Ask The Gold Trumpet

Started by Gold Trumpet, April 30, 2003, 07:35:07 PM

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Ravi

Quote from: The Gold TrumpetHigh and Low, which I consider one of Kurosawa's best, is a pure commercial film. Its just I wish Seven Samuari would have chosen to be one thing tonally.

And I haven't seen the film you mentioned. I never even heard of it, actually.

~rougerum

I'm a big fan of Kurosawa's Ed McBain films.

Those Who Tread on Tiger's Tail (it may have some variations on the title) is an earlier Kurosawa work.  I've seen it too long ago to write a review, but I thought it was kind of boring.

SHAFTR

more questions...

1.)  The 400 Blows
2.)  Les Bonnes Femmes (I've doubt you've seen it, but worth a shot)
3.)  In a Lonely Place
"Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i'll probably regret soon"

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: SHAFTRmore questions...

1.)  The 400 Blows
2.)  Les Bonnes Femmes (I've doubt you've seen it, but worth a shot)
3.)  In a Lonely Place

Haven't seen even one of those. Sorry. The 400 Blows, I understand, I should have seen by now. I've tried ordering it and all, but my order fucks up and the box set is an arm and a leg in payment to get.

Sanjuro

hey let me have a shot. i ahve a bunch of questions since i enjoy your reviews a lot and respect your opinion
1.) how do you think kagemusha compares with ran?
2.) why do you call 8 1/2 superficial?
3.) i know you dont like most of them, but is there any movie with a plot twist that you think is good?
REVIEWS
4.) The Conversation
5.) Wild at Heart
6.) Dogville
7.) Dancer in the Dark as a musical
8.) is Pulp Fiction a 'masterpiece' for you?
thanks!
"When you see your own photo, do you say you're a fiction?"

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: Sanjurohey let me have a shot. i ahve a bunch of questions since i enjoy your reviews a lot and respect your opinion
1.) how do you think kagemusha compares with ran?
2.) why do you call 8 1/2 superficial?
3.) i know you dont like most of them, but is there any movie with a plot twist that you think is good?

Thanks for the complement. I'll tackle the first three questions now. I'll get to the reviews later.

1.) how do you think kagemusha compares with ran?
Tough question. Both are great films, imo. Both come from similiar composition in Kurosawa holding the camera further back and relying on silence more often. Thing is, Kagemusha relies more on that silence for its power. It has a touch of Ozu more so than usual Kurosawa and doesn't end in a very dramatic tone. It ends as if we've seen something and are suppose to keep the film in our memory so it can grow on us. Ran is a powerful film just on first viewing. In observing Kagemusha, what is even weirder with the reliance on silence and observation, it comes a from ploy idea: A leader is killed and to keep their enemy from conquering them in a weak moment, they find a nobody look a like of the leader to stand in his place to keep the enemy at bay. Hollywood could have easily made a bad film out of this idea (and likely has).
Ran seems to typify many common things of Kurosawa in his career of making mainly historical war films. He could have easily made Ran years ago into a very different film. He seems to save it last for certain reasons and out of what could be convential work for him, has made a personal statement. The story of the general trying to get away from power in search of peace could be a metaphor for Kurosawa's own career. Like the general, he depended on war in some way (Kurosawa made films about them) and like the general, had to live with deaths near to his family (Kurosawa's wife died years earlier and he unsuccessfully tried to kill himself) and finally, like the general, tried to find peace at the end of his life to give his life some purpose (Ran would be his last war film. The rest of his films he made before he died were made more about peace and a search for it).
Finally, I must add that both films feel like spiritual films like no Kurosawa film before. I mentioned his newly developed composition of the camera being further away and the silence even longer with these two films. In Japanese culture, the major religion is the Shinto religion, which suggests one idea that there is not just one God, but many Gods. And these Gods aren't outside our world, but in it and looking down on us to see how we go about our life. An idea to patience and kindness in Japanese culture is that the idea of a physical God in their life criticizing them has been influencing generations of Japanese people, even if today's Japanese are not fully aware of it. Both films feel like they come from the point of view of God. Further evidence of Ran being a personal statement and Kagemusha being about the memory of one's man little known existence and demise feels like the beliefs of the Shinto religion are being directly applied to both films. Kurosawa with both works feels like he is making final statements on a subject and genre of film that dominated his life.
(note: I also realize some Japanese people post here and may be critical of how correct I am in the last paragraph. Its really from all that I read on the specific subject and my own beliefs in relation to the film. Nothing more nor anything that is to be offensive in case I got something wrong.)

