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What Non-New Films Have You Seen? (2018 Edition)

Started by zomgmouse, January 07, 2018, 12:20:15 PM

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Sin Agog

Quote from: Large Noise on August 01, 2018, 09:50:19 AM
Dr Strangelove- I know everyone has long since decided that this is officially a good film. But even then I was surprised by how entertaining it is, and how relevant it remains. I especially liked the way the characters involved in the eschatological predicament seemed able to switch their attention to trivialities, as if the end of the world was just inconvenient. 3-4 years ago I was struck by how some of the hawkish US military types on twitter (John Schindler for example) could tweet "I reckon this situation is Ukraine is going to get nuclear any day now" one minute then "How about them Red Sox" or whatever shortly afterwards.

Got a children's story of mine published recently. I originally named it, 'The Life of Michael Bubble (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Pop).' Only thing is, the person who edited it clearly had never heard of Dr Strangelove, so bowlderised the title by taking away the brackets and changing it to: '...and how in the end I really enjoyed popping after all.' Fucking cultureless divs rule us all.

Blumf

Is the next one going to be called "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Michael Bubble* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)"

Sin Agog

Great idea- might nick it for a later sequel! Got the next book lined-up already, though.  It's about his sister and will be called: 'Michelle Bubble, She Wolf of the SS.'

Sin Agog

Watched Valerie & Her Week of Wonders again last night.  It's been one of my favourite scores ever since Broadcast riffed off so much of it on Ha Ha Sound and I sought out the source on Finders Keepers, but last time I watched the movie I think I found the editing a bit frenetic (I don't think there's a single shot that lasts longer than seven seconds), which jarred with the movie I'd concocted in my head from so many replays of that score.  Last night I totally got it, I think.  All the symbolism just clicked.  S'posedly the Catholic church, when it was doing the rounds of Europe a thousand plus years ago, found Eastern-Europe particularly troublesome when it came to quashing their wide open pagan sexuality, and you can really see that in this movie. But instead of being weird and prurient, like it probably would if we'd made it, it all feels so sweet-natured and vital (despite still ostensibly being a horror).  The long, wordless bacchanale which closes the film is one of the greats.  I fucking hate it when I fall in love with a film that's a total one-off.  When it ends you just want to fall down a rabbit hole of similar stuff, but there isn't really any in this instance.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Large Noise on August 01, 2018, 09:50:19 AM
Barry Lyndon- I've not really read anything about this but I was struck by the incestuousness at work in many of the characters' relationships. Also not sure how you're meant to feel about Baz himself. On the one hand, he's a lying cheating conniving shit. On the other, the world he lives in is so dismal you could never really blame him.

Dr Strangelove- I know everyone has long since decided that this is officially a good film. But even then I was surprised by how entertaining it is, and how relevant it remains. I especially liked the way the characters involved in the eschatological predicament seemed able to switch their attention to trivialities, as if the end of the world was just inconvenient. 3-4 years ago I was struck by how some of the hawkish US military types on twitter (John Schindler for example) could tweet "I reckon this situation is Ukraine is going to get nuclear any day now" one minute then "How about them Red Sox" or whatever shortly afterwards.

I LOVE Barry Lyndon.  It's one of my favourite Kubrick films.  I recently got the Criterion blu ray.  Fuck me, it looks (and sounds) amazing.  But your point about how the audience is supposed to feel about the character - one of the reasons Kubrick cast O'Neal was because he wanted the audience to be drawn to the character with some sympathy and, up to that point, O'Neal had only really played "good guys" so he was perfect for giving the audience some sort of built-in liking for a man who steals, cheats, is cowardly and beats his step-son.  Stunt casting in a way.

Also Strangelove is a classic, goes without saying.  Sellers gets all of the usual plaudits (and excellent he is), but ever since my dad first showed it to me when I was a wee lad of 8 or 9 I was always more drawn to George C. Scott and his character.  I still am to this day. 

At this point I can also heartily recommend, if you haven't seen it, Sidney Lumet's Fail Safe - Strangelove played absolutely bloody deadly seriously.  Stephen Frears' live TV adaptation was pretty good as well, although Sam Elliot fluffed a couple of lines if memory serves.


Quote from: greenman on August 01, 2018, 11:32:23 AM
Got the Arrow release of Kieslowski's Dekalog(very reasonable at £25 for 5 BRs and 5 DVDs plus a decent sized book) and watched the first couple of episodes last night...

