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I thought he was completely doing everything for the deceased
I guess I see that the more I talk to you guys. Watching it I just thought the recruiting people to go the funeral, the photo scrapbook. All that just felt like something for those left behind.
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I guess I see that the more I talk to you guys. Watching it I just thought the recruiting people to go the funeral, the photo scrapbook. All that just felt like something for those left behind.
I think what you're seeing is the ideal for reality.



I remember reading the funeral line as a consequence to John's loneliness in the film. Since he often had difficulty with connecting to the families of the deceased and was regularly the only person who organized/attended their funerals, he likely believed funerals were for the dead due to his twisted perspective on them. Given what we saw of him in the film, he was likely under the impression that families generally don't care for their loved ones.
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I think what you're seeing is the ideal for reality.
So I had about an hour just sitting at the airport thinking about this conversation. Ultimately I think you guys are right. When I think about the amount of conversations I have had with people who care where and how they ate buried, who they want at their funeral. I’m always baffled by this thinking, but you guys are right lots of people think this way. I’m probably just butt hurt because I think like the doofus.



So I had about an hour just sitting at the airport thinking about this conversation. Ultimately I think you guys are right. When I think about the amount of conversations I have had with people who care where and how they ate buried, who they want at their funeral. I’m always baffled by this thinking, but you guys are right lots of people think this way. I’m probably just butt hurt because I think like the doofus.
I believe you're thinking the more healthy way but the guy in the movie was a shade below normal.

Did anyone else notice the way he talked? Very slow all the time.



Well that was depressing.
A brilliant performance from Marsan. Some of the framing of shots was utterly beautiful. And the music was really good.

I thought the romance for the lead was a bit forced, and but I can see why it was done. The ending was nicely done.


It was nice study of loneliness, with an unexpected punch in the gut.


Thanks for the recommendation @mrblond



Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
I'm glad most of you express positive feelings about the movie Still Life. After all, hope some going to reconsider it for the ballot.

A classic perfect story about the small man, trampled in a decaying society. In this case, portrayed as kind of the last man standing to save the humanity, to save the civilization. A real knight. The scenes with him, going with his bag around the empty streets were breathtaking. What a symbol. And everything is filmed so simple and effortless, a masterful work.

A Cinema Textbook, from the very start to the striking final scene. If any movie of the 2010's deserves the max rate of five stars, this is it.
Amazing directing and script - Twice Bravo Mr. Pasolini! Amazing performance - Bravo Mr. Marsan!

I discovered Still Life about three years ago and saw it 3-4 times back then.
In addition, I watched it two more times during the last days.


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"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.





Still Life, 2013

John (Eddie Marsan) works in a human services department, tracking down the families of unclaimed deceased people and making final arrangements when those families cannot be found. When an impending merger and budget cuts threaten his job, John takes on one last case. As John works through the details of the dead man's life---including tracking down his estranged daughter, Kelly (Joanne Froggatt)--he begins to open himself up more to the world around him.

Why do we help other people? Two days before Christmas, I was driving to my family's home when I saw the aftermath of a recent car accident. On the side of the road, a woman was laying in a ditch. Other cars were just driving by, but I had to stop. I had to stop because I couldn't help thinking what it would be like if it were me in that ditch and all these indifferent people just passed me by.

John does his job with a passion and precision because he identifies with the dead. Alone, with no family of his own and only casual acquaintances, John is fighting a battle for others that he knows he will not be able to fight for himself when the time comes: the battle to be remembered and acknowledged. I particularly liked the sequence where John wrote a eulogy for a woman who died alone. To John, it seems important to show that even solitary lives can be celebrated.

It is in his final task, trying to track down the loved ones of a man who honestly doesn't sound like he was always very pleasant to be around, that John begins to make connections with others. John is presented as being very socially isolated. His mannerisms and habits seem to hint at something like Asperger's or just extreme social awkwardness. But as he interacts with the different acquaintances of the dead man, we see John begin to accept things from them. A fish. A beer. And, finally, a social invitation.

John's internal journey is mirrored in the world around him. In the early sequences, the city seems borderline abandoned. The colors are cold and drained. But as the movie goes on, there are more people around, and the colors become more lush.

Marsan's performance is sympathetic and engaging. He resists the urge to make John overly twitchy or robotic, as sometimes happens when actors try to portray such a character.

I was very torn on the final act of the film. It seems a bit contrived that
WARNING: spoilers below
John gets asked out for, like, probably the first time in 10 years, and the next day he gets hit by a bus. I understand the impact of seeing the full funeral that John orchestrated with his different interviews, contrasting with John's totally empty service. It's definitely a gut-punch, I'm just not totally sure that it's earned. It partly doesn't make sense to me. John clearly made an impression on a lot of people, and they didn't know he'd died? Or ask about him? The mechanics of this bothered me.


A very sweet film, and a chance to post one of my favorite quotes: "But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”




You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Still Life (2013)

This is a very slow and depressing movie. The idea that the man died with nobody caring about him, and a complete stranger has to piece together his whole life to try to find people to go to his funeral, is heartbreaking.
WARNING: "SPOILERS about the ENDING of "Still Life"!!!" spoilers below
And then when we think it can't get any more depressing, there's one last turn at the end. After all the hard work John did to find people to go to strangers' funerals, there's nobody left to do the same for him.

This is a thought-provoking movie, but it's not a movie that I would want to watch again.
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OPEN FLOOR.



To be honest, didn't make it to the end. Basically, I got bored. Started out with a clever premise that held my attention, for awhile. Not a bad film at all, just not to my liking. After reading the spoilers, glad I bailed out. Feel the depression would have been to much.

Meh/10



For those unfamiliar with the movie, it's a thriller set amid real political turmoil. One main thing I took from it is something I've thought about myself for a long time. There is a lot of hatred in the world between people who don't even know each other, who under different circumstances could coexist seamlessly.



Let the night air cool you off
Great film. One of those that feel like my find, as a search for Egyptian films led me through Chahine and on further digging I found this little modern gem. I shared it with cricket during one of the games we played, and thankfully he liked it a good bit too. He's doing a better job than I am of getting the word out on it. It's a super tense movie that takes place in the back of a police van during some major political unrest in the Middle East. The film does a great job of capturing the sweaty feeling in the fan, the discomfort on full display. It's a great no-frills film.



Great film. One of those that feel like my find, as a search for Egyptian films led me through Chahine and on further digging I found this little modern gem. I shared it with cricket during one of the games we played, and thankfully he liked it a good bit too. He's doing a better job than I am of getting the word out on it. It's a super tense movie that takes place in the back of a police van during some major political unrest in the Middle East. The film does a great job of capturing the sweaty feeling in the fan, the discomfort on full display. It's a great no-frills film.
Never heard of it before you recommended it!