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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2013 22:04:31 GMT
Today I saw one of those movies that leaves you wondering if it was good or bad or just totally different. What I do know is that I very much liked it in the end, but I was totally uncertain for at least an hour and a half (the movie lasts 1h45).
It was the Italian movie Magnifica Presenza. It's about a young introverted man called Pietro who has moved from Sicily to Rome to follow his dream of becoming an actor. He manages to find a splendid old fashioned apartment at an unbeatable rent, but it quickly becomes clear that something is wrong -- the place is haunted. This first phase of the movie seems merely silly as the spooks appear or not but are obviously upsetting. But then when their presence is clearly established, it's a lot more interesting. They are clearly trapped in some sort of period of the past. There are three women, four men and a little fat boy. Pietro just wants to get rid of them, but when it turns out that they are totally harmless, he starts talking to them.
They are part of a theatrical troupe, and he finds out on the internet that they were very popular in fascist circles until they suddenly disappeared in 1943. They start giving him tips on his career, and he appears so unusual in one audition that he almost gets the part until he goes too far over the top, since obviously the acting standards of 1943 and 2012 are not exactly the same.
Anyway, as is generally the case, nobody else can see these people, so it is decided that he is having a breakdown and he is interned temporarily. However one of the troupe had disappeared before they became trapped in the apartment, and they are very worried about her. Had Milan been bombed? Had she managed to escape to Switzerland? Pietro finds out that she is still alive so he goes to see the old lady, who is very evasive.
However, he learns how the others died. Rather than being fascists, they were actually spies and were touring the embassies of Europe to pick up all sorts of information. When they were found out, they went into hiding in the apartment that Pietro rented. It had a secret unusable room with a very low ceiling hidden behind a big piece of furniture. But the heater malfunctioned and they all died of suffocation.
Pietro doesn't tell them any of this because they don't know that they are dead -- they are just wondering how they can get out of the apartment some day...
Okay, to cut it short, it turns out that the surviving member of the troupe is the one who turned them in. Pietro finally tells the others that the current date is 2012 so they want to know everything. Is the war finished? Does Italy still exist? What do you mean that the Pope is German? America has a black president? He shows them all sorts of things on his laptop, and there is a very poignant moment when the Turkish husband of one of the women sees a photo of his 70 year old son standing in his Istanbul pharmacy with his 30 year old grandson who had taken over the business... and who has the same name as he.
At the very end, Pietro manages to take the group out to their old abandoned theatre. They all appear on stage, just as they did in 1943 as Pietro watches them. As the final credits roll, all you see is Pietro's face with a small smile on it, but as the credits continue, you see his eyes fill with tears.
It's a very minor film, but I thought it was lovely.
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Post by nycgirl on Aug 8, 2013 14:54:21 GMT
I saw Fruitvale Station, based on the real life of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old who (while facedown on the ground and unarmed) was killed by a cop at the titular train station. The movie doesn't really touch on controversial issues such as police brutality and racial profiling, but rather focuses on the last day of Oscar's life as he spends time with his family and friends and resolves to be a better man. It's a frustrating, heart-breaking film with terrific performances by Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2013 22:06:07 GMT
I saw Elysium today because I was so impressed by the director's first movie District 9. Frankly, it was well done if you can ignore the 6000 holes in the plot (which is exactly the same thing I thought about the Spanish movie Los últimos días which I saw the day before yesterday). Jodie Foster was magnificently evil although I am still wondering about the accent that she was doing.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2013 11:54:04 GMT
Today I saw the very disturbing Georgian movie " Keep Smiling." It is about a television contest in Tbilisi to find the "best mother in Georgia". The contestants are refugees from the war zones and are mostly squatters. The big prize to the "best mother" is a house worth $25,000. There is cooking, there is a talent competition, they are even forced to wear bikinis to their surpreme humiliation. "A woman who has had 7 children should not appear in a bikini," says one of the contestants. The public votes with the usual phone numbers and SMS codes while the panel asks questions like "What was it like to lose a child and to see your mother burn to death?" One thing that makes the movie so creepy is that it is so sleazy. Even in Georgia a $25,000 house is probably not all that luxurious, the show presenter was a helpless puppet and the producer was a complete scumbag. At the end of the movie, the women finally revolt and refuse to go back on stage for the announcement of the winner. And then the producer says "the first mother back on stage will be declared the winner." It is a very grim film.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2013 11:42:28 GMT
This morning I saw the quite fascinating An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, an experimental art film.
Since it only came out on one screen in Paris, it isn't exactly expected to be a blockbuster.
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Post by lola on Aug 19, 2013 13:05:01 GMT
I'll have to see that, K.
>> Fruitvale Station... a frustrating, heart-breaking film with terrific performances by Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer. <<
Fruitvale Station is the other film in town I plan to see. So, nycg, it's frustrating and heartbreaking in a good way? Daily Show last week had a good bit about Stop and Frisk, where they suggested that white males dressed in suits on Wall St would fit the criminal profile and should expect to be harrassed.