One - Certainly combated any fears I might have that the series would be below his latter work in terms of craft, indeed I think it might be the best looking Kieslowski I'v seen next to Veronique. In terms of the story I would confess I'm a little torn, I mean its certainly very effecting and I spose you could argue it exists purely as a tragedy but I can't totally get past the idea of it as some kind of judgement of the lead character which doesn't really seem justified on the evidence presented or really inline with Kieslowski's other work.

Two - Surprisingly different in look and I see looking at the book with it each episode switches cinematographers which I spose makes sense given the overlap in location, much more down to each here although a few shots do have me thinking Gondry was watching it before making that video for Protection. Dramatically as well more what I would typically expect offering a nice middle ground in terms of religion.

I suggested to someone that Dekalog was, in my opinion, probably the best thing Kieslowski had ever done.  Was it you?  I remember the Arnolfini in Bristol showed all ten episodes back-to-back once.  Christ, what an event.

SMBH - please do give them another shot.  Like the full length feature films that a couple of them spawned, they're not all doom and gloom.



Leap of Faith - not seen it since it first came out.  I remembered enjoying it at the time, but not much more than that.  Still a pretty good little film.  Steve Martin really is great in it.  Also clocked for the first time that Ricky Jay was the consultant for the preacher show shenanigans.  Debra Winger great as well, as per usual. 

Faults - micro budget indie with Leland "oh, it's that guy" Orser and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  Interesting twist at the end, although it comes from no real background and feels a bit twist-for-twist's sake.  The rest of it fine, particularly Orser.

Half Baked - I know most people LOVE Dave Chapelle, but I've never really got him or found him or his show very funny.  Had some moments, but permanently stoned guy very quickly got on my tits and the prison "jokes" were already 20 years old (and the rest) then.  Steven Right as "guy on couch" was the best thing in it.

Beginning of the Great Revival - pretty gash.  It doesn't help that my knowledge of that period of China's history is lacking (to say the least), but the mix of propaganda, a VERY ropey turn from Chow Yun Fat and it mainly being comprised of meetings and speeches make the whole thing incredibly hard going.  You know you're in trouble when Andy Lau gets about 7 minutes of screen time and Simon Yam has one single line of dialogue.  I can't bring myself to watch its companion piece The Founding of a Republic.

My Own Swordsman - TOTAL gash.  Admittedly I'm not fond of Chinese comedy, but this had all the very worst elements of that genre, as well as the worst elements of tail-end classic era martial arts films - too much wirework and anti-gravity, shitty self parody and so much on the nose content you need a box of fucking kleenex.

Convenience - typical low budget Brit "comedy" that spends far too much time being deadly serious and dramatic.  Why can't us Brits make a decent out-and-out comedy any more?  (Did we ever?, I hear some of you ask)

Miles Ahead - difficult one this.  I KNOW it's not terrible, but as a huge Miles fan, particularly of the period most of the film covers, it just watches like a silly cartoon in the same way Straight Outta Compton did.  Cheadle does his best, but just whispering doesn't really capture it.  Still, nice to see Herbie Hancock get some air time, even if his keyboard sound sucked enormous balls.

What Dreams May Come - another one I haven't seen since it first came out.  So I saw it at the cinema when most critics savaged it for all bar its visual effects, and most average Joe Public peeps who saw it said it was too schmaltzy, Robin Williams wasn't really right for the character, and there were far too many changes from the book.  There's been a LOT of re-appraisal in the intervening years, and it's seen as something of a noble and admirable mini-failure if not an outright masterwork.  Of course, being a Vincent Ward film, the visuals ARE brilliant, but there's a lot of sick-making bleeding heart stuff.  It's also incredibly depressing, despite a happy ending (of sorts).  It hasn't made me want to rush out and read the book.

Misery Loves Comedy - Kevin Pollak's documentary (expanded from a question he sometimes asked on his web show) about whether the best comedy is born out of depression, including interviews with some of the best known depression suffering comedians (Marc Maron, Maria Bamford, Jim Jefferies, Lewis Black, Richard Lewis, et al).  Meh.  Lots of tantalising little apples dangling, but it amounts to little more than a load of celebs telling capsule stories.  No real meat to it.


I'm also re-watching the Star Wars prequel trilogy for the first time since I saw them at the cinema, as ITV2 are showing them on successive Sundays, but I'll wait until I've seen the third one before I comment.