2.) why do you call 8 1/2 superficial?
Fellini always seems to have involved himself somewhat into his films. Before 8 1/2, it seemed only to be to a certain extent while being objective as well. Fellini is the protaganist in 8 1/2 so the idea he can be fully objective about himself is gone. He really is exploring his inner dreams and fantasies while only identifying the griefs and complaints of others. He makes no attempts to actually involve himself in them to make drama at all, but just to show a scene and end it with a daydream or hallucination that seems to have hit him at the time. If the film was to be looked at dramatically, it would be a pretty bad film. In the film, everyone's complaints of Guido are continually and continually identified, never delved. For Guido, from bedding the whore, lying about her to his wife and then lying again about her to his wife, they all feel like one point being said over and over again. The genious of the film is the filmmaking. The only other film I know comparable in brilliance of filmmaking at the time would be West Side Story (a movie neeeding much more recognition). Both films have that effect of making the viewing of the film so great.

i know you dont like most of them, but is there any movie with a plot twist that you think is good?
Prolly the one in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest where the Indian reveals he can speak and everyone at the mental hospital reveal they are only volunteers, not patients. The reason why this example is good is because the film doesn't rest itself on them for success. They seem to give new shades to the characters more so. The film has much more in its ending and narrative than just these twists. Plot twists are naturally cheap effects and at least this movie keeps them in check to a certain point where they aren't the only things that satisfy or move us when the film ends.

SHAFTR

1.)  George Washington:  a film I just saw and I believe I have seen you mention before.

2.)  This is Spinal Tap

3.)  A Better Place:  a film that GW reminded me of, if you haven't seen it, check it out and let me know what you think.
"Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i'll probably regret soon"

cine

SHAFTR, lemme guess: you're on a 400 Blows fix? :wink:

SHAFTR

Quote from: CinephileSHAFTR, lemme guess: you're on a 400 Blows fix? :wink:

Yes, I saw The 400 Blows last week, 35 mm print.  I really want the Criterion Box Set Truffaut's films that follow up The 400 Blows.

http://www.criterionco.com/asp/boxed_set.asp?id=185
"Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i'll probably regret soon"

cine

Ah, as do I.. I'm sure its very worth it. I should have it before 2004. :-D

Sanjuro

Quote from: SHAFTR
Quote from: CinephileSHAFTR, lemme guess: you're on a 400 Blows fix? :wink:

Yes, I saw The 400 Blows last week, 35 mm print.  I really want the Criterion Box Set Truffaut's films that follow up The 400 Blows.

http://www.criterionco.com/asp/boxed_set.asp?id=185

i just received this today, havent really checked it out yet, but the packaging is amazing! if you do get it, get it from dvdplanet i saved like 20 bucks i thnk!
"When you see your own photo, do you say you're a fiction?"

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: SanjuroREVIEWS
4.) The Conversation
5.) Wild at Heart
6.) Dogville
7.) Dancer in the Dark as a musical
8.) is Pulp Fiction a 'masterpiece' for you?
thanks!

Sadly, I've only seen Dancer in the Dark and Pulp Fiction. The Conversation has been on my "must watch" list for a few years now. It isn't at any video store here and everytime its on tv I get lazy and not tape it or watch it. I watched the first 20 minutes of Wild At Heart and turned it off because it was so annoying. I'll try it again some other time. Dogville has yet to be released near my area.

