Author Topic: November 2009 MDC Write-ups  (Read 39938 times)

roujin

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Re: November 2009 MDC Write-ups
« Reply #190 on: December 26, 2009, 03:09:26 PM »
Glad you liked it. I need to rewatch it myself in order to articulate why I think it's so great. But, oh well, awesome!

BlueVoid

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Re: November 2009 MDC Write-ups
« Reply #191 on: December 26, 2009, 11:09:41 PM »
Ok, so a little late to the party.  But better late than never.


Dogville[2003]
Stark. Barren.  Cold.  These are just a few of the adjectives that jump to mind when describing "Dogville", a film that explores the depths of human depravity.  A city girl gets chased by the mob into a small rural town, and seeks refuge.  What follows is one of the most unpleasant and bleak examinations of humanity that I've seen on film.  Director Lars von Trier seems to revel in stripping away any visual pleasure from the viewer.  This is a movie about suffering and misfortune and he doesn't want you to be comfortable while watching it.

From the beautiful opening overhead shot looking down into Dogville, you know this is not going to be an ordinary film.  The entire world that is shown is this town called Dogville.  The 'town' is simply a stage with primitive lines and sparse props as a rudimentary mockup of what resembles a town.  Every person in Dogville is known, plays a part in the story and can usually be seen at all times during the entire film.  No one can hide.  Everything is open. A theme which von Trier repeatedly comes back to.    This is a visually stagnant film.  There is no reprieve for the viewer from the hell in which Grace(Nicole Kidman) can't escape.  We are forced to focus on the acting, the suffering, the characters, rather than any visual eye candy.  It is an effective technique.  When stripped right down we can see the characters for who they are without distractions from clever camera techniques and dynamic lighting.

This is not an uplifting film.  It shows humanity in the worse possible light.  Evil and debauchery can arise anywhere, and no person is above stooping to incredible lows.  The film takes its time with this theme.  It does eventually pay off, with an incredibly affecting climax, but it doesn't make the journey any more pleasant.  In fact, I hated this movie while I was watching it.  It took all I had in me not to shut it off.  I hated all the characters.  I couldn't understand why they made the choices they did.  I was frustrated, angry and impatient.  However by the time it ended, I couldn't help but let a smile creep on my face, I had been reeled in.  It had worked.  This movie has a message, and it is delivered effectively, even if it is by means of an unconventional mechanism.  I have a hard time recommending this movie as it is so unpleasant to watch.  And yet, having had time to reflect upon it, I look at it more fondly since it has stuck with me.  The acting is great.  The actors rely on nothing but their acting and it carries the film.  I have no interest in ever revisiting the film, but I am glad that I have watched it. Sometimes the harder the pill is to swallow the more effective it is.
Rating: 4/5

Thanks Ned for dictating this to me.  Not going to lie.  I was kind of hating you while watching it, but I ended up being thankful.  I took a lot away from the experience and couldn't stop talking about it for awhile after seeing it.  I actually had to retell the entire movie, scene by scene to a friend to help me digest it.  Immediately after viewing this I still didn't like it.  It took a lot of reflection to appreciate what I saw.  So thanks for forcing this one on me.  I would have never have watched it otherwise.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2009, 11:13:14 PM by BlueVoid »
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chardy999

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Re: November 2009 MDC Write-ups
« Reply #192 on: December 27, 2009, 08:14:48 PM »
You're a better man than me, BV. This is a very fair write-up of a film which is anything but fair on the viewer. Only difference is I never stopped hating it - the moment the smile crept onto your face, I started laughing.
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
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Emiliana

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Re: November 2009 MDC Write-ups
« Reply #193 on: March 01, 2010, 06:58:07 AM »
Melvil, I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to get to this write-up. I have no excuse.


Waltz with Bashir

Oh boy, it's hard to write about this film, especially after such a long time! Ok then....  I was both pleasantly surprised and a little bewildered that the film's focus was one man's attempts to get to the bottom of his own involvement in the conflict, to explore the way his mind and his memory works or doesn't work in relation to the events he has witnessed. I didn't know very much about the war the film was talking about, so I struggled a little to keep up with and get involved in the subject matter that this documentary was talking about. At the same time, this felt as if I was 100% with the narrator on his path of discovery about himself and the events of the war.



At one point of the film, somebody reveals that he experienced long stretches of the war as if he was watching a film or playing a video-game (oh my, it has been so long that I watched the film that I can't remember exactly which it was!  :-\). This happened about three quarters of the way through, and at this moment I realized that this was exactly what I was doing with the film: I was keeping myself at a distance, preventing myself from getting really wrapped up in the story, the tragedies and horros of the subject matter by focusing almost exclusively on the amazing visuals of the film. I had my finger on the screenshot button the whole way through, absolutely wowed by the animation, but I didn't connect with the film properly on an emotional level.





The very end of the film has caused a few debates (is it manipulative to replace the animation with real footage to drive home the message that this is actually a real stories, that these atrocities have really happened?), but to me it wasn't that big a deal. By the end, the film had enough of an impact on me that the additional gutter punch of the live footage wouldn't have been necessary, but I wasn't angry about its inclusion either.





In all, I can see why Waltz With Bashir would be regarded as one of the best of the decade, and the visuals alone are reason enough to see it, but I think I must be missing something. I found it really clever and rewarding to approach the subject of war from the angle that this film did, i.e.  posing questions about how memories work and how the mind deals with traumatic experiences, so ultimately I was really glad to have seen it, even though I didn't wholeheartedly love it. Thanks for the dictation, Melvil!

« Last Edit: March 02, 2010, 05:45:51 AM by Emiliana »

Melvil

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Re: November 2009 MDC Write-ups
« Reply #194 on: March 01, 2010, 02:29:57 PM »
Melvil, I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to get to this write-up. I have no excuse.

Hey, no problem. I'm just really happy to read your review of it now! I'm really glad you liked it. I'm always a little worried how the subject matter and approach to the story will sit with someone when I recommend it, so I'm really happy you were mostly on board with it. Your criticisms also seem fair, I definitely agree that not knowing much about the events it's documenting can be difficult at times, and that feeling of distance from the "reality" of it is very true (although also part of what makes it great, since it's based more on memory and feelings than reality).

Every time I see screenshots from this movie I want to watch it again. ;D