Author Topic: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons  (Read 75772 times)

smirnoff

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #100 on: February 11, 2016, 10:15:03 PM »
Hmm, sounds like the glass is only half fuller. :-\


Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #101 on: February 12, 2016, 01:48:09 PM »
Hmm, sounds like the glass is only half fuller. :-\

Well, maybe the other half (The Big Red One, next up) will be full... er ?
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Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #102 on: February 14, 2016, 07:56:35 AM »
Then again, maybe not...

The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller, 1980)



Adam & Sam's take

First, a disclaimer : I watched the theatrical cut of this, not knowing there was any other one.

With that out of the way... The Big Red One is a war film, focusing on a sergeant (Lee Marvin), four of his soldiers and their adventures on various fronts of the European theatre of WWII, in an episodic structure. Aside from that structure, it plays out like the most basic, most clichéd idea you'd have of an American war movie, to the point that I actually paused the film around 40 minutes in to check if it was generally considered to be a parody. It is not ! And to be fair, it does have some unusual elements, especially its tendency to let scenes play out without dialogue... but still.

What we have here is four very loosely defined characters with a typical authority figure working their way through action scenes that range from vaguely tense to completely ridiculous (one of many would be the German ambush where all the soldiers play dead and never proceed to actually ambush anyone). All of which happens in bright sunlight with some cheery music. From the dialogue, it seems Fuller wanted to make an anti-war film, but this does not translate to the screen at all. He makes an interesting choice in focusing on these five characters as if they were pretty much the only people fighting in this war. This is clearly intentional, as there is some talk about other soldiers dying off so fast that they don't bother to learn their names anymore, but it results in most action sequences being impossibly small-scale, which works well enough for small skirmishes in nothern France, not so much for D-Day (or Algeria and Sicily for that matter).

Combine that small scale with the aforementioned sunny landscapes and what you have is a complete lack of immersion. And I haven't even gotten to the language issue yet... suffice is to say, Fuller must have thought subtitles were some kind of devilry that should never ever be used, instead chosing to have French and German soldiers speak English and Italian children speak unsubtitled Italian. This leads to gloriously nonsensical sequences like a civilian, in the middle of a bunch of German soldiers who are conversing in English, calling out the G.I.s in English but apparently not being understood by the German soldiers around her. One of the first scenes also features French soldiers speaking to each other in English, but being spoken to by the American army in French... look, it's not just my general dislike for non-vernacular languages here, the sheer inconsistency and absurdity of it all is a real problem here.

Let's gloss over the pretty terrible acting (except Lee Marvin, who does an ok "nice-but-tough" sergeant) and skip to the final half-hour, which takes place in Czechoslovakia as our heroes enter a concentration camp. This is where the film went from bad to awful for me, becoming so exploitative and manipulative it makes Schindler's List look subtle and restrained. Let's just say it involves a child survivor and a music box. The sergeant then comes across a German soldier who, in a mirror of the film's opening scene (a flashback from WWI), announces (in unsubtitled German) that the war is over, only to be killed by the sergeant. Now, finally I thought the film might be doing something interesting, as it had earlier drawn the distinction between killing and murder, this being a murder because the sergeant is upset after having seen a concentration camp. But no, the other characters tell him the war is over and he immediately goes to save the bleeding German soldier, because... men are good and war doesn't destroy them, it really just allows them to be heroes.

Obviously that's not what Fuller is trying to do, but that's how it comes off, as his attempts to depict war negatively are so basic and half-assed that it seems fundamentally hypocritical. It all culminates in a final montage showing us the good times that were had (again, presumably not the intent), and I'm left wondering what could possibly be in those 50 minutes that could possibly makes this any good. The problem isn't really that Fuller was basically making an adventure war film : that could be fine... if he actually put any time in developing his characters (I seriously could not tell you even one thing about one of the five) or directing suspenseful action sequences. He at least attempts the latter, but does  not succeed as far as I'm concerned.

1/10

This turned out much longer than I intended, sorry about that (really most of the reviews in this thread are longer than I'd like). On to Tarkovsky ! Let's just say I'm glad the guys didn't go for a fuller Samuel-centric marathon (hah).
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #103 on: February 18, 2016, 02:19:19 AM »
Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)

Rebecca is another Hitchcock film that seems to be trying a different tone every thirty minutes, except he somehow gets away with it this time. First a romantic drama, then a psychological thriller with slight hints of gothic horror (between this and Suspiria, I'm getting a lot of contextualization for Crimson Peak in this marathon), and finally a twisty murder mystery. I wasn't crazy about the first part, partly because even Laurence Olivier couldn't make up for how much of a despicable character Max was : as Adam & Sam discuss, he asks Joan Fontaine to "never be 35", and he is not joking, not at all... It's a credit to his performance that I didn't constantly want to punch him in the face.

Joan Fontaine's unnamed protagonist, however, was pretty great. She's incredibly charming makes you really feel the loss of innocence by the time it gets to the end and she's covering up murders. The fish out of water narrative of her trying to live up to Rebecca's reputation was so effective because of Fontaine, to the point that I almost forgot we were in a Hitchcock film and there was probably some underlying mystery/darkness. I say almost, because Hitchcock shoots Manderley Manor in such a way (see above) that I was half-expecting this to turn into an actual ghost story. This hour or so is the high point for me out of these three films so far, a pretty tremendous mix of tones carried by Fontaine's enticing performance (despite her character being frustatingly simple at times).

