Author Topic: Resurrecting the Movies thread...  (Read 1025276 times)

Offline oilgun

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #620 on: January 13, 2008, 10:33:33 pm »
Today i saw The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and it truly is a wonderfully moving, funny and uplifting film.  It surpassed my expectations.


Offline Kd5000

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #621 on: January 13, 2008, 11:28:43 pm »
I saw THE ORPHANAGE today.  Overall, the film had the feel of a 1960's ghost story. I'm thinking on the lines of THE HAUNTED as well as THE OTHERS.  While a decent film THE ORPHANAGE wasn't as good as the two I mentioned above.  There were a few rather large plot holes which took away from the film. 

There has been some controversy about the film being in Spanish and not being advertised that way.  The couple sitting behind me moaned and said "we have to read subtitles?"   It's sad ppl can be so lazy. 

Offline oilgun

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #622 on: January 13, 2008, 11:34:33 pm »
There has been some controversy about the film being in Spanish and not being advertised that way.  The couple sitting behind me moaned and said "we have to read subtitles?"   It's sad ppl can be so lazy. 

I really don't understand people who see a film without knowing anything about it.  I guess those are the people that most DVD covers are designed for, lol!

Offline Lumière

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #623 on: January 13, 2008, 11:46:09 pm »
Today, I watched The Children's Hour (1961) starring Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner.

Martha (Shirley MacLaine's character) and Karen (Audrey's character) are headmistresses of a girls' school.   When they punish a notorious bratty child for bad behavior, she tells her grandmother (who wastes no time in spreading the word) that the two women are lovers.  Of course, all the parents are disgusted and proceed to pull their children out of the school.

Like was the case with the few gay-themed movies in those days, Shirley MacLaine's character was made to portray the fact that she was actually in love with her friend and fellow teacher in a manner that showed her disgust and shame.  When she confesses her love to Karen, she repeatedly says how ashamed and dirty she feels by the whole thing. Even though Martha's love was not reciprocated in the same way, Karen offered that they go away together, somewhere where they weren't known for the "unnatural" sexual activities they'd been accused of engaging in.  I think that could've been a nice ending but no, Martha's fate was sealed by the end of the movie (let's just say they didn't ride off in the sunset together).

I am glad we've made some progress since then.  :)


Offline Kd5000

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #624 on: January 13, 2008, 11:58:18 pm »
Lucise, I just want to say I love your Audrey Hepburn signature.  Audrey was just so nice and charming, made some wonderful movies, incredibly photogenic and a humanitarian.   It's no wonder her passing made for a rare editorial in The New York Times. So much more then a movie star.

I always loved her in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday.   

I heard Audrey approached THE CHILDREN'S HOUR with hesitation.  This was considered very very edgy material when it came out in the early 1960's.  The play I believe dates back to the 1930's.  I guess the theater crowds are more sophisticated about things like that.   The playwright Hellman brought up the issue of lesbianism because she said at the time, it was the most scandalous thing you could be accused of...

Offline Lumière

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #625 on: January 14, 2008, 12:14:25 am »
Hey KD, cheers.  :)


Here is a piece from the documentary: The Celluloid Closet, referencing The Children's hour:


[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=429gotnYSt0[/youtube]


Offline MaineWriter

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #626 on: January 14, 2008, 11:20:52 am »
I saw THE ORPHANAGE today.  Overall, the film had the feel of a 1960's ghost story. I'm thinking on the lines of THE HAUNTED as well as THE OTHERS.  While a decent film THE ORPHANAGE wasn't as good as the two I mentioned above.  There were a few rather large plot holes which took away from the film. 

There has been some controversy about the film being in Spanish and not being advertised that way.  The couple sitting behind me moaned and said "we have to read subtitles?"   It's sad ppl can be so lazy. 

My daughter went and saw it on Saturday with a friend. She said it was very scary. Funny, she never even mentioned the subtitles, so obviously, they didn't bother her!

L
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Offline BelAir

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #627 on: January 14, 2008, 08:34:41 pm »
My daughter went and saw it on Saturday with a friend. She said it was very scary. Funny, she never even mentioned the subtitles, so obviously, they didn't bother her!

L

oh, I finally realized what movie you were talking about...

The advertisements I saw linked it with "Pan's Labyrinth"...  so if a movie goer saw Pan's, then they should have been prepared (for the subtitles).  But maybe lots of people are seeing The Orphanage that didn't see Pan's...

"— a thirst for life, for love, and for truth..."

Offline Lumière

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #628 on: January 15, 2008, 02:06:00 am »
I finally got to see a movie I've wanted to see in quite a while.
It is an Indian movie called Sancharram (aka The Journey), written and directed by Ligy J. Pullappally.
Like Deepa Mehta's "Fire", The Journey mainly addresses the subject of lesbianism in Indian society.




 
At its centre are two young women who have been best mates since they were children.  As they grow older, their relationship transitions from friendship to love (with great performances by the two leads).  The complications surrounding their blossoming relationship go from bad to worse when they are found out and a marriage is hastily arranged. 

I enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would in fact.  It felt like watching a long and rather sensual poem ... loved the cinematography :)


Excerpt from an interview with the screenwriter/director [on her motivation for making the movie]:

Ligy J. Pullappally: On January 25, 2000, I received an email about a young woman at a university in the South Indian state of Kerala. She and her girlfriend had fled the school, presumably under the threat of expulsion as a result of the rumors of their love affair with each other. The women were recovered and sent back to their respective families. The next day, one of the young woman's body was found floating in the reservoir of a dam. It was a tragic loss of young life and potential, a suicide. It was, I would learn, an all too familiar circumstance in the South Indian state of Kerala.

I wanted to do something to draw attention to the alarmingly frequent incidents of gay suicide - to try to stem that tide; I knew that isolation was a factor in these incidents, so I considered creating a positive media representation of young gay people.


[courtesy of -  http://www.desiclub.com/bollywood/bollywood_features/bolly_article.cfm?id=253]



Worth checking out.  :)


Offline oilgun

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #629 on: January 16, 2008, 05:38:03 pm »
The AMPAS shortlist for the Foreign Language Film Award shockingly excludes 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days and Persepolis

http://www.variety.com/blog/890000489/post/1600020160.html

I've heard of one and seen none of the following shortlisted films:

Austria, "The Counterfeiters," Stefan Ruzowitzky, director
Brazil, "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation," Cao Hamburger, director
Canada, "Days of Darkness," Denys Arcand, director
Israel, "Beaufort," Joseph Cedar, director
Italy, "The Unknown," Giuseppe Tornatore, director
Kazakhstan, "Mongol," Sergei Bodrov, director
Poland, "Katyn," Andrzej Wajda, director
Russia, "12," Nikita Mikhalkov, director
Serbia, "The Trap," Srdan Golubovic, director


Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere is also pissed off:

One of the biggest outrages in the history of the Academy's foreign film committee -- a scandal fed by deficient taste and myopic, mule-like obstinacy -- has just happened with the release of the nine-film short list that doesn't include Cristian Mungiu's widely hailed 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days. The people who pushed for this decision need to be identified and, with all charity and compassion, expelled from this group for life. What will it take? Torches and pitchforks at the corner of Wilshire and La Peer at 8 pm this evening?

More at: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2008/01/4_months_doesnt.php