Poll

What's your favorite film by Whit Stillman?

haven't seen any
5 (16.7%)
don't like any
4 (13.3%)
Metropolitan
8 (26.7%)
Barcelona
1 (3.3%)
The Last Days of Disco
8 (26.7%)
Damsels in Distress
1 (3.3%)
Love & Friendship
3 (10%)

Total Members Voted: 30

Author Topic: Stillman, Whit  (Read 6547 times)

St. Martin the Bald

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Stillman, Whit
« on: October 21, 2006, 07:24:02 PM »
I was recently on Netflix looking to put The Last Days of Disco in my queue and to my everlasting dismay - it was not available. I then went to find a copy to purchase and found out that it wasn't in print...and the copies that were available were of stratospheric prices ($97)???

  I have been enamoured of Mr Stillman's work for quite some time. I never miss a screening of Barcelona (on HBO quite often) and now have Metropolitan coming next via Netflix - I am interested in seeing if it holds up as well as Barcelona and TLDoD. I was a huge nightlife person at that point in my life and was very excited for the movies about Studio 54 that year but 54 was such a crap movie...

 yeah - I loved disco... :oops:

  But anyway - I love Stillman's dialogue, his characters are full of humanity and flaws but in a believable sort of way.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2010, 04:38:21 AM by pixote »
Hey, nice marmot!

sdedalus

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Whit Stillman
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2006, 01:33:20 AM »
I like Stillman a lot too.  But I think his movies get worse as he went along (Metropolitan's my favorite: a small little movie that I rented without knowing anything about it back in '94 and watched over and over again).  It's a shame he hasn't been able to make a film for almost a decade now.
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spoko

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Whit Stillman
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2006, 06:24:55 AM »
I recently re-watched Barcelona for an online movie discussion group I'm in, and I was surprised how much I still liked it. What I remembered about it, having seen it in the theater and once or twice on video years ago, was that it seemed to be a pastiche of what I call "quotable scenes." I mean that the entire scene seems packaged to be the kind of scene you talk about with your friends. Ted reading the Bible and dancing to Glenn Miller, for example. Or Fred changing the anti-American grafitti with a felt-tip marker. I guess if I'm going to coin a phrase, a better one might be "packaged absurdity."

That's what I remembered. But watching it this time around, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the movie holds together. I don't think it's a pastiche at all, and I found those scenes as funny as I had a long time ago. But what I really realized this time was how much I liked Fred and disliked the movie's supposed protagonist, Ted. Fred has such an honesty and frankness in his dealings with the world; it's really refreshing.

Can't wait to see what you think of Metropolitan. Like sdedalus, I rented it first without knowing anything at all about Stillman, and really loved it. Used to watch it over and over again. But I haven't seen it in quite a few years. May need to revisit it.

MartinTeller

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Re: Stillman, Whit - Director's Best
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2011, 01:58:42 PM »
1. The Last Days of Disco
2. Metropolitan

1SO

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Re: Stillman, Whit - Director's Best
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2011, 02:20:49 PM »
Whatever happened to...?

StudentOFilm

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Re: Stillman, Whit - Director's Best
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2011, 02:21:41 PM »
My Netflix DVD had like fifteen minutes missing from it, but I really liked Metropolitan.
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sdedalus

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Re: Stillman, Whit - Director's Best
« Reply #6 on: May 04, 2011, 03:27:49 PM »
1. Metropolitan
2. The Last Days of Disco
3. Barcelona

All great.
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maņana

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Re: Stillman, Whit - Director's Best
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2011, 04:04:33 PM »
My recollection is that this guy is crazy boring.
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roujin

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Re: Stillman, Whit - Director's Best
« Reply #8 on: May 04, 2011, 06:58:36 PM »
Whatever happened to...?

He's releasing a new film soon.

AAAutin

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Re: Stillman, Whit - Director's Best
« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2011, 06:24:05 PM »
3.) METROPOLITAN
2.) DAMSELS IN DISTRESS
1.) THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO
« Last Edit: September 28, 2012, 11:15:48 AM by AAAutin »