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The Great 4 hour Films.

Started by rjd2, March 18, 2021, 10:46:18 PM

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rjd2

Debating watching A Brighter Summer Day at the moment, but slightly put off by the rather daunting 4 hour length.

I haven't watched many over the years but do have a soft spot for Love Exposure a charming 4 hour Japanese film about a lad who likes to take photo's up ladies skirts. It was obviously made before MeToo, but its nowhere as grim as that tagline would indicate. I also liked Norte which is over 4 hours long but it was incredibly heavy.

I do recall turning off An Elephant standing still though very early as the grimness was to much which was the last time I tackled a film of that length.

What are your fav 4 hour films?


St_Eddie

I'll tell you what it's not; Superhero Nonsense: The Hack-Fraud Cut.

St_Eddie

Serious answer; Cleopatra and both Kill Bill movies back-to-back (if that counts).

Bad Ambassador

Lawrence of Arabia is closer to four hours than three.

zomgmouse


studpuppet

Is Shoah allowed? It's a doco, but it's incredible (and nine hours long).

badaids


Das Boot.  One of the greatest films about men at war.  It's still not as good as the book though.

Noodle Lizard

Once Upon A Time In America is pushing four hours (over four if you count the extended cut) and it's the film that first comes to mind when people ask that tricky "what's your favourite film?" question. It's astonishing how short it feels because of just how engaging it is, as well as beautiful on every level (I could probably listen to the soundtrack alone for four hours straight). I don't think there's a single moment I would cut from the theatrical release.

Unfortunately, the studios at the time felt differently and butchered it into a nonsensical mess. Mercifully, that version is now extinct.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: zomgmouse on March 18, 2021, 11:21:51 PM
Until the End of the World

Yep.

I saw another Japanese one that was about 4-5 hours about the story of several wives or something. Can't really remember it as I was very stoned, they might've gone up in a cable car at one point.

chveik

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on March 19, 2021, 12:19:02 AM
I saw another Japanese one that was about 4-5 hours about the story of several wives or something. Can't really remember it as I was very stoned, they might've gone up in a cable car at one point.

Penance? Happy Hour?

zomgmouse

Quote from: chveik on March 19, 2021, 12:50:41 AM
Penance? Happy Hour?

Both very good - though I'd say Penance is a miniseries rather than a film.

rjd2

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on March 19, 2021, 12:14:59 AM
Once Upon A Time In America is pushing four hours (over four if you count the extended cut) and it's the film that first comes to mind when people ask that tricky "what's your favourite film?" question. It's astonishing how short it feels because of just how engaging it is, as well as beautiful on every level (I could probably listen to the soundtrack alone for four hours straight). I don't think there's a single moment I would cut from the theatrical release.

Unfortunately, the studios at the time felt differently and butchered it into a nonsensical mess. Mercifully, that version is now extinct.

Somehow forgot this despite having it on DVD. Excellent call.

Dr. Mabuse the Gambler is another which I am curious to see but its a whopping 5 hours long!




Rush Hour
Rush Hour 2
Rush Hour 3
After Hours

Mobius

I've never seen Once Upon A Time In America... gonna fix that this weekend!

I think the only 4 hour movie I've seen is Lord Of The Rings.

zomgmouse

Quote from: rjd2 on March 19, 2021, 02:26:20 AM
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler is another which I am curious to see but its a whopping 5 hours long!

Worth it! A banger.

rjd2


zomgmouse

Quote from: rjd2 on March 19, 2021, 04:53:45 AM

Is this it?

"Only" 4 hours and 30 minutes this version.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l1W1CfEexw

The title card suggests this is the Murnau Foundation restoration, which according to IMDb is 271min, so that checks out. Some cursory searching indicates that the supposed 297min version has never been released. So long story short, yes that's the one!


A couple more titles to add: Extraordinary Stories and Jeanne Dielman.

Chedney Honks

I would very warmly recommend A Brighter Summer Day. It's not a difficult watch at all, great characters and acting, and really beautiful cinematography. I want to rewatch it but feel like I should watch Yi Yi next, which I've not seen.

zomgmouse

Quote from: Chedney Honks on March 19, 2021, 05:39:25 AM
I would very warmly recommend A Brighter Summer Day. It's not a difficult watch at all, great characters and acting, and really beautiful cinematography. I want to rewatch it but feel like I should watch Yi Yi next, which I've not seen.

