A satire that perfectly balances humor and pathos, Tot samyy Myunkhgauzen (1979) serves as an epilogue to the well-known adventures of Baron Munchausen. After his return home, the baron's extravagant stories and lifestyle begin to annoy some of the local townsfolk. Ultimately he's challenged by the authorities to renounce the tales which form the essence of his identity. This creates a very interesting dynamic where the Baron is forced to defend himself against a sort of show trial. At what point does a man conform to society, especially when he holds completely eccentric beliefs? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWB4k-YXJUM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw0VrqbKe7U

>>713 Interesting, I didn't know about the Walker controversy or his effective blacklisting from Hollywood. I've seen some of Alex Cox's later projects and thought it was strange that he'd make stuff like an Emmanuelle documentary (which wasn't very good) but I suppose his options were limited.

>>1221 Thanks for this post Anon. Downloaded and watching it now. BTW, do you know where I can find subtitles for it?

>>1230 There are subs on the youtube videos or at http://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/imdbid-80037/sublanguageid-eng/moviename-tot%20samyy%20myunkhgauzen

>>1234 Thanks! Something else to add to my bucket list to learn about. :^)

Mario Monicelli's La grande guerra (The Great War) stars Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi as a couple of slacker Italians recruits fighting the Austrian army in the muddy trenches of WWI. Although this film is a consensus classic with impressive battles scenes and a uniquely inspiring ending, I was never fully engaged with La grande guerra. The story is episodic without a strong through-line, so it's not always clear if events are fleeting diversions or the building blocks of something important. I suppose the different episodes are a way to explore the characters, nonetheless I think some of the filler should have been cut. The film was rather long and sometimes felt rudderless.

When a woman ascends the stairs (1960) Complex and bleak film about a bar hostess who really shouldn't be a bar hostess. Basically she starts out the movie with possibilities, hesitates over them then discovers they are a poison chalice or fraudulent, she desperately tries something as she runs out of time and ends the movie with no possibilities. I think maybe the director thought the bar hostess scene was awful. Other than that you get some of the best use of location based story-telling I've seen in a long time, great acting and a well worked theme about appearances. I thought about it for a week after watching it so there's definitely some substance here. Love Exposure (2008) I've meant to watch this one for years but the runtime put me off. It was great. You get the novel pacing/editing/character/plot decisions and high concept playful genius that the best of Japanese media seems to have. I mean you have a cult called the church of zero, their logo is a 0 with a crucifix over it and their interaction with the main character is to try to prevent him from getting an erection when presented with a view of his love interests panty clad crotch. Similarly if you ever heard someone pretentiously explain that a camera is voyeuristic you'll probably get a kick out of half the movie being about voyeuristic panty shots, including a guy telling people that their eyes are like cameras, cameras to take panty shots with. Anyway, I just wanted to say the 4hours is not that bad and I probably should've watched it years ago.

Roar This is the second time I have seen this movie, I may have posted about it here before, and it is still not something I can watch or analyze rationally. If that sounds strange, I'll tell you a little about the production and you'll get the idea. Roar was made by delusional hollywood liberals. It may, in fact, be the ultimate delusional liberal movie. So delusional that the director, a wealthy executive producer whose latest success was The Exorcist of all films, believed mankind could live in harmony with lions and sought to prove this by filming a family-friendly comedy using SEVENTY ONE UNTRAINED LIONS, MANY OF THEM MALE, and HIS OWN FAMILY AS ACTORS. This went about as well as you'd expect: production lasted over eleven years, over a hundred people were injured (many of them on-screen), the lions were on edge from having too many males in one place and being surrounded by other untrained big cats, the film bombed, and Tippi Hedren divorced the director afterwards. Watching Roar is like watching them haul the steamship uphill in Fitzcarraldo, except that scene is the entire movie and the cast is constantly taking real injuries. Even though you know it doesn't happen, there's still a real, overpowering sense that the ropes could snap at any moment, that the lion biting Tippi Hedren's head (which scratched her skull and sent her to the hospital for several weeks) could bite just a little harder and kill her. Roar awakens a sort of primal terror and hyper-alertness in me. My filmfag brain shuts off and I watch the lions like a hawk, waiting for the slightest cue they'll attack or try something playful. They frequently break out in fights, drag in dead animals, or chew on the cast. The cast (except for the director) is in constant terror of them. Reportedly they often screamed in pain the moment a take ended. You see them injured seriously on screen, repeatedly, in scenes played off as heart-warming or funny. This is the scariest movie I have ever seen, the director and his character is an weirdly vindictive madman who steals, cheats, and literally throws his own family to the lions for his mad utopian dream, and it's trying to play itself off as a family comedy. Would I recommend this? Maybe. It's an experience, something you dig up on Youtube and share with friends who think you're exaggerating. It may be the best accidental horror film ever made and the cinematographer manages some nuts shots considering he's surrounded by lions and gets scalped by one.

