The 11th Hall of Fame

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In reality, The Flowers of War was one of Zhang's lowest-grossing movies in the U.S. - $300,000. House of Flying Daggers made $11,000,000, Hero made $54,000,000 and even Raise the Red Lantern earned $2.6 mil.
On the other hand, The Flowers of War:
Grossed more than 310 million on the domestic (Chinese) box office making this the highest grossing Chinese production of all time.



Nothing good comes from staying with normal people
Samurai Rebellion (1967) Dir. Masaki Kobayashi


Ugh, I'm to old for this s***.

This movie falls into the same group of movies as Sunrise did for me, i.e. a movie with a simplistic story than none the less is expertly told. Samurai rebellion is the story of a samurai who must decide wheter to follow his lord's command or follow his own conscience, even if that entails putting his entire clan in jeopardy.

Toshiro Mifune plays a samurai on the hunt for a wife to his eldest son. When his lord wishes to make the son a husband to one of his misstresses that has disspleased him (even after she gave him a son), Mifune tries to decline, but find his lord adamant. He therefore accepts this dubious honor and to his great joy, finds that she makes a fine wife for his son. Fate's fickle though, and when the heir apparent dies, Mifune realizes that his new daughter-in-law is mother to the new heir and also that his lord will want her back, somthing neither of them wants.

With great acting from Mifune and as well from Go Kato (eldest son) and Yoko Tsukasa (son's wife), this samurai movie is two parts domestic drama and one part solid action. The sets look great (especially the courtyard of Mifune's house and the field of tall grass where the final showdown takes place) and the costuming's top notch. I've allways had a soft spot for Kurosawa's Ran (1985) just because of how the coloring of the costumes stood out so vividly when two forces came together on a battlefield, but here, even it black and white, you can clearly see who's to be rooted for by the use of lighter fabrics throughout the protagonists and the darker shades of the antagonist (nothing new, I know, but it stood out for me here for some reason). Kobayashi's an excellent director with an feeling for the fight scenes in particular, I think. The climactic final fight scene in the tall grass made me think of the raptors in The lost world (1997) and how they so easely could use the vegetation to their advantage. The same thing happens here with Mifune jumping through the grass and slicing guard left and right (even if to start with felt more like gophers sticking their heads out of their burrows).

He also has an eye for the single combat stuff, as shown in the duel between Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai. Starting with a low shot as the two circle each other and then cutting to show them clashing. No five minute sparring with rapiers here, just attack and separate to determine what damage's been done.

The meat of the story though, is the interactions of the Sasahara clan and how they handle meeting and living with a woman they at first don't know. Mifune's own marriage was never what you could call harmonious, with his wife allway complaining and criticizing all he does. When she acts the same twoards her new daughter-in-law though, she takes it with a smile, but otherwise she seems sad. She's had a hard life, Yagoro Sasahara tells his father, and speaks of an evening when he himself asked his new wife why she felt so sad. What follows is one of two great performances given by Yoko Tsukasa in this movie. She pours heart and soul into telling and acting out her emotions, somthing only trumped by Mifune later in the movie.

Great movie, so far one of (if not the) favourite in this hof.
__________________
Why not just kill them? I'll do it! I'll run up to Paris - bam, bam, bam, bam. I'm back before week's end. We spend the treasure. How is this a bad plan?



Nothing good comes from staying with normal people
Bashu the little stranger (1989) Dir. Bahram Beizai


Choreographed dancing turns to beating turns to handshakes turns to WHAT?!!!

An emotoinally driven narrative about a boy losing his family and the road he takes to find a new one. A few steps up in complexity from Sunrise (and I liked Sunrise based on the simple tale that is told extraordinary well), but also a few steps down in interest from me as its capacity for keeping me engaged wasn't as high. There were some parts that dragged a bit, the teapartys and the market scene in particular, and I never understood the clapping and chanting Bashu did, perhaps somthing not carried over from its native Iran where it makes more sense? The child actors didn't bring much to the proceedings other than a very inconsistent vibe of not being ablr to make up thier minds. Do they pick on Bashu and call him an idiot or do they find him funny and want to help him? You can display both feelings, but don't try to jump between them with little to no warning. They litteraly go from a choreographed dance number led by Bashu to trying to beat the s*** out of him from one scene to the next. And we never find out why. A scene later and they're shaking hands and are smiling at each other again (note that when I say that the child actors didn't have impact, I'm excluding Bashu's actor from that group).