Was lucky enough to get to see both of these in a cinema. Beautiful experiences. Preferred the former to the latter but both incredible.

Chedney Honks

That must have been fantastic. I'm looking forward so much to going back to the cinema now.

greenman

#20
Watched Abel Gance's Napoleon from 1927 yesterday, thats 5 1/2 hours long but a pretty easy watch as a mood peice I found, not really heavy on the story(which doesnt even get into italy as there were 5 more films planned) and very ahead of its time visually, arguably still ahead of its time I spose.

If you liked Brighter Summers Day I would suggest Nuri Bilge Ceylan, he deals in the same kind of small scale drama delivered at a very languid pace focusing mostly on mood, Uzak isnt that long but stuff like Winter Sleep and The Wild Pear Tree get over 3 hours with very little actually happening.

SteveDave

I saw "Trainwreck" starring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader and that felt like it 4 hours long. Does this count?

phantom_power

There are no good 4 hour films. If your story can't be told in less than 3 hours it should be a TV series and not a film. Don't @ me (not sure what this means)

dissolute ocelot

Quote from: rjd2 on March 18, 2021, 10:46:18 PM
I do recall turning off An Elephant standing still though very early as the grimness was to much which was the last time I tackled a film of that length.
I enjoyed An Elephant Sitting Still but I didn't try and watch it all in one sitting. It's weirdly hypnotic with all the camera movements always following people and hardly ever even getting to see their faces, like spending 4 hours following someone around trying to catch their attention.

Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev is three and a half hours and fantastic. Feels much shorter than Gone With The Wind, which could really stand some editing.

I've watched quite a bit of Douglas Gordon's 24 Hour Psycho (which is Psycho projected really slowly) but was told off for sitting on the art gallery floor. Cunts. I do wonder if the art galleries are mandated to show it at night.

I don't really understand why Kieslowsky's Dekalog is included on lists of long films, it's a fucking 10 episode TV show!

On the other hand, not a fan of Once Upon A Time In America: the ending
Spoiler alert
is hilariously bad, utterly bathetic "guy jumps in garbage truck" symbolism. A real "is that it?" moment. A lot of the rest of the film is quite unpleasant too; obviously it's about unpleasant people but it doesn't need to go on about it.
[close]

C_Larence

Anyone seen La Flor? 15 hours long apparently. It's on my watchlist after I saw some memes about it on instagram recently, but until then I'd never heard of it.

chveik

Quote from: C_Larence on March 19, 2021, 09:21:42 PM
Anyone seen La Flor? 15 hours long apparently. It%u2019s on my watchlist after I saw some memes about it on instagram recently, but until then I%u2019d never heard of it.

i've downloaded it but i think it'll stay a long time on my hard-drive before i'm arsed enough to watch it (same goes for lav diaz's films)


to answer the question, i'd say Out 1 & L'Amour Fou, Ludwig (Visconti one). I didn't care much for Satantango.

lipsink

That Bertolucci film '1900' with DeNiro and GGérard Depardieu is 5 hours long (but there's different versions of it). I've never seen it but Morricone does the score. Isn't it meant to be great?

Bad Ambassador


peanutbutter

I saw all of Out 1 in a single sitting, 13.5 hours, was edited to be broken up to be like 8 episodes but it really felt like that was after the fact.
Once you got past the first 4 hours of patience testing bullshit it became a fun punchpnesque thing..


Jeanne Dielman is about 4 hours long and imo does a great job of both challenging your patience but giving you enough to avoid looking at your watch. I remember being surprised it was over


RE David Lean epics, I'm pretty sure I prefer Ryan's Daughter to Lawrence of Arabia, looks better and Robert Mitchum is doing much more interesting stuff than Peter O'Toole

greenman

#29
Quote from: dissolute ocelot on March 19, 2021, 10:33:08 AMTarkovsky's Andrei Rublev is three and a half hours and fantastic. Feels much shorter than Gone With The Wind, which could really stand some editing

That is really the difference between length via plot and lenght via style isn't it? I do tend to preffer the latter, films that work via building atmosphere or by showing actions/conservations in a drawn out fashion often don't feel overlong at 3+ hours.