The 11th Hall of Fame

10th December.

One thing that impressed me about Bashu is that although it's cultural elements are very different from any movies I had watched before it (the only Iranian movies I watched before Bashu are the pretentious art-house products of Kiarostami) I understood the movie on a very instinctive level and it talked to me on a very deep level as a result.

I am happy that people here are appreciating this nomination of mine more than previous ones (Utena and K-On! were particularly trashed ). Well, this is essentially a conventional drama movie but infused with Iranian culture, something I though people here might like more.

You should write the date for the deadline in the first post.

Not seen Topsy or Neiba in the thread for a while. Not worried or anything though, Topsy seems to like to watch them all then give her thoughts all at once going by the TV Tournament and her posting about a few movies in a row in both this and the 10th. And Neiba always finishes.

What is with your deep hatred of Kiarostami, Guap? I've not seen anything from him so have no opinion, it just seems to come up in every other post you make now. And unless i've missed something you never go any further than saying he is boring or pretentious. Genuinely curious.

Where's Swan?

He posted Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in the Movie You're Watching Tonight thread a few days ago. I think he's been preoccupied with horrors lately but i'm confident he'll finish

I've seen Ten from that director and didn't care for it at all.

Fair enough. From what i've heard of that movie i don't think i'd like it much; it mainly takes place in a car i think? I'm not saying he is any good obviously because i haven't seen anything by him but i don't think i've seen anyone mention their dislike of a particular director more than Guap of Kiarostami, so i'm interested in why he hates him so much. Will be a nice contrast hearing dissenting opinions as well when he seems to be so beloved.

Kiarostami is the most famous Iranian director in the West. I was contrasting Bashu with Kiarostami's films because it's also Iranian but very different. There is no "hate" for Kiarostami's films, I just said my impression from watching these movies.

Kiarostami is not actually "beloved", Ebert hated his movies as well. However, some people, a very restricted set of people, claim to like his movies. The reason is that his movies are pretty much the definition of "pretentious left wing art movies", movies without plot, without substantial characterization, without eye candy and without soundtrack. They are not movies meant to be watched but art movies meant to be discussed. They are the equivalent of modern art translated to movies. Art like this:



Ten is the worst Kiarostami movie that I ever watched. It's a painful film: 90 minutes inside a car, no plot, no real acting, no atmosphere and no decent cinematography. What's the movie's message? Tremendously obvious: the movie plays like this:

Iran Oppresses Women
Iran Oppresses Women
Iran Oppresses Women
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90 minutes later:
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Iran Oppresses Women
Iran Oppresses Women
Iran Oppresses Women
Iran Oppresses Women

Then it ends. It was a complete waste of 90 minutes of my life.

Ida (2013)

Ida is one of those "serious" European movies that do not entertain but instead require constant focus by the viewer in order to be properly digested. Tremendously slow, it's a an art film and like all art films, the images are supposed to be more important than the plot, characters and the writing. Indeed, the movie's plot is barely apparent, unlike normal narrative movies, it's a bare bones narrative wrapped around powerful images.

Now, about, the images, the movie tries to depict Poland in the 1960's, when the effects of WW2 were still very apparent in the country that suffered the most in the war. The movie's director was born in Poland and lived in Poland during his youth, as a result this movie tries to be a representation of his childhood perception of Poland. The film's images are reminiscent of Bela Tarr's movies, which also depict Eastern Europe in black and white and both are very slow, although in this case it's not as remotely as slow as Tarr's movies which are glacial.

One interesting thing is that these days apparently to have a female main character is considered "artsy", I guess it's because female main characters are not the standard for western narratives so deviating from the standards is considered artsy. Although I would personally think that male film directors would prefer to be looking at a female actress rather than a male actor while making the movie, hence the appeal.

Also, why make it black and white? Whats the appeal? Black and white was the color of movies in the early decades of film because of technological constraints prevented full color. Now that's trivial to make movies in color, arthouse directors still make movies in black and white because it's "cool", why it's "cool"? Because you are rebelling from the "mainstream" colored movies. Also, because you are referencing the history of film when you make a movie in black and white.

