tell us about the last Film you saw

another interesting film by pietro marcello called "crossing the line" from 2007. i kinda had mixed emotions about "el bocca del lupo" (the wolf's mouth) which i watched a few days ago. liked its gritty visual density and the unusual treatment of italian working class masculinity, constructing and deconstructing it at the same time, but also felt disgusted by it at the same time, mostly bc of the rotten circumstances these people have to live in, all the squalor, which i also know pretty well.



it's about a night train carrying mostly italian working-class men from the south of italy to the north for job reasons. lots of interviews with people you usually dont see or meet coz they actually have no permanent home any longer, it's these trains that offer them some feelings of belonging and temporary companionship. again, a very atmospheric film. if you have ever travelled on a night train, then you know this feeling of exciting forlornness when looking out of the windows and seeing all these dark, deserted and uninviting landscapes pass by, only lit by a few lanterns. you would never walk through them at night, but now you sit in a safe train.

marcello has a different perspective though. for him it's the men who are important and it is a good place to get to know them and their stories better. there seems to be a large group of working men who travel through the european union constantly coz italy cannot offer them a living any longer. it is like a parallel world, the dark side of the european union, kept hidden in our high-gloss world. he wants to bring these forgotten souls into the spotlight just once before they leave this planet forever.

i liked this one better than lupo. mostly bc of how he is able to capture the atmosphere inside and outside the train.

here is an interview with the handsome director:
 
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hey, guys from mubi.com usa. here in southern austria we defo like trashy post-apocalyptic films like "surf nazis must die", man, you f***ers.


have to watch all troma films now. you get what you expect.
 
thanks, 'preciate it, cloud! :) (we have just witnessed a few drops of rain here...)



this is chris marker "sans soleil" from 1983, which got raving reviews. i think it is quite okay, an interesting film, an essayistic travel report about someone's (a fictitious camera man) journey through japan, guinea, and other places. i watched it in french with english subs, and was a bit put off by the constant monologue of the voice in the off reading out letters by the above-mentioned camera man. they are philosophically meditating on the question of memory, nature, etc. i loved the images from all around the world, but somehow wanted to turn off this radio voice which was slightly accusing in its never-ending renderings, and way too fast, so i couldnt really focus on the pictures any longer.

loved this other film by marker, la jetee, a short apocalyptic film taking place in the catacombs of the paris metro after the nuclear apocalypse, with the protagonist undergoing chemical experiments that open up locked-up areas of his memory.
 
great short film from 1943.


highly symbolic and obviously influenced by psychoanalysis and dream theory.

montana sacra from 1973 by alejandro jodowroski. somehow john and yoko were involved in it too but cant remember how.


this was all a lil bit too much for me. they wanted to break with every taboo (we even see someone's shit turned into gold) and give us the ultimate spiritual experience enlightening us about the folly of the material world, but also spiritual, political and economic leaders in baroque overkill. the powerful ones go on a hike together at the end of the film, to find eternal life, but all they find eventually is reality. i liked it how the actors looked quite normal in the final scenes, devoid of all costumes and shrill noises. the frog scenes at the beginning were quite amazing, but i am pretty sure that many animals lost their lives for this film.
 
short film: edmund yeo - love suicides
a single mother receives anonymous letters daily telling her that she and her daughter are too loud.
even though not much is said or done in this household, she frantically tries to make everything quieter at once.
 
probably the worst film i've seen for ages. it wants too much and achieves nothing.


sorry to see that this young director, richard kelly, couldnt offer a convincing follow-up to his first hit "donnie darko".
the acting is all highly exaggerated to hide the fact that these actors actually cannot act.
 
watched two strong films which are great in specific cinematic aspects.

Wild Goose Lake from 2019 by diao yi'nan. a chinese-french cooperation


takes place in Wuhan, China.
Two similarly operating organizations, the petty crime scene and the police, fight against each other.
the protagonist, handsome actor hu ge, shoots a police man. he wants his wife, who left him five years ago, to cooperate with the police to get the reward. a prostitute helps her.
the atmosphere is great: neon noir urban settings and a very soft camera that, at the beginning, almost seems to shy away from its images.
actors are doing a good job.
thought the story was pretty weak. couldnt really understand the protagonist's motive in sacrificing himself for his family as they are never shown together. was wondering why we see so many brutal films from asia dealing with revenge and police state oppression, but no passionate love films. are they out there?

The strange love of martha ivers from 1946 by lewis milestone with kirk douglas, barbara stanwyk and van heflin.


here they had a strong script and a cast of convincing character actors. and then everyone else did their routine job shooting this film to get it into its box. i wonder if creative freedom with regard to other aspects of film making were at all required by individuals working for mainstream hollywood in the early 20th century. they surely developed genres, like film noir, but then after a while, these stock features were reproduced over and over again to fulfill expectations.
so, the story is great - cunningness and innocence, the moral corruption of the rich and successful. actors get it all across,especially liked van heflin. kirk douglas is able to evoke the immaturity of the weak male but as an alcoholic he is laying it on too thick sometimes. musical score contributes to the atmosphere according to expectations.
weakness: the rest of the production comes across as a routine job with an unimaginative cutting technique and choice of locations, like in many other films of this hollywood era.

so, the wild goose lake couldve benefitted from more character depth and emotion, and martha ivers from more eagerness to experiment with regard to camera or light work.

i'm not watching films today coz i feel uprooted from reality.
 
