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crumbsroom 01-28-22 01:39 PM

Re: Watching Movies Alone with crumbsroom
 
With all this time I have on my hands, I think I'm going to need to force myself to write something about every movie I watch from here on in (instead of like one out of every twenty).



For one, I'm not doing anything else. But more importantly, it helps me remember them so much better. As it stands these last year or two, I'm watching so much, they are all just leaking their contents into a big messy soup in my brain. I don't imagine I can fully distinguish an Ozu from Let the Corpse's Tan at this point.

Rockatansky 01-28-22 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by crumbsroom (Post 2277802)
With all this time I have on my hands, I think I'm going to need to force myself to write something about every movie I watch from here on in (instead of like one out of every twenty).



For one, I'm not doing anything else. But more importantly, it helps me remember them so much better. As it stands these last year or two, I'm watching so much, they are all just leaking their contents into a big messy soup in my brain. I don't imagine I can fully distinguish an Ozu from Let the Corpse's Tan at this point.
I fell out of the habit of doing write-ups when COVID first started, but then picked it up again in the tail end of 2020. I'm not necessarily writing up everything I see (aside from brief blurbs on Letterboxd), but when I do set my mind to it, it tends to be looser and more long winded than the ones I wrote back in the day. Am I a better writer now? I hope so.

crumbsroom 01-31-22 12:19 PM

Re: Watching Movies Alone with crumbsroom
 
https://i.postimg.cc/fbCysSnS/property.jpg


Communist Elio Petri is at it again. Here he moves away from sci-fi, horror and police procedural (the three other genres I've seen his weird sensibilities applied to in the past) and attempts to make a anti capitalistic screed through...farce? Satire? Screwball comedy on dilaudid? At least, I think its something adjacent to humor. With so many vile, sweaty, twitchy, immoral low life characters abusing, molesting, violating and whimpering, its hard to find yourself exactly laughing. But as a parade of the grotesque, Property is No Longer Theft is yet another unpolished gem from this grossly overlooked filmmaker. As ornately stylized as a giallo, and roaring at the audiences panic buttons with all the subtlety of a John Waters film, this movies comic sensibilities can't help but not entirely land as it probably intended. I'm not even sure exactly what was intended (humans are hypocritical money grubbing garbage, and those who aren't are....also really vile and unpleasant??). But is a treat for fans of perverse cinema, nonetheless. And so of course, I smiled a fair bit.




Rockatansky 01-31-22 12:22 PM

Considered watching that before it left the channel but looked at the runtime and decided against it. I seem to like Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion less than most, and was led to believe this was in a similar vein. Love A Quiet Place in the Country, though.

crumbsroom 01-31-22 12:39 PM

Re: Watching Movies Alone with crumbsroom
 
LEPTIRICA


https://i.postimg.cc/c1BgZJwS/she-butterfly.jpg


Has the ungainly quality of a movie not only about peasants living in a Serbian village at the turn of the century, but also made by them. It is mostly content to follow a handful of these villagers as they clomp around the countryside and get drunk and speculate over a couple of deaths at a local mill. Meanwhile, elements of the occult linger around the margins, conjured through the use of bad plastic fangs and endlessly looping spooky sound effects. The effect is a charming little appertif of folk horror. There is nothing terribly serious about the craft here, but the naturalism of the surroundings, mixed with the unnaturalness of its contrived scares, has a certain kind of appeal to it. Like going trick or treating in an Amish community, and strangely finding yourself spooked out by the simple sight of them answering the door in plastic Dracula capes. This is very much not a great movie, but one that I really liked regardless.



crumbsroom 01-31-22 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by Rockatansky (Post 2278544)
I seem to like Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion less than most,

From my memory, it is most like that one. I really liked Citizen, and since I didn't think this was quite as good (much weirder though), it's possible it would run afoul from your particular tastes.



Still, the guy has a very strong directorial imprint, which I think is worth people's time. I didn't even know who directed this when I put it on and literally within ten minutes I was completely convinced "this is the guy who did Quiet Place in the Country". And I was right. His use of sound, his very particular stylized editing, slightly surreal tone, it's all uniquely him.

crumbsroom 01-31-22 12:53 PM

Re: Watching Movies Alone with crumbsroom
 
https://i.postimg.cc/HsH7qyNH/kagemusha.jpg


Maybe the most hypnotic of all of Kurosawa's films. This film just broods. Centred around a thief who, because he is a spitting image of a warlord, has been coereced into impersonating him after he dies, the movie holds most of its cards tight to its chest. Kurosawa chooses to frequently just watch these characters from a distance, completely impersonally even as we can see untold drama being worn upon their face. Almost as mysterious an analysis about the nature of identity as Bergman's Persona, Kagemusha lingers around the periphery of what is actually happening inside of this man, telling us little about who he is. Only showing us the effect of who he is pretending to be. As a result, leaving so much of the motivations of these characters out of the mix, the movie can't help but haunt you. Mixed with wildly evocative dream scenes, and muted battle scenes which play out more as tragic than fierce, this is probably one of Kurosawa's best late era works.



Rockatansky 01-31-22 01:01 PM

I know it's generally considered a dry run for Ran, but I think I actually prefer Kagemusha. At the very least, it doesn't have the unbearably obnoxious Fool character.

crumbsroom 01-31-22 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by Rockatansky (Post 2278575)
I know it's generally considered a dry run for Ran, but I think I actually prefer Kagemusha. At the very least, it doesn't have the unbearably obnoxious Fool character.

