As are the words of the SS officers in the post-war trials, depicted here, in this painful, true, terrific documentary, narrated by Jean Cayrol, French poet and camp survivor.
My French is shabby, and I saw this film without subtitles. But seeing it like this gave me a powerful jolt to the chest none the less, in a way like the dialogue-less "Koyaanisqatsi" has the ability to do. Except this 34 minute documentary is visceral. It depicts the revolting, unimaginable, heinous crimes beyond human comprehension, committed in the German concentration camps during WWII. It spares no expense and ruthlessly shows you everything you don't want to see.
As the movie starts with its "peaceful landscape of a meadow", I am immediately transported back to when I visited Auschwitz myself more than 10 years ago, fully prepared, and yet absolutely not prepared at all for what I was about to see.
The music is eerily unsettling and nothing what so ever alike the pathos and melodrama we are used to today, most famously, of course, almost forced upon us by John Williams in "Schindler's List." I might be one of the biggest John Williams fans in the world, but a topic like the Holocaust is not one that needs orchestral support to be heard and understood.
This movie must be seen just like any war memorial must be visited. It will hurt, it will make you sick, and it is necessary.
Polanski. Immediate, awful taste in my mouth. Reminds me of everything bad and awful. Charles Manson. Rape. Paedophilia. And yes, he is a paedophile. This is undeniable.
Watching a work of art created by a criminal of a moral ranging from low to entirely unacceptable is always difficult and has to be done with a lot of caution, where it aligns with your morals and ethics. But on the other hand, so many artists of every kind have been outed having done reprehensible things, it becomes almost impossible to enjoy any creation if you do not wear the glasses of future past. We are trapped in the world of immorality, "wearing rose coloured glasses so that all the red flags look like flags."
Cancel culture does not exist, and there isn't a single person in the world who doesn't get new chances. Polanski, just like many other paedophile rapists, continues to receive honors and job offers from above, despite the very many vocal protests from the public.
The incredible irony is that the film "Repulsion" is about a woman terrorized by men, some of whom have her in some sort of power (like the landlord.) And perhaps even more ironic are the reviews written by men, speaking of the "decent admirer whose honest love might be exactly what she needs." It brings into the question whether everything we are seeing are her hallucinations, but being a woman myself, I really cannot help but experience everything in this movie as reality in some way or another, including the doubt that it brings into whether or not this is real - as this is something that us women are awfully familiar with on a mass scale.
Scrubbing all of that off of our brains, there is no denying that this film is highly influential. So many modern horror classics like "It Follows", "The Babadook" and "Hereditary" cite as having this film being one of the influences, where some influences are a lot more on the nose than others (rabbits and pigeons and wall hands, oh my.)
The cinematography is what is hailed the most about this movie, and it is undeniable, especially for its time. The close-ups are reminiscent of silent film techniques, reminding me even of the very famous shot in Jeanne d'Arc when Veronika is witness to the disdain of the men in the hospital, talking about the woman who left her war-fighting fiancé for another man.
Some of the shots are spectacularly haunting, and the lighting is something to behold. When emotions and situations are frenetic, it is deeply felt. Some scenes are parallell to each other, like Veronika running up the stairs after the bombing, and Boris fading away in the forest.
It is notable that the conversation about consent blooming in recent years has certainly changed the narrative of movies such as this. A New York Times review from 1960 calls the heroine "a sensitive Moscow girl who weakens and is unfaithful to her sweetheart when he is at the front in World War II." For me, there is no way around it - she was raped and forced into a marriage by an obsessive man. Before he succumbs to his horrible urges, he does lead a very powerful scene where he aggressively tries to drown out the sounds of fighter jets on a grand piano. But quickly, he falls from grace, and that feeble yet passionate protest falls apart, just like their city.
This movie is beautiful and important, and definitely unmissable in the long string of WWII movies.
Out of all the lines, this one stood out to me the most with its glaring irony. History will forever repeat itself.