Overall, it's was interesting film as a work of visual art but I wasn't entertained by it and I didn't find it's bare bones narrative very interesting.

Please don't pretend you only bring up Kiarostami in relation to other Iranian films, don't be ridiculous you mention him all the time. Actually here are all the times you've mentioned him most of them negative and these are only the times you've spelled his name correctly:

http://www.movieforums.com/community...archid=5219890

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He's one of the most acclaimed foreign directors by 'western' critics which you always feel the need to point out. Ebert is the most famous Critic that's it, not sure why you brought him up as if he has the final say on the matter.

This is nuts and incredibly arrogant. Love that everyone other than you is only claiming to love these movies.

Topsy told me the other day that her time online has been rather limited lately.

It's possible that she's watching movies, but hasn't been online long enough to do write ups about them.

I watched this one last night, I had never seen it before. I enjoyed it. I'm not really into crime action films but this one was exceptionally well done. It held my interest and I was into it! I liked the way the film was edited (straight forward without any tricky fancy stuff) that made for good old fashioned story telling. I thought the action sequences were exciting and the first car chase amazing. I'm not really a car chase kind of guy, so the second car chase seemed to me to go on too long, but oh well it was still well done. Good choice for a nomination!

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Glad you liked it CR. Now, to prove you acctually saw the movie, answer this very important question: What's the color of the boat house?

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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?

Ha! The running joke from the movie, yea that was a funny bit. Let's see Robert DeNiro asked that question as a test, then latter was asked that question himself and his answer was something like:

"I don't know what ****ing color it was!"

I quit.

Just kidding. Some personal stuff has kept me from really getting to this, and I admit I'm struggling to jump right in, but I'm not giving up yet. I will ask you guys not give up on me yet either.

Now watch me discuss a film that wasn't even nominated!

Re: Kiarostami. I recently watched Close-Up and I loved it for being the kind of film that literally could only be made as a film. It couldn't be a painting or a song, it was pure cinema realized. I always treasure films like that because on some meta level they give cinema it's inherent meaning. Like, these aren't just stories put to screen in a boring way, and thus could just as easily be a novel. No, Close-Up is cinema. And I love that it's through that cinematic lens that the film finds much of its meaning. I mean, that just feels really f*cking special to me, that a film could do that stuff, really separate itself as an artform and find meaning that way. I saw Ten for the HoF it was in, and I don't really remember it to be honest, but I think Close-Up will stick with me for a long time.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2006)


This is a very "cool" movie. It's said to be a parody of the noir genre. Since I am not a big fan of the genre I don't know many of the references this movie has, it's a movie for noir film buffs essentially.

Stil I found it very enjoyable and iron man was entertaining as always. Although he is certainly not an actor made for serious roles but for movies like this he is perfect. I also found the actress that played harmony really hot, specially for her age (34). Anyway, the whole movie was well executed but a bit tad too fast in some parts (I couldn't properly digest it when it already jumped to the next scenes).

Val Kilmer was also great although certainly not the character like iron man.

I actually want to show this movie to other people because I found it quite interesting in that way and that's perhaps a film finest achievment: that it becomes interesting enough for me to show to my friends and family.

You claimed that everybody but me loves Kiarostami, I gave you a counterexample: Roger Ebert: the English speaking world's most famous film critic, who also detests his movies. That proves you wrong in your claim.

Well only if by everyone you say pretentious movie critics and movie buffs. Otherwise nobody likes his movies: if you show close up to anybody walking on the street, they will not like it. Only artsy people will like his movies.

Anyway, why do you like to fight with me so much? Because that wax obviously a bait for you to fight me. I think I might need to start ignoring you at some point.

I don't like fighting you i just think you say some very frustrating things. It wasn't bait i was genuinely curious because you mention him all the time. I didn't claim everybody except you likes him that would be absurd, noone is liked by everybody. What i said is he seems to be "beloved", i obviously meant he is a well liked director and you seem to have a burning hatred for him that leads you to mention him pretty frequently. Which is odd.

And your ask the average person to watch it is meaningless. The average person would dislike Stalker or whatever challenging film you like. We aren't talking about the average person, we are talking about movie buffs who you make very arrogant generalizations about.