23rd MoFo Hall of Fame
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I seem to like your ideas for alternative movie endings
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Late Spring
I'm not certain but I think I've seen more movies from Ozu than any other director. It has to be between him, Scorsese, Kurosawa, and Bergman, but I do believe it's Ozu. If I remember correctly, I first watched Late Spring for a different HoF and it did very well on my 40's ballot.
Because of similar casts, themes, and even titles, I do mix up many of Ozu's movies, but I know that Late Spring and An Autumn Afternoon were my favorites. It didn't blow me away like it did the 1st time, but I still loved it.
This director is a master at minimal plot. If someone gave me the synopsis, I'd say yea ok so then what happens. It works though and it's so peaceful to sit through. Maybe I missed it but I'm curious as to what exactly happened to the mother, and it also seems as though Noriko went through something. Although I like everyone, Setsuko Hara is easily the star. She's incredibly radiant, and any fan of hers should also check out Kurosawa's great film, The Idiot.
The score is perfect and I love the way Ozu films.
It's been a while since I've seen one of these movies so I'm thankful that it was nominated.
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I'm not certain but I think I've seen more movies from Ozu than any other director. It has to be between him, Scorsese, Kurosawa, and Bergman, but I do believe it's Ozu. If I remember correctly, I first watched Late Spring for a different HoF and it did very well on my 40's ballot.
Because of similar casts, themes, and even titles, I do mix up many of Ozu's movies, but I know that Late Spring and An Autumn Afternoon were my favorites. It didn't blow me away like it did the 1st time, but I still loved it.
This director is a master at minimal plot. If someone gave me the synopsis, I'd say yea ok so then what happens. It works though and it's so peaceful to sit through. Maybe I missed it but I'm curious as to what exactly happened to the mother, and it also seems as though Noriko went through something. Although I like everyone, Setsuko Hara is easily the star. She's incredibly radiant, and any fan of hers should also check out Kurosawa's great film, The Idiot.
The score is perfect and I love the way Ozu films.
It's been a while since I've seen one of these movies so I'm thankful that it was nominated.
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Late Spring
Maybe I missed it but I'm curious as to what exactly happened to the mother, and it also seems as though Noriko went through something.
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Maybe I missed it but I'm curious as to what exactly happened to the mother, and it also seems as though Noriko went through something.
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I'm not always the most observant of movie viewers, but I don't think the film actually says what happened to the mother...or what kind of health problem Noriko had. I'm guessing both were do to the war. They did mention wartime rationing, which I'm sure finding food would've been a challenge.
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Stand by Me (1986)
If you'd remove the voice-over telling how the kids split after the summer, Stand by Me could easily be a fanfiction about the Losers Club before Beverly joined them. It's like an early scribble of the characters that'll be fully fleshed in IT a few years later. Except there's no real story, just an odd obsessive sequence of events concerning a body of a dead kid.
It's probably because of King's writing, but his characters (especially kids) don't seem to work on a film. There's something about the way they speak and act that feels exaggerated and offputting. They mostly work on a page, but for adaptations, they should be toned down a bit (or a lot). They're too animated, wild and caricature - Seth in The Reflecting Skin is way more disturbed than any of these four, but he still feels much more nuanced and finely crafted and real.
Other than the odd compulsion to see the body, the script is a regular childhood nostalgia (nothing wrong about that per se). Unfortunately, there isn't anything else. Many other films (and books, some by King himself) do the coming-of-age story at least as well with a more interesting plot to boot. It lacks something to interest me in these weird kids.
I remembered Stand by Me being much better than it is (then I also remembered that the body was of an adult and in a car). It's not bad but disappointingly close.
If you'd remove the voice-over telling how the kids split after the summer, Stand by Me could easily be a fanfiction about the Losers Club before Beverly joined them. It's like an early scribble of the characters that'll be fully fleshed in IT a few years later. Except there's no real story, just an odd obsessive sequence of events concerning a body of a dead kid.
It's probably because of King's writing, but his characters (especially kids) don't seem to work on a film. There's something about the way they speak and act that feels exaggerated and offputting. They mostly work on a page, but for adaptations, they should be toned down a bit (or a lot). They're too animated, wild and caricature - Seth in The Reflecting Skin is way more disturbed than any of these four, but he still feels much more nuanced and finely crafted and real.
