Films you've seen lately

[Ein Heldenleben]

Glad you enjoyed it john. I think it’s the most romantic and beautiful film I’ve seen since The English Patient, which also featured the radiant Juliette Binoche. (The gourmet’s covered their heads to devour ortolan - now illegal). Tran’s earlier film The Scent of Green Papaya is set in early ‘60’s Saigon and has a similar pace, sensibility and quiet beauty.

TV progs that feature the eating of an Ortolan - literally a snow bunting but I suspect when it was legal it would have been other migratory buntings - include a Jeremy Clarkson travel doc and an episode of Billions. In both the characters acknowledge that it’s wrong but delicious. The disgraceful practice of liming and then eating migratory song birds is , needless to say, very damaging to the bird population and sadly still continues in Malta and Cyprus . One thing that guarantees I won’t be spending my tourist money there.

[gradus]

Night of the Demon on Talking Pictures. Excellent and surely due for a remake.

[gurnemanz]

At last, we managed to get to see 'Poor Things' this week. I had had mixed messages from friends from 'unmissable', 'alright', 'too long', to 'best film in ages'. I thought it was a terrific couple of hours and a bit. The sets were beautiful, unusual at all times. Willem Dafoe's face did not lose its effect throughout the film - he was wonderful, though his accent was exceedingly dodgy. I don't think I had seen Emma Stone in anything before - her performance as Bella Baxter was astounding from the word go, as we journeyed with her through this alien world and polite society and the horrors of society. Mark Grufallo played the extraordinary cad, bewitched by Bella. The film was funny, sometimes uncomfortably so, and always interesting. The bordello madame looked like Keef Richards, which I found hilarious. I didn't find it too long at all, but the film reached a natural conclusion for me, if that is the right word.
A huge highlight for me was the surprise appearance, for me anyway, of Hanna Schygulla, whom Bella meets on the ship and who is pivotal in Bella's journey towards freedom. It was so good to see her after so many years. Back in the seventies I used to go to Fassbinder films in the hope of seeing her - she's aged well.

Certainly a film to see. Lavish (AI enhanced?) imagery in the sets, locations and background scenery, often seen through non-standard lenses - a lot of fisheye, which goes along, I suppose, with the film's basic premise of Bella, the heroine, being an adult who perceives the world through the eyes of a baby + some spooky musical soundtrack. Worth staying for the end credits with a new set of images as background for a colossal list of participants (a lot of Hungarian names).

[Darkbloom]

I saw The Holdovers recently and couldn't see what all the fuss was about. The basic premise (gruff old crosspatch becomes somewhat less so over the course of the film) has been done a million times and mostly they're just iterations of A Christmas Carol. There was nothing actually bad about it, but it was so desperate to be touching and heartwarming that I found the whole experience profoundly annoying. Predictable Oscar bait.

[smittims]

I was surprised to find that I've seen the famous Alexander Korda film Things to Come only once, and even then I seem not to have been paying attention , as I didn't recall a lot of it when seeing it again today (It's on TPTV next week too).

Best known to Radio 3 listeners for the music by Arthur Bliss , though that's not as prominent as one might expect, the film itself, made before the Second World War, is of course dated today, a 'period piece' though the warnings of war and emergency measures to deal with a pandemic are starkly topical. We're certainly no nearer having an effective international organisation, to prevent war, than they were in 1935.

[gradus]

I was surprised to find that I've seen the famous Alexander Korda film Things to Come only once, and even then I seem not to have been paying attention , as I didn't recall a lot of it when seeing it again today (It's on TPTV next week too).

Best known to Radio 3 listeners for the music by Arthur Bliss , though that's not as prominent as one might expect, the film itself, made before the Second World War, is of course dated today, a 'period piece' though the warnings of war and emergency measures to deal with a pandemic are starkly topical. We're certainly no nearer having an effective international organisation, to prevent war, than they were in 1935.

I remember seeing it in the early sixties on TV along with a slew of Eisenstein films - Alexander Nevsky and the Battle on the Ice being particularly memorable. Let's hope TP secure more of these old but excellent films.

[smittims]

Yes, the influence of Eisenstein and Vertov is clearly visible in Things to Come.

[johncorrigan]

Last night I re-watched William Hurt as Richard Feynmann in 'The Challenger' on BBC 4, the story of the enquiry into the 1986 explosion. I know the story is very much from Feynmann's point of view, but the way he is pointed towards the cause is so interesting and his maverick approach is something that seems to have made this man such a fascinating person to me. Hurt is terrific as the dying physicist. Worth a awatch if you haven't seen it before.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00zstkn/the-challenger

[gradus]

Last night I re-watched William Hurt as Richard Feynmann in 'The Challenger' on BBC 4, the story of the enquiry into the 1986 explosion. I know the story is very much from Feynmann's point of view, but the way he is pointed towards the cause is so interesting and his maverick approach is something that seems to have made this man such a fascinating person to me. Hurt is terrific as the dying physicist. Worth a awatch if you haven't seen it before.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...the-challenger

Yes I got hooked within 5 minutes of switching over. Its a fine performance by Mr Hurt and reminded me that I wish that I could understand anything of Feynman's scientific output!

