BARBELITH underground
 

Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.


Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

General Film & Theatre Thread

  
 
Shrug
00:49 / 26.12.05
This is a catch-all thread wherein people can post about their experiences of recently watched films or recently attended theatre performances. Hopefully it will lead to a thread where a broader scope of cinema/theatre can be considered. It might be an interesting read, I think, even if it ends up as just a random selection of 'lither reviews (although that wouldn't be the intended aim)

A few rules/suggestions:
1)No lists (as they are niether conducive to conversation nor of any inherent worth).
2)Should you feel that a film/performance warrants its own thread due to a percieved enthusiasm within this thread please start one.
3)If you just want to start a thread on something don't automatically think you shouldn't and just post something in here. Start the thread!
4)Search to see if there is an existent thread on your chosen film/performance before posting in here. If there is, post in that one.
5)Read other people's posts.

(Well I thought it might be useful)
 
 
Shrug
15:45 / 26.12.05
The most recent film I've watched has been Dear Wendy (written by Lars von Triers).
There is something wonderful about the watching these young teens gradually crawl out of their shells and into the garb of C16th highway robbers/Wild West cowboys but the message regarding America and gun-control is, I think, a little heavy handed. Where the film succeeds is in its homage to the Western, its great cinematography & the teens' performances. Where it fails is the massive supension of belief required for a story that never quite gels together properly.
It's set in an economically depressed small town America with, like in Dogsville, a view to critique it. The style & genre-blending is great but it doesn't ever reach a level quite as adept as Dogsville as regards story/narrative.
Anyone else see it?
 
 
Keith, like a scientist
06:14 / 29.12.05
I saw Munich tonight and was extremely impressed with it. This was a very serious "auteur" style film for Spielberg. The entire movie felt like one of those quietly intense films from the 70s by Lumet or Coppola (talking about films like Dog Day Afternoon, Godfather, Serpico, French Connection, The Conversation). He really went to the hilt on this one. Spectacular writing and acting all around. A very different film for the holiday season, for sure. Incredible directing that leads up to the monumental last shot. The message of the film, if any, was quite interesting, but somewhat ambiguous, and may deserve it's own thread if others think so.
 
 
wembley can change in 28 days
11:22 / 29.12.05
I just recently got an amazon.co.uk-delivered DVD of Peter Brook's Lear, with Paul Scofield as Lear and Irene Worth as the best ever Goneril ever (redundancy required to convey how much ever her best Goneril is).

It's just freaking brilliant. It's a Shakespeare film where the text clearly takes precedent, where every thought and line sounds fresh and vital; I couldn't be happier with the purchase. Plus I can have subtitles in Greek, Hungarian, or Italian. W00t!

It's in black and white, filmed in Denmark in what appears to be the nastiest possible weather, and the design places you in a civilization that is either pre-Christian or simply in a sort of parallel universe, where this civilization could have existed, but didn't in our history. (This is a theme of the week for me; I was also impressed with Peter Jackson's Skull Island in King Kong for being at once completely foreign yet believable.)

But basically, acting does not get better than this. Okay, Susan Engel's Reagan is actively annoying and insincere (and not just in a that's-her-character way), but that's about the only problem. Watching Scofield and Worth go at each other with verse is beautiful, and I've never heard a better fool than Jack MacGowran.

Usually I have a problem (and I appear not to be the only one) with Shakespeare's fools. The notion of a paid servant you keep around to entertain you is quite removed from our present experience (although my friends report that my mother pays them to keep me entertained), and it's hard not to make the jests fall flat on their faces. Here the treatment is great - the fool is something like a paid best friend, who dishes out advice and humour, and the king can take it or leave it without giving anything the fool says any weight whatsoever. Very convenient, much better than a friend you have to care about.
 
 
sleazenation
12:05 / 29.12.05
Saw Sir Ian McKellan's Twanky last night in Aladin at The Old Vic. It was great fun, and I hugely enjoyed it, but I knew what to expect. Much of the rest of the audience appeared to be ignorant of many of the traditions of panto (either by dint of not being from these shores, and thus not knowing much about the audience participation required of this very English theatrical form, or by being petulant middleclass teenagers and thus unwiilling to enjoy anything their parents take them to).

