Talk to Her

Started by ©brad, January 12, 2003, 01:12:09 PM

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Gold Trumpet

#15
March 23, 2003, 08:17:53 PM
rk,
maybe so, but the movie gives much more time to the situation of the rapist then the other to the point that he drvies himself in as feeling to be the main character and point of sympathy. I never got the feeling that the rapist was Marco's only friend or anything beyond the situation that he was a friend to him and similiar in dilemma only with woman friend in coma. If the aim was what you said, the movie was badly structured and should have focused a great deal on the sympathy and how the rapist friend plays off to the side then the other way around. So much time was given to him I was beyond caring about the entire thing.

~rougerum

©brad

#16
March 24, 2003, 05:59:43 AM


"Oh, my God. I know that to breathe is very expensive tonight, but I have to breathe. Well, first of all, thank you to the members of the Academy, for their generosity. This is, I mean, I don't know, this is really too much. And I would like to read something that is prohibited, but will be very short. You know, of course I dedicate this to El Deseo, to Sony Pictures Classic and all the people that helped me to make this movie. But I also want to dedicate this award to all the people that are raising their voices in favor of peace, respect of human rights, democracy and international legality. All of which are essential qualities to live. This award is also to them and to Spanish cinema and to all of you, because you are the witness of this wonderful moment of my life. Time's up. I'm sorry."

:-D

EL__SCORCHO

#17
March 27, 2003, 10:53:00 PM
I loved this movie! Almodovar just kicks ass! I love the way he puts so much art into his movies with his music, the theater performace, the colors, the voice-overs, he's just great.

When I saw the film the first time I liked it a lot, but it was after I left the theater and started thinking about it in the car that I really started getting into the movie. Then I had to go back and watch it again the next day. The same thing happened with to me with PDL, has this ever happened to anyone?

CollinBullock

#18
March 29, 2003, 02:21:38 PM
I did feel some sympathy with Begino, and I think teh movie aimed for that.  The things he geos through (what all the characters go through) are universal.  The idea of disconnection, and lost love, and trying to support someone who cares for you very little, it's all themese we understand.
Reality is extraordinary.  Unfourtanetly, the best parts don't make good movies - Terry Gilliam

godardian

#19
June 12, 2003, 08:56:01 PM
I just caught this over the weekend on DVD. I did like it. However, it's continuing a trend after All About My Mother that I'm not sure I like, though it's probably inevitable: Almodovar is VERY smooth around the edges by now. I don't think he needs to take too many steps further in this direction. I like his sassy, wild, colorful, irreverent films. I really don't think they're any less touching, either. This had enough of a spark to keep it going, and some very beautiful languor that you wouldn't get from the old Almodovar, but still...

-The Benigno character was interesting. Part of him was such a holdover from the old Almodovar days. I think it was Live Flesh that had an extended joke of a rape scene that John Waters would've been proud of... doesn't necessarily quite work in this context, because the surrounding "real," empathetic characters and storylines make it difficult to know how to interpret this sad quasi-rapist.

-It's really an issue of tone. It has the wildly twisted, unpredictable, reckless Almodovar plotting, but it doesn't get matched with what we see and heart. It's a bit of a tonal mess because of restraint and elegance being applied to something not really restrained or elegant.

-The best part of the film, cinematically speaking, was OBVIOUSLY the silent short. That was a beautiful, strange thing worthy of Almodovar and only Almodovar.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Jeremy Blackman

#20
June 12, 2003, 09:30:37 PM
Quote from: godardianIt's a bit of a tonal mess because of restraint and elegance being applied to something not really restrained or elegant.

That's exactly one of my favorite things about Almodovar, and probably how I would make a movie...

godardian

#21
June 12, 2003, 09:37:24 PM
Quote from: Jeremy Blackman
Quote from: godardianIt's a bit of a tonal mess because of restraint and elegance being applied to something not really restrained or elegant.

That's exactly one of my favorite things about Almodovar, and probably how I would make a movie...

I think it can work beautifully in some cases (frogs raining from the sky right in the midst of despair, suicide, child abuse, broken hearts, for example) but I thought it was the reason Talk to Her didn't entirely work for me. The pacing, the music... something wasn't quite right for the Benigno character, it wasn't an atmosphere that character could really seem right in, and to me, that caused a sort of chain effect where too many things didn't seem to have much life because of it...

I'm always all for ambiguity and contrast, and I'll always cheer anyone who wants to try it, but I just didn't think it was wholly pulled off here.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

children with angels

#22
June 12, 2003, 09:47:50 PM
Yeah, the tone of this movie was so strange to me (but this is coming from someone who hasn't seen any other Almodovar films). I found it so interesting because I honestly didn't know what the director wanted me to feel - I don't think I can think of another film that I've felt that way about to this extent.