[richardfinegold]

We saw a preview of Origin, which is a dramatization of the genesis of Isabel Wilkerson book Caste. It was engrossing. I don’t think I have ever seen a movie that was about the genesis of an idea. It shows the author struggling with the concept that racism alone doesn’t explain systemic societal cruelty , rather the formation of caste systems ‘enable’ people to be cruel to individuals because the caste to which they have been assigned is deemed so unworthy of basic respect. She compares German Jews, American Blacks, and Indian Dalit (Untouchables).

The interesting part is the movie shows the genesis of her idea, her research, and the intellectual resistance of others in the Black Community as well as international scholars.
It also intertwines her personal story, and was engrossing. It will probably sink without a trace because it doesn’t feature super heroes or sex and violence, so try to catch it when you have the opportunity

[Belgrove]

Re-reading my comments about Dune Part 1 (as we should now call it), I wrote of its jaw-dropping production values, that it was blockbuster film making at its best, and that it was comparable with Lawrence of Arabia for its scope, seriousness and sensibility. High praise indeed! Dune Part 2, which is not a sequel but a completion of Frank Herbert’s novel, does not attain those dizzy heights. This is probably due to the source material itself, whereby all the world building, political machinations and oppressive sense of threat that characterises the first part, is cashed in for guerrilla warfare, religious insurrection and political revolution. There’s a lot of ground to cover, and so despite its 2-1/2 hour length, it still feels rushed and a more formulaic action movie. But the action is truly staggering. This film has images one simply could not have imagined - the Emperor’s spaceship, the black celebratory fireworks, a double eclipse (sic), … . Greig Fraser’s cinematography astonishes with its beauty and awesome sublimity. It’s not the sort of film that requires detailed or subtle characterisation by its principal actors, but Timothée Chalamet does a good job in progressing from a jejune refugee to Mahdi, whilst conveying his own self-doubts for the consequences of becoming a messiah. Equally good is Rebecca Ferguson as his ambiguous mother, who is carefully manipulating the emergence of a cult amongst a superstitious people. Is she working for her son’s best interests or the ancient scientific/religious order of which she is a member? This just one thread that the multilayered narrative explores. So if it’s out of this world spectacle you are seeking, look no further.

[Nick Armstrong]

Re-reading my comments about Dune Part 1 (as we should now call it), I wrote of its jaw-dropping production values, that it was blockbuster film making at its best, and that it was comparable with Lawrence of Arabia for its scope, seriousness and sensibility. High praise indeed! Dune Part 2, which is not a sequel but a completion of Frank Herbert’s novel, does not attain those dizzy heights. This is probably due to the source material itself, whereby all the world building, political machinations and oppressive sense of threat that characterises the first part, is cashed in for guerrilla warfare, religious insurrection and political revolution. There’s a lot of ground to cover, and so despite its 2-1/2 hour length, it still feels rushed and a more formulaic action movie. But the action is truly staggering. This film has images one simply could not have imagined - the Emperor’s spaceship, the black celebratory fireworks, a double eclipse (sic), … . Greig Fraser’s cinematography astonishes with its beauty and awesome sublimity. It’s not the sort of film that requires detailed or subtle characterisation by its principal actors, but Timothée Chalamet does a good job in progressing from a jejune refugee to Mahdi, whilst conveying his own self-doubts for the consequences of becoming a messiah. Equally good is Rebecca Ferguson as his ambiguous mother, who is carefully manipulating the emergence of a cult amongst a superstitious people. Is she working for her son’s best interests or the ancient scientific/religious order of which she is a member? This just one thread that the multilayered narrative explores. So if it’s out of this world spectacle you are seeking, look no further.

I would agree with all that, having seen it at the Science Museum’s iMax 70mm cinema this week. Visually stunning (those infra-red sections introducing Austin Butler’s psychotic villain!!) but on a narrative level I was more gripped by Part 1 (seen in the same place). Special mention for Javier Bardem, too - totally convincing.

The debt to Lawrence of Arabia is explicitly acknowledged by the director in this interesting interview:

https://youtu.be/Jcwie9bCj6U?si=4ZfJ9Q5Spbem8AH1

(Incidentally, Denis V is the guest on Sounds of Cinema today, currently on R3)

[johncorrigan]

I decided to take a visit to see the Wim Wenders film 'Perfect Days'. Koji Yakusho plays a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. In the film we see him go through his daily rituals from getting up to going to work to photographing trees to eating to going to bed. Very little happens in this film - I thought it was wonderful - I found myself immersed in Hirayama's world. It also made me think of great performances by actors in Wenders' films...Harry Dean Stanton, Bruno Ganz, Natasha Kinski spring to mind. Koji Yakusho's performance is the most enjoyable performance by an actor that I have seen in many a year. The two hours flew by.

[johncorrigan]

At last managed to get to see 'Dune 2' with my son and his pal. They loved it. I found it a wee bit too long, but it was entertaining enough. I was glad I had revised part 1 before I went. It helped. Javier Bardem was terrific in the film. It had a memorable baddie, Feyd Rautha Harkonnen, played by Austin Butler. Film looked great and sounded good...not quite as loud as the first one, I didn't think.

[richardfinegold]

American Fiction is a literate and wickedly funny film. An author who happens to be Black writes literature with non racial themes resents being pigeonholed as a ‘Black Author’ and psuedonymously writes a book that panders to racial tropes as a prank. This work then achieves adulation and financial success beyond his wildest dreams because because it is considered an “authentic “ voice. There are family issues as well which create financial pressures to accept the bonanza and perpetuate the hoax.