The eternally charismatic Rutger Hauer stars in this WWII epic by Paul Verhooven, playing his role as Erik Lanshof with youthful charm and vigour. And for me, that was one of the few true redeeming qualities about this film. Not to say that it's a bad film - more that it is just simply unremarkable. I wanted to get engrossed in it, but it was never able to pull me in fully.
The soundtrack was undoubtedly just lovely. The German crooners of the 1930s are a different breed of haunting nostalgia, and Rogier Van Otterloo's score is also quite impressive and lovely to the ear, even if a bit war-generic at times. In particular the track "Ester" is evoking the essense of what film scores are, bringing the movie back to what it's supposed to be, and "Englandvaarders Hebben Een Streepje Voor" is almost comically similar to the ever-famous "Jaws" theme, which would come out a year later - curious indeed!
Veerhoven's special effects for the horrors of war and torture are reminiscent of his other, later works, such as the ketchup-like horrific blood splatter and other more cerebral terrors for our imagination. Both explicit and implicit, the effects do not function completely as a suspension of disbelief but nevertheless, they do still turn your stomach and at their worst, hit you over the head with the violence.
The movie is undoubtedly important in the tapestry of cinema history, but will probably never be the first WWII adventurous tale that would jump to mind when the mood for a war movie strikes.
Never had I heard about Tanztheater or Pina Bausch before, and from the first minute of this film, I was glued to the screen. Everything, from the emotion through movement to the truly excellent soundtrack, I was transported into a new world I won't soon forget. Writer/director Wim Wenders had been following Bausch's work for years, and was convinced post her death to finish this work by the dancers in her company.
With the haunting sounds of music like "Einmal ist keinmal" and the powerfully visceral, expressionist "Rite of Spring", and everything else woven into this avant-gardistic human tapestry, it's hard not to fall in love with Pina's movements brought to life by the dancers. Her art shown purely through freshly filmed choreography, with a smattering of archival footage to remind you that the origins are indeed of the past. This is dance as a series of short films, as I have never really seen before. The choice to keep the dancers mic'd works like the perfect bridge between film and reality, and the background settings and sets used deserve a special mention.
Although the motifs are often gendered, there are gender-bending elements throughout, and while a lot of women are portrayed as helplessly falling down, caught and supported by men, some men too support each other. Especially the André number is particularly touching.
As a true admirer of dance, however lacking in the practical skill myself, this was without a doubt an exciting experience for me, but I do believe that even if you have no clue about the art of dance, it will still be an evocative and gripping watch not to be missed.
With a genuine excitement about a movie hailed as a striking and engrossing experience, not least in the LGBTQIA+ genre, I was ultimately let down by the filmmaking itself. Even if the idea might have been fine, the two halves of the movie were difficult to reconcile. I also found the sound design and mixing to be on the lower end - you could barely hear the dialogue, and most of the sound was pretty much just crickets chirping. Of course, this adds to the overall ambiance of the jungle depicted so heavily in the movie but I missed an even slightly more crisp experience.
However, the love story was refreshingly unproblematic and undramatic to me. Usually, we have to deal with quite a lot of intensity when watching an LGBTQIA+ work of art, but in this case, it went by mildly like a gentle spring breeze. You might say that the dramatic part of the story unfolds in the second, feverish part of the film, but it doesn't hit you over the head with a dark thematic.
It won the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2004, but I doubt that this has withstood the test of time. The film doesn't require much from its audience, but it is choppy and uncomfortable at best.
Comments 1 - 25 of 99
Movie comment on Nuit et brouillard
kathulu
"Je ne suis pas responsable"As are the words of the SS officers in the post-war trials, depicted here, in this painful, true, terrific documentary, narrated by Jean Cayrol, French poet and camp survivor.
My French is shabby, and I saw this film without subtitles. But seeing it like this gave me a powerful jolt to the chest none the less, in a way like the dialogue-less "Koyaanisqatsi" has the ability to do. Except this 34 minute documentary is visceral. It depicts the revolting, unimaginable, heinous crimes beyond human comprehension, committed in the German concentration camps during WWII. It spares no expense and ruthlessly shows you everything you don't want to see.
