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The Day Shall Come

Started by AzureSky, December 16, 2018, 08:18:05 PM

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Kelvin

Quote from: EBGB on October 07, 2019, 09:37:15 PM
Film4 official interview thingy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqUsiV8LPkM

Not impressed with those clips, at all. As someone who thought the differing tones of Four Lions held it back from being great, I'm getting a similar sense from this one; lots of moments that are extremely absurd and heightened mismatching with the more grounded, naturalistic comedy you'd associate with Jesse Armstrong.


bgmnts

The funniest thing Chris Morris has ever done is apolitical;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZIx9-3YNtI

Kelvin

I honestly dont think Morris' style suits naturalistic narrative comedy. His greatest strength is bizarre and contorted wordplay, which as I said before, sits ill at ease with the overall naturalistic tone he's aimed for in his work since Nathan Barley.

In contrast, his radio shows, his early tv shows, even blue jam, all occupy a much more heightened reality, where the ridiculous charachters deliver his dialogue much more believably.

rasta-spouse

Quote from: Kelvin on October 09, 2019, 02:05:08 AM
I honestly dont think Morris' style suits naturalistic narrative comedy.

You're right. All of his characters (from Nathan Barley onwards) come across as cardboard cutouts. The forced sentimentality at the end of 4lions and TDSC just misfires and feels so tacked on. Then you add those Thick of It guys throwing their awful zero effort one-liners into these scenes and you just get something that doesn't work at all.

As was pointed out above the FBI scenes in TDSC are "wacky" with a sense of deadness. And then the farm scenes are very deliberately "maudlin" with a sense of deadness. It's so obvious what he's trying to make you feel that it just doesn't work. Art forms are inherently manipulative but they have to be structured so that the manipulation is invisible, otherwise your audience is way ahead of you.

But the thing is, if he did a film that was built like Popstar: Keep on Stopping (or whatever it was called), which was essentially a series of little crafted skits or vignettes masquerading as a 90m story I think it would work for him. He would thrive.


13 schoolyards

He even says in one of the interviews that coming up with a film's storyline isn't his strong suit. It seems odd that he keeps on persisting with narrative-driven films (ok, he's only made two) when his earlier work was so much stronger.

Comedy films that revolve more around character and incident aren't exactly unheard of either, ie Spinal Tap and dozens of other mockumentaries.

princeps

Quote from: 13 schoolyards on October 09, 2019, 08:31:50 AM
He even says in one of the interviews that coming up with a film's storyline isn't his strong suit. It seems odd that he keeps on persisting with narrative-driven films (ok, he's only made two) when his earlier work was so much stronger.

Comedy films that revolve more around character and incident aren't exactly unheard of either, ie Spinal Tap and dozens of other mockumentaries.

Morris is also always categorized as 'art house,' in the US.

Film is a business, you appeal to investors who themselves want to appeal to the mass market - narrative pieces are what sells, and I think Morris attaches himself to other writers to put those aspects of a story together, while attempting to guise whatever inspiration for the initial idea he had in the ensuing project.

Notlob

anyone going to the Morris Q&A at the Central Picturehouse this friday?

princeps

Quote from: Notlob on October 09, 2019, 12:33:52 PM
anyone going to the Morris Q&A at the Central Picturehouse this friday?

No, absolutely won't be there, but where does one go to find future scheduled Q&A's for this new Morris joint?

Beagle 2

Is this film getting advertised an awful lot or is it just being advertised quite a lot to me because my dirty great Chris Morris fingerprints are all over the internet?

EBGB

Quote from: Beagle 2 on October 09, 2019, 08:06:44 PM
Is this film getting advertised an awful lot or is it just being advertised quite a lot to me because my dirty great Chris Morris fingerprints are all over the internet?

I've seen nothing other than the back of a newspaper supplement and ads in the tube when I've been in that there London.  I'm subscribed to the official social media pages on FB / Twitter / Instagram, and to be honest they've been pretty rubbish (and I'm set up for notifications on them all).  Maybe you're just more special than me, or need more tempting?

