Sight and Sound 2022 Round 6: 101-120

Good point, Alfred The only one who is definitely really in love is Ralph Bellamy. Or is it Don Ameche?

Oh wait I got the character's names confused, thought you meant KH and CG in Bringing Up Baby. My bad.

Hily's careerism -- a match for Walter's -- still looks refreshing in light of how American film would regard women in similar positions fifteen years later. See: Barbara Bel Geddes in Vertigo or Nina Foch in Executive Suite

I agree with the "agent of chaos" view of Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. She's kind of a manic dream girl (even if her physical presence is too commanding to qualify as "pixie").

And yeah, I think Hildy and Russell benefit from the role having been written for a man. The film layers a certain amount of sexism on top, but you never doubt that she's "one of the boys" as far as being a reporter goes.

She's a cool brassy reporter, no doubt. But that makes her taming at Grant's hands all the more enraging to me.

voting for Wild Strawberries, my favorite of Bergman and one of his most optimistic films

― Dan S, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 01:47 (yesterday)

Same here, its due a rewatch. I actually havent seen it since I was a teenager.

For me this is down to Come and See, Texas Chain Saw Massacre, To Be or Not to Be, and maybe The Wizard of Oz, though it's easy to take that movie for granted.

Is she tamed?

I think so, yeah. I understand that a reporter's life provides more freedom than the married domesticity she's trying for at the begining, but it also seems clear to me she's trying for that out of a desperate impulse to cut Grant's character - who she knows is bad for her but she's also attracted to, if not in love with - out of her life. The end is her capitulating, and the fact that her professional life is gonna be more exciting doesn't change that Grant will continue doing whatever he was doing before to make her the steps to cut him off in the first place.

Make her take the steps

His Girl Friday reminds me of The Taming of the Shrew: what looks like domestication is actually a bomb left in the knitting basket.

I am definitely not a Bringing Up Baby person.

Feet up in a celestial anteroom with Preston Sturges for company, Morbs cackles darkly.

I thought Don’t Look Now was an amazing film about a man who is desperate to turn back time because of a tragic event in his life, to escape from the randomness of existence and cruelty of nature. He comes to Venice, where order is imposed on chaos, but ultimately finds that chaos prevails and he can’t escape

with Vagabond, it’s initially easy to relate to her and not accept her passivity, until you realize she just wants to bring her life to an end

I don't get any human feeling from Don't Look Now other than a clammy nihilism. Roeg was a good cinematographer who became convinced (or decided to act like) he was a visionary; to me, he's the actual example of "cold-hearted director manipulating the audience" that some people accuse Kubrick and Greenaway of being. Walkabout is quite good, though.

I don't much care for Roeg either; even The Man Who Fell to Earth can't find a rhythm.

I don't think 'cold-hearted director manipulating the audience' is an accurate description of it at all - the whole thing is about human feeling

Have y'all read the Daphne Du Maurier story.

Roeg isn't cold (nor is "cold" a bad thing, esp in a director); his movies just don't hold my attention.

"I don't get any human feeling from Don't Look Now other than a clammy nihilism."

A couple go to Venice as an aftermath to their child's death. The 'clinical' shooting of scenes is maybe a balance to this obviously, potentially cheaply, manipulative background.

it's been a while so i reserve the right to change my mind but DLN is full of the horror of mortality and loss

That’s what I remember although it’s been a while for me too.

I rewatched DLN a few weeks ago and accusing it of lacking human feeling is baffling

There is also a famous scene of married people doing something that I don’t think has been mentioned yet.

Yeah, but we're all firmly against being shown sex scenes without our consent now

The film is dealing with a heavy subject (and Sutherland does his best), but it's more interested in throwing up chic enigmas than dealing with the emotional ramifications of that subject.

TIL the tide has very much turned against Don’t Look Now. How annoying

agreed... idk i don't find that movie nihilistic at all

I still have a week to watch Come and See...but will I? Stay tuned. Barring that....might be that guy and go for Jaws

The Man Who Fell to Earth is more legit concerned with chic enigmas, i.e. "How good will David Bowie look shirtless in bed?"

but it's more interested in throwing up chic enigmas than dealing with the emotional ramifications of that subject.

― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Or it's dealing with a highly charged subject in a way you aren't expecting.

the chic enigma that is death

Sounds like the title of one of tyler’s vu boots

the chic enigma that is death

I can't get this phrase out of my head

Austin Film Society is running Don't Look Now this week...never been a huge fan of it but trying to decide if I should give it a re-view or not..sometimes actually seeing something in a theater totally changes how I feel about it.

Go!

What theater do they do screenings in?

a fuzzy grim reaper would fit right in

https://i.discogs.com/ETH6FuoHU8_Eu9eM6rMIuV0dNpZB4MFy0jR_HzDTq98/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:576/w:580/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQzNzIy/NTctMTM2MzEyMzE3/Ny00MTIzLmpwZWc.jpeg

Lol

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

with this one I can't imagine what the result will be

thank you for doing this Ryan, and please continue

I don’t wanna have to vote

Cross-posted from the John Wayne thread:

Watching Rio Bravo again (fourth time?), I'm struck by John Wayne's beautiful serenity. He's always observing the other characters, as an actor and as Chance. He's relaxed but wary. His best performance.

Yes.

His relationship with Angie Dickinson as Feathers is kind of charming too, and doesn’t approach the crepeyness of other such parings of aging male stars with younger actresses.

Pairings even

Well, he ceded space to her: it's understood she has her own thing going on, and Chance respects it.

thank you for doing this Ryan, and please continue

thank y'all for indulging me! the next round will be delayed a day because i am traveling tomorrow...but i'll get it posted ASAP after this one closes.

I can post it tomorrow if you want, so long as I get to accidentally leave off There Will Be Blood.

hahaha. yes go for it!