Stay safe oscar.
Katrina is comin' in something fierce in Louisiana
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Stay safe oscar.
Katrina is comin' in something fierce in Louisiana
You're welcome Chris.
Thanks Johann. The danger has passed. It was scary to hear the giant but shallow-rooted ficus trees characteristic of my neighborhood being toppled by Katrina's winds.
Friday August 26th
The Brothers Grimm (USA, 2005) at SoBe Regal
It's a Terry Gilliam film so don't expect character development or historical accuracy. It's hard to imagine any of these characters outside the confines of this movie's universe. You wouldn't be satisfied either if you're thirsty for a movie with social commentary or emotional impact (you'd be likely to find The Brothers Grimm either inconsequential or uninvolving). What Gilliam and screenwriter Ehren Krueger have created is a rollicking, inventive, comedic, period adventure jam-packed with arresting images, grotesque characters and horrible creatures, whimsical interludes, slapstick moments, and fantastic oddities. It's not unlike Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen although I prefer Grimm for the clever way it reimagines the origins of a dozen or so of Grimms' fairy tales, and the manner in which the plot links them in the film's final act. The controversial casting of Lena Headey, as mandated by the Weinstein Brothers, is The Brothers Grimm's obvious flaw. She seems to have wandered off both from a more conventional movie and from a more modern time period. Gilliam was right to complain. I wonder what his chosen Samantha Morton would have done with the role.
Samantha Morton is always interesting and has great presence. She surely would have added something substantial, possibly anchored things well. I'd thought of seeing this this past weekend but went to the forgettable Red Eye and the unforgettable Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance instead. I tend to like plot-driven well organized stuff and found Munchausen a bit too disorgaized, but Gilliam is always worth watching, I'm quite sure. Damon and Ledger would be a draw for me, and though you neglect even to mention them(!) (aren't they the "stars"?) they're cute guys, but both have some acting cred, Ledger's somewhat newly coming on.
Damon and Ledger are fine in non-challenging roles, often playing "straight men" to characters played with broad gusto by Peter Stormare and Jonathan Price. Damon and Ledger are the definite box office magnets but the film is not performance-driven. The clever, not-immediately-apparent plot, the mise-en-scene, and the busy art direction are more prominent aspects. I grant you it's possible you'd find The Brothers Grimm a "bit disorganized", yet more fun than movies like Red Eye.
When I said Red Eye was "forgettable" I was not lying. I literally couldn't remember what it was. Two days later it had disappeared from my mind, even though I was thinking about it yesterday. I had to stop and think a while. Needless to say Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is not hard to bring to mind; one might like to forget some parts of it, but they're embedded there in the brain, like an icepick or a knife.
Let us not forget that Heath Ledger was involved in another period romp (actually Ned Kelly was not bad), I mean the playful and silly but entertaining A Knight's Tale, which also had an actor who has acquired considerable credibility since, Paul Bettany. But Ledger's character acting bent was best realized in Lords of Dogtown. I am very eager to see him in Brokeback Mountain, based on a powerful little E. Annie Proulx story published eight years ago in The New Yorker; this could be a stunner, with its succinctly bitter tale and somebody as good in the young man acting line as Jake Gyllanhaal to partner with, and as able a helmsmen as Ang Lee -- not to mention Larry McMurty doing the screenplay. But I don't know when it's coming out.
*Looking forward to Brokeback Mountain scheduled for wide release on Dec. 9th.
*I'm not a huge fan of movies like Sympathy but I was able to have a bit of fun with Oldboy and Takeshi Miike movies, however sick and disposable, so I'll probably end up watching Sympathy on disc.
Sat August 27th
Broken Flowers (USA, 2005) at SoBe Regal
I also watched the second half of The Skeleton Key which seemed less over-the-top and feeble-brained that typical for the genre. Hey, beats being home without A/C.
I don't want people to think that I am a "huge fan of movies like Sympathy" either, but the problem is your use of the phrase, "films like Sympathy," because the whole reason for watching Park Chan-wook is that there are not "films like" his -- he is quite original. You may link what he does to a genre, and in fact that's the natural approach and I wouldn't oppose it, I'd be a fool to, but there aren't other films like this revenge trilogy as far as I can tell after seeing 2/3 of it. So, what I'm saying is that this is why I want to watch Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (remember there are two Park Sympathies so you may need to type out the whole title): not because I am a "fan" of "films like" this, but because of the talent and originality displayed here. I frankly think your considering these " sick and disposable" shows a lack of perspective considering that within a western context murder-revenge tragedies go back to the Elizabethans. You might call them "sick and disposable" too, but they would include names like Shakespeare and Marlowe, and you'd be linking yourself not with sophisticated writers but religious nuts. To think they're some new kitsch invention to make money and harvest dollars strikes me as short-sighted. But I am not a fan of this genre, I am not watching Miike and I do not particularly go for Asian horror flicks. However Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure is superb; one must realize that genres are made to be transcended as all traditions are, and they must be, and they are, so long as talent exists.
The one thing I didn't expect to see on a site with such astute critics was to see all a directors work tarred with the same brush on the basis of one film.
Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance is nothing like Oldboy and even Miike has films of subtlety unlike say Ichi the Killer. Indeed the one thing that surprises people who've been hyped up for Audition is the incredibly subtle (in some peoples eyes boring) build up.
Please don't use this form of judgement or you may as well wear blinkers.
Cheers Trev.
Originally posted by trevor826
The one thing I didn't expect to see on a site with such astute critics was to see all a directors work tarred with the same brush on the basis of one film.
If you used to think of me as an "astute critic" on the basis of my posts or simply because I post frequently on this site, I appreciate the back-handed compliment. But I certainly don't introduce myself or think of myself as such. Just a guy who fell in love with cinema in the 60s and has turned watching films and learning about cinema into an obsession. It's only human to base expectations regarding Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance on the Park Chan-wook film I've seen (Oldboy). Perhaps it is unfair, as you suggest. But I'd like to clarify that it's my expectations re: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance that I've "tarred with the same brush...", not my opinion of it since I couldn't possibly have an opinion of a film I haven't watched.
Oldboy, which I did enjoy to an extent, evidenced an appreciation on the part of the director for "shock for its own sake". This is not something I value highly, although it's certainly not enough to "ruin" a film for me. It's entirely possible this tendency and others I detected in Oldboy have been toned down or excised, as you suggest when you write "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is nothing like Oldboy".
I would agree that Park's "revenge trilogy " films are extremely violent, so he obviously enjoys working with violent material. Or is he just adept with such material, and energeticallly carrying a genre to its limits? Could it be you're just taking him too seriously? Anyway, "sake"=purpose=intention, so you can't say Park Chan-wook uses "shock for its own sake" unless you actually know his intentions. In the absence of that information applying the phrase to Park is subjective -- and pejorative - and putting it in quotation marks doesn't justify using it on him or any other director whose intentions you don't know. You can say he likes to work with violent material, you can't say that's his sole intention, to use such material to shock.. Violence is everywhere in real life and the movies and comes in many colors and in a movie or a book it has different meanings. I'd agree that the two Park revenge films I've seen are shockingly violent and sometimes disgusting, but that doesn't link them with shabby B-pictures because they're too well done, inventive, and technically accomplished to be looked on as schlock.
Trevor is right that the two, Oldboy and Mr. Vengeance, are quite different in their plot and general feeling, though you can feel Park's style and energy equally strongly in both. Obviously he was on some kind of a roll and that's why expectations for Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is dangerously high. Mr Vengeance was actually made before Oldboy. With its infamous "torture chamber" sequence Mr Vengeance is arguably gorier than Oldboy, not less. Whether the trilogy is a celebration of revenge or a demonstration of its ultimate futility remains to be seen -- and discussed. But you can forget about the idea that the "tendency" and the ominously unspecified "others" that you dislike in Park's Oldboy "have been toned down or excised," in Mr. Vengeance, especially since your phrasing implies a progression toward Mr. Vengeance, while in fact Oldboy was made later.
