Long-ass films poll

no grindhouse, no credibility

I'll get back to you when I and my friend finally watch all of Celine And Julie Go Boating. We shouldn't have started it at 1am that one time. But that first 90 minutes was fucking AMAZING.

lj, i'd recommend you get back when you've seen the other 39 too

2 weeks, 39 long-ass films, 1 degree not to flunk out of, 1 ILM poll to finish...YEAH LET'S DO THIS

I have seen exactly three of these. Of those three, I'll take Barry Lyndon, although all were great.

usually with highbrow polls i've hardly seen any of them. but with this one, even though i don't like long films, im doing ok. still got a grey-market copy of "a brighter summer's day" that i need to get into.

god, no wonder "Magnolia" felt like it lasted fucking forever: IT DID

Is the criteria of this poll which one is best, or which one you've put off watching the most? :(

no lawrence of arabia? (222+ minutes)

have seen 10, including the 300 minute version of fanny and alexander. voted sorrow and the pity.

i haven't seen a lot of these.
love barry lyndon & the mother and the whore

I've seen 24 of these, it's silly to choose.

I've made it about 17 minutes into The Mother and the Whore (twice).

Seven Samurai

Too bad we don't have the 5 hour Thin Red Line. :(

voted fanny and alexander, even though I've only actually seen the longer version

Would it be missing the point to think that Satantango is a bit...overlong?

yes

Wasn't Birth of a Nation originally like nine hours long, before cuts? Or was my friend who told me this making shit up?

probably was thinking of Greed

yes, the audience for BoaN wdn't have been used to sitting through any film more than an hour, if that.

No Point missing from Matt - Santantango is unnecessarily stretched. At least that's the impression I get from the DVD version.

Also, too many docs? I guess they were shown in the cinemas first hence why they would qualify? Sorrow and the Pity is brill tho'.

Top 3: Dielman, Mother and the Whore, Celine and Julie

Like to see: Hitler: A Film from Germany Hans-Jürgen Syberberg

not seen that many of these but i'ma go for the belgian housewife

wtf no berlin alexanderplatz

voted rublev even tho I prefer the 186 minute cut

I think they count Alexanderplotzing as TV

one of my favorite film-going moments was going to see Celine and Julie Go Boating and having the entire audience spontaneously break into loud applause for the final scene

...each time upon returning via a taxi the women discover a candy mysteriously lodged in their mouth. It seems to be important, so each makes sure to carefully save the candy.

Now this is a poll!

One of these five, probably.

Sátántangó Béla Tarr (450)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Chantal Akerman (201)
Barry Lyndon Stanley Kubrick (184)
Grin Without a Cat Chris Marker (240)
Intolerance D.W. Griffith (197)

where is LOTR???

Nothing by Wang Bing?

This is a great list, it's hard to choose the best!

I've seen 25 of these, and Magnolia was definitely the worst of those. Would probably vote for Tarr, Rivette, Yang Godard or Jacobs.

jeanne dielman vs andrei rublev, rublev takes it

Like to see: Hitler: A Film from Germany Hans-Jürgen Syberberg

This film is amazing!

as much as i love il gattopardo & enfants du paradis, seeing the 225 min cut of heavens gate on a hueg screen front row center was my favourite cinema experience ever.

Most need to see: Chelsea Girls, La Région centrale and Star Spangled to Death.

I really need to finally see The Leopard.

Andrei Rubylev, Dr Mabuse (though I usually watch this piecemeal), Once Upon a Time in the West or Intolerance, one of them, I'm not sure which.

Whenever i see a list of films like this, I remember how good channel 4 was in the early days, and miss it, and feel a bit bummed out about it.

What's Channel 4 like now?

It provided many key formative cultural experiences for me, around 1995-1997

Children of Paradise, though there are lots of great movies on here.

it's now basically terrible. sure as hell doesn't play furrin films.

xpost

"edvard munch" is great. haven't finished "la commune" but the bits i saw, i liked less.