I did enjoy the half-hour denouement as well, with its twists and turns playing out like the final few pages of a Christie novel, though it gets a bit silly and is somewhat harmed by the problematic moralistic undertones of the story : Rebecca is "the devil" because she's an independent woman (granted she also cheats on her husband, but Max deems her diabolical even before that in his telling, though it's always hard to tell since sex is only alluded to, as it must), in contrast to Fontaine's character who is entirely devoted to her husband. Still, if you can get past that, it gets pretty fun, especially once George Sanders shows up as Rebecca's ex-lover trying to first blackmail then expose Max as a murderer. He's having a lot of fun with it, giving a lot of energy to scenes that could otherwise have been too... talky, for lack of a better word.

8/10

Glad you liked this, it's a personal favourite. Your review mentions some things that make me realize I absolutely need to revisit it.
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Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #104 on: February 25, 2016, 11:09:46 PM »
Andrey Rublyov (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966)



Adam & Sam's take (starts around 15:00)

a.k.a. Tarkovsky's 8½ ?

I'm floored. I'll admit, when it became clear that the last episode was going to be about this guy trying to fake his way through building a church bell, I was a bit skeptical, but man, it really ties the film together (not unlike a certain rug).

But I'm skipping ahead already. This is ostensibly a biopic, but Tarkovsky clearly isn't as interested in Rublyov's life story as he is in bigger ideas (and using Rublyov, among others, as a surrogate for himself). Broadly speaking, you could say the film is about art, religion (or at least spirituality) and human nature... but that kind of amounts to say it's about life, the universe and everything. Which, sure, but it's a bit clearer and more specific than that.

The idea I find most interesting here is that ignorance is not only bliss, but also the path to a more fullfilling life both creatively and spiritually. The idea of ignorance being a blessing is briefly discussed early on (well, probably one hour in) between Rublyov and his mentor, but it really comes through later on, twice. The first time is when we see the deaf/simple girl being mocked by the Tatars. When Rublyov is confronted with humanity's propensity for evil, he falls from grace himself and commits a murder, but what does she do when those horrible men mock her ? She smiles and marvels at their clothes and plays with them, because she doesn't realize what they're doing. In a sense, she forgives them, which... what's more christian that that ? All of it because she's, well, simple. The second time obviously comes with the kid who pretends to know the secret to making church bells, and then proceeds to fake it 'till he makes it, and boy does he make it : he single-handedly restores our main character's faith in humanity and frees him of his decade long vow of silence, which results in that amazing final sequence.

I'm not actually sure what to make of the final sequence, for what it's worth. The switch to color and music makes me think we should be impressed, which I was at first because of the sheer momentum created by those two things but... let's just say I'm not a huge fan of Rublyov's work, and the more it goes on the more it seems like Tarkovsky is undercutting his own apparent optimism by showing the degradation of it all. I don't know, and I definitely have no idea what is up with that final shot of horses (probably connected to that horse falling down the stairs earlier on but I'm not sure what that was about either).

I really can't get over how great the last third is. Not that the first two weren't very good already, but watching a previously unknown character labor his way through crafting a church bell shouldn't be this captivating (and even thrilling by the end), yet Tarkovsky somehow makes it work.

Oh, and the cinematography is unsurprisingly remarkable, did I not mention that ? Well, now I did. That opening sequence where the man flees humanity and briefly gets to see earth as God, before it all literally comes crashing down alone... Oh, and a little bit of staging that I thought was pretty clever : at one point Rublyev talks straight into the camera without actually breaking the fourth wall, simply because the camera and the characters place themselves in a way that Rublyev just happens to find himself facing it while speaking to another character. Breaking the rule without actually breaking it, love it.

10/10

Up next : the first rewatch in this marathon (Solyaris). Loved it the first time around, and now I've got something to compare it to, so that'll be interesting, possibly.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2016, 11:12:54 PM by Teproc »
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Junior

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #105 on: February 25, 2016, 11:50:55 PM »
This sounds great. I should get on it...
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Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #106 on: February 26, 2016, 06:37:35 PM »
This sounds great. I should get on it...

You'll get an excuse for it in April then (my top 100 club month).

I'll do The Heartbreak Kid before Solyaris, since Adam & Josh got to it last episode.
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oldkid

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #107 on: February 27, 2016, 01:10:46 PM »
I was floored when I saw AR.  Tarkovsky impressed me, but he went for long, uneventful scenes.  But AR is perfect: insightful and powerful
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chardy999

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #108 on: March 01, 2016, 01:12:39 AM »
Onto my watchlist seeing Teproc and I have identical taste.  ;D
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Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #109 on: March 01, 2016, 04:59:22 AM »
Onto my watchlist seeing Teproc and I have identical taste.  ;D

Oh boy, I'm feeling the pressure now. It is 3 hours long, did I mention that ? Still, always glad to see that.
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