MoFo Movie Club January Poll
 

In the spirit of Yuletide, the ever-spinning wheel, many celebrate new beginnings, but not all acknowledge the ends, which birth said beginnings. Some ends are graceful, some beginnings are ghastly, both are generally misunderstood, so, cheers to death, who will be gracing your televisions, should you choose to participate. Not like the Ring ****, no one uses VHS.


Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

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A quasi-biography of famed Japanese author Yukio Mishima, using halcyon, stylized sequences from his works to parallel his life up to his hara-kiri, detailing the ever-present dualities/struggles of a passionate person. Directed by Paul Schrader, writer of a little known film Taxi Driver, and scored by Philip Glass.


Ordinary People (1980)

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Robert Redford's directorial debut deals with how a small family copes (or rather, doesn't) with the death of a son/brother. The process redefines the family's maturity hierarchy in a way that's pretty real, and thus sad to see. Find out about the film that stole Raging Bull's award.


The Fire Within (1963)

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A generally unmentioned tour de force by Louis Malle technically about a writer who's burning himself out to his death, but also about attacking artists for ignorance of what they actually speak. It sort of epitomizes the existentialist writings from wartime examining such moralities. Also, featuring music by Erik Satie, so, it wins.


The Sea Inside (2004)

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Javier Bardem before people cared playing real-life Ramon Sampedro fighting for his right to die legally. The way it's shot almost reminds me of Blue Valentine, with lots of super personal close-ups and careful editing to flow with the dialogue. Thankfully, the film has no agenda, just questions, but that's usually enough to upset people.


Suicide Room (2011)

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MoFo's guide to Mr. Minio. Joking. A pretty damn intense Polish film about the current trend of virtual relationships and the effects of growing up in this society, the Suicide Room being the part of the internet where the dejected meet. Impressive CG and a refreshing script, should be seen by more.

Re: MoFo MC January Poll
 

Bu-bump Bu-bump Bu-bump-ah-ump

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Tough call. I went with Suicide Room, but The Fire Within would've been my second choice. Should make for some interesting viewing/conversing either way!

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Is that a criterion label I see? I picked Mishima

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All the runners seem promising! :(
Sadly, I only saw The Sea Inside, which is terrific (Did Javier Bardem ever fail to amaze?). Nevertheless, voted for Suicide Room, as it incited the most curiosity :D

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voted for The Fire Within because i really like the other three Malles i've seen and i feel like this could give me the push i need to explore him some more.

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Voted for The Fire Within. Looks like the kind of serious film I might love. I also urgently need to see more Malle.

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Poll is closing today, everyone vote!

I voted for Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters since it is about a time and place in history that I am interested in.

Me too. I'm interested in the time and place but also how a director like Paul Schrader deals with the subject. Like Philip Glass scores too.
All the choces look interesting tho

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Mishima it is. Ordinary People looked like the winner for a while.

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I'm glad. Both because I've already seen Ordinary People and because I wasn't too enamored with it anyway. Looking forward to this. :)

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Yuck.

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Does another thread get made to discuss the film?

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Yup. We've all got a few weeks to watch it, during which we're gonna record another one of those podcast things, and then we'll start a thread for the discussion and podcast. :)

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For anyone with Hulu, it is available there. Or you can sign up for a free trial.

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Good tip, I didn't even think to check! That'll save me some trouble.

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It's on YouTube too

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So it is:

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

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I'm having a bit of trouble getting through this film. Feel like I really need to know something about the guy's work. I see there's an old Arena documentary about him on youtube too so going to watch that before I get any further...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctufj50w9a0