― milo z (mlp), Saturday, 5 August 2006 03:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 5 August 2006 03:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― =[[ (eman), Saturday, 5 August 2006 03:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― =[[ (eman), Saturday, 5 August 2006 03:56 (seventeen years ago) link
Equal-Opportunity Offender Plays Anti-Semitism for Laughs By SHARON WAXMAN
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6 — Fall is traditionally when Hollywood turns to more serious films, and the Toronto International Film Festival is where they are frequently shown. But a new movie that seems certain to raise hackles and induce squirming is a raucous comedy that makes its points by seeming to embrace sexism, racism, homophobia and that most risky of social toxins: anti-Semitism.
Screening at midnight on Thursday in Toronto, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” stars the chameleonlike comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as he impersonates a Kazakh reporter touring the United States, bringing his version of Kazakh culture to real-life Americans.
In one scene Borat insists on driving to California rather than flying, “in case the Jews repeat their attack of 9/11.” As he tours the South, he becomes terrified when he learns that an elderly couple who run an inn are Jewish. When cockroaches crawl under the door of his room, he becomes convinced the innkeepers have transformed themselves into bugs, and throws money at them.
In another scene Borat returns to his home village and participates in an annual ritual, “The Running of the Jews,” complete with giant Jew puppets that the villagers beat with clubs.
This anti-anti-Semitic humor is mixed in with other outrageous behavior, including slurs against Gypsies and gays, and a nude wrestling match. But in a world in which resurgent anti-Semitism has become — sometimes literally — an explosive topic, the movie may well hit a particular nerve, especially in Europe.
The British-born Mr. Baron Cohen, who calls himself an observant Jew, has performed this same high-wire comedy act for his HBO series, “Da Ali G Show,” in which he plays three characters, including Borat, each hilariously offensive in its own right.
The title character of the show, Ali G, is a vaguely Muslim British idiot with a hip-hop persona, who was the subject of a rather tame, and unsuccessful, film in 2002, “Ali G Indahouse,” released straight to video in the United States.
With “Borat,” Mr. Baron Cohen — who shares screenplay credit with several others — decided to head straight for the most sensitive areas of politically incorrect global culture, and for the first time will be doing so for a mass audience, far beyond the sophisticated niche of HBO. The film is to be released by 20th Century Fox on Nov. 3 on more than 2,000 screens nationwide.
(Borat is not explicitly Muslim, but Kazakhstan has a large Sunni Muslim population along with a sizable contingent of Orthodox Christians.)
Mr. Baron Cohen, who is appearing in Toronto as Borat, declined to be interviewed for this article and will be conducting interviews ahead of the film only in character.
20th Century Fox also declined to comment for this article or otherwise participate. Executives at the studio said that they were concerned about overemphasizing the political aspects of the humor, or otherwise labeling the movie, which they said they hoped would have broad appeal to a young audience.
The film is experimental and highly unusual for Hollywood, in some ways reminiscent of the guerrilla humor of Andy Kaufman, who baited members of the unsuspecting public with his characters, or the buffoonery of Charlie Chaplin as a Hitler-esque tyrant in “The Great Dictator” in 1940.
Film historians said that Hollywood was usually reluctant to take on controversy in general and had particularly avoided treating anti-Semitism in the past.
“Hollywood has a history of avoiding controversial topics, and notably did so at the end of the 1930’s, with the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism,” said Jonathan Kuntz, who teaches American film history at the University of California, Los Angeles. Studios “were afraid of offending audiences, and of limiting their popularity in the European market,” he added. “And because so many moguls were Jewish, they were afraid this would be used to attack Hollywood as anti-Nazi.”
Today too Hollywood is often reluctant openly to discuss anti-Semitism, as was evidenced by the careful debate over Mel Gibson’s 2004 blockbuster, “The Passion of the Christ.” Only when Mr. Gibson was heard making anti-Jewish slurs this summer during a drunken-driving arrest did a few Hollywood veterans speak out against him.
“Borat” was to some extent made outside the Hollywood system. Fox kept the film off its production list and created a separate company, One America, to be the nominal producer. Mr. Baron Cohen also ran into creative differences with his first director, Todd Phillips, who left the production last year, while the film shut down for five months. The veteran comedy director Larry Charles eventually completed the film.
A spokesman for Mr. Baron Cohen said that Mr. Phillips’s departure was “a mutual decision.”
During the shoot Fox ignored numerous protests from the Kazakh Embassy in Washington, whose officials were concerned about the depiction of their country as prejudiced.
Early indications are that the film will be a hit. It rocked audiences with laughter at the Cannes Film Festival, where Mr. Baron Cohen was photographed on the beach wearing a neon-green kind of thong, and won an audience award at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival in Michigan this summer.
Still, “I can almost guarantee you that not everyone will get the joke,” said Richard B. Jewell, a professor of film history at the University of Southern California. But he added: “In my opinion it’s a very healthy thing. Some of best films that have been made in the last 50 years have been black comedies.” He cited “Dr. Strangelove,” which poked fun at nuclear holocaust.
