Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

There was an audible sigh of relief when I saw your post. :D

What, did you expect me to hate it?

Our tastes in film are far more similar than our tastes in music. :laugh:

Nah, I just wasn't sure.

:up:

This film was in Tarkovsky's top 10. And in Kinema Junpo's readers poll 2009 top 10 as well. Impressive, really impressive. So when I watched it I felt underwhelmed. Still a good movie though. Just not the awe inspiring masterpiece I was expecting. :)

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

Woman in the Dunes

Firstly, the movie was very clear and crisp in my opinion, at least on the criterion version. Second, the setting of the film was great. I always like it when films are centered in an atmosphere that either makes you feel dark, eerie, mysterious, or helpless, and it is many of those in a way. I really liked the eerie music as well and it added a great touch to the film. I would have liked to have gotten a little more character development, especially from the woman. I liked the overall concept of the film but like GBG something fell apart for me in the end. Probably because I took it too literal in the end as well, but that's just how it goes I guess. A good film, but not a great one for me. But I liked it.

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

Damn, raul, I'm sorry you hated the film.

;)

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

Never heard of this before. I'll add it to my 60s watchlist.

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

I don't think he hated it, just that he didn't enjoy it greatly. I would also like that Raul could be this considerate with respect to the movies I nominated.

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

Was an inside joke, kinda.

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

It wasn't an inside joke, or if it was it was obvious to everyone else that you realized he didn't hate it anyway.

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

I got it

Why do I feel like you're criticizing me? :p

Anyway, I'm glad more people read my Movie a Day thread than I realized. :D

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

Swan ya think I'm gonna like this one?

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

I certainly hope so.

I wasn't criticizing you, sorry :) . I was pointing out to Guap, that you knew Raul didn't actually hate it.

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

If I'm honest, I wasn't expecting to like this. I try to approach all the films with an open mind, but it's hard not to have some preconceptions, and I thought this might be dull. However, I found it quite fascinating. Not immediately, it took a while for it to warm up, or for me to warm up to it, but it got to the point where I was glued to the screen, especially when he made the escape attempt which ended in quicksand. It's a weird film, part horror, part thriller, part drama, part allegory, but it's not so weird or obscure that it's difficult to watch.

I do think it was too long, though. I think the version I watched was the director's cut which was just short of 2 1/2 hours. I don't know what differences there are between the shorter version and the director's cut, and if anybody knows, I'd be interested.

One thing I really liked was the music, it was really eerie and complemented the film well.

As regards the ending - I'm not so sure he did stay for the water pump thing. That's certainly what he said, but that isn't necessarily reliable. Perhaps he stayed for the woman, and the possible baby. Perhaps he felt that in her absence he should continue her work. Perhaps he had become so used to the captivity that he could become completely focused on a goal within the world of that captivity rather than having his goal be to escape.

Overall, I thought it was a really interesting film and I'm glad I watched it.

I watched this last night for the second time. I first watched it about 5 months ago and thought it was pretty great. To my surprise, I thought it was even better this time. My only beef the first time was that I thought it was too long, and could've perhaps used some trimming. Both times, I've watched the director's cut, which is 23 minutes longer than the other version. After watching it this time, I didn't think it dragged at all, and I really don't know anything that could've been cut out.

What I love about the movie most is the atmosphere and cinematography. I really feel when I watch this, that I'm being taken to a whole different side of the world, like I'm actually there. This movie also has an awesome musical score, and the music combined with the look, gives me a sort of horror movie feel. It doesn't hurt that this awesome, unique story is quite terrifying. With only two main characters, it's very important that their acting is superb, and I think that is the case. As far as the ending goes with the decision the guy makes, I'm not really sure as to why, but I think it's effective.

With it's combination of quality, relative obscurity, and it's tie-in to the 60's list, I thought it was the best nomination, and I think it's a fantastic movie.

Woman in the Dunes

I want to say that even though I give two films a higher rating than this one Woman in the Dunes is the most richest film in the entire HoF to me so far, in a cinematic way.

I've always been a fan of Japanese cinema, because as I wrote in the specific Sonatine and Late Spring threads, the movies don't spoon-feed the audience the main idea and philosophy behind everything. I like a movie I need a few hours to think about.

The pit, where most of the story takes place, I thought of it as an allegory for society. Even if we're surrounded by technology and civilization the basic instincts and sins will be the same. And no matter how hard we try to build are lives, most of the time it all crumbles down...

Something I would like to comment about is the direction by Teshigahara. Simply, it's brilliant. His ability to create entertaining and dramatic situations in a limited space was amazing, and I've never seen anyone use sand in a film so well.

About the ending, honestly I don't clearly have my own opinion yet. But I do think it would have been wrong if the man escaped.



(I want to add a + to my rating but there's some small parts I don't understand- I think I need a rewatch soon. Great nomination Swan.)

Re: 6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes
 

Oh, I really want to watch this one! I kind of forgot about it...

Well I loved this movie.

Like every other film nominated for the 6th HoF, I'll write something about it after I finish watching them all. I still have trouble explaining why I like or don't like a film for some reason. I should get better at it soon.