What Non-New Films Have You Seen? (2020 Edition)

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I watched the wild bunch on NYE, that was very entertaining especially the finale. It was a feast of character actors as well.

Lots of poorly-motivated maniacal laughing in that. Stop maniacally laughing without proper motivation ffs. Good film though. Horrible opening shot.

[sevendaughters]

did Satantango over the last two days. not got anything elegant or eloquent to say, feel like I've been subdued by a combination of rich jus, opiates, and treacle. great film though, completely original.

[Famous Mortimer]

did Satantango over the last two days. not got anything elegant or eloquent to say, feel like I've been subdued by a combination of rich jus, opiates, and treacle. great film though, completely original.

The bit where that kid was fucking with the cat was a particularly unpleasant watch.

[wasp_f15ting]

Thanks for recommendation. Peck as he always does brings such gravitas to the role and the tension when he is in the cafe is unbearable at times.  Its only 80 mins long also so if anyone desperate for a western recommended.

I watched the wild bunch on NYE, that was very entertaining especially the finale. It was a feast of character actors as well.

Not to watch Straw Dogs.

Never seen wild bunch shall check it out.

New films watched;

The flavour of green tea over rice - Watched this with daughter, these older films seem to be good for watching with kids as they aren't violent etc. We both really enjoyed this, however even at her age she commented "He loves good metaphor doesn't he" :p - The pace of Ozu's film are a bit slower than what I have been watching of late, but I really did enjoy the overall story. What does amaze me is how much tension and discomfort he builds into very mundane situations. Even my 12 your old was covering her hands with her face when some of the character interactions took place. Superb film would recommend. Thumbs up from both of us

Georgy Girl - Blind buy, and bar the memorable song this film hasn't aged very well. Ms Rampling is pretty as ever, however the film has a cheeky grooming vibe going on which is probably a sign of the time it was made. A good remaster by Indicator, but I did not like this.

Police Story 1 & 2 - I'll save a lot of my review for the thread, but this is an excellent re-master it looks so good. Definitely worth getting the Eureka releases to see this. In an age of body suits and CGI we as a family all enjoyed this. It is shocking how many people got physically injured during the films. Jackie Chan and the studio must have done a good job at convincing everyone it was a great idea.

Orgies of Edo - This was a bit of random buy, boy was I glad.. it is an anthology of sexploitation stories, but the last one which I shan't spoil was brilliant. It is now very very clear where game developers in Japan get their ideas from..

[Menu]

The bit where that kid was fucking with the cat was a particularly unpleasant watch.

Was it a real cat?

[sevendaughters]

Was it a real cat?

Real cat but unharmed according to Tarr. It isn't pleasant though and I don't mind saying I fast-forwarded a little bit of it.

[peanutbutter]

Watched Satantango years ago and tbh I'm not sure it was worth the hassle, both Werckmeister Harmonies and the Turin Horse both smacked me across the face far harder.



Ringu
Bits of this felt a bit cheap and amateurish bit some of the core ideas were just far too neat to deny. Feel like this would've seemed amazing back at the time.
I've never seen the US remake but obviously I've picked up quite a lot of it from it just being in the zeitgeist.

[Morrison Lard]

Leave No Trace (2018)
Gulf War veteran-gone-mad, lives in the forest with his young daughter. Grim as fuck at times. Decent film.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Bleak. Some good performances, notably the woman who plays the old matriarch.

Ringu

I enjoyed the parts where he just played drums at a mediocre level, but thought it went a bit OTT when he
was just flapping his wings everywhere and pissing all over the floor.

[Inspector Norse]

The Tribe Further festive family fun in this Ukranian effort about a teenager who starts at a boarding school for the deaf and is drawn into all manner of grim and brutal goings-on.
It's a remarkable achievement in many ways, a film told entirely in sign language (there are no subtitles) yet compelling for the layperson thanks to the extraordinary, communicative physicality of its mostly amateur cast and the powerful cinematography, and the bleak power of its plot: its examination of how marginalised and ignored groups turn to crime and lose their humanity could be an allegory for much of contemporary society.
The unrelenting misery and bursts of violence and ugly sex do verge on the hyperbolic or even gratuitous and may well be offputting for many[nb]Though I found it positively frivolous after sitting through Everton v West Ham[/nb] but they also serve to heighten the occasional moment of relief and release; I was riveted.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I've been meaning to watch that for ages, I'd downloaded it but forgot I had it so will probably give it a bash tomorrow.

Last night I watched the awkward first date film What Happened Was, which was agonising in places but very well done, Karen Sillas was excellent.