Beau Travail recently topped a list of "greatest movie ending of all time" which compels me to say that neither the ending nor the preceding 90 minutes achieves greatness. The film is a glossy cologne advertisement brought to life, showing the Foreign Legion as a cadre of homoerotic beefcake models partaking in a feminized soap opera. Characters stare intently into space as if something important or ponderous will soon occur, but the predictable payoff was so overdue that I'd stopped caring. Sometimes I enjoy style over substance—and these Djibutian locations are spectacular—but this film's brooding, contemplative pace is out of balance with a lack of deeper significance. I'm curious if Claire Denis fans feel differently, or if anyone can recommend something better from her filmography (I heard this was her best).

I'll probably come off as a pleb, plz no bully. Ended up rewatching Trainspotting after watching it on a friend's house many years ago. I'm sure this movie was already debated to death but there's something that I quite like about this film and is the use of music. I'm not talking about the most entry level stuff like Brian Eno or Lou Reed but the electronic music that is used in some of the segments, makes me want to dig into it since I'm very into the prodigy but I wouldn't know where to start. I think 24 hour party people had a section about the "rave scene" I think was called by the end of the movie, but I wouldn't be too sure since it's been a while I've seen it. Would definitely like to know more about that underground scene since I'm not british and this isn't the 90s anymore.

>>1485 >the electronic music that is used in some of the segments, makes me want to dig into it since I'm very into the prodigy but I wouldn't know where to start. I think 24 hour party people had a section about the "rave scene" I think was called by the end of the movie, but I wouldn't be too sure since it's been a while I've seen it. Give the original UK cut of Human Traffic a watch. The film itself is alright but the important part for you will be the soundtrack, containing a lot of the iconic shit from that time. The US version dubbed out language that they thought US audiences might have a hard time with and cut about 15 minutes of footage, but most importantly for you they changed a good chunk of the music.

>>1485 England was the hotspot for much electronica in the 90's, most movies made by anyone under 40 had strong connotations of "the scene" played somewhere. >this isn't the 90s anymore. It should be, and at some point the nostalgia for it will kick in like most decades do after 30 years. The scene in the UK was massive, some of the most important ones were Garage (UK Garage to avoid confusion with US Garage Rock), Big Beat, Breakbeat and Ambient. I don't remember much of the music from the movie as i didn't like it that much but if you liked The Prodigy then Big Beat is your dish. Among them were also The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method and Fatboy Slim. They were also pioneers as they used quirky music videos to promote their otherwise abstract lyrics and lack of frontman, much of the golden era of the format was commissioned by those artists. Which reminds me that i need to step it up with that thread.

Three Colours: Blue This probably implies I'm a plebian, especially since I haven't already seen it, but I didn't like it. I downright hated a lot of the colour grading and the woman's lover. The only thing that kept me going was Juliette Binoche's performance.

>>1603 This is a terrible post and I can probably do better tomorrow, when I'm feeling less drained.

