Author Topic: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons  (Read 75794 times)

Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #130 on: April 14, 2016, 05:37:06 PM »
The Blind Camels (Elaine May Awards)

Same order as the podcast.

Best Supporting Performance : Eddie Albert (The Heartbreak Kid)



Best Lead Performance : Walter Matthau (A New Leaf)



Best Duo : Chuck and Lyle (Ishtar)



Cringe-worthiest scene : any given scene in The Heartbreak Kid (this one is far from the worst but it was available)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI5tVrv8FG4

Funniest moment : the aforementioned "tailing" scene in Ishtar (couldn't find a clip)



Best Picture : Ishtar



Summary/ranking

Ishtar
A New Leaf

The Heartbreak Kid
Mikey and Nicky
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chardy999

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #131 on: April 15, 2016, 09:33:55 AM »
Good work mate, better luck with the next set.
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
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Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #132 on: April 16, 2016, 11:20:03 AM »
Ukikusa / Floating Weeds (Yasujirô Ozu, 1959)



Adam & Sam's take

Ukikusa, with its plot centered around a troop of kabuki actors coming in a small town, is a much livelier film than Tôkyô monogatari. There's a hidden son and a spurned lover, young romance, and the plays themselves of course. All of which lets Ozu explore various themes : modernity vs tradition (the kabuki actors themselves being part of an already anachronistic institution), generation clashes, but most of all the weight of class society on the individual.

Sounds good, right ? Well... I can't say I found it that engaging, and that's because of the characters. In Tôkyô monogatari, Ozu patiently builds them through small scenes of everyday interaction and let that (character) be the guide to his exploration of modernity in post-war Japan. Here, it's the reverse : the dramatic situations might be more exciting, but they also feel forced, something that clashes with Ozu's style I think. The romance between the two young characters for example : it evolves from simple attraction to " let's run off together" entirely off-screen, simply because that creates the situation necessary for the key scene which brings all of those different streams. Frequently, I felt like I wasn't watching characters interacting, but avatars of the various ideological conflicts running through the film. That can work, but I don't think it does here.

That's not to say it completely fails, as those ideas are interesting enough, and there are a few standout scenes, like the fight between the father/uncle and his lover under the rain. The use of trains, those ultimate symbols of modern life, is also neat : we hear them pass at various points throughout the film, and the end features characters leaving in one, in the night. I just felt distanced from it all though.

5/10
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Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #133 on: April 16, 2016, 01:40:39 PM »
The Andys (Overlooked Auteurs Awards)

Same order and categories as in the podcast (starts at 17:19)

Best Screenplay : Andrey Rublyov



Best Cinematography : Andrey Rublyov



Best Actor : Donatas Banionis (Solyaris)



Best Actress : Setsuko Hara (Tôkyô monogatari)



Best Ensemble : Tôkyô monogatari



Best Picture : Andrey Rublyov



Summary/Ranking :

Andrey Rublyov (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966)
Solyaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
Tôkyô monogatari (Yasujirô Ozu, 1953)
Ukikusa (Yasujirô Ozu, 1959)
Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller, 1963)
The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller, 1980)


If only I had liked Tôkyô monogatari a little less, I could have had the full spectrum...
« Last Edit: March 25, 2020, 05:30:17 AM by Teproc »
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Sandy

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #134 on: April 16, 2016, 02:19:19 PM »
Best Actress : Setsuko Hara (Tôkyô monogatari)

Couldn't be awarded to a sweeter soul.

She may be the most lovely, pure presence I've seen on film.


Loving this marathon and your awards, Teproc (You're helping motivate me to get to Andrey Rublyov.).

Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #135 on: April 16, 2016, 02:22:24 PM »
Best Actress : Setsuko Hara (Tôkyô monogatari)

Couldn't be awarded to a sweeter soul.

She may be the most lovely, pure presence I've seen on film.


Loving this marathon and your awards, Teproc (You're helping motivate me to get to Andrey Rublyov.).

Thanks (and thanks chardy too while I'm at it). Andrey Rublyov is scary but a very rewarding watch.

By the way, coming up next : Musicals ! Should be fun to watch and hard to write about  ;D
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Sandy

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #136 on: April 16, 2016, 02:38:45 PM »
:)

hurray!

DarkeningHumour

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #137 on: April 16, 2016, 09:04:15 PM »
How is Ozu an overlook auteur ? Did they mean overlooked by them ? He is regarded as a major Japanese master. Same thing for Tarkovsky.

Clearly I liked floating Weeds much more than you but don't think I could tell ou why.
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MartinTeller

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #138 on: April 16, 2016, 11:15:22 PM »
Yes, I'm pretty sure they meant overlooked by themselves.

Teproc

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Re: A Filmspotter's Marathon of Filmspotting Marathons
« Reply #139 on: April 21, 2016, 11:44:58 AM »
Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz, 1942)



Adam & Sam's take

"Oh, I'm an ordinary guy who knows what ordinary guys like to see."

Going into this blind, the film I found myself thinking about a lot watching this was, weirdly enough, Barton Fink. Perhaps more than any other art form, cinema has a strange relationship with its public. It's one of the most popular art forms and, like Barton Fink, it seeks to cultivate that closeness but, well, people making movies are still artists, with all the remove that implies from "ordinary guys". All of which is a long-winded way of saying that a patriotic war-time film about a populist flag-waving entertainer trying to achieve success on Broadway seemed like it would be fertile ground for reflecting on that relationship, and to a degree it is... my favorite scene here is the "Mary" song (as sung by Mary), which clearly adresses some of those issues and is really the only song that stands out in the whole film as being more than just, well, populist entertainment. This particular song is then given by Cohan to an established Broadway actress, and I thought the film (about 45 minutes in I think) was getting to its point, with the conflict boiling up between the need for "honest" roots as well as artistic recognition... and to my surprise, it completely ignores the issue when Mary doesn't mind. "Weird", I thought...

And then it turned out to be a biopic. Ah, that explains it.

I didn't recognize the name "George Cohan", but I sure did know "Over There", a song you wouldn't attribute to a fictional character our of nowehere, and from then it became pretty clear that I was expecting too much from this. We're not meant to feel ambiguous about Cohan : he's an all-American hero, standing for all that's true and beautiful about the home of the brave and land of the free. Patriotism is awesome, don't listen to the snotty high society turning up their nose at populism and please do enlist.

That doesn't mean Yankee Doodle Dandy isn't fun to watch, it very much is. James Cagney, while he clearly cannot sing, is extremely charismatic and watching him tapdance his way into success is certainly enjoyable. The moment (which Adam & Sam also single out) at the end of the film, where he starts dancing in the stairs after being awarded his medal, is a nice summation of his performance : spontaneous and extremely charming. I'm a little disappointed the film didn't turn out to be particularly interested in the tension inherent to a man rising up to fame being called "the Yankee Doodle Boy" ? Yes I am. But, largely thanks to Cagney, it's pretty good at being a straight biopic, so that's alright.

6/10
« Last Edit: April 21, 2016, 12:01:55 PM by Teproc »
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