Films you've seen lately

[smittims]

Thanks for posting that, John. It sounds like the kind of thing I would like. It reminded me of an American film I did see on TV but cannot remember the title, about a young woman travelling in her decrepit car trying to find her father. The main character was made extraordinarily sympathetic; one forgot one was watching a piece of acting.

[johncorrigan]

I'd been looking forward to Celine Song's 'Past Lives' for a few weeks. I'd read a fine review and thought the trailer looked great. In the end I was disappointed in this gentle drama - it looked terrific, and it had a good premise - Na Young and Hae Sung are close childhood friends in Seoul - her family moves to Canada, then she goes to New York. Hae Sung comes looking for her...but it's too late because she is married. Sadly there were a few occasions when I found myself holding back the cry 'just get on with it!' as scenes dragged on. Mrs C even leaned over at one point and whispered the immortal 'Fast Show' line - 'Anyone fancy a pint?' Not terrible, just not too great.

[johncorrigan]

Jonathan Demme has dusted off his 1984 film of Talking Heads, 'Stop Making Sense' often considered to be the greatest film of a rock concert. I went to see it in the Perth IMAX last night and I certainly have never seen one captured so brilliantly With the improved quality you could almost have smelled the sweat on David Byrne's big suit, and the sound quality was electrifying. A terrific night at the cinema.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rjMwSTeVeo

[Belgrove]

Thanks for this john. I’d heard great things about Demme’s film and was intrigued to see why it’s considered so highly. In truth I was a bit underwhelmed, probably because Talking Heads’ music is not of especial interest. But David Byrne certainly has a mesmeric persona and gives an energetic and tireless performance. I wonder how much of the look of the show and its content was a collaboration between the band and Demme, or whether it is more a carefully constructed record. I gather it was filmed over two or three nights (depending upon who you read), which shows due to some minor continuity mismatches. But the visual and especially the sound editing is impressive.

[bluestateprommer]

I wonder how much of the look of the show and its content was a collaboration between the band and Demme, or whether it is more a carefully constructed record. I gather it was filmed over two or three nights (depending upon who you read), which shows due to some minor continuity mismatches. But the visual and especially the sound editing is impressive.

This NYT article, which you may have already seen, has one explanation:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/09/arts/music/talking-heads-stop-making-sense.html

"The band and Demme filmed a rehearsal and three live concerts at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Then they chose the best audio and video takes. They weren’t always the same ones, but the timing each night was almost exact."

The article also says that "Byrne storyboarded each song". Obviously Demme and his camera crew had to do the real physical work of filming, including the moments where one or two details might not have gone to plan, like what look like a microphone drop at one point.

Saw the movie this week, for the first time. So many high-energy songs in succession can be overwhelming, but I can understand the film's reputation better now. The paradox is that while the movie focuses so much visually on Byrne, seemingly at the expense of the rest of the band who could have used more screen time, it turns out to be because his face (especially) and stage manner are so visually distinctive compared to the rest of the musicians. It was a surprise then to get the one number past the halfway mark without Byrne on stage, with all the strobe lighting (and a very good number it is too), where Chris Frantz, the drummer, seems to take charge for a moment.

[smittims]

I'm currently enjoying 'Boiling Point' about a cumulatively-terrible day in the life of a chef. But I'm hindered by two aspects of it: about 30% of the dialogue is unclear (i.e. the words aren't distinguishable, as in 'mumblegate') and I feel I'm expected to know who all the characters are without their being introduced.

[Belgrove]

Thanks for the link and info bsp. A shame Demme is no longer with us. He was a talented film maker.

[johncorrigan]

Saw the movie this week, for the first time. So many high-energy songs in succession can be overwhelming, but I can understand the film's reputation better now. The paradox is that while the movie focuses so much visually on Byrne, seemingly at the expense of the rest of the band who could have used more screen time, it turns out to be because his face (especially) and stage manner are so visually distinctive compared to the rest of the musicians. It was a surprise then to get the one number past the halfway mark without Byrne on stage, with all the strobe lighting (and a very good number it is too), where Chris Frantz, the drummer, seems to take charge for a moment.

I also had never seen 'Stop Making Sense' until this re-master, bsp. I missed the film first time round and in the intervening years did not get round to watching it. I was so glad to experience it all smartened up on the big screen. I think the thing I enjoyed most was that the band seemed to be having a wonderful time - the choreography was sensational - how David Byrne could sing while holding some of those positions beat me. At one point he was singing with the two backing singers and they were moving back and forward in total synch with each other in the dark- this was in days when stages would have lots of cables, but the band seemed to skip round them. The guy on percussion seemed to be having the time of his life, as did the audience(s). And the positions that the cameras achieved gave you something you could not have experienced at a gig - I'm sure that was a combination of Byrne and Demme. I was never a big Talking Heads' fan, but by the end I was left reeling, feeling that it deserved the accolades as the greatest film of a rock concert, and my pal and I came out with smiles on our faces and earworms on our lips. On eof the best musical experiences I have had in a cinema.

[Belgrove]

Martin Scorsese is one of the great historians of the modern USA as seen through the lens of its crime, and while his latest, Killers of the Flower Moon follows in that vein, it is not centred on the Mafia’s development which has preoccupied many of his previous films. Rather it focuses on the (true) series of murders of Native Americans in Osage County for the rights to their oil bearing land. These are perpetrated by a patrician individual, played by Robert De Niro, who ostensibly is the Osage’s friend, learning their language and customs, distributing largesse in the oil boomtown and dispensing wisdom for dealing with the big wide world to the ‘naive’ natives. But like the Godfather, he gets others to do his dirty work and cunningly insinuates his nephews into marrying wealthy women, transferring the land rights and then bumping them off through various means. Leo DiCaprio is his nephew who falls for diabetic Molly, a laconic Osage, who nevertheless speaks volumes through her expressive face - a luminous performance from Lily Gladstone.