Nice to see the interviews being released, though.  The C4 one is pushing quarter of a million views now, which IMHO is staggering.

Sin Agog

Quote from: Beagle 2 on October 09, 2019, 08:06:44 PM
Is this film getting advertised an awful lot or is it just being advertised quite a lot to me because my dirty great Chris Morris fingerprints are all over the internet?

Heard an ad at the beginning of a Rule of Three pod t'other day, so in that instance at least they seem to have got the dart on the board.

princeps

There were parts of the film that I found really beautiful. The story is good, and with a poignant reflection on real situations. The whole thing, in a bit of a Morris-esque way, feels dreamlike in it's delivery.

I wish there was more meat to characters, or greater definition of the communities the characters are a part of; the FBI were awkwardly delivered, and the Farmers not fully realized. The racial humour between the Gaffigan led bikers and the Farmers was brilliant and something we are all hungry for, and I think should've been given more development. The titling and other aesthetic elements of the film didn't feel married to the theme/plot.

But, you know, we'll all judge Morris to the standards of an 11 because... he's Morris.

Overall it was an enjoyable film I'll definitely watch again and recommend to others.



dr_christian_troy

There's a screening and Q & A event TONIGHT at 6.30pm at Picturehouse Central in London. Only three tickets left when I checked a short while ago. Anyone going who may report back?

Tickets available here as of writing.

Schnapple

Afraid to say that I thought this was very poor. Wafer-thin characterisation, no sense of peril or injustice until the very end, and some very stilted dialogue. Whereas Four Lions felt lived-in and daring, nothing in TDSC felt believable, so the insane premise doesn't even work as a hook. Anna Kendrick does not suit Morris' style, and the FBI scenes had the feel of Veep fan-fiction. Marchant Davis is very good, and his relationship with Danielle Brooks' character is really well played and surprisingly tender when given a few moments. Everything else felt surprisingly bland. Morris obviously paid the usual forensic attention to the way this all played out in real life, but I think this could have made a better feature-length documentary before a narrative comedy.

Honestly a bit gutted to be writing this in regards to a project involving Morris or Jesse Armstrong!

jenna appleseed

Quote from: Beagle 2 on October 09, 2019, 08:06:44 PM
Is this film getting advertised an awful lot or is it just being advertised quite a lot to me because my dirty great Chris Morris fingerprints are all over the internet?

seems to have sponsored the last couple of Popbitch newsletters.

Mark Steels Stockbroker

#317
(spam)

the

Quote from: Beagle 2 on October 09, 2019, 08:06:44 PMIs this film getting advertised an awful lot or is it just being advertised quite a lot to me because my dirty great Chris Morris fingerprints are all over the internet?

Well there have been prime-time TV adverts, which is something I can't remember seeing for Four Lions.

Noodle Lizard

I thought this was okay enough, got a few good laughs out of me, but ultimately pretty flawed and forgettable.

As with Four Lions (to a lesser extent), it surprised me how first-drafty and underdirected it felt, considering how much time Morris clearly spent researching and putting it together. Some of the FBI scenes in particular were appallingly rough, and Anna Kendrick seemed not to know how to deliver a lot of her lines (due to poor direction). You got no real sense of Miami or the communities therein, and no real depth to the central group, especially not when compared with the characters in Four Lions. Kayvan Novak's character was terrible, would've seemed a bit broad for a BBC3 sitcom.

And it just sort of ... ends. The ending of Four Lions was perfect, with the coda interspersed among the credits. This one just ends and then you have an artless "Here's what happened to these fictional characters" YouTube-style video. I doubt anyone would be inspired to look further into the actual cases the movie is based on, as it gives them absolutely nothing to go on. It's fascinating subject matter, but you leave it with no deeper understanding of the reality of it. Almost feels like a disservice to something Morris was clearly passionate about.

That said, the main actor (Marchánt Davis) was very good and his performance definitely elevated the material, I hope to see him in more. I liked his interactions with her off Orange Is The New Black, and wished there was more stuff about day-to-day life at the compound - in Four Lions, that scene-setting and characterisation made up the bulk of the film, whereas this one basically reduced it to a few short scenes early on and then bombarded us with plot. There are enough laugh-inducing lines and instants to make it a worthwhile watch, but it doesn't breathe.

