Overwhelming cinematic experiences.

[wasp_f15ting]

With so many forms of entertainment vying for our attention it is really hard now just to sit down and listen to music exclusively, watch a TV show exclusively or be absorbed into a film exclusively. When I watch a slow film now, I have a nasty habit of checking my emails or reading related Wikipedia articles about the film I am watching to add to the trivia.

Now the reason I write this; is because for the first time in a very long time. I have been fully thwarted from my twitchy hyper active behaviour and been forced into a trance for 3hrs. This full 3hrs I felt like the celluloid of the film melt around me, immersing me fully into the world of Terrence Malick and the Thin Red Line / (Criterion re-mastered). For a bit of background; I have seen this film 3 times prior to this. First on VHS back in the day and then on DVD again on its release and some time ago when a HD TV rip appeared from a cable capture. All of these times, I never fully paid attention to the film. I never fully immersed myself into it. 



The experience I've had today is a very overwhelming one. From the Avro Part opening score to the Melanesian singers chanting away at the end. I felt that the amalgamation of photography and music in this film to be the most unique in any film I have ever seen. The score almost is a voice narrating the intense cinematic flourishes peppered across the quiet maelstrom of destruction being slowly unravelled. The re-mastered sound track brings a lot of ambience and detail, which I have never heard before. The metronomic thudding of the drums ever so present in this version of the film adds a sense of time and dread.

The soft wisps of wind which caress the lush green grass now whistle past. The thrashing ballistics also adds a new dynamic presence to the sound track. I have never picked up so much from this film, and watching the documentary sections reveal I have still not fully picked up all of the parts which were meant to be of relevance.

The visuals are so full of depth; I am ashamed I never saw this film in it is intended place. I am not sure how much they did to re master this, but comparing it to my DVD it is a different film. The colours and scenery are so beguiling it's a hard task to find visual equivalents. I think the reason why this film never stood out to me as a cinematic masterpiece was the fact that the audio and visuals which were presented to me were not that of the directors intention. Maybe I was also younger and had less patience.

I only wish I had a full blown sound system to squeeze out all of the details on the amazing sound track.
This is what I would consider my first overwhelming cinematic experience in adulthood. The first was probably seeing Disney's Jungle Book on a rainy day in the mid-80s. I feel obsessed with what I have seen. I feel that I need to re-watch the film again and again to see if there are stronger ties with the visuals and music than I have experienced. Though I have been strong advocate of HD stuff in the past this is a disc where I feel like I have obvious evidence to clearly show someone what the format can do.

So, what was your first and most significant overwhelming cinematic experience?

[Santa's Boyfriend]

Probably Saving Private  Ryan actually, which came out around the same time.  It triggered a very strong interest in world war 2, because at the beginning when the ramp goes down and everyone in the craft is instantly killed, I remember being really shocked - that hasn't been seen on screen before, the reality of how easily people were going to be killed hit home.  The fact that they hadn't established characters yet meant anyone might die.  For the first time in cinema you heard bullets whizzing around and knew exactly what it meant.  Then at one point in the storming of Omaha, on the soundtrack you hear a bullet whizz past your head, and I seem to remember actually ducking in the cinema.  I think it's the first time I've ever sat and watched a film and felt so involved that I actually felt like I was in physical danger.

It's a shame that the film has aged somewhat.  It's cinematic techniques, so revolutionary and fresh at the time, have been overused to the point that Private Ryan doesn't really have the power to shock anymore.  Band of Brothers is actually better because it has stronger characters and a more plausible storyline, but I'll not forget how powerfully Private Ryan brought home to me that war was a fucking terrifying thing to be in the middle of.

[Johnny Townmouse]

Great post Wasp.

I would say that my most intense cinematic experiences were my almost religious conversion to Tarkovsky in 2003 when all of his films were screened in Leeds. I had seen Nostalghia and parts of Mirror and had written him off as a pretentious, pseudo-spiritual director for people who want to look like they appreciate the poetry of cinema. I could not have been more wrong.

For eight weeks I went to the almost completely empty cinema with a huge screen, and had my head blown each time. Andrei Rublev was jaw-dropping in its beauty, with a finale that I don't think will ever be beaten by any film. Not a climax in a narrative sense, but in context it is just a stroke of actual genius. Solaris is flawed in some ways, but the opening scenes, the use of Brueghel and the whoozy, disorientating anti-grav scene, plus the final sad moments, make this the best flawed film ever made. I don't have time to go into Mirror and Nostalghia (although the former has one of the most wonderfully crafted shots in cinema history), or the almost surreal melancholy of Sacrifice, Tarkovsky's final film, but I wish I did.

However, it was Stalker that had the most profound impact on me. I was rooted to my chair for the whole film, completely blown away by the cinematography, the sound and the detached performances. I don't know if I will ever have an experience like that again, but I hope I do.

[mrfridge]

Children of Men. There's a couple of battle scenes (similar to Saving Private Ryan) that immerse the viewer so fully in the action I was literally shaking whilst watching them. They're each done in a single shot (or at least edited sneakily to look like they are) and are truly breathtaking. I'm not going to spoil it for those that haven't seen it but the final 15-20 minutes are the most intense I've ever spent in a cinema... other than that time I watched Bring It On, the cheerleading classic, alone in a multiplex in Preston obviously.