whoa, i just read that jonathan demme died. wtf??

The same...

age + cancer = death

I just read it too on David Byrne's newsletter.

http://mailchi.mp/davidbyrne/jonatha...e?e=cc4a97740b

Whaaaaa?


*puts on Stop Making Sense immediately*

RIP

Big Trouble in Little China

We've all seen it. We all love it. Right?

funny thing, i always perceived him as a "youngish" sort of director, kinda like gus van zant does that to me too. i know they're boomers, but they feel closer to gen-xers for some reason.

i wasn't aware that demme was already 73 (or that he had cancer, for that matter).

also, my keyboard is starting to eat letters and i had to edit this twice. pain in the ass keyboard. but okay.

IN ANY CASE what a fucking bummer about demme. the last of his movies i really liked was rachel getting married. not because of the pretty big-eyed lady, which was so hyped and i used to hate at the time, but rather because it was such a funny, human and joyous movie that really kept me going back to it. great ensemble cast. very altmanesque.

i only saw it recently and YES. hilarious/absurd/great

Jurassic Park

this was way better than i expected!

A+++ for an interesting character we don't get in movies much... no... 2 interesting characters. great movie when you let go of preconceptions.

En-Ra-Ha!

lololol

yeah! a really good Mike Leigh one.

Risky Business

Sort of a less comedy-driven Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Seems to have acquired cult status. It is very stylish but the best thing about it is probably the Tangerine Dream soundtrack.

chan-wook park's THE HANDMAIDEN



this guy this guy this guy. he keeps getting better. why is he so good? how is he so good?

he always makes the most beautiful images. he's always very serious and very funny. he always has these great plots full of suprises. he's great at his craft and he's great at his art. he's just fucking great. god damn.

I don't think I've seen any of his stuff. :confused:

Thirst and Oldboy are good starters

i recommended him thirst a long time ago, i think it was halloween, he liked the shot with the fluorescents in the room said he had to see it

thirst is good but not his best or most celebrated one, still i liked it tons

i think the order to start is:

1. sympathy for mr vengeance
2. old boy
3. lady vengeance

which is the order the "vengeance" trilogy was shot

from there springs the rest of his work i think

joint security area was cool and earlier but a bit clumsy in the production. which was you know fine, as he was a brilliant beginner, but it's not as memorable as what followed

and what's so great about the guy i think is that he was a philosopher first, then got involved in film, so that he always explores these not necessarily "intellectual" situations, but he finds these existential situations that always make for a great and thrilling flick, and intricate plots, and he has such a sense of visual beauty to go with it, it's just great stuff

Oh I remember when you recommended that to me. Yes.

I've seen parts of Oldboy but didn't know this was the director. I also have never watched the whole thing because at some point someone told me it would probably upset me. Apparently it has the very specific kind of violence that disturbs and unsettles me (graphic rape, innocent lives lost/taken seemingly at random, etc.).

I forget who told me to steer clear of Oldboy, but whoever cautioned me against it compared it to Irreversible, a movie that I couldn't make it through despite being a fan of all the actors involved. The gratuitous rape shit just doesn't land well with me, even if I know it's going to be avenged in a bloodbath of epic proportions.

So... knowing that Irreversible was too much for me, and that scenes like the one in Nocturnal Animals deeply disturb me ... should I watch Oldboy?

there's apparently an english version of oldboy i have consciously avoided. get the korean stuff.

and start with sympathy for mr. vengeance. forget oldboy for a moment. don't say oldboy again. don't...! lol

sympathy for mr. vengeance. korean. fucking great. start there.

--

ETA: speaking of disturbing sex, have you noticed how most english speaking movies feature sex that looks like rape? a lot of violent motions and screaming and shit. it's always like some brawl, and painful grimaces. ha ha ha ha. it's not brazilian jiu-jitsu, motherfuckers! get yr shit together & stop the sports contest

Yah, but you kinda evaded my question. I'm really not interested in watching something that's got really disturbing rape shit in it, even if the rape is avenged. Knowing that, should I proceed with the aforementioned films?

:( I really wanna know. I don't like it when movies make me cry and sent me into a pit of existential despair and make me hate people.

But yes American movies have some fucked up sex scenes. I've never thought of it as an "American" thing, but perhaps it is. I don't recall seeing many French movies that depict sex this way. Italian movies kind of do.. especially crime films and horror. But that's usually just actual rape, or torture. I don't think they color their love-making with the same brush.

well what i was trying to imply is that maybe the american oldboy is creepier due to the american penchant for confirming andrea dworkin's statement that all sex is rape

park DOES have a tendency towards gory & disturbing shit though, so YMMV, but i don't recall oldboy being particularly rapey. i'd have to rewatch & see. also, sympathy for mr. vengeance was more coen brothers than anything else--but with a twist. or twists. sad. but so great.

the thing about it though, this prejudice of a sad premise of "rape and revenge" is very hollywood, and park is not that sort of simpleton. he finds ways to make the disturbing interesting past the graphic shit. he gives it a reason. i like him for that. his violence is not gratuitous and tends to serve a larger purpose, which is usually some sort of "big question" about human nature.

speaking of which, i believe ilducio hates gratuitous violence and yet he recommended you it.

wait. the american oldboy was a spike lee joint. i couldnt say if it was good or not. but the original, which was based on a manga, was just so fucking great. hardcore and disturbing sure, but not without a purpose.

IN ANY CASE

it's just movies, not death or taxes. you can avoid if you wanna.