JonasEB
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Posts posted by JonasEB
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That's super...
*Head hits desk*
General comments:
Silents = Pantomime - In some ways but most silent acting, especially from the 1920s on, is exactly the same as talkie era acting, just without the talking. The thing that makes it seem different is often the film speed (even correct, sensible, speed) and the framerate. Buster Keaton and John Gilbert didn't do the same thing. The silent era invented the screen acting that everyone here likes.
The cartoon comparison I feel gives a very distorted picture of what silent acting actually looked like (some of it undoubtedly was but most of it wasn't.)
Silents = A language of their own - Maybe a little but Classical Hollywood Style and the mode of production was basically perfected by 1920 and didn't change much. Sternberg in the 20s = Sternberg in the 30s. I suppose comedy changed in some ways but then only the very specific kind that Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin created - Clara Bow, Marion Davies, and Corinne Griffith were in movies that functioned just like the comedies of the 30s.
Instead of making unnecessary excuses for silent films, which are only superficially "alien", we should be emphasizing how similar, familiar, it all is...because it is.
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Then you missed the best part, the last half hour, which is absolutely amazing, a kind of proto-Apocalypse Now.
It's a very flawed film, Ray should have been allowed to complete production and oversee post, but few people had the guts to make films like that then, never mind today.
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> {quote:title=Filmgoddess wrote:}{quote}You can't blame the Academy for that but the individual countries that submit the entries each year. If they're picking films to represent their country that are not "represent of what's going on in world cinema" (and what do you actually mean by that?) then only those countries are to blame.
That's true - it's either proof that every other country has the same middle of the road taste as we do or it suggests that they pick what they believe will have the best chance with Academy voters - but the Academy gets to pick which flims ultimately end up on their slate and it's always what one would expect. When I noticed last year's winner, In a Better World, featured poor Africans I knew immediately that it would win - I was right.
My original quote was "A poor representation of the state of world cinema." Sounds pretty straightforward to me - this is not the best the world has to offer.
"Obscure, weird Asian films" - If you mean "Asia Extreme", I don't care about that, but if you mean Still Walking or Yi Yi or Cafe Lumiere or Still Life, you're way, way off the mark. Obscure? Maybe. Weird? No, people just don't want to try and work with the films they watch anymore.
Those two films aren't particularly special in the wide scope of things, nothing to get excited about. "Secret" isn't bad but "World" is pure Oscar-bait.
Certified Copy was better than every film in the Best Picture category last year, let alone the Foreign Language category, which doesn't even come close. 50 years ago a film like it would have some chance of getting mainstream press - not anymore, and that's a shame.
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Can anyone confirm whether Wind Across the Everglades was shown in cropped or open matte form? The titles and some of the long shots suggest the latter but I got the feeling that the image might be overly cramped in matted form if this was simply an open matte transfer.
In any case, thanks to TCM for finally getting the film on the air! I loved it!
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> {quote:title=cujas wrote:}{quote}Richard Schickel's DVD commentaries are woefully overrated.
Zing! But that would imply that people actually like his commentaries! Does anyone?
I like Schickel's "Men Who Made the Movies" series (in which he has no opportunity to say anything) and his revival of Sam Fuller's Big Red One but that's about it. He's not much of a critic.
As for the question at hand, I'll say that most of the Academy's "Best Foreign Language" category is generally a poor representation of the state of world cinema...but of course AMPAS is an easy target in general.
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Spite Marriage is at least better than something like Battling Butler and it is still Keaton-esque, especially the second half. The Cameraman was Keaton's last masterpiece but this is hardly a bad film. Have you watched Speak Easily and Sidewalks of New York? Those are examples of evaporated, dehydrated, crushed Buster Keaton.
Keaton wanted to make Spite Marriage a talkie and watching it again I thought it would have translated well to that format. Although I doubt it would have changed anything, there's always that possibility that it might have given Keaton a better foundation and terms to work with in the new talkie world had he been able to pull off the debut he wanted.
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A lot of good stuff here. The items that caught my eye...
A double feature of Ozu's silent A Story of Floating Weeds and his 50s remake Floating Weeds. More Ozu is always a good thing!
Jacques Feyder and Chris Marker films on the 8th
Max Ophuls' The Reckless Moment and The Exile
The Japanese cult film House on TCM Underground
The Jean Renoir Diary of a Chambermaid
Howard Hawks' Man's Favorite Sport, one of the few I haven't seen (Hows about Red Line 7000 in 2012?)
And maybe The Gold Rush will be the true silent version this time out?
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> {quote:title=jr33928 wrote:}{quote}Unfortunately most foreign films don't even come close to being as good as Pan's Labyrinth. Just my opinion. JR.
There are tons, tons, of foreign language films that are far greater than Pan's Labyrinth. So it's just your opinion but I'd say this - watch more movies.
Anyway, as pointed out, TCM commonly shows world cinema - AMC does not and will never do this (outside of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.)
