"I remembered it as a slacker, poorly acted prototype for The Discreet Charm."
Hmmmm, this is what I still think. May have to give it another go.
― Freedom, Friday, 27 February 2009 12:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Cheers Alfred! I'll track 'em down. :)
― bitch hooligan, pussy ass nobrain dårk (country matters), Friday, 27 February 2009 12:07 (fifteen years ago) link
I remember an interview with Dave "not A." Stewart, in which he was rating an early Bunuel film.
Although, the article had him praising the film "Large Door".
― Mark G, Friday, 27 February 2009 13:50 (fifteen years ago) link
(Actually that *was* "A", not "not A" after all, oh)
― Mark G, Friday, 27 February 2009 13:51 (fifteen years ago) link
That Obscure Object Of Desire has gone instantly into my all-time top 10, maybe 5. It is monumental.
― POLLonius (country matters), Thursday, 19 March 2009 18:51 (fifteen years ago) link
I mean, in its grand, assured, completely controlled efflorescence it feels like some sort of definitive work; every single last detail is so astonishingly observed. I chuckled to myself at its wry exquisiteness pretty much throughout. And that ending...oh, that ending.
I saw Belle De Jour last night as well and didn't think it was quite as good, despite some excellent fantasy-blurs-with-reality mindfucking.
― POLLonius (country matters), Thursday, 19 March 2009 18:55 (fifteen years ago) link
i've only seen Los Olvidados and Un Chien Andalou. Adored the former, was bored by the latter, and feel like I should see more since I gather neither is particularly representative of the oeuvre and obv. lots of praise for the man here and elsewhere.
― Blackout Crew are the Beatles of donk (jim), Thursday, 19 March 2009 18:55 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm not as fond -- the pace slackens in places -- my love for Bunuel's French films waxes and wanes. The Discreet Charm is unfuckwithable, though.
― The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 March 2009 18:56 (fifteen years ago) link
*BUT my love for
― The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 March 2009 18:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Agreed on Discreet Charm, but I'd place Obscure Object right alongside it. They're equivalents in epic frustration.
― POLLonius (country matters), Thursday, 19 March 2009 19:10 (fifteen years ago) link
After seeing this poll when it was revived a month ago, I got The Discreet Charm out of the library but when I watched it I was kinda sleepy and I was just dazed and confused trying to stay awake pay attention to what was going on. I think I liked it, maybe I should just watch it again.
― silly ho (a hoy hoy), Thursday, 19 March 2009 19:21 (fifteen years ago) link
Missed the poll, would have added a third vote to Belle de jour.
The Pixies review Un chien andalou:
Got me a movie, I want you to know.Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know. Girlie so groovy, I want you to know.Don't know about you, but I am un chien andalusia...
Wanna grow up to be a debaser...
Got me a movie, ha-ha-ha-ho... Slicing up eyeballs, ha-ha-ha-ho...Girlie so groovie, ha-ha-ha-ho...Don't know about you, but I am un chien andalusia...
Debaser...
― Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 19 March 2009 20:28 (fifteen years ago) link
And it would have made a better video than anything the Pixies ever made. Wonder if anyone has ever synched them...?
― Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 19 March 2009 20:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Given the talk about Bunuel dbl bills above there are a couple of them at the Riverside Studios that look good: tomorrow its Discreet Charm... with Diary of a Chambermaid
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 1 August 2009 18:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Weird, saw Obscure Object again tonight. Still my favourite film of all time. My friend thought it was interminably boring.
― One idiot even called me "redcoat" because I'm (country matters), Sunday, 2 August 2009 03:41 (fourteen years ago) link
The Phantom Of Liberty >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Monty Python's Meaning Of Life
(they're kinda pretty similar IMO)
― acoleuthic, Sunday, 4 April 2010 00:29 (fourteen years ago) link
ok I'm gonna rank the Bunuel I've seen - please dispute, suggest (ban) etc
That Obscure Object Of Desire (favourite film ever)The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoise (in personal top 5)The Exterminating Angel (in personal top 20)The Phantom Of Liberty (possibly in personal top 30 - it's really fucking arresting and GODDAMN funny)Viridiana (first one I saw! awesome)Belle De Jour (not as good as the other late-periods...he hadn't quite nailed his colour mastery or subject-matter...but still a marvellous film)Tristana (nice, mysterious, a bit forgettable, kinda haunting)L'Age D'Or (DO YOU SEE?!?!?!)Un Chien Andalou (DO YOU SEE?!?!?! except really short and kinda more a piece of video art than a film - an important one tho, and nice piano-dragging image)
basically he had a genius for injecting surrealism into film, but only slowly did he learn (starting really with The Exterminating Angel which is the best disaster movie ever) to inject that surrealism into a tangible depiction of reality, and only slowly did he grow to fully understand the human brain - his later works are as savage, light-footed and wry as anything committed to film - he is the greatest director to have lived IMO -
― acoleuthic, Sunday, 4 April 2010 00:40 (fourteen years ago) link
what did u love so much about The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoise? i never got too much out of his movies cept for Belle De Jour tbh. Un Chien Andalou has some arresting images but so what
― Michael B, Sunday, 4 April 2010 00:43 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't find L'Age d'Or DO YOU SEE?!?!?!?! at all. It'd be in my top 2 or 3, there are so many beautiful images and awesome gags in it. The opening 10-15 minutes is probably my favourite Buñuel, alongside the close of Simon del Desierto. The later movies are great but to my mind they're far more engaged in DYS-satire than L'Age d'Or, which just feels more thoroughly its own thing, a purer surrealism and blast of black humour.