So, the Audience was a bit crap at actually joining in with the old 'it's behind you' shenanigans that are at the core of what panto is.

The follow spot opperators were a bit lazy as well I guess, missing the odd cue and loudly slamming down gels.

But outside of that, it was great fun - all the singing, dancing and acrobatics you'd expect. And Magneto, in a wide variety of dresses...
 
 
Krug
13:33 / 29.12.05
Shrug mate I more or less agree with you about Wendy though I cant say anything favourable enough or remind myself if there was really anything I liked about it when I saw it in the summer. I thought it was just purple and cringe inducing at times.
After having high expectations (I think very very highly of everything Von Trier has done except Epidemic and Medea. I also really enjoyed The Celebration when I saw it a couple of years ago) I was just disappointed to find that it had none of the subtlety you find in lvt's films. There's a moment in Dancer in the Dark which I wont spoil in case you havent seen where Bjork walks out of her neighbours' house with the america flag blowing in the breeze above her (context matters here so I think I'm not spoiling anything) as well as the obvious court room drama bits. That approach (personal character driven stories that save it from being preachy) as well as the dogville approach (scattering blanket damnation of small town america) as well as the manderlay approach (very concentrated vocal contentious and controversial assertions about race relations) all work perfectly. I do think yes it was heavy handed and just poorly written at times. I don't want to play favourites and exempt LVT from the blame but I get the feeling Von Trier would've done a better job (seeing his track record) questioning and condemning as well as making the script work.

The last two I saw were Syriana and Good Night & Good Luck and I've talked way too much about them to have the energy to post about it this early/late in the morning.
 
 
Shrug
00:18 / 30.12.05
I haven't seen Dancer in the Dark so thanks for not spoiling, infact I've seen very few of Lars Von Trier's films. And as woeful as Dear Wendy is in ways, especially in comparison to Dogsville, it has to be given plaudits for its cinematography (by Anthony Dod Mantle). Because visually, if in nothing else, it was ace. But yes basically agreeing with you again Who am I?. Actually a few questions you as a LVT fan might be able to answer: Manderlay and Dogsville are regarded as part of a trilogy examining American Life, but Dear Wendy is not? Also a Dogsville sequel in the works where Chloe Sevigny takes on the role of Grace where Von Triers is unconnected to the project?
 
 
wembley can change in 28 days
01:06 / 30.12.05
Also a Dogsville sequel in the works where Chloe Sevigny takes on the role of Grace where Von Triers is unconnected to the project?

[Sic.] That's Dogville, not Dogs. But I digress. If there's one actress the movie industry would be better off without, it's Chloe Sevigny. That may sound harsh, but I can't stand to watch her and listen to her voice. It's like she just gets up there with no preparation whatsoever and expects to make a good scene out of it. Arrrrgh.

That's not threadrot, I hope! But really? Sequel? Wha?
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
13:23 / 30.12.05
Just saw Breakfast On Pluto and that was quite a fantasgreat movie. Definitely my favorite one of Neil Jordan's. It's his most whimsical film, which is a nice surprise considering the bombings, the gun running, the attempted murder, et al. It managed to deftly avoid being either (or both) a cliched movie about the IRA or a cliched movie about glam crossdressers.

Cillian Murphy is most likely the reason for this, as he was simply revelatory in the film. Completely devestated by violence, while at the same time buoyantly flippant about it. It's a remarkable performance in pretty much every way. As far as the IRA stuff goes, that's handled quite well, from a ground level perspective. It sounds silly, but for a ferner like myself, it's easy to distill all the footage of violence you see on the news into the perspective that life was just one addled scurry from one potential bombing to another. You forget that, you know, people had lives, went to shows, went dancing, etcetera.

