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Author Topic: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller  (Read 20477 times)

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #80 on: July 21, 2020, 12:09:18 AM »
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown



A dash of Tati and a sprinkling of Buck Henry are thrown into the mix here. It's not quite slapstick, but teeters on the edge of it. Even before the comedy begins, the saturated colors dazzle my eyes, leaving me off balanced and unsure what is unfolding before me. It takes a while to get into its rhythm, but after that, I notice reconstructing happening and it's satisfying to see. A life can alter in meaningful ways, if it's allowed to feel all the feelings, and sometimes it takes a mess to clean up a mess.

Antares

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #81 on: July 21, 2020, 05:14:51 AM »
Woohoo, MT month! Sooo, there is some overlap with the Sight & Sound films this month

Would love to see your reaction to Last Year at Marienbad.

For myself, I need to right a cinematic travesty, I've never seen The Heiress, I just ordered the Criterion from my library. I don't know if it will get here in time before the month ends.

Plus this, which I've owned for over 10 years and never watched.

All About My Mother
« Last Edit: July 21, 2020, 05:17:16 AM by Antares »
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #82 on: July 21, 2020, 08:39:54 AM »
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown



A dash of Tati and a sprinkling of Buck Henry are thrown into the mix here. It's not quite slapstick, but teeters on the edge of it. Even before the comedy begins, the saturated colors dazzle my eyes, leaving me off balanced and unsure what is unfolding before me. It takes a while to get into its rhythm, but after that, I notice reconstructing happening and it's satisfying to see. A life can alter in meaningful ways, if it's allowed to feel all the feelings, and sometimes it takes a mess to clean up a mess.

I love your reviews, but they're so uniquely Sandy that I often don't know how to respond to them. I never thought about Tati in relation to this, that's an interesting take but I'm not sure I see it (Buck Henry I get). Almodovar's use of color is always dazzling... I can't imagine him doing a black & white movie, though it might be an interesting challenge for him.

"Sometimes it takes a mess to clean up a mess" -- indeed, that would be the perfect mission statement for this film! Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed it!

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #83 on: July 21, 2020, 11:49:27 PM »
Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed it!

I did! And thanks for your kind words. :)

When I think of Tati in regards to this film, I think of the antics in Jour de fete and the restaurant scene in Play Time. Silly shenanigans (although juxtaposed with long stretches of extreme order in Play Time).

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #84 on: July 22, 2020, 05:11:20 PM »
One of my favorites is getting a 4K restoration from Kino!

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #85 on: July 23, 2020, 07:08:04 AM »
Man with a Movie Camera (1929 Dziga Vertov)

I am having trouble deciding what to make of this film. Strange Intense Everyday Life. I feel like I need to catch my breath now.

Baby birth
Proto-Chaplin's Modern Times
Shooting a Nazi symbol, in 1929.
The imposition of a cameraman into most of the shots, reminding you that you were watching filmed life
Woman covers her face in the registry office
Manual cigarette packet making and filling

Still a little confounded by this film and trying to write a review of my feelings about it. So I tried to think of a one word review for the film (I used to include a one word review in my film reviews). That has helped me. You will see my choice below, but I was fascinated by the daily life in this city. In the end a marked it down a bit for a few spots where I found my attention wandering.

One Word Review: Kaleidoscopic

Rating: 78 / 100
« Last Edit: July 23, 2020, 09:15:20 AM by Dave the Necrobumper »

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #86 on: July 23, 2020, 08:29:24 AM »
That's a pretty good word for it. It goes for breadth of subjects rather than in-depth study. To be honest, it probably shouldn't be on this list, and I probably included it out of some sense of obligation to have more silent-era stuff rather than any significant affection. On my third and most recent viewing in 2012, I wrote "I can’t honestly count this among my favorites any longer." It's a film I find very impressive for its time, and even dazzling at points, but considering I have yet to buy the Blu-Ray, it's safe to say it's basically filler on my list.

I'm definitely thinking about doing some trimming. Maybe get it down to 200, or not even worry about nice round numbers.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #87 on: July 23, 2020, 09:20:09 AM »
I think part of its brilliance is I find it still popping into my thoughts, which no longer happens very often after I watch a film. Not sure if its my fascination with the view of a different world (which in many ways was not that different), or what that is driving that. I am going to try for the 400 Blows before the end of the month.

Teproc

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #88 on: July 23, 2020, 12:58:21 PM »
La Casa Lobo (Joaquin Cocina & Cristobal Leon, 2018)

An intensely disturbing fairytale, sort of a crossover between Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood, with hints of Snow White too, but all of the dark, grim(m), "what the hell were people telling their children in the 18th century" parts. The story of the Colonia Dignidad (which was already the subject of a pretty middling Emma Watson/Daniel Brühl film a few years ago) is troubling enough on its own of course, but this is something else entirely. The way stop motion is used to mess with our sense of reality, especially that confusion between 2D and 3D spaces (people forming in the walls)... even a banal story would seem messed up when told in that way.

So this is quite a unique experience, but I'm not sure entirely what to make of it. Curious to see if other films will use this style... or indeed if they have, it seems that Jan Svankmajer is brought up as a comparison to this, I should probably take a look at that.

7/10
Legend: All-Time Favorite | Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Poor  |  Bad

Letterbox'd

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 100 Club: MartinTeller
« Reply #89 on: July 23, 2020, 04:52:10 PM »
That's the newest entry on my list, I watched it only 2 months ago. I was really swept away by the unusual techniques and artistry, although of course the content was intriguing as well. Svankmajer is a good comparison point, very similar media and tone.

Thanks for watching! This one will eventually come up in my revisit marathon, if I ever get back to it.

 

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