manakamana

[jenkins]

The journey up a mountain to the Manakamana temple is an ancient ritual for the Nepalese people.  What once took pilgrims days to complete can now be accomplished in just 10 minutes thanks to a gondola.  This film consists solely of uninterrupted 10-minute shots of people as they ride the cable car, the last half of the movie showing various groups as they descend.  Quietly observing the various groups, the film is a uniquely meditative and illuminating view of humanity. From Harvard's Sensory Ethnography Lab – the same organization that created the innovative documentary LEVIATHAN (AFI FEST 2012) – comes another structuralist tour-de-force that trains its cameras on ancient rites.  Infused with humor, music and reverence this is an unforgettable documentary experience.  The unique structure and style of the film places the audience in a reverent, tranquil space from which to observe the most intimate and personal moments of human relationships.—Lane Kneedler

Country: Nepal, USA
Year: 2013
Directors: Stephanie Spray, Pacho Velez
Writer: (not listed)

[Pubrick]

This film consists solely of uninterrupted 10-minute shots of people as they ride the cable car,

oh my god you have got to be kidding me. if you weren't so humourless i'd be certain that you were trolling us with these "films" you keep posting about.

this is not a movie, it's an art piece, and not a very interesting one at that. would you seriously pay money to see this? this is rare case where a 90 second trailer of uncut footage from the film actually shows you EVERYTHING you can expect from the full 90mins (lord have mercy).

kiarostami was lucky to get away with this shit, and for that we should give him some credit, but this is not that.

you should just make a thread called "movies that no one should ever watch" or better yet "movies that no one needs to know exist" and lump all this crap in there.

[Ghostboy]

Why dismiss it so quickly I haven't sent it, but suspect it's probably a wonderful experience if you're open to it. James Benning has been making films even more rigorous than this for decades, to great acclaim. This trailer gives you an idea as to what to expect, but doesn't offer the effect that sustained sequencing can provide.

A few years ago, a less rigorous but still challenging documentary called INTO GREAT SILENCE sought to capture similar patterns of spiritual ritual and tradition. Not only was it a wonderful film, but it wound up being a box office hit (relatively speaking). That was a Michael Bay film compared to this one, judging from the trailer.

But the point is, movies can encompass this type of work, and this type of work can indeed be good.

And the same team made SWEETGRASS and LEVIATHAN, which are both amazing big screen experiences.

[03]

you should just make a thread called "movies that no one should ever watch" or better yet "movies that no one needs to know exist" and lump all this crap in there.

yeah what are you, the new old me?

[Pubrick]

^lol no you were more entertaining.

ghosty i guess i'm mostly reacting to the onslaught of trailers this dude posted recently. did you SEE Congratulations? that was just amateur hogwash. it's like he's posting everything screening at a minor film festival, including the filler.

i know that there's room in cinema for this kind of experience, but it's hardly unique is it? go to any modern art hub in any town and you will see a million video exhibits like this one playing on constant loop for people to walk by. any one of those, if you stare at it long enough, would give you the same result. i'm talking about this particular cable car expose.. don't know anything about leviathan and the others.

even the write up makes it sound like a run of the mill video experiment by a lazy art student "The unique structure and style of the film places the audience in a reverent, tranquil space from which to observe the most intimate and personal moments of human relationships."  it's NOT unique, and this hardly could be called a style. doing nothing. anyone can do that.

i get that any film that gets made, even the probably-dreadful Congratulations, is a triumph no matter what. it's great that someone out there is making things, it's a net positive, but must we post the trailer for every achievement from amateurs to video artists to straight to video releases? i'm just after a little quality control.. wilderesque does a similar thing but that dude has TASTE.. he really posts things that are worth talking about.

it would be nice to go to a local art show with a bunch of you people, sure. that's the experience jenkem must be trying to simulate. but as a meta review of content on this board, wilder is taking us to better places.

[jenkins]

these are movies i'm seeing during a festival. i'm excited i get to see them (maybe). will they be as good as i hope, will they be terrible? i don't know. it's called an adventure. sharing here to see how they're perceived. so i appreciate replies, mhmm

[jenkins]

pretty sure my internet number thing shows i was at another person's apartment on my phone when this all happened. quite alarming at first. i hoped for better, you know. hopes aren't always fulfilled of course.

now, i'd like to address things

ghosty i guess i'm mostly reacting to the onslaught of trailers this dude posted recently.

yeah. thanks man

it's like he's posting everything screening at a minor film festival, including the filler.

no, the ones i'm seeing that have internet trailers. and, yes, i value the programmers of the afi festival

i'm talking about this particular cable car expose.. don't know anything about leviathan and the others.

it's NOT unique, and this hardly could be called a style. doing nothing. anyone can do that.

you don't have a cinematic frame of reference, not a big deal, but those of us who have seen sweetgrass and leviathan wouldn't make the same accusations. i'd say the camera does nothing or very little (surprising sometimes how the very little can mean so much) -- the camera watches the people, and the movie is edited in a way that reveals the shadows of their selves, the little things that give us access to their insides. listen, anyone can live and ride a cable car, true enough. anyone can point a camera at them, true enough. it takes a certain passion and empathy from the creator to notice who they are as people and how, despite a lack of those movie juices, they live and breathe and ache and laugh and try and try. cinema itself isn't unique. 100+ years of shooting and editing and acting. the unique part comes from how cinema is used. and i'd say the unique and interesting thing here is a cinema which treats people like cinema -- all built through the same ingredients, but with areas that exist only for them. i think it's beautiful. what will this movie be like? i'll find out

it would be nice to go to a local art show with a bunch of you people, sure. that's the experience jenkem must be trying to simulate. but as a meta review of content on this board, wilder is taking us to better places.

wilder and i share many interests and i like him. i think it's great how much you like him. he's good at finding movies on the radar. i'm going to see many on the radar as well. but i don't expect tastemakers to come along and decide everything for me. you could try exploring movies yourself pubrick. nono, maybe not, i don't think you'd like that. some of us do

[jenkins]

during my dog killer i'd stare at things then realize something just happened, and during manakamana i knew whomever i was staring at was what was happening. the form is portraits of 11 or so mountain ascents/descents shown in total. the camera doesn't move. the hills move. the people sit. i saw a rooster, goats, and often felt quite meditative. is the movie mundane or spiritual? good life question

[Cloudy]

I know this is a manakamana thread, but I just gotta say how fucking great Leviathan is. I just saw it in the cinema with a director q/a...in short this is some contemporary kind of bonkers that you can already tell will fucking last. The dude was just giving his take on Moby Dick or something (I haven't read it (hehe), but I could just tell...(he actually even sort of hinted at it in the Q & A, they tried to read the book out loud while riding on the ship and failed miserably) next on queue after Rainbow)...shit...some of those images are forever burned.

Those moments when the moon was present in frame with the water in rhythm, and the fucking sawed off Fish's head floating? That full moon, just a dot. The Fisherman controlling the crane behind the glass......so so delicate. That first 20 minute sequence when the red digital noise artifacts pitter patter...flowing from darkness into this cosmic rhythm. Some of those fisherman were laugh out loud hilarious, watching that dude fall asleep to the Deadliest Catch might have been one of the greatest references to the opening scene of Baraka ever.

Make sure to see it in a theater whenever that happens for you, it'll spawn in revival houses in the upcoming years for sure.