I know, duh. Anyway. That was handled quite well too. And the soundtrack was amazing. Lots of great Nillson/Dusty-era stuff. And we saw it in a theater with only one other person. A welcome change after my recent Kong debacle. If you see only one GBLT Movie This Year (and it looks like that would honestly be a tough chore these days) make it Breakfast On Pluto. There's no explicit fucking, but the outfits are so much better.
 
 
Shrug
14:00 / 30.12.05
But really? Sequel? Wha?

Actually some light internet searching has uncovered my prior statement to be patently bollox, blame chinese whispers, my own confusability or a very stupid friend. (? Egads)

I quite like Sevigny though. Or at least love alot of films she's been in and don't find her overly offensive as an actress.
 
 
Krug
14:25 / 30.12.05
/Manderlay and Dogsville are regarded as part of a trilogy examining American Life, but Dear Wendy is not? Also a Dogsville sequel in the works where Chloe Sevigny takes on the role of Grace where Von Triers is unconnected to the project?/

Dear Wendy is directed by Thomas Vinterberg who is famous for his dogme film (Festen aka Celebration) which while not as mindblowing and clever as Idiots (Von Trier) was a very respectable second best. His second film was heavily panned and I didnt bother looking for it. Lars Von Trier only wrote it so its not part of the USA trilogy which are films that all star the character Grace and are very critical of contemporary america while telling stories set in the 30s.

Most of LVT's work is either in trilogies or was intended to be in trilogies.

The latest trilogy promises to be almost as stunning as his previous/best one (Golden Heart Trilogy: Breaking the Waves, Idiots, Dancer in the Dark) its called USA Land of Opprutunities which started with Dogville, continued in Manderlay and to be continued in Wasinton (not Washington but dont ask me why). Wasington may take longer than expected to come out because Von Trier has decided to take longer with the script and will be making a comedy first.

Manderlay which will be released in February and is my favourite film of 2005. I'm skeptical of some sites that state this will be a wide release. A ny/la release seems more likely to me. I doubt we'll be seeing a dvd release before the summer and I just decided not to wait and download it. I can say its just as good as Dogville. Nicole Kidman was to set to star very enthusiastically in all three films but was too busy to do Manderlay. It was said that Von Trier then decided a different actress would portray Grace in each film. Bryce Dallas Howard did a very competent job in Manderlay and it's best not to get bogged down by incessant and obsessive comparisons with Nicole Kidman who is a superior actress. Wasington's actress is unnamed but I heard somewhere Howard was going to return for the third film but cant confirm. Sevigny in my opinion is a little to ugly to be Grace. I havent seen any of her films except the small part she had in American Psycho so I cant judge her ability as an actress.
 
 
Krug
14:28 / 30.12.05
Ben I've only seen Jordan's Butcher Boy which I think is a very underrated and completely marvellous film. I'm not so sure I want to see any others. If you've seen Butcher Boy do you think his other stuff (and Breakfast on Pluto) is just as good if not better?
 
 
PatrickMM
16:45 / 31.12.05
I believe that it's going to be both Nicole Kidman and Howard in the third part. I'm not sure exactly how they'll split up the role, but they're both going to be in the movie.
 
 
Hieronymus
17:52 / 31.12.05
I'm not so sure I want to see any others. If you've seen Butcher Boy do you think his other stuff (and Breakfast on Pluto) is just as good if not better?

Neil Jordan's work is well worth getting to, The Company of Wolves, The Crying Game, Michael Collins and Interview With A Vampire all being stout films you should check out. And I agree wholeheartedly. The Butcher Boy stands as his most underappreciated work. Fucked up and so incredibly good. (My buddies and I lift the "Fish! Fock off!" line one too many times)

Jordan does have his lackluster moments. I wasn't impressed with The Good Thief, despite Nick Nolte and Nutsa Kukhianidze's chemistry and despite the fact they interlaced a few of my man Leonard Cohen's latest songs. That film had a lot of potential but so much of it just fell flat on its face.

