Thank you I'll print these lists out for future reference. Sorry your reviews were lost. Don't you keep backups on your computer? I'd do that if I were you.
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Thank you I'll print these lists out for future reference. Sorry your reviews were lost. Don't you keep backups on your computer? I'd do that if I were you.
Thanks Chris. I learned too late but I do save all my reviews and more detailed comments now.
Cheers Trev.
*I am very interested in Trevor's review of Jin-ho Hur's Christmas in August(will you post it exclusively at foreignfilms?). I've just learned it has finally become available on dvd here! Both Christmas and Hur's A Fine Spring Day are character-rich, melancholic romances of the highest quality.
*On the other hand, none of Sang-soo Hong's films are available in N.America. Another director with a unique take on relationships. I reviewed Turning Gate. Other titles include two recommended by Trevor:Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors and Woman is the Future... (not as good as the other two IMO).
*Here's an older post on South Korean Cinema.
*Huge fan of My Beautiful Girl Mari but it's animated CK. Looks like a double recommendation for Memories and Scandal, both at netflix.
I'll copy some of my comments on Korean films over from foreignfilms.com and post future reviews on both sites. I'm looking forward to seeing Christmas in August but am more concerned about Harmonium in my Memory as this is the third or fourth release date it's had.
Cheers Trev.
I HIGHLY recommend the film ...Quote:
Originally posted by oscar jubis
Memories of Murder (South Korea, 2003) DVD
-- Throughout the investigation, it also challenged the scientific vs intuition approach ... which is still contentious even in today's world ...
-- The ending, while based on real life ending, was also thought provoking ...
oh no ...Quote:
Originally posted by oscar jubis
... and Untold Scandal, a retelling of "Dangerous Liasons" I liked a lot.
... I also liked Oasis but I think you've seen it already....
But I really do not like UNTOLD SCANDAL (except for the costumes), somehow I like the Hollywood 1988 version better ...
I HIGHLY recommend OASIS ...
Hey trevor,Quote:
Originally posted by trevor826
My Beautiful Girl, Mari - animated
Oseam - animated
did you finally watch these 2 animations?
I thought no one else watched OSEAM ...
(I kept recommending in foreignfilms.com last time)
I knew some would watch My Beautiful Girl, Mari
Anyway, for those who did not know,
-- My Beautiful Girl, Mari received Cristal d'Annecy at Annecy International Animation Festival 2002 .
-- OSEAM received Cristal d'Annecy at Annecy International Animation Festival 2004.
;)
That "Hollywood" version (I'd not speak of it that way, with the English director working from an English play using French locations) may be the best one of the Choderlos de Laclos epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (in my opinion it almost is), but you have to see the other ones too, including the 1959 French one (Roger Vadim) with Jeanne Moreau; Milos Forman's 1989 Valmont; the witty 1999 teenager version Cruel Intentions with Ryan Philippe and Reese Witherspoon; and even the somewhat kitsch recent glossy TV miniseries (Josee Dayan, 2003) with Ruppert Everett and Catherine Deneuve. Reading the thorough Wikipedia rundown on the book and its adaptations, I see there was a 1980 (Claude Barma) French TV version too. There may be others... In fact, this is an excellent opportunity to study the art of adaptation. I'll have to see the new Korean version some time. But I'll still probably agree with hengcs's preference of Stephen Frears's very happy 1988 adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play. Of all the Korean stuff you've all mentioned, in fact, this is the one that most appeals to me to check out, apart from Kim Ki-duk's and Park Chan-wook's other movies besides the ones I've seen.Quote:
But I really do not like UNTOLD SCANDAL (except for the costumes), somehow I like the Hollywood 1988 version better ...
I planned to watch the first three films directed by Bela Tarr in chronological order but I started with his second.
Wed. August 17th
The Outsider (Hungary, 1981) dvd
Andras is a man in his 20s who was raised in an institution after his father emigrated to Canada (no mention is made of his mother). He has a brother, and a baby son from his ex-girlfriend. Andras trained as violinist at a Conservatory but never graduated. He enjoys playing at the pub and at social functions. He gets fired from his job as an attendant at a psychiatric clinic but quickly finds employment at a factory. He meets a pretty girl at the pub and eventually marries her. Even though she also works, they experience financial difficulties that threaten their relationship. Andras' wife is especially upset at his "lack of ambition" and his insistence on paying full child support. The life experiences of Andras are seen as representative of the struggles of the common worker in Hungary. Through him, Tarr introduces many of the residents of a small town during the communist era. Tarr also takes pleasure in depicting the town's culture through pub conversations and musical performances. This is Tarr's first color film; the style is characterized by long takes and closeups, with the camera relatively static (particularly when compared to the slow panning that would later become characteristic). At this stage of his career, Tarr's aim was to focus exclusively on "social problems" through careful observation and attention to character and environment.
