love

Author Topic: FYC 2018 - General  (Read 39999 times)

sdb_1970

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2294
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #300 on: January 06, 2019, 09:46:09 AM »
I watched Ms .45 last night for the first time, so it is kind of weird that it is mentioned so soon after. Abel Ferrara not only does not show nudity he also has a generally slimy/sleazy set of male characters, doing things that generally at the time (in film at least) were not looked down upon and he films it in a way to make it slimy/sleazy. It is not a film to watch if you want to feel great as a male. It was a really good film.

In 1987, we rented and watched that when I was 16 and it generated laughter among both of the sexes I was watching it with; what I distinctly remember was that it came across as so cartoonish that the female member of our viewing audience took it as a male director mocking feminism (complete with the veminist detail at the end) for a primarily male viewership.  I just rewatched it for the first time at age 48, and to be honest, I don’t see it any differently; however, the current culture being what it is, my overall impression from Letterboxd is that it’s considered an artistically accurate representation of “rape culture.”

While I would say that neither film is very well made at all, have read a few books by female film scholars on the subject, I would say that I have more respect for what I believe was being attempted by more popularly reviled I Spit on Your Grave (1978) than by Ms. 45.

To bring it back to the thread’s topic (somewhat), what I would also say is that I see a world of difference between those (and the other “canon” film of the subgenre, The Last House on the Left (1972)) and Revenge (2018) - not just in the quality of the filmmaking, but in the latter’s knowing meta-excessiveness and it’s #MeToo coding (even though it was made and hit the festivals before #MeToo became a thing in November 2017).  Now, to 1SO’s observation, as debuts go, I would say that Hereditary is ultimately a more adeptly made film and Sorry to Bother You is certainly more interesting on a socio-political level.  But in terms of reaching an audience that most needs to “hear the message,” having seen all three films in theaters, I would assert that Revenge has a much better shot at reaching young male consumers of horror/action than the overtly didactic and ideologically pure diatribes, BlackKklansman and The Hate U Give.  (Show me a Trump supporter in a red state who’ll pay good money to see either of those and I’ll show you a $3 bill;  in fact, I’m not sure I would have Sorry to Bother You so high on my 2018 top 10 list if there weren’t such critically lauded films tailor made to appeal to the bubble to the Left to contrast it with.)
letterboxd

[insert pithy expression of false modesty here]

sdb_1970

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2294
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #301 on: January 06, 2019, 10:31:21 AM »

I like the research put into that article. Really good to mention Ms. 45. I wish the Last House remake wasn't lumped in with I Spit on Your Grave. That remake does a surprising job of turning an unpleasant premise with an implausible twist into a well-acted intense thriller. (Until the final 30 seconds.) I like the description of the changes in color, but this...

Quote
Rather than seeking to establish a broad palatability for her protagonist, Fargeat baits a certain segment of audience with a character who, according to those traditional norms, “has it coming.”  But as the #MeToo movement has made abundantly clear, nobody has it coming.  Period.

Consistent with the movement’s call for a heightened consciousness based on shared experience, Fargeat chooses to initiate the chain of events that define this genre with some rather common interactions.

Here is my problem. Based purely on what's on the screen, how is this different from any other rape/revenge movie. Now, I'll step back and say that 'yes' I've seen and written about poorly made R&R films that are to preoccupied in the Rape for sexual titillation (icky) and Revenge for violent gratification, but there are just as many that do understand the first act is meant to fuel the second. Fargeat is a female director and her film is coming out after #MeToo, but what happens on screen before it all goes to Hell is indistinguishable in tone and content from either version of Last House on the Left. Back in 1981, the heroine of Ms. 45 is raped twice in quick succession and there's never a suggestion that she had it coming. The male director made the decision to show no nudity because he felt he didn't need it to fuel her mental breakdown and need for revenge.

That is my point: almost invariably, in those prior genre films, the filmmaker makes clear to his audience that the victim - from a girl taking candles to a church (The Virgin Spring), to a feeble seamstress who is literally mute (Ms. 45), to a writer seeking solitude in the woods (I Spit on Your Grave (1978)), to a teenager just trying to score some pot for her friends before a concert (The Last House on the Left (1972)) - did NOT “ask for it”; in stark contrast, Revenge introduces the ultimate protagonist as a young scantily-clad, home-wrecking nymphet in hanging out with rich older married guy, who literally grind-dances on the ultimate perpetrator the night before right in front of her boyfriend (all to the point of contrast that Fargeat wants to make about women who use their sexuality not “just asking for it”).  And think about the conversation as they are sitting on the bed before he rapes her, where he asks, “what is it that you don’t like me?” - a subtle conveyance about the nature of what’s happening, which along with the uncomfortable interchange at the breakfast table I discuss, is absent from any of the genre films I’ve seen. You really don’t think there’s a real distinction in the characterizations and how the genre setup plays out?

