Seen and not seen's, recommendations and queries on top films in general.

Started by GEWALTMONOPOL, December 29, 2009, 06:31:05 PM

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Atrophist

Glad you guys enjoyed Veneno para las Hadas. I'm actually now intent on exploring the rest of Carlos Taboada's oeuvre.

I have now dow ... ("cough") sought out the following: El Libro de Piedra (1969), Hasta el Viento Tiene Miedo (1968), and Mas Negro que la Noche (1975).

Haven't been able to find English subtitles for all of them yet, I'm actually fluent in Spanish, but for my partner's sake I've still want to try to find them, if possible. Looking forward to checking these out!

In the meantime:

Human Factors (Der menschliche Faktor) (2021). A ho-hum "psychological thriller", that's actually pretty low on thrills, and not even that psychologically interesting. Overcomplicated and gimmicky narrative structure, with very little payoff to be had for your efforts. Skip this one and watch Speak No Evil instead.

spallmaker

Quote from: KillToForget on July 15, 2023, 03:29:53 AMI'm rewatching Criterion's Stan Brakhage anthology for the first time in years. I've always loved his work, and I'd highly recommend this set

The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes is pretty fucking great. Went on a whole stretch of watching "death" films for a bit and it definitely changes you. Orozco the Embalmer, A Certain Kind of Death, Dying at Grace. All great films.

spallmaker

Quote from: cr on June 25, 2023, 02:42:44 PM
Quote from: spallmaker on June 24, 2023, 09:38:39 PM
Quote from: cr on June 18, 2023, 01:55:07 PMUlrich Seidl "Rimini"
Great! The world of "German Schlager" is sometimes darker than all the PE and Noise themes. Some of you will know what I mean.

This looks great. Recently watched Dog Days and it blew me away. Have you seen his doc In The Basement? About people and their "hobbies."

Yes, I've seen most of his films. If you haven't seen already, I can also strongly recommend Models, Import/Export and the Paradise trilogy.


Bit late to respond, but thanks for the list. Been wanting to watch Models for some time now.

Atrophist

Private Parts (1972)

A small-time cult classic that's mostly in the "interesting curiosity" category these days. Sexploitation/horror/comedy, with none of the different elements being fully succesful. Still, as dated and flawed as this feels, still worth a watch if you're into the seedy, sordid side of 70's movies.

BlackCavendish

Betrayed (1988) by Costa-Gavras
Thriller loosely based on the Robert Jay Matthews/The Order story (the film starts with the killing of a jewish radio speaker, mimicking the murder of Alan Berg). Characters are well written, Costa-Gavras's direction is solid but the story is not that good and starts to go downhill after the *SPOILER* "nigger-hunt" scene.

Atrophist

Wild Goose Lake (2019)

Chinese gangster flick that combines gritty, dingy realism with highly stylized neo-noir, usually, but not always succesfully. Set around the titular lake in the Wuhan region in China, which is said to be a somewhat lawless area with all kinds of dodgy people getting up to no good. Apparently the dialogue is all in some local dialect that required subtitles even for audiences in other regions in China.

The plot is pretty standard: smalltime gangster on the run with a femme fatale, with lots of scenes of moody chainsmoking in rainy, neon-lit back alleys. A couple of explosions of pretty shocking violence (wait for the umbrella scene).

Similar to, but not quite as good as, A Touch of Sin or Ash is the Purest White by the great Zhangke Jia. I enjoyed this nevertheless.


Hakaristi

Have to add Naked Blood to the In My Skin recommendation above.

Been revisiting the DVD collection after downloading for the last 10+ years. Recently listened to Noisextra's Tetsuo episode which prompted me to pull Organ, 1996 film made by the female lead. Ultra-slow muddled plot involving organ harvesting, but some nice moments of surreal body horror to break up the pace. Also checked out Citizen X after the Monster 7" episode - Ok, but didn't love it as much as the Noisextra hype crew.