Other than the odd compulsion to see the body, the script is a regular childhood nostalgia (nothing wrong about that per se). Unfortunately, there isn't anything else. Many other films (and books, some by King himself) do the coming-of-age story at least as well with a more interesting plot to boot. It lacks something to interest me in these weird kids.
I remembered Stand by Me being much better than it is (then I also remembered that the body was of an adult and in a car). It's not bad but disappointingly close.
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One of the very first Williams films I remember seeing him where he played a serious role was The World According to Garp which I haven't seen since it first came out back in '82. That would be worth a rewatch.
The World According to Garp has been on my watchlist for a long time, but I still haven't gotten around to watching it. It's another movie that might need to be nominated in a HoF to give me that extra push to finally watch it.
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OPEN FLOOR.
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Late Spring
What I love about Late Spring the most is how a cultural difference can somehow feel so relatable to me, since deep down I feel very attached to family. This is a movie that makes you feel the importance of family and taking care of one another. It's obviously strengthened by two very good lead performances with Setsuko Hara and Chishu Ryu who combine to make one of my favorite father daughter relationships on screen. Hara really does have a screen presence here and Ryu nails the role of father understanding that he needs to let go of his daughter.
Ozu makes simple stories be fascinating because he centers the plot around rather likeable characters. I couldn't help this time but feel for both of them with her mother gone and I think it's even more interesting that they left the why out (or that I had just plain missed it). Seems to strengthen the bond between the two. Ozu has a lot of great shots and I'd say his camerawork is actually really underrated although often used similarly in all his films.
But ultimately I love the story because it has a heart. The father knows what's best for his daughter and although it's quite obvious he will miss her being around he knows that it's ultimately what is needed to help her grow as a person. And that's what fatherhood is all about:doing the best and being their for your kid and supporting them. So it's a foreign film but yet it is oh so relatable. Definitely was a favorite with my first watch and it remains that way after rewatching it again.
What I love about Late Spring the most is how a cultural difference can somehow feel so relatable to me, since deep down I feel very attached to family. This is a movie that makes you feel the importance of family and taking care of one another. It's obviously strengthened by two very good lead performances with Setsuko Hara and Chishu Ryu who combine to make one of my favorite father daughter relationships on screen. Hara really does have a screen presence here and Ryu nails the role of father understanding that he needs to let go of his daughter.
Ozu makes simple stories be fascinating because he centers the plot around rather likeable characters. I couldn't help this time but feel for both of them with her mother gone and I think it's even more interesting that they left the why out (or that I had just plain missed it). Seems to strengthen the bond between the two. Ozu has a lot of great shots and I'd say his camerawork is actually really underrated although often used similarly in all his films.
But ultimately I love the story because it has a heart. The father knows what's best for his daughter and although it's quite obvious he will miss her being around he knows that it's ultimately what is needed to help her grow as a person. And that's what fatherhood is all about:doing the best and being their for your kid and supporting them. So it's a foreign film but yet it is oh so relatable. Definitely was a favorite with my first watch and it remains that way after rewatching it again.
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Late Spring made me want to check out more of Ozu's films, and I definitely will once I've finished this HoF. I watched Hunger last night, so I just have The Mummy and rewatches of Christiane F. and Gangs of New York left.
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Banshun (Late Spring) (Yasujirô Ozu, 1949)
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Date Watched: 08/29/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 23rd MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by ahwell
Rewatch: Yes.
I first watched Late Spring back in 2015 for the 6th Hall of Fame. I did not like it. Out of the 19 films nominated then, I ranked it 13th. I was not pleased to see it nominated again, but was hopeful that I might have a better experience this time.
Overall I think I did have a better experience. On a technical level, the film is excellent. It is beautifully framed and filmed, the soundtrack works well, the costuming looks great, and the performances are strong. But I still don't like the movie and I still don't like it for the same reason I didn't like it before: Noriko. I had some sympathy for her resistance to the idea of an arranged marriage and thought it was sweet how much she cared for her father - but watching a grown ass woman throw a fit over the mere idea of her widower father remarrying just made me want to slap her across the face.
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Last edited by Miss Vicky; 10-28-20 at 12:05 AM.
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It's actually pretty relatable to feel the way she did losing a parent although we dont know how
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I think in some cultures they just look at remarrying differently. Even some people in America will give you the stink eye over it.