And thanks for taking the time to read it.
letterboxd

[insert pithy expression of false modesty here]

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #302 on: January 06, 2019, 08:26:04 PM »
I've seen terrible R&R films and ones that are even worse. I've also seen some that were above this low bar, though I can't recall past the examples I've already mentioned. Some throw in a scene or moment that's unexpectedly mature for the material. Even the 2010 remake of I Spit on Your Grave have brief dialogue scenes that give the characters a few drops of depth. I know some think Revenge knocks the plot back onto its heels, but I thought it was just more of the same. Not the worst of its type but no, I don't see a real distinction. Had I not known the director was female, I wouldn't have suspected it.

Junior

  • Bert Macklin, FBI
  • Global Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 28709
  • What's the rumpus?
    • Benefits of a Classical Education
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #303 on: January 06, 2019, 09:58:57 PM »
According to the doc there's no *ahem* support for Support the Girls yet, so here's my try at it.

Best Original Screenplay/Director/Picture
Best Actress - Regina Hall
Best Ensemble
Best Editing
Best Scene (Comedic) - Rooftop Drinks

Hall in particular is great.
Check out my blog of many topics

“I’m not a quitter, Kimmy! I watched Interstellar all the way to the end!”

philip918

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4580
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #304 on: January 07, 2019, 09:17:42 AM »
If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Actress in a Leading Role - KiKi Layne
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Regina King
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction

Second all of these.

Adding:

Best Sound
Best Editing
Best Shot - Birth
Best Scene (Dramatic) - Family Meeting
Best Scene (Comedic) - Moving Appliances

Third and second these. Also:

Best Picture
Best Director

Teproc

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3529
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #305 on: January 07, 2019, 11:15:32 AM »
Ok, let's do some catching up here. Haven't been FYCing in months, so there's quite a bit.

First Man

Picture
Director
Screenplay (Adapted)
Supporting Actress (Claire Foy)
Editing
Scene (Dramatic) - Quarantine

Incredibles 2

Director
Animated Feature
Scene (Comedic) - Jack Jack vs Racoon

The Sisters Brothers

Supporting Actor (Riz Ahmed)
Scene (Comedic) - Brushing buddies
Score
Ensemble Cast
Art Direction

Thunder Road

Debut Feature
Actor (Jim Cummings)
Scene (Dramatic ?) - Opening scene
Surprise

Shirkers

Documentary
Debut Feature
Surprise

Manbiki kazoku / Shoplifters

Screenplay (Original)
Non-English Language Film

Mirai no Mirai / Mirai

Animated Film

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Animated Film
Surprise

The Other Side of the Wind

Actor (John Huston)

Unsane

Actress (Claire Foy)

Zimna wojna / Cold War

Actress (Joanna Kulig)
Cinematography
Score

Tully

Actress (Charlize Theron)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Supporting Actress (Zoe Kazan)
Shot (The Bridge (Meal Ticket))
Line - "Mr. Arthur had no idea what he would say to Mr. Knapp"
Legend: All-Time Favorite | Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Poor  |  Bad

Letterbox'd

sdb_1970

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2294
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #306 on: January 07, 2019, 09:31:08 PM »
According to the doc there's no *ahem* support for Support the Girls yet, so here's my try at it.

Best Original Screenplay/Director/Picture

Hall in particular is great.

I got to meet the director at a moderately attended Q&A last summer, and he’s a really great guy (unpretentious but intelligent and funny, I could see why people would want to work with him) ... which is why I feel bad in saying that I honestly was pulled out of the movie with some of that dialogue (and I really felt it was the writing that’s off, as in inorganic or something, not the actresses).  Am I the only one?
letterboxd

[insert pithy expression of false modesty here]

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #307 on: January 07, 2019, 09:41:13 PM »

sdb_1970

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2294
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #308 on: January 07, 2019, 09:52:39 PM »
letterboxd

[insert pithy expression of false modesty here]

sdb_1970

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2294
Re: FYC 2018 - General
« Reply #309 on: January 07, 2019, 09:53:47 PM »
Shoplifters

Best Actress - Sakura Ando
letterboxd

[insert pithy expression of false modesty here]

 

love