Just watched Loves of a Blonde yesterday, and it far surpassed anything else I've ever seen of Forman's, and I include Cuckoo's Nest in that statement. It was beautiful. It reminded of in some sections of Truffaut, especially Antoine and Colette. Really remarkable.
I plan to watch The Firemen's Ball later this week, too.
Anyone else a fan or Forman's early films, or interested in comparing/contrasting the merits/deficiencies of early work compared to later work?
I've seen most of Loves of a Blonde (though I rather not officially comment on the merits of the film) and Fireman's Ball and am very shocked to how daring those films were in its approach to comedy. His American years and I do mean American in how he changed his approach, are with a lot of very good films and some great ones, but I'm still feeling a little less satisfied because of how typical they really all are. At best, they are great reworkings of a factory made product and seem only to show to the conformity Froman willingly made in being a more commercial filmmaker. And commercial he was, considering in the last 30 or so years, he is one of two filmmakers to have 2 films win best picture at the oscars. That being said, I absolutely loved Fireman's Ball, its methodical pacing and hope for a filmmaker who even at so young back then, was very much experimenting. I wish Forman could have at least continued to experiment and grow as a filmmaker as he got famous instead of tackling subjects that seemed popular or neat for him to do at the time. Both early movies showed much promise and he detoured from it.
~rougerum
Take a look at Man on the Moon, too. I think its got quite a lot more of obvious directorial stylings in there compared to say Cuckoos nest. Its difficult to compare a persons work when it spreads a considerable amount of time, though. It could just be the changing technology in films, but Ill certainly have to take a look at this 'Loves of a Blonde'.
He also has a great role in Ed Norton's Keeping the Faith, where he gives a lengthy talk on women and religion, whilst somking a fat cuban.
Quote from: The Gold TrumpetFroman
Abe? Sausage King of Chicago?
:)
Ranking the Forman films I've seen:
1. Amadeus
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
3. The People Vs. Larry Flynt
4. Man on the Moon
5. Valmont
Quote from: MeshRanking the Forman films I've seen:
1. Amadeus
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
3. The People Vs. Larry Flynt
4. Man on the Moon
5. Valmont
I've never seen
Amadeus or
Valmont. :oops:
I've seen the others and remember than as good, but not much else...
Cuckoo's Nest had some very nice moments, obviously.
Quote from: godardian
I've never seen Amadeus
Wonderful on so many levels. His masterpiece, if you ask me, mostly because the material suited his style better than it did in Cuckoo's Nest, IMO.
i met him at a screening of cuckoo's nest followed by a q/a. who wants to touch me?
i really liked THE LOVES OF A BLONDE too. it was a really small picture, but good. some nice human moments. it did remind me of some of truffauts movies for sure. i liked the whole part with the boys family. pretty funny. seemed pretty truthful, sad. i liked the shot of them laying naked together with their hands covering up the good bits. that was nice.
too bad he is not very prolific. his last effort wasn't very good.
I enjoyed all films I saw by Milos Forman. That were "One Flew over the cukoo's nest", "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and "Man on the moon". I haven't seen "Amadeus" yet and I would really like to see his early work. "Black Peter" and "Loves of a Blonde" was in Germany a couple of months ago on TV but I missed it.
Where did you see Formans early films?
I love Amadeus, and if I had a job and money I would so very buy it in all its two disc special edition glory. The piece is wonderful. Long enough to completely engulf the viewer, enjoyable enough to keep them entertained, and emotional enough to draw a response.
Forman creates a film of wonderful individual moments and scenes that when placed together, create the whole, and what a wonderful whole it is too. The film has enough brilliant scenes, the sort of scenes that only pop up once or twice in most Oscar winners, to keep Hollywood in business for six years. The scene in which Mozart takes the piece Salieri wrote for him and makes it better; the scene in which Salieri burns the crucifix; the sequence in which Mozart dictates the perfectly formed Requiem to Salieri...this is truly the stuff of which pure cinematic brilliance is made, no?
Forman also directs some of the best performances you'll ever see, and F. Murray Abraham fucking shines in the role of Salieri. Personally, he transforms the character into one the most wonderful screen villains in history, and my personal favourite. Tom Hulce is superb as Mozart, which goes without saying if you've seen the film. What really works also is the casting of the supporting players, each of whom is perfect for his or her respective role.
I don't even need to mention the music [though I just did]. The music is brilliant, wonderful, and the set pieces on stage are masterpieces in themselves.
This is not a review, just a rant, and you know, who cares? I will defend this film to the grave. For me, it is an example of cinema at its best, and by God, this is one film that I believe deserves a whole heap of celebrating.
Amadeus was my first DVD... and now a couple hundred later I bought the double disc director's cut...
