FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: films of a certain quality

[brekin]

This movie isn't perfect...but there is probably 40 minutes interspersed that draws a chalk door to the future.

Holy Motors

[stefano]

Watched this last week: Trance by Danny Boyle, it definitely belongs here. It's a whodunnit on one level, in which Simon (James McAvoy) double-crosses his partner Franck (Vincent Cassel) on the theft of a Goya painting from an auction house. But then it seems that, following a blow to the head by Franck, Simon actually can't remember what he did with the painting. A hypnotherapist, Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson), gets involved, and then it starts getting weird.

The movie looks into themes of memory and indentity, and suggestion, in ways that appealed to me and I think would appeal to a lot of posters here. But what I really loved was the way Boyle used the photography to visually express the same themes - with a lot of reflections, clever use of focused and out-of-focus actors and props, kaleidoscopic effects in which especially Simon is often seen in multiples, and some surreality during the hypnotic suggestion sequences. The acting's great, especially Cassel's, who can get across more with a raised eyebrow than many actors can in a monologue. McAvoy's softie charm is used to good effect - it becomes downright sinister when you start to learn more about Simon.

The use of music annoyed me a bit - lots of sequences that look like music videos with music and rapid cuts, but Boyle's been making movies that way since Trainspotting, that's his vibe. Good film overall.

[Jerky]

Which 40 minutes of Holy Motors are you referring to?

[brekin]

Jerky wrote:

Which 40 minutes of Holy Motors are you referring to?

Basically the parts I like combined. I think the film is an hour and a half. If I had the time I would make a copy that fast forwarded through the stuff I'm not into. In general I think the limo interior scenes could be more frenetic and montage-y. Because those seeking a straight through line in the narrative start to get antsy and frustrated those scenes can cause them too abandon hope and interest methinks.

In the end everyone will have their own 40 minutes they prefer. (+ or - 90 to 50 minutes)

[David]

a couple i watched yesterday:

[JackRiddler]

a couple i watched yesterday:

"From the director of Sexy Beast and Birth" is not a bad sell. I'll try it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoSWbyvdhHw

I'll take all 90+ minutes of Holy Motors, gladly, by the way.

[Rory]

a couple i watched yesterday:

"From the director of Sexy Beast and Birth" is not a bad sell. I'll try it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoSWbyvdhHw

I'll take all 90+ minutes of Holy Motors, gladly, by the way.

Quick Caption Review:

That shit's fucked up

[8bitagent]

Saw Under The Skin, was kind of overwhelemed. I liked Beyond the Black Rainbow, liked Samsara, liked Computer Chess, didnt like Malicks Tree of Life, didnt like Lars von Triers Nymphomanic vol 1 and 2,
And I have not yet seen Jodorowksys Dance of Reality, Matthew Barneys River of Fundament, The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears or Beberian Sound Studio. Yes I like to see all the so called avant garde cinema:)

[Jerky]

On Topic, hopefully, I've recently started my own Kubrick-centric blog, so that, at long last, I can finally let my lifelong Kubrick obsession run riot online!

Just wait until I start regaling y'all with detailed descriptions of my Kubrick dreams!

Don't worry though... I'm not quite at that point, yet. Although I'm only two posts in and I've already grappled with the Illuminati!

Check out my KUBRICK U Blog at http://kubricku.blogspot.ca/

Cheers!
YOPJerky

[Luther Blissett]

That sounds awesome Jerky I'm gonna check that out. I didn't see it mentioned in the thread but I keep seeing people mentioning Under the Skin's Jonathan Glazer as the successor to Kubrick.

I have a question and this thread seems an appropriate place to ask. I seem to remember a documentary from the late 90's or early 2000's about the anti-globalization movement, a collage of poor-quality VHS / news archive footage of both protests and riots (like the battle in Seattle) but also environmental degradation and human oppression. When I try to think of it, I'm simultaneously reminded of Douglas Rushkoff, Naomi Klein, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Koyaanisqatsi, and general life before 9/11 when it felt like humanity might be gaining ground. Does anyone have any clue what I'm talking about?

[JackRiddler]

2014s - I've seen none of these, about to start Snowpiercer.

Snowpiercer - world ended because of an experiment to end global warming. Everything's frozen, all human survivors are on a train that keeps running forever, the poor are in the rear cars, the capitalists in the front. Tilda Swinton is the Evil Overseer ("74 percent of you will die"), John Hurt is the King, Chris Evans is Captain America, sponsored by Korean Tourism Ministry!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX5PwfEMBM0


The Machine - the singularity turns out to be a super-powered android in hott and superbuff female form (what else?). They wanna make her into a war machine. I wonder will she escape and start wreaking havoc on her creators? Also, search for the meaning of her existence?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF6l4LAmN8A

The Anomaly - so with a bit of singularity & nanotech, they can reboot you to be whatever person they like. An assassin, probably.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlHu7zT-Zfs

These Final Hours - world's in process of ending, only Australia's left, only 12 hours to go. Will a precocious orphan child help the protagonist who is taking her on a "Children of Men" journey understand the true meaning of Heaven in time? What if "On the Beach" met "Mad Max"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaoF6byFQFU

Wait, wait, world's ending in 6 months when an asteroid hits, focus is on UK, everyone's gotta search for the real meaning of life here too. And then the asteroid turns out to be the Mother Ship! Oh shit!
Beyond

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0gThYUHRTs

Oh shit, the storms are alive and they hate you. (They should have done that Ice 9 experiement from Snowpiercer after all!)
Into the Storm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJooXGOro8g

Now this looks really good, even if we've seen it before.
The Retrieval
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY9zp1sozTc

[Jerky]

That sounds awesome Jerky I'm gonna check that out. I didn't see it mentioned in the thread but I keep seeing people mentioning Under the Skin's Jonathan Glazer as the successor to Kubrick.