One thing I forgot to mention, some Ozu movies remind me of John Ford movies but I have no idea why.
One thing I forgot to mention, some Ozu movies remind me of John Ford movies but I have no idea why.
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I think in some cultures they just look at remarrying differently. Even some people in America will give you the stink eye over it.
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Hunger (2008)
Directed By: Steve McQueen
Starring: Stuart Graham, Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham
Hunger is a film with very careful and precise cinematography, and an incredibly reserved score that leaves the majority of scenes uncomfortably quiet, save for any diegetic sounds. The camera loves to linger and give the audience plenty of time to absorb everything that's happening. Because of this, the average shot length is fairly long, even when discounting that impressive unbroken conversation that lasts for 17 minutes. Outside of that scene, dialogue is quite sparse, so that visit acts as a great contrast to the quiet solitude found in the rest of the film.
The opening scenes that follow the prison officer's morning routine were interesting enough on their own, and managed to set the tone of the film quite well, but later seeing the exact context of those scenes and what happened between them was a clever choice. Similarly, the real recordings of Margaret Thatcher's cold and dismissive comments regarding the IRA prisoners were a great addition. Given the physical transformation that Fassbender underwent for this role, casting him was clearly the right call as well.
Looking at how carefully considered every aspect of the film seems to be, there is one relatively minor thing that bothers me. The urine that the prisoners kept pouring into the hallway should not have been so clear. I doubt that the men were keeping so hydrated that there wouldn't be any hint of yellow in that liquid. The scene where the officer has to mop up the hallway would've been more effective if the floor looked like it was actually covered in piss, rather than just water. It did amuse me that he clearly disliked certain prisoners more than others though, since he purposefully moped into the doors of select cells as he went.
The opening scenes that follow the prison officer's morning routine were interesting enough on their own, and managed to set the tone of the film quite well, but later seeing the exact context of those scenes and what happened between them was a clever choice. Similarly, the real recordings of Margaret Thatcher's cold and dismissive comments regarding the IRA prisoners were a great addition. Given the physical transformation that Fassbender underwent for this role, casting him was clearly the right call as well.
Looking at how carefully considered every aspect of the film seems to be, there is one relatively minor thing that bothers me. The urine that the prisoners kept pouring into the hallway should not have been so clear. I doubt that the men were keeping so hydrated that there wouldn't be any hint of yellow in that liquid. The scene where the officer has to mop up the hallway would've been more effective if the floor looked like it was actually covered in piss, rather than just water. It did amuse me that he clearly disliked certain prisoners more than others though, since he purposefully moped into the doors of select cells as he went.
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Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese, 2002)
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Date Watched: 08/30/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 23rd MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by neiba
Rewatch: Yes.
I remember watching this movie back when it was new and being pretty thoroughly unimpressed by it. Though I can't remember why exactly I disliked it then, I can say now that this is a very flawed film. The biggest issue is with its characters. I know that several of them were based on or inspired by real people, but not once during the nearly 3 hour long runtime of this film did I ever buy into the idea that they once actually existed. Add to that the fact that nearly all of them were violent and corrupt and it becomes a little hard to find a side to get behind.
But even with all of that, I was never bored (and that's saying a lot considering how damn long this movie is). The characters and the sets were all very colorful and though I didn't believe for a second that Bill the Butcher or Amsterdam were real people, I was interested enough to want to see the story through to its bloody end.
Gangs of New York is not a great movie and it'll never be a personal favorite, but overall this rewatch was quite a pleasant surprise.
Last edited by Miss Vicky; 10-28-20 at 12:14 AM.
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Hunger
(Steve McQueen, 2008)
Hunger struck me as an artsy film, that at its heart is very similar to the documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement.
By that I mean Hunger is clearly using extreme visuals in attempt to sway the audience into believing one side of what's really a complex story...The film tries to convince the viewer of the ethical righteousness of the IRA prisoners as downtrodden people, while demonizing the British as being cruel, uncaring and unjust...We see that by the beatings the guards give and by the voice of Margret Thatcher who refuses to give into the prisoners demands of being declared political prisoners.