>>1603 >This probably implies I'm a plebian There was a time i thought the same and i never posted until i realized anons here are actually welcoming because it means discussing a common thing. But by the time i concluded that i stopped watching films to focus on other things heh. I recall only watching Red, it was okay, nice camera work in particular the dim-lit and sunset scenes but i don't remember liking the old man courting the elegant girl nor the lad who kept falling in despair watching his girl with another dude, which now that i think of it means i didn't like half of the movie. Clever montage have to say because the editing implies old man banged the girl like there was no tomorrow which was also not a good thing to remember.

Bian jing feng yun AKA Lethal Hostage (2012) Director: Er Cheng Quite surprised by this hidden gem. The English title/poster makes it come across as a C-level action movie but it really isn't, more of a crime drama that focuses on relationships between characters. It's beautifully shot, slow-paced, and not dialogue heavy, giving it an arthouse feel. Several interlinked stories are featured with some non-linear storytelling, accompanied with moody color schemes and great sound design that contributes greatly to the ambient. Very pleasant find.

Alien³ – I used to dislike the third Alien for a long time but after watching it on several occasions in recent years, it actually grew on me substantially. Talking specifically about the assembly cut, I think it’s actually a pretty solid film. This was an infamously troubled production and who knows how different the end result would have been if they were able to stay true to the original vision, for better or worse. But ultimately I’m fine with what we got. It’s funny to think there were times when this was considered a weak product when by today’s standards it’s an outright masterpiece. How the medium degraded… But anyway, it’s easy to see why the film is, even on conceptual level, disappointing – the first two Alien installments did seemingly everything there was to do with the premise, being sort of two sides of the same coin. You had a movie about a single alien, and then another one about multiple aliens, almost deconstructing the first one in a way. No matter what you do afterwards gonna feel derivative of either one. So they were really hard-pressed here and decided to go for the middle ground I guess, which is probably the best course of action all things considered but is undeniably lackluster since you’re not really getting anything new. The idea was to bring it back to its horror roots after Cameron turned in into an action-adventure rollercoaster with a relative happy end. With that in mind the decision to kill everyone off except for Ripley is perfectly understandable, though its execution does feel sloppy, especially if you marathon the films back-to-back. I believe there were better ways to implement the idea without it feeling like a deus ex copout. But like I said, eventually it grew on me. I did like the cast of prisoners that are the supporting cast. Even though they’re supposed to be these scary rapists and murderers, they actually come off quite likable, almost as a bunch of teenagers the way they are written. So it basically turns into Ripley and the co. fighting the alien Home Alone style. Which is kinda comfy. What I really liked about the film is its atmosphere of being stuck on some forsaken rock of rusting industrial complexes and dilapidated machinery. It’s very bleak and depressing in the best sort of way and is explored to the extent I haven’t seen in any other movie. It is an absolute joy to watch if you’re into those aesthetics. Of course all of that wouldn’t be worth much if it wasn’t filmed properly and thankfully the cinematography is absolutely excellent, with a lot of powerful wide shots and pleasing compositions. The art direction is also great; the film is roughly divided into two primary color schemes of metallic bluish gray and rust sepia, photographed with deep shadows that give everything that brooding weight. It conveys the atmosphere perfectly. Special effects on the other hand took a hard hit here and sadly do not hold up. Many people think they used CGI for the Xenomorph but that’s actually incorrect, they puppeteered a doll on the green screen and then superimposed it in. And yeah, it looks terrible, has a noticeable green outline and doesn’t blend in right in any shot. Other VFX range from okay to passable but thankfully this isn’t really an effects-driven project and everything that was shot in-camera looks good enough to compensate for that. The music is also really good and has a clear, powerful sound, though it’s largely reminiscent of the Aliens score. So it’s an interesting project, with all its production history and such. I honestly don’t think you can make a truly satisfying third Alien film that’s not gonna be a rehash or fanfiction-tier cringe, so I’m glad they instead leaned more heavily on the visual and atmospheric aspect, giving it a standout vibe.