Z

Quote from: greenman on August 01, 2018, 11:32:23 AM
Got the Arrow release of Kieslowski's Dekalog(very reasonable at £25 for 5 BRs and 5 DVDs plus a decent sized book) and watched the first couple of episodes last night...

One - Certainly combated any fears I might have that the series would be below his latter work in terms of craft, indeed I think it might be the best looking Kieslowski I'v seen next to Veronique. In terms of the story I would confess I'm a little torn, I mean its certainly very effecting and I spose you could argue it exists purely as a tragedy but I can't totally get past the idea of it as some kind of judgement of the lead character which doesn't really seem justified on the evidence presented or really inline with Kieslowski's other work.

Two - Surprisingly different in look and I see looking at the book with it each episode switches cinematographers which I spose makes sense given the overlap in location, much more down to each here although a few shots do have me thinking Gondry was watching it before making that video for Protection. Dramatically as well more what I would typically expect offering a nice middle ground in terms of religion.

Its been a while since I saw Dekalog but on my last viewing of Three Colours last year I couldn't help but feel like Dekalog would hold up far far better on rewatch than they did.

Also, I bought Dekalog 1-5 for £45 12 years ago at a HMV in (iirc) Poole. Is it any surprise I shifted to pirating almost everything and never looked back after enduring shit like that.

Large Noise

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on August 01, 2018, 08:19:31 PM
Also Strangelove is a classic, goes without saying.  Sellers gets all of the usual plaudits (and excellent he is), but ever since my dad first showed it to me when I was a wee lad of 8 or 9 I was always more drawn to George C. Scott and his character.  I still am to this day. 
Some good stuff on the film's wiki page about Scott's experience of playing that role:
Quote
Kubrick tricked Scott into playing the role of Gen. Turgidson far more ridiculously than Scott was comfortable doing. Kubrick talked Scott into doing over the top "practice" takes, which Kubrick told Scott would never be used, as a way to warm up for the "real" takes. Kubrick used these takes in the final film, causing Scott to swear never to work with Kubrick again.

During the filming, Kubrick and Scott had different opinions regarding certain scenes, but Kubrick got Scott to conform largely by repeatedly beating him at chess, which they played frequently on the set. Scott, a skilled player himself, later said that while he and Kubrick may not have always seen eye to eye, he respected Kubrick immensely for his skill at chess.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Large Noise on August 01, 2018, 10:23:16 PM
Some good stuff on the film's wiki page about Scott's experience of playing that role:

Indeed so - Scott's tumble was real, but he kept on going because he thought it was just one of those rehearsal takes.

"He'll see the big board!"  Kills me every time.

greenman

#1118
Quote from: Shit Good Nose on August 01, 2018, 08:19:31 PMI suggested to someone that Dekalog was, in my opinion, probably the best thing Kieslowski had ever done.  Was it you?  I remember the Arnolfini in Bristol showed all ten episodes back-to-back once.  Christ, what an event.

I'd only seen his well known 90's stuff previously(and only Blue and Red before last year) but three episodes in I would say its at least as good as that plus as mentioned arguely less dated in style. I mean location wise its more dated I spose but I can imagine convincing someone it was some modern recreation of late 80's Poland were as the latter work does definitely tell you the era it was made even if you didn't know Binoche, etc, the combination of pretty lead actresses, references to high culture/fashion, etc, not that I ever had much problem with that. You could argue I spose perhaps a bit purer/more individual? sticking to sub hour long episodes with a small budget seems to mean less overt plotting and more focus on slow atmospheric reveals of character.

The Arrow version does actually include quote a lot of other stuff on it as well, 5 TV movies from the 70's to the early 80's and 4 quite long documentary's, not gotten into any of those iyet though.

Generally I'v actually found myself buying more DVD/BR's over the last couple of years than at any time previously, I spose because prices have finally come down to a level were its easier to take a few more risks on pretty much everything. Most trouble I'v had was actually finding a separate Barry Lydon bluray recently, only way to get it was part of a Kubrick boxset that I already had pretty much everything else of.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: greenman on August 01, 2018, 11:50:58 PM
Most trouble I'v had was actually finding a separate Barry Lydon bluray recently, only way to get it was part of a Kubrick boxset that I already had pretty much everything else of.