Overall, I prefer Kagemusha as well, I think. But those battle scenes in Ran. Like, if you just inserted some fragments of those right into the middle of A Night to Dismember, without any rhyme or reason, even that piece of shit would automatically become one of the greatest movies ever made. Such is the overwhelming power they hold over me.



Personally, I think I would say those battle scenes are arguably in the top 5 or anything that can ever be found in any movie. Ever. So I still might give the edge to Ran, just because of that.

Rockatansky 01-31-22 01:35 PM

Originally Posted by crumbsroom (Post 2278591)
Overall, I prefer Kagemusha as well, I think. But those battle scenes in Ran. Like, if you just inserted some fragments of those right into the middle of A Night to Dismember, without any rhyme or reason, even that piece of shit would automatically become one of the greatest movies ever made. Such is the overwhelming power they hold over me.


Isn't that just Blood Beat ? :D

crumbsroom 01-31-22 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by Rockatansky (Post 2278592)
Isn't that just Blood Beat ? :D

OMG, if only Kurosawa allowed Samurai's to psychically hurl cans of Nestle Quik and Pepsi Cola during battle......seems even Kurosawa had his limitations as a cinematic thinker.

Sedai 01-31-22 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by crumbsroom (Post 2278591)
Overall, I prefer Kagemusha as well, I think. But those battle scenes in Ran. Like, if you just inserted some fragments of those right into the middle of A Night to Dismember, without any rhyme or reason, even that piece of shit would automatically become one of the greatest movies ever made. Such is the overwhelming power they hold over me.



Personally, I think I would say those battle scenes are arguably in the top 5 or anything that can ever be found in any movie. Ever. So I still might give the edge to Ran, just because of that.
Ran is magnificent, but each time I finish watching it, I invariably get the urge to throw myself down the stairs, or hit myself in the forehead with a ball peen hammer, or something along those lines. So bleak!

crumbsroom 01-31-22 03:49 PM

Re: Watching Movies Alone with crumbsroom
 
https://i.postimg.cc/L80pt88d/park.jpg


Compelling narrative of a newspaper upstart and his struggle to maintain an independent press beneath the shadow of a major publication that is more tabloid than news. Obviously pretty valid subject matter that still resonates today as journalistic integrity crumbles beneath a need for constantly jacked ratings to survive. But, as this is a Samuel Fuller film, the film doesn't simply live or die by the story it tells. Fuller can still inject moments of brutish viscerality in a story about printing presses. Great mix of pulpy characters with outsized personalities, and some solid fist punching, to elevate whatever else it is trying to say.

crumbsroom 01-31-22 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by Sedai (Post 2278629)
Ran is magnificent, but each time I finish watching it, I invariably get the urge to throw myself down the stairs, or hit myself in the forehead with a ball peen hammer, or something along those lines. So bleak!

So...wanting to throw yourself down the stairs or hit yourself in the head with a hammer are bad things?


*scribbles furiously in notebook I've entitled 'Notes to a Healthier LIfestyle*

pahaK 01-31-22 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by Sedai (Post 2278629)
Ran is magnificent, but each time I finish watching it, I invariably get the urge to throw myself down the stairs, or hit myself in the forehead with a ball peen hammer, or something along those lines. So bleak!
Remember to ask someone to come over if you ever watch Demons (Shura), or at the very least hide all objects that can be used for self-harm.

Rockatansky 01-31-22 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by crumbsroom (Post 2278684)
https://i.postimg.cc/L80pt88d/park.jpg


Compelling narrative of a newspaper upstart and his struggle to maintain an independent press beneath the shadow of a major publication that is more tabloid than news. Obviously pretty valid subject matter that still resonates today as journalistic integrity crumbles beneath a need for constantly jacked ratings to survive. But, as this is a Samuel Fuller film, the film doesn't simply live or die by the story it tells. Fuller can still inject moments of brutish viscerality in a story about printing presses. Great mix of pulpy characters with outsized personalities, and some solid fist punching, to elevate whatever else it is trying to say.
I liked how Gene Evans says he'll wage a war of words, not fists... and then gets in a bunch of fistfights for the rest of the movie. Underrated actor-director combo.

Rockatansky 01-31-22 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Sedai (Post 2278629)
Ran is magnificent, but each time I finish watching it, I invariably get the urge to throw myself down the stairs, or hit myself in the forehead with a ball peen hammer, or something along those lines. So bleak!
Ok, Inspector Clouseau.

crumbsroom 01-31-22 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by pahaK (Post 2278691)
Remember to ask someone to come over if you ever watch Demons (Shura), or at the very least hide all objects that can be used for self-harm.

Ah Demons...one of you Hall of Famers probably has a link to that, right?

crumbsroom 01-31-22 04:20 PM

Re: Watching Movies Alone with crumbsroom
 
I get so stressed out on the last day of every month. So many things are leaving Criterion that I haven't seen. How should I choose what I see wisely? It's impossible.


I am glad I watched that Petri film though. Doubt I would have ever thought to otherwise.

Sedai 01-31-22 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Rockatansky (Post 2278694)
Ok, Inspector Clouseau.
Exposed at last!

https://i.gifer.com/1WQF.gif


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