>>1654 Know that William Gibson's original screenplay has an audiobook as well as a comic series made of it both of which are pretty wizard. But yeah, it's not great that this had not been realised as it was originally intended.

>>1662 Do you have a link to the comic?

>>1663 It's simply called Alien 3: The Unproduced Screenplay.

>>1662 >>1670 Read it. Didn't like it at all tbh. It's exactly the type of rehashed fanfiction crap that I didn't want to see. Boring meandering stuff with horrible dialog and zero style and atmosphere. Also way too many niggers, though that's probably not indicative of the original script. I now have even more respect for the actual film if this is what they were planning to do initially. I wonder myself what I would have done for the third Alien film if I had to do it. Perhaps set it in a completely different place unrelated to the first two films at all. And then have the new characters discover the craft with Ripley at the end of the film for tied continuity. Though that's basically postponing things rather than solving them since now you have the exact same dilemma of what to do with those characters in the cliffhanged "Alien 4".

>>1704 lol and i wanted to upload it to test run some graphic novel/screenplay thread, didn't because i got confused and downloaded the original early 90's comics instead of the newer Gibson ones. Alien 4/Resurrection always sparked my curiosity due to having an odd director helm it, a pre-Amelie Jean-Pierre Jeunet, always thought it was a risky move by everyone involved.

>>1706 I generally look fondly on Resurrection though I know that's an unpopular opinion since it's written by Joss Whedon who I can't stand myself. If Alien 3 is an actual film that's just rough around the edges, Resurrection is a full on schlock B-movie. Though it has its appeal due to some interesting imagery and general 90's vibe and aesthetics. It's pretty fun. And of course by the standards of today it's still a fairy decent action flick. In a way it was a good call to just turn in into over the top buffoonery when forced to make another Alien sequel, since by '97 the franchise felt dead and exhausted if only they knew.

It was shit.

Contrary to The Holy Mountain, I didn't fall asleep watching this one. Plotwise it's barebones and it feels that's just a tool for the setpieces. Good setpieces at that. That being said, the kid being naked wasn't necessary I'd actually want to watch something similar like this. There was a lot of stuff to like.

>>1910 >Plotwise it's barebones I thought the ending rounded it up nicely with the thematic of their blood line being cyclical, as the ending sequence practically leads to the beginning scene. But still it was pretty pretentious at times, with nods and references obscure enough for most publics. >wasn't necessary lol, it wasn't rare back then in rural towns to have butt nekid children prancing around but for a movie i agree it's a bit risky, thematically it kinda fits because he never had any clothes after wandering the desert and the only two costumes he knows of are a franciscan monk's and his own father's leather one. Taking into account the director and producer's background i would be very suspicious but it seems the kid Jodorowsky's own son so the usual thing to happen should've not happened... but who knows, they don't think like we humans do. >I'd actually want to watch something similar like this I remember discussing something similar and one anon recommending another film but i don't quite remember which one was, there's two names in my mind: 1970's Deadlock and 1969's Antonio das Mortes, the latter being the sequel of 1964's Black God, White Devil which goes about a gunslinger who hangs around and talks to a voodoo dude, kinda reminiscent of the scene were the Topo hangs around with The 4th Gunslinger. The director Rocha was a social character in Mexico around the same era Jodorowsky was (late 60's) so i don't doubt the chilean jew taking some tips from him or his work, can't say because i still haven't seen the films.

>>1914 >Black God, White Devil which goes about a gunslinger who hangs around and talks to a voodoo dude sounds right my alley

>>1910 I watched the first half hour of The Holy Mountain about 4 times before finally finishing it. I can't remember why I kept bailing out but maybe it's the same reason you fell asleep. if you want something similar to El topo, I recommend checking out Rafael Corkidi and Juan López Moctezuma. Both men worked on the film and exhibit a similar hallucinatory style in their own work. El topo is considered an acid western along with several other films, but I'm not sure the other acid westerns have much in common. It seems like most of those films are unconventional and unique in unrelated ways. (Although Dennis Hopper tried to channel Jodorowsky to salvage The Last Movie and it's still just a mess.)