The only one worth getting (at the moment, at least) is the recent Criterion release - it's the only one with the correct aspect ratio.  Problem is it's locked to region A, so you'll need a chipped player or drive.

greenman

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on August 02, 2018, 12:19:41 AM
The only one worth getting (at the moment, at least) is the recent Criterion release - it's the only one with the correct aspect ratio.  Problem is it's locked to region A, so you'll need a chipped player or drive.

I actually ended up picking up what looks like an Italian one spilt out of the box for £5 off amazon, started off watching it for the first time in 20+ years last night and it looked decent. First thing that stood out is the Blackadder Goes Forth opening is nicked from it isn't it?

Talking about quality of releases does anyone know what the best version of Stalker is? got it fairly cheaply on DVD from Artfical Eye but its really not that great compared to Solaris and Mirror, is the Criterion BR from a better source? if so that's something I might push the boat out for paying full whack for once.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: greenman on August 02, 2018, 06:24:39 PM
I actually ended up picking up what looks like an Italian one spilt out of the box for £5 off amazon, started off watching it for the first time in 20+ years last night and it looked decent. First thing that stood out is the Blackadder Goes Forth opening is nicked from it isn't it?

Talking about quality of releases does anyone know what the best version of Stalker is? got it fairly cheaply on DVD from Artfical Eye but its really not that great compared to Solaris and Mirror, is the Criterion BR from a better source? if so that's something I might push the boat out for paying full whack for once.

The Italian Barry is still 1.78 though.  It should be 1.66 (trust me - the difference is enormous as the cropped 1.78 one loses a lot of the image from the top and bottom, which is painfully evident in the later domestic scenes when we should be taking in the splendour of the interiors).

As for Stalker, definitely the Criterion - 2K scan and I think it's the only one with the proper original mono soundtrack.

Large Noise

River's Edge- Liked this a lot. There's the social commentary about the hippy generation giving way to nihilistic gen x ers who have all the libertineism and freedom but seemingly believe in absolutely nothing. It's all very death of god. The three most heartfelt relationships in the film are between people and inanimate objects; Feck and his blow up doll, the wee sister and her doll, and John who doesn't seem to have much of a relationship with Jamie while she's alive, but talks about how "it all felt so real... I felt so fucking alive" once he'd strangled her.

greenman

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on August 02, 2018, 07:08:27 PM
The Italian Barry is still 1.78 though.  It should be 1.66 (trust me - the difference is enormous as the cropped 1.78 one loses a lot of the image from the top and bottom, which is painfully evident in the later domestic scenes when we should be taking in the splendour of the interiors).

As for Stalker, definitely the Criterion - 2K scan and I think it's the only one with the proper original mono soundtrack.

Honestly though watching it all the way though I didn't find it nearly as distracting as I often do|(has Scott's Black Rain ever come out on a watchable version?), perhaps because Kubrick naturally tends to go for very spacious composition with a lot of room around characters, maybe not idea but only the odd shot really looked off.

As is common with a lot of these I definitely enjoyed it a good deal more than I remember, I remember loving the first half due to both the greater action and more typical Kubrick black comedy to it and enjoying the second much less. Perhaps not entirely changed my view as the second half does take its time to get going but does have an effective doomed drama to it. In that respect I don't have a problem with Ryan O'Neal's performance, as you say the point is you never really get to know him as a hero and he never really learns his lesson so much as gets chewed up by fate and high society that never accepts him.

Actually watched Scott's The Duelists again directly afterwards to compare and I spose you could argue whilst similar in some respects its the opposite with the protagonist not being doomed and the antagonist arguably driving the drama. I do think it has the edge in Keitel giving an excellent performance although really I spose Kubrick is never aiming for that. Visually Scott's film doesn't have quite the same oddball minimalism to it or anything quite as eyecatching as the Zeiss 50mm F/0.7 candle scenes but I do find his compositions more interesting, well the first hour or so and the final duel anyway before the budget starts to show rather more. His duels really do hold up very well indeed as well, the sabre one was rather ripped off for Rob Roy.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: greenman on August 05, 2018, 12:51:51 AM
has Scott's Black Rain ever come out on a watchable version?

The American blu ray (which is region free) is correct.

Sebastian Cobb

I've seen the first couple and three colours which are like extended versions. Love them, but find them bleak.

Blind Chance is excellent as well.

This week I was fortunate enough to catch Jaques Tati's playtime in the cinema. What wonderful set dressing and sight gags!

I also watched the excellent Dead Presidents.