The audience I saw it with was laughing so much that it made it even stranger. Seriously: they were finding it hilarious towards the beginning, it was really disturbing, and I could see where it was going, and just couldn't laugh at it. And then you've got the very funny (obviously intentionally so) silent movie, which actually has incredibly serious undertones in relation to the plot. And the performance art/dance lady: I couldn't tell if that was meant to be moving or if it was meant to be a piss-take of that kind of pretentious performance art (I, at the time, decided on the latter). This ambiguity was the beauty of the film for me, but also the thing that pushed me back from it too...
"Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do..."

http://www.alternatetakes.co.uk/
http://thelesserfeat.blogspot.com/

godardian

#23
June 12, 2003, 09:53:50 PM
You should definitely see Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. I think Almodovar has a very unique mixture of love and affectionate piss-taking towards his characters, but I think it does get harder to tell what he wants in his two last films. He is great, don't get me wrong; I just prefer the earlier stuff. I can appreciate that he doesn't want to be one-note, of course... and I didn't dislike Talk to Her, really. I just didn't think it was very strong.

I hope this doesn't sound racist, but Almodovar is Spanish, and I think that Spanish culture is not as drunk on irony as yours in England or ours here in the US. It's very directly passionate. I actually liken him to Fellini in that sense- color, vividness, and a sense of fun that's mixed right into the sense of sincerity.

I didn't laugh at the silent film, though. I mean, I actually thought it was very beautiful, very strange... yes, a little disturbing, when it comes right down to it.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

EL__SCORCHO

#24
June 13, 2003, 02:27:02 PM
I think anyone who doesn't speak spanish will miss out on some of the humor in Almodovar's films. I've seen some of his films on vhs with subtitles and sometimes they do a really shitty job with them. A lot gets lost in the translation.

Everytime I watch a foreign film I always wonder how much I'm not getting because I don't know the language, the culture, etc... .

godardian

#25
June 13, 2003, 02:43:14 PM
Quote from: EL__SCORCHOI think anyone who doesn't speak spanish will miss out on some of the humor in Almodovar's films. I've seen some of his films on vhs with subtitles and sometimes they do a really shitty job with them. A lot gets lost in the translation.

Everytime I watch a foreign film I always wonder how much I'm not getting because I don't know the language, the culture, etc... .

Especially when the characters speak for 30 seconds and you get a four-word sentence for a subtitle. Or, worse yet, they speak and you get no subtitle at all.

I wish I were more multilingual.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Pedro

#26
June 13, 2003, 03:06:57 PM
Quote from: godardian
Quote from: EL__SCORCHOI think anyone who doesn't speak spanish will miss out on some of the humor in Almodovar's films. I've seen some of his films on vhs with subtitles and sometimes they do a really shitty job with them. A lot gets lost in the translation.

Everytime I watch a foreign film I always wonder how much I'm not getting because I don't know the language, the culture, etc... .

Especially when the characters speak for 30 seconds and you get a four-word sentence for a subtitle. Or, worse yet, they speak and you get no subtitle at all.

I wish I were more multilingual.
Y Tu Mama Tambien trys its hardest to transcribe the coarse language of the characters....I still don't think they did enough though...but when you know a bit of spanish it helps....

What I feel really bad doing is putting foreign language subtitles on movies in english....Pulp Fiction, esepcially.  Wow...no justice can be done to it.

bonanzataz

#27
June 13, 2003, 04:52:36 PM
i have all (or most of) the early almodovar films on tape. the only ones i've seen are labyrinth of passion and women on the verge of a nervous breakdown. they're both awesome. i have to make it my business to watch the others over the summer.
The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil's rain we'll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, 'cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, 'cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put 'em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

godardian

#28
June 13, 2003, 04:55:53 PM
Quote from: bonanzatazi have all (or most of) the early almodovar films on tape. the only ones i've seen are labyrinth of passion and women on the verge of a nervous breakdown. they're both awesome. i have to make it my business to watch the others over the summer.

I've never seen Labyrinth of Passion. Just Women, Live Flesh, Kika, Mother, Law of Desire (?) and this one. Really, a remarkably consistent and large body of work. I do need to see more. I remember when Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! came out, I really wanted to see it. For different reasons than I do now.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

bonanzataz

#29
June 13, 2003, 05:00:51 PM
yeah, my spanish teacher loaned me all those movies and high heels in around october or november and i never returned them. now it's summer and i still haven't watched any except labyrinth and women. talk to her was good, but it definitely isn't like early almodovar. labyrinth of passion starts out with a gay spanish punk rocker sniffing glue and going, "dios mio! es fantastico!"

i want to be the american almodovar when i get financiers.
The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil's rain we'll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, 'cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, 'cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put 'em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls
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