I greatly appreciate TCM's efforts as of late with concern to international film: The two Jean Gremillon films during Jean Gabin day, as well as the other two Duviviers and the rare films they scheduled in general, were an immense service to American cinephiles. The selections have become increasingly daring and challenging and that's something I'd like to see continue (Rivette, 80s/90s/00s Godard, contemporary masters like Jia Zhangke?)
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It doesn't at all matter in the slightest whether or not this has anything to do with Bogart the person, emotionally it's his richest and most graded performance and for that I would say it's the best.
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No, I wouldn't say so.
The Killing is entertaining but it's ony fluff with an attitude (fluff can be great, but serious minded superficial fluff - no, no, no.) The poorly assembled ending comes off just silly, whether or not there was any comic intent in it, but the rest of it is quite nice.
The documentary style actually isn't unfamiliar; The Naked City used it eight years before and the general trend among crime movies after the war was to use location shooting inspired by documentary realism - Gun Crazy, Side Street, Night and the City, and Panic in the Streets being prominent examples.
And The Killing is in reality one of the best known films tagged with the "noir" title: Stanley Kubrick (film noir = COOOOOOOOL!) the perceived link to Reservoir Dogs = IMDB message board wackiness.
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> {quote:title=slaytonf wrote:}{quote}Can Fassbinder, Wenders, or Herzog be far behind?
I've been requesting Fassbinder and Wenders for a long time so hopefully something will come up - Criterion has posted Alice in the Cities on their Hulu channel so it's clearly open for TCM to show now.
There was also the two Chantal Akerman films earlier this year, definitely something you won't see on any other movie channel, ditto the first Mikio Naruse film on U.S. TV in ages (if ever.)
And this December it appears that TCM is going to show the highly sought after Japanese silent film A Page of Madness. It'll be interesting to see how it is presented (completely silent? With a western-style score? Benshi?)
TCM's selections are becoming increasingly adventurous and I definitely hope to see it continue.
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> {quote:title=voranis wrote:}{quote} Is TCM having financial trouble?
Well, considering TCM is continuing the TCM Film Festival for a third year and conjuring up ridiculous ideas like the TCM Classic Film Cruise, I doubt they're having any financial difficulties.
I'd say a bigger problem with the interstitial programming is that they repeat the same promos and trailers over and over and over. I remember watching the Our Gang marathon earlier this year and being bombarded with the same "Dennis Hoppper on Nick Ray" bit dozens of times. That's an extreme case, those were all short films so the time between films was more abundant than usual, but it's basically true of the ordinary day to day programming as well.
As for promoting DVDs - Store shelf space is becoming increasingly scarce for old movies these days and the Warner Archive is only available via the internet so I have absolutely no problem with TCM advertising any of these things.
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> {quote:title=musicalnovelty wrote:}{quote}
> The 14th continues to get more intriguing with each added title. Wonder what the theme is...looks like another "Treasures from an Archive" day.
Indeed, the film "Kurutta Ippeijji" is the great Japanese silent Page of Madness by Teinosuke Kinugasa. This is a very, very big deal.
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> {quote:title=Dano16 wrote:Silent films are now often referred to as classics, too. Though until recently many film fans saw them as simply forerunners to the classic Hollywood period.
They are classics and always were classics, it's only foolish prejudice and ignorance otherwise. Classical style was invented, even perfected, in the 1910s, and most of the 1930s was spent catching up to what the 1920s had achieved. Furthermore, the studio system that everyone remembers was fully operational in the 1920s and identical to what existed in the 1930s. So it's only simple distaste for anything that isn't talking that pushed that ludicrous idea into any kind of attention.
But "Classic" in TCM doesn't refer to classical style, it's exactly what classic means in other contexts; vintage, exemplary, etc. Most of the films made in the post-studio era are still classical in style and have nothing to do with experimental or avant-garde films. Something like The 400 Blows is basically classical in approach. Breathless is another matter but most of the stuff that claimed to be influenced by it completely missed the greater point and only borrowed the techniques like jump-cuts, using them in otherwise classical contexts.
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> {quote:title=MissScarlett123 wrote:}{quote}(I believe the definition is atleast 20 years old).
Nah, if it's great, it's a classic.
Yi Yi (2000) is a masterpiece and better than 99% of the old classics - completely worthy of being termed a "classic."
And anyway, TCM's webstore is a proxy of a wider distributor, so it doesn't mean anything that they sell recent films.
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This looks amazing! What a wonderful restoration. I eagerly await the Blu-ray release.
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Well, perhaps Baby Face is redeemable, but Night Nurse definitely not.
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> {quote:title=Kinokima wrote:}{quote}Awesome didn't expect someone else to know Only Yesterday on here
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> I know people know Ghibli on here but that one isn't released in the states (and what a shame it is).
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Only Yesterday might be Studio Ghibli's greatest film, which makes it all the sadder that Disney hasn't released it here. One of the best films about early adulthood and perhaps the most genuine example of the reality of nostalgia - where there is comfort there is also much pain. A real masterpiece and surely one of the best films of the 1990s.
