Films You've Seen Recently and Don't Know WTF to think

zhao

there are no accidents
Heart plugs! Weirding modules! Francesca Annis looking hot as hell! Patrick Stewart! Sting!

standing on top of worms big as giant submarines traveling at probably 4000 kilometers per hour in and out of sand mountains! believable!

but lets not waste any more pixels on this tediosity... on a barely or un related note, i'm looking forward to the Ridley Scott Alien prequel coming this summer...
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
we had the Dune conversation recently in "films you would not recommend" thread:

^100% w/tea but we're both hopeless Dune fanatics (right tea?). which I will now prove by showing I know far too much about Dune film adaptations

Dune was originally (in the early 70s) to be directed by Jodorowsky (of Holy Mountain fame), with sets designed by Moebius, and Salvador Dali (!) playing the Padishah Emperor. that would have been a true mindfuck of film (oh did I mention it was also going to be 10 hours long?) but of course no one was willing to fund such lunacy so it fell through. apparently Lynch's version was originally much longer too but for obvious commercial reasons was severely cut down, leaving this garbled, incoherent mess. at least the sets + costumes (both holdovers from the Jodorowsky version) are cool. and, Patrick freaking Stewart. there's also a Sci-Fi channel miniseries version. the production values are lower but it's more faithful to the book (it covers the first 3 actually) + better in a lot of ways. the great William Hurt plays Duke Leto.

also, one thing that's always bugged me about the fremen: spice-blue eyes aside, they're not white. they're based on a combo of tuareg + bedouins. they speak freaking arabic. yet every dune film has a bunch of pasty white fremen.

the Sting/Muad'Dib knife fight set to some killer electro
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
i'm a big jodorowsky fan. el topo + holy mountain are both great. however, his most WTF film has to be santa sangre. i can't even really describe it. it's like...if john waters, almovodar + david lynch got together to make a slasher flick, only much, much stranger + more extreme.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
^except, sorry, i just remembered, ming the merciless is a hella uncomfortable like 1920s asian stereotype. but the rest of it is awesome.
 

Bangpuss

Well-known member
Mirror, by Tarkovsky. Wasn't sure what to think, other than "This is incredibly boring without being privy to the all-important subtexts and symbolism which must be what makes the film worthwhile as the titanic work of art so many people claim it to be, which must have taken some reading up on beforehand, which I haven't done, so kind of renders the whole exercise pointless."

The Limits of Control, by Jarmusch. Ditto.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Mirror, by Tarkovsky. Wasn't sure what to think, other than "This is incredibly boring without being privy to the all-important subtexts and symbolism which must be what makes the film worthwhile as the titanic work of art so many people claim it to be, which must have taken some reading up on beforehand, which I haven't done, so kind of renders the whole exercise pointless."

The Limits of Control, by Jarmusch. Ditto.

Only seen one Tarkovsky (can't even remember the name, it was shot in italy or something) and I felt similarly. Numbed.

Saw Primer yesterday. Foolishly hadn't prepared myself to concentrate as fully as I needed to, but, having read a lot about it since, am looking forward to watching it again and picking up the nuances that I missed first time round. I love the aesthetic he consciously chose - experimentation/innovation as taking place in anonymous, low-key surroundings rather than glitzy glamorous ones, the main discovery often being a side-effect of the intended experiment, the perhaps-undeveloped morality of the characters in contrast to their highly developed technical knowledge, the refusal to dumb down the scientific language, the use of shooting techniques to suggest the confusion of time in the narrative etc etc.

Really, really impressive to even attempt something that ambitious. Whatever its shortcomings, deserves approbation for ambition.

Still thinking WTF about a lot of the plot, though. But in a good way.
 

outraygeous

Well-known member
I enjoyed Primer, that was a really good film.

I watched The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and although I enjoyed it in parts, I did feel like I was a voyeur in strange situation. A very slow and depressing situation.

Its rated very highly.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I watched Powell and Pressburger's Tales of Hoffman the other day. It's a film of an opera of some of his stories - but (probably cos it was an opera, possibly because I was significantly refreshed) I couldn't really follow what was going on at all despite having read the books. Some great imagery in there though which is what I was hoping for

 

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
Only seen one Tarkovsky (can't even remember the name, it was shot in italy or something) and I felt similarly. Numbed.

I'm working my way through a Tarkovsky box set and filling the gaps on ones I haven't seen.

There seems to be a reverse quality gradient with time IMO, so first two (Ivans Childhood and Andrei Rublev) are really good (not exactly fast paced but stunningly beautiful), next two are quite good (Solaris and Stalker) and final three (Mirror, Nostalgia, and I've not seen The Sacrifice yet) rather boring (a few beautiful images but not enough to sustain things).

So, er, I guess then I'd recommend Ivan's Childhood and AR.
 

luka

Well-known member
mirrors well boring. stalker is a good sci fi film though. i like it a lot. solaris, thats boring too. fucking hell is that ever boring. i fell asleep and was appalled to see it was still going when i woke up.
 

luka

Well-known member
is it the one with a woman on a bed or something? some shots of grass in the wind?
 

e/y

Well-known member
yes.

it's great, don't think it is boring at all. my only gripe is that most of the English subs that I've seen for it don't really put do the dialogue justice.
 
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