Mark Steels Stockbroker

As always with Morris, very good people want to work with him, and he doesn't give them great material. See also: Ben Whishaw and a million other people in Nathan Barley.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: EBGB on October 07, 2019, 09:37:15 PM
Film4 official interview thingy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqUsiV8LPkM

Just watched that. Looking forward to seeing this on Monday.

Noodle Lizard

It's really weird to watch interviews with him about this film because he sounds so intelligent, articulate and dedicated to the subject matter ... and then you see the film and sort of wonder where all that energy went. Very little of that passion makes it onto the screen.

It may be that he's just not an especially good director. Even his episodes of Veep stood out as being a little off - I remember watching one of his episodes and thinking that, not realizing it was him until after. There's this assumption that because someone's brilliant at one thing, or even a few things, that they must be good at directing - or if someone's really good at TV, they must be good at film. It's an understandable assumption, but one that's been disproven a fair few times.

Hymenoptera

I saw this again Friday night with my boyfriend, and the thing that sort of hooked him was just how novel it felt to him to see something like this in a cinema. Like, an entertaining and endearing film about America's injust, money-driven brand of counter-terrorism. The FBI are arseholes, the farmers are endearing, and the story is almost exactly true to life and doesn't flinch at the weirder elements of the sting operations it incorporates. The Star of Six farm looks virtually identical to the Liberty City Seven's base of operations, for example.

I dunno, I thoroughly enjoyed it both times. And my Chronically Apathetic to Media other-half said he felt really disheartened by the time the diner scene came around, so there's something.

Would yous guys be as critical of this if Morris' name weren't attached and it was some unknown co-writer/director? Not being facetious, just wondered, given that I've seen some people say it doesn't meet Morris Standards.

Also that Prince song at the end is a banger and I hadn't heard it before because I'm a heathen who never really gave Prince a chance.

chveik

Quote from: Hymenoptera on October 12, 2019, 10:29:19 PM
Would yous guys be as critical of this if Morris' name weren't attached and it was some unknown co-writer/director? Not being facetious, just wondered, given that I've seen some people say it doesn't meet Morris Standards.

I doubt I would have watched it.

Noodle Lizard has a point, he's a fairly competent director but he doesn't play with the medium at all. the film is bland looking, there's no real strenght in it.


muddybug


Thomas


EBGB

Quote from: Hymenoptera on October 12, 2019, 10:29:19 PM
I dunno, I thoroughly enjoyed it both times.

[...]

Would yous guys be as critical of this if Morris' name weren't attached and it was some unknown co-writer/director? Not being facetious, just wondered, given that I've seen some people say it doesn't meet Morris Standards.


This.  And this.  I think it's been over-sold as a "comedy", and it's way too angry / tragic for what people expect of a contemporary comedy.  He's clearly incredibly passionate about the subject, very well-informed (no surprise there), and the Q&As and publicity interviews have been superb.  If he was some obscure auteur, I suspect there would be rather fewer pre-conceptions.

Having seen it twice myself, I have one gripe: the flow is a bit stop'n'go, and I wonder whether he edited it down too hard to the running time he wanted.

Mark Steels Stockbroker

Quote from: EBGB on October 13, 2019, 10:40:50 AM
the flow is a bit stop'n'go, and I wonder whether he edited it down too hard to the running time he wanted.

Yes, the Nazis could have been used a lot more. We could have had more plot all round, really.

danielreal2k

Watched it last night, loved 4 Lions felt this did not translate quite the same to Miami (kept thinking about Only Fools & Horses Miami Twice while watching it)  what works well here didnt quite translate to America. 


Kayvan Novak  & The Nazis were underused they could have done much much more.
Highlights 
Marchánt Davis & Danielle Brooks perfect for the roles

Low points
Anna Kendrick
Denis O'Hare   everytime they were on screen I felt they were miscast 
They needed heavy weights like Kevin Spacey and Gillian Anderson to give more weight to the FBI (although not Spacey for obvious reasons)