The 13TH Hall of Fame

It's been a very long time since I watched City of Angels, but I do remember it some. It has a very similar premise to Wings of Desire, but is definitely not a true remake. I wouldn't call it a Rom Com though. It's more of a tragic romance.

Anyway, I plan to watch The Broken Circle Breakdown today. It doesn't look like anybody else has watched and written it up yet and I have no idea what it's about. Should be interesting.

__________________

I'm going to rewatch Maria Braun today. Look forward to it.

that IS a MUCH better description

__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

__________________
You can call it the art of fighting without fighting.

I'm gonna skip my nom for time being and watch The Marriage of Maria Braun next

The Marriage of Maria Braun



I found the movie to be pretty decent the first time I watched it, and I think my opinion basically stays the same while watching it again for this HOF.

I think the film centers around a great performance by Hanna Shygulla as Maria Braun. It's one of those performances where you see her character grow as a person as the film moves along. It feels as if her emotion gets stronger as the film moves along. I don't think I necessarily appreciated her performance as much the first go around, but I can certainly see how strong it is now. Her character makes you feel sympathetic to her at times, while at times also feeling a bit uneasy.

The story is well done too. It's simple enough yet throws enough at you to get you thinking about how you feel towards the main character. Fassbinder certainly has a talent and he is someone who I will have to see more from.

The film has a strong beginning and a strong ending. That's something that is rare in more classic style films and it's something I appreciated.

Overall, I'm glad to see others have gotten a lot out of this. It isn't necessarily a deep film but it is still a solid albeit not great film.

-

__________________
"I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me" (Frank Costello)

Intriguing review @Nestorio_Milklos, going with a scientific analysis of the film regarding Inculturation. Rather liked that.
You mentioned that: "secondly I didn't like Dunbar's total lost of identity assuming completely Sioux culture and believes and not preserving anything from his."
I actually find it quite easy. When I was a child we'd visit family in Canada for a month during the summer. When I'd get back, I'd have a french canadian accent. And I've seen it done with people in different areas of the U.S with the changing of accents. While I do know, including my mother who has been a U.S. citizen since around 1958 still has her french canadian accent.

On this much smaller scale, we can consider Personal Choice, in regards to abandoning one life and immersing one's self in another since this is the situation at hand.

Dunbar easily fits that. It is expressed when he is asked why, and he responds "I want to see the frontier. Before it's gone."
We're given examples of the kinds of people he wishes to leave behind and in the Sioux he sees the frontier and discards his former life for this new one. Which the film shows us.

Retaining their previous life, for me, was the character of Stands With Fist. She was raised by them, but is NOT one of them. There was all kinds of inner conflicts and I found McDowell doing a splendid job of trying to conceal them, while letting us in on what was beneath the surface.

Glad to see you really liked Dances With Wolves overall, Nestorio.

I can understand your issues with Dunbar abandoning the white culture entirely, but at the same time I find it very believable given the circumstances. Except for Stands With A Fist (who I like and thought the actress did a good job with), he was totally isolated from his own people. Plus having seen the kind of thoughtless destruction the white people had shown (like the scene with all the dead buffalo and what happened to the wolf), he was pretty disgusted by them.

There's a chance I get to Forbidden Games tonight, if not tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to that.

Am currently watching 'Broken circle breakdown'

Well there's why I've not joined a Hall of Fame before and and why I'm not sure I ever could. A week ago I started watching The Hunt, getting about 30 minutes into it before I had to stop. My plan was then to finish it off later on that evening. However in the intervening hours I found my mood had completely crashed. Crashed to the point where I didn't really feel like watching anything at all, and certainly not something as serious and grim as The Hunt. It's a week later and I've still not finished it, or felt like watching anything else from the list really.

Also there's another problem that would be a real issue with these Hall of Fames - I can't do old films!!! Ok so that's a little bit of an exaggeration. There are some old films I like. However in the very, very large majority of occasions I just really struggle to watch old films, even if I'm not exactly sure why. The night before starting The Hunt I tried to watch Nightmare Alley but had to give up after about 25 minutes. I just couldn't get into it in any way whatsoever and found trying to watch it to be a real chore. And that's how I often feel with old black & white films. Why that's the case I don't know. Maybe it's because I wasn't raised on old films whatsoever. Aside from Ed Wood and Young Frankenstein I don't think I even saw a black & white film until I was well into my twenties. Or maybe it's just some kind of subconscious mental block I have; my mind has convinced me I won't/can't like it. It's not like I'm saying they're necessarily bad films. It's just that no matter what I do I can't engage with them.

So yeah I don't know it's for me. However I may still try and take part in this Hall of Fame to some extent depending on how my mood goes

__________________

I can't understand why people can't get into old films. I used to completely avoid them, but that's because I was blind to them.

It's equally odd (and as someone who loves my generation, frustrating) how there are actually people who think art has somehow gotten worse over time. Which makes no sense to me. There are always going to be great artists around, it's ignorant to suggest otherwise.

Yeh nothing wrong with JayDee not being able to get into old films IMO.

I often struggle to get into older films too, but not because they're black and white, but rather because often the acting style is quite different than what I'm used to and prefer. I feel like the acting in modern films is much more natural and believable, while often the performances in older films feel very artificial, at least to me.

It's not artificial, it's based on theater, it's more theatrical. But I see your point.

Forbidden Games



Starts off with a real emotional scene that was real well done. I really felt for the young girl and kept thinking back to this scene throughout the film. I thought she was great in the role she had, as well as Michel.

I wish the film would have stayed as strong as it was as the beginning. It started to fall off a bit and get a bit tedious. I think the story could have been stronger, especially given how much of an emotional impact it had on its audience. Even the death of the dog could have been even more emotional as well.

Overall, it was a pretty decent film but it certainly had a chance to be great, as I thought it would be after the first twenty minutes. I probably still prefer it over Plein Soleil though.

+

I know it's based on theater, but that is exactly the issue - theatrical performances don't feel natural and therefore feel artificial to me. Those kind of performances really take me out of a movie. Which is not to say that I don't like any older movies, but I do think the acting style is a big reason why I have liked so few of the older movies I've watched and why most of those I have liked I haven't loved.

But Phoenix's character in U-Turn is meant to be comic relief. Comedic performances usually involve exaggerated mannerisms and behaviors. It's a role that demands a different kind of acting - and a role where I expect a different kind of acting - so I really don't see the comparison there.

When I refer to artificial performances, I'm talking about characters in serious dramatic roles where I would expect to have some kind of emotional investment in them. If characters in serious roles don't behave like real people, I find it very difficult to care what happens to them and if I don't care then I don't enjoy the film.