For me the film had the opposite effect. I felt nothing but contempt for Bobby Sands and the other IRA prisoners. Who chose to live like deranged vermin by covering their own cell walls in fecal matter. It didn't help me to have any empathy for these people or their cause. But it did make the beating run that the prisoners had take from the guards all the more understandable. I actually felt sorry for the people who had to clean up the prisoners filthy mess!
I wasn't impressed by the director's attempt to tell the story by graphic visuals, without building some backstory in the first act. It didn't work for me. I didn't really care about these people and I'm sure the director wanted us to feel the IRA prisoners were being harshly and unjustly treated.
At least I was glad to see the film state that 16 British police guards had been murdered by IRA paramilitaries at the end of the film. If anything Hunger has made me feel the IRA were murders.
By that I mean Hunger is clearly using extreme visuals in attempt to sway the audience into believing one side of what's really a complex story...The film tries to convince the viewer of the ethical righteousness of the IRA prisoners as downtrodden people, while demonizing the British as being cruel, uncaring and unjust...We see that by the beatings the guards give and by the voice of Margret Thatcher who refuses to give into the prisoners demands of being declared political prisoners.
For me the film had the opposite effect. I felt nothing but contempt for Bobby Sands and the other IRA prisoners. Who chose to live like deranged vermin by covering their own cell walls in fecal matter. It didn't help me to have any empathy for these people or their cause. But it did make the beating run that the prisoners had take from the guards all the more understandable. I actually felt sorry for the people who had to clean up the prisoners filthy mess!
I wasn't impressed by the director's attempt to tell the story by graphic visuals, without building some backstory in the first act. It didn't work for me. I didn't really care about these people and I'm sure the director wanted us to feel the IRA prisoners were being harshly and unjustly treated.
At least I was glad to see the film state that 16 British police guards had been murdered by IRA paramilitaries at the end of the film. If anything Hunger has made me feel the IRA were murders.
Last edited by Citizen Rules; 08-31-20 at 02:31 PM.
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The Skin I Live In
This is perhaps one of the more curious, layered films that I have seen. It centers around being a thriller, but you can make a case for it connecting to a lot of genres. I even thought it was starting to have some Sci Find elements as well. I think it's cool when a film can identify as so many different things to different people.
At the meat of the film was a great performance by Antonio Banderas. He's an actor that I haven't sought out too much of his work, but he certainly played the part. It was a very challenging role given the complexity of the film. I'm not sure how this matches up thematically with the rest of Almodovars works because I haven't seen anything else at all, but it certainly has me pretty intrigued to see more. I sensed a lot of Kubrick themes with this one, which is strange because I know Miss Vicky hates Kubrick. But it's sexual tones often reminded me of putting the viewer in an uncomfortable situation just like Kubrick did with Eyes Wide Shut.
Anyways, this is seemingly not a film that can be totally comprehended on first watch as it has such a twisted plot, but it definitely makes the viewer think and stay glued to what is happening. I'm not sure overall how I even feel about it to be honest, but I think somewhere in the middle is a decent rating at this time.
This is perhaps one of the more curious, layered films that I have seen. It centers around being a thriller, but you can make a case for it connecting to a lot of genres. I even thought it was starting to have some Sci Find elements as well. I think it's cool when a film can identify as so many different things to different people.
At the meat of the film was a great performance by Antonio Banderas. He's an actor that I haven't sought out too much of his work, but he certainly played the part. It was a very challenging role given the complexity of the film. I'm not sure how this matches up thematically with the rest of Almodovars works because I haven't seen anything else at all, but it certainly has me pretty intrigued to see more. I sensed a lot of Kubrick themes with this one, which is strange because I know Miss Vicky hates Kubrick. But it's sexual tones often reminded me of putting the viewer in an uncomfortable situation just like Kubrick did with Eyes Wide Shut.
Anyways, this is seemingly not a film that can be totally comprehended on first watch as it has such a twisted plot, but it definitely makes the viewer think and stay glued to what is happening. I'm not sure overall how I even feel about it to be honest, but I think somewhere in the middle is a decent rating at this time.
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You speak German right? Did they call it 'H' or heroin in the movie? Or is it just in the sub titles?
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I'm not sure how this matches up thematically with the rest of Almodovars works because I haven't seen anything else at all, but it certainly has me pretty intrigued to see more.
I will say though that I did not like Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down at all. Pain and Glory is really good, though.
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