As the movie starts with its "peaceful landscape of a meadow", I am immediately transported back to when I visited Auschwitz myself more than 10 years ago, fully prepared, and yet absolutely not prepared at all for what I was about to see.
The music is eerily unsettling and nothing what so ever alike the pathos and melodrama we are used to today, most famously, of course, almost forced upon us by John Williams in "Schindler's List." I might be one of the biggest John Williams fans in the world, but a topic like the Holocaust is not one that needs orchestral support to be heard and understood.
This movie must be seen just like any war memorial must be visited. It will hurt, it will make you sick, and it is necessary.
Movie comment on Repulsion
kathulu
Polanski. Immediate, awful taste in my mouth. Reminds me of everything bad and awful. Charles Manson. Rape. Paedophilia. And yes, he is a paedophile. This is undeniable.Watching a work of art created by a criminal of a moral ranging from low to entirely unacceptable is always difficult and has to be done with a lot of caution, where it aligns with your morals and ethics. But on the other hand, so many artists of every kind have been outed having done reprehensible things, it becomes almost impossible to enjoy any creation if you do not wear the glasses of future past. We are trapped in the world of immorality, "wearing rose coloured glasses so that all the red flags look like flags."
Cancel culture does not exist, and there isn't a single person in the world who doesn't get new chances. Polanski, just like many other paedophile rapists, continues to receive honors and job offers from above, despite the very many vocal protests from the public.
The incredible irony is that the film "Repulsion" is about a woman terrorized by men, some of whom have her in some sort of power (like the landlord.) And perhaps even more ironic are the reviews written by men, speaking of the "decent admirer whose honest love might be exactly what she needs." It brings into the question whether everything we are seeing are her hallucinations, but being a woman myself, I really cannot help but experience everything in this movie as reality in some way or another, including the doubt that it brings into whether or not this is real - as this is something that us women are awfully familiar with on a mass scale.
Scrubbing all of that off of our brains, there is no denying that this film is highly influential. So many modern horror classics like "It Follows", "The Babadook" and "Hereditary" cite as having this film being one of the influences, where some influences are a lot more on the nose than others (rabbits and pigeons and wall hands, oh my.)
Movie comment on Letyat zhuravli
kathulu
The cinematography is what is hailed the most about this movie, and it is undeniable, especially for its time. The close-ups are reminiscent of silent film techniques, reminding me even of the very famous shot in Jeanne d'Arc when Veronika is witness to the disdain of the men in the hospital, talking about the woman who left her war-fighting fiancé for another man.Some of the shots are spectacularly haunting, and the lighting is something to behold. When emotions and situations are frenetic, it is deeply felt. Some scenes are parallell to each other, like Veronika running up the stairs after the bombing, and Boris fading away in the forest.
It is notable that the conversation about consent blooming in recent years has certainly changed the narrative of movies such as this. A New York Times review from 1960 calls the heroine "a sensitive Moscow girl who weakens and is unfaithful to her sweetheart when he is at the front in World War II." For me, there is no way around it - she was raped and forced into a marriage by an obsessive man. Before he succumbs to his horrible urges, he does lead a very powerful scene where he aggressively tries to drown out the sounds of fighter jets on a grand piano. But quickly, he falls from grace, and that feeble yet passionate protest falls apart, just like their city.
This movie is beautiful and important, and definitely unmissable in the long string of WWII movies.
Movie comment on Soldaat van Oranje
kathulu
"Aristocracy belongs to the past."Out of all the lines, this one stood out to me the most with its glaring irony. History will forever repeat itself.
The eternally charismatic Rutger Hauer stars in this WWII epic by Paul Verhooven, playing his role as Erik Lanshof with youthful charm and vigour. And for me, that was one of the few true redeeming qualities about this film. Not to say that it's a bad film - more that it is just simply unremarkable. I wanted to get engrossed in it, but it was never able to pull me in fully.