It is shameful that Takahata is so ignored here; he's not just one of the greatest animators, arguably superior even to Miyazaki, he is one of the great Japanese filmmakers of the last 30 years. Along with Only Yesterday, here's what American viewers are currently missing out on...
Chie the Brat (pre-Ghibli 1981) - This is the first great work of the extended Ghibli universe. Like Only Yesterday, Grave of the Fireflies, and My Neighbors the Yamadas, everyday life is depicted with the embellishments that only animation can best provide. It deals with serious themes (divorce and how children relate to their parents) with good natured comedy. Never mawkish, always truthful.
Gauche the Cellist (pre-Ghibli 1982) - The importance of one's responsibilities (and the pressures) to their wider community, self improvement, and what is necessary to become a great musician, all told imaginatively through some of the finest mixtures of sound and image in animation and film.
The Story of Yanagawa's Canals (non-Ghibli 1987) - This should be one of the most renowned documentaries in the world but alas it is not. Not an animated film, it's a 3 hour long documentary produced for NHK TV, but it does feature historical depictions via animation (provided by Ghibli.) It is the story of the canal system of the town of Yanagawa - how and why they were built, the rhythm of life and the people who live there, the efforts to salvage and restore them. It is not only an exceptional piece of history, it is an anthropological document, a question of identity, a treatise on modernism and traditional life. Along with Only Yesterday, this is Takahata's greatest achievement.
The latter two are owned by Studio Ghibli in Japan, so I assume Disney has the right to release them here (but of course they won't.) The Japanese DVDs have English subtitles and are well worth owning (but quite pricey, unfortunately.)
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I have to disagree - imagine Burt Lancaster's performance as if this were a silent film, and his physical presence and body language is the major reason why this is such a tremendous performance, and it becomes abundantly clear why this is one of the greatest of all male performances in cinema.
It's not Lancaster's voice but Visconti, one of the great perfectionists, did not slouch on the dubbed performances - lip synching aside, it's very good. It's Visconti's film first and foremost afterall, of which Lancaster is but one part, and as important as B.L. is, Alain Delon's transformation is as vital to the ultimate success of the film.
Lancaster's voice is fine in the truncated English dub but it's not the same film.
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Here's the cover art of the new Meet Me in St. Louis blu-ray...
(sigh)...Why couldn't they just re-use the perfectly fine DVD cover?
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Eisenstein - Battleship Potemkin or Strike are the best starting points, for Eisenstein, the Soviet montage school, and Russian cinema in general.
Strike will be on TCM in November, as will the sound films Ivan the Terrible parts 1 & 2, a different beast but just as brilliant; it's still montage but instead of intense cutting on distinct images and ideas based on social-realist types, these two films, with a greater grounding in narrative and character, are orchestrated on baroque images - extreme theatricality, like The Scarlet Empress - and music. It's like a big expressionist musical, particularly part 2.
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> {quote:title=EugeniaH wrote:}{quote}{font:Times New Roman} {font}
> {font:Calibri}{font}{font:Calibri}The soundtrack is incredible and fits the film perfectly. I listen to it on my iPod.
{font}I'm not one of those people who vehemently dislikes the Voices of Light oratorio but I do think it's stylistically at odds with Dreyer's methods - austere, spartan, direct. It places too much...weight...onto the images. If Eisenstein had made it I would agree that it's perfect but Dreyer situates Joan in more isolated territory - spiritually above all, but also socially, culturally, sexually. Its design is intimate and I think the music robs that aspect of the film.
Try watching it in darkness and complete silence - this is how Dreyer wanted it. It's an unreal experience, one of the great film experiences. I do think the music comes in handy for people viewing on smaller televisions, but if you have a decent sized HDTV, definitely try the silence.
The Parson's Widow very much reflects the influence of D.W. Griffith on Dreyer, it has much in common with films like True Heart Susie, Way Down East, and other rural Griffiths in its depiction of individuals conforming in broader society's conventions. It's a good film, I like it a lot, but it's early Dreyer and he would grow radically with each new film.
Michael is a significant turning point, where many of Dreyer's characteristic techniques comes into form - particularly the close-up.
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Tons of people.
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TCM Impots in November:
Stolen Kisses
Sansho the Bailiff
Ivan the Terrible part 1
Ivan the Terrible part 2
Silent Sundays in November:
Laurel and Hardy films
What Price Glory
Pandora's Box
Strike
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Rebel Without a Clue
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Considering Rebel Without a Cause has been entirely relevant since it came out, it is far less dated than pretty much every other film of its time. Giant is far more dated (and "comically" so) than Rebel Without a Cause could ever be.
If you reduce the film to "Nobody understands me" (and it's actually a fact that few people actually understand anybody - turn on the television and look at our ridiculous American situation for proof) you've completely missed the point.