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Author Topic: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)  (Read 111677 times)

Sandy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #500 on: September 20, 2017, 10:04:01 PM »
Enter the Void



The opening credits need an epilepsy warning attached to them. Of all the jarring images, these are the ones I have to look away from. I truly think my vision and brain synapses are being damaged irreparably from the onslaught and want to protect myself...

And now as the film ends, I'm a little nauseous and my head hurts, and I'm heartsick, but I'm wowed too, so it's worth the pain and the sorrow I feel for the lost lives -- both the living and the dead. It's worth it, because I'm learning, even though I'm not sure what exactly, for Gaspar Noé pushes me into spaces that I'm never going to know personally, but vicarious exposure is new knowledge and new emotions for me to sift through and eventually I'll be able to process it more fully. As for now, I can sift through the words I've been jotting down and see what's there:

Panning, scanning:
tubes, tunnels, transmitters,
pipes, drains, alleyways,
light, lenses, heat, plasma.
-- Inorganic and organic

Burrowing, roto-rootering.

The city, a huge organism,
housing tiny organisms, housing emotions,
which are suppressed, or enhanced, or avoided.

Decidedly unsexy sex in the sex hotel. How come the parents' sex is so much more sexy? Is it the difference between neon and incandescence? One being cold and harsh and the other warm and soft?

Mangled, twisted car,
mangled, twisted siblings.
Lives detoured to destruction.
"What could have been?" is a moot question.

If he's reincarnated as his sibling's son,
he's in for a repeat of his last life.
Same location, same situation.
Harsh question for self,
Am I repeating?
« Last Edit: September 20, 2017, 11:17:20 PM by Sandy »

1SO

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #501 on: September 21, 2017, 12:29:06 AM »
I'm going to move past my complete shock that you watched this and make two points.

Decidedly unsexy sex in the sex hotel. How come the parents' sex is so much more sexy? Is it the difference between neon and incandescence? One being cold and harsh and the other warm and soft?
1. Some of the sexiest, most erotic sex I can remember is in this movie and it's the sister after she steps off stage. The setting is grungy and the lighting is fluorescent, but playing it in an unbroken take lets you comfortably watch the build to the act. I specifically remember that the sister is wearing very little, but she's undressed like someone slowly pulling the bow and strings from a gift box. It's a scene of anticipation more than gratification.

2. I hope the film let you appreciate what an amazing technician Gaspar Noe is. It often gets buried under the button-pushing gutter dwelling of his content, but he pulls off a number of shots here that many filmmakers wouldn't know how to tackle. The use of effects, camera technique and lighting show a level of skill only a handful of filmmakers can match, and Noe does it on a smaller budget. (Estimated at under 20 million.)

DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #502 on: September 21, 2017, 03:58:44 AM »
Does the sexy sexiness justify watching the movie?
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1SO

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #503 on: September 21, 2017, 08:57:12 AM »
Not by itself. The movie's strength is the experimental approach to narrative and bold, visionary filmmaking.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #504 on: September 21, 2017, 08:58:26 AM »
Hmm, yeah, I think I'll pass for now.
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Sandy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #505 on: September 21, 2017, 12:00:00 PM »
I'm going to move past my complete shock that you watched this and make two points.

:))

Quote
1. Some of the sexiest, most erotic sex I can remember is in this movie and it's the sister after she steps off stage. The setting is grungy and the lighting is fluorescent, but playing it in an unbroken take lets you comfortably watch the build to the act. I specifically remember that the sister is wearing very little, but she's undressed like someone slowly pulling the bow and strings from a gift box. It's a scene of anticipation more than gratification.

I haven't seen a lot of sex on screen, so don't have much to compare this to. I agree, Linda is sexy with her long limbs, but her partner is sleezy and fully clothed. I don't know, maybe it has to do with who we're more apt to look at in a sexual scene. :D

Quote
2. I hope the film let you appreciate what an amazing technician Gaspar Noe is. It often gets buried under the button-pushing gutter dwelling of his content, but he pulls off a number of shots here that many filmmakers wouldn't know how to tackle. The use of effects, camera technique and lighting show a level of skill only a handful of filmmakers can match, and Noe does it on a smaller budget. (Estimated at under 20 million.)

That is a small budget for what he accomplished! When I wrote, "wowed" this is exactly what I meant. You say it with much more technical know how. :)

DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #506 on: September 22, 2017, 09:43:38 AM »
I darkened the rating to prevent jdc's peace of mind. It was originally going to be one point lower.

Stop Making Sense
Jonathan Demme (1984)


What did I expect? I was going to watch a concert movie. It seems almost unfair to voice any of the criticisms I have about the film because they're fundamentally a list of the intrinsic components of its premise. Yeah, it's a concert movie. Yeah, it's The Talking Heads. Yeah, it turns out, I don't like either.

This is the reason I rarely go to this sort of concert. The band feels obligated to put on an elaborate show that distracts one from the music. There is nothing I could possibly be less interested in watching than some white guy dancing with a lamp. Well, he could be trying to toss a ball into an elevated basket, that would be positively soporific. But you get my point.

There are interesting elements to the performance. It takes about twenty minutes for all the band members to get to the stage as they're each introduced with a new song. In the end though, I am just too unconcerned about what's happening on stage and my mind begins to wonder. My interest resides almost purely in the music.

Not really knowing anything about The Talking Heads, I didn't know how that would play out.  The answer is not well. It's not my genre, let alone my jam. It had more downs then ups for me even if Burning Down the House was a highlight. And I've had Psycho Killer stuck in my head for a week, so maybe that one is better than I initially thought.

Stop Making Sense was not a terrible experience per se, just a dreadfully boring one - I found myself planning my dinner menus for the week. The only aggressively unpleasant thing about it was David Byrne's overlarge suit. I was thrilled when the movie ended sooner than I thought it would but remain relatively unscathed.

5/10

I still have a couple of movies at home KOL. I haven't despaired in liking one of them.
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MartinTeller

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #507 on: September 22, 2017, 09:51:34 AM »
The band feels obligated to put on an elaborate show that distracts one from the music.

In the end though, I am just too unconcerned about what's happening on stage and my mind begins to wonder. My interest resides almost purely in the music.

Talk about not making sense. Why are you so uninterested in the visual element of a show? It's called a SHOW, it's SHOWING you things. The music and the visuals are both part of the experience. In your opinion, should all concerts happen behind the curtain or something?

DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #508 on: September 22, 2017, 09:58:03 AM »
I am simply intrinsically uninterested with any part of a concert that is not the music.
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MartinTeller

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #509 on: September 22, 2017, 10:00:47 AM »
I am simply intrinsically uninterested with any part of a concert that is not the music.

But... why? I don't understand this at all. Especially when the show on display is so lively and fun.

 

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