The soundtrack was undoubtedly just lovely. The German crooners of the 1930s are a different breed of haunting nostalgia, and Rogier Van Otterloo's score is also quite impressive and lovely to the ear, even if a bit war-generic at times. In particular the track "Ester" is evoking the essense of what film scores are, bringing the movie back to what it's supposed to be, and "Englandvaarders Hebben Een Streepje Voor" is almost comically similar to the ever-famous "Jaws" theme, which would come out a year later - curious indeed!
Veerhoven's special effects for the horrors of war and torture are reminiscent of his other, later works, such as the ketchup-like horrific blood splatter and other more cerebral terrors for our imagination. Both explicit and implicit, the effects do not function completely as a suspension of disbelief but nevertheless, they do still turn your stomach and at their worst, hit you over the head with the violence.
The movie is undoubtedly important in the tapestry of cinema history, but will probably never be the first WWII adventurous tale that would jump to mind when the mood for a war movie strikes.
Movie comment on Pina
kathulu
Never had I heard about Tanztheater or Pina Bausch before, and from the first minute of this film, I was glued to the screen. Everything, from the emotion through movement to the truly excellent soundtrack, I was transported into a new world I won't soon forget. Writer/director Wim Wenders had been following Bausch's work for years, and was convinced post her death to finish this work by the dancers in her company.With the haunting sounds of music like "Einmal ist keinmal" and the powerfully visceral, expressionist "Rite of Spring", and everything else woven into this avant-gardistic human tapestry, it's hard not to fall in love with Pina's movements brought to life by the dancers. Her art shown purely through freshly filmed choreography, with a smattering of archival footage to remind you that the origins are indeed of the past. This is dance as a series of short films, as I have never really seen before. The choice to keep the dancers mic'd works like the perfect bridge between film and reality, and the background settings and sets used deserve a special mention.
Although the motifs are often gendered, there are gender-bending elements throughout, and while a lot of women are portrayed as helplessly falling down, caught and supported by men, some men too support each other. Especially the André number is particularly touching.
As a true admirer of dance, however lacking in the practical skill myself, this was without a doubt an exciting experience for me, but I do believe that even if you have no clue about the art of dance, it will still be an evocative and gripping watch not to be missed.
Movie comment on Sud pralad
kathulu
With a genuine excitement about a movie hailed as a striking and engrossing experience, not least in the LGBTQIA+ genre, I was ultimately let down by the filmmaking itself. Even if the idea might have been fine, the two halves of the movie were difficult to reconcile. I also found the sound design and mixing to be on the lower end - you could barely hear the dialogue, and most of the sound was pretty much just crickets chirping. Of course, this adds to the overall ambiance of the jungle depicted so heavily in the movie but I missed an even slightly more crisp experience.However, the love story was refreshingly unproblematic and undramatic to me. Usually, we have to deal with quite a lot of intensity when watching an LGBTQIA+ work of art, but in this case, it went by mildly like a gentle spring breeze. You might say that the dramatic part of the story unfolds in the second, feverish part of the film, but it doesn't hit you over the head with a dark thematic.
It won the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2004, but I doubt that this has withstood the test of time. The film doesn't require much from its audience, but it is choppy and uncomfortable at best.
Movie comment on Singin' in the Rain
kathulu
The dancing is so incredibly joyful. I didn't even mean to, but I've been transported into their world. Movie magic at its finest.I really cannot wait until cinemas are back on and this will be back on the big screen somewhere. Going as soon as possible.
Movie comment on The Wicker Man
kathulu
"Willow's Song" is seriously one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs I've ever heardMovie comment on L'enchanteur Alcofribas
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgSDT-SnEcQMovie comment on La guirlande merveilleuse
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veOX0JLR6nUMovie comment on Le rêve du maître de ballet
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUMQAQK7lMgMovie comment on Skyscrapers of New York City, from the North River
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIXsTAG9Q6gMovie comment on Stop Thief!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54YGhTJ1fqIMovie comment on La maison tranquille
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09kd0SgdR00Movie comment on L'antre des esprits
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