brilliant film
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 18 May 2024 15:52 (four months ago) link
I liked it but I suspect Fellini thought it was about how sex is evil and makes you subhuman
― adam t. (abanana), Saturday, 18 May 2024 16:00 (four months ago) link
So Gelsomina is supposed to be autistic, right?
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 May 2024 19:45 (four months ago) link
Just finished this, quite a bleak ending and I'm not sure what to take away - but the world conjured up on the way was certainly worth it.
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 27 May 2024 21:20 (four months ago) link
I do find it a little hard to get over what a complete dick Zampano is though, just not really interested in his internal life, he's so despicable.
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 27 May 2024 21:28 (four months ago) link
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Rear_Window_film_poster.jpg
Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954
Morbsies #22Sight & Sound Critics #38
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 30 May 2024 12:54 (four months ago) link
This was always by least-favourite of the a-tier Hitchcocks, however my exposure to it was on my Film Studies degree while being introduced to "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" so the heavy-handedness I remember may just be the lecturers.
Obviously this isn't freely available on Youtube - anyone know where it is streaming?
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 30 May 2024 12:57 (four months ago) link
I know it's tempting to hold the movie's easy pedagogical meta elements against it. But I wouldn't, it's maybe the most sheerly entertaining movie he made between The 39 Steps and Psycho.
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:14 (four months ago) link
I feel fortunate to have seen all those classic Hitchcock movies like Psycho and Rear Window on tv when I was a kid and have my appreciation further deepen for them as I get older.
― Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:24 (four months ago) link
The 1998 remake starring Christopher Reeve is apparently free to stream on youtube. Probably not going to bother with it.
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:50 (four months ago) link
It's on Bezos-Prime
― Ippei's on a bummer now (WmC), Thursday, 30 May 2024 14:06 (four months ago) link
If you don't mind hard-coded subs: https://archive.org/details/rear-window-1954_202007gear icon -> HD
― adam t. (abanana), Thursday, 30 May 2024 14:24 (four months ago) link
Eric otm. When Stewart, Kelly, and Ritter plot together, it'direction. point of Hitch's ensemble directing.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 May 2024 14:50 (four months ago) link
Yeah, Rear Window rocks. Has overtaken North By Northwest as my fave Hitch.
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 30 May 2024 15:12 (four months ago) link
some of the early relationship scenes dragotherwise it's great
― adam t. (abanana), Thursday, 30 May 2024 15:16 (four months ago) link
i find that "heavily foregrounded meta but glommed onto pure story-telling thrills" is the core of Hitchcock's attraction tbh
― i love a man in a unicorn (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 30 May 2024 16:17 (four months ago) link
Whoa -- I apologize for my phone-posted post. I meant: "best Hitchhock-directed ensemble."
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 May 2024 17:36 (four months ago) link
Forget Vertigo -- Stewart never played a better Pure Acting moment than when he watches Thorwald assault Lisa.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 May 2024 17:37 (four months ago) link
Forget Vertigo
I will not
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 30 May 2024 18:36 (four months ago) link
Just rewatched RW for the first time in ages because of this thread. Agree, hugely entertaining and well conceived and executed. It’s also so perverse of Hitchcock to cast Stewart in two different parables of impotence. (Tho he let him have TMWKTM in between I guess.)
Something there obviously about the WWII generation of men becoming redomesticated and incorporated into bland American life.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 2 June 2024 16:12 (three months ago) link
Yeah, they give a little more shading to the conventional wisdom about ‘50s America
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Sunday, 2 June 2024 16:20 (three months ago) link
The domestication of the American male was fodder for thinkpieces in the 50's - a lot of talk about "a crisis in masculinity". Pretty funny when now you hear mra types say we need to get back to that era.
― Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 2 June 2024 20:58 (three months ago) link
Grace Kelly cooing about seeing him in a grey flannel suit a couple years before the infamous short story.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 2 June 2024 21:03 (three months ago) link
I love the shot at the end where she puts down her Himalayas travel book and picks back up Harper's Bazaar. She's not going anywhere, and neither is he.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 3 June 2024 00:31 (three months ago) link
My memory is so terrible. I spent this whole rewatch convinced thorwald didn't do it.
Poor miss lonely heart! What a damning indictment on Jeff and Stella, ignoring the potential suicide happening in front of them multiple times for the simple thrill of the chase.
Think I might be in love with Grace Kelly. Hope to get a date when I meet her up in the stars one day
― H.P, Sunday, 9 June 2024 23:58 (three months ago) link
Sorry, very slow right here. Yes, this was much better than I remembered, love the construction of a particular space and a time, just so vividly conjured. And the story is so self-contained, doesn't feel like it's just under two hours at all. Parallels with Vertigo are spot on, when he falls at the end, that's basically the start of Vertigo, isn't it? The exploration of viewer as voyeur is fine, but it was good not to think about it too much.