What ch4 like now? I don't have a telly, so don't know. What it was like when we last had a telly, it seemed a bit gimmicky and garish to me, generally. not v diffebert from the other terrestrial channels. It certainly didn't seem to show godard or tarkovski seasons or thames silents and the like, like it used to when it was first on.

The Leopard over Seven Samurai. I'd have voted for Fanny & Alexander if (a) the film had concentrated on Fanny as much as it did on Alexander; (b) the scenes with the stepfather had gotten more attention (that long dinner got boring).

No Saragossa Manuscript, no credibility.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles but not so easily for once. Of the many films I've seen up there, not a single one was unworthy of my time (although Seven Samurai always makes me sleepy). But with Jeanne Dielman, it's long-assness feels like a science experiment on your consciousness. Sitting there in the dark, no talking, no interruptions, no fast-forwarding or pausing (if watched on DVD) is crucial for how the climax works on you (or doesn't, to be more precise).

agreed about the experiment, but not just to make effective the climax

damm, cld easily make a all time top ten out of this list

saw THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE this year, for the second time, and i was struck by how things like this and L'AMOUR FOU belong to the actors as much as they do to the director, despite being primo auteur fodder. looking at the performers for so long, at their faces and gestures, spending time in their company, really creates moments of identification/epiphany that you don't get so much w/ shorter films. francoise lebrun's last monologue in THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE is absolutely devastating - as is the final shot of leaud, virtually collapsing in front of you.

voted for the full length OUT ONE, just because i can (tho' you cld argue that it's a really serial, like the MABUSE)

I mean, looking at the superior quality of almost all of those films, it'd be just as interesting to discuss awful films of this length. I'm no fan of the Godfather series but I'd never call them awful films. And I love Magnolia lots and lots. I experienced little pain with Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter, Gone With The Wind, Avatar, etc. Only one I can think of, really, is LOTR (the first brutal installment; refuse the see the other two).

First ep is like a Keystone Cops short compared to the other 2.

Thus reinforcing my conviction.

I love how Wiki's list of long-ass films divides the loot between "experimental" and "cinematic" (??) films.

I need to watch the DVD of Eureka that's been nagging at me for the last couple of months.

Ha! I JUST got that DVD after hearing the filmmaker was influenced by Daydream Nation.

So true about actors being such an active part of these films.

Ws thinking of getting hold of Edvard Munch the other day. Couldn't decide whether to go for that or Punishment Park so went for neither.

Nearly took out Hitler from the library today. Is it all one thing? I thought it was in parts (as it was initially broadcast on TV, I believe).

hi julio, wasn't that thrilled by PUNISHMENT PARK - as far as hectoring left-wing dystopian sf movies go, i prefer john carpenter's THEY LIVE - but last year we visited culloden and in the visitor centre, on a big screen, saw watkins's CULLODEN, and that was much more like it (tho far too short for this thread)

so often i say pete walker when i mean pete watkins

Cool Ward - I'll get Edvard Munch then..

I love Punishment Park. Edvard Munch (in particular) and La Commune are also excellent. Still need to see Culloden, though.

xp yes!

yeah i def preferred Punishment Park, but then again Edvard Munch is just about the best biopic out there.

I think 195 minutes should be the cutoff, btw. There's plenty of 3 hour movies, it's the ones that barrel towards 3 and a half and beyond that are really challenging/impressive.

Has anyone here ever seen Gance's Napoleon? I've always been curious about it, but obviously it's not a film made for home viewing.

I've seen Gance's Napoleon twice, first at Radio City Music Hall with an orchestra. (1981)

damm, cld easily make a all time top ten out of this list

^^^ Could probably make a top five from the Rivettes alone.

One of these:

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Chantal Akerman (201)
A Brighter Summer Day Edward Yang (237)
Céline and Julie Go Boating Jacques Rivette (192)
Out 1 noli me tangere Jacques Rivette (729)
Chelsea Girls Andy Warhol (210)
L’Amour fou Jacques Rivette (252)
La Région centrale Michael Snow (180)
Grin Without a Cat Chris Marker (240)
La Commune (Paris, 1871) Peter Watkins (345)

Too many faves here. A toss up between "Histoires..." and "Barry Lyndon".

lack of Lawrence is... off-putting. GFII, I guess

Chelsea Girls seems 80 minutes long. So great, and I'm no Warhol obsessive.