Then we have the mother, the shrillest woman I've ever heard, who despite a wierd habit of making animal call left right and center, is a very good actress in my opinion. This is totally her and Bashu's story. Any other character is so much window dressing, they could be part of the landscape. They form a belivable bond and her attempts to keep him in line and trying to understand him strikes me as very genuine. I could see a real woman with children of her own do this if she found a lost boy and were of the same nature as Naii.

Other than that there wasn't much for me to take note of, good or bad. The lanscape/setting wasn't really distinctive. If you told me this was Hungary or Romania I'd buy it just as much as if you told me it was set in northern Iran. Farmland is farmland when you don't know it intimately. As previously stated, Bashu's actor was the only one of the children who actually left an impression, can't even recall after just seeing it what the names of Naii's actual children were, if they were even mentioned. The kneeling dance with the sheet that Naii did after being to sick to move in the previous scene was wierd, but if the movie's not gonna mention it ever again, then why should I?

Overall, a kind of interesting but slightly wierd movie that was totally ok, but still it's a one-and-done for me.



The climactic final fight scene in the tall grass made me think of the raptors in The lost world (1997) and how they so easely could use the vegetation to their advantage. The same thing happens here with Mifune jumping through the grass and slicing guard left and right (even if to start with felt more like gophers sticking their heads out of their burrows).
This is the one scene in the movie I really don't like, and is what I was referring to when I said my interest in the movie ended with the duel. It was just too silly looking, and it didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the movie to me.

The rest of the movie is great though, and it's definitely an early front runner for me as well.



Nothing good comes from staying with normal people
So, now I've acctually been good this weekend. Now I can enjoy the last of the LOTR viewing without feeling guilty.




Nothing good comes from staying with normal people
This is the one scene in the movie I really don't like, and is what I was referring to when I said my interest in the movie ended with the duel. It was just too silly looking, and it didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the movie to me.

The rest of the movie is great though, and it's definitely an early front runner for me as well.
True, I did chuckle a little when they started poping their heads out of the grass. I think it wouldn't have looked amiss sped up and set to the benny hill tune.



Nothing good comes from staying with normal people
Now I've just got Ronin, Kiss kiss bang bang, Ida, Flowers of war, bringing up baby, good bye Lenin and her left I think. Almost halfway with four of the remaining movies within arms reach ready to watch.

But that, I think, can wait until the coming week. Enough HoF for one day. 4 hours 12 min until Return of the King starts.



Flowers of War (Zhang Yimou, 2011)

This film is so amazingly visual, that I've spent over half an hour looking for that one special photo from the film that would sum up the spirit of the movie...And there's just no way one image can do that, as Flowers of War has so many different sub stories running through it. I love images and the visual arts, but I also love a good old fashioned story...and Flowers of War combines both. And it does that while taking the time to develop the story fully without rushing it and yet is always spell binding.



The film is set during the Japanese occupation of Nanking and war is a part of the story, but this is not a war film...it's a humanistic film that examines how war can bring out the worst and best in humans. I really liked the story elements that showed the conflict between the convent school girls and the
prostitutes. And I liked the juxtaposition between George Chen the alter boy who wants desperately to honor the former priest of the church and John Miller (Christian Bale) who wants only at first to get drunk, paid and laid. I thought Bale was pretty good at being an opportunistic scoundrel...and the actor who played George Chen was amazing at relaying emotions to us.

Of course the other big part of the film is it's sensuality, set against the liberality of war. I thought the story elements about the legendary Qin Huai river prostitutes was very well done. It never got cheesy or overly sappy. And the scenes between Bale and the lead prostitute played by actress Ni Ni, added a whole new level to what could have been just a war film.



This was my second viewing of Flowers of War, and I loved it even more the second time around.




Decided to just go ahead and finish off my watches for this HOF:



Bashu, the Little Stranger (Bashu , gharibeye koochak) (Bahram Beizai, 1989)
Imdb

Date Watched:10/02/16
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 11th MoFo Hall of Fame
Rewatch: No


I definitely had some mixed feelings about this one.

