version

Well-known member
Is he actually any good? I've seen (and enjoyed) Bad Lieutenant and King of New York, but nothing aside from that and everything else of his seems to be polarising at best. I was surprised to see him pop up with the recent stuff with Dafoe too; I've always thought of him as very raw and sleazy and suddenly he's got three in a row with arty posters and about Pasolini and struggling artists and dreams.

Abel-Ferrara-1995-02.jpg
 

catalog

Well-known member
he's brilliant, he's a modern great. no doubt. those two you've mentioned are probably his best 2.

but driller killer is also good. and the one with madonna, dangerous game. i watched that one pretty recently. addiction and bodysnatchers also good. and r xmas. they're all good.
 

catalog

Well-known member
funny one when herzog decided to remake bad lieutenant...

Herzog on Ferrara: 'I've never seen a film by him. I have no idea who he is.'

Ferrara on Herzog: 'I wish these people die in Hell. I hope they're all in the same streetcar and it blows up.'
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
The vampire one he did, I remember finding it annoyingly pretentious to no real end.
I read an interview about him being involved in shooting a porn film in which the lead couldn't get it up... so he had to step in himself.
 

version

Well-known member
funny one when herzog decided to remake bad lieutenant...

Herzog on Ferrara: 'I've never seen a film by him. I have no idea who he is.'

Ferrara on Herzog: 'I wish these people die in Hell. I hope they're all in the same streetcar and it blows up.'
I enjoy this sort of thing, but also think they're complete twats for saying it. You get it with writers too, claiming they've never read or liked something that's obviously been an influence on them.

There's a Letterboxd review of The Addiction, the vampire one Rich is on about, with some hilarious quotes from his director's commentary;

"We had to do one black and white film, man."

"There ain't no fuckin' extras. This is the street. You think I'm directing these people? We shoot in the street bro, what the fuck? You think we're casting these people, this is fuckin' New York!"

"This is pre-Uber New York, dog"

"You gotta give the vampire shit credit. Who would even come up with that?"

"That might be an actress, I don't know."

"This is Kodak at it's peak!"

"I'm looking to do a film about Auschwitz"

"Stay wide, bro."

"That's real blood, that's real insertion."

"Put the shades on your lead actor and your film goes to a whole other dimension"
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
surprised hes not been cancelled.

tommaso, the recent one with defoe in italy was ok, basically ferrara writing about his own life, bit light weight but as he often does, he pulled something out i wasnt expecting.

want to see siberia. looks like it might be one of his best of the recent stuff.

king of new york is actually not that great. some cool moments and it has a cool 80s NY vibe but its actually quite streamlined compared to his other films. sort of in between normal ferrara and those films where he was trying to be a director for hire i think.

his best IMO -
bad lieutenant
welcome to NY (depardieu kills in this)
ms 45
dangerous game

i keep meaning to see the blackout and addiction but still not seen them. same for new rose hotel, mary and 4.44. i wanted to see pasolini but it looked a bit like it would be a bit slight.
 
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version

Well-known member
Paul Schrader can be a bit like this too, although he comes off as weird and somewhat well-meaning whereas Ferrara seems to revel in filth and being a scumbag.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I enjoy this sort of thing, but also think they're complete twats for saying it. You get it with writers too, claiming they've never read or liked something that's obviously been an influence on them.
Yeah it's so annoying. And normally it is someone who is a, I don't really know the word here, but someone who is an expert on culture. They know all about films and music and underground scenes and cult books and so on. And all the work they do reflects the knowledge that they have clearly painstakingly accumulated and so they curate some compilation albums and you see them on telly as a talking head showing off incredibly deep knowledge of some obscure author or whatever... and then suddenly it's convenient for them so they're telling the interviewer that they have never heard of Tamla Motown or something. Fuck off!
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
King of New York would’ve been ordinary without Walken. It’s clunky rather than smooth, wonky rather than gritty

Bad Lieutenant is a bit of a spiral. Again, without the lead it’s a bit flaky. I didn’t see the point other than to depict HK jerking off to a horrified onlooker and of course a Catholic sense that you can be a cunt all your life and still find redemption

A flicker in the early 90’s, everything else is pants. Driller Killer was a top shelf vhs rental, mixed in with schlocky gore and horror. That’s guff too
 

version

Well-known member
Bad Lieutenant is a bit of a spiral. Again, without the lead it’s a bit flaky. I didn’t see the point other than to depict HK jerking off to a horrified onlooker and of course a Catholic sense that you can be a cunt all your life and still find redemption
I remember watching it, thinking it was alright then feeling the ending really elevated it. It was inevitable, but I loved the way it was shot and I can't hear 'Pledging My Love' without thinking of people gradually gathering round that car.

 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
King of New York would’ve been ordinary without Walken. It’s clunky rather than smooth, wonky rather than gritty

Bad Lieutenant is a bit of a spiral. Again, without the lead it’s a bit flaky. I didn’t see the point other than to depict HK jerking off to a horrified onlooker and of course a Catholic sense that you can be a cunt all your life and still find redemption

A flicker in the early 90’s, everything else is pants. Driller Killer was a top shelf vhs rental, mixed in with schlocky gore and horror. That’s guff too
Most of his stuff Is clunky. But it's what he puts around the clunk that is good. King of New York is just not shocking or fucked up anymore which is why its aged boringly. You watch Ferrara for sordid, seedy, characters plumbing the depths. Good feel bad films or asshole characters doing asshole things so you dont have to. not for perfectly calibrated filmmaking. His films tend to have a flow where it's a bit mundane then it switches to something hellish.
 

catalog

Well-known member
i love the colours in king of new york. that entire ripoff scene in smoky blues. and there's a few scenes in bad lt. in entire red. he's proper.


 

version

Well-known member
Watched The Addiction on YouTube last night. Wasn't great quality so felt like I was missing half the film due to not being able to fully appreciate the lighting and whatnot, plus the sound wasn't great. I liked it enough to want to pick up a copy and watch it again in decent quality though. The initial attack looked great, the shadowed bars across the face. The sunset shots and and the scene in the hospital with the crucifix and the blinds too, also loved the way the stuff on the soundtrack like Onyx and Cypress Hill seemed to intrude into the film and puncture the atmosphere. Lili Taylor shooting up blood was somehow both great and completely on the nose.

The-Addiction2.jpg
 

luka

Well-known member
I remember being around 15 and I was in Belsize Park at the family home of a posh friend who's dad is a famous left wing anthropologist and there was four of us in the dark watching Bad Leuitenant and it was that simulated fellatio scene and his dad came in and, presumably mistook me for his child, and ruffled my hair and said, good night darling
 

version

Well-known member
Ferrara was actually my introduction to Schoolly D. He has him on the King of New York soundtrack, The Addiction soundtrack, he had him on Bad Lieutenant until Jimmy Page got involved and he shot one of his vids.



 
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