The GFT has a Berlin film festival on at the minute, off to see The Lives of Others later, they've got Wings of Desire on tomorrow, which I have on bluray but shamefully haven't watched, I think wenders is deserving of the big screen though.

Z


Blumf

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on August 05, 2018, 03:09:57 PM
This week I was fortunate enough to catch Jaques Tati's playtime in the cinema. What wonderful set dressing and sight gags!

I always have the feeling that Jacques Tati gets overlooked these days. He never seems to be mentioned much despite being so influential. When was the last time Film4 or something had a season of his films?



Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Blumf on August 05, 2018, 06:53:26 PM
I always have the feeling that Jacques Tati gets overlooked these days. He never seems to be mentioned much despite being so influential. When was the last time Film4 or something had a season of his films?




I'd not seen it before but Hulot seemed like a prototype Closeau and elements of it made me think of things like Brazil.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Z on August 05, 2018, 06:04:21 PM
Prevenge
I dunno, not very good, I guess.

I had some minor issues with it but really enjoyed it as a whole - more thoughts on it can be found here: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,57351.0.html

Sebastian Cobb

Went to see The Lives of Others as mentioned up thread. They had to restart it as they fucked up the alignment of the subtitles in the first scene meaning the bottom row (and thus 90% of the dialogue was chopped off).

Forgot how good it looks. Really well lit.

greenman

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on August 05, 2018, 03:09:57 PM
I've seen the first couple and three colours which are like extended versions. Love them, but find them bleak.

I would say that's countered though by him being fundamentally a "nice" director/writer, depressing things happen but not in a nasty way.

St_Eddie

Florence Foster Jenkins - A film about one of the worst singers of all time (factual but embellished).  Absolutely incredible.  The cinematorphy is striking and period apropriate (if Speilberg has an once of wit, then he'll hire Danny Cohen instead his usual modern day go-to, Janusz Kamiński as Indiana Jones V's cinematographer because Cohen's cinematography is much closer to Douglas Slocombe's original work on the original Indiana Jones trilogy, than Kamiński's halo effect bollocks).  This film is nigh on perfect.  I was in floods of tears towards the end of the film.  I felt that it was akin to a long lost Coen Brothers film.  In fact, I'd forgotten how much cinema could emotialionally effect the viewer, until I saw this film.  I can't fault it in any way and I'd award it a 10 out of 10, except for the fact that I reserve those scores for my favourite films of all time.  Therefore...

9/10 - Absolutely incredible.  Funny, moving and beautifully shot.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: greenman on August 06, 2018, 01:56:16 AM
I would say that's countered though by him being fundamentally a "nice" director/writer, depressing things happen but not in a nasty way.

Three Colours White was entirely spiteful.

greenman

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on August 06, 2018, 02:17:25 AM
Three Colours White was entirely spiteful.

I spose somewhat true but not really typical of him, not the same as watching say Hanke.

greenman

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on August 02, 2018, 07:08:27 PM
As for Stalker, definitely the Criterion - 2K scan and I think it's the only one with the proper original mono soundtrack.

Just got this and it really is night and day, I'm not typically an extreme videophile but that's a massive upgrade, more akin to moving from VHS to Bluray than DVD to Bluray.

Small Man Big Horse

The Sasquatch Gang - Listed in the "Your Favourite Films" thread by SteveDave, I enjoyed this a fair bit, it's a very endearing and silly comedy. It's a bit by the numbers and fairly predictable but the laughs are present and it's definitely worth checking out. 7.0/10.

greenman

Watched Love Exposure last night and whilst I can see why as mentioned in the top 10 thread a synopsis might seem a little obvious/knowing in its politics the reality offers a lot more character and humour than that. Given that its a 4 hour film about religion and sex with a graphic "yakuza high blood pressure" castration in it(although really the only way its sexually graphic, besides that its all panties and comedy tenting erections) scene in it the film really did have a surprising warmth to it. The various Ravel scored scenes of "upskirt training" were some of the best comedy I'v seen in awhile being thankfully untroubled by blokishness. The deprograming by the beach actually shifted into very nicely filmed subtle atmosphere as well and the climax as a whole definitely hit its mark dramatically.

I'v not seen anything else by Sion Sono but just watching this I can kind of see your view Horse that it was a bit of a lighting strike moment for him, dispite being the popular opposite in some respects it did actually strike me as rather similar to Blue is the Warmest Colour of a previously talented director(I mean I liked Secret of the Grain a lot but not at the same level)but hitting career best form with a certain story/cast and playing it out to the absolute maximum length wise, isn't there a 6 hour cut around?