>>1914 >Black God, White Devil I've just finished that movie, and it left me mixed feelings. On one hand, I think the first half is kind of genius. It depicts fairly well the kind of "christianity" that is held in LatAm, there's some good character development, and is interesting seeing the superstitious MC falling for the cult and burning bridges with his woman. Second half felt a bit like a waste of time. The character that becomes the focus of the movie isn't as intriguing as the movie pretends it is, it felt like there was a lot of time where nothing happened, and the bad acting really starts to show around these parts. Even then, the ending felt quite climactic. Antonio das Mortes was also a pretty good character, I liked how he was always introduced with folk music, his connections with Christianity, his mannerisms, and his appearance as well. There's plenty of scenes where his silhouette takes the spotlight and he has a distinctive look that I really like. Next to the leader of the cult he was my favourite character of the movie. I'll check out his movie later since, as I said before, this one left me a bit cold.

Fuck it, i am bored and despite having tons of movies left in the bag i haven't seen any in at least 2 years that is in the same level as you guys. I can start any day with that bag but because i have my brain fried i want to request someone here to name one film so i can comment on it in this thread, anything goes as long as i can find it. I requested the same to my irl peers to challenge my own vision but they are too hollywoodized and don't want to because i rec'd them many and they haven't watched any, so i came to the only other source i sympathize.

>>2067 Watch Andrei Rublev

>>2068 I did watch it some years ago but don't mind doing it again because it's a treat. Guess that's the first one, will make some webms and write it down.

>>2067 Sex Survey Results I am not joking

Lately I've become intrigued by Thomas Ligotti's short horror stories. Ligotti is popular in the dissident sphere -- in some ways he's a successor to Lovecraft -- but I only heard of him recently. Many of his stories are read by amateurs on youtube, making for handy podcast-length listening. Ligotti's writing creates such powerful visuals in my mind I was interested to see screen adaptions of his work. Unfortunately the film version of his story "The Frolic" was a big letdown -- even though Ligotti himself worked on the screenplay! The original story involves a prison psychologist at home in the evening, speaking to his wife about his meetings with a strange murderer. As the psychologist goes into deeper details about the murderer, the atmosphere in his home is one of escalating dread. The short film has less focus on atmosphere and more focus on acting, perhaps unavoidably so, but most people would see it as a downmarket Silence of the Lambs where main attraction is the wEEeeEird yet brilliant murderer. Instead of slowly building suspense, the film is peppered with cheap jump scares. Another great thing about the original story was its ambiguity, giving the reader a puzzle that demands attention to every small detail. The film throws this away by adding scenes that explain far too much. It's disappointing that this project turned out so poorly because the work deserves much better. Regardless, here are some Ligotti stories for your listening pleasure: The Bungalow House, The Town Manager - https://pseudopod.org/people/thomas-ligotti/ Gas Station Carnivals - https://youtube.com/watch?v=w-UY6DtZLDA The Frolic - https://youtube.com/watch?v=w11mfpEVSDw

>>2068 I've been in rocky situations for some months but how about this, when i finish reading a couple of books i've been meaning to about cinematography i will review it and then analyze its photography aspects using the tools i hope those pdf's give me. I haven't watched a single movie by my own will since your reply so don't think i skipped it >>2109 Jokes on you i watched it back in the day along with all the stuff they released quickly when they revived the channel, a tough watch because narratively speaking it does not move the plot or "joke" other than the very few odd responses like the recurring caller being specific or drunk calling. Hell, why not, i will do the same as i said up here except i now know there's not much in-between other than the clock and sky actually moving realistically, the ironical Tarkovskian warning ("are you still watching?") and said recurring caller.

1st post this month, lol.

