26th Hall of Fame

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Thanks again to the sweetie Citizen for the hookup:


Angel-A (Luc Besson, 2005)

Ok so off the hop I'm thinking "Oh no, this looks like some lame Guy Ritchie sh*t" based on the first scene but then it starts meandering about and I start to think "Oh this is more like a modern FNW type thing" which is better but I'm still not enthused about it because the very 2000's vibe doesn't really suit that type of film to me. But then once the titular character is introduced it starts to feel like its own thing. The aesthetics are still bugging me a bit but I'm vibing enough. But theeeen once the central theme of learning to love oneself really starts to become the focal point I was all in. This sentimental, uplifting bull**** is exactly my kind of jam and that theme hits home for me big time (I don't care that it isn't actually, this film is trans af). It's basically a 90 minute pep talk and I'm here for it. Aside from the themes I'm into the meandering kind of narrative, the pacing is great (feels longer than it is but in a good way), the main characters are cute together and even though its a tad forced the ending scene whips.That 2000's stink all over it tho...



Is Cinema Paradiso runtime supposed to be 2 hours and 3 minutes? Felt it was longer last time I saw.
Yes, the theatrical version is 2 hours and 3 minutes. There is a longer director's cut, so that may be what you watched before.



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Cinema Paradiso is the coming of age story of Salvatore and his relationship with Alfredo the owner and projectionist of a Movie House named Cinema Paradiso. The film takes the familiar three act structure of portraying Salvatore as a child, teenager, and adult. The adult portion is used for exposition, the teenage part for conflict and the child part for the world building.


Like most films from this era it has a very simple and strong message that I'm not sure I agree with and that's what hurts the film in my eyes...to a point. The film isn't just about a love of movies but also the role of a father and family in each person's lives. Salvatore has been orphaned by the war while Alfredo is a confirmed bachelor. Alfredo leads a somewhat sexless life while Salvatore grows into a person that just has meaningless relationship after meaningless relationship. What is this film telling us about love. The conflict in the first part is the teenage Salvatore falling in love with a girl and then going off to serve and losing touch with her. Is their is a strong sense of cynicism to go with the nostalgia, at one point Alfredo loses his sight in a fire and his love of film is basically taken away from him.


Unfortunately when you have a film where the artist is trying to tell you something other things fall by the wayside. I'm not really sure if any of the performances where strong or if they even mattered because the messaging overwhelms the film. Is this a film or is this a philosophy lecture and how does one properly rate a film like this.



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Yes, the theatrical version is 2 hours and 3 minutes. There is a longer director's cut, so that may be what you watched before.
Must have last time. I'll go original theatrical this go.





The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

I really liked Dreyer's other film Vampyr but everything else I've seen of his I found dull and aged. And that's not really the case with The Passion of Joan of Arc this is one of those films you could argue is experimental. The plot is basically straight forward...Joan is put on trial and sentenced to death it's made fairly clear from the first ten minutes and then we get an hour of of just emotional torture. You could almost say this is less a film and more an experiment.

Dreyer went out of his way to cast "normal" looking actors, when the young Priest shows up (Antonin Artaud) is fairly jarring because you can tell the legitimate screen actor from the stage ones. It's weird but it works as I suppose he's meant to be Joan's salvation of sorts. Dreyer does so much with the visual cues and his selective shooting that pretty much destroys any basic narrative.

I would say this is almost like a visual ASMR piece of work where it's more about getting emotional responses to the shots and less about following a story and connecting with the characters. It's not bad...but it's different and I'm not sure how to approach ranking this amongst other films.



The Wizard of Oz (1939) -


I hadn't seen this film since I was a kid, so I was looking forward to rewatching it for this thread. I was curious whether I had outgrown it, but fortunately, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Even though it's a family film, it's packed with all kinds of unintentionally and intentionally scary set pieces. From the tornado, Miss Gulch's transformation into the witch, the introduction to the munchkins, the living trees, the introduction to the wizard, and the climax at the witches castle, it has a whole lot to offer. If you watch the film in the right state of mind, you'd find that it's a great balance of wonder and horror. I imagine that another viewing would get me to appreciate the scary parts even more, in fact. The film is also technically outstanding. While the tornado and the switch from sepia to color in the first act are the most famous technical set pieces, the film has plenty to offer in the Land of Oz as well. Yes, most of the backdrops in the film look obviously fake and the warmth of the poppy field scene had me wishing that more of the sets looked realistic, but the various towns, cities, and wooded areas in the film are richly detailed and have a massive level of craft. There's a lot to love about this film and, while I wouldn't call it a favorite yet, it may grow on me some more in the future.



I forgot the opening line.
Penultimate recap :

With only Angel-A to go, I've been introduced to two new great films during this Hall of Fame - Last Year at Marienbad and Sweet Smell of Success. I've been introduced to an iconic Czechoslovakian filmmaker - Vera Chytilová. I've also come to really appreciate All the President's Men after seeing it a few times, but not really seeing it. I found it pretty easy to watch classics such as The Wizard of Oz and The Passion of Joan of Arc again. The Celebration is a film that I distinctly didn't like the first time I saw it - but it really grew on me after a rewatch soon after it's appearance on the top 100 Foreign Language Film countdown. I actually enjoyed Daisies, especially in relation to it's filmmaker and place in film history - but I agonized over what rating to give it, and I'm still not sure. I think I rated a little too low...but it stands alone really. I rate movies easily by comparison, and I have nothing to compare Daisies to. I'm really looking forward to going through Chytilová's output in the near future, and perhaps some others that were part of the Czechoslovakian New Wave. I don't think Daisies is going to win this - but it did for me what I hoped my nomination would do for others - I never would have seen it or heard of Chytilová without being prompted to.

All in all I've really liked everything in this Hall of Fame - it has a 100% success rate for me so far. I'm only sorry I missed the first 25 (and countless specialty ones.) I thought I was going to go against the grain and rate All the President's Men a
or less but after looking at it again the film has gained a lot in appreciation for me. I saw a rerun at the cinema year before last, and after it finished I kind of sat there and thought, "Why did I agree to come and see this again?" I didn't think it was cinematic enough for the time and expense. Something changed after I looked at the film for this - and it's actually prompted me to read the book again.

I'm still not sure of my voting order. I'm still not even sure of which film I'd really like to see win this Hall of Fame - I was at the start, but seeing all the films has shaken things up a lot.
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