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: greenman on August 10, 2018, 08:40:33 AM
Watched Love Exposure last night and whilst I can see why as mentioned in the top 10 thread a synopsis might seem a little obvious/knowing in its politics the reality offers a lot more character and humour than that. Given that its a 4 hour film about religion and sex with a graphic "yakuza high blood pressure" castration in it(although really the only way its sexually graphic, besides that its all panties and comedy tenting erections) scene in it the film really did have a surprising warmth to it. The various Ravel scored scenes of "upskirt training" were some of the best comedy I'v seen in awhile being thankfully untroubled by blokishness. The deprograming by the beach actually shifted into very nicely filmed subtle atmosphere as well and the climax as a whole definitely hit its mark dramatically.

I'v not seen anything else by Sion Sono but just watching this I can kind of see your view Horse that it was a bit of a lighting strike moment for him, dispite being the popular opposite in some respects it did actually strike me as rather similar to Blue is the Warmest Colour of a previously talented director(I mean I liked Secret of the Grain a lot but not at the same level)but hitting career best form with a certain story/cast and playing it out to the absolute maximum length wise, isn't there a 6 hour cut around?

I'm really glad you enjoyed it and that's a great piece of writing. I wasn't aware that there was a 6 hour cut but apparently it was released last year on blu-ray, but unfortunately I can't find it anywhere (and I'm a member of Avistaz which is normally good for that sort of thing and where I found a lot of other Sion Sono films) and the official release doesn't have subtitles sadly.

I've had Blue Is The Warmest Colour on my external hard drive since it leaked online but still haven't got round to watching it - is it as good as everyone says?

greenman

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on August 10, 2018, 11:26:30 AM
I'm really glad you enjoyed it and that's a great piece of writing. I wasn't aware that there was a 6 hour cut but apparently it was released last year on blu-ray, but unfortunately I can't find it anywhere (and I'm a member of Avistaz which is normally good for that sort of thing and where I found a lot of other Sion Sono films) and the official release doesn't have subtitles sadly.

I've had Blue Is The Warmest Colour on my external hard drive since it leaked online but still haven't got round to watching it - is it as good as everyone says?

I certainly didn't see any sign of a western release of the 6 hour cut when looking for it online, seems like the kind of thing someone might have done homemade subtitles for though so perhaps look for a download? I did find it quite a unique experience in that it feels both like blinge watching a TV miniseries but also keeps to a single dramatic arc so I can imagine a longer cut still working well. As it is I kind of felt its length is actually what made it warmer, I can imagine a shorter version for example not featuring much of his gangmates who I think really stopped the story from becoming overly nasty in their goofy innocence.

As I said I wouldn't expect Blue is the Warmest Colour to be similar to this in style, Kechiche generally comes across as the most serious man alive and would I'd imagine sooner jump off a bridge than make a meta joke. That said does kind of strike me as a more grounded Kieslowski, fundamentally a "nice" director(in style if not in public persona) more likely to leave the audience in tears than shocked silence but with more of an eye for class issues and most obviously here romance heavily tied up to more overt sexual desire. I suspect part of the fuss on release was down to this really being more a film about class than homosexuality, I mean it does feature some comment on issues like homophobia but more though the prism of the characters different experience of it but issues like views of the merits of different careers feature even more. Added to that I think its at odds with the common view that graphic sex is only justified if its depicting some kind of dysfunctional "other"(Shame, etc), here its unashamedly trying to get across the characters desires and turn the audience on as they are, not just in terms of nudity but near constant sexual tension.

Gotten as far as episode 6 of the Dekalog by the way, I'd agree with the consensus that episode 5/A Short Film About Killing was the best so far and one of the most effecting things I'v ever seen, I think helped by not focusing on any kind of direct justification for the crime itself. Episode 3(taxi driver and his former mistress) was really nicely done as well I thought really capturing that late night atmosphere in a city as well as introducing the story subtly, I think you can see why Kubrick liked to so much dispite tended to go the opposite way dramatically himself. I must admit it is kind of leaving me thinking that actually a lot of the "golden age of TV" isn't really as ambitious as it might be given the budget here is probably tiny, I'm trying to think of many examples that really pushed things visually and introduced there drama so subtly, maybe parts of The Night Of?