Eaten Alive! - Clearly been too long since my last slice of Italian cheese, as this was damn enjoyable! All the staples are here; be- (de?) wigged cannibals, gratutious splatter, animal deaths, tasty synth soundtrack and dialogue to die for. Now to hunt down some more Lenzi films.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart To Hades - Classic!

Fudoh: The New Generation - Early Miike insanity.

Atrophist

Sans toit ni loi (1985), apparently titled Vagabond in the English-speaking territories.

A young woman wonders the countryside of southern France in winter, in dirty clothes and disintegrating boots, carrying a rucksack and an old army tent. Her only means of supporting herself seem to be odd jobs from here and there -- including, apparently, the occasional bout of the world's oldest profession.

The story is told as flashbacks from the pov of folks who've met her. Most of the people she meets seem helpful, or at least indifferent, offering rides, a place to spend the night, a little money or food. She also gets offered more long term jobs, or a plot of land to farm, but none of these ever work out, since she inevitably falls out with everyone sooner or later.

Her refusal to rely on anyone else, regardless of the consequences, seems at times admirable, at times pitiful and (I must admit) at times frustrating. Is she mentally ill? Has something traumatic happened? We don't know. She is a person hell-bent on living her life completely her own way, and her story is presented without judgment neither on her, nor on the society she's rejected.

Popped this on on a whim, enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

Phenol

Organ (mentioned above) is one of my very favourite movies. Haven't seen Naked Blood yet, but it's more in the Guinea Pig style, isn't it?

I've been watching a bunch of older horror movies lately. The one that stood out the most for me was Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971) which is a pretty original kind of folk/outback horror take on the vampire genre. Nice dreamy and off atmosphere the whole way through, like a hippie roadtrip movie mixed with something like Picnic on Hanging rock. The soundtrack is mostly some sort of cosmic psychfolk and out of tune piano melodies which underlines the dreamy atmosphere and porous sense of (un)reality nicely.

Krigsverk

Death Bed (1977).

What a trip. Speechless. "a demon falls in love with a girl, but she perishes and his sadness infects a bed which then becomes indestructible and develops an insatiable appetite for for pretty much everything, flesh in particular. The soul of one of it's victims now haunts a painting and comments on the carnage the bed reeks."


Hakaristi

Quote from: Phenol on August 08, 2023, 12:06:30 PMOrgan (mentioned above) is one of my very favourite movies. Haven't seen Naked Blood yet, but it's more in the Guinea Pig style, isn't it?

I think Naked Blood gets unfairly lumped in with Guinea Pig and other Jap shock stuff due to the graphic scenes, but has slightly more intellect and shares with In My Skin the theme of women finding pleasure in self-mutilation (the short film Cutting Moments too). Also, it's directed by Hisayasu Sato who is nothing less than an auteur IMO. Like a Japanese Haneke with the clinical bleakness and concepts of isolation & societal alienation... but via the medium of softcore S/M flicks!

BlackCavendish

Quote from: Krigsverk on August 08, 2023, 12:57:02 PMDeath Bed (1977).

Sounds interesting. Gonna look for this one.

Rewatch of the Wicker Man, always an amazing piece of art with an extraordinary soundtrack.

Also browsing through the A24 catalogue. I've been following the company's activity since 2018, they put out really good stuff (if you like something a bit more indie and artsy than the usual) but also, inevitably, some crap. Besides the well known big names (Lanthimos, Garland, Eggers, Aster, Aronofsky) I recently saw First Reformed by Paul Schrader (really good drama about faith) and Free Fire (a funny black comedy-action movie all set in a warehouse),

Balor/SS1535

Quote from: Hakaristi on August 08, 2023, 03:09:17 PM
Quote from: Phenol on August 08, 2023, 12:06:30 PMOrgan (mentioned above) is one of my very favourite movies. Haven't seen Naked Blood yet, but it's more in the Guinea Pig style, isn't it?

