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Author Topic: November 2010 MDC Write ups: Directors that "need more love"  (Read 9636 times)

1SO

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Re: November 2010 MDC Write ups: Directors that "need more love"
« Reply #30 on: November 19, 2010, 09:15:13 PM »
Agree with you about the score, which was my big problem with the film, but completely disagree otherwise especially in regards to Samantha Eggar's performance.  She's every bit as good, constantly walking on egg shells, trying to come off as polite and doing whatever she needs to to get away from him.  She knows he's more dangerous than he's let on, but doesn't want to find out how dangerous.  It's a perfect counterbalance to what Stamp is doing.

BlueVoid

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Re: November 2010 MDC Write ups: Directors that "need more love"
« Reply #31 on: December 05, 2010, 01:36:36 PM »
Life of Brian
1979
Terry Jones




Monty Python will always have a special place in my heart.  I grew up loving, and endlessly quoting, their work.  Constantly watching their movies and film and listening to their albums shaped my taste in comedy.  Somehow ‘Life of Brian’ always had eluded me.  I tried watching it once, but I wasn’t in the mood for that kind of comedy and turned it off.  So it was with great anticipation that I finally got to sit down and watch the masters of parody tackle religion.

As the movie began I was immediately reminded of Mel Brook’s ‘The History of the World: Part One’, which is similarly a parody taking place around the same time period.  This worried me, since I absolutely detested that movie, and was worried that my beloved Python would also fall into the same pitfalls. Although, at times, I did have some of the same problems with ‘Brian’, I can safely say that it is a much better movie.  While both have some lowbrow humor that completely missed for me, ‘Brian’ has so much more.  The story itself is strong, and it succeeds at being a biting satire of religion.

From the very beginning the table is set for the parallel story between Jesus and Brian, an everyday normal Jewish man just trying to live his life.  Unfortunately, due to a series of circumstances, he is continually mistaken to be the messiah, much to his chagrin.  By making these connections it throws the life of Jesus in sharp relief, and makes a light-hearted mockery of the entire religion.  This is why good parodies are so enjoyable.  It pokes fun at Christianity and even casts doubt upon it, but its never mean-spirited.  It allows us to laugh at even the most serious subjects.

I can’t say that this was my favorite Python movie, but that’s not a knock against it.  The story rather than the jokes are what won me over.  I probably laughed less at it than their other work, but it was amusing throughout.  I can’t say that I loved every minute, but I appreciate what they were trying to do, and they largely succeeded.
Rating: 3.5/5
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Adrienne

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Re: November 2010 MDC Write ups: Directors that "need more love"
« Reply #32 on: December 05, 2010, 03:13:21 PM »
It's my favourite Python.  :)

ses

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Re: November 2010 MDC Write ups: Directors that "need more love"
« Reply #33 on: December 05, 2010, 10:28:13 PM »
Great review Harbinger, I am glad that you liked Stamps' performance as much as I do.  It really is the core of that film. Sorry the rest of it didn't work as much for you, I know what you mean about the score, it is overbearing.  I promise I will have a write up for you this week.  :)
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Beavermoose

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Re: November 2010 MDC Write ups: Directors that "need more love"
« Reply #34 on: December 07, 2010, 11:15:48 AM »
Memories of Murder

First off, sorry this took a while. November was school finals month and I've had little time to write and even less to think.
The only Bong Joon-Ho film I'd watched before this was his segment in Tokyo! which I enjoyed a lot. Not as much as the Gondry segment but more than the Carax one. Anyway, Memories of Murder is about these two corrupt incompetent detectives that try to solve a serial murder case by framing a bunch of random people, until the tough city cop comes in and realizes that the guy they're framing is innocent and the killer is still out there, dun dun dun. The tone of the film is constantly changing, the dark and gruesome murders contrast to the ridiculousness of these idiot cops (one of whom constantly drop kicks everything that moves). It felt odd. These cops are so unlikable its hard to keep rooting for them throughout the movie. Once good guy cop comes in, they clash and then shit starts going downhill more constantly ending in a great finale confrontation with the ?actual? killer. I did have a bit of trouble following the plot a bit and figuring out how they were jumping from suspect to suspect. How were they eventually led to the man with the soft hands?
The visuals are quite gorgeous and Bong makes great use of editing, framing and camera movement. Those tonal problems did bother me more than they should have but I'm still interested in seeing more Bong. Thanks dallegre.
« Last Edit: December 31, 2010, 04:05:11 PM by Beavermoose »

dallegre

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Re: November 2010 MDC Write ups: Directors that "need more love"
« Reply #35 on: December 07, 2010, 11:44:39 AM »
Nice writeup, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Bong's most distinct quality seems to be the varying tones he brings to a film, which also seems to be his most divisive characteristic. I can definitely see how the tone of the film bothered you, but it happens to be my favorite aspect of it, and The Host as well.

I remember when I first watched the film I was initially bothered by the introduction of the city cop character, cause I just thought he would be a pretty standard "good cop" protagonist, but as the film goes on I was delighted to find that he's actually about as inept as the rest of the cops.

Melvil

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Re: November 2010 MDC Write ups: Directors that "need more love"
« Reply #36 on: December 27, 2010, 01:11:19 PM »
Gah! I would've sworn I already wrote about this. Sorry for the delay. :-\

Bloody Sunday (Paul Greengrass, 2002)

This is one of those movies I have a hard time pinning down my feelings for. In that regard perhaps it's better I've had some time to process it. Certainly I would call it less than enjoyable (I am easily angered by this kind of thing), but that is due, in part, to how powerfully it is made.

Starting off I had some issues with the shaky-cam jump-cut style Greengrass likes so much, but once the events got rolling it really disappeared from notice. I'm assuming the style didn't actually ease up, so that's a testament to how engrossed I was in the film. I also think it captured a great balance between feeling unstaged and just observing the events, and having a narrative core to hold onto.

With movies like this, I always have to ask what the take-away is. What did I gain from watching this movie over reading the Wikipedia page on the same subject. Here too I feel Greengrass achieved a nice balance of not trying to over-reach with explanations for why things happened, and giving some examples of the individual human elements that contributed to the result. I wouldn't purport to call the depictions in this movie anything approaching a definitive truth, but it offers an interpretation that I'm glad to have seen.

Thanks, Clovis!

 

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