Otherwise I can only reiterate my previous post on why I have found interest in Park's movies but you can't say I'm a "h uge fan" of his. I was implying I pursue directors and not genres, and it's pretty obvious that Park is hugely talented, skillful, and quite original, but I didn't mean to imply I am avoiding Miike's films, just stating the fact that I'm not pursuing them.
Personally I'm far more concerned at how Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and indeed any following films from Park will suffer because of the world wide success of Oldboy.
Oldboy was a comic (manga) adaptation given the live action treatment just like many other films particularly in Japan and the US, Spiderman, Ichi the Killer, The Hulk, Fudoh, Sin City, Battle Royale etc etc.
The point is the previous films I have seen from Park, although commercial have covered topics that affect Korea, the North/South split - JSA and organ theft - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. I think he's more likely now to just try and imitate the success of Oldboy and if you have seen his contribution to "Three Extremes" that looks exactly where he's heading.
The defining of yourselves as astute critics was meant as a compliment and certainly wasn't meant to be taken in any other way.
Cheers Trev.
*I was right to take it as a compliment then, however back-handed, and to have expressed my appreciation. Perhaps this is an appropriate time to reiterate my gratitude for your interest in Korean cinema and for making your related commentary available on this site (You seem to be the only member who's seen films by my favorite Korean director: Jin-ho Hur).
*Whether or not Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is similar to Oldboy or "nothing like" Oldboy I've decided to watch it and consequently post a comment, as I'm committed to do for every film I watch this year. Chris, of course applying the phrase "shock for its own sake" to Oldboy is subjective. It's an opinion and I stand by it. It's based on both presentation and content, not exclusive of a little scene involving an octopus ;)
Sunday August 28th
Stage Door (USA, 1937) dvd
Along with My Man Godfrey, this is the best-known film directed by Gregory La Cava. Stage Door received four Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. It's based on a play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, about aspiring actresses living in a midtown boarding house. It's full of quotable dialogue delivered by a wonderful cast that includes Katherine Hepburn, Ann Miller, Lucille Ball, Adolph Menjou and La Cava regular Ginger Rogers. Mordantly funny during its first hour with a rich collection of snappy wisecracks, then it becomes a heartfelt tribute to the acting profession. Its finale had an emotional impact on me I didn't expect, because the film is never predictable or manipulative. This is my favorite film from 1937's crop of Best Picture nominees. It's resolutely superior than eventual winner The Life of Emile Zola.
Hitch (USA, 2005) dvd
Sister's pick (she's staying with us until she gets electricity back in her house) but it turned out ok. Hollywood romantic comedy formula, predictable, but totally devoid of crassness and only mildly contrived. It's even somewhat wise about dating and relationships. Since I don't watch tv, the performance given by Kevin James (TV's The King of Queens) amounts to a revelation. It ain't easy to steal the spotlight from Will Smith in this genre.
Oscar, having just checked on the search I notice you passed on seeing Vibrator by Ryuichi Hiroki. This is a shame as with your background I would like to have seen your analysis of the film, I think this would have been (as they say) right up your street.
Cheers Trev.
[trevor]That's always a danger that people will be prejudiced or have skewed expectations, but as long as Park does strikingly original and technically impressive work, he will maintain a positive reputation.Quote:
Personally I'm far more concerned at how Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and indeed any following films from Park will suffer because of the world wide success of Oldboy.
[Oscar]Taste is taste, but not all criticism is subjective. The more criticism is built up out of logical and factual statements the more it commands attention and respect. You yourself always try to make your remarks fair and judicious, as you well know, and your statements about violence and shock value in Park's Oldboy could be made in a more supportable, less subjective manner.Quote:
Chris, of course applying the phrase "shock for its own sake" to Oldboy is subjective. It's an opinion and I stand by it. It's based on both presentation and content, not exclusive of a little scene involving an octopus.