7.) Dancer in the Dark as a musical
Its not a good film nor is it a good musical. I don't understand Von Trier's logic in using the musical for this film. It is the most superficial and fake genre out there but yet he introduces it to a very grim and dark story. The result is a film so off balanced that there can be little way to justify it. The main excuse: Because Bjork's character is blind and her dreams are of music and light so these acted out musicals make sense? No. The musical numbers are also filmed in indie dreariness with people who can't dance. It becomes a lame performance. The filmmaking is also piss poor in capturing the performance. The camera switches so quickly from place to place that any attempt to appreciate talent in dancing is lost. Its like watching like photographs of different people dancing appear quickly on the screen without being able to see the full performance to appreciate what is done. The defense to this: What if the dancing was done with quality? Still no. There would still be a severe difference of tone that the superficial will feel extended to death in meaning and the realistic would feel like it was pandering to something below it. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, in all its superficiality of story, felt extended a little too far to dramatic meaning. Dancer in the Dark was trying to convey the dreams and hopes of a blind person in search of some happy thoughts when facing a terrible consequence. Thing is, it just settled for the most obvious idea when trying to make a musical for her. It could have searched for something deeper and more fitting to the tone of the film.

8.) is Pulp Fiction a 'masterpiece' for you?
Yes, but maybe not in the way of how others call it one. I don't see any drama in the film or anything that is meant to be taken serious at all. I compare it to The Good, The Bad & The Ugly in taking the canvas of a genre and telling a story of stylized pulp for it that has satisfaction in just following all the off beat characters. Compared to Resevoir Dogs, this film is epic and its scope is all the more satisfying. Resevoir Dogs is enjoyable for me, but also very frustating because it is also a riff on a genre, but so limited in vision that you feel you are being kicked over and over again with the same signals of how this is taking on a genre. Pulp Fiction is always inventive and changing and so the reminder of genre riff is never the same one.

Slick Shoes

so i guess you didn't like moulin rouge?

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: Slick Shoesso i guess you didn't like moulin rouge?

I did actually. The energy in the filmmaking and screenplay won me over. Chicago, though, I did not like. It was superficial, but also trying to be something dramatically. The film was also raped of any invention or energy that may have saved the terrible dancing and MTV editing that tried to hide it.

SHAFTR

Quote from: The Gold Trumpet
Quote from: Slick Shoesso i guess you didn't like moulin rouge?

I did actually. The energy in the filmmaking and screenplay won me over. Chicago, though, I did not like. It was superficial, but also trying to be something dramatically. The film was also raped of any invention or energy that may have saved the terrible dancing and MTV editing that tried to hide it.

I hated Moulin Rouge...more than most can imagine.
"Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i'll probably regret soon"

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: SHAFTR1.)  George Washington:  a film I just saw and I believe I have seen you mention before.

Best film of 2000 and very influential for me. When I first saw this, the only thing apparent to me was how foreign the film still felt. The structure feels like it has every characteristic a film could invent: off balanced, simple, reckless, unexplainable, idiotic, pretensious. At first, I thought this was a film made with no plans. After thinking about it and viewing it more, I realized how thought out and masterful this film really was and that instead of the usual third person perspective given, it mixed moments of all three, but mainly held first person narrative through out in bringing a portrait of the boy George. Everytime I watched the film, my perspective on him deepened. The film was made for this. Also, like I said, it also has two other perspectives that seems to speak for his friends and the world around him. Then there is the filmmaking and how it alligns itself to the words and hopes of everyone in the film. It really is filmmaking as poetry. No film to come out recently has portrayed a boy and his world so effectively.

Quote from: SHAFTR2.)  This is Spinal Tap

I really do like this movie, but it is so tiring. There is no real story here at all, but scene after scene that has some comedic jab at this band. A lot of the jokes in the film do hold up, but when the movie gets on a streak of some bad and dated jokes, the loss of story just kills those scenes for me. I wish the story would have had more of a story so it could have allowed me to follow something even if being flooded with bad jokes. The film though is extremely effective of today because of its documentary feel. Its a nice thing of a comedy feeling genuine compared to the artificial and staged ones coming out today.

Quote from: SHAFTR3.)  A Better Place:  a film that GW reminded me of, if you haven't seen it, check it out and let me know what you think.

You suspected right. I haven't seen it. Unless I ordered it off the net, I likely have no chance of watching this anytime soon. I'll keep an eye on IFC and Sundance for it, though.