He's one of those directors I know I'm supposed to love but can't bring myself to do it. The films I've seen of his were all pretty good but that's it for me.

which ones?

i started “world on a wire” yesterday but dropped it after 15 minutes

Only Ali:Fear eats the soul and The marriage of Eva Braun thinking about it. I thought I'd see Tears of Petra Von Kant but if I have I remember zilch.



We watched this last night for film club. I really enjoyed it and one the seems to have been mostly forgotten, about which is a shame, as there's a lot to recommend for it. Also, there's a song in they play a few times and it's catchy as hell and so, so good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRXM-qGIeZA

hear, hear!

oooh saura is great. still important in spain and latin america i think.

...

the thing with fassbinder to remember you probably already know but it’s central to the like/dislike is that he came out of the theatre (and one of the reasons why he was so prolific was he stuck to his company more or less and essentially did filmed theatre.)

the other thing is that he was under heavy brechtian influence so they’re not going for naturalism and things can appear odd.

third is he was heavy under influence of douglas sirk (demonyo turned me on to him, ask him anout sirk) which i think was also a second-hand brechtian thing after all but also very hollywood.

fassbinders cinematography is great, had an eye for beauty and understood a great shot, but for me he’s not primarily cinematic, he’s theatrical instead. so going with a mind to see a political play that also uses the devices of 50s technicolor melodrama might be a good entrance.

i won’t deny im also under the influence of his legend—the genius, the relentless work rate, the debauchery, the devious manipulation of his circle, the early death. so i guess that does color my perception a bit.

and he was a damn good actor!


so hmmm lost the plot of what i was saying haaa haaaaa

oh in a way i also think what blocks people out is he was dealing with very german topics german problems and german issues—the postwar, the recovery, fascism in the family, etc. and i can catch some of that but i also know i miss little things—like in chinese roulette ther’s something about the name of the nanny traunitz and i get what the character is supposed to be and there is some big reveal at the end—but i don’t have the full context.

anyway...

i liked the merchant of four seasons more than ali, as i recall.

and try “fox and his friends” maybe? fassbinder himself plays the character.

also, satan’s brew i recall was hilarious. not great or deep but very funny, thinking of damned artists and what not. wanna rewatch it this week.

these are his middle period more or less, after the black and white stuff but before his more famous ones.

ah i gotta run out of the house.... feck, as father hackett sez.

Prometheus was awesome, eat shit

When you let Neil DeGrasse Tyson review sci-fi movies. lol Still have a lot of respect for Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

As a 35yo adult I still consider it watchable because it is so damn stupid and off the wall.

fox and his friends

(r.w. fassbinder, 1975)

well...

it was slower than i was expecting! in this day and age, such a story would be resolved in 75 minutes, not 2h + change

BUT... such good characters and story. worth the wait even though one knows the payoff early (ok, i had seen this before, but still, it was evident)

anyway, i don't know if this story is original, but i'm pretty pretty sure woody allen ripped it off a couple decades later for a related scenario

on rewatch, and decades since it was made, i could have done without the final scene i think, for a different sort of ending... but it was a good one regardless

eta: https://www.criterion.com/current/po...nd-his-friends

Bedknobs and Broomsticks, cause why not.

I’m watching The Shape of Water finally.

I’m halfway through it and it’s not terrible but it’s, like, so totally not even kind of in the same league as Dunkirk or Ladybird or Blade Runner 2049 it just pisses me off to the think about the fact that it won Best Picture.

Oh well.

Decided to follow up with Mary Poppins.

THE SHAPE OF WATER FUCKING SSSSUUUUUUCKED

What!?

Sucked.

A) It’s about bestiality
B) There are too many plot holes to list
C) It’s a rip-off of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s signature style — only Guillermo Del Toro-fied with a fish monster and nobody speaking French (but French music inexplicably playing throughout?) Yeah, Del Toro has made some nice films, but this was an aesthetic heist of another — BETTER — filmmaker’s vision and style. (City of Lost Children/Delicatessen/Amelie/A Very Long Engagement — all better by far than this thing)
D) It’s gross without needing to be
E) It’s a little on-the-nose with its social commentary (though I agree with its message)
F) It’s basically just a mash-up of Beauty and the Beast and Creature from the Black Lagoon
G) It came out at the same time, and competed against, movies that are INFINITELY better, more important, more daring and more stylistically adventurous

... IN NO UNIVERSE IS THIS THE BEST MOVIE OF 2017.

Blade Runner 2049, Drunkirk and Ladybird all make this thing feel like an utterly empty little fairy tale.

If it hadn’t garnered so much acclaim, I probably wouldn’t dislike it so much... but it was not a great film.

:D :D :D was waiting for the inevitable follow up and you didn't disappoint. I actually only got round to watching it myself a coupla months back and everything you said I agree with. Every conceivable film cliche you can think of was in there and they ramped that up to 10. Some bits were especially so eye rollingly lame that all it did was baffle me all the more as to how it did so well.

Then again, it highlighted once again how the Oscars are an absolute joke and have been for a long, long time. The only plus was Sally Hawkins. Man, I've got the weirdest crush on her.

Yeah, it was just bleeeech.
I wanted to not hate it. I wanted to NOT be mad at the academy because I’m already mad enough at every academy for every foolish decision, but my GOD was it a pile.

Style over substance and the style was stolen.


ALSO, SPOILER ALERT...
...
..
..

If creatures can heal things, why do they *slit the throats of insane people who are causing them harm instead of curing them of their insanity*? Seriously. Huh?! What. Point. Are. You. Making bro.

suitably for the season...

BABETTE’S FEAST (sum dude, wassisname, 1987)



oh yeah that there is stéphane audran, chabrol’s muse

lots of fun as usual— i watch this every so often. this time i read it diferent than the previous one—this one was about the role of the artist. great.

another similarly themed one for anybody who liked this one is stanley tucci’s “big night” , made in the 90 with tony shalhoub, ian holm, allison janney in pre-cj cregg days... oh! isabella rossellini... great little film really, and so tasty.

food!

i dont feel it’s as great as they say, and halfway through it im having a really hard time watching it due to some disturbing shit

huge downer so far! and kinda slow...

i mean maybe it’s great in the neorrealist sense but not... “funny,” as the poster claims

It's a great film. Katie Jarvis's performance is brilliant - although I can see how it might not travel well. It's a cliche saying a film has a heart but this one really does.

nominated for best picture in 1977: "Taxi Driver," "All the President's Men," and "Network."

The winner? Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky."