dvd report from florida

[blunted by community]

broken blossoms is the only griffith movie i have watched all the way through in one sitting. and i liked it a lot. the other 2 we have been discussing, to me, are curiosities that now and then i pop in but can never watch for more than 15 or 20 minutes. turner showed 2 griffith movies recently, "way down east, or way down south" and i could not get into it. and the english war film he made and i could not get into that one either.

[Jeff Wilson]

I haven't watched any Griffith for years, but I remember enjoying ORPHANS OF THE STORM when I saw it in a high school film class. I can't say his work really interests me.

Better late than never, but here's what I've watched lately:

MODERN TIMES: Saw this at the Detroit Film Theater, and it was great to see with a big audience.

THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE: This French animated fantasy is a delight to the eye, with some of the funniest character designs I've seen in a long time. Not for everyone, but I liked it a lot.

MONDO CANE: Given people online wetting themselves over the recent DVD box set of the mondo films of Jacopetti and the other guy whose name escapes me, I decided to rent the first and most famous of this series. Big mistake, as it's really contemptible and vile stuff for the severely jaded. Somebody in another forum stated that F FOR FAKE was somehow part of or influenced by the mondo movement, but I don't really see that.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: Didn't feel like ponying up the $8 to see this in theaters, so I rented the recent DVD. I liked the mood and the performances, but otherwise I didn't find this really deserving of the hype it's been getting. A lot of tired jokes involving culture clashes (look how much taller Bill Murray is than the typical Japanese!), and for a film set in Tokyo, it didn't do much with locations, aside from a couple sequences. Generally unpleasant, boring characters as well.

CULLODEN: I've had the BFI's DVD of the Peter Watkins TV film for ages, and finally watched it as I was planning to see his latest film, LA COMMUNE, when it came to a local theater. I liked CULLODEN a lot, though I ended up missing LA COMMUNE.

DECASIA: Saw this at a screening last fall with the director present, and it put me to sleep about 20 minutes in. Sounded great in conception, and I loved the music, but 15 or 20 minutes of this was plenty. Watched it again on DVD to make sure I wasn't wrong the first time, and I wasn't. At least I could skip around this time.

SANTO films: A guilty pleasure, as I can't help laughing at a guy in a silver wrestling mask who fights crime, monsters, and aliens when he isn't in the ring. The wrestling sequences are the worst part of these films, but otherwise they're campy fun. The Mexican James Bond.

THE OFFICE: I just got the second series of this BBC comedy, and it's painfully funny. The series' documentary framing device was a great idea. I now await the craptastic American re-make.

THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN: Another superb BBC series, this portmanteau black comedy series took some critical shots, but I loved every minute of it.

[Welles Fan]

Sir Bygber: I like your characterization of Griffith as "more literary than cinematic". I think I'd add to it and say "more tableaux than moving images". His movies look interesting when you see stills from them, but when you see the actual movie, it's kind of the same experience as looking at the stills. I agree with Blunted that Broken Blossoms (with the Gottschalk score) is the only Griffith i could get through in one sitting, and the one which seemed to have a "real" script".

I remember reading Kevin Brownlow's The Parade's Gone By several years ago. Brownlow interviewed the guy who "played" Abe Lincoln in Birth of a Nation. he told how haphazard Griffith was in his filmmaking. He essentially had only the barest outline of a scenario, and sort of made it up as he went along. I think he must have thought the scenes he was filming had more content than they really had.

Jeff: I remember trying to watch Mondo Cane on Bravo® in the early 80's (when Bravo was cool and showed tons of unedited films). I found it nauseating and disturbing, and was disappointed, considering its semi-legendary status.

[Sir Bygber Brown]

Wellesfan - i was going to say he should have written books instead of movies, but i decided some people may be fans and best not provoke conflict. Literary is more to the point. And i know what you mean about Tableaux. 2001 has the same value, except i love watching that. Each visual is like a beautiful slightly moving photograph. A lot of Kubrick is like this - quite stationary. Revealing his roots as a photographer. Unlike Griffith, i think, he doesn't over-use dialogue/titles, and his images combine much better. Also, while watching Road to Perdition recently i noticed that any movie based on a graphic novel plays out in ultra-slow motion, because each scene originated in an image, and the filmmakers have only found the scene magical when it resembled that image, so they hold on it! I was quite surprised at how well Hanks played that character (the only other time i liked him was Carl Hanratty).

Like both of you, Wellesfan and Blunted, Broken Blossoms was the only Griffith I, too, could see all of in one sitting. Like i said, i thought it was pretty good, but i certainly wouldn't call it groundbreaking cinematically. I think Chaplin was much more groundbreaking in his minimal use of title cards (though the emotions he expressed were seldom as complex as you'll find in Murnau's Last Laugh, for example).