“What can be more serious?” he asked. “It makes people think about these things in ways they don’t when there are more straightforward, serious, sober films.”
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 7 September 2006 20:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 7 September 2006 20:32 (seventeen years ago) link
hahahahahaha
― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 7 September 2006 20:44 (seventeen years ago) link
after reading that in the times i was wondering what the kind of part could mean, now that i see the picture...
i'm amped for this, so so amped.
― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 7 September 2006 20:47 (seventeen years ago) link
My sister is already going crazy for it. Wouldn't stop talking about it this past weekend (and I don't blame her).
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 September 2006 21:15 (seventeen years ago) link
hahahahahahahah again
― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 7 September 2006 21:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Marmot (marmotwolof), Thursday, 7 September 2006 21:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z (mlp), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:38 (seventeen years ago) link
rofl
― señor citizen (eman), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― señor citizen (eman), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 8 September 2006 05:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 8 September 2006 10:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 8 September 2006 11:34 (seventeen years ago) link
http://thedailytransom.observer.com/2006/09/toronto-film-festival-borat-breakdown-total-freakout.html
http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/sept06/borat089903.php
But after about an hour of chaos, it became evident that the film would have to be abandoned. As Borat, Baron Cohen told one festival organiser: ‘If you don't give these people money back, I crush you.’
...Before the fiasco, all was looking well. Up to 1,000 fans had filled the Toronto streets chanting ‘Bo-rat’ and waving Kazakh flags, while the character strode down the red carpet accompanied by a horse and cart and women dressed as peasants.
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 8 September 2006 12:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Friday, 8 September 2006 12:46 (seventeen years ago) link
The show had long been sold out, and many rush-seat hopefuls went home unhappy, and one desperate fan trolled the line on Gerrard St., offering $80 for a single ticket - four times the regular price. There were no apparent takers.
http://www.thestar.com/images/thestar/img/060908_baron_cohen_300.jpg
― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 8 September 2006 13:09 (seventeen years ago) link
― señor citizen (eman), Friday, 8 September 2006 13:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― like murderinging (modestmickey), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― like murderinging (modestmickey), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― like murderinging (modestmickey), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:32 (seventeen years ago) link
You mean "Not that I'll be able to actually go to a movie theater to see it."
― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 8 September 2006 17:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― something less threatening (heywood), Friday, 8 September 2006 17:32 (seventeen years ago) link
oh thank god.
― gbx (skowly), Friday, 8 September 2006 17:57 (seventeen years ago) link
Somehow I think his retiring Borat is part of the plan. (Letterman has never been funnier than when he'd go out on the streets of Manhattan in '82 w/ hidden camera and ask "What's in that bag? I'm Mr. Curious" and get ppl rushing away from him.)
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 8 September 2006 18:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― like murderinging (modestmickey), Friday, 8 September 2006 18:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Friday, 8 September 2006 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 17:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 18:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 18:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― always crashing in other people's cars (kenan), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 18:08 (seventeen years ago) link
[...]
Cohen's representatives refused to allow him or his alter ego to respond to the controversy because it's not close enough to the film's release date.
hahahahah between all these great quotes and the "anti-Borat hard-liners" phrase, somebody had fun writing this.
― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 18:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― a naked Kraken annoying Times Square tourists with an acoustic guitar (nickalici, Wednesday, 13 September 2006 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 18:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― señor citizen (eman), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 18:24 (seventeen years ago) link
I definitely remember seeing this in the times and thinking wtf!? Why is their an ad from the government of Kazakhstan? I totally didn't put it together.
― g00blar (gooblar), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 19:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― always crashing in other people's cars (kenan), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 20:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dreaming of People With Black Eyes,Dressed In Black (jergins), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 20:07 (seventeen years ago) link
When was the Ali G movie? 2002? That was such utter garbage that it was a wise move for him to forget about the UK and turn his attention to the US.
― Young Boys of Bernie (Tom D.), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:00 (three years ago) link
The UK famously unaccepting of wildly sub-par film spinoffs of TV comedies.
― Un-fooled and placid (sic), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:03 (three years ago) link
yeah I watched it at the age of 17 at a time when I thought Super Troopers was the funniest movie ever made and don't think I laughed a single time, it was stunningly unfunny, not only that but it was a premises that didn't even make any sense, like "hey what if we made a Jackass movie that's a fictionalized account of some epic college party?"
― frogbs, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:05 (three years ago) link
(xp) Which tells you something about SBC's critical standing in the UK even 18 years ago.
