The 29th Hall of Fame

ok so there's like pages and pages of stuff i have to respond to now so apologies if i miss something.

i join these halls because its fun. simple as that. i've found a lot of great films through these and even though i've also watched some things i didn't like i don't consider that a bad thing at all. even if a film wasn't an A+ experience i still have gained some kind of knowledge from it (fyi i didn't have a miserable time with a film unless i gave it a or less). i like watching films, good or bad (imo) and i like most of the people here. that's it lol (also this might be tmi but i've been pretty lonely as a result of the pandemic as well as my life changing pretty drastically in that time. throwing away a sense of community here is very not in my best interest).

Robot was absolutely not a troll pick. it's a film i've adored for close to a decade now. the reason i picked it is because the previous hall had a few long, very dour films so i wanted to counter-program with some balls-to-wall dumb fun. the reason i was saying people weren't going to be happy with the pick was simply because Bollywood stuff has a negative stigma attached to it in the west and assumed people wouldn't be responsive to it as a result. i think masala film is such a cool, exciting style of filmmaking and just wanted people to give it a chance. the way i pick a film for these is usually just "what's a dope movie i feel like rewatching and want to share?". idk if that's in the spirit of the hall or not, i just go with what my heart says. my next pick was going to be something with an 8.4 on imdb and i still probably would have said something like "lol back on my bullshit again".

i don't really know how to prove it but i've never not watched a film that's been nominated (i have tangential proof i watched Goldfinger and Robot, i watched those with a friend and can take a screenshot from the discord chat) and all reviews have been a reflection of my honest feelings. i'm sorry if i've said things that have rubbed people the wrong way. i've taken plenty of harsh and negative reviews of films i've nominated (films i love) in stride and maybe its wrong of me to push that standard onto other. i'm not super into having people tell me my feelings are wrong but if i've written something in a review that comes off as mean or insulting i'm more than happy to change the wording. i do write my reviews as soon as the film ends so if i come in a bit hot when writing that would be at least partially why.

i don't remember what else needs addressing but i have to wrap this for now. uhh yeah idk.

Haha, that's another thing I like about him: he can be as endearing as your favorite uncle or downright terrifying (also see The Pledge).

These Hall of Fame threads really make me appreciate how open minded and decent everyone is in Chypmunks music competition threads.


You're doing God's work Chypmunk! *Applause*

I haven't seen Robot yet (my exposure to Indian cinema is primarily Bollywood and haven't delved into the regional stuff nearly as much as I ought to), but I think the movie has plenty of fans, at least glancing at Letterboxd. I think it's unfair for people to assume it was troll pick.

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Vengeance is Mine (1979)

Good movie, bad title. I bet a bunch of people over the years have watched this thinking it was going to be an action crime-murder movie. Sure there are murders committed but that's not where the story lays. Like many Japanese films it includes the side stories of people who are in the peripheral view of our lead character. Some might say that's side tracking but I liked that aspect of the film as it doesn't directly pound it's message into the viewer's brain...instead it shows us the precursors (both events & people) who helped create the killer. Most notably is his father who's said to be a dishonest person and takes actions that benefit himself while passing them off as benefiting his troubled son. I'm thinking about the arraigned marriage that benefits the father way more than the son. It's like dad wants her in his household as his own wife is ill and so he can have a fling with his daughter in-law...that's kind of double dipping.

I liked the slower pace of the film that allowed us to be in the scene and spend time there...nothing felt rushed or shoe horned in as the edits are long and the film is not cut for thrills. One of my favorite scenes was the hot springs bath. Being shot at night added to the secret rendezvous of the two lovers and the movements of the actors as they washed each other's bath looked sensual and secretive too, maybe it was the mechanics of moving in water which causes people to move more gracefully.

We also see the side stories of how the murderer's relations with others changes their lives and not usually for the better. I don't know for sure but I think the film was saying that a bad seed is in the blood and that's why the father was responsible for his son's actions and why the son didn't want the inn keeper's wife to have his baby. I knew when she said she was going to be pregnant her number was up. Though I don't think she minded? Her life too was shaped by her mother's crimes which causes her to be a unhappy kept woman.

I appreciated the melodrama of the film, to me that's life and that melodrama was more important than the murders themselves. I did have to laugh once when the worker who was stabbed in the companies truck is dumped out still alive by the murder and says 'this isn't the hospital'...Maybe that translated weird but it sounded like it was meant for humor.

If there was one small thing I didn't like it was the very last scene when they take the gondolas to the mountain top (which was visually cool) and they throw prayers into the wind..when the prayer papers freeze and hang there, I didn't care for that as it didn't seem to match the rest of the film's style.

I usually like Japanese movies and while this isn't my favorite I still liked a lot about it...Oh the eels in the river, pretty cool shot!