It is quite the piece of cinema
Quote from: The Silver Bullet
thank you.
Quote from: Spike
Where did you see Formans early films?
Loves of a Blonde and
The Firemen's Ball are on Criterion DVD.
Quote from: godardianJust watched Loves of a Blonde yesterday, and it far surpassed anything else I've ever seen of Forman's, and I include Cuckoo's Nest in that statement. It was beautiful. It reminded of in some sections of Truffaut, especially Antoine and Colette. Really remarkable.
I plan to watch The Firemen's Ball later this week, too.
Anyone else a fan or Forman's early films, or interested in comparing/contrasting the merits/deficiencies of early work compared to later work?
Ah, you're my new best friend! It's quite refreshing to talk to someone who has seen his early work, because they're really great.
I thought Loves of a Blonde and Fireman's Ball were equally great, and I just love how he paints these pictures of the people he grew up with.....because one aspect of his work that I've noticed (early work anyway) is that it has a slightly autobiographical feel to it. I get the sense that he knew these people....
Quote from: SpikeI enjoyed all films I saw by Milos Forman. That were "One Flew over the cukoo's nest", "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and "Man on the moon". I haven't seen "Amadeus" yet and I would really like to see his early work. "Black Peter" and "Loves of a Blonde" was in Germany a couple of months ago on TV but I missed it.
Where did you see Formans early films?
I watched them on Sundance.....but now I'll have to get them on DVD :-D
Watched The Firemen's Ball over the weekend. It wasn't quite as good as Loves of a Blonde, but it was still very good. It was damny funny at times, too; apparently, it was made just before the Soviet invasion, so humor and a little satire of the powers that be was still allowed.
Beyond being a sad, funny political fable, though, it was pretty insightful about the way a small, isolated community can behave, and the hierarchies there. Both good and bad.
Connery, Ryder & Brandauer Starring in Forman's Embers
Source: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter
Sean Connery, Winona Ryder and Klaus Maria Brandauer are in talks to topline helmer Milos Forman's upcoming adaptation of Sandor Marai's Hungarian novel Embers. Screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere is adapting the book with production scheduled to being October 8 in Prague.
The story concerns two old men, once best friends, who meet again after a 41-year break in their relationship. The friends grew up together in military school; one came from a rich landowning family and subsequently became a colonel (Connery), the other is from a more humble background (Brandauer). The pair are separated after the colonel, as a young man, marries the woman they both secretly love (Ryder).
At the same time, Ryder is also attached to star in the title role of director Robert Altman's The Widow Claire, for which discussions with financiers are taking place.
Written by Horton Foote, "Claire" is set against the backdrop of World War II. Ryder stars as a young widow with two children who is caught between the affections of two men -- a sweet young soldier about to go to war and the town's most sought-after playboy.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Matthew McConaughey have met with Altman about possibly starring opposite Ryder in "Claire."
thank god. winona better get back in the game. i hope working with forman and altman will result in some good work. cause its been too damn long.
Milos Forman Wanted for Baudolino Adaptation
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
German producer Thomas Schuhly, who is currently making The Untitled Alexander the Great Project with director Oliver Stone, plans to adapt Umberto Eco's novel Baudolino for the big screen.
The novel is set in the 12th century and explores the intriguing relationship between the Oriental world under the sultan Saladin and the popes, politicians and monarchs of the Christian world.
"I'm trying to get Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) to direct," he says. "We're working on a script with the English writer Glenn Wilhide." Schuhly plans to shoot the film in 2005, probably in Morocco where the action sequences of Stone's picture are being filmed.
Well, I'm the local Umberto Eco fan and as Baudolino would be the easiest to adapt from his 4 novels, the movie still will likely be forced to make all his sentences in the complexity of one vowel. Look for general movie that will dissapoint fans of the book. And I'm not saying that doesn't already happen with every book adaptation, its just with Umberto Eco the difference is so much greater because he writes stories of worlds that can really only fit in a book.
The Name of the Rose (one of his two most complex) was generalized in the late 80s to unsincere proportions. Foucault's Pendulum (the most complex) hopefully never gets touched. The Island of the Day Before on the other hand (less complex) would be my pick for personal adaptation if I had the chance to touch. Its the one that provides the story capable most of being represented on the screen with sincerity.
~rougerum
Quote from: MacGuffinConnery, Ryder & Brandauer Starring in Forman's Embers
Source: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter
Sean Connery, Winona Ryder and Klaus Maria Brandauer are in talks to topline helmer Milos Forman's upcoming adaptation of Sandor Marai's Hungarian novel Embers. Screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere is adapting the book with production scheduled to being October 8 in Prague.
