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Author Topic: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood  (Read 18749 times)

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #20 on: February 20, 2020, 12:46:24 AM »
Columbus



"The purpose of architecture is to shelter and enhance man's life on earth and to fulfill his belief in the nobility of his existence." - Eero Saarinen

I find it interesting when the quiet shots of renowned architecture are interlaced with interior shots of a small nondescript dwelling. There is nothing noteworthy about it. The rooms are few and the furnishings are well worn. Except for an homage of glass curios to the Miller House, it could be anybody's home, anywhere. This home is prominently displayed throughout the film though, as if it warrants the same scrutiny and honor as the other structures. I would posit that it does. If the purpose of architecture is to shelter and enhance, this small home has cocooned a mother and daughter through extreme pain and slow healing. Conversations and confrontations have permeated the walls. There is story here, so the camera lingers on the space and lets the understanding seep in. But then the camera expands out, to large cantilevers suspending over concrete or water, sprawling gardens in shades of green, and sharp right angles of a home with no one living there, messing up the pillows. The daughter is so drawn to these structures, because the walls of her own home must close in at times from the chaos and confusion. She can stare at lines and symmetry and let the order calm her troubled mind. It's good therapy, at least for a time. But, expanding further, moving forward, facing fears, these are the true healers.

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #21 on: February 20, 2020, 11:27:02 AM »
You know, I never really thought about Casey's house all that much. I was too busy awed by the big architecture in Columbus and how it brought together Casey and Jin to speak on passion, pain, and the actual purpose of art. Awesome insights!
A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #22 on: February 22, 2020, 10:15:27 PM »
You know, I never really thought about Casey's house all that much. I was too busy awed by the big architecture in Columbus and how it brought together Casey and Jin to speak on passion, pain, and the actual purpose of art. Awesome insights!

Thanks! :) Ah yes, purpose of art... I wanted to comment on something you and 1SO were discussing.

Columbus
I'll better understand what I think of this film once I get to see more of Kogonada's work. I can't tell if his emotional plot is a general style choice or an approach he finds works best with this specific story. Much of the initial dialogue is unnatural, kind of flat and rigid, as formal as the buildings in the town. This broke for me once Jin presses Casey to stop talking about a building she loves like she's a tour guide and get into why this specific design speaks to her.


The bolded emphasis my own, of course. :) It's just, that's exactly where the film gets me. A huge part of why it's on my list is because it reminds me of why I like cinema or any type of art - because it moves me, is at the apex of what it means to be human.

This was my favorite moment of the film. BUT! Then it became my least favorite moment and one of my all time pet peeves when it comes to movies - Montages where the audience doesn't get to hear the dialogue. Everything with the film led up to this moment and instead of writing the words for Casey to speak, words that would give us a view into her heart and head, they cop out and just show meaningful conversation that we don't get to be a part of. I cry foul!

1SO

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #23 on: February 22, 2020, 10:58:43 PM »
The movie for me is Frankie and Johnny (1991). In the key scene, the two are talking and then the music swells and the dialogue goes silent. After that they're deeply in love. Really bothered me that there was no confidence in the words and in the actors for me to feel the emotions. I had to just trust the storytellers.

I think what broke my hatred was Sleepless in Seattle. That film opens with a long sequence where Tom Hanks bares his soul on a national radio broadcast and women all over the country fall in love with him. I didn't buy it because I didn't believe the writing was strong enough to have that effect. So here I'm getting the words and I'm having to believe what the characters are telling me even though I don't believe it myself.

Sometimes even a great writer can set the bar too high to clear it.

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #24 on: February 22, 2020, 11:29:16 PM »
You know, I never really thought about Casey's house all that much. I was too busy awed by the big architecture in Columbus and how it brought together Casey and Jin to speak on passion, pain, and the actual purpose of art. Awesome insights!

Thanks! :) Ah yes, purpose of art... I wanted to comment on something you and 1SO were discussing.

Columbus
I'll better understand what I think of this film once I get to see more of Kogonada's work. I can't tell if his emotional plot is a general style choice or an approach he finds works best with this specific story. Much of the initial dialogue is unnatural, kind of flat and rigid, as formal as the buildings in the town. This broke for me once Jin presses Casey to stop talking about a building she loves like she's a tour guide and get into why this specific design speaks to her.


