Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

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I really liked this nom, and I was thinking all night just what I would write in my review. So this morning, I started looking for a photo for this...and was saddened to learned that Elizabeth Peña, who I really like, had passed in 2014. I never knew that, now I'm quite bummed to learn she's gone

During the movie it was Elizabeth's character that I cared most for. I don't know what it is about her, but she has this genuineness feeling about her, combined with warmth, that makes her stand out...In Lone Star it was her character who's life I was most interested in.

I liked Otis 'Big O' (Ron Canada) too, he seemed interesting and I liked his story line both in the past and present. In fact that's what I liked about this film is that we get a mix of the town's folk stories. I would have skipped the army base, side story and gave that air time to Elizabeth Pena's story.

Oh, I loved the amazing scene transitions from present day to past. Very cool and stylish how the movie flowed from present day to past events...and looked like it was done in one seamless shot. Very impressive cinematography, throughout the film.

+

Empire of Passion (1978)
Ai no bôrei (original title)
Director: Nagisa Ôshima
Writers: Itoko Nakamura (story), Nagisa Ôshima
Cast: Tatsuya Fuji, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Takahiro Tamura
Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance


I liked this, it's beautiful filmed and set in 1895 rural Japan. That screen shot doesn't do the movie justice. It's a great image, but I couldn't find a high quality photo to use. But oh well, it gives you a visual on what the story is about....romance - murder - haunting - gossip - despair.

Empire of Passion is a Japanese tale of forbidden love and murder that focuses on the aftermath of two forlorn lovers after they commit murder so that they can be together. But do they look happy in that photo? Nope...this is a cautionary tale that reminded me of a classic Gothic ghost story. I thought it was well done, well acted. I loved the rural setting in Japan and I like the way the ghost was presented. Both the way he looked and the minimalist movements.

The specter of the murdered husband is forged out of guilt, and the ghost's presents moves that guilt forward until it becomes stronger for the two tragic lovers and their love lust.


Empire of Passion...pulled me into it's world and held my attention, I found it intriguing and sorrowful.

I have mixed feelings on this one. It took me about 20 minutes to warm up to it. The opening scenes were so chaotic and weird that I didn't know what kind of movie this was going to be.

It got better when we learn of the boy Pehran and his sickly little sister and supportive grandmother. I liked their family dynamics, and liked the actors. I also liked his attempts to marry Azra, I though his scenes with Azra and his sister were the most heartfelt. But wasn't he a bit young to be thinking about marriage?

On the hand I'm not a fan of movies that deliberately throw in cute/weird/symbolism stuff just for the sake of doing it and this film does it a lot:

White is a big symbolism in the film...there's: Azra's mom saying shes a prized catch as she's very white....white bread, white cheese & some other white food (which I forgot was said to be like wanting what you couldn't have) white turkeys are a dream of unattainability as is the white veil behind the taxi.

Maybe it was the film quality of the video but I had but some of the people seemed to move kind of jerky or in an abrupt manner. Like the hanging scene which was not funny, but seemed to be filmed in a way that the film makers thought was humorous. Same with the scene at the wake where his son breaks a window and steals the coins from his eyes. It seemed like the frame rate was sped up which made that scene look like a chase scene from TV show Benny Hill. The effect was it felt like the film was being weird for comic effect, but maybe it was just the video quality?

The story itself is anything but comic with the two siblings being separated from their family and each other. With the gang of pick pockets being controlled by the rich criminal in the white suit, it reminded me of Oliver Twist.

Not sure how to rate this one as the video quality might have been an issue.

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Glad to see you put your 14th HOF reviews through the gate, Citizen!

That was a fun thread! Also stoked you enjoyed my nom, Lone Star. Now I have to watch it again and see if I can muster any more love for it since my last watch was a letdown. Go figure...

Lone Star was a cool movie that I had never even heard of....so glad you nominated it. Yup these are movies from the 14th, but I have a couple films I watched recently that I need to get around to reviewing.

I felt like this movie was yelling at me for almost the entire time. BTW, I almost wrote this entire review in CAPS as to emulate the film's emotions. But you don't want to read a review in caps, so lucky you

I think this movie succeeded brilliantly at what it's trying to do. And oh yes, I understand why the director used that odd narrow format and the ultra closeups. The entire film was mostly near-close up to very close-ups and that was to immerse the viewer in the mom's world, she was literally trapped with a son whom she loved and yet HE WAS ALWAYS IN PEOPLES FACES. So if you watched this on a tiny screen mobile phone, your experience is going to be different than watching it on a big screen TV. I watched it on a big TV and it rattled my nerves (which I believe the director intended for the film to do.)


