4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
As usual, Marco is 100% right. I loved 432 while I found TLOO, while very well made, to be a self indulging glorification of the unification of Germany under the overwhelming dominance of the western agenda, completed with a touch of misogyny. And being slightly dumb, I liked Pan.ITALIANO wrote:At least they are intelligent. I'm sure that stupid cinephiles LOVED Pan's Labyrinth.
But really Damien, I wouldn't generalize. Lives of Others and 4 Months etc are completely different movies, and I found countless people who liked just one of them.
Each of these was the international film most loved in its respective year by intelligent people I know who are essentially literary/public affairs/philosophy people as opposed to cinephilesOkri wrote:Plus his comment about it being "a foreign film for those people who think The Lives Of Others is a great movie." was sorta ironic given that the snub of 4 months by the oscars.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
I don't mind Pan's Labyrinth. The music is quite good. It's got some imagination. I just don't think it coalesces thematically. I really liked The Lives of Others and was glad to see it win.
But I'm flabbergasted that Damien didn't like 4 months - I thought it was harrowing and brilliant. I liked Lazarescu, but loved 4 months. Plus his comment about it being "a foreign film for those people who think The Lives Of Others is a great movie." was sorta ironic given that the snub of 4 months by the oscars.
But I'm flabbergasted that Damien didn't like 4 months - I thought it was harrowing and brilliant. I liked Lazarescu, but loved 4 months. Plus his comment about it being "a foreign film for those people who think The Lives Of Others is a great movie." was sorta ironic given that the snub of 4 months by the oscars.
The Lives of Others is one of the few great movies I've seen in these last ten years - including its ending. Pan's Labyrinth's high reputation in some countries (in Italy it was killed by critics and survived one week in cinemas, I'm proud to say) is a mystery to me - fake, from beginning to end.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is very good. I've been to Bucharest and that IS Bucharest - not just the buildings I mean, but its life, its soul.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is very good. I've been to Bucharest and that IS Bucharest - not just the buildings I mean, but its life, its soul.
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Ulrich Muhe's life story would make an even more interesting film. Head of his own theatre company in East Germany until betrayed by spies including his own wife, achieving international success after unification and then dying of a horrible disease just as he was becoming known to most of the world.
I absolutely hate the epilogue to The Lives of Others. That is NOT the movie that preceded it. I think The Lives of Others is a fantastic film until the final ten to fifteen minutes and then it derails in mawkishness. The lead character's arc is something of a stretch but the late Ulrich Muhe's performance makes it work beautifully. Wonderful film. Deserved the Oscar over Pan's Labyrinth. Had it the courage to end with the fall (or beforehand), we'd really be talking about a great film.
BTW - is Cousin, Cousine available for rent on DVD? I've been meaning to watch it for ages now. I need to go to France again. They seem just like people only more so.
Edited By Sabin on 1237499117
BTW - is Cousin, Cousine available for rent on DVD? I've been meaning to watch it for ages now. I need to go to France again. They seem just like people only more so.
Edited By Sabin on 1237499117
"How's the despair?"
The problem with The Lives of Others is that it is appallingly sentimental, and the motivations for many of the characters' actions are purely mawkish. The film plays down to the audience and is stacked with facile emotional responses by the characters. ANd the coda is out and out maudlin.
The film owes a great deal to The Conversation, as well as Rear Window. That it beat Pan's Labyrinth at the Oscars is as much of an outrage as when Black and White In Color defeated Cousin, Cousine.
The film owes a great deal to The Conversation, as well as Rear Window. That it beat Pan's Labyrinth at the Oscars is as much of an outrage as when Black and White In Color defeated Cousin, Cousine.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Lazarescu is a wonderful film.Eric wrote:Damien is 100 percent right on The Lives of Others. Maybe only about 20 percent right on 4/3/2, but I will say that I think it's Lazarescu that's the true masterpiece of the two much-touted testaments to the Romanian renaissance and not this film.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
No, watch it and decide for yourself.Reza wrote:Damien wrote:This is a foreign film for those people who think The Lives Of Others is a great movie. Horsehit time. **
In other words you are saying that it's best to avoid The Lives of Others which is horseshit??
I was about to watch it.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
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