The bolded emphasis my own, of course. :) It's just, that's exactly where the film gets me. A huge part of why it's on my list is because it reminds me of why I like cinema or any type of art - because it moves me, is at the apex of what it means to be human.

This was my favorite moment of the film. BUT! Then it became my least favorite moment and one of my all time pet peeves when it comes to movies - Montages where the audience doesn't get to hear the dialogue. Everything with the film led up to this moment and instead of writing the words for Casey to speak, words that would give us a view into her heart and head, they cop out and just show meaningful conversation that we don't get to be a part of. I cry foul!

I think the idea - which works wonderfully for me - is that, when it comes to what moves her, it's better told via her expression than anything she could say.
A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

Bondo

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #25 on: February 23, 2020, 06:20:35 AM »
Little Feet

I liked the mood of this well enough. The director's children as the main sister and brother have a good feral dynamic, as they kind of survive on their own, with their dad there but not "there" and a deceased mother. So obviously it fits in with the sort of bleak neo-realist type of film it clearly strives to be. But the actual story as it unfolds just feels so...slight. I mean, I guess the real story is the friends we made along the way. In any event, I'm prepared for the sequel coming out this year at least.

Bondo

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #26 on: February 23, 2020, 09:37:16 PM »
Quinceañera

By the end this is a fairly charming small family drama. I don't have a lot to say about it, though I do feel compelled that the introduction of the brother's queer plot-line is...yikes. Nothing in how the film handles the scene seems to be acknowledging that what I'm seeing is yikes.

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #27 on: February 23, 2020, 11:17:27 PM »
I know "slight" is generally used pejoratively when speaking about a narrative, with maybe "observational" as a word with more positive connotation, though I think I agree with slight for Little Feet, but not as a negative...? I'd just say it's small, and it's the first of its scale that I'd ever really scene. I felt exhilarated by the end that a simple story of trying to take a fish to the ocean in a futile attempt to save it could bring out such conflicting melancholy and joy for life, even from kids who are doing a lot of fending for themselves. It feels like a response to the world of big and flashy cinema, a type of film I value big time.

I got on to Quinceanera because it won the John Cassavetes Award in 2007, around the time of my second wave of interest in films. (Ironically, I'd never concerned myself with Cassavetes work until recently.) All I knew about what that meant was that it was low-budget, but when I rented it, I felt so close to that group of outcasts, not from my own experience, but because of their characterization. It also made me feel closer to the community I was working in.

I know it makes it sound like I am interested in the movie types or the statements the movies make more than the movies, but that's just context. Both of these just feel a lot like home to me, if a film can do such a thing. There's tens of reasons why I believe them to be good, but they went beyond that for me.

Hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to watch these and leave comments.
A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #28 on: February 23, 2020, 11:17:57 PM »
Since my time is running down, who goes next month? I'm ready for some new discoveries, beside all the westerns I'm lining up.
A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #29 on: February 24, 2020, 10:16:07 PM »
The movie for me is Frankie and Johnny (1991). In the key scene, the two are talking and then the music swells and the dialogue goes silent. After that they're deeply in love. Really bothered me that there was no confidence in the words and in the actors for me to feel the emotions. I had to just trust the storytellers.

I think what broke my hatred was Sleepless in Seattle. That film opens with a long sequence where Tom Hanks bares his soul on a national radio broadcast and women all over the country fall in love with him. I didn't buy it because I didn't believe the writing was strong enough to have that effect. So here I'm getting the words and I'm having to believe what the characters are telling me even though I don't believe it myself.

Sometimes even a great writer can set the bar too high to clear it.

Good example. And, I do think Norah Ephron is a great writer. I don't know how she could have made it more convincing and a montage wouldn't have worked either. It's a bit of a no win situation and begs for the audience to use their "suspension of disbelief."


I think the idea - which works wonderfully for me - is that, when it comes to what moves her, it's better told via her expression than anything she could say.

Ah, yes. I missed the point. The whole movie is visually told, why not this moment too? I let my pet peeve-ness get in the way. :)

 

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