The 7th MoFo Hall of Fame

Letter From an Unknown Woman

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S0R2STZUUNQ

Thanks, guys.

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Letter from an Unknown Woman

This is an example of a film that is quite liked by everyone but just not suited for my own personal tastes. I think I would certainly benefit from a second watch, but the first watch had a lot of lulls to it for me. I thought Fontaine did a really good job in it, but her character and Stefan just weren't two people that I could really connect to. I couldn't much get into the style of film making of Ophuls on this w atch, but he does seem pretty talented behind the camera. I wish I liked it more, but it just didn't seem to connect with me all that well. Others may really enjoy it though, it is a well regarded film and I wouldn't say there is anything technically bad about it.

Just finished The Hustler. A pretty solid movie. I liked it. I liked how it wasn't really about pool. It made me think a lot about the kind of messed up issues people have, and how we pursue things in life that aren't really of any value, like money. The acting was pretty decent. I really enjoyed the characters. I actually thought John Goodman was going to be in it. I wasn't really all that familiar with Paul Newman, and I got them confused. So when I saw a glimpse of the "Fat" man before I'd seen the movie, I thought that was him. I don't really have much else to say about it. Piper Laurie and George C. Scott were interesting.

When was the deadline again?

I'm not sure what the final ruling on the deadline was, but I found this.

Great! Plenty of time then! And thanks for the help!

(I haven't even started yet, except for Harakiri, which I saw close to the start of this HoF)

I'm on Roskilde Festival right now, but when I return I'll dive into this HoF with grand style!!!

Yup! September 20th, maybe a week or two after if needs allow.

This was my second time watching this movie. I had it on my lengthy watchlist for the animation countdown, but unfortunately it was one of about five movies that I didn't get to. I watched it shortly after the countdown as a New Year's challenge from MovieMed, and I loved it. I still love it. I feel that most importantly, the movie does a fantastic job setting up the story and getting the viewer to care about the characters. This is very important because it's an emotional story. Its captivating seeing the character's struggles and seeing them grow. I think it's a beautiful movie with just the right blend of the whimsical. Great animation, great musical score, I love it-one of my favorite animations.

This was a repeat viewing for me; I watched it for the first time last year and it became an instant favorite. This is a very unique movie, a movie that probably couldn't be made today, and a movie that destroyed the career of director Tod Browning. The subject matter is inherently upsetting, and the plot just adds to that. The close shots of the different character's faces are very effective at bringing out some emotion, and it's just a sad tale all the way around. The ending is one of the most terrifying sequences I've ever seen in a movie. I love it!

glad to hear you enjoyed Wolf Children, I echo everything you say about it

and I'm a big fan of Freaks "Gooble gobble, one of us! One of us!"


Oh, is it okay for me to remark since I'm not in this?? Forgive the faus pax if so

Yes, of course it's okay for you to join in the conversation.

Platform

This film was absolutely impossible to connect with. The DVD case describes it as “beautifully shot,” but I found that to be far from the truth. The cinematography is downright ugly and distractingly so. The images are dark and blurry. The director seems not to have heard of doing close-ups. Worse still, he seems to think it’s a good idea to obstruct the audience’s view of key characters during conversations. At one point we’re left staring at a brick wall, unable to see either character in the scene. The soundtrack is virtually non-existent. I felt like I was watching a home movie, only I’ve seen crisper, more beautiful home movies than this and the film drags on endlessly. Ultimately I was left feeling completely bored and utterly disinterested in the fates of any of the characters.

Something should be said for the quality of the available versions of this, which are not that great and leave much, color contrast and picture quality, to be desired. The majority of your complaints seem to be about this though, I'm not sure how you're evaluating a movie based primarily on a distribution problem. Along with that you've completely missed the point of Jia's style, the great inheritor of Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Jia understands close-ups, the choice of an ascetic shooting style and soundtrack is key to the film, sorry that it's not conventional. You act as though the movie is some dude with a camera rather than a highly controlled and intimately detailed epic. Neither you nor gbg have mentioned anything about the plot whatsoever too...

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Mubi

I can only judge the film on what I'm given to watch. I purchased it on DVD and the movie looked horrible. I'm not going to spend time researching why it looked horrible. But even without the blurry and dark pictures, I'm left with long distance shots of what should be a fairly intimate scene or else a wall or some dude's back blocking all or most of the characters in the scene. I'm okay with unconventional shots if I can see that they serve some purpose, but in this case the physical distance and the objects obscuring my view do nothing but further distance me emotionally from the characters.

As to the plot, there's not a whole lot to speak of. It's centered around the relationships of a group of young people in an amateur theater troupe and how the political atmosphere of their country affects their daily lives. But that emotional distance I spoke of prevented me from caring much about the characters or plot.

I watched the blues brothers 2 days ago and I didn't really like it. First and foremost, it's a comedy and it simply didn't make me laugh. The only scene I found funny was the one in the southern bar when they started playing Rawhide's theme song, I admit I laughed at that. But overall I'd say it was too long, I hated the 2 main characters, I wasn't invested in the story, I didn't laugh. However, the music was very good so I can't say that the movie is not enjoyable as a whole since music is a huge part of it. I admit I had a pretty negative a priori I didn't thought I'd like it for reasons I ignore. So I can understand someone who enjoys the film, the humor, just not me.

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I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages

Now we're back to that whole "all art should be me caring about the characters, any distance is a bad thing" argument that's boring because everyone says "well that's what I want." I'm glad you know enough about the movie whose plot you didn't "care" about and whose characters you could barely see to know that the cinematography is arbitrary or just Brechtian for Brechtian's sake, instead of, you know, a personal aesthetic expression with complex meaning at every turn.

Art can and should be whatever the hell the artist wants it to be. But if I'm going to appreciate that art, then the artist needs to make me actually give a **** about what's going on. The director may have succeeded in his artistic vision and others may hail Platform as a masterpiece, but he failed to make me care so my rating stands.

Like I said, your argument is one I've had here before, it's a boring and selfish one that discounts distanciation.

If you're so bored by it then stop starting arguments about it. Ignore comments (or people) that you don't like or don't agree with. My opinions aren't going to change.