I haven't seen most of these but Seven Samurai is really great so I'm voting. Barry Lyndon was pretty cool though

inspiring list. rublev from the handful i've seen, but will try to bump a few of these to the top of my list.

I'm also not sure why Berlin Alexanderplatz isn't on the list. I know it began life on TV, but I think by now it's just thought of--and definitely screened--as a long film. Anyway, having seen just over half of these, a lot of greatness...or maybe: a lot of fascination, some greatness. Sorry to be so middlebrow, but Godfather II gets my vote. After that, some configuration of Eustache, Akerman, Kubrick, Bergman, Visconti, and Warhol. I love sections and images from all of them; I won't say there aren't other sections that require a lot of fortitude. (Which--the old me has come to learn, and the young me would never have conceded--is not a bad thing.) A special, um, shout-out to the final image of Out 1--after 11 or 12 hours, just about the damndest thing I've ever seen. Two that I most want to see: Sátántangó and Star Spangled to Death. Two that I didn't make it through at Toronto's Cinematheque: Shoah (a couple of hours, I think) and (not listed) Lav Diaz's seven-hour Melancholia--left after about three for that one. Not the fault of the films themselves; just bad timing, the exigencies of work, poor sleep preparation, and a sudden realization that I just wasn't going to make it and staying any longer made no sense whatsoever.

Shoah gets my vote.

By Warhol, I meant Chelsea Girls. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even attempt Empire.

I would rank them as follows (if it's not listed, I haven't seen it):

Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler Fritz Lang (restored version, 297) - one of my favorite films
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Chantal Akerman (201) - you know the drill
A Brighter Summer Day Edward Yang (237) - astonishing
Andrei Rublev Andrei Tarkovsky (205) - astonishing
A Touch of Zen King Hu (187) - fantastic
The Birth of a Nation D.W. Griffith (190) - great
The Leopard Luchino Visconti (187) - great
Sátántangó Béla Tarr (450) - really cool, a bit overlong
L’Argent Marcel L’Herbier (195) - really cool, a bit overlong
Fanny and Alexander Ingmar Bergman (188) - I liked it better than any other late Bergman I've seen
The Satin Slipper Manoel de Oliveira - I can't front, I slept through at least 45 minutes of this; but I liked the rest
Grin Without a Cat Chris Marker (240) - very interesting, don't know that i would watch again anytime soon
Intolerance D.W. Griffith (197) - has its moments
Children of Paradise Marcel Carné (190) - pretty good
The Tree of Wooden Clogs Ermanno Olmi (186) - not bad
Céline and Julie Go Boating Jacques Rivette (192) - not a fan (of rivette or this film in particular. sorry dudes.)
Magnolia P.T. Anderson (188) - actively dislike this film

i've seen several other very long movies. OTOH --- khroustaliov, my car! by alexei german (five stars), historias extraordinarias (mixed bag, overall kind of disliked it), die nibelungen (super awesome, though not as good as dr. mabuse), others i can't think of b/c i'm tired.

what about kobayashi's human condition, guys and gals?

or mizoguchi's 47 ronin? if that one was on the list, it'd probably come in second after dr. mabuse.

oh yeah 47 ronin = 241 min.

oh and what about frederick wiseman's epic documentaries. near death, public housing, etc. some run to seven hours....

oh and what about 'hawaii' with max von sydow?

j/k folks. although it's not as bad as you might expect.

I had just popped back to mention Wiseman...Near Death for sure; I haven't seen Public Housing. I thought of Welfare, too--which is amazing--but it turns out to only run 167 min.

don't think i could watch near death again, for obvious reasons.

Have you seen Alan King's Dying at Grace? Very comparable.

Watched Edvard Munch yesterday and this was just perfect to me.

- Really worked as intellectual biog, but also happy to put one quite strict point of view for Munch's intellectual formation (his affairs as important as the meetings with proto hippies)

- Bought the social/political/artistic turbulence of those times to the boil. But also not in thrall to that kind of narrative: see the use of 'romantic' music.