We went to Blue Jasmine the other night, with the indispensible Cate Blanchett. It's a chance for those of us who didn't get to see her as Blanche Dubois on Broadway awhile back, with interesting Mrs. Madoff overtones.
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Post by htmb on Aug 24, 2013 0:32:28 GMT
I watched the 1992 film Mistress. A down-and-out Hollywood screenwriter and director named Marvin Landisman (Robert Wuhl) is working on cheaply made instructional videos when his years-old script is read by Jack Roth (Martin Landau), a desperate has-been producer who offers to help poor Marvin find investors for his movie.
Men willing to put up the money are found, including the ruthless businessman Evan (Robert De Niro), the disturbed war veteran Carmine (Danny Aiello) and the eccentric millionaire George (Eli Wallach). But each has a mistress he insists be cast in the film. They are the demanding diva Beverly (Sheryl Lee Ralph), the alcoholic flight attendant Patricia (Jean Smart) and the perky blonde Peggy (Tuesday Knight).en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistress_(1992_film)
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 26, 2013 4:08:36 GMT
Was it good? It's an interesting premise.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2013 4:33:25 GMT
I remember a Barbet-Schroeder film with Gérard Dépardieu and Bulle Ogier called 'Mistress' but it was about a dominatrix.
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Post by htmb on Aug 26, 2013 10:12:10 GMT
It was actually okay. Certainly a talented cast. Most interesting was watching a much younger Robert De Niro.
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Post by nycgirl on Aug 26, 2013 23:17:34 GMT
So, nycg, it's frustrating and heartbreaking in a good way? Yes, in a good way. Although it ruined my day, I highly recommend it.
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Post by lola on Aug 27, 2013 20:40:55 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2013 18:46:23 GMT
I saw the Chilean movie Magic Magic this week which I though was quite excellent. Unfortunately, it has only been released in France (not even in Chile!) and went straight to DVD in the U.S. There are 3 American actors in it -- Michael Cera is in it, as well as Australian actress Emily Browning and English actress Juno Temple -- so they have assumed that there will be a market for it "no matter what."
On Rotten Tomatoes, I saw that the critics liked it as much as I did, but that "common" American viewers absolutely hate it and don't understand it.
It is about an American girl who arrives in Chile to visit her cousin who is an exchange student. It is her first trip ever out of the U.S. But her cousin immediately leaves on urgent mysterious business (okay, since you won't see the movie -- she is getting an abortion while claiming that she has to take new exams at the university). But her friends are leaving immediately to a house on an island in southern Chile and the clueless American girl has to go with them. She is extremely uncomfortable with them, and everything just gets worse and worse. Is she crazy? Are the others evil? That is the main question of the movie, which apparently has been marketed as a horror movie in the U.S. although nothing horrible ever happens -- you just worry that it will.
I thought it was really an excellent portrayal of a "bad weekend" with people that you don't know and how both you and they can misinterpret everything that happens.
Apparently, most people do not want to see this sort of thing at the cinema. Here is the American "horror movie" trailer.
The French trailer is absolutely and completely different and makes you wonder how it could possibly be the same movie.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2013 19:20:51 GMT
Ach, can't see the French trailer, it's blocked.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2013 20:10:52 GMT
It is so stupid to block a trailer unless they just want to hide the fact that it is not a horror movie.
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Post by lola on Sept 2, 2013 20:21:13 GMT
Copyright issues, maybe?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2013 20:33:57 GMT
OK, I was getting confused. I saw your post about Michael Cera in a movie about Chile, and I thought, "I've read about this, but I don't recall it being marketed as a horror movie". Turns out it was this one:
Crystal Fairy As Jamie travels in Chile, he invites an eccentric woman to join his group's quest to score a fabled hallucinogen, a move that finds him at odds with his new companion, until they drink the magic brew on a beach at the edge of the desert. [from IMDB]
I realise that that was Michael Cera's other 2013 movie about an innocent wandering about Chile. How weird is that?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2013 20:53:16 GMT
The two movies were made by the same director at the same time.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2013 20:54:35 GMT
I don't see how there could be a copyright issue if the movie is already available on DVD in the U.S.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2013 19:32:39 GMT
White House Down amused me considerably. The special effects were amazing and the holes in the plot were astounding. I have to admit that one moment I was waiting for because of the poster was for what ridiculous reason Channing Tatum would go into Bruce Willis undershirt mode for the second half of the movie.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 19:01:28 GMT
I saw the White House differently today when I finally went to see The Butler. Yes, it moved me, particularly Forest Whitaker's performance (definitely Oscar material), but I was a bit bothered by the movie's lack of focus. There were too many different stories -- the White House routines with all of the presidents, the civil rights movement with the rebellious son, and the Oprah Winfrey alcoholism redemption theme. This could have made three excellent separate movies, but rolling it all into one movie was a mistake. I don't blame the director Lee Daniels. He is not yet a sure bet in the film establishment, so I completely understand his desire to cram as much as possible all into the same move, just in case he doesn't get another chance. But it detracted a bit from the overall quality.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2013 10:43:40 GMT
I saw Parkland and was somewhat disturbed with myself to find the scene of Lee Harvey Oswald's funeral to be the most moving moment of the film.