I think Naked Blood gets unfairly lumped in with Guinea Pig and other Jap shock stuff due to the graphic scenes, but has slightly more intellect and shares with In My Skin the theme of women finding pleasure in self-mutilation (the short film Cutting Moments too). Also, it's directed by Hisayasu Sato who is nothing less than an auteur IMO. Like a Japanese Haneke with the clinical bleakness and concepts of isolation & societal alienation... but via the medium of softcore S/M flicks!

Your Haneke comparison has gotten my attention.  What movies by Sato would you recommend?  I feel like that name is distantly familiar to me...

Hakaristi

Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on August 14, 2023, 06:49:59 AM
Quote from: Hakaristi on August 08, 2023, 03:09:17 PM
Quote from: Phenol on August 08, 2023, 12:06:30 PMOrgan (mentioned above) is one of my very favourite movies. Haven't seen Naked Blood yet, but it's more in the Guinea Pig style, isn't it?

I think Naked Blood gets unfairly lumped in with Guinea Pig and other Jap shock stuff due to the graphic scenes, but has slightly more intellect and shares with In My Skin the theme of women finding pleasure in self-mutilation (the short film Cutting Moments too). Also, it's directed by Hisayasu Sato who is nothing less than an auteur IMO. Like a Japanese Haneke with the clinical bleakness and concepts of isolation & societal alienation... but via the medium of softcore S/M flicks!

Your Haneke comparison has gotten my attention.  What movies by Sato would you recommend?  I feel like that name is distantly familiar to me...

Seems he's more often compared to Cronenberg but I always got a Haneke vibe from his flicks. Granted most were seen years ago on grainy bootlegs, need to check some of the DVDs to see how they hold up. Odd to see something like his Lolita Vibrator Torture now easily available from Barnes & Noble in a classy DVD release when it was at one time the stuff of legend for collectors but I guess no different than all the obscure Giallo and SOV splatterfests getting 3-disc Blu-ray editions... anyway, would recommend Naked Blood, Survey Map of a Paradise Lost, Love - Zero = Infinity, The Bedroom and Muscle.

Balor/SS1535

Quote from: Hakaristi on August 14, 2023, 10:03:09 AM
Quote from: Balor/SS1535 on August 14, 2023, 06:49:59 AM
Quote from: Hakaristi on August 08, 2023, 03:09:17 PM
Quote from: Phenol on August 08, 2023, 12:06:30 PMOrgan (mentioned above) is one of my very favourite movies. Haven't seen Naked Blood yet, but it's more in the Guinea Pig style, isn't it?

I think Naked Blood gets unfairly lumped in with Guinea Pig and other Jap shock stuff due to the graphic scenes, but has slightly more intellect and shares with In My Skin the theme of women finding pleasure in self-mutilation (the short film Cutting Moments too). Also, it's directed by Hisayasu Sato who is nothing less than an auteur IMO. Like a Japanese Haneke with the clinical bleakness and concepts of isolation & societal alienation... but via the medium of softcore S/M flicks!

Your Haneke comparison has gotten my attention.  What movies by Sato would you recommend?  I feel like that name is distantly familiar to me...

Seems he's more often compared to Cronenberg but I always got a Haneke vibe from his flicks. Granted most were seen years ago on grainy bootlegs, need to check some of the DVDs to see how they hold up. Odd to see something like his Lolita Vibrator Torture now easily available from Barnes & Noble in a classy DVD release when it was at one time the stuff of legend for collectors but I guess no different than all the obscure Giallo and SOV splatterfests getting 3-disc Blu-ray editions... anyway, would recommend Naked Blood, Survey Map of a Paradise Lost, Love - Zero = Infinity, The Bedroom and Muscle.

Well, a comparison to Cronenberg is also quite exciting.  It's weird that this obscure stuff is getting such wide releases, and that seems like both a good an bad thing.  Too much access can take away mystery/excitement.  I will look into those movies!