The story concerns two old men, once best friends, who meet again after a 41-year break in their relationship. The friends grew up together in military school; one came from a rich landowning family and subsequently became a colonel (Connery), the other is from a more humble background (Brandauer). The pair are separated after the colonel, as a young man, marries the woman they both secretly love (Ryder).
At the same time, Ryder is also attached to star in the title role of director Robert Altman's The Widow Claire, for which discussions with financiers are taking place.
Written by Horton Foote, "Claire" is set against the backdrop of World War II. Ryder stars as a young widow with two children who is caught between the affections of two men -- a sweet young soldier about to go to war and the town's most sought-after playboy.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Matthew McConaughey have met with Altman about possibly starring opposite Ryder in "Claire."
Mac, is this still happening?
Quote from: A Matter Of ChanceMac, is this still happening?
Hmmmm...haven't heard or found any recent updates about the project. I only know that Connery dropped out of the project, but there was no news of his replacement.
Thanks
One of my classes, we took a look at the Czech New Wave, which Forman was part of. I haven't seen Forman's early stuff, but I did see "Closely Watched Trains" by Jiri Menzel. It's a quirky, touching film.
Director Forman Credits Exile for His Success
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Looking back on a filmmaking career filled with critical acclaim and Academy awards, Czech-born director Milos Forman has a simple explanation for his Hollywood success: He had no choice.
Unlike other foreign directors who returned home when Hollywood didn't pan out, Forman had to stay in the United States after the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 and a hard-line Communist government took control.
Authorities had already banned the release of his 1967 film "The Fireman's Ball," which poked fun at Communist bureaucracy, and his studio fired him after Russian tanks rolled into Prague when Forman was out of the country.
So the only way for him to continue his career was to forge a new one in the United States, Forman told Reuters at the recent 47th San Francisco International Film Festival where he received a lifetime achievement award for directing.
"There were some wonderful directors who came here and there was nothing happening their way so they went back to their countries," Forman said. "But for people like (Poland's) Roman Polanski and me, we couldn't go back. We had to adapt and swim."
And this meant changing his approach to filmmaking, said the 72-year-old director, who began his career studying screenwriting at film school in Prague and became part of a remarkable group of "New Wave" filmmakers who revolutionized Czech filmmaking in the 1960s -- a period when Czech Communist leader Alexander Dubcek was trying to bring 'communism with a human face" to the country.
But the "Prague Spring" ended with Soviet tanks rolling through the country in 1968. Forman knew he would have to leave Czechoslovakia to continue his career.
No longer could he draw on his native language and intimate knowledge of his small country as he had done in making personal films like 1965's "Loves of a Blonde." Instead, the filmmaker turned to scripts written in English.
A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE
This became clear after his first American film "Taking Off" failed to connect with an audience. Forman said this stemmed from the fact he made the movie the way he had always done.
"The films I made in Czechoslovakia were the kinds you could only make in your mother tongue," said Forman, who peppers his answers with humorous anecdotes from his career. "So I consciously turned to material which was originally written in the English language."
His next film, however, catapulted him to the top of the Hollywood heap when 1975's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" won five Academy Awards, including Oscars for best director and best picture.
Forman explained that the story of a group of mental patients struggling under a repressive system and the harsh care of Big Nurse Ratched rang familiar to him.
In fact, he sounds incredulous when describing his reaction to people who at the time wondered whether he could relate to such an "American" story.
"What do you mean an American story, I thought," said Forman, who lives in New York. "This is a Czech story. The Communist party was my Big Nurse."
Forman, who also directed other acclaimed films such as "Amadeus" and "The People Vs. Larry Flynt," also said good writing and whether the story is worth talking about are what attracts him to a script.
These days Forman, whose parents were killed in Nazi death camps, is working on a project about the Spanish Inquisition during the time of the painter Goya and another based on a Hungarian novel.
Yet when asked if he would ever consider making another film in his native Czech language, Forman said he was too far removed from his roots to make that kind of a return.
"The kind of Czech films I was making you have to be so intimate with the life in that country and all spheres of all society, which I now would be missing," Forman said. "I wouldn't be comfortable shooting the same kind of film."
The Firemen's Ball
Spoilers
Just watched it this morning, and though quite amusing at times, in the end I felt underwhelmed. It seemed to have three points of focus, the food and prize thefts, the beauty contest, the burning house. The first two were basically the same jokes over and over, whilst the last one was actually quite beautiful, at least towards the end of the sequence: house on fire, music starts, crowd reactions, old man praying, etc. As a comedy, it says quite a lot that my favorite part of it is a serious one. The actors portraying the firemen, I feel, must get a mention. I fell in love with them in a second. They were all amateurs, right? Most of my laughs came from their facial expressions. I also agree with GT in that it's a helluva daring film for its time and place, simultaneously making me think "funny way of fucking with their government" and "Jesus, they actually dared to do it".