Yes, that claim is frequently made (especially since BIRTH, which is chock-a-block with Kubrick references and homages - some would say rip-offs). And I would say that he definitely merits being mentioned as one of Kubrick's cinematic offspring, if not an heir apparent per se. I plan on writing blog posts about as many of Kubrick's Kin as possible, with run-downs of their movies and the homages and references found therein. BIRTH alone is going to take me thousands of words to explore as thoroughly as I want.

I think pretty much every director working in Hollywood these days has been influenced by Kubrick. (Lucas, Spielberg, Scorsese, De Palma, Cameron, Demme, Lynch, etc). There is definitely a sub-set, however, who have been infleneced more than the rest, and who wear their obsession on their sleeves. These alleged Kubrick Kin, who have experienced greater and lesser degrees of success over the years, include pretty much all the more notoriously "auteur" directors to pop up in recent years. Probably the biggest names that have been called "the new Kubricks" are:

David Fincher (enh)
Christopher Nolan (enh part deux)
Darren Aranofsky (I personally don't see it)
Wes Anderson (I DO see some important links, but his cinematic project is far more slight in ways).
The Coen Bros (some films more than others)
Danny Boyle (blah)
Mark Romanek (pretty blatant at times)

Some Kubrick Kin whose work I feel deserves closer scrutiny specifically in relation to Kubrick's oeuvre include:

Glazer (as mentioned above)
Todd Haynes (his magnificent SAFE in particular)
Keith Gordon (criminally underrated young director of the Vonnegut film Mother Night and the beautiful On A Midnight Clear)
Gaspar Noe (arguable)
Paul Thomas Anderson (sometimes, but at his best he def transcends)
Charlie Brooker (The Black Mirror series is the closest thing to Kubrick we've seen recently, in my opinion)
Christopher Morris (the UTTERLY Kubrickean satire of The Day Today and Brass Eye, plus the incredibly brave Four Lions, the Dr Strangelove of its day in some ways)

If y'all have any further suggestions for making my upcoming articles more complete or better - any insights of your own you'd like to share - I'd love to hear them. Run over to KubrickU.blogspot.com (or just email me at jerkyleboeuf@gmail.com) and let me know!

Love,
yer old pal Jerky

[Searcher08]

I was recommended this by a mate, who said it was the most disturbing war movie he had ever seen.
I agree.
It is a Russian film called "Come and See"
If ever there was a film that demonstrated why fascism should be opposed, this is it.
It also gives voice to a relatively unknown (in the west) part of WW2.
In three parts. Best watched with headphones as the soundtrack is very important.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvgqu8_come-and-see-1985-pt-1_creation

[JackRiddler]

Probably the biggest names that have been called "the new Kubricks" are:

None of them are Kubrick. No way.

Darren Aranofsky
Not Kubrick, but intense and distinctive enough that I'd call him the Darren Arnofsky. Will never, can never exceed, certainly has not exceeded the particular achievements, in part as formal exercises, of Pi and Requiem for a Dream. I liked The Fountain and its turn to more visual lushness (now that he has budgets, budgets). And The Wrestler was a worthy film.

David Fincher (enh)
Christopher Nolan (enh part deux)
Tricksters. Highly artful lightweights. Need I say I'm patsy enough for ironically-tinged anarchist hero fantasies to think Fincher made one great movie? In most of his work he plays to the crowd and keeps just inside the border of harmless, as seen obviously in his House of Cards (see the UK original!). Nolan gradually went from an intriguing if mostly empty formalism in memento, also seen in that anti-dream contraption Inception, to out-and-out fascism by the end of the Batman shit.

Wes Anderson (I DO see some important links, but his cinematic project is far more slight in ways).
Agreed. I think of him and honor him as a maker of children's films.

But you've forgotten P.T. Anderson. (Dear god, it was such a shock when I realized that this Anderson guy of such incredibly diverse range and tenor was actually two different directors. Ha.) There Will Be Blood and The Master stylistically doing decent facsimiles of Kubrick, and get some of the way in the substance.

The Coen Bros (some films more than others)
Not remotely. But distinctive enough that they're their own category. I can watch The Big Lebowski all week, any week, but don't care much for the rest.

Danny Boyle (blah)
[b]Mark Romanek (pretty blatant at times)
Who?

Keith Gordon (criminally underrated young director of the Vonnegut film Mother Night and the beautiful On A Midnight Clear)
Glazer (as mentioned above)
I should acquaint myself.

Todd Haynes (his magnificent SAFE in particular)
I'm a big fan of Velvet Goldmine.

Gaspar Noe (arguable)
Enter the Void is epic, epic stuff. Give him his own category. Not Kubrick.

Paul Thomas Anderson (sometimes, but at his best he def transcends)
Oops, you remembered.

Morris and Brooker, will make a note of them.

[winston smith]

No del toro?
Maybe everyone has seen Pans Labyrinth