Sight and Sound 2022 Round 3: 41-60

but its sympathies are definitely on the side of the Algerians.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 3 February 2023 bookmarkflaglink

This is good not bad.

It's a fucking beauty is Lyndon. Lost count of how many times I've rewatched it. The part where he falls under the spell of the Chevalier is my fave segment of it.

but its sympathies are definitely on the side of the Algerians.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 3 February 2023 bookmarkflaglink

This is good not bad.

I was responding to rob saying the film didn't pick a side.

What's your take on the scene in question?

To be precise, I said "simply" pick a side, by which I meant uncomplicatedly. It would be monstrous if it sided with the colonizers, obviously, but to my memory the film absolutely depicts the moral dilemmas of resistance/revolution as well. I would need to rewatch to really discuss as I cannot recall the scene you mentioned

I can't remember that particular scene but I feel it stays in an 'observational' mode for much of it.

Though I think it would make me just as happy if it went in as propaganda. But it would probably be worse for it

xp

If your reading is right then maybe it is trying to counter any charges that it would be propaganda.

Wanda (Loden, 1970)

^ this is the one film in the top 100 I had never heard of before. Really nice to see it.

Wanda was memorable to me. I know people who hated it because it was about her passivity and ultimate mistreatment, but it was really an outlier film during its time and was kind of radical

this group has some films I have always loved

Le Mépris
Fear Eats the Soul
La Dolce Vita

Wanda is an interesting compare to Akerman, I think.

Recently watched Sans Soleil, which features the cult 1970s Tokyo dance troupe Takenoko-zoku. It was a very complex film and I loved it. That moment was the highlight for me, though

voting for Le Mépris in the end

Wanda is so good! She's passive and child-like because she's broken in some way. I spent the movie wondering what happened in the past to make her this way.

So, I just watched Battle of Algiers and Contempt. Both good, but I loved the latter. Best Godard I've seen, I think.

Haha, xpost.

I want to bump this before it falls off the list

I watched Psycho again last night, It was pretty great, but I don't think I would consider it on par with 8 1/2 or Tarkovsky's Mirror, films it shared a placement with on the S&S poll

you're right, it's far, far better than 8½

Nearly voted for Blade Runner just because I love it so much, but it's Stalker.

Psycho is great. It's also had all kinds of readings put onto it so to come out from all that work is an achievement of sorts.

I don't get 8 1/2, like at all. I enjoyed it enough when I watched a screening but did feel, for once, there was a feeling of indulgence here.

I like 8 1/2 fine but Psycho is a whole nother level. Several even.

Raymond Durgnat's book alone is proof enough that Psycho is a cut above

Yes - and also Douglas Gordon's 24 Hour Psycho

Take a message to Richard

Raymond Durgnat's book alone is proof enough that _Psycho_ is a cut above

Ha, forgot about the buffer#onethread

I enjoyed introducing Barbara Loden’s Wanda @bfi #BFISouthbank last night as part of the @SightSoundmag 100 poll. Sold out screening of mostly young audiences. 90% were seeing the film for the first time ever. Amazing.

— Jason Wood (@jwoodfilm) February 10, 2023

I am genuinely excited for the newly-baptized cinephiles who are at the height of their curiosity and voraciousness in this particular moment.

There are very few moments in life as good as this. Let's remember it.

Oh brother!

I've been baptised, brother, I've been baptised!

I'm curious to see how many votes there will be for Rashomon, Barry Lyndon, The 400 Blows, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul and La Dolce Vita in the end

I think Vertigo (above all), as well as Rear Window, The Birds, and Rebecca are the most amazing Hitchcock films.

Psycho has a cringey reveal moment and too much mundane and dated explanation at the end for me.

North By Northwest, Notorious, To Catch a Thief, and The Trouble With Harry are all interesting and I want to see them again.

Still haven't rewatched Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, or Frenzy

North By Northwest had that amazing moment of connection between Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint on the train

I haven't seen Rebecca in ages. Isn't it considered a little too quality-literary-adaptation compared to both Hitchcock's earlier and later work? Maybe I'm thinking of Sarris being lukewarm on it. The stuff at the end of Psycho is indeed cheesy, but there's so much that's great in the build-up.

Don't worry about Sarris -- watch it again!

I think of Rebecca as one of those perfect films, maybe not the best of all time but ones where you wouldn't want to change a thing, like City Lights, Sunset Blvd., Roman Holiday

I’m fine with the last ten minutes of PSYCHO tbqh

The best things about the last 10 minutes of Psycho are a) the final shot, and b) Ted Knight.

(The thrill of spotting him for the first time, I mean.)

Wait, what?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Vote SANS SOLEIL, that is all

I voted for something obvious but considered many others.

I really hope Stalker doesn't win this, but from the comments here it appears that it might

Why?

It’s hard for me to understanding everyone else’s point of view about it. What everybody else loves about Stalker is a mystery to me. I remember it as being really un-cinematic and plodding and grim, and not even all that interesting in a philosophical sense. I had similar feelings about Solaris, although not to the same extent.

I should probably watch them both again

The Sacrifice, his last film, was so much more passionate, meaningful, visually beautiful and moving to me than either of them

I still haven't seen The Sacrifice so I can't compare, but Stalker to me is meaningful and visually beautiful. It is the most fugue-state movie I can think of. Like the movie itself loses touch with reality.

The best things about the last 10 minutes of Psycho are a) the final shot, and b) Ted Knight.

Wait, what?

This is pretty famous, no?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DO80wnaX0AEKHYo.jpg

Sorry I was focused on Simon Oakland and the fly and forgot about that.

When I think of Ted Knight I think of Ted Baxter stalling all night while reporting on election returns during a blizzard.