Then I watched Mikey and Nicky, which was ok, Faulk was enjoyable but it felt like it was missing something.

Earlier I watched Johnny Mnemonic, which is one of many mid-90's scifi films that are just a fucking mess.

Now I'm on The Omega Man.

[convulsivespace]

Let Me Go (1960) - What the hell? I'd never even heard of this before but it needs to be rediscovered as a lost classic. Peter Sellers has the time of his life playing an absolutely unhinged villain opposite Richard Todd's increasingly deranged protagonist, a meek salesman who has his car stolen by a perfectly cast Adam Faith. Some great shots of late-1950s Paddington.

It's newly posted to Criterion Channel for those with access.

[dissolute ocelot]

Lots of poorly-motivated maniacal laughing in that. Stop maniacally laughing without proper motivation ffs. Good film though. Horrible opening shot.

I love The Wild Bunch but I wonder about Peckinpah as a human being. Possibly all his time with human beings really was drinking, whoring and laughing like that. There is a school of thought that all his films are about the greatest hero of all time, Sam Peckinpah.

Jonah Who Will Be 25 In 2000 (1975) joyous if slightly unfocused Marxist cinema from Alain Tanner and cowritten by John Berger. It's about people who were idealistic in 1968 but now take different forms of rebellion: an eccentric teacher, organic farmers, a thief, someone into tantric sex. With songs, fantasy scenes, Rousseau quotes, whale facts, discussion of the influence of Calvin's constipation on protestantism... It's not boring. Tanner is like the nice flipside of the other Swiss(ish) director, Godard.

[wasp_f15ting]

My favourite of his is probably Floating Weeds(the colour version from 59), I spose partly because the location is so evocative.

I would say Ozu seems to have gained ground as the 2nd most recognised of the "big 3" Japanese directors of the 50's whilst Mizoguchi seems to have dropped off.

When you mentioned Mizoguchi I had never seen any of his films. Managed to get hold of Oharu and watched it last night. Crikey - what a mind blowing director he was. This is a PG film, but it made me feel far worse than any film I have watched up until now. The strong bond he builds between the audience and Oharu is so good. I believe the source material was not supposed to be as serious as the film ended up being, but crikey superb watch regardless. I need to try and locate more of his films now. Thanks for the heads up!

Also watched Scanners for the first time, interesting but not really one of Cronenberg's best.

[greenman]

When you mentioned Mizoguchi I had never seen any of his films. Managed to get hold of Oharu and watched it last night. Crikey - what a mind blowing director he was. This is a PG film, but it made me feel far worse than any film I have watched up until now. The strong bond he builds between the audience and Oharu is so good. I believe the source material was not supposed to be as serious as the film ended up being, but crikey superb watch regardless. I need to try and locate more of his films now. Thanks for the heads up!

Again I do find it a little strange he isn't talked about more often and his films easier to pickup, Oharu was the first film of his I watched when Criterion released it in the UK about 4 years ago, they have put out Ugetsu and Sansho the Baliff since which are generally regarded as his big three, the latter two are more expensive but do come with decent sized booklets of the short stories their based on which make for interesting comparison.

The end of Oharu were she's wandering the town at night especially is I think some of the best cinema ever made in terms of using atmosphere and physical performance to sell tragic drama, Under the Skin I suspect has a health Mizoguchi influence.

[wasp_f15ting]

Its an interesting one really, there is a tactile sense to Oharu, since you see her doing things so ceremoniously at the start any time she gets assaulted or hurt, I felt for her. Kinuyo Tanaka played the part so well.

I will pick up the other two, so annoying that Eureka prints go permanently OOP, I see they did a box set for Mizoguchi some time ago.

[greenman]

Buying those used would be a lot more expensive than the Criterions.

[wasp_f15ting]

Indeed £500-600 that's insane ! It's a shame his work isn't more widely celebrated. Wonder if the Japanese have their own form of BFI?!

[chveik]

It%u2019s a shame his work isn%u2019t more widely celebrated.

I dunno, he's still considered to be one of the best filmmakers of all time, maybe he just doesn't have the mainstream appeal Ozu and Kurosawa have. anyway I'd also recommend The Crucified Lovers (another devastating period melodrama) and Street of Shame (one of his many films taking place in a okiya/geisha house, particularly love the experimental soundtrack in this one, I think Smeraldina started a thread about it).

