The Women Directors Hall of Fame

I've only seen American Psycho once and the final third of it seemed a little "wait a minute, what the??" And I've always wanted to return and see how it all goes for me so I was pretty glad to see it here.

Right on, Sean shows his chops! Good review bro...it's good to see someone lay it on the line, besides me for once!

Good read, I agree with the chainsaw bit and the shooting spree stuff, that's where the film lost me. Though I dug the insecurity over the fancy business cards, and I liked his voice over which made it feel like we were in his head.

Thanks to this HoF, I have now seen Tilda Swinton's and Sarah Silverman's bush.

I didn't know anything about this movie going in except what I was able to deduce from the poster. I knew Tilda Swinton was the star, excellent, and I knew it was historical costume drama, not so excellent. I found it to be an enormous coincidence yesterday in the Best Picture HOF thread when CR mentioned the movie Elizabeth, and his thought that I probably didn't like it. I told him that surprisingly my wife and I both loved Elizabeth. The reason it was a coincidence is because I sent the trailer for Orlando to my wife last weekend to see if it was something she would watch with me. I told her that maybe it was another Elizabeth, and that was my hope as well. She said it looked good so I ordered it through Netflix DVD. As per usual, about 10 minutes into the movie, she said "I never agreed to watch this shlt". She obviously doesn't take my movie talk very seriously. Personally, my hopes went down during the opening credits when I saw that Billy Zane was a co-star. I think he is terrible, but thankfully he does not factor into the entire duration. Anyway, this movie left me perplexed during most of it's duration. Why is Swinton playing a guy, why is a guy playing Queen Elizabeth, and why does Orlando live hundreds of years. After the movie was over, I was able to understand it better, and I think I'd like it at least a little more if I watched it again. The simple sad fact is that except for a few exceptions, this is not the type of movie I am drawn to. I do have an appreciation for it's originality with what the director is trying to do, and because of that I think it is a very good nomination. The short runtime certainly helped me as most costume films are much longer. The movie is beautiful to look at and Swinton is a fantastic actress who I always find captivating to watch.

That just leaves Europa Europa for me which I will watch tonight.

@cricket

A couple of questions for you Cricket...just out of curiosity

What is it about costume dramas that you don't like? You said Orlando isn't the unusual type of film that you are drawn too, can you go into that a bit more? I'm trying to get a handle on what you like/dislike in movies and why.

Do you and your wife usually agree on your opinion of the movies after you watch them? And does your wife watch a lot of these Hof movies with you?...In case anyone is wondering I watch all the Hof movies with my wife and we almost always agree. She liked Orlando even more than I did.

Oh...Queen Elizabeth was a guy?! I didn't know that! I did think she was a bit creepy.

yep, Queen Elizabeth is a guy. Quentin Crisp, after reading up on him, (there's some pretty funny quotes in his trivia section on IMDb) I thought it was a pretty amusing and interesting path to go for the director. Having him in drag and Swinton dressed as a man..
Wanted to comment on that when I wrote my review, forgot, and then considered simply waiting for others to notice and commenting then.

I watched my own nom, Little Women last night, for the upteenth time. Of course I love it. I'll write about it later as I have some chores to do today.

I don't know and I wish it wasn't that way. As I said in the other thread there's a handful I really like, but they usually have action or are edgy in some way. I also have a hard time with fantasy and pure Sci-Fi so maybe it's a connection issue.

I like most of the movies I watch for one reason or another. Even the movies I've rated the lowest in this HoF I've been able to get something out of. She doesn't like that many, and it's probably just a matter of not being as interested in movies in general. From this HoF she has seen Orlando, Little Women, American Psycho, Talk About Kevin, and Take This Waltz. That's a good variety and she didn't care for any of them. She likes crime/thriller/mystery and some comedy and some horror. Like anyone, there are exceptions with other kinds of movies. Very mainstream for the most part.

I have to admit to being somewhat at a loss as to why this film is quite so popular. Of course there is the layer of cheesy eighties nostalgia - Phil Collins as the unlikely soundtrack to a series of gruesome murders, and the grimly humorous asides “Murders and executions?”/ “Mergers and acquisitions.”

