In the "'same" way 85% of Ozu is a low angle straight on close up of a face The Wong is a mess, but his shooting is still more eloquent that the chaos lets on. It feels very much of a piece with 2046 to me, just not as successful.

2046 is all memory and fiction though, so its aqueous nature feels right. The Grandmaster...it felt like the genre of the grounded historical epic was at odds with Wong's poetry. Eh...I want him to do less ambitious material.

I can see that. I don't find the genre at odds with his form necessarily though, it's like if Ashes of Time had more (well shot) action scenes. I just think this particular story never came together in a way for him that allowed for much emotional texture to come through. Which is why I think if the film were allowed more time to breath, more narrative pieces would fall into place and it might be a legit masterpiece. I think the last 30 or so minutes as it is comes real close.

Yeah...one never really enters it. I do wonder if there's an involving long cut, rather than just more of the same. It's a real pity the non-action scenes don't set up the showdowns properly, allowing them to soar as they should. As beautiful as they are, without clear situational/emotional context, they are perfume commercials that wash over you. Like, I know why Ziyi wants this man dead, but I don't feel it. It's curious you say it starts to come something at the end, and I felt the same, realising it was because Ziyi's story is the closest to anything dramatically coherent, and that the Ip man was really just a cipher to filter it among other strands I've already forgotten.

If the Ip storyline itself had more of an arc, his character might have more meaning in himself, and thus the relationship between him and Gong Er would also have more of a pay off, and the two of them playing off on another would likely set up more of her personal investment in her own story, thus making that even stronger. Seems like a whole lot wouldn't have to be put in (or back in as the case may be) to make this a stronger film. And Chang Chen's character need to either disappear completely or... I don't know. I have no idea what his role in this is at all.

Absolutely.

He shot for soooo long and did so many reshoots, I'm sure there's something that can be done to this. He keeps cutting from it, thinking it might reveal something more in its simplicity ala something like Mood, but I don't think that would work here. Anyway, it's weird how much I like this still despite how much of a mess it is. I think the scenes between Tony and Ziyi at the end also remind me of 2046, which makes my heart feel nice, but that's the part of the film that also works best anyway.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0060718/

As good as Diamonds of the Night?

The Chess Players greatly reminds me of Paradjanov's works.

Love that movie and I should see some Parajanov!

I like.

My Ain Folk, the second film in Bill Douglas' depressing Scottish trilogy. Those last two shots are of coal miners going down into the shaft and trudging through the darkness with the sound of the schoolchildren from the previous scene still singing a hymn. Spooky.

"We will never doubt Thee, tho’ veil Thy light;
Life is dark without Thee, death with Thee is bright.
Light of light, shine o’er us on our pilgrim way,
Go Thou still before us to the endless day."

Hey, thanks for bringing those to my attention. They sound right up my alley, and the screenshots are certainly alluring. I'm grabbing a 720p rip of the first one right now. Nice that they're each under an hour, so I should be able to squeeze them in when I'm not feeling up to a two hour film.

I only saw the first, which was a chore and a half.
Elixir likes them.

ur a chore and a half

yeah

wah wah scottish problems scottish problems children death

as opposed to wah wah japanese problems japanese problems old people death

THE BOMB NEVER DROPPED ON SCOTLAND

only japan knows hardship

Some of the people who were killed in Nagasaki and Hiroshima were child rapists and/or murderers and/or women who couldn't cook

NET GAIN

there is no japanese woman who can't cook

agreed

universal balance

Without being insensitive to the dire living conditions he obviously lived through, yeah this doesn't make good art. At least, my memory of the thing is that it was miserablist.

Right, it just presents it. With bad actors and an ugly aesthetic. Doesn't really do anything more than that.

Exactly, it's deadening. Reminds me of that terrible early Tony Scott movie, every bit as miserablist. But boy did he move away from that

and yeah, if he really went thru that it's terrible, but for any artist it's kind of arrogant and self-congratulatory to milk the experience like that

holy shit, dude, you can't be serious

i'm in a state of awe right now

you really can't be serious

Rage.

Wow.

..You aren't allowed to talk about humanism in films again and be taken seriously after this.

His best film.

I didn't really find it miserablist (it's certainly not wanting you to go "wah wah" however ironic you guys are being). and I found its aesthetic approach and editing very intriguing...my opinion of them has lessened a bit with time, but I still think they are solid films.

careful now, I said no such thing

fuck u

come back to me

but what if i was never there

shh

lol soz

but seriously, it's got to be cynical to say "hey, I've had a terrible life, let's show everyone in a way that doesn't really leave room for any intellectual or emotional response other than pity"

i agree w/ that sentiment in general (see 400 Blows or Pialat) but Douglas's films were beautifully poetic in the images and their starkness, and funny in a lot of spots like the fights and some of the counter-intuitive behavior - it offers much more than just pity

There's no such thing as "not allowing for any intellectual or emotional response than _____". The director does not dictate your response. He/she can help it along, but it is ultimately up to you to develop a response. I highly doubt Douglas sought to elicit a simple beat of pity in his audience, but that alone is a worthy pursuit if eliciting any other feeling is.

Ugh, why do people insist on being willfully stupid in order to denigrate something? Not that I would expect otherwise out of wig.

Cake n' Symmetry.







http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422720/

*sigh*
I've always loved it but now I feel like re-watching that right now.

Do it!

I'm currently reading Carolly Erickson's biography, though have just been told this isn't the one to read. Hmph.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140917/

Lubz.







http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119223/