[dissolute ocelot]

Again I do find it a little strange he isn't talked about more often and his films easier to pickup, Oharu was the first film of his I watched when Criterion released it in the UK about 4 years ago, they have put out Ugetsu and Sansho the Baliff since which are generally regarded as his big three, the latter two are more expensive but do come with decent sized booklets of the short stories their based on which make for interesting comparison.

The end of Oharu were she's wandering the town at night especially is I think some of the best cinema ever made in terms of using atmosphere and physical performance to sell tragic drama, Under the Skin I suspect has a health Mizoguchi influence.

Oharu is really in a class of its own - films about suffering tragic women are a Japanese staple (Naruse did some great ones, Imamura did some piss-takes) but Oharu really goes for the emotions; it's got something of the best Hollywood melodrama but never feels quite as contrived. Sansho and Ugetsu are both excellent, beautiful, poetic, stunning filmmaking, but one of my favourite Mizoguchi is New Tales of the Taira Clan (Shin Heike Monogatori), a historical epic about the collapse of the corrupt imperial court in the Heian and its replacement by warlords (the Shogunate): a match for any historical film (Japanese or western) in its storytelling, its visuals, and in making a complex story comprehensible and relevant with lots of commentary on more recent Japanese history. (I slightly wonder if Mizoguchi's focus on historical subjects has made him less relevant to cultural historians/people trying to explain Japan, compared to Ozu or Naruse who focused more directly on contemporary Japanese society.)

[greenman]

Oharu is really in a class of its own - films about suffering tragic women are a Japanese staple (Naruse did some great ones, Imamura did some piss-takes) but Oharu really goes for the emotions; it's got something of the best Hollywood melodrama but never feels quite as contrived. Sansho and Ugetsu are both excellent, beautiful, poetic, stunning filmmaking, but one of my favourite Mizoguchi is New Tales of the Taira Clan (Shin Heike Monogatori), a historical epic about the collapse of the corrupt imperial court in the Heian and its replacement by warlords (the Shogunate): a match for any historical film (Japanese or western) in its storytelling, its visuals, and in making a complex story comprehensible and relevant with lots of commentary on more recent Japanese history. (I slightly wonder if Mizoguchi's focus on historical subjects has made him less relevant to cultural historians/people trying to explain Japan, compared to Ozu or Naruse who focused more directly on contemporary Japanese society.)

As Chievk mentioned he did actually do a lot of contemporary films, actually most of his post WW2 stuff before Oharu was contemporary as period films were somewhat suppressed as being linked to nationalism. Its the latter period stuff that was much better known in the west though and I spose and again I think Oharu, Ugetsu and Sansho winning the Venice film festival at a point were it was arguably the premier European prize back to back shows you at the time he was arguably the best known Japanese director.

To me he really seems like the godfather of "slow cinema", someone who worked in the silent era and then carried though the same focus on atmosphere and physical acting into the sound era. Watching something like Story of The Last Chrysanthemum feels a bit strange to see a style that would fit in with modern arthouse long takes in action pre WW2. Again maybe that's the issue that he's more of a link in the development of that style than someone linked to society of that era, it does seem that if your going to reference a classic piece of slow cinema these days its more like to be Andrei Rublev or Stalker. Glazer to me whilst often considered a Kubrick fanboy does actually feel very Mizoguchi like though in his focus on female suffering, the latter half of Under the Skin especially.

Ugetsu is probably my favourite of his, maybe a bit less focused than the two big ones outside of it but Masayuki Mori is a rare case in his work were the male lead stands up to the female leads in performance, perhaps because he is so un macho. Some of the sections like the boat crossing the mist, the ghostly seductions and the very end are again as good as cinema gets for me.

[Enrico Palazzo]

The Man from Mo'Wax

Lavelle can obviously be a bit of a kunt but I kind of liked him and felt sorry for him.
Josh Homme looks like Donald Trump.
8 out of 10.

[EOLAN]

The Italian Job (1969)

Enjoy seeing Kilmainham Gaol so well used. And very amusing to see what  was then set-up as a museum to commemorate those imprisoned fighting for Irish independence from Britain; having a scene with a large crowd jubilantly and triumphantly chanting England.

Some fun car chases too.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

The Italian Job (1969)

Enjoy seeing Kilmainham Gaol so well used. And very amusing to see what  was then set-up as a museum to commemorate those imprisoned fighting for Irish independence from Britain; having a scene with a large crowd jubilantly and triumphantly chanting England.

Some fun car chases too.

I guess it was always the case, but it feels particularly jingoistic post Brexit. Still a fun caper, though.

