https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNPfl1dcTkI
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 13 April 2024 13:28 (one month ago) link
Now that most of his great films have become available in the last 20 years, I have less time for Ugetsu, but it's a landmark of creepiness and erotic sorrow.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 13 April 2024 13:43 (one month ago) link
Not my favourite Mizoguchi but still devastating, timeless
― Bitchin Doutai (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 April 2024 13:49 (one month ago) link
Brilliant
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 13 April 2024 16:18 (one month ago) link
The phrase I see a lot is “first among equals.” I submit that there should be a similar and near-equally laudable “second among equals,” which UGETSU probably is, alongside Mizoguchi’s late run
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Saturday, 13 April 2024 16:23 (one month ago) link
I don't want to do "better than" arguments, so I'll try very hard not to do that, but what a movie, what magic he crafted throughout his career but the 50s especially, fuiud
― Bitchin Doutai (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 April 2024 16:30 (one month ago) link
I've dug thru the source material cos it fascinates me and I'd confidently argue that - like Hitchcock for example - he made his sources his own and made them better. Ugetsu taps a bunch of veins at once, political personal, but the big point is it sticks with you, it transcends what it might be "about"
― Bitchin Doutai (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 April 2024 16:36 (one month ago) link
It's strange that the most memorable scene from this for me is where the "samurai" brags about his non-existent virtues to his young cronies. The ghost story stuff is a little vague by comparison, though it obviously made a big impression on Tarkovsky.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 13 April 2024 17:32 (one month ago) link
So this was wild. Don't think I've ever seen anything like it.
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 07:09 (one month ago) link
Watched with my wife who knows a decent amount about Japanese ghost culture, my idea was that the story followed a dreamlike narrative, but she pointed out that it was a standard, fairly simple morality play if you are familiar with Japanese ghost stories. It was the atmosphere, especially the sound, that made it work for me.
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 10:15 (one month ago) link
yeah, there are quite a few like it. i think i prefer Kuroneko. i need to rewatch Ghost of Yotsuya (it's on youtube). Kwaidan has similar bits too. Onibaba...
useful list here, including more modern j-horrorhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnica240Wq4
― koogs, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 11:47 (one month ago) link
the kiln aspect was interesting as well - there was a bbc4 japanese traditional arts programme on just before i saw Ugetsu for the first time and the same kilns are still in use (although not universally)
― koogs, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 11:51 (one month ago) link
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/Madamedeposter.jpg
Madame de..., Max Ophuls, 1953Morbsies #499Sight & Sound Critics #90
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 20 April 2024 19:55 (one month ago) link
Sometimes the greatest film ever made.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 April 2024 19:57 (one month ago) link
Another cracking film.
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 20 April 2024 19:57 (one month ago) link
I love Earrings... because it's a film whose editing and camera movements convey a passage of time as subtle as any novel. When I read Balzac and Trollope, the marriage between Boyer and Darrieux is how I imagine the day-to-day functionalities of a patrician 19th century marriage. The beauty of Boyer's performance is how he's perfectly willing to go along with it but with the quiet half-grins that Ophuls catches it's clear he also loves Louise enough to have given a more erotic marriage a shot if she wasn't so bent on escaping within her confines. Few films convey how possessions delineate the confines of one's own entrapment.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 April 2024 20:14 (one month ago) link
Modern Times also on YouTube now too Really enjoyed that, especially the automatic food layer bit
― nxd, Tuesday, 30 April 2024 20:33 (three weeks ago) link
Only started watching films by Ophuls six months ago. Forgive me, God
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 30 April 2024 21:14 (three weeks ago) link
Om watching Earrings.... as I type and my god
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 30 April 2024 21:25 (three weeks ago) link
I finally got around to Earrings a few years ago and boy does it deliver. 19th century novels are a good reference point, it has that richness of detail and emotional specificity.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 30 April 2024 21:28 (three weeks ago) link
Boyer is the key: aware of everything, ready to play along, but ignore him and he'll put a bullet in your throat.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 30 April 2024 21:41 (three weeks ago) link
19th century novels are a good reference point, it has that richness of detail and emotional specificity.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, April 30, 2024 5:28 PM (one hour ago)
otm Alfred and tipsy. I already had that association, and when I started reading Anna Karenina the other day I immediately thought of Earrings
― rob, Tuesday, 30 April 2024 23:01 (three weeks ago) link
there's a Chaplin season on sky arts in the UK and Modern Times (78 in the S&S list) and City Lights (36) will be two of those (i think MT is next Saturday and Sunday). so far there's been The Kid, Gold Rush, The Circus. Criterion logo in all the credits.
― koogs, Tuesday, 30 April 2024 23:24 (three weeks ago) link
Finished watching Madame De..., you are all dead-on with the novel comparisons, reminded me of Zola's "La Curée", though without the politics, such a dance the three do with each-other, and the fact that they spent so much time actually dancing did not seem like a blunt metaphor. I did find it a little difficult to connect with on an emotional level, as I always do with the Belle Époque upper class, not sure why this is.
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 3 May 2024 20:57 (three weeks ago) link
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Tokyo-story-20201121.jpg
Tokyo Story, Yasujirō Ozu, 1953
Morbsies #141Sight & Sound Critics #4Sight & Sound Directors #4
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 5 May 2024 15:55 (three weeks ago) link
Heartbreaking.
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 5 May 2024 16:27 (three weeks ago) link
yeah, didn't even make the top 100
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 5 May 2024 16:32 (three weeks ago) link
I finished Tokyo Story a little while ago and have been slowly digesting it - while I liked it quite a lot I still haven't worked out why it's a masterpiece, maybe this is just something not worth worrying about, but it just reminds me of a lot of other low-key studies of family life - that's something I generally love anyway, maybe it's that I've seen so many of its successors that it just doesn't seem novel? I am also a little confused by Chishū Ryū's acting, it is so low-key that I find myself questioning whether he's actually doing anything. (Also cannot believe that he's 49 years old in this and lived until 1993! And Kyōko Kagawa is still alive!)
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 16 May 2024 19:51 (one week ago) link
is so low-key that I find myself questioning whether he's actually doing anything.
best kind of acting imo
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 May 2024 20:27 (one week ago) link
I am undecided between "best" and "not best" - certainly he would be at home in a Roy Andersson film, so that sounds like I should come down on the side of "best"
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 17 May 2024 06:39 (one week ago) link
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/La_Strada.jpg
La Strada, Federico Fellini, 1954
Morbsies #648Sight & Sound Directors #38
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 18 May 2024 14:24 (one week ago) link
This one is on youtube in its entirety with English subtitles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPefZ8cZCl0
― This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 18 May 2024 14:25 (one week ago) link
brilliant film
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 18 May 2024 15:52 (one week 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 (one week 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 (yesterday) link