Foreign Language Hall of Fame

I know Borgman is on Popcornflix, which is a free movie watching app.

I could probably help but jesus not all at once, PM me with what you need when you need it.

Benny's Video (1992) - Michael Haneke


From a few years to now, it seems that everyone is adept at social coldness. Everyone looks pessimistic towards the human being and the future of society. Many filmmakers abuse this coldness to tell stories. Austrian director Michael Haneke addresses this topic for almost three decades. A pioneer in tales of social coldness (at least that's what many think). In Benny's Video the director continues the call "The Michael Haneke Trilogy".

The film begins with a real slaughtering scene of a pig while Benny films. He witnessed the death of the animal while cold and calm he films the kill. Funny the choice of showing the slaughtering several times to reaffirm the coolness of the character — Why does every psychocopic character listen to rock or classical music? A stupid cliché!

Benny is played by the annoying Arno Frisch, he looks like a fanciful doll in the midst of a crowd. Of course the coldness is part of the character, but he is so weak in his acting that makes everything look more comical than tragic.

The film does not care much for the plot, the important thing is the context, in the first 25 minutes of film we already know everything else. The message is already delivered! What remains is to follow this journey towards nothingness. If Haneke had finished the movie at the scene of the murder, it would have been much more efficient, or if he had finished at the slaughter scene... it would have been even better! Showing the murder of a defenseless animal already proves the ridiculous formula Haneke likes to use to try to shock. If what he wants is to show a realistic picture of our society, then he should born again.

★

Entre Nos (2009)

Pretty bad movie, based on a true story that did not touch me. Overly sentimental, poorly written. Tends to center too much on individual biographical details and character traits at the expense of a wider look at the source of the problems.
The production and assembly of the movie is more American than Colombian.
The most real thing in the movie was the empanada making...

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A normal man? For me, a normal man is one who turns his head to see a beautiful woman's bottom. The point is not just to turn your head. There are five or six reasons. And he is glad to find people who are like him, his equals. That's why he likes crowded beaches, football, the bar downtown...

I not only find it a coincidence that this and Assassination were nominated for the same Hall of Fame, but also that they came out only a year apart. I see so many similarities with them, so of course my feelings about the two are also very similar. I complained that Assassination felt like an American movie, and then I found out that this one was distributed by Warner Bros. These are not actually bad things. I am quite the fan of director Kim Jee-woon, and this felt to me like his attempt to go mainstream. That's not counting his American film, The Last Stand with Arnold Schwartzenegger, which was a fun yet unambitious effort. I could practically copy and paste my thoughts for Assassination, and I'd have to since I have practically forgotten it already. This movie started out with a bang with what I thought was a tense and exciting sequence. Then we get into the storytelling, but I need a lot of action in a political thriller ala Children of Men, but for the next hour I was pretty confused and disinterested. Things definitely picked up with the train sequence and from there we do have plenty of action and violence. By that time, however, the violence felt somewhat out of place for me. I thought it was a very well made film with strong acting, but my overall enjoyment was lukewarm. It felt like a long film, and if I remember correctly, it's about the same length as Assassination. That would be very fitting.

Assassination and Age of Shadows definitely has a lot in common. And, speaking of a Hollywood feel; in retrospect it kind of reminds me of when a whole slew of zombies films would come out all at once, or a meteor about to crash into earth and destroy it synopsis that we went through for a year or two.
Regardless, I definitely enjoyed them both like I would a favorite genre of music that I found two great songs from.

Since Ultraviolence kinda touched on this subject, how does everyone feel about directors revisiting the same themes over and over again?

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"A film has to be a dialogue, not a monologue — a dialogue to provoke in the viewer his own thoughts, his own feelings. And if a film is a dialogue, then it’s a good film; if it’s not a dialogue, it’s a bad film."

- Michael "Gloomy Old Fart" Haneke

Interesting question.
I've loved watching Scorsese's approach to gangsters as well as del Torro's fascination with the mythical/monsters. So, when it is a passion I do enjoy the revisit.
I would imagine that the tiresome aspect would be if it was revisit EXACTLY with only a change in location and characters. If it was a play by play rehash, I'm sure it would be aggravating.
So, I imagine it would, obviously, depend on the Theme and our own enthusiasm or lack of, regarding it. Fueled by the Director's vision of the exact same old, same old, or exploring varying aspects and stories within said Theme.

I personally don't take issue with it at all, since I expect these same themes to resurface throughout the artist's filmography. Saying Haneke always features the same kind of coldness in his characters, or the same critiques of media (which in my opinion, are in the background of the majority of his movies)...could also be said about other acclaimed directors as well, in regards to other different subjects. It's obviously not always a good thing, nor a bad thing. I guess it all depends on one's own personnel interests, along with their intrigue when it comes to the applied themes.

I would also add that it gives directors a precise taste, style and signature. For example, I would know if a film is made by a certain director instantly, because it would have a clear mark on it that could only belong to a specific director, thus making their personality and beliefs always shine through their films.

The Leopard aka Il gattopardo 1963 (Italian)

Quite the sweeping story that, almost, from my perception, was akin to a Day in the Life. Which is in no way a bad thing.
We are swept in, through the landscape and into the window of the family, praying. And we follow, focusing on Prince Don Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster), who, since I'm not much of a fan of, actually does rather well in this. Especially in the more contemplative moments near the end of the film, he truly does shine. Expressing a life weary soul during the final and luxurious ball scene.
And at the end, we simply depart - curious as to where they go from there. Again, not in a bad way. I simply felt like I could learn and follow more. Which is something considering this is a 3 hour film.

The highlights were with Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale that I thoroughly enjoyed. Even in the most mundane of scenarios, I just found them both intriguing and captivating.

While I do understand that Lancaster's character IS the main focus of this film I was curious to see a little more of the rest of the family at times, though the story nor the film suffers for it, at all.

Another aspect I rather liked was the simplistic camera work. There was a more intimate, on scene feel to it. It wasn't grandiose or intricate; looking for an artistic impression. We are simply there. Following along the dirt roads alongside everyone and the views of landscapes as if we were on holiday, viewing them. This included the more realistic chaos of the revolution where we see people running through the streets. (Some of them when we see someone caught and attacked by older women did make me chuckle.)
All of this adding to the pleasant Day in the Life feeling I enjoyed in this.
BRAVO.

That about sums up my opinion on it as well.

If it's a theme or setting I am personally interested in, I don't have much of a problem watching slightly altered takes on the same thing. However if a film is too similar to another from the same director, it can ultimately feel pointless. Then I sometimes wonder why they'd go through the effort to make what is basically the same movie all over again haha.

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Ok I will, thanks Camo.
My previous source is no longer available, which is why I mentioned all the films I hadn't found yet.

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I'm going to try and watch another film soon. I had some ready to go, but my computer crashed and I lost them.

Is your computer alright? Was it just a random crash, or is it something more serious?

I've been going crazy with finals these past two weeks, which is why I haven't updated mine. Don't want you guys to think that i ditched this. I'll get back to it next week.

Kinda wondered where you had been to. . . Hope nothing was lost.

Actually all of my documents were lost at first, as Windows was damaged beyond saving so I had to reinstall. Luckily I figured out a way to rescue my documents before they were wiped clean.

Lesson learned? back up everything!

The hardware was OK, but Windows was corrupted. I did a reinstall, but I think I'm going to install a second Operating System just in case that ever happens again.

learned that lesson myself, now I keep ALL my files on a separate drive and only keep programs on the computer itself.