Think you'd like The Milky Way a good deal, LJ, and everybody should see Simon given a chance - no region 2 DVD yet, bastards.
― Top Geir (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 4 April 2010 00:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Un Chien Andalou has some arresting images but so what
Think this hinges on "Are you down with Surrealists y/n?" tbh, and your tolerance for unorthodox narrative (not necessarily the absence of narrative).
― Top Geir (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 4 April 2010 00:51 (fourteen years ago) link
diary of a chambermaidviridianalos olvidadostristanathe exterminating angel
of those i've seen
― nakhchivan, Sunday, 4 April 2010 00:53 (fourteen years ago) link
TDCOTB is basically an airy breeze through the stately, unobtrusive ambitions of a bunch of well-to-do sorts (such as those who might work on or watch one of his movies), and how they are undercut at every turn by chance, flaw, error, being in a bad dream, or pure spite. They retain their dignity as best they can. They are shown at their most undignified, and yet they walk tall. The comedy is profound. You gotta trust me on this one. It's fucken profound. And it's made with such chutzpah...Bunuel's mastery of the deadpan situational twist is absolute by this point.
BDJ is a little more forced IMO, a little more contrived, although it has some fantastic ideas and images. TDCOTB does the whole 'fantasy/reality' dichotomy much more sublimely - they're not just one and the same but you're really not sure there's much of a dichotomy any more. This all culminates in the heatstroke of filmic gnosticism that is his final, absolute work - as feather-light and knowing a portrait of man as I've seen. :)
I need to see L'Age D'Or again! I saw it once and was a bit 'buhhhhh ok that's quite pointed' - it's still great but I felt it was very much based upon its iconoclasm - it was hitting rather than delicately imbibing. Nonetheless some images and segues are amazing - the violing getting kicked down the street is one of my favourite things
And yes, The Milky Way is very much on the agenda
― acoleuthic, Sunday, 4 April 2010 00:55 (fourteen years ago) link
as I've said before 'the very finest surrealism is perfectly logical to someone' and Bunuel understands this more and more as he goes on
i'm sketchy with bunuel & am gonna rent that obscure object on your sayso LJ. i will webmail you for a reimbursement if it's terrible.
ha ha, really? i mean it's not like you invest hours and get minimal return.
― Earning your Masters in Library and Information Science is beautiful (schlump), Sunday, 4 April 2010 00:57 (fourteen years ago) link
do so schlump! i will merely turn up at your house with a bucket of water
― acoleuthic, Sunday, 4 April 2010 01:05 (fourteen years ago) link
'reimbursement'/spongebath
― Earning your Masters in Library and Information Science is beautiful (schlump), Sunday, 4 April 2010 01:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Get Simon of the Desert.
I still stand what I wrote upthread:
More than anything by Sam Fuller, those Mexican Bunuel films make an airtight case for the virtues of the B-movie ethos as practised by an artist. Take Mexican Bus Ride, Susana, or Wuthering Heights. The acting is at best listless, the production values a little better than fifth graders using construction paper and papier mache, but man! He was never more authentically subversive and hence surrealist.
― filling the medicare donut hole with the semen of liberal (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 4 April 2010 01:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Also: last year's DVD release of The Exterminating Angel, which I never much liked after college, was revelatory for me.
― filling the medicare donut hole with the semen of liberal (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 4 April 2010 01:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, I need to check those films out xpost
My best friend and I saw that TEA DVD together a few months ago, in absolute awe. The group's descent into despair is so convincing! Parts seem almost improvised in their unfolding horror. And the last five minutes is the pulling of the most almighty rug - yeah, pretty Do You See but also completely awesome
― acoleuthic, Sunday, 4 April 2010 01:30 (fourteen years ago) link
I think Las Hurdes is STILL ahead of its time.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Sunday, 4 April 2010 01:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Las Hurdes was once available in a twofer edition with Un Chien Andalou. When I saw it in high school with some buddies, we all screamed when the sheep or the goat toppled off the hill.