I was reading reviews on RT and saw that the critics didn't much like the movie. They felt it was unsatisfying, but I wonder if it is humanly possible to make a "satisfying" movie about such an unsatisfying event.
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Post by spindrift on Oct 12, 2013 20:51:57 GMT
I saw BLUE JASMINE this week, directed and written by Woody Allen. It was superb. I give it 9/10 or even 10/10. Cate Blanchett shines in the role of Jasmine and her acting was so convincing that if she walked into the room (on screen) one felt her presence. Extraordinary. The supporting cast was excellent. This film has been compared to A Streetcar Named Desire but I can't comment on this as I don't know anything about it. For 90 minutes or so I was transported into the story being enacted in New York and San Francisco.
Don't miss it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 13, 2013 19:45:35 GMT
Ha, Kerouac ~~ you've been on a presidential roll! Would you recommend Parkland? Nothing I read in a negative review made me really buy into the reviewer, and certainly the subject is compelling. Thanks so much for that recommendation of Blue Jasmine, Spindrift. I've been dying to see it anyway, & your stamp of approval cinches it for me.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2013 21:02:59 GMT
For someone who does not see too many movies, I can't say that I would recommend Parkland, especially when you are of a generation that knows the whole story already. A young person might learn a lot, but nobody our age.
Today I went to see Rush, which was a total flop here. I thought the movie was excellent and was touched by it, but perhaps more by the period which covered my early years of living in Europe and the nostalgia attached to it. Daniel Brühl was absolutely amazing as Niki Lauda.
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Post by spindrift on Oct 13, 2013 21:08:12 GMT
I hope to see THE FIFTH ESTATE next week. I already know a lot about the theme (as I read the Guardian newspaper every day).
Bixa - I am sure you will enjoy BLUE JASMINE.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2013 16:57:42 GMT
Today I saw La Vie d'Adèle, chapitres 1 & 2 (faithfully translated to English as "Blue is the Warmest Color.)" It's the movie that won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, but I had to prepare myself to sit through its 3-hour length. The sex scenes are among the most graphic that one has ever seen in a mainstream movie. In any case, the actresses were absolutely sensational but frankly I was not moved by this film as much as I hoped to be. I am pretty sure that I would feel differently if I were a teenage lesbian, though.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2013 14:37:24 GMT
This morning I saw Prisoners -- quite gripping, although I would have wanted to retouch the scenario a bit to get rid of a few holes in the plot.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2013 21:28:59 GMT
I have to say that Heimat is by far the best film that I have seen this year. It is really hard to believe that it could get any better after 30 years, but I was paralyzed with fascination from start to finish.
The original Heimat films ran about 12 hours at the cinema and something like 51 hours as a television series that absolutely stunned most of the countries of Europe in the 1980's and 90's with another sequel in the last decade. It followed a German family from 1919 to the year 2000. You can imagine everything that the family went through during all those years -- or perhaps you can't. I really regret now that I only saw bits and pièces back then because I was so stunned by the new 4 hours of film that concern the period around 1843.
The new films (2 of them) take us back to the mid 19th century to the same village of Schabbach and the same Simon family. Napoleon's empire has just fallen (the signs are still in French) and the village is now part of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Anyway, it's not about the "big history" of the time, even though that of course influences events, but just the little story of the family and more particularly one of the sons Jakob Simon. His father is a blacksmith, but all he cares about is books. Obviously his father thinks this is a waste of time and tries to stop him from reading to no avail. His uncle hides his books for him and his mother gives him passive support.
Anyway, there is no point in going on about the plot, but the whole point of the movie is to show how miserable the living conditions were back then but how people still hoped to live a better life -- in this case the possibility of emigrating, preferably to Brazil. Meanwhile, they starve, babies die, the Kaiser makes unreasonable demands, fathers banish daughters because they fell in love with a Catholic, there are forced marriages, the little ice age after the comet of 1843, tuberculosis, diphtheria... and also a little joy and happiness. One of the best things about the movie is that you get to know and care about just about every single person in the village.
Jakob is obsessed with Brazil and has even learned some of the Amazonian languages from books. He falls in love but it is his brother who marries the girl of his dreams... and emigrates to Brazil. Jakob must stay behind as the good son to take care of his parents.
Anyway, it is incredible.
I was not able to find trailers with English subtitles, but here are the trailers for parts 1 and 2 with French subtitles. I just hope that there will be new episodes in the future (but the director is more than 80 years old now) because I need to know what happens next.
Jan Dieter Schneider who plays Jakob is absolutely remarkable, even though it is the only role he has ever had in a movie.
Oh, it's all in magnificent black and white with just a tiny touch of colour from time to time.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2013 18:36:54 GMT
Today I saw a film even more whimsical than Amélie. It is "Attila Marcel" made by the director of "Les Triplettes de Belleville." I loved it, even though it isn't as good as Heimat -- and it is sadder than Amélie.
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