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Author Topic: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)  (Read 111685 times)

oldkid

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #270 on: August 01, 2017, 10:47:38 AM »
This transition is one of the most gradual I've seen in the Club, but as of today Sam's turn is over (thanks Sam!  Great month!) and pixote's turn begins, which is clearly anticipated since we already have a few reviews.  Then we have Dave who posted a review for both months.  Okay, then.

We anticipate ses' review for Sam as the last of his month.  Unfortunately, we didn't hear from StarCarly for a few months, so I'll have to take her off the list.  You can always come back!

Sam the Cinema Snob's list

Sam's month:

Bondo- Wise Blood
Bondo- To the Wonder
Chardy999-Syndromes and a Century
DarkeningHumour- Mahanagar
Dave the Necrobumper- The Shop Around the Corner
Dave the Necrobumper- My Neighbor Totoro
jdc- The Human Condition I
Jeff Schroerck- Black Narcissus
Junior- Stalker
Knocked Out Loaded- The Double Life of Veronique
Martin Teller- The Old Mill
Martin Teller- The Man Who Planted Trees
oldkid- Silence
1SO- Ordet
PeacefulAnarchy- The Immigrant
PeacefulAnarchy- Shirin
pixote- Days of Heaven
Sandy- The Double Life of Veronique
Sandy- Playtime
Sandy- Meshes of the Afternoon
ses- Certified Copy
Teproc- Groundhog Day
« Last Edit: August 05, 2017, 01:18:54 PM by oldkid »
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #271 on: August 01, 2017, 10:53:02 AM »
I thank Sam for pushing me to watch a movie that's been sitting on the table for weeks now.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #272 on: August 01, 2017, 11:05:01 AM »
Always happy to help.

Junior

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #273 on: August 01, 2017, 03:03:26 PM »
For pix I'll definitely be watching Forbidden Planet, maybe something else.
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PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #274 on: August 01, 2017, 04:12:03 PM »
One late review for Sam. Watched this last night but was too tired to write it up.

Shirin (2008)
I knew going in this was some kind of meta film about actresses and spectatorship, but I didn't realize it was literally 90 minutes of closeup shots of Iranian actresses watching a (fake) movie. It's a really cool concept, but after about half an hour I couldn't find anything more to take out of the experience. There are several reasons for this, some fair, some not. The biggest issue is the language barrier. There are two aspects to the film, the story of Shirin which we hear but never see, and the story of these women reacting to it. Having to rely on subtitles will always make it a bit harder to fully engage in a film's visuals, but when the visuals are incongruent to the soundtrack that difficulty is exacerbated, especially since what I found most interesting visually were the little details (the way eyes scan, lips quiver, heads re-position, etc) which really only get perceived over time. That made the film a bit more challenging than I'd hoped, but what made me start losing interest was how the reactions often were either empty or forced. At no point was I ever actually seeing a film through someone's reactions, I was watching people watching, but they could have been watching anything turns out they were. At the beginning they were focused, and that worked well enough, interest and curiosity is rather universal so seeing the differences between the different expressions of direct focus, and comparing them also to my own not quite complete focus on them, was interesting, allowing a focus on little probably meaningless details to bounce around my thoughts. As the film they're viewing continues reactions diversify, interest meanders and, most notably, reactions don't quite seem to match what I imagine to be on screen. I no longer felt an insight or connection to what these women were going through and there was little to extract for that last hour.

Then I read up on the film and my disappointment deepened I suppose it's my fault for expecting Kiarostami to play fair, but all the other times he's mixed truth with fiction like this it was a) clear and b) an intrinsic part of the film's themes. In this case it is never revealed that the "film" being watched is fake, and that the women aren't even watching anything but directed to express reactions which Kiarostami would later edit. Most damning, though, is that this deception actually undermines the film's exploration of spectatorship, femininity and the contrast between their roles on screen vs their roles as spectators, rather than augmenting it. When reality is mixed with fiction in Close-Up, it serves to enhance the exploration within the film on truth and humanity. The multiple layers of truth in the Koker trilogy explore the unreality of cinema, the effect of observation and the interplay between reality and roleplay. If Shirin showed us the film these women were supposedly watching this might work, as an exploration of our reactions vs what's on screen and the interplay between real and imagined reactions. As is, it is a film purportedly about women's reactions which is made up and created whole cloth by a man. What could be a film about insight into the self of these many actresses, and the way they react to the unreality that is inherent to their profession when shown as a finished work, is instead a film about these actresses acting out reactions. There's no actual contrast because they're just doing their job as usual, acting. There's no deeper layer or interplay because the thing they're reacting to doesn't even exist.

