disturbing films

[Ghostboy]

Salo?  Cannibal Holocaust?  I've seen neither, but the descriptions of them are grotesque.  Some people consider Salo art and some think it is worthless.  CH was banned for a while, wasn't it?

http://www.xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=3019, for anyone interested

I'd add two Michael Haneke films to the list -- The Piano Teacher and Funny Games.

[rustinglass]

funny games is  great and so is code:inconnu, it has some pretty disturbing moments btw. I didn't care too much for the piano teacher.

[1976]

Close Thread.

[Pas]

This one would kill Ebes... C'est arrivé près de chez vous ... best feature in Cannes '92

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0103905

[Sleuth]

Ebes is too afraid to even open the thread

[Vile5]

1.Irreversible= nice, but a pretentious experiment?
2.Happiness= i didn't like it
3.Audition= art
4.The Piano Teacher= maybe the only god in this picture were Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Magimel (especially Benoit hmm...)

[ono]

I was doing some research a while back on some of the more controversial films made.  Here's a list, no particular order.  Some have probably been repeated, but links to IMDB are included as well.

Baise-moi (2000) (Fuck Me) / (Rape Me)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0249380

Clean, Shaven (1995)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0106579

Last House on the Left (1972)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0068833

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0099763

Pink Flamingos (1972)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0069089

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0097108
Excrement, cannibalism, and other grotesque ... shit.
I hated this movie, and thought it had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but I know some of you here liked it.  Greenaway is a hack, IMO.

Day of the Woman (1978) (AKA: I Spit on Your Grave, I Hate Your Guts, The Rape and Revenge of Jennifer Hill)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0077713
The film Roger Ebert calls the worst EVER.

Irréversible (2002) (Irreversible)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0290673

Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975) (Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0073650

Caligola (1979) (Caligula)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080491

Cannibal Holocaust (1979)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0078935

Meet the Feebles (1989)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0097858

Ai no corrida (1976) (In the Realm of the Senses) / (Bullfight of love)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0074102
Terrible, terrible movie that's basically just porn masquerading as art.  The characters have no depth, the story is just boring, and the sex is graphic in some ways, and in others not, which is really odd for a movie such as this.  Kael spoke of a revolution starting with Ultimo tango a parigi (which never came).  Last Tango tried to say something, at least.  This movie is actually boring when it comes right down to it.

Seul contre tous (1998) (I Stand Alone)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0157016

C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992) (Man Bites Dog)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0103905

Intimacy (2000)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0256103

Kids (1995)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0113540
Trash.  Larry Clark is a perverted old man.  Its only redeeming quality is it may have something good to say to high school kids, but I'm better betting the vast majority of them are too stupid to get it, and take this film as a glorification of the debauchery within.

Bully (2001)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0242193

Gummo (1997)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0119237

julien donkey-boy (1999)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0192194

Ken Park (2002)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0209077

À ma soeur! (2001) (Fat Girl)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0243255

Romance X (1999)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0194314

36 fillette (1988)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0094596

Une vraie jeune fille (1976) (A Real Young Girl)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0135024

And some basic classic horror stuff, probably considered rather tame compared to the stuff above:

The Evil Dead (1981)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0083907

Evil Dead II (1987)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0092991

Braindead (1992) (Dead Alive)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0103873

I've only been able to see four of the films listed (Kids, that Greenaway piece of shit, and Ai no corrida).  I'm looking forward to seeing Korine's other works, though.  For some reason, they suddenly seem really intriguing.  But the trend seems to be that controversial != good.  Intimacy is probably the most mature work from what I've read.  And the most tame, I'm betting.  I found out about it in Ebert's 2002 yearbook.  All of those volumes are such great resources.

EDIT: For some reason, I don't really consider Happiness in this group anymore, but I guess it should be, considering some of the content.  I thought it was pretty good, but wish Solondz would calm down, as he has talent.

