Poll

Your favorite Luis Bunuel film is:

Un chien andalou (1929)
4 (14.3%)
L'âge d'or (1930)
0 (0%)
Las Hurdes/Land Without Bread (1933)
0 (0%)
Gran Casino (1947)
0 (0%)
El gran calavera/The Great Madcap (1949)
0 (0%)
Los Olvidados (1950)
3 (10.7%)
Susana/The Devil and the Flesh (1951)
0 (0%)
Daughter of Deceit (1951)
0 (0%)
Mexican Bus Ride (1952)
0 (0%)
A Woman Without Love (1952)
0 (0%)
El bruto (1953)
0 (0%)
El (1953)
0 (0%)
Illusion Travels by Streetcar (1954)
0 (0%)
Abismos de pasión/Wuthering Heights (1954)
0 (0%)
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1954)
0 (0%)
The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955)
0 (0%)
The River and Death (1955)
0 (0%)
That Is the Dawn (1956)
0 (0%)
Death in the Garden (1956)
0 (0%)
Nazarin (1959)
0 (0%)
La fièvre monte à El Pao (1959)
0 (0%)
El Joven/The Young One (1960)
0 (0%)
Viridiana (1961)
3 (10.7%)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
8 (28.6%)
Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
1 (3.6%)
Simon of the Desert (1965)
1 (3.6%)
Belle de Jour (1967)
2 (7.1%)
The Milky Way (1969)
0 (0%)
Tristana (1970)
1 (3.6%)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
1 (3.6%)
The Phantom of Liberty (1974)
0 (0%)
That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
1 (3.6%)
Haven't seen any
3 (10.7%)
Don't like any
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 28

Author Topic: Bunuel, Luis  (Read 5240 times)

Teproc

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Re: Bunuel, Luis
« Reply #30 on: January 10, 2018, 05:23:21 PM »
Los olvidados (Luis Bunuel, 1950)

A brutally honest depiction of poverty which starts out seeming to be nothing but that, and a rather poorly acted and haphazardly edited version of it too... sometimes I wonder about Bunuel's attention span: he can go from marvelous, inventive sequences like the mother/meat dream here to rather shoddy and uninspired storytelling, which is a lot of the first 39 minutes or so here. It does get better, and really finds a focus when one of the boys gets sent to a farming school: there it takes shape as tragedy rather than misery porn. Because in order for the situation to feel truly inescapable, we have to see where the escape would be, otherwise it's hard to care about people who are simply doomed, no matter how realistic their portrayal might be. It's possible that the knowledge of this would enhance this signiificantly on a repeat viewing, but I don't that I'll find this out very soon.

6/10

Updated rankings:

El angel exterminador / The Exterminating Angel
Cet obscur objet du désir / That Obscure Object of Desire
Viridiana
L'âge d'or
Tristana
Le journal d'une femme de chambre / Diary of a Chambermaid
Un chien andalou
Los olvidados
Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie / The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
La mort en ce jardin / Death in the Garden
Robinson Crusoe


« Last Edit: May 23, 2018, 01:28:38 PM by Teproc »
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goodguy

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Re: Bunuel, Luis
« Reply #31 on: November 25, 2018, 06:45:42 PM »
Tristana (1970)
Viridiana (1961)
Simón del desierto (Simon of the Desert, 1965)
Nazarin (1959)
El ángel exterminador (The Exterminating Angel, 1962)
Un Chien Andalou (1929, Short)
L'Age d'Or (1930)
Le journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid, 1964)
Belle de jour (1967)
Cet obscur objet du désir (That Obscure Object of Desire, 1977)
Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, 1972)
La voie lactée (The Milky Way, 1969)
Le fantôme de la liberté (The Phantom of Liberty, 1974)

I hadn't seen any Bunuel since the mid-1980s. The ones above are from a recent marathon of mostly revisits. Among the four new viewings, only Tristana stands out.
Also seen: Los olvidados (1950), Daughter of Deceit (1951), El (1953), Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955)


1SO

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Re: Bunuel, Luis
« Reply #32 on: November 25, 2018, 09:34:00 PM »
Didn't realize Le journal d'une femme de chambre was such popular source material. I saw the Jean Renoir adaptation and thought the characters were too unusual and mean for Renoir's gentle class warfare. Bunuel's surreal leaning seem like a better fit.

I saw that Benoît Jacquot made a version too. A favorite of yours, why do you think his version is the best?

goodguy

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Re: Bunuel, Luis
« Reply #33 on: November 26, 2018, 01:26:50 PM »
I saw that Benoît Jacquot made a version too. A favorite of yours, why do you think his version is the best?
In short, Jacquot's film (which, curiously, I didn't care for much upon first viewing) stays closest to Célestine. It is subjective and intimate, the only version really in line with the diary form of the Mirbeau novel. It's also otherwise the most faithful adaptation, which isn't a point in favor per se, but even the few liberties Bunuel takes, make his film weaker. To say nothing of the Renoir, which is just a travesty and has almost nothing in common with the source material (Not just the plot is completely changed, characterization and tone couldn't be more different as well).
« Last Edit: November 26, 2018, 01:36:21 PM by goodguy »