― filling the medicare donut hole with the semen of liberal (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 4 April 2010 01:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Get a hold of as many of the Mexican Buñuels as you can. They're all pretty much great viewing and personal favorites because of the restrained use of Surrealist touches in many of them (the Meat Dream in Los Olvidados being prob his most unrestrained ).
― Bow Before Zeezrom!!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 4 April 2010 02:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Actually, that's bull. Raul Ruiz certainly picked up where Las Hurdes left off. And then some. In fact, Ruiz's entire career has been rather Las Hurdes-esque.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Sunday, 4 April 2010 02:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Ruiz is an underrated master but the last couple of films I've seen have been disconcertingly hacky. Still - he seems to be the only person fit to have carried on in Buñuel's shoes. "Combat D'amour En Songe" is tremendous - like "The Milky Way" run through Borges, medieval Romances and Robert Louis Stevenson..
― Bow Before Zeezrom!!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 4 April 2010 23:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Get a hold of as many of the Mexican Buñuels as you can.
my favorite one of this period & the most obsessive = El (This Strange Passion) -- do not miss
― Milton Parker, Monday, 5 April 2010 02:04 (fourteen years ago) link
breaking an egg on the lense of the camera.
― 404s & Heartbreak (jim in glasgow), Monday, 5 April 2010 02:05 (fourteen years ago) link
I kinda regret my one-sentence summary of L'Age D'Or now, and really do want to see it again ASAP in order to banish such sentiments
― william mcgonadal's tay ridge disaster (acoleuthic), Monday, 5 April 2010 02:08 (fourteen years ago) link
on The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, which I'm rewatching:
Bunuel's mastery of the deadpan situational twist is absolute by this point
OTM.
― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 6 July 2010 23:17 (thirteen years ago) link
I actually went hunting upthread to see who that was! VINDICATION
The Phantom Of Liberty is absolutely nothing BUT deadpan situational twists - it's dazzling, but I would agree with anyone who said that Bunuel was at his best when operating within a (loose) plot.
Is there any other filmmaker who has this ability to present the ludicrous as logical?
― so you want Mark Ronson to cry into your ass (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 6 July 2010 23:24 (thirteen years ago) link
http://cinefilevideo.com/shop/shirts/bunuel-t-shirt/
http://cinefilevideo.com/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/FINALbunuel-2.jpg
― thomas l. sassy (donna rouge), Tuesday, 4 January 2011 00:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Didn't know Death in the Garden got a DVD release a couple of years ago! Found it at the library today. Good interview with Michel Piccoli included with the extras.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 31 January 2011 00:15 (thirteen years ago) link
Has anyone seen that documentary,A proposito de Buñuel aka Regarding Luis Buñuel?
Did you like Death in the Garden, Alfred? I remember being kind of bored by it.
― BIG TOONCES aka the steendriving cat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 June 2011 20:06 (twelve years ago) link
"A proposito de Buñuel " is basically his son Juan-Luis and Jean Claude Carriere travelling around to various sites that were formative to Buñuel (Spain, Paris, LA, Mexico...). Many cool anecdotes along the way, especially a sort of sad one about LB and Dali late in their lives. Worth watching.
― Vendo Caramelos A Veces Sin Dinero (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 23 June 2011 21:45 (twelve years ago) link
yep -- a bore.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 23 June 2011 21:50 (twelve years ago) link
Seem to dimly remember him blaming its floppitude on the cameraman in that interview with the Mexicans book.
― BIG TOONCES aka the steendriving cat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 June 2011 22:18 (twelve years ago) link
should've voted Tristana
― already president FYI (Dr Morbius), Friday, 24 June 2011 02:22 (twelve years ago) link
That film was damn near impossible to find even in the nineties. I saw it once on VHS in '97.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 June 2011 02:33 (twelve years ago) link
Tristana? I've got it on the DVD box set.
― SB OK (Noodle Vague), Friday, 24 June 2011 06:43 (twelve years ago) link
Hoberman reviews a new book on Don Luis' opportunistic, card-carrying Communist years:
http://www.thenation.com/article/167559/charismatic-chameleon-luis-bunuel
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 April 2012 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
adventures of robinson crusoe is on tcm this wkend, sunday late i believe
― johnny crunch, Friday, 27 April 2012 15:53 (twelve years ago) link