That reminds me:

Beau-pere (1981) (Stepfather)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0082054
A chilling look at a relationship between a stepfather and stepdaughter after the mother dies.  Better than both Lolitas IMO.

also... (as Ultimo tango a parigi reminded me):

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0096332
Kael loved it.

Henry & June (1990)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0099762
First film to get an NC-17 rating.  Has Uma Thurman and Kevin Spacey in an early role (!).  But it's rather tame, I've heard.

Bleh, just refer to this list:

http://us.imdb.com/List?certificates=USA:NC-17&&heading=14;USA:NC-17

...if you're so curious.  First item on it is 1900 by Bertolucci.  Heard it's bloated and sprawling, but it's definitely one of the ones I want to see uncut someday.

[picolas]

i don't recommend eating a muffin whilst reading this thread.

[Cecil]

I Spit On Your Grave (1973)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0077713
The film Roger Ebert calls the worst EVER

do you think he considers the brown bunny the worst ever now?

[Sleuth]

Kids (1995)I'm better the vast majority of them are too stupid to get it, and take this film as a glorification of the debauchery within.

That's how it was presented to me, and I didn't know anything about it to begin with.  That's sort of the reason I hated it for a time.  Very sad

[ono]

I Spit On Your Grave (1973)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0077713
The film Roger Ebert calls the worst EVER

do you think he considers the brown bunny the worst ever now?

Hehe, good question.  I haven't seen either, but from what I've heard, I Spit On Your Grave is just trash all the way through.  But then again, The Brown Bunny is supposed be pretentious, boring trash.  So it's a tough call.

More films:

Fucking Åmål (1998)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0150662
Haha, the IMDB denied this film a place on the top 250 at one time, because of the word "fuck".  It's supposed to be good, too.

Lucía y el sexo (2001) (Sex and Lucia)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0254455
Another supposedly good film despite the sexual content.

Y tu mama tambien (2001) (And your mother too)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0245574
I'm just putting this one in because the two above titles reminded me of it.  The sex is realistic, which is the only source of controversy.  But the film isn't as good as most critics would have you believe, IMO.

Hundstage (2001) (Dog Days)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0290661
Austrian pretention.

Oodishon (2000) (Audition)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0235198

L' Amant (1991) (The Lover)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0101316

The Center of the World (2001)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0240402

Amy's Orgasm (2001)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0280424
Hahaha.

Fire (1996)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0116308

Naked (1993)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0107653
A Mike Leigh film.

Wide Sargasso Sea (1995)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0108565

When Night Is Falling (1995)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0114916

For a lot of these you can probably just laugh at the MPAA for giving the tame sexuality displayed NC-17 ratings.  But they're still worth mentioning for the "controversy."

[Ravi]

Fire (1996)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0116308

This one was more controversial within India than anywhere else.  It is about a lesbian relationship.  I haven't seen it, but I assume that it is pretty tame compared to the other films listed here.

Visszaesök (Forbidden Relations)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0084871

Brother and sister.  You put two and two together  

[ono]

You're probably right, Ravi.

Crash (1996)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0115964
Silly Cronenberg.

Boxing Helena (1993)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0106471
Silly David Lynch's Daughter.

Clerks. (1994)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0109445
Silly Kevin Smith.  But seriously, this film is decent for an indie, for a first effort, and for the pricetag.  The dialogue, though, man, I was really shocked when I first saw this.  Had my ears burning, which is why it got the NC-17 at first.

L.I.E. (2001)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0242587
A bit above average film with a cop-out ending.  If you didn't like Happiness, stay away from this.  Even though it does do a good job dancing around the subject at times, it is very frank.

And how could we forget...

Showgirls (1995)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0114436

Feh.

[Pas]

Crash is a fuckin great movie ... Clerks is good too, and I find nothing shocking, let alone disturbing, to it. Kevin Smith made a couple (literally) of good movies.

[NEON MERCURY]

..damn..... .you guys sure know your stuff...onomatopoeia thanks for the list(s).......i stand alone.....i heard of that film before  but can't remeber why...is it any good?????