Thursday August 18th
Francesco, Guillare de Dio aka The Flowers of St. Francis (Italy, 1950) import dvd
"Things are there. Why manipulate them?"
Robert Rossellini
Rossellini practically invented Italian neorealism with his war trilogy (Rome Open City, Paisa, Germania Anno Zero). As a matter of fact, Rome, Open City is as much of a landmark film as Eisenstein's Strike, Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou, Rouch's Moi, un Noir and Godard's Breathless, all highly influential films that showed a revolutionarily new way of making movies. Francesco is Rossellini's first period film (medieval times) but it's as simple, austere and naturalistic as possible, well within the school of neorealism. It concerns several episodes in the life of St. Francis of Assisi and his followers. Rossellini cast real monks, who don't get credited individually in the titles. The only actor in the cast is Aldo Fabrizi as Nicolaio, the Tyrant. Francesco gradually gains resonance through acute observation of the daily routines of Francis and the monks and their encounters with a variety of individuals. The film culminates in a poignant scene in which they decide to separate to spread their message. The excellent script is a collaboration between the director, Federico Fellini, and two priests.
I watched Francesco on a dvd released by Masters of Cinema in the UK. The Criterion edition being released tuesday will feature the same restored print.
Family Nest (Hungary, 1979) dvd
Bela Tarr's early filmography has been compared to the work of John Cassavetes, but for me the strongest association is with Ken Loach's films like Cathy Come Home and Ladybird, Ladybird. It's gritty, social realism about family dysfunction and how it is exacerbated by socio-political forces (in this case, primarily but not exclusively, shortage of housing). Family Nest focuses on a young family. Laci returns from two years of military service to the extremely tense atmosphere of the small apartment where his parents, brother, sister, wife Iren and daughter are forced to cohabitate. Laci's lecherous, alcoholic father is relentlessly critical and abusive towards Iren. He accuses her of adultery. Laci, who also has a drinking problem, is caught in the middle. He's careful not to contradict his father because they depend on him economically. After a heated argument, Iren is practically forced to leave even though it's made apparent she and Laci still love each other. A heartbreaking, engaging debut.
Friday August 19th
Alexandria...Why? (Egypt/Algeria, 1978) dvd
Youssef Chahine had almost 30 years of experience as a writer/actor/director when he started working on his autobiographical Alexandria Trilogy. This is the first of the three films, a winner of a Special Jury Prize at Berlin, set during the World War II. The protagonist is Yehia, who goes to a British high school and loves Shakespeare and Hollywood musicals. He comes from A Christian middle-class family experiencing economic problems. His father is a Paris-educated lawyer with communist leanings who wants him to be an engineer. Unlike his friends, Yehia shows no interest in women, devoting most of his time to watch movies, put on theatrical shows, and experiment with a rudimentary camera. He dreams of coming to California to study filmmaking but has to accept a job as a bank teller out of necessity. Yehia is Chahine's alter ego and the center of a film that somehow juggles a multiplicity of narrative threads. There's a rich young uncle who belongs to a nationalist group and carries acts of violence against foreigners. Once, he kidnaps a naive British soldier and ends up falling in love with him. There's a love story involving a Muslim and a Jewish girl whose family is forced to emigrate because of fear of a Nazi takeover. There's a subplot involving a war profiteer, the father of Yehia's best friend. And much more.
Alexandria...Why? is a fast paced film that jumps from one subplot to another breathlessly, and changes tone at the drop of a hat. There are parts that incorporate theatrical conventions and others that utilize documentary footage, and often these are juxtaposed. It's an exhilarating, taboo-breaking, exuberant and sometimes sloppy film. And I will never forget the visual gag that closes the film with a bang, a stunt which may or may not have symbolic significance.
Thanks for the reminder about this which I should probably have myself. Did you buy or rent? Ditto on the Bela Tarr?
*I am watching the first three films from Bela Tarr. I will watch the third tomorrow. I rented all three from Netflix.
*I am watching Chahine's Alexandria trilogy. I'll watch the next two soon. I own all three on dvd.
Thanks. I am ordering the Alexandria Trilogy for myself.
The three dvds together sell for $41.99 at deepdiscountdvd. Shipping included.