thumbsucker” or “E.T.” more personally affecting to me than, say, “The Seventh Seal” or “Grand Illusion.” But should they then be better films?
It’s about impassioned personal response versus an accepted, collective way of thinking, although one that often times leads to an intellectual yet bloodless response. How do you differentiate between the two?
Go to Comment
Movies you LOVE vs. movies you RESPECT almost 3 years ago
Yeah, that’s a hassle too. Then you feel like you totally missed something because the whole word is shouting its praises. That’s “Tokyo Story” for me.
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Movies you LOVE vs. movies you RESPECT almost 3 years ago
I can’t stand “Pierrot le Fou.”
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Deeply Uplifting Films almost 3 years ago
“Millions”
“Little Miss Sunshine”
“Thumbsucker”
“Billy Elliot”
Although the magnitude of these film’s power to uplift will depend upon your personal tastes. I know “Thumbsucker” especially isn’t appreciated by very many people, but it’s one that struck a deep nerve with me.
EDIT: Hah, I take full blame for not reading your whole post. These aren’t exactly dark films. ;)
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Best Surreal Films? almost 3 years ago
Anything by Buñuel or Lynch, also Scorsese’s Kafkaesque, Lynchian “After Hours.” Fellini and “Juliet of the Spirits,” also Bergman with “Persona” and “The Silence.”
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What film scenes really make you cry? almost 3 years ago
Movies make me cry all the time, and I don’t hide that. It’s a beautiful thing when art becomes so powerful as to provide a sort of emotional catharsis for all your feelings; it just makes the film all the more personal and special.
The movies that really got to me:
“Boys Don’t Cry” – the last 15 minutes or so. Horrifically depressing stuff, and you just sit there and watch how these human beings are able to commit such unforgivable atrocities unto another. The film builds up to this one draining moment, and at the end you’re left breathless. And drowning in tears.
“Thumbsucker” – I acknowledge I’m probably the only one, but the ending profoundly moved me. It’s kind of a case of right movie at the right time, as I watched this being the same age as the main character and could relate tremendously to his uncertainty and frustration, not to mention his eventual departure from his parents (very tender topic) and release into the “real world” at the very closing. I felt as if I were watching the next stage in my life unfold right before me.
“The Lord of the Rings” – all three of them. Out of pure bliss, joy, and unimaginable happiness. It’s the kind of films where the storytelling and visual splendor is just so magnificent, so transcendent, you can’t help but be overwhelmed with emotion. And the characters are just so damn lovable.
“A.I. Artificial Intelligence” – you know, I could probably list a dozen Spielberg films here. I don’t give a crap what anyone says about his “sentimentality” – the dude knows emotion and knows how to convey it beautifully. Again, what really got me here was the whole mother-son angle, which by the end is both shattering and amazingly lovely.
“Milk” – man, that denouement. I sobbed like a little baby all throughout his horrifying assassination up until that breath-taking candlelight vigil, shown first as spectacular recreation then made exponentially more significant and powerful with the real-life footage, people lined up down the streets as far as the eye can see. The emotions here, not to mention the story, will resonate and be topical for as long as humans exist.
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GI Joe > District 9 over 2 years ago
Uhhhmm… wow.
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ANYONE ELSE DISAPPOINTED over 2 years ago
I agree, very underwhelmed. Carey Mulligan was great, I thought, and Alfred Molina stole all his scenes from his cast mates, but the movie is just too darn safe, too predictable, too rushed. It’s the kind of sweet, innocuous film I could see many older people just falling for, but for me I prefer some bite to my movies, some real dramatic intrigue. This was a typical coming-of-age story that is pretty much what you see is what you get. A solid 95 minutes, but I certainly wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near approaching greatness.
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WALTZ WITH BASHIR (Ari Folman, 2008) over 2 years ago
It’s a wonderful movie and one of the most unique, visually captivating film in recent memory. The images take on an almost otherworldly lucidity that at times feels like a spiritual out-of-body-experience. Haunting.
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WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (Spike Jonze, 2009) over 2 years ago
Beautifully put, Josh. I adored its extraordinary ability to capture both the wonderment and frustration of being a growing child, and done in a way that carries that theme through images that evoke our imaginations.
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