Sunderland TIL I Die one of the best Football documentary I have seen in years.Tell’s a story about the passion and love for Sunderland AFC and fans will follow the club Right to the end.But the film also see the rise and fall of Sunderland many, Successes and look too the end of the working class game that football once was.It a great view of working class life in,North East English football the community of Sunderland living in the Shadow of their more bigger rival NUFC.

Series 1
2

I recommend fan of Sunderland or Not should watch this film.
 
Ema by pablo larrain is disappointing, and even more disappointing are the raving reviews celebrating this film as a masterpiece and whatnot.


There is a very vague female liberation story holding everything together. I wonder whether this film was funded by the chilean tourist board, a blond average-looking protagonist f***ing and dancing around to liberate herself will attract the average-looking losers from abroad, the handsome and well-groomed male actors will attract women and gays looking for latino lovers. Chile offers lots of music, dancing and physically (and not too intelligently) engaging young people waiting to throw themselves at the lonesome folks of the western world, offering lots of family and communal drama to satisfy the need of belonging.
This film lacks a story coz its goal is to present an artificial kaleidoscope of what chile is supposed to be, nothing more.
And do i want to see just another neon noir urban setting in film with coloful light effects that are trying to make us forget all the real problems of poverty and squalor in this country?
I really liked el club and tony manero by larrain, but here he has sold his soul to his sponsors.
The illuminated dancing scenes at the beginning were nice to look at. Surely has cost some money.
 
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A little bit more entertaining and sometimes even slightly funny was "this is spinal tap" from 1983.


We all know that the music biz is the most ridiculous of all businesses. Thats?what spinal tap is all about.

Thanks to this film, i now know why it takes morrissey always so long to get on stage.

Seems that the film "anvil", about a real heavy metal band, is strongly based on this film, even though i dont know if anvil knew that.
 
Sunderland TIL I Die one of the best Football documentary I have seen in years.Tell’s a story about the passion and love for Sunderland AFC and fans will follow the club Right to the end.But the film also see the rise and fall of Sunderland many, Successes and look too the end of the working class game that football once was.It a great view of working class life in,North East English football the community of Sunderland living in the Shadow of their more bigger rival NUFC.

Series 1
2

I recommend fan of Sunderland or Not should watch this film.

if i watch this will it help me understand the football so that i can talk with neil about it? (even though he's an aston villa--I think that's what its called?-- fan--as am i)
 
I am currently keeping a note of every film iv watched since January the 1st,im currently on 78 films,will burn through a bunch this weekend.anybody who hasn't dipped their toe into south Korean cinema you don't know what your missing.last film I watched was spoorloos,which has the most horrible ending to a film,that and funny games which I will never watch again.spoorloos became the vanishing in Hollywood starring keifer sutherland.
 
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A little bit more entertaining and sometimes even slightly funny was "this is spinal tap" from 1983.


We all know that the music biz is the most ridiculous of all businesses. Thats?what spinal tap is all about.

Thanks to this film, i now know why it takes morrissey always so long to get on stage.

Seems that the film "anvil", about a real heavy metal band, is strongly based on this film, even though i dont know if anvil knew that.

that scene was funny,i thought there was somebody who would lead you to the stage.anvil is a good docu as well,seen that years ago.
 
I am currently keeping a note of every film iv watched since January the 1st,im currently on 78 films,will burn through a bunch this weekend.anybody who hasn't dipped their toe into south Korean cinema you don't know what your missing.last film I watched was spoorloos,which has the most horrible ending to a film,that and funny bones which I will never watch again.spoorloos became the vanishing in Hollywood starring keifer sutherland.
i've watched this south korean film recently which is part of a trilogy on revenge...
south korean film -sympathy for mr vengeance

spoorloos sounds dutch though.
 
i've watched this south korean film recently which is part of a trilogy on revenge...
south korean film

spoorloos sounds dutch though.
the young couple are from Amsterdam but the film is set in france,its free to watch on youtube.
 
skywatch: a short film
will surely find its mainstream audience after having been blown up to a full movie.


you better not mess with 'em drones, boys!
 
short film by christopher maclaine from 1953 called "the end".


it's the end of the world (once again) and the final day for six suicidal young men who can't find a woman to do whatever with, so they are depressed and dream of the nuclear apocalypse. crude film-making which was certainly en vogue with young folks in the 1950s.

When procreation hormones are running wild, and the idling biological programme comes up with "end of the world" scenarios instead, to "fill the void", you know that you are mentally in your 20s again. our bodies are still caught in the stone age, when being 20 was actually being as old as methuselah, so it was time to die sooner than later. i don't think our bodies have learned that much since then, but they have always exercised power over the mind, which is younger than the body, but the older we get, the stronger the mind becomes. which helps.

that's what i was thinking while watching the 30 min film which certainly broke with many cinematic traditions.

actually, quite a tragic story about the director, maclaine. he made 4 short films, was a beat poet and drug addict and died relatively young in a mental hospital.
 
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edmund yeo, "kingyo" (means goldfish) - also a short film (shown on mubi, just like "the end", see above)


i was just about to exult jubilantly, already calling this beautifully poetic film a masterpiece, when shortly before the end, we see the two goldfish (important symbol to understand the characters state of separation, with the goldfish being memories of beautiful times of togetherness) having been removed from their (far too small) fishbowl and laid on a table to gasp for air pitifully, which broke my heart. And i knew once again, that these animals had been tortured and most likely killed for "art". spoilt everything for me.

what an insensitive thing to do in the 21st century!!! unbelievable!

did some research on animal rights in malaysia, and, as to be expected, they are almost non-existant.
 
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