Talk About Movies: Part 4
Somehow threads merged, so here's part 4 of our ongoing movie discussion.
Watched Perfect Days for the third time again tonight. The perfect anodyne.
I discovered this word a few years ago walking through Muir Woods: komorebi. It was a perfect day there, the sun filtering through the trees.
Much is unsaid in the film. Who is the old man hugging the tree? Why do we see him dancing, sort of, in the street and then turning away, carrying a bundle of sticks near the end of the film? Does this remind him of his father, now with dementia? Note how he looks at the old man.
We know something has happened even if we don't know what exactly has happened.
Niko, the niece, reads a short story by Patricia Highsmith about a boy emotionally abused by his mother. She says she relates to the story.
Maybe the film would be better if we were told more. But I like when things aren't always spelled out.
So he cleans toilets. That may be the way you put your life back together, the steady rhythm of work.
Note the mouse figurines in the little window in the restaurant. One sits on a toilet.
I really can't explain why I like this film. I just do.
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Niko, the niece, reads a short story by Patricia Highsmith about a boy emotionally abused by his mother. She says she relates to the story
Do your students read Highsmith? What's thought of her among the college crowd?
I watched Mr. Turner the other day, Mike Leigh's biography of the British artist JMW Turner. Probably my favorite of all the Leigh films I've seen, just very well done. It helped that I went into it already knowing and admiring Turner's work.
btw David Hockney doesn't even deserve to carry JMW Turner's easel!
THE VILLAINESS (2017)(Korea)
ONE BIG SPOILER
Spoiler
Before the opening credits roll: What’s her kill count?*
Crash-Through-the-Third-Floor-Window-and-Hang-From-the-Leash-You-Wrapped-Around-the-Bad-Guy’s-Neck Fu!
I’m-looking-for-the-man-who-killed-my-Pa Fu!
Two-wheel sword fighting Fu: Always wear a helmet when motorcycling!
She could solve a lot of problems by: Escaping on a faster bike!
Flashbacks!
Cigarettes!
OK, now we pause this bloodbath and turn the whole flick into a meet-cute K-Pop RomCom. Why do we need a bunch of mushy stuff? Was there a bunch of mushy stuff in la Femme Nikita? It’s bad enough that she has a toddler. (Which I didn’t mention.)
Kinda creepy.
“If you knew the real me, you’d run away!” : “Whatever happens, I’ll trust you!”: Foreshadowing— Chapter 3 in your screenwriting textbook!
Boss: We’re out of ammo!
Says the Hit-Woman whose body count is now in triple digits: “How could you do this to me?”
Flick wraps up with a Jackie-Chan-esque car chase that is A+++!
We have to ask ourselves: Is this chick doing her own stunts?
Totally incomprehensible. Plus, seamless flashbacks make it difficult to understand. I cannot recommend this flick highly enough. It received a standing ovation at Cannes and it’s easy to see why. What a ride! Check it out!
*I counted 70.
going to the movies today, as I need heavy distraction
I watched it twice in theaters when it came out. After each sweat, I looked at my notebook and it was blank. I was too absorbed to remember what I was doing.
If I stream it now to look at the mouse on the toilet scene, I'll end up watching the whole movie -- maybe a couple of times.
I watched Mr. Turner the other day, Mike Leigh's biography of the British artist JMW Turner. Probably my favorite of all the Leigh films I've seen, just very well done. It helped that I went into it already knowing and admiring Turner's work.
btw David Hockney doesn't even deserve to carry JMW Turner's easel!
I unexpectedly loved this movie.
I watched Mr. Turner the other day, Mike Leigh's biography of the British artist JMW Turner. Probably my favorite of all the Leigh films I've seen, just very well done. It helped that I went into it already knowing and admiring Turner's work.
btw David Hockney doesn't even deserve to carry JMW Turner's easel!
I haven't seen this one, but I've liked all of Leigh's I have seen. Naked is my favorite, but I enjoyed Topsy-Turvy, Life is Sweet, and Happy-Go-Lucky.
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Really like Topsy Turvy and Happy go Lucky...never seen Mr. Turner.
As an added thought: When you get to heaven can you order a martini? With extra olives?
Conclave, Edward Berger, 2024
This is Swiss filmmaker Edward Berger's first English language film after his Oscar-winning WWI epic All Quiet On the Western Front. Based on Robert Harris' (Fatherland) 2016 novel.
The Pope dies and Ralph Fiennes, as the Dean of the College Of Cardinals, must head the search for a new Pope, with Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow as possible successors to be the new Pontiff, and Isabella Rossellini as a scheming nun.
This was great. Pulpy papal lunacy and backroom whispers...this film gives us enough secret political intrigue to satisfy any thriller fan. Berger stages it as deadly serious, with great cinematography and framing, all of the movie being held in the Vatican - most of it as the Cardinals are sequestered and going through vote after vote - liberals, moderates, and hard-liners all vying for the ring of the Bishop Of Rome.
As serious as it looks, the story is straight pulp - with sex scandals, duplicitousness, and even a completely batshit "twist" at the end that has to be seen to be believed.
Fiennes give an amazingly controlled and understated performance as the man who may be the one, true honest Cardinal in the whole of the Vatican.
Great fun.
Penny Marshall directed some great movies (Big, A League of Their Own and Oliver Sacks' Awakenings), but for some reason Riding in Cars with Boys is the one that flew under the radar. Not sure why. It's a wonderful movie and also her best work. The movie poster is awful, so I'll share this clip instead.
Oliver Stone
Ennio Morricone
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Billy Bob Thornton
Sean Penn
Abraham Benrubi
Jon Voight
Nick Nolte
Powers Booth
Jennifer Lopez
Julie Hagerty
Claire Danes
Joaquin Phoenix
Bo Hopkins
What's not to love!
There are people who don't love J-Lo?
I hadn't seen U-Turn in more than a decade... I found it really refreshing.
and that Morricone score is wonderful.
JLo is a triple threat! She can't dance, sing, OR act.
I taught a class with mostly Dominican women. The women from DR are characters. One mentioned J Lo and I had no idea who she was.
The student held her hands about three feet apart and said, "You know. Big ass."
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well, that's what she's most known for lol
Salomon is a classless dickwad