Jeff - you'll never guess where i saw Modern Times just recently. I've been on a holiday in Europe and just happened to be in Lyon (where they have the Lumiere Institute). I was only to be there for one night - and they just happened to be having a cine-concert of Modern Times on (where a live orchestra plays the music along to the movie). I thought: there's no way there'll be tickets left... I tried calling early, but the place didn't open till just before the show. And by the time i got in there the only tickets left were sans visibilite! I thought: oh well, i love Charlie's music, so i'll go just to hear the orchestra play smile and the rest of the beautiful soundtrack. I got in there, there was a French announcement (all French to me), and the curtain and baton were raised. The opening titles came on, and images started to come - i could see! I was so thrilled i almost wet my pants. I'd never seen it before, and it was an absolute joy and marvel in that particular situation. One of the best things i've ever done.

Personally, Jeff, i loved Lost in Translation. I thought its beauty was in the seemingly accidental combination of its scenes, rendering such a subtle, funny story. I think like anything, (Lord of the Rings or Matrix for me) if you're annoyed by the hype something gets, you can never see the reason people thought it was great before there was hype. I don't think Bill Murray deserves the Oscar, however. I think Sean Penn for Mystic River. It'll be his Chance the Gardener - yes it was his greatest performance, but no it probably wasn't the best performance of the year.

[Jeff Wilson]

Oh, I went into LOST IN TRANSLATION wanting to like it, but it just didn't do it for me. If the hype for a film annoys me, I tend not to see it, but this was a case where I wanted to believe it was that good.

[Sir Bygber Brown]

Jeff, i've been saying the word "craptastic" in my head and giggling since i read your post. I've never heard this one before! Exactly what combination of crap and fantastic do you mean when you say it? Which does it err on the side of, something so crap its fantastic, or something fantastically (really) crappy?

p.s i've been annoyed by how cocky Coppola and Murray seem when i see photos of them on boardwalks, at premieres and at awards parties. They're having the ride of their lives, and you can see they're not being rather humble or self-critical about it. If it was Harrison Ford who was receiving such accolades, he'd be looking rather embarrassed and not taking you seriously. I think i much prefer that. I hate when people really buy into their own hype. Its affecting my memory of the movie. Often i prefer not to meet the people behind the movie and let it speak for itself.

[Jeff Wilson]

"Craptastic" would refer to something immensely crappy. "Craptacular" is another variant I've heard. The wonders of the English language!

[blunted by community]

copolla had had a history of non-humble-itis. the french complained about it on several occasions, one being when he stode into the cannes on his apocalypse now nomination, acting like a god that had already won. those damn americans.

[Glenn Anders]

Blunted: Let me get this down. Are we visiting the sins of the fathers on the daughters now?

I applaud Sofia Coppola. At 30, she has made two very good little films (perhaps with a little help from her dad, but that's okay). I don't think LOST IN TRANSLATION is a great film, but it is a playful, insightful good one on loss and loneliness.

Murray is very good in LOST IN TRANSLATION, also, and I think he will get the Oscar for it, but I agree with Sir Bygber that Sean Penn should get the Oscar for Best Actor, and further, MYSTIC RIVER should win for Best Picture. In its strangely off-center way, it is almost a great film.

Glenn

[blunted by community]

glenn:
before responding to what i posted you have to read what i posyed so your respond jives. i have no clue what you are responding to.

did you over-medicate today?

i found riefenstahl guilty of being a nazi, and the director of apocalypse now guilty of being full of himself. now read your post and please tell me how the hell your response to me jives with anything i posted.

[Sir Bygber Brown]

Glenn was just saying are we judging Coppola because her father was egotistical, and is this fair.

[blunted by community]

brown, are you dipping into glenn's medication?

glenn said i was judging the copolla girl for what her father does. now, you take a magnifying glass, scan this thread and find one place that i mention copolla's daughter. i didn't even know she was making movies.

[Jeff Wilson]

Somebody said that Sofia Coppola (who directed the movie we were discussing) and Bill Murray had seemed cocky in recent appearances, and you came in and said her father had a history of it. Glenn asked if you were judging the daughter by the father. That's it. You apparently misunderstood which member of the family we were talking about.

[blunted by community]

i was responding to this:
p.s i've been annoyed by how cocky Coppola and Murray seem when i see photos of them on boardwalks,

had no idea who murray is, and the only copolla in know is FF copolla.

so to answer glenn, i was not holding the daughter responsible for the father's action.

i saw some french people complaining about copolla in several film documentaries. and i have seen copolla is several documentaries where he thinks he's god, and that is what i commented on, not realizing that it was the daughter that was being commented on. ok, so it was me dipping into glenn's medication.

[Sir Bygber Brown]

We were discussing Lost in Translation, the recent movie by Coppola's daughter Sofia Coppola (who also made The Virgin Suicides). Lost in Translation stars Bill Murray, and has been receiving accolades recently, from critics and awards ceremonies, and we were discussing how cocky Sofia and Bill have seemed in interviews, red carpet appearances, premieres about the movie.