Today i can say i like action films, i've been watching action films for the past 3 or 4 years, trashy action and the more violent the better but there has to be intention and elegance if possible hence my predilection to Hong Kong flicks although i've only explored thoroughly the 60's to the early 80's, just a bit before the established HK blood opera era but have delved into its defining early years (82-86). Skipping extremely important figures in the 80's and 90's (and a particular one in the 70's) has only made this journey thrilling because i know i am still in for a treat. Due to considering these joints low-class and really nothing much other than their excellent choreography/stuntmantship and particular focus on loyalty & brotherhood, two topics i particularly enjoy, i haven't really got much of a thought in writing about them in "last movie you've seen" threads of the past and this one thinking not to waste your time, in fact i could definitely say due to my safest bet in entertainment and "turn brain off" being such movies and depending them all the time in these my latest struggling years i have neglected 3 to 4 years of watching "good" films or at least ones that go beyond punches. Partly because of this "guilt", partly because i have seen a clear distinction in eras and styles of the all-eternal hand-to-hand fight scene (along with gun shooting antics or "gun fu") and greatly part for being amused and inspired by what HKanon did time ago in that Top 50 Fight scenes thread i've been thinking and cooking a thread about action in general, with my initial punch at it being the review and video samples of a couple famous action coordinators' basic and intermediate filmographies (in Asia these fellas being the de-facto main directors concerning fight scenes hence consistency among their works) this dump should include 20+ initial movies and also wanted to write a very basic summary regarding what i've seen in idiosyncrasy of themes, movements, styles and other minutia of what composes the chinese action genre. Due to trying to polish my sketching skills to illustrate such visual figures to you i've stalled it more than i would like to admit. Today, after saying i've watched 120+ such films ranging from early Shaw Brothers to late Golden Harvest (which is little considering how much shit they churned out) not to count the non-Hong Kong action stuff from America and Europe which might range in the 300+ altogether, i can safely say i've watched the most violent, gut-kicking movie of all by a not-so-shabby margin... at least in the opinion of this guy here writing this post who lives in a relatively contemporary but gangsterish society making friends along the way and going out to see for myself, add to it that plot-wise this dude concerns himself in loyalty & brotherhood, a consequence of valuing such things IRL along with maintaining my position against people trying to put someone down and conducting oneself with mental integrity/ideological consistency. I am not a tough guy but i can say i usually have my pants up, metaphorically speaking (sans one time i was caught mentally and physically very off but worked for it to not happen again no gay or NTR stuff happened let's not worry but i don't forget it) still having said this corny declaration i found myself forced to do so because this movie comes to me in a particular state of mind and knowledge plus personal experiences that make its action way too close to a nowadays person seeing it as a viewer, a voyeur, a witness to people geting punched or harmed with in movies and get their minds worked by feelings IRL. It will sound even more corny to say that this declaration of "the most" is made because the movie takes the psychological realm, "hurr durr words are the real violence" is such a tripe declaration especially when the genre at hand features fighters castrating opponents in mid-air with their bare hands or chopping people in half vertically like an anime, but when a movie very clearly kicks both the on-screen characters AND the viewer in different ways both at the same time while also having thematic and behavioral consistency, a rare thing in cheap films, then things escalate a notch to the point that after having seen the movie i feel with the obligation to write such post.