So this was genius film making and it worked too good on me, I must say. I was annoyed like I've never been annoyed before! God that kid drove me crazy. I truly hated him and his obnoxiously rude mother too. They were both SO LOUD and so OBNOXIOUS that I actually hated them.

I mean I could just not take these people! Well except for the neighbor school teacher on sabbatical. I liked her, she was the only main character I could related to. She had most of the quieter scenes when she talked to the mom. I wanted to know more about her, she seemed to have something going on in her life but we never really find out what it is.

So in the end when the screen goes full screen and we see the grown boy, now a man, graduating from college and getting married...that too was cutting edge film making, because in that moment the mother dreamed what could have been, and her world opened up...and as her hope expanded, we had wide screen! Which made me breath a sigh of relief, though it was short lived.

So my respects to the film maker and I don't say this is a poorly made film, just the opposite it's very original, but it's not the type of film my personality can like.

I don't know how to rate this so:
No Rating

I remember when I saw this movie few years ago. It was the first film of Kusturica which I watched. I was impressed. I've never seen this kind of movie before, it was rough and soft at the same time. I was thinking about it since few next days.

The plot is absolutely engaging, but I'm not sure, if I can say I liked it. Gipsys style of live is so different from mine, that I had a feeling I was watching life of some alien civilization rather then people, who lives my neigbourhood. For example, getting marriage in a young age. Bizzare!

When I watch Dolnas movies my whole body is tense. He makes films about relationships between ordinary people, not about huge dramas, and after watching them, I'm almost exhausted. His movies don't leaves viewers indifferent.

I had the same feeling about main characters of Mommy. The son made me realy angry and his mom was helples. I was thinking, how many mistakes she made, when she was raising her son. It's aweful to blame her, coz I wouldn't say it's easy to rear a child and terrible parents not necessarily must have terrible children, but on the other hand I was waiting as she start to act rationally.

I didn't like main characters and I pull for them at the same time. I hoped they will they find some balance.

Lack of rating might be the best compliment for this movie

Yeah, I can understand you not liking Black Snake Moan but glad you at least enjoyed some of it (and above expectations too) - I think it's a pretty solid offering myself and stranger things have happened in real life. I actually rate both that and Buffalo 66 the same () but I have to be totally honest and state that B66 gets a half of one of those popcorn boxes purely for the lovely Ms. Ricci's outfit in it.

I've really enjoyed Kusturica's stuff, but I think Time of the Gypsies might be one of the tougher ones to get into. It took me a couple of watches to warm up to it, but once I bit the bullet and saw the 5-hour version (split into episodes), I fell totally in love with it. It's tough to find unfortunately. I love the odd and 'unpleasant' humor in it too.

@Ms. M @re93animator

About Time of the Gypsies, I have a question.
Did either of you notice that? Or was it just the quality of the video I watched?

It's been too long since I've seen it, but nothing really sticks out in my memory. It might've been part of the hectic comedy.

Will be adding this one to my watchlist

It's been a while since I've seen this one...reading this review makes me consider a re-watch.

I don't know why but I'm surprised you watched this, I don't recall you reviewing a Denzel movie before. If this was your first exposure to the actor, please don't judge him on this one. You might want to check out Malcolm X , Glory, Training Day, John Q, and Fences for a start. BTW, I used to live in a town in New Jersey where they filmed portions of The Hurricane.

I watched The Hurricane as part of the 14th HoF. I've seen Fences, and reviewed it here:

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...78#post1668878

I gave Fences a I liked it...I've been meaning to watch Malcolm X as I like movies about civil rights era. Normally Denzel Washington starred in action flicks and I don't like those movies too much.

Glory - if I ever get around to changing my top ten, I'll stick Glory in there!

I have a feeling I'll be watching Glory sooner than later. It looks real good too.

I know you like history, so you'll love Glory. Even people uninterested in history love it. And unlike a lot of "historical" movies, from what I've read Glory takes few liberties with the facts and is fairly accurate. Even though it's about the Civil War, it embraces the true spirit and principles America was founded upon while still taking an unabashed look at the uncomfortable truths of the history that brought about the Civil War.