Basically I liked parts of it, but most of what I found funny just kept going for too long. It isn't too good for a 75 min film to be repetitive. Like I said, I feel like three things happened during the whole film.
Quote from: The Silver BulletTom Hulce is superb as Mozart, which goes without saying if you've seen the film.
Yeah, shit, how'd he get from that to The O.C. :cry:
Quote from: godardianJust watched Loves of a Blonde yesterday, and it far surpassed anything else I've ever seen of Forman's, and I include Cuckoo's Nest in that statement. It was beautiful. It reminded of in some sections of Truffaut, especially Antoine and Colette. Really remarkable.
Quote from: themodernage02i really liked THE LOVES OF A BLONDE too. it was a really small picture, but good. some nice human moments. it did remind me of some of truffauts movies for sure. i liked the whole part with the boys family. pretty funny. seemed pretty truthful, sad. i liked the shot of them laying naked together with their hands covering up the good bits. that was nice.
Provoked by Lisa Cholodenko's comments about it on her "High Art" commentary track, I watched "Loves Of A Blonde" today, and while I wouldn't go as far as godardian, I did really like the film and it's "New Wave" feel; like mod-age said, truthful. The scenes in the bed had a very natural 'pillow talk' to them, and the parents were hilarious with the mother being overly melodramatic and jumping to conclusions.
Forman bets on Cage-led 'Slim' biopic
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Milos Forman and Nicolas Cage are betting on a feature film about the larger-than-life gambler Amarillo Slim Preston.
Screenwriters Stephen Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson, who worked on the biopics "Ali" and "Nixon," will adapt Preston's memoir "Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People: The Memoirs of the Greatest Gambler Who Ever Lived."
The project would mark Forman's first directorial outing since 1999's "Man on the Moon."
Although formal commitments have not yet been put on paper, Cage has been developing the project -- which he will star in and also produce with his Saturn Films partner Norm Golightly -- for more than a year.
"Milos, Steve and Chris are nothing less than brilliant in bringing larger-than-life characters to the screen, and no one is larger than life than Amarillo Slim," Golightly said.
Producer Braxton Pope originally proposed the project to Saturn director of development Seth Schur. Pope and Schur will be involved in the project in a production capacity along with Frank Scatoni and Greg Dinkin, both of Venture Literary. Dinkin also co-wrote the memoir.
"Amarillo Slim is an intrinsically American rebel and gambling outlaw of a stripe that doesn't exist anymore," Pope said. "His memoir will be the foundation for a great film that taps into the popularity of poker but also, on a larger scale, expresses a unique approach to life."
Amarillo Slim, who has been described as "the most famous poker player ever," was born in 1928 in Arkansas. His many claims to fame include winning the World Series of Poker in 1972 as well as a $2 million bet from Larry Flynt. He is best known for making crazy "propositional" bets, including using a broom handle to play one-pocket pool with billiards legend Minnesota Fats, using a carpenter's hammer to play golf with stunt motorcyclist Evel Knievel and using an iron skillet to play pingpong with tennis player Bobby Riggs.
Quote from: The Silver BulletForman also directs some of the best performances you'll ever see...
I agree. Foreman must really have a way of working with actors, as his films seem to shine with great performances. Hell,
Cuckoo's Nest was really all about the performances. The way he approached the use of the camera was very restrained, almost as if we're a fly on the wall of the mental ward. He takes the time to show each member of the ward and how McMurphy's presence effects their behaviour, attitude and routine. It's not the showcase for Nicholson that it could have been, even though he is at the top of his game in the picture.
Forman knows how to work with actors. Cuckoo's Nest is a model of ensemble acting, as various personalities interact. Nicholson's character acts as a catalyst, like in a chemical reaction, to induce change.
I came into Loves of a Blonde with no expectations at all and was blown away. I thought it was a remarkably smart and curious film, all of it came off as natural, and it never strayed from its path. It was loose but I didn't think there were any wasted shots, hell, I didn't think there was any wasted dialogue. You don't see movies like this anymore, with this kind of dual passion for cinema and man. The camera chasing the ring being chased by the man who ends up having to duck under a table of women he has offended while the people dance around him and the music is all we hear. To let that happen, well, I think it's fucking beautiful and amazing and it's why I love movies.
Is The Fireman's Ball in the same league? I'll jump it to the top of the ol' queue if it is goddamnit.
Just resaw Man on the Moon and I think it's Carrey's second best performance only to Eternal Sunshine