upcoming screenings of classic movies!

[Groggy]

It's quite possible Drink would find Z commie propaganda but that's his loss.

[stanton]

Most likely, yes ...

[drinkanddestroy]

  I take it as a given that  all European movie of the 60's will be Commie propaganda.  (and half of all other movies too) 

[drinkanddestroy]

The French film Amour (2012), which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and today was named Best Film of 2012 by the National Society of Film Critics, is playing at Film Forum now, through January 22nd, 2013 http://filmforum.com/movies/more/amour

I haven't seen it yet but hope to soon

[drinkanddestroy]

I just saw Amour at Film Forum.

Lemme give you some advice if you are going to see this movie here: get there early, and be sure to have a seat not too far back.

The subtitles on this movie are the smallest I have ever seen anywhere; as the movie was nearly sold out, and my 2 friends got there just before it began, the only place we could find 3 open seats in a row was in the last row. (Besides, this was Auditorium 2, which [it seemed] this was one of the longer theaters, so being the back row made us VERY far back]). We were squinting the entire time to see the tiny subtitles, it was awful.

So, if you go to see this movie at Film Forum -- and with all due respect to the juries at Cannes, and the Nat'l Society of Film Critics, I recommend you don't bother watching it at all, in any theater under any conditions -- be sure to get there early and not be too far back

[dave jenkins]

The best response to Amour I've seen is on the criterionforum board, by a poster called "Grand Illusion." His SPOILER-heavy analysis is spot on:

The moment the husband grabs a pillow, I knew the film was about to lose me. When he smothers his wife, Haneke greatly oversteps his bounds and remystifies dying.

Amour sets up certain rules of being uncinematic in its portrayal of dying. Then it gives us an extremely cinematic way of killing someone. The pillow smother is something out of a gangster film. The person being smothered kicks and squirms, until motion is no more. It's very visual.

First, there's the technical problem. A pillow smother is almost impossible to do, since people can often breathe through fabric. But even if successful, once the body ceases motion, that does not mean that the person is dead. Due to lack of oxygen, the person could've slipped into shock or coma. Smothering by pillow is a movie trope. It's not a reliable way to off someone. And I feel this is important due to how close Haneke wants to play with realism.

But worse than the actual mechanics of a smothering by pillow, the move completely derails the film's raison d'etre. The film works for over 100 minutes to demystify dying and beautifully so. Yet the pillow smother begins the process by which Haneke re-mythologizes dying.

Cache works allegorically and terrifyingly as myth. The White Ribbon works epically as myth. Amour does not work as myth. Simply compare how they're shot.

At one point, the daughter character asks the husband, "What happens next?"

To which he answers, (paraphrasing), "The same thing that's been happening, until it stops."

It's a graceful and simple way to say how people actually die of old age in the real world. And it would've made a heart-breaking end to this tale.

Yet Haneke fires this film out of the real world as if from a cannon. Because in the real world, barely a single person dies by pillow smother. Even if the film wanted to finalize the process of dying by euthanasia, that could work. But it must work in the same way that the rest of the film does. By taking the ordinary and demystifying it.

Now, you may wonder why I am against un-realism. I am not. But a film is a success when it plays by its own rules. Haneke breaking his docudrama rules to spill over into melodrama is refusing to play by the rules that he set up. Imagine Denzel Washington in Training Day suddenly breaking into a bullet-time Matrix dodge. It just doesn't work within the rules of the film.

And a couple more missteps show that Haneke's intention is, against the will of the film itself, to mythologize the story. Because right after the husband euthanizes his wife, Haneke brings back the metaphorical bird in the house. On its own, this is fine, but Haneke continues to pile on.

Next Haneke begins filming the man's ritual (implied) suicide. The film becomes much like The Seventh Continent, as that family prepares for their demise. Again, this is not how most people deal with living or dying, and, as such, feels very counter to the objectives of the first 100 minutes of the film.

And then Haneke again egregiously oversteps by having the husband see his wife and leave the home with her spirit/memory. My own philosophical objections to this scene aside, the person who rejoins their lover's spirit/memory is just cinematic cliche at this point. And it plays that way.

There is a naturalism established early by the film, and it deserves much better than the movie cliches we are given at the end. Unfortunately, the greatest love is ultimately Haneke's love for myth-making, and it just doesn't fit here.

[drinkanddestroy]

Also, the movie is way too graphic in showing all the care required for the old woman.

We all know that sadly, as people get older, they sometimes require help when  showering, getting off the toilet, being diapered, changed, etc. But you don't have to show all that. Seriously. Showing a little bit, and discussing/implying the rest is fine. But extensive graphic scemes (like showing a nurse scrubbing a naked 85-year old woman in the shower, or showing her husband helping her off the toilet with her undies at her knees), is just vomit-inducing. We get the point, and don't need to be hit on the head with it again and again. We understand the difficulties for all parties involved -- in this case, both the wife and husband, or nurses, etc. Once we understand that, it needn't be necessary to show it in more and more detail. And if your response is, "No, you have to feel it, we need ultra-realism, etc. and must show all the intricate details, then why not show the husband wiping her ass too?

 It's not easy to enjoy Film Forum's great popcorn and oatmeal cookies while watching Emmanuelle Riva get a sponge bath.

(I must have asked for this ten times already, but we REALLY need a vomiting icon here).

[Groggy]

But wouldn't that be too graphic, Drink?

[drinkanddestroy]

Wednesday, March 20 -- Thursday, March 28, 2013

IFC Center on 6th Ave & West 3rd St. in Manhattan will be showing all of Stanley Kubrick's feature films

http://www.ifccenter.com/series/the-films-of-stanley-kubrick/


In anticipation of the release of ROOM 237 on March 29, we’re thrilled to present a retrospective of all 13 of Stanley Kubrick’s feature films, plus A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, a longtime Kubrick project realized by Steven Spielberg. One of cinema’s great masters, Kubrick brought his trademark stylistic rigor, technical innovation and devilish wit to nearly every genre: war film (PATHS OF GLORY, FULL METAL JACKET), historical epic (SPARTACUS, BARRY LYNDON), black comedy (DR. STRANGELOVE), science fiction (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY), film noir (THE KILLING), marital drama (EYES WIDE SHUT) and more. Rediscover these timeless classics on the big screen, in 35mm prints and digital restorations.

[drinkanddestroy]

I will be at the 7:10 PM screening of Un Flic tomorrow night at Film Forum

[dave jenkins]

OK, but you're certain to be disappointed. It's not a very good film.

[drinkanddestroy]

http://news.turner.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=6456

TCM Classic Film Tour, a three-hour bus tour of classic film locations in New York City, beginning August 22, 2013.

[drinkanddestroy]

TODAY, TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, is Film Forum's last day showing The Killing – 1:00 PM, 4:40 PM, and 8:20 PM
http://www.filmforum.org/movies/more/the_killing

[drinkanddestroy]

I am in the lobby of the Regal theater in Union Square now (waiting to see LONE SURVIVOR), I see a sign here that they have a classic movie series, beginning Feb. 23, showing films including ON THE WATERFRONT, REAR WINDOW, CHICAGO, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. tixx available at the theater box office or at REGmovies.com

[drinkanddestroy]

It's quite possible Drink would find Z commie propaganda but that's his loss.

funny, I was looking through this thread now.... and it just so happens that I recently saw Z on TCM. I did think it was Commie propaganda, and I shut it off early, but I wasn't enjoying the movie very much. If it's good propaganda, I don't mind seeing it.