[Artie Fufkin]

Home Alone 2

This was great fun. We were in absolute hysterics at points. It's like Tom and Jerry, but with added dirty old bird woman

Watched 1, 2 & 3 over Christmas with Mrs Fufkin. 2 being the pick of them, I thought. Plenty of LOLZ. Tim Curry is brilliantly camp in it.
I watched shit loads of films over the Christmas period.
I'll do a best of at some point.....

[Artie Fufkin]

Ricky Baker from Hunt for the Wilderpeople is in it.  I know he can act, and yet here he very much isn't.  It would appear that Goldie Hawn had forgotten how to act.

THAT's who he was!
Yes. It was complete and utter shit.

[Fr.Bigley]

Watched 1, 2 & 3 over Christmas with Mrs Fufkin. 2 being the pick of them, I thought. Plenty of LOLZ. Tim Curry is brilliantly camp in it.
I watched shit loads of films over the Christmas period.
I'll do a best of at some point.....

The bit with Piers Morgan in it is pretty good too. His Irish accent is decent.

[wasp_f15ting]

Oharu is really in a class of its own - films about suffering tragic women are a Japanese staple (Naruse did some great ones, Imamura did some piss-takes) but Oharu really goes for the emotions; it's got something of the best Hollywood melodrama but never feels quite as contrived. Sansho and Ugetsu are both excellent, beautiful, poetic, stunning filmmaking, but one of my favourite Mizoguchi is New Tales of the Taira Clan (Shin Heike Monogatori), a historical epic about the collapse of the corrupt imperial court in the Heian and its replacement by warlords (the Shogunate): a match for any historical film (Japanese or western) in its storytelling, its visuals, and in making a complex story comprehensible and relevant with lots of commentary on more recent Japanese history. (I slightly wonder if Mizoguchi's focus on historical subjects has made him less relevant to cultural historians/people trying to explain Japan, compared to Ozu or Naruse who focused more directly on contemporary Japanese society.)

I wonder if Atwood saw Oharu, that whole royal impregnating and then removal looked like a scene for scene copy.

[SteveDave]

I couldn't be bothered trying to find the documentary thread but we've been watching documentaries...

Boys State

Showing how American politics "works" by getting 1,000 teenage Texan boys to recreate the processes and actions. Terrifying. 4/5

The Phenomenon

Aliens! They're real! Feat. all that footage from the US Navy where they track a fast moving object as they scream "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?" like a bunch of Mary queens. 3/5

Spaceship Earth

Some hippies try and live in a bio-dome (named Bio-Dome 2 because...the Earth is Bio-Dome 1...yeah, think about it) but fuck it up and end up cheating.

Spoiler alert

Steve Bannon

[close]

gets involved towards the end and you hear (again) how much of an actual arsehole he is. 3.5/5

The Agony And The Ecstasy

Phil Spector's last interview as a free man. He looks like Victoria Wood but sounds like he's Cheyne stokin'. 3/5

Mortified Nation

This was the best of them all. A load of people read out their embarrassing teenage diaries. The whole thing is stolen by the son of a pastor who keeps telling his diary that he isn't gay and "Just needs to get some pussy" 5/5

[Artie Fufkin]

Christmas 2020 Highlights

As promised, here are the cream of the films I watched over the Christmas *snigger* period (25th December 2020 to 2nd January 2021) :

Die Hard - One of my fave action moives ever. Just so cool. Rickman & Willis are both brilliant. And the guy who is 'the office dick' is such a great pantomime villain. Watched this Christmas Day afternoon, and that's when Christmas started for me.
Soul - Pixar animation. Beautiful. Such a great soundtrack (Trent Reznor and the other fella).
It's A Wonderful Life - My favourite Christmas film, I think.
The Lighthouse - Freaky fuckin' deaky, man! Loved this. Dafoe & Pattinson are both mesmerising. Such great performances.
Feedback - Grim. Eddie Marsden is great in it as 'shock jock who is forced to reveal dark secrets over the airwaves by mysterious attackers'. Home invasion kinda stuff.
Zombieland : Double Tap - Not as good as the first, but still enjoyable.
Jojo Rabbit - Jeeze, that's depressing, but in a great way. I think everyone should be forced to watch it, what with the current fuckwittery going on.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

You Were Never Really Here - Fantastic performance by Phoenix, as always, and I kind of liked the conceit of making a very violent movie that shows none of the actual violence, but this was too unrelentingly grim without enough of a conceptual payoff to justify that. So it was just unpleasant. Also, the

Spoiler alert

QAnon ending

[close]

does not match the gritty realism of the first three quarters of the movie.