14th Hall of Fame

Glad you liked it Ed! At least someone got a nice reception from the film, that's all I can ask for!

just happy you nominated it, there's been so many films I would have missed out on if I hadn't got involved in these and this is one of them.

thanks for posting that, JJ.

I went into this film blind not knowing, and still not knowing, anything about the director, the cast, or the history of this war it depicts.

What jumped out as me within about 15 minutes was the writing, which is sublime. La Grande Illusion is about class and war time, but more than that, it is about friendship, trust, poor pride and humanity.

Without divulging an array of plot and character names, the good stuff is every scene. A refugee soldier has a heart to heart with a cow. He's french and the cow is german. Both of them poor but both doing the best that they can. A prison camp commander befriends a french general. They are both royalty and prejudice is non existent despite one being a prisoner and one being the captor.

Escaping the camp, 2 french soldiers come across a cottage with a german woman living alone with child. They share Christmas together. A german, 2 frenchman, and one of them is a jew. How about that? All celebrating Christmas, admiring Joseph's beard when setting up the manger.

This is a very moving and tender film. It defies the walls that separate man and brings all of the scenes together in a story that speaks straight to the heart about the good nature in people.

There is a plethora of great lines, in fact, most every line is great and carries with it a profound human weight. Two men in the wild mountain snow comment on the imaginary lines that separate countries, and as they make their way home we see german soldiers fire towards them. Another officer says "don't shoot, they're in Switzerland". "Good for them", says the other. It's revealed the men are no more than a half a mile away in plain sight.

The Grand Illusion indeed. And there's so much more that's said in this film I feel a little guilty that my own account of it isn't better organized. The film itself is incredibly efficient. One story goes into the next focusing on a different set of characters once the first story ends, and we don't know it until it's all over. There is nothing to make us sick about this film. It's as healthy as they come considering the backdrop is war and struggle for power.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this film. It's not at all what I thought it was going to be. I consider it a gateway film for me to investigate some more films of the era. It didn't seem like this movie was from 1937, and I'm not sure why. There was zero pretension.

Highly Recommended!

WOW!
quite a moving and eloquent review, Joel. So very happy to hear you got so very much out of that film.
I was quite surprised on how well people from "enemy" countries got along when face to face, when I watched it.
I also got to see a lil short with the director on the copy I rented from my library about the film and how he felt that WWI was a gentleman's war in that regards.

@Joel

You are absolutely correct about the writing of that film, and I highly recommend you check out Renoir's The Rules of the Game. While the comedic aspects of La Grande Illusion are a lot darker due to the subject matter, Rules is lighter in tone but keeps its teeth. Both great films though, and if you like one I'd suspect you'd like the other.

And like you, I really like the title of this film as its own metaphor on war and the silliness of it all. Something as ridiculous as a pretend line can mean the difference between a bullet striking a major organ and you bleeding out and a weapon being holstered and your life being spared.

That's a great video, JJ. Thanks.

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Nicely said, JJ, and thanks, bro. I will absolutely check that film out!

Yeah that struck me. I was waiting for at least some slapping of the face. Never happened. A very unthreatening movie, totally fine for the nervous system. I can appreciate that these days.

Lone Star (1996)
Director: John Sayles

Watched this one after 4 years and realized some things really making me uncomfortable: the acting. I thought Chris Cooper was superb as was Matthew Mc, but some of the supporting cast delivered lines too amped, and some of the subject matter seemed hyper injected as if it was trying too hard to be political or have social commentary. Exactly the kind of film I dislike. Felt stagy and forced. Some of it, not all of it. I had to shut it down for a couple of reasons.

First reason is I didn't wanna continue to be disappointed. 4 years is a long time for me and I have changed a great deal, mentally, on what I consider digestible in a movie and in life. I belive I chose this movie as a nom for reasons other than the popular critical acclaim, which, does have merits, but my interests were aside from those opinions. At one time it was the mood of the film that kept me trying and trying, and finally ultimately really, really liking this movie. I figured the acclaim would satiate anyone else so it was going to be a safe bet.

Well, I don't think it was smart to nominate a film I felt this way about. The hiccups are now on high volume and I'm super aware because, whether I like it or not, I'm not seeing this movie alone anymore. It's with others. My plan is to wait until a blu ray of this films drops and then watch it again, away from this year.

I think it's a damn fine film but I was surprised to find that I preferred to let it rest in peace for now after struggling with it for the better part of an hour. My fantasy of living in a movie in the desert at night with store front red neon lights in a desolate town illuminating the sidewalk aren't over, but I'd better preserve those kinds of things outside the realm of a show and tell because it's not really fair to others because their interests aren't the same as mine. Anyway, I'm not gonna drop a rating. I've seen the film plenty over 20 years.

I will say that I think John Sayles is a better writer than a director, although his films in general always get my vote for most agreeable in terms of watchability. I think Lone Star is very ambitious with its layering, and I don't see it as detrimental to the film as a whole, but I also think that Sayles settled for a breakneck speed of line delivery, and that made the film come off a bit too loaded, not nearly as lax as I remember it being. Strange how time changes things like that. Like the history of the Alamo, and, depending on who you ask, you're hearing a different take as the years go by.

Interesting to see other reviews of it. I think unless a film knocks me on my ass immediately, like, today, then I'd better stick with strictly fun films for HOF's like these. I already know my top dog film in this 14th, and it ain't Lone Star.

Is there a decent Lone Star link out there anyone?

Of course everybody is free to use whatever criteria they want when choosing a film to nominate, but I don't think this should play a factor. One of the reasons I like to participate in these is that it exposes me to films that I might otherwise never watch.

So unless your main objective is to actually win the HOF, "digestibility" doesn't need to weigh too heavily in your decision.

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I was actually referring to my own preferences about the film in regard to that.

This is definitely a major draw for me as well.

I've thoroughly enjoyed a number of films throughout these HoFs that I know I would never have watched before. Since everyone's taste is different, we tend to get a wide variety of films nominated, especially in the General HoFs. And I think that's a very good thing.

I nominated a film in the Animated HoF that I hadn't seen since I was a kid. I really hated parts of it when I rewatched it.

It went over as well as could be expected.

Ha, yeah thats a goof. Its funny. I still like my nom a lot its just that theres no way I could have suggested it as worthy using my own criteri, which is totally abstract. I let the critical acclaim handle that part.

Rock and Rule, right? Yeah... I didn't care for that one so much, but hey I guess now I can say I've seen it?

ill join the 70s hof

I thought about nominating Rock and Rule. I actually nominated The Last Unicorn though. I think I later nominated Rock and Rule in that Animation Tournament Camo ran. I hadn't seen either in a very long time.

I probably should've gone with Rock and Rule for the HoF, since parts of The Last Unicorn were insufferable haha.