Such movie does not feature the best gun scenes, they look like plastic dollar store revolvers that shoot spark powder plus no technique or tactics yet the shock of pulling a gun on something is there; it also doesn't have the best hand-to-hand combat, far from it really considering the experts cast although it is nervous arm-flinging fighting in desperation, the same that makes seasoned trainers look like fear-stuck thugs; its plot is not even that good to begin with and "suffers" from the classic Shaw Brothers syndrome of its late years in trying to inject gear-grinding comedy into many scenes but at the end of the day the thing that strikes me the most is that characters, as poorly or greatly as they might be written, have in them action consequences and intentions that make this movie not feel like two ritualistic men personifying elegant animals in combat or two quasi-immortal hitmen flying with a gun in each hand, but a pair of seemingly-competent protag and villain committing several not-so-much mistakes but instinctive, idiosyncratically-coherent actions that doom their lives. All this context and now-long-winded post was simply to say that this picture despite having its shortcomings seems to have, for me, all its pieces work and work well, so well in fact that due to said production attempting to do several things at once and achieving them with both the characters suffering the physical & emotional consequences and the viewer the "i have no mouth and i must scream" sentiment of being a witness in a shitshow that this visual narrative effort i believe, no, i refuse to accept that this was an accident of circumstance or an entire sentimental product of my personal collective experiences being moved slightly. Said product might not be 9 or 8 in a 10 scale of action goodness, nor a 8 or 7 in a very specific sub-set of rules like H2H, set design or gun fighting, but this movie certainly is a 6 in many areas some of which i haven't seen being combined so effortlessly or that i knew could be tackled directly into a gangster movie although that may be because i checked it without expecting nearly as much consistency. This consistency, including the "shock" moments which are predictable but you still don't want to see them, is coupled with a crucial thing in the script (which i repeat don't think were made without thinking about them) said thing is the rational irrationality of its characters, being unnervingly pushed over or cornered like desperate animals, it sounds dumb but people are animals sometimes and i've seen such cases IRL, they are not often showcased on film because it makes seemingly smart characters dumb or merely said actions "are not realistic" for people in their positions. But it happens and it happens a lot, people are irrational, the dumb act on instinct and the clever are ritualistic, common sense is not that common. That's what makes this movie feel real without feeling like watching a real documentary, it's a dramatization of violent men who start acting way too real mid-way for someone who has seen stuff, it is dumb and doesn't make sense but in its explicit ways it does make sense when seeing the characters act in primordial instinct and out of fear/rage which in turns becomes vulgar displays of power: Irrational but with a shallow, implicit logic sense behind them that often were also unjust. This felt like real violence. To put it shortly in a lapidary, "quote this on the poster" way: This movie taken in parts is not that special, if anything it is toned down and not very developed for what it is in the blood opera genre to the point of smirking or chuckling, but as a whole it's the first time i've seen something that felt like watching Saw and cuckold porn at the same time in terms regarding the type of feeling, and boy it is not arousal. It is funny to think one of the kung fu genre's most emblematic villain actors wrote, starred and directed it. I might be overselling this by a mile but i repeat this is a rock i stumbled upon in my journey and own belief system, this was a defining point on what violence really looks like to me other than the villain not killing the children (absurdity!) or hate-raping the co-protagonist, as acid and unglorified it seems in its "small" but most important scenes. A rock for you might be another particular movie that grabs your balls in a way your gonads do not like or haven't encountered before. For me this made me reach a certain entertainment-wise peak, this case violence, that i think will not be surpassed in a short while... and for that i think this is an interesting gem to see for people deep into a genre who prouds its stock characters in moral and logical behavior high grounds, if you see this without a similar trip you might as well watch City On Fire again (or for the first time, good movie). Still, i might feel like this because it's only the fifth film i've watched in 5 or 6 months but also the fifth in the last 5 days.

>>2378 Did you mention the title somewhere in there?

