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Author Topic: Group LGBT June Marathon  (Read 13851 times)

Bondo

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Re: COMING IN JUNE: Group LGBT Marathon
« Reply #10 on: May 20, 2016, 11:48:26 AM »
I, You, He, She (1976)

So this is an LGBT marathon, and I'm drawing films from a ranking of great LGBT films. For the first hour, I was rather pondering how this film made the list. To the degree that sexuality was in discussion in the first hour, it is a woman talking about a man, and a man talking about a woman. It was, so to speak, oppressively heterosexual. Now, that's a concern for its fit in the marathon, but not a comment about quality. To get at the quality of the film, I'd just say that coming a year after Jeanne Dielman, one might conclude that this film's style was a response to complaints that that film moved along too fast, because there's always someone. Yeah, this film is painfully idle, starting with one woman's rambling musings, as she hangs around her apartment, often unclothed (played by Chantal Akerman herself). Then she joins up with a guy and he babbles about some thing or other as he drives.

But then in the final 20 minutes, she hooks up with another woman, so it is an LGBT film and thus brave and great, especially for its time. Maybe, it is certainly an explicit scene. But I'm not sure it justifies the utter lack of narrative or context. It might as well just cut out the first hour and call it a pornographic short. I'd give that short a much higher rating.

D

P.S. At this point my watchlist looks like this:
Beau Travail
The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant
Law of Desire
Beautiful Thing
Victim
My Beautiful Laundrette
Desert Hearts
Teorema
« Last Edit: May 20, 2016, 11:55:38 AM by Bondo »

MartinTeller

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Re: COMING IN JUNE: Group LGBT Marathon
« Reply #11 on: May 20, 2016, 11:58:40 AM »
Yep, that one is quite tedious.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Group LGBT June Marathon
« Reply #12 on: May 20, 2016, 11:09:32 PM »
Sorry about that Bondo.

I just remembered that Chansons d'Amour might fit into this marathon for those inclined to seek it out. It is also a double entry with the musical marathon for thosw in search of extra points.
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chardy999

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Re: COMING IN JUNE: Group LGBT Marathon
« Reply #13 on: May 21, 2016, 11:23:58 AM »
Beau Travail

I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about this. I have a feeling it is going to be a big winner for you.

P.S. Volume loud for the credits.
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Bondo

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Re: Group LGBT June Marathon
« Reply #14 on: May 21, 2016, 09:17:22 PM »
Beau Travail (1999)

Turns out it was pretty good timing to watch this film. This morning I was a spectator of the Fargo Marathon, with its stream of super-fit men (and women) passing by with varying levels of physical grace, and certainly a testament to the elegance of human form. Cut to a drill sequence early in this film as the legionnaires go through an obstacle course with a seeming choreographed balletic control, assisted by a soundtrack with a mix of classical and dance. It's enough to stir a latent homoeroticism in many an individual.

And this film is very much about the latent, if not romantic love, at least a close fraternity, capable of the jealousies of romance. It isn't a focused film, and I'm not sure if this breaks with the broader trend of narration-based film being less effective than building in sentiment into the action and dialogue of the characters. Still, compared with my first film in the marathon, this shines through, by bringing the elegant to the mundane, and by imbuing it with those latent urges.

B

1SO

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Re: Group LGBT June Marathon
« Reply #15 on: May 21, 2016, 09:53:05 PM »
Unlike chardy, I didn't know which you you would go with Beau Travail. I don't remember the situation when I watched it but I wasn't in the mood for impressionism, and really came down hard against the film, despite a spectacular final scene. I remember goodguy taking me to task over it. With my eventual Clair Denis marathon, I hope there are more films done in this style, and I would like to give Beau another chance too.

Bondo

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Re: Group LGBT June Marathon
« Reply #16 on: May 21, 2016, 11:22:49 PM »
I could definitely see my being in a mood where I wouldn't have had patience for it. Got lucky today.

1SO

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Re: Group LGBT June Marathon
« Reply #17 on: May 30, 2016, 10:41:17 AM »
I told my wife about this Marathon starting next month and she replied, "why don't you just continue with your Musical May list"?

Bondo

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Re: Group LGBT June Marathon
« Reply #18 on: May 30, 2016, 11:23:44 AM »
Legitimate.

Melvil

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Re: Group LGBT June Marathon
« Reply #19 on: May 30, 2016, 12:26:36 PM »
I don't get it.

 

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