6th HOF-Woman In The Dunes

Nominated By: Swan

Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964)

__________________
Letterboxd

#JusticeForHamilton

This is one of the ones I watched this week. I have already talked to Swan about it just a bit. I really think people are going to love this. It is quite beautiful to look at. The theme is fairly simple, and maybe even a little too on the nose, however the way you unpack this theme has infinite possibilities. It seems obvious to me that there is probably a lot of allegory about the government going on here, someone can tell me if I am wrong. I will wait till some other people start talking about the themes and jump in but you could talk about government, gender politics, class systems, or sand castle building. There is just a lot to unpack here.

All that being said, I did not completely fall for this film. It is definitely cold, and that sometimes is a tough sell for me. Really glad I saw this though. Good nomination Swan.

Shouldn't this have been posted in the Hall of Fame thread?

I'm going to watch this for the 60s countdown, so I'll join in the discussion with you guys soon.

__________________

Each nominated film is getting its own thread in order to keep the discussion more organized.

__________________

Woman in the Dunes is an excellent film. I watched it along with The Face of Another and Pitfall about a year ago. Pitfall didn't really grab me but with the other two Teshigahara really got under my skin. Hard to say why exactly because I found them both hard to get into but by the time they had ended I felt like I had watched something special.

It's a great nomination and it will be interesting to see how much other people like it.

The only reason I wasn't psyched to see this nominated is because I just watched it in December. Because of that, it will be one of the last movies I watch for this Hall of Fame. Besides all that, because of the film's quality and the upcoming 60's list, I think it's a fantastic nomination.

I watched this last December too, so it'll be the last one I watch for the 6th HoF! I felt that there was something really special about it but I didn't exactly know what, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I think I can with one more watch! It's a very cold movie with a very profound message that's not easy to grasp... Great nomination!

Seen this but def worth a rewatch. Excellent film

This is what I posted about Woman in the Dunes in my logbook thread. (I removed the SPOILER tags for this thread.)

http://www.movieforums.com/community...31#post1255331

I had never heard of it before watching it, but after reading the synopsis on IMDB, I was pretty sure that it wasn't my type of movie, and unfortunately, I was right.

Overall, I found this movie to be kind of boring. The characters weren't likable at all, so I had no reason to care if he was able to get away or not. Most of the movie was so dark that it was hard to see what was actually happening. The scene when he escaped and fell in quicksand was so dark that they may as well have turned off the camera.

And I hated the ending because it made no sense. I get the irony that he stayed, after being held captive for 7 years, and finally having a chance to escape. If he had stayed because he fell in love with girl, maybe it would make sense, but he stayed for the stupid water invention? That made no sense to me.

After watching the movie, I read a little bit about it on IMDB to see if maybe I missed to point of the movie, and maybe something might change my opinion of this movie, but it didn't help. I just don't get what most people see in this movie.

Goodies I think you are taking the plot too literal. It is all about oppression and what that does to the psyche. Its not that he wanted to stay because of the invention, its that he has become a product of the opression he is under. To the point that he relies on it or even needs it. Its an allegory that could have hundreds of interpretations but if I had to guess, I would say it is probably a heavy refelection of the government at that time.

Regardless of why he stayed, it doesn't make sense that he stayed at all. The whole movie shows him trying to escape, and then he finally has the chance to get away, and he stays anyway. If he was going to stay after all that time, at least it should have been for the girl. If he had fallen in love with her and that was why he didn't want to leave, it would have been a better reason to stay. I still wouldn't have liked the movie, but at least that ending would have made sense.

Some people on the IMDB board compared it to a Twilight Zone ending, but if that's the case, then it just felt like the worst Twilight Zone ending ever.

Like Sean said you maybe need to try to avoid taking movies so literally - rather than just looking at what "happens" you need to interpret what they are really "about". In your own thread you've not liked three of the greatest movies ever made and it seems to be for the same reason - to get the most out of less "mainstream" movies stop focussing on the plot and think about what it means and how the themes may apply to you or things around you or the world.

Some simple quotes from Wikipedia - "Woman in the Dunes is a modern version of the myth of Sisyphus, the man condemned by the gods to spend eternity rolling a boulder to the top of a hill, only to see it roll back down", "a spare and haunting allegory for human existence", "to Max Tessier, the main theme of the film is the desire to escape from society".

In a movie like this specific elements of the story are less or even completely un-important.

That's just not how my mind works. I'm not a movie expert, or someone who's in the movie industry. I just watch movies to relax and be entertained. I don't mind if a movie makes you think. I like movies that I think about long after the movie is over. But I don't watch movies to study them and try to figure out what the movie is supposed to "really" be about. That was great when I was in school and we would watch a movie specifically to find out what was underneath the surface, but as I've gotten older, I prefer more straight-forward movies so I can just sit back and enjoy them.

I know that's not the norm here, and most people like those types of movies. I have a lot of respect for people who like those types of movies, but they're just not for me. I'm more of a mainstream movie type of person. That's why there are so many different kinds of movies.

But that's one of the reasons that I like to join these movie tournaments like the HoFs. I know that there will be some movies nominated that aren't my type of movies, but I like to give them a chance, even if they're not in my comfort zone. I knew that there would be several foreign films nominated for the HoF, and I could have easily watched the movies without actually joining the tournament, but then it would be too easy for me to just ignore those movies, and only watch the ones that sound like I'd like them. By joining the HoF, I get to watch a lot of movies that I normally would never choose to watch on my own, and sometimes I find some movies that I like. Surprisingly, there have even been a few foreign films in previous movie tournaments that I liked, so there's hope for the ones that were nominated in this tournament too.

That's fair enough - there's no requirement for anyone to like any type of movie. People are just explaining how to get the most out of these types of movies and with a few exceptions if you focus on the plot you will always be disappointed.

I think you'll like Late Spring much better though - get on to watching that one

It's on my watchlist.

The film is allegorical and multiple interpretations are possible. The sand has taken everything from that woman, still she never thinks of going away from there...The man does, because he is not accustomed to living in such conditions...but after spending several years, he is also not willing to escape from there anymore...he chooses to stay there out of his free will...may be, we all do...

__________________
To Suggest Is To Create, To Name Is To Destroy

Question. Has anyone read any Kobo Abe books? He seems like my kind of author. Just bought The Box Man.

Just finished this.

I'm not sure I understood what exactly the director was going for - though I definitely see the Sisyphus comparison. That said, even on a superficial level I found this movie really fascinating. I really felt for the man as he struggled against his captivity and struggled to find a way to cope with what the woman and the villagers had done to him.

I also really liked the ending. I didn't see it as him staying for "that stupid water thing" at all, but rather a case of him finding a sense of purpose in his life. Sure he was educated and had a career as a teacher, but it seemed apparent to me that he still felt unfulfilled in his city life. He said himself that he wanted something tangible that he could count as his accomplishment and surely creating a pump that supplies potable water in such a harsh climate fulfilled this desire far more effectively than just having his name in a field guide would have.

Nice choice, Swan. Pretty much a sure thing for my 60s ballot.

+

AAAAAAAAAAH!

Vicky, I am so glad you liked it.