My biggest gripe is that quite a bit of the acting, including the child playing Bashu, felt unnatural. I realize that Bashu was essentially suffering from PTSD and struggling to adapt to a different culture, but his reactions and emotions were over-exaggerated. I had a tough time buying the reactions of Naii’s neighbors. I didn’t so much have an issue with them going from one general feeling about Bashu to another, but rather how quickly their attitudes changed and then reversed. I had an easier time accepting this from the children because, well, kids are a**holes who change their minds about things all the time, but from the adults it was harder to swallow. I also found the constant animal noises from Naii to be both irritating and distracting and there were certain scenes I didn’t quite understand at all. What the hell was that (really fake looking) creature in the field and what was its significance? So confused.

Still the basic premise of the film was interesting and many of the scenes between Bashu and Naii were quite touching. The bond between them felt real and I couldn’t help but admire Naii’s conviction and perseverance in her efforts to make Bashu part of her family.

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I have 6 left. I've been saying i'm going to watch Bashu for like 5 days but i always end up needing to do something else. Since i missed the ROTK chat i should be able to get to it in the next hour.



Ballot sent.

I'll still be around to read other people's write-ups and participate in discussion.
Good! that you'll stick around, even though you're done with the noms. We need people in the Hofs who are willing to say their opinions and wrangle around the films to keep the conversation going and you're always topical That's why I invited you to the 10th Hof BTW.



I meant to watch a movie for this today, but time got away from me. I'm working long shifts all week, but I'm hoping to get another one done by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. I'm thinking of watching the The Dead Girl or Flowers of War next, depending on my mood once I sit down to watch something.



That's why I invited you to the 10th Hof BTW.
You invited her. I actually managed to get her out of retirement . Because in her own words:

This time I signed up to give myself incentive to watch movies again. Also because I have a hard time saying no to Camo.



Bashu, the Little Stranger


One of the aspects I enjoyed most about this movie is the same thing I enjoy about my own nomination, and that's getting a glimpse at a different culture. I don't think this movie was made with nearly the same amount of skill, but I do believe the filmmakers probably did the best with the resources that were available to them. It's not a flattering portrait of the Iranian people, and even Nali didn't come off well when she first approached Bashu. As far as some things that come off as odd such as the animal noises, I overlook things like that by chalking them up to cultural differences. The acting by the boy who played Bashu could have been better, and that was the only real negative for me. It's a nice story that's very moving at times. I thought it started and ended well, and that's very important to draw the viewer in and then leave a favorable last impression. I would say this was a very good movie, and because of it's obscurity, an even better nomination.




Her (2013)


This movie felt a bit underwhelming. While its certainly well made I didn't find anything about it to be really exceptional, in contrast with the reactions here regarding it. Let me explain:

Her is a movie that reflects very well our current times of social networks, stuff like Tinder and the increasing digitalization of life. This is reflected in the fact that I am posting here, on this forum, instead of talking to people face to face. Posting on the internet has some advantages over talking face to face in terms of allowing people to be freed from the constraints of direct interaction and of intimate interaction.

In the movie, however, the main character becomes intimate and falls in love with someone who essentially can be understood as an "internet person" in the sense that he cannot see and touch "her" but only talk to "her", essentially being a way of understanding love as something beyond the mere physical attraction and interaction but instead being in love with a personality and not a physical person. The movie's plot is hence an example of the purest form of "platonic love".

But the movie makes a case against Plato's claim that you only know a person after eating a certain quantity of salt with him/her: you can know and fall in love with someone without seeing and touching that person. True indeed. Although some people say that real relationships (I mean not just romantic but all types of relationships) are much more relevant than relationships on the internet.

I actually did not dislike any single aspect of the movie although I think some elements of the movie could have been improved. For instance, why the game the main character is playing has graphics of a children's wii game? Why not a game with cool graphics?

Anyway, the movie, despite being well made, doesn't have anything that made me jump out of the sofa or make me cry or send chills down my spine. So while a good and well made movie, it was rather underwhelming relative to it's reputation among movie fans in this forum.

Also, I noticed the high number of Asians walking around and the fact that the movie appears to be set in Shanghai. A prediction of a more Asian-centric future?

Anyway I am not a big fan of romantic movies but I really enjoyed Her. One strong movie among many strong movies in this HoF.