― Young Boys of Bernie (Tom D.), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:07 (three years ago) link
forgot abt Ali G movie. abysmal. im like the only person who liked the dictator tho
― flopson, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:33 (three years ago) link
No, I liked The Dictator
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:34 (three years ago) link
I thought it was funny, just kinda forgettable. was pretty amused by them giving a comedy about global politics a sitcom-level plot
― frogbs, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:36 (three years ago) link
lol: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/kazakhstan-tourism-campaign-borat-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:39 (three years ago) link
Couldn't finish this one. It just feels like they are just baiting people throughout, and the fact that there are cameras everywhere seems to make everyone feel like they are in on some joke rather than having authentic reactions to all of SBC and MB's antics.
― DJI, Monday, October 26, 2020 5:58 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink
i like this review, written by someone who was apparently frozen in amber since 2003 and then defrosted in 2020 to watch borat 2
― flopson, Wednesday, October 28, 2020 7:07 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
For the first movie, I could at least consider the possibility that the victims had never heard of SBC. In 2020, it feels impossible.
― DJI, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:49 (three years ago) link
Liked 1st movie alright and the original segments in Ali G Show were awesome. Haven't seen the movie but seen couple clips of recent interviews and they're painful to watch. Just seems like such a hack bit now, he should retire the character. It def doesn't work when the interviewer and crowd are in on it and like they're watching an aging musician: "play 'Very Niiice' for us!!! Omg he said vajeen" etc
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 21:10 (three years ago) link
xp- i think they must have had some pre-screening procedure to identify people who somehow hasn’t heard of him? it’s hard to imagine some of them are just people playing along
― flopson, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 21:13 (three years ago) link
The first part of the movie used a bunch of footage where people recognized the character and chased him down the street and it worked in that context because it felt like Borat was a real person whose initial exploits legit made him infamous in the US.
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 21:32 (three years ago) link
we might be over estimating how many people in Brandonville, Texas or wtv know/remember Borat is
― flopson, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 21:48 (three years ago) link
The Ali G film is weak but I liked the bit when the message between all the young guys gets mixed up as it passes along and that part with his dick falling out in his dream made me laugh as hard as anything ever has. I think I was laughing for a full 15 minutes.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 21:49 (three years ago) link
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHGL-emhxt9/
― cherry blossom, Monday, 2 November 2020 19:13 (three years ago) link
We tried to watch the new one and found it unwatchable. Bailed at the debutante ball scene. Not enough laughs to make up for the embarrassment. Jokes were hacky and didn’t land.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Saturday, 21 November 2020 03:48 (three years ago) link
I found myself asking what we need this for -- a brit making a hamfisted attempt to show us the American heart of darkness through satire or whatever it was. And there's something very have-it-both-ways about the whole thing, getting to indulge in racism and sexism in order to "expose" racism and sexism (and often just bait people into appearing racist or sexist out of their own niceness and embarrassment). A revealing moment for me was the debutante stage-whispering to her father "this guy is so fucking gross." I thought that really disrupted SBC's smug "I'm revealing the horrors of this culture" schtick, where I'm sure he was trying to make some kind of point about the parallels between his cartoonish attempt to deliver his daughter as a gift and American conservatism or something. I don't think the daughters of wealthy southerner conservatives are being sold into sex slavery, I think they're mostly just fine.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Saturday, 21 November 2020 04:22 (three years ago) link
Apparently the whole debutante ball thing was a scripted, staged scene with dozens of paid extras playing the attendees. Not that it makes any difference to the inherent unfunnyness of it all.
― everything, Saturday, 21 November 2020 04:58 (three years ago) link
I found myself asking what we need this for -- a brit making a hamfisted attempt to show us the American heart of darkness through satire or whatever it was.
"a jew who has lived in the USA for fifteen years" is possibly the more apposite descriptor here
― huge rant (sic), Saturday, 21 November 2020 05:03 (three years ago) link
― everything, Friday, November 20, 2020 11:58 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
fertility dance is the funniest scene in the whole movie
― flopson, Saturday, 21 November 2020 06:18 (three years ago) link
there's something very have-it-both-ways about the whole thing, getting to indulge in racism and sexism in order to "expose" racism and sexist
while i agree that Borat 2 sucks, this is true of everything SBC has ever done, a lot of which is v good
― flopson, Saturday, 21 November 2020 06:22 (three years ago) link
yeah I think you're right about that
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Saturday, 21 November 2020 06:59 (three years ago) link
while i agree that Borat 2 sucks, this is true of everything SBC has ever done
― Left, Saturday, 21 November 2020 07:37 (three years ago) link
but the having it both ways thing seems to be a feature of almost all acclaimed adult comedy from around the late 90s until some point last decade
― Left, Saturday, 21 November 2020 07:48 (three years ago) link
“Your Kanye. He tried to move to Kazakhstan and even tried to change his name to Kazakhstan-ye West. But we said no. He’s too antisemitic even for us.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/dec/05/borat-targets-trump-ye-and-antisemitism-at-kennedy-center-honors
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 5 December 2022 23:52 (one year ago) link
lmao Borat at the Kennedy Center Honors what a vision
― G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Tuesday, 6 December 2022 00:06 (one year ago) link