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 14 June 2024 21:44 (three months ago) link
Still prefer Vertigo though
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 14 June 2024 21:45 (three months ago) link
Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa, 1954
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Seven_Samurai_poster.jpg
Morbsies #97Sight & Sound Critics #20Sight & Sound Directors #14
Another biggie! For context here are the next five in the list
Johnny GuitarJourney to ItalySansho the BailiffOrdetThe Night of the Hunter
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:25 (three months ago) link
LOL, perfect timing: Male weepies: Pick the "best," I guess
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:26 (three months ago) link
Every single one of the next five movies in line is a flaming goddamned masterpiece. I love all of the next five movies in line. They are great. Yep, love 'em.
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:27 (three months ago) link
Ordet happens to be your particular abnormality
(j/k I can understand loving it)
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:40 (three months ago) link
xps
Greatest film ever made IMO
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:54 (three months ago) link
Hm, guessing you mean Seven Samurai?
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:56 (three months ago) link
mibbes aye mibbes naw
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 15 June 2024 15:04 (three months ago) link
Can be found here - https://archive.org/details/seven-samurai - it is quite long, isn't it?
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 15 June 2024 20:27 (three months ago) link
The length of it feels fine
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 16 June 2024 11:18 (three months ago) link
should explain that I somehow haven't seen it before
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 16 June 2024 11:32 (three months ago) link
It flies by. Not a second overlong.
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 16 June 2024 11:55 (three months ago) link
I wouldn't rank Seven Samurai in my Kurosawa top five.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 16 June 2024 12:27 (three months ago) link
I probably wouldn't either, but that's more about how many great films the dude has.
It is a bit sad that this is The One because there's a lot of more accessible intros - Yojimbo, Stray Dog, Ikiru.
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 17 June 2024 15:55 (three months ago) link
The samurai film genre is interesting because if you compare it to the western, even though Ford and Hawks and etc certainly had moments where they questioned the myths there are a few decades' worth of films that mostly celebrate those myths, and so when the revisionist western rolls around we know what it's revising. But the samurai film, for a western audience, only comes into vogue in the postwar era, and so it's a generation of writers and directors who grew up with the samurai sprit being part of govt wartime propaganda and so it's pretty much all revisionism, very few movies come to mind where bushido is seen as anything other than a sick joke. At some point it just becomes part of the trope.
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 17 June 2024 16:00 (three months ago) link
Donald Richie's book on Kurosawa is essential reading, and not surprisingly the chapter on Seven Samurai is great. (It may have been his favorite Kurosawa film - he usually listed it as one of his favorite films, period.)
I think it's very compelling to look at how WWII impacted Japanese films and how Japanese films grappled with the aftermath, especially now in light of the current rise of nationalism in certain parts of the world (like ours). Generally speaking, I never found comparisons between Japanese period epics and American Westerns all that interesting, but comparing The Seven Samurai to the American films it inspired (not just The Magnificent Seven but also Saving Private Ryan) does seem edifying in highlighting the differences in history and culture. The Seven Samurai always seemed like a great war film to me - nine years isn't that far removed from the end of WWII, and I was left with the impression that a defeated country was far more likely to re-examine and interrogate the culture surrounding war in ways that a proud and jingoistic country would not like to do. The myriad class conflicts and moral hypocrisies are either watered down or stripped away in something like The Magnificent Seven (turning samurai/military officers into "gunfighters" will do that), but they're always there in The Seven Samurai.
― birdistheword, Monday, 17 June 2024 21:32 (three months ago) link
Kikuchiyo gun stealing scene the heart of this movie. Stunning end shot with the Katanas in the graves
― H.P, Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:21 (three months ago) link
The horses in this movie reminded me of the horse(s) in Andrei Rublev. Put me off, for what were some great scenes. hmph. I did eat stake for dinner though so I'm a bit of a simpleton in this way
― H.P, Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:27 (three months ago) link
I like my stake either well done or in the ground.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:29 (three months ago) link
Rear window is a movie that I had seen so many parodies of that end at first reveal (most famously the Simpsons, but so many others), so the second part suddenly felt really disorienting!
the moment the man looks out of the screen at the audience is so crazy the first time you see it,
and the film is incredible in how it seems to surface filmic epistemologies in an instantly graspable way that can't be untangled from the film's dramatic dynamism! Sorry for the turgid way of phrasing that but I think its clear what I mean???
That said there's something that really 'wears off' about the effect that is very different from e.g. Vertigo, where it burrows down into your subconscious (why does she take the backdoor to the florist???). I think this one relies too much on a central trick or conceit, very A minus grade Hitchcock. There's also something about how its been parodied that gives it a flat, repackagable quality although that's not really its fault. Its a shame because its got so much good stuff in it (thelma ritter, wendell corey, Dior by Head and barbara bel geddes designing gravity defying bras etc) but i could probably never see it again and I wouldn't lose sleep.
― plax (ico), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:33 (three months ago) link
seven samurai is so good and to me so obviously one of the best kurosawas so i'm curious what people who think this mid level would put ahead of it
― plax (ico), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:34 (three months ago) link
Vertigo wears me down at the hour mark. Acts I and III are strange and powerful
What I'd rank over Seven Samurai:
Red BeardThe Bad Sleep WellThrone of BloodStray DogHigh and Low
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:47 (three months ago) link
lol high and low is fun but bad
― plax (ico), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 13:56 (three months ago) link
the scenes where they're all shouting at each other about shoes are really funny so i'll allow it
― plax (ico), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 13:57 (three months ago) link