Top 100 Club: Dave the Necrobumper

[oldkid]

El Topo

I feel like I’m in good company concerning El Topo.  I’m confused.

I started watching and immediately saw the similarity to Leone’s work and I’m feeling comfortable.  It didn’t last long. It is clear that the filmmakers are going for deep symbolism here, but it is unclear what this symbolism is.  Interesting, if grotesque images, but I wouldn’t call it surrealism.  It all gives the impression that it is supposed to mean something, but I’m not sure what.  Once it is clear that our gunslinger will have to learn from and then kill four gunslinger masters, I rolled my eyes.

And then I fell asleep.   I wasn’t that tired, but spending all this time on difficult symbology and coming up with nothing is just exhausting.  Then I had a couple busy days.  Then I came back to the movie.

Okay, we are back to the four master gunslingers.  Is this some Kill Bill deal with lousy special effects?  Finally, the final gunslinger is defeated— or is he?  And our protagonist has lost everything and a whole bunch of Christ symbology.  Now I’m on more comfortable ground.  I’m starting to get it. 

Although I was warned that the second half was incomprehensible, actually I got that part.  In fact, the whole thing is starting to make sense.  And I didn’t even take drugs.  Maybe a nap helped.   But I think I could write a comprehensible couple paragraphs about what the film might mean that isn’t any better than anyone else’s guess, but I feel comfortable about it.

It feels like an art student experiment.  Lots of ideas, but it isn’t necessarily comprehensible, so it’s kind of irritating.  But, like many others, I am ready to impose my interpretation upon it and so I am willing to give it my stamp of approval.

3.5/5

[smirnoff]

Sorry I'm so late!

Being John Malkovich

Part of me admire's Kaufman's willingness to improvise. This is a script that feels like it was written without any pauses. Like trying to give a presentation on something you know nothing about... but whatever you do don't stop speaking. I can't imagine he had writers block at any point with this script because it feels like everything that happens in the movie is whatever popped into his head first. I didn't expect anything conventional, and I didn't get anything conventional.

At some point though, maybe 45 minutes in, I thought "what am I actually watching"? I didn't connect to or enjoy watching these characters. The bizarre story might capture my imagination if the people in weren't so irritating.

This is a tough film to appreciate for me. I just wasn't my thing. The humour particularly was just not clicking with me.

[oldkid]

I had much the same experience with BJM, but I've learned a lot more about Kauffman since I first watched it and I wonder if I might like it better with a second viewing.

[Sandy]

Monty Python's Life of Brian



I really wanna be with You
I like to see You, Lord...
My sweet Lord
Hare Krishna...
Hare Rama...
Hallelujah -- George Harrison

Hari, meaning "he who removes illusion."  Well then, Hari Monty Python! Way to boldly lampoon humanity's tendency to over-identify with sects and schisms and to lovingly poke fun at us all. Why so serious? They ask. And we answer with, "I don't rightly know. Bring on the jokes!"

With all its tom foolery, there's quite a bit of wisdom peppered throughout.

"You don't need to follow anybody. You've got to think for yourselves. You're all individuals."
"Well, obviously it's not to be taken literally."
"Vocative plural of 'annus' is Anni."
"You must always face the curtain with a bow."

Thanks Mr. Harrison for footing the bill for the film. Just sorry it took me so long to finally get to it.

[oldkid]

Hari Monty Python???

**place in phrases I never thought I’d hear....

[Sandy]

Well, they definitely remove (shed a light on) illusion!

[Teproc]

With all its tom foolery, there's quite a bit of wisdom peppered throughout.

"You don't need to follow anybody. You've got to think for yourselves. You're all individuals."
"Well, obviously it's not to be taken literally."
"Vocative plural of 'annus' is Anni."
"You must always face the curtain with a bow."

Thanks Mr. Harrison for footing the bill for the film. Just sorry it took me so long to finally get to it.

Really the entirety of "Always Look at the Bright Side of Life" could be in there. Might be my favorite movie ending of all time.

[Sandy]

Really the entirety of "Always Look at the Bright Side of Life" could be in there. Might be my favorite movie ending of all time.

[Sandy]

The Castle



Never has "Ignorance is Bliss" been more aptly illustrated. The serenity level of this family is off the charts, because they don't know any better, to know better. The joke is on everyone else, though. Who can say they, themselves live in such contentment? The luxury the Kerrigans enjoy is that of an abundance of gratitude.

Filmed in 11 days?! Unheard of! There are at least that many interior and exterior locations. As loosey goosey as the dialogue and story feel, this is one tightly run ship. It takes skill to be funny on a deadline and and to create an unhurried, lack of fussiness production when there is a great deal of hurry involved.

[Dave the Necrobumper]

Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom / Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)



Buddhism, from my (admittedly limited) understanding of it, is all about letting go of anything that attaches oneself to the material world. Power, lust, love, revenge: these are all hindrances to the elevation of the soul. This film essentially feels like an actualization of that philosophy. It is quite literal in some ways, with the sadistic game the young monk plays on the animals involving a literal tether restraining them and hindering them, while the floating temple, well, floats - a visual representation of the way in which Buddhism helps getting rid of earthly attachments. This film is ripe with symbolism, only a third of which I feel like I really understand: what are we to make of the doors that are constantly shown for example ? There's the one that leads people to the temple, which serves as a constant in a landscape that evolves significantly with the titular seasons (and the years in between) but also welcomes the viewer multiple times (three I think ?) within the film. But there are the doors within the temple as well, which seem pointless from a practical standpoint (since there are no walls) but the characters always use nonetheless except, quite relevantly, at one crucial moment. What about the fact that the main characters big transgressions are all commited in the same place (except for the one that's offscreen entirely) ? I get the feeling that there's a lot going on here that I would need to be much better versed into both Buddhism as a whole and Korean culture in particular to fully understand.

From a character standpoint, things are much simpler. We have a story of education, coming of age, transgression, punishment and eventually redemption... and it all starts again. Also a Buddhist idea, but one that Kim Ki-duk perhaps overplay a bit within the second Spring segment. I was interested to learn that he plays the older monk character himself, which is perhaps not very humble of him (as he is clearly the moral and spiritual center of the film, as much as a human being can be), but he's quite good, so who am I to argue. I can't say as much of the children acting in the film, but so it goes with child actors. The rest of the cast is fine, especially the two cops who come to have a grand Kitano-esque time in the Fall segment, which is perhaps a nod towards humanism I appreciated.

Aside from that, Kim's dedication towards the monachist view of life is probably the film's biggest limiting factor for me, but it is certainly an impressive accomplishment overall, and one that combines gorgeous visuals (I was both saddened and impressed to learn that the monastery was built for the film) with a simple but efficient script to express his view of life. It is didactic, but not in an overbearing way, and it's certainly a film I'd be interested in revisiting down the line and/or reading an erudite analysis of.

8/10

There is a strong Buddhist tone to the plot of this movie. The circle of life, and reincarnation are also there. However it is the mediative flow of this movie that grabbed me the first time I saw it. The door to the temple is odd and interesting and seems very monastic, in that it is a symbol of entry rather than a practical necessity.

Yes the character plot is very simple, that it fits nicely with the simple reflective nature of the film.

Thank you for watching the movie.