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #275 on: August 01, 2017, 04:25:12 PM »
My unseen for pixote:

115   Two Women
Vittorio De Sica, 1960
112   Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Vittorio De Sica, 1963
108   Fong Sai Yuk
Corey Yuen, 1993
100   A Generation
Andrzej Wajda, 1955
92   Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Paul Mazursky, 1969
82   Nothing But a Man
Michael Roemer, 1964
80   Flight of the Red Balloon
Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2007
75   It All Starts Today
Bertrand Tavernier, 1999
67   Three Days of the Condor
Sydney Pollack, 1975
55   Nabbie's Love
Yuji Nakae, 1999
54   Fanny
Marc Allégret, 1932
50   The Nun's Story
Fred Zinnemann, 1959
48   Pump Up the Volume
Allan Moyle, 1990
45   Like Grains of Sand
Hashiguchi Ryosuke, 1995
40   All About Lily Chou-Chou
Shunji Iwai, 2001
22   The Way to the Stars
Anthony Asquith, 1945
19   Marius
Alexander Korda, 1931
18   Village of Dreams
Higashi Yoichi, 1996
17   Wild Reeds
André Téchiné, 1994
3   Eureka
Shinji Aoyama, 2000

I think Wild Reeds and Three Days of the Condor are the two most pressing "must-see" films there so I'll try to watch those. Some other interesting stuff in there too but this'll be an awkward month so I don't know how much I'll be able to see.
« Last Edit: August 01, 2017, 11:48:09 PM by PeacefulAnarchy »

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #276 on: August 01, 2017, 04:30:13 PM »
Shia LaBeouf watching his movies is a more interesting take on this concept because he is reacting to his own work and his filmography contains highs and lows.

Sandy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #277 on: August 01, 2017, 08:10:29 PM »
Power went out last night, so didn't finish this in time.


Playtime



"I'm playing GameBoy standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon."  -- S.C. Chapman

Look at the people in the boxes looking at the little people in the little boxes. My, don't they look bored. Everything in perfect monochromatic order and perfectly lifeless. Two escape this scene and find a new one where chaos creeps in and the party is all the better for it. As the dawn comes, keeping a little of the chaos in their pockets, it's going to be a better day.

Order and averted eyes make for a very dull trip. All those picture windows and no one is looking out -- Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Sacré-Cœur? Nah. Let's look at Corinthian garbage cans and souped up brooms and put flowers in our hats, to give us the illusion of tending to something. Maudie of Nova Scotia may have been limited, but she knew the worth of looking out, "The whole of life, already framed, right there." As did Beck, "Look around you. Change your heart, it will astound you."
« Last Edit: August 01, 2017, 08:24:07 PM by Sandy »

Sandy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #278 on: August 01, 2017, 08:54:34 PM »
Meshes of the Afternoon



Hmm, I wonder if the keys drawn from the mouth is the inspiration for the petal drawn from Lester's mouth in American Beauty. And, if the mirror in Beckett's Film, with Buster Keaton, also traces back to this film. Much of Film reminded me of Meshes, with the camera as shadow, creeping along walls.

Dreams are not to be taken lightly, and there's symbolism everywhere here to be contemplated on, but all I know is, I don't like the outcome!

Sandy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #279 on: August 01, 2017, 09:05:31 PM »
What a list, pixote! I keep going through it, hardly knowing what to choose for August!

I can't wait to see what you pick. Let me know if you get stuck, and I'll ask Mom to pick for you.

pixote

Deal! :)

Actually, I'm going to do the Before Trilogy, since you so nicely have all three of them on your list and also In the Name of the Father. But, if you or Mom have something else you want me to see, please advise!

Wish I could get a copy of Nabby's Love.

 

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