It didn't occur to me before but the title doesn't fit the movie. I think I'm just naturally drawn to anything with the word vengeance in it.

Waiting for the right day to watch Robot because I'd like to watch it in one sitting.

You owe no one any apology over any of your nominations.
Not Themroc.*
Certainly not Daisies.
And definitely not Robot, which I have already pointed out was very popular in India and their critics. *

It’s one thing when a film doesn’t translate well to one’s taste (Fulci hasn’t really gelled with me, and I’m not so sure he ever will, but it won’t stop me from watching his films either) but to just label the film as “trash” and a “troll nom” is akin to a personal attack and should stop henceforth.

I think the title helped my viewing as it made me go into the film with lower expectations which often results in me liking the film more.

Oh btw, sorry about the plagiarism of the lead photo I noticed that both you and Raul used the same one. I wanted an image from the hot springs but couldn't find it.

Vengeance is Mine is a film I definitely need to rewatch. I found it too enigmatic for its own good. Why that title? That’s a very good question, CR and Cricket. What was his motivation, beyond money?

As I mentioned d before, I figure the enigma was the point, but again, it hurt the film for me. It’s structure didn’t help much either.

I was going to write my Stroszek review today, but sadly, I lost my internet for most of the evening, so it looks like I'll have to wait till tomorrow.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

I'd say you're right, the enigma of the film was the point. It reminded me in that way of a French film about a kid who has an austere life and grows up to be a dictator. I think it came out in the 2010s. I even reviewed it but can't remember what it was called. Good film though.

Looking forward to your review as it was a very interesting movie. Anybody ever see those chicken-in-a-box games before?

No, I haven't. Before watching the film, I had no idea they even existed.

Pretty sad thing of course, as the chicken is stuck inside a coin operated game that will give the bird a bit of food when it does some sort of trick. I seen one at an old flea market type store back in the late 1970s. Strange stuff, but cool to see in the movie because that was a real attraction back in the day.

I'm closing this thread for a bit. I'm not sure how long, but at least a day or two.

Need to think about how these are going to proceed, if they are. But I think it should be obvious to all involved that these can't function with this much baggage and distrust involved, whatever the reason for it.

Okay, I'm opening this again for the moment.

We're going to have to talk about some additional Hall rules (or even just guidelines) to prevent this stuff from devolving the way it almost invariably does BEFORE starting the next one. But if everyone can be particularly cool and stop hurling accusations around, we can at least finish this one first. I expect people to be really chill and deescalating for the remainder of this one, though.

I promise to be as cool as a cucumber and as nice as a puppy.

Thanks for cooling things off, Yoda. I'll do what little I can to get things back on track by posting another writeup in a few.

Hopefully, we can get along from here on out. Regardless, here's a review I wrote last night.

Stroszek (1977) -

This is the kind of film I might enjoy more if I rewatch it sometime down the road. All things considered, I enjoyed it, but I felt I should've liked it more than I ultimately did. In order to begin discussing the film though, one must first provide some background on Bruno S. Being abused by his mother to the point he was rendered temporarily deaf and having spent a lot of time in mental institutions, his background actually works to this film's benefit. In spite of having no acting experience when Herzog first met him (this is actually the second film he acted in though), he's great for this role since the film has some parallels to his real-life struggles. As a result, his performance feels very natural. Speaking of which, the same could be said of many other scenes in the film as well. With various freeform scenes of characters interacting with each other or their environments, one gets the impression that Herzog turned the camera on without telling anyone to see what kinds of strange improvisations he could capture. One might be bothered by this approach, but I think this is all at the heart of the film's twisted humor of capturing how bizarre the world Bruno navigates is. Certain scenes such as Eva's pimps playing a piano as they beat Bruno, a mobile home being driven into and away from a plot of land, and the auction do a great job at representing the absurdities of both Germany and the U.S. Also, the final couple minutes are excellent and easily the best example of the film's humor. The scene acts as a parallel for Bruno's emotional journey throughout the film. Regardless of how hard Bruno works to maintain his home doesn't stop the bills from piling up to the point that nothing he can do will provide a sufficient income. The final scene showing several animals stuck in an endless loop of performing and getting no food seems to suggest that Bruno's situation would've kept getting worse if the film continued on. With that being said, I will admit that my appreciation of this film clicked on and off as I watched it. While I loved what I mentioned up above, I felt those elements were too few and far in between for me to love this film. For instance, the twisted humor vibes showed a lot of potential, but at the same time, I felt they were underutilized and should've been more frequent. Part of this might be due to Herzog drawing out certain scenes longer than he needed to, but whatever the issue is, a lot of my time watching this film consisted of me hoping for it to get funny again. Regardless, I still enjoyed this film and I may return to it sometime in the future to see if my opinion of it grows.

Next Up: Tomboy