Is it a satire? And if so of what exactly? Men being superficial dickheads taken to extreme? Are we supposed to take the murders and people’s general unconcern as a literalisation of the thoughtless actions of the financial sector and people’s general unconcern over the effects of it? For me it lingers with a little too much glee over flesh to really land its punches, especially towards the end when it essentially turns into a kind of chainsaw-wielding horror fest. I suppose that is demonstrating excess with excess, but it doesn’t quite work for me.

It’s difficult to articulate my lukewarm feelings for this film, because most of the reservations I have for it could apply to films which I do like (e.g. Fight Club, Scarface, Taxi Driver).

I don’t think the whole ‘was it real/was it just a sick fantasy’ aspect works all that well either - the film itself still presents the same actions and images, film is fantasy anyway so it doesn’t really matter whether something we’ve seen is real to all the fictional characters or not (at least when it is the entire events of the film - questions of reality can be interesting in films, for example The Conversation). So all you’re left with is sharing Bateman’s enjoyment in slaughter and generally being a knob, which is dubious in itself. Or maybe that’s the whole ironic point.

I don’t hate it by any means, it’s slick, well shot and I did like some of the humour, but all in all it was too much of an uncomfortable mix.

I definitely think that's why he is killing. I don't think I have a moral objection to the film though. Satire is tough to pull off. You have to walk a fine line and no satire pleases everyone I would guess. I think for me the humor has to work for me to like it. This film wasn't humorous for me. Hope that answers the question.

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Letterboxd

OK thanks, Sean.

I have moral objections to films myself on occasion, so I guess I thought others might too, hence my question.

Little Women (1994)

You won't see that shot in the movie, as that's the real Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts that Jo (Louise May Alcott) lived in. I've been there and in a way I feel I know these people. I've seen Little Women a number of times and have watched the other movie versions, as well as a documentary on the real Alcott family...and visiting their home just made it all that much realer. For me it's hard to separate the real story from the movie, and that's partially why I love this movie so.

My journey with Little Women actually started 20 years ago when me and my brother went to Victoria B.C. Canada and I seen a travel brochure for Craigdarroch Castle. So we walked there and it was a long walk, but worth it. The 'castle' is actually a huge mansion that was built in the 19th century by a wealthy family. While there we had a guided tour and I commented that the castle would be great for a haunted house movie. The guide told me they had indeed filmed a movie there, Little Women. He had worked there during the filming and he and a few of the staff had been extras in some of the scenes that were shot inside the castle.

So the first thing I do when I get home is to watch Little Women, a movie I had never considered watching before. Now I thought it was pretty cool that I found the exact spot in the castle that I had been to, in the movie. I don't know why but just the fact that I had been there in the very same room and on the very same staircase made the film feel special to me. But more that that I found I really liked the movie itself.

Some years later after I was married and guess what my wife really liked this movie too and even owned it on VHS. So on other vacations we went back to the Craigdaroach castle in Victoria and to the Little Women house in Concord too.

I've spent so much time with this film that it's hard for me to just critique it as I would another movie. I do know that the ensemble cast is very strong and bring the characters to life. It's the cast and the acting that is so special. Especially Winona Ryder, and little Kirsten Dunst who steals the movie. Christian Bale and Claire Danes are both excellent in this too. And can Claire cry or what!

Mostly I like the fact that these people existed and we get to know them just a bit by watching Little Women.

Let me know if you're ever coming back to Concord!

Do you live around there?

Probably about a half hour.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Yea about a half hour away like Mark said, but I'm there every week for work.

Great work guys Four of us have already watched more than half and Cricket has practically finished!

I'll get back to this probably tomorrow with Little Women. Last night i started watching Love Exposure but it's 4 hours long and i was too tired to watch it all so i'll be finishing that tonight as i'll be out all day. So far it's the best film, and that's with 80 minutes left

I knew nothing about this movie going in nor did I have any preconceptions due to the poster. I liked it quite a bit. Possible Spoilers I thought the story was great, sort of a unique real life type of adventure. It has a weird combination of power and entertainment that's difficult to pull off. It reminded my of the great German movie The Tin Drum, and strangely, Forrest Gump. That latter comparison really hit me with the scene in which he got credited with capturing the enemy. After that I couldn't get it out of my head, and it got to the point when it became just a little too much, but thankfully it wasn't until the end when that last coincidence bothered me. A little fine tuning and I think this could have been a truly great movie. It looked good, but not incredible like the very best films. The sound was average. The performances were all good but none were amazing. My gripes are not that big because there was one interesting situation after another, and that makes for an easy film to get involved in.