>>2380 Sorry for the late reply >Did you mention the title no :^) but i left strong clues It will probably be underwhelming hence said reaction but i can make a visual map on how everyone gets fucked in the end in both physical and psychological ways if you want me to resume it and drive my point straight on, spoilers galore tho or i can simply tell you but part of me still thinks this movie simply went too hard on me as a old chivalry porn watcher, a normal viewer foreign to this i think wouldn't mind the movie that much hence the expectation part played an important role. It works in pairs/dual destinies which is a karma/asian thing to do. As i said this doesn't feel like an accident, it seems to be based on the usual karmic system old kung fu movies had but moves it to an urban environment and goes away with the normal chivalry/honor conventions that people were used to, hence the shock when trust is easily betrayed and violence becomes primal rage rather than ritualistic elegance. It plays somewhat in the same ballpark as earlier works' conventions and that's why i think its deconstructive nature in other conventions works so well, or at least for me. That's a "problem" i have with these kind of plot movies, it seems confusing how some works feel intuitively like complex narratives, as if it was an adapted work from a detailed source, but in reality they are very simple and made with quickshot scripts. Yet the feeling stays there as if someone planned every detail and it's executed in a somewhat shallow or quickfire way, as if it could be fleshed out way more but they opt to just not. The Kid with the Golden Arm has a similar feel to it, mindless action (and not really on par with other works from the same guys) but the characters' personalities and conceptual interaction and traits among them make it feel like it was adapted from a major work or had way too much planning and too little time to film it, and that is because the characters and their personalities as a whole make sense and complement its thematic story up to a t. Some heroes are not that different from some villains, their motivations are just different and what mostly takes them apart is benefit to society or to themselves, yet some egos are fed with certain acts without actually fully realizing their collateral damage. That, for example, is a not-shallow take on what seems a pretty straightforward morally black-and-white wuxia movie, but that message seems to be clearly there as all the interpretative pieces are presented despite never being acknowledged by the narrative itself.

>Vortex-Gaspar Noe, 2021 "For My Damaged Right Eye" but weaker. I was expecting the editing cuts to at least mean something like you expect the series of events to be consecutive but it's actually multiple events occurring as part of a schedule that all happen differently, but no, it's just split screen on analog 16mm(?) film because Gaspar thought it looked cool. At best I can say it depressed me because it reminded me I can't live for myself but have no one to live for. At worst, it was bland, Noe should stick to rape.

>>2587 I've seen all of his feature films up to Climax. I wasn't too interested in Vortex until I saw he cast Dario Argento. I didn't realize it was based on a gimmick...

>>2588 I mean if you're someone who enjoys basic arthouse slice of life family drama films Go watch The Stranger(1991) it's far better written and I had seen it before handhell the scene between the mom and grandma in Disney's capeshit show Ms Marvel is better written than this regardless of quality as it's not as well written or does anything of value with editing choices or cinematography which waters down what could be a artistic technique to just that a gimmick then you can give it a watch.

>>2589 Everything All At Once: Good introduction, didnt really feel it developed from a movie act 1. Details to come.

Just saw 12 Angry Men (1957) Its an excellent film, wouldn't bother to post about it if it wasn't, its mostly just talking, but it got really intense for me early on. Made me wonder, how far would i be willing/able to go against such pressure of majority before giving up on what i think is right and would i even try. It was time well spent, recommend.

>>2636 Geez you guys, it is none other than Louis C.K.! What are you doing visiting this humble board about actual films and motion pictures from around the world? We've never had a celebrity visit before (other than medieval film anon) especially not one from someone who has appeared in media we certainly haven't watched but it is good thing anyways. Also what do you mean posters are mad? what is your job here? all your reply text seems confusing but i know very well who's behind the post. Have a blessed day my man

not sure if you can call it a film, but its a series of 3 episodes around 40 mins each. i liked it to say the least! some elements were a bit too showy or dramatic even for an anime like when a massive skyscraper tilts like 35 degrees it was able to right itself with some gyroscopic control without anything breaking. i'll still say it felt like everything i wanted in an 80s/90s cyberpunk style anime and then some. loved the psychic elements to each episode, dug the action sequences, music was i guess pretty choice. didn't understand it and my translated subs version looked like it was missing the mark on lyrics idk. still highly recommend. check it out if you haven't. hopefully you'll wish it had more than 3 episodes like i do now.

>>2634 While Sidney Lumet was a genius when it came to film making, it's clear he knows jack shit when it comes to the legal system. Even more present in his other legal drama, The Verdict (which I would highly recommend watching next).

>>2648 With 12 Angry Men I fault the writer since it was originally a play. I might say a little more about it if I have time. But what was wrong with The Verdict? I haven't seen in in a while.

>>2649 >it was originally a play teleplay, my mistake