- Never quite seen a drama doc to be so well acted (admittedly I've sat through enough boring BBC4 drama docs and this blows any of them out of the water). The gaze into the camera has never been used as well. Also the interview to camera device is fantastic, as is the choice to bring crowds that hate the pictures.

- Love the editing: the use of certain images (scenes of family sickness) over and over to create precise impressions and then certain sounds (the sounds of the brush against the canvas as Munch caresses Heiberg's neck).

Not massively into the visual arts, but who else felt like taking a trip to the Munch museum in Oslo? Probably helps if you LIKED the paintings...

definitely EDVARD MUNCH

Also missing in action: Rossellini's Age of the Medici, Coppola's Apocalypse Now Redux, Warren Beatty's Reds, Soderbergh's Che and Ron Havillio's Fragments-Jerusalem

But with Jeanne Dielman, it's long-assness feels like a science experiment on your consciousness. Sitting there in the dark, no talking, no interruptions, no fast-forwarding or pausing (if watched on DVD) is crucial for how the climax works on you (or doesn't, to be more precise).

― Kevin John Bozelka

^^^otm. watched jeanne dielman the other day bc of this thread... incredible film! don't think i've seen anything else that wrings so much tension from the quiet+still combination. it was exhausting watching her at times, but never boring. that baby crying... fuck.

got edvard munch on the way next.

what about kobayashi's human condition, guys and gals?

saw this at a daylong screening in little tokyo a lifetime ago

hot stuff

andrei rublyov probably, tho as said mizoguchi's 47 ronin and eureka (2000) def belong in this company

i'm in the middle of watching The Human Condition (Japanese, Kobayashi dir.) coincidentally; it's ~9.5 hours long and is one of the best movies ever, period. i'll vote Les enfants du Paradis, though

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

scrolling past this I totally read the thread title as "the long-awaited films poll"; as in a poll of films who all took a really notoriously long time to get a release.

Seems like a fun poll idea if I could actually think of any off the top of my head.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Could've predicted that top three in my sleep.

is it worth it to try watching satantango on dvd? i saw the first third or so in a theater but had to leave because i had gotten the impression it was only 3 hours or so before i went and didn't realize it was ~7 until i got there. i had stuff to do. i think it might be too boring on dvd and i'll never see it.

i might watch jeanne dielman tonight or tomorrow.

I've only ever seen it on DVD, and I think it works. I watched it in two chunks and dozed off toward the beginning of each before waking up, running it back and starting again. Both times I had to adjust to the rhythm of it, but once I did it was pretty awe-inspiring. So I think it is best to watch it in as close to one sitting as possible.

I think I might give Jeanne Dielman a shot this weekend?

These things, for me, tend to be like getting a vaccination: You know it's good for you and that you really should have it done, and that in the end it's done and over with like no thang, but I'm still too apprehensive about it to do it.

i didn't do it tonight i'm way too tired and adamrl said not to watch it when you're tired, i'll do it tomorrow

I think Jeanne Dielman probably loses more on DVD than Satantango. It's doable, but you should commit to watching it without interruption.

y'all are boring!

the new land is a fuckin masterpiece

I'm also not sure why Berlin Alexanderplatz isn't on the list. I know it began life on TV, but I think by now it's just thought of--and definitely screened--as a long film.

At the ICA showing I went to at least, they show the opening credits for each "episode" so it definitley felt more like public netflix bingeing than one long movie.

Ditto for the three public screenings I saw.

It still felt like a movie, though. The first time I saw it, I think it was spread over four or five Sundays; another time, it was concentrated into one weekend. But for me, the experience felt the same as watching Out 1 or Hitler or anything else really long. Also notice that of the six Fassbinders on TSPDT's big list, Berlin is the highest ranked (only #295, surprisingly).

Nothing by Wang Bing?

This is a great list, it's hard to choose the best!

― admrl, Wednesday, 5 May 2010 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Was reading this terrific piece on Wang Bing