Despite its 200 plus minutes duration, the film is absorbing. De Niro, all too plausible, convinces as he smiles and charms while ruthlessly plotting to purloin and murder. DiCaprio, playing a character who is not the brightest, gives a subtle performance of one who loves his wife deeply whilst simultaneously slowly poisoning her. The narrative is complex, spooling back and forth in time, but is nevertheless transparent and compelling. So absorbed was I that I’m sure I missed many subtle visual references. Catholicism suffuses the film - one astonishing shot is where we slowly realise that the shadow of a cross formed from the bars of a prison cell falls on a character’s forehead as he delivers a secular creed. Cinematic sweeps abound - the camera pulls away from a close shot in a car to reveal the vast Oklahoma countryside with oil wells stretching to the distant horizon. The seamless editing by Scorsese’s longtime collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker provides transparency and pace to the narrative.

So there is much here to assimilate in a remarkable film from a master of the art (who makes a Hitchcockian appearance during the film’s very clever coda). It’s an epic film that deserves to be seen on Imax if you can.

[richardfinegold]

Martin Scorsese is one of the great historians of the modern USA as seen through the lens of its crime, and while his latest, Killers of the Flower Moon follows in that vein, it is not centred on the Mafia’s development which has preoccupied many of his previous films. Rather it focuses on the (true) series of murders of Native Americans in Osage County for the rights to their oil bearing land. These are perpetrated by a patrician individual, played by Robert De Niro, who ostensibly is the Osage’s friend, learning their language and customs, distributing largesse in the oil boomtown and dispensing wisdom for dealing with the big wide world to the ‘naive’ natives. But like the Godfather, he gets others to do his dirty work and cunningly insinuates his nephews into marrying wealthy women, transferring the land rights and then bumping them off through various means. Leo DiCaprio is his nephew who falls for diabetic Molly, a laconic Osage, who nevertheless speaks volumes through her expressive face - a luminous performance from Lily Gladstone.

Despite its 200 plus minutes duration, the film is absorbing. De Niro, all too plausible, convinces as he smiles and charms while ruthlessly plotting to purloin and murder. DiCaprio, playing a character who is not the brightest, gives a subtle performance of one who loves his wife deeply whilst simultaneously slowly poisoning her. The narrative is complex, spooling back and forth in time, but is nevertheless transparent and compelling. So absorbed was I that I’m sure I missed many subtle visual references. Catholicism suffuses the film - one astonishing shot is where we slowly realise that the shadow of a cross formed from the bars of a prison cell falls on a character’s forehead as he delivers a secular creed. Cinematic sweeps abound - the camera pulls away from a close shot in a car to reveal the vast Oklahoma countryside with oil wells stretching to the distant horizon. The seamless editing by Scorsese’s longtime collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker provides transparency and pace to the narrative.

So there is much here to assimilate in a remarkable film from a master of the art (who makes a Hitchcockian appearance during the film’s very clever coda). It’s an epic film that deserves to be seen on Imax if you can.

I read the book several years ago. I am looking forward to the movie but at that length I will have to wait for it to stream.
we watched two movies this week on DVD, borrowed from our library. The first was 80 For Brady, a bit of light hearted fluff but a nice time for Seniors. The second was Colette with Keira Knightly, the story, apparently true, of an author in the Belle Epoque was was exploited by her husband until she broke free. I was never convinced by the portrayal; apparently she accepted this for years and was sanguine about it…but different times…

[eighthobstruction]

Jonathan Demme has dusted off his 1984 film of Talking Heads, 'Stop Making Sense' often considered to be the greatest film of a rock concert. I went to see it in the Perth IMAX last night and I certainly have never seen one captured so brilliantly With the improved quality you could almost have smelled the sweat on David Byrne's big suit, and the sound quality was electrifying. A terrific night at the cinema.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rjMwSTeVeo

....Fabulous

[pastoralguy]

We’ve just been to see the new Scorsese movie ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’. Well worth seeing although it’s both very sad and very long. Terrific performances from Bob, Leo and Lily Gladstone.

[Nick Armstrong]

On BBCFour last night and now on iPlayer for ‘over a year’ is the weirdly magnificent Wisconsin Death Trip…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00lfrwh/arena-wisconsin-death-trip

Unique and (almost literally) haunting, in black & white with a whispered voiceover, it hooked me when first broadcast in 2000 and I subsequently bought it on DVD.

A film for late nights with a stiff drink to hand…

[pastoralguy]

I went to see ‘Stop Making Sense’ for the fifth time yesterday, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such joy emanating from a cinema screen in my life. Alas, that’s its last showing in Edinburgh. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie so many times in such a short period.

[Belgrove]

David Fincher has made films about serial killers something of a specialty. His latest, The Killer, can be thought of as an addition to that genre, although the protagonist is a professional assassin rather than a sick predator. The Day of the Jackal gripped through showing the painstaking preparation and process an assassin goes through in executing a hit, and this film has a similar compelling concentration on the mechanics of the trade; everyday objects purchased from superstores have a tendency to be repurposed. Michael Fassbender is excellent as the icy assassin, who misses his hit, whereupon consequences obtain. He’s a bit OCD, reciting cracker-barrel mantras in his head to get in the zone, stay cool, and keep his pulse rate at 61, while listening to The Smiths, whose lugubrious numbers have amusing value through the context in which they are played. Most of the film’s dialogue is the voiceover playing in Fassbender’s head. Tilda Swinton is perfectly cast as a garrulous counterpart to the terse Fassbender. A precise, slick and stylish thriller.