Benjamin, have you seen The Crying Game? Because what I've read about Breakfast on Pluto seems to be eerily similar and I'm not sure I want to see the same idea played out with different actors and an only marginally different plot.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
02:32 / 01.01.06
I saw most of The Crying Game and Pluto is an enormously different movie.
 
 
Shrug
19:26 / 01.01.06
I've only seen half of The Butcher Boy as of yet, but I do know that both it and Breakfast on Pluto are adaptions of novels by Patrick McCabe. You could view that as an endorsement for BoP, I think How Many.
Does Cillian perchance display the quiet potential for violence in this movie?
 
 
Jack Fear
22:04 / 01.01.06
Who Am I: Von Trier ... will be making a comedy ...

That rattling sound you hear is my soul, giving a long, bone-deep shudder.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
01:36 / 02.01.06
Does Cillian perchance display the quiet potential for violence in this movie?

Not even for an instant. Quite a sweet performance, in actuality.
 
 
Krug
12:02 / 02.01.06
Haha and why would that be Jack?
 
 
Krug
13:20 / 09.01.06
Saw Dogville Confessions a documentary made on the set of Dogville that shows once and for all the problems Lars Von Trier has with filmmaking and his complete lack of social skills. On set there is a confessional box where all the actors went to tell anecdotes and voice their problems with Lars. Nicole Kidman didn't confess anything but her refusal was even more telling. There was a scene where the cast/crew were holding a press conference presumably during a set visit by european journalists and while every actor lied through their teeth Kidman refused to comment on how she felt about the film. Even more interesting was how Lars tried to comfort her by taking her hand and Kidman tactly rejected him in front the journalists.
Kidman was obviously having trouble with the treatment the character received during the second half of the film and was lecturing Von Trier on how juvenile and insensitive it was to laugh while filming the rape scenes.
I don't think Kidman will work with Von Trier again and wonder why Stellan Skarsgard does after calling him "a very enthusiastic easily scared child playing with dolls in a dollhouse and cutting their heads off with scisssors." It's a revealing look inside the troubled almost adolescent world of Lars Von Trier the filmmaker. Paul Bettany's comment was probably my favourite, "I have a feeling Lars tried to make this film once before. It turned into the film called The Idiots."
There were some unnecessary bits like a ghostly deer passing through set (presumably symbolising Lars). For those who already know LVT's complete incapability to handle actors (Bjork once tore of his shirt and vanished off the set for days during Dancer in the Dark) it's interesting how this brings out the best performances but very unpleasant emotions the linger offcamera.
Personally I feel that LVT's opening narration (I want everyone to be all right. But they can't be all right during a film. What if it turns out to be shit?) explained and perhaps justified everything.
 
 
GogMickGog
14:12 / 09.01.06
Watched "One from the heart" with Totem Polish, a glorious folly of a neon rom-com.

Because of the sheer expense of building hte whole fockin' set on a giant soundstage (oh, and because it's a mite bum) it was a dreadful flop that crippled Francis Ford Coppola financially (and thus necesitated drek like "Jack" and "rumblefish").

However, the direction is AMAZING; fluid shots pass through lights and buildings, walls become translucent to contrast different scenes, and the whole thing is shot with bizzare phased colours like a teenage girl's bedroom drowning in christmas lights.

Never have I watched a film that looked so good and delivered so little.
Madness!
 
 
PatrickMM
20:22 / 11.01.06
One From the Heart was a crazy film. There were some really incredible parts, most notably the opening credits scene, and then some stuff that didn't work, like the very 80s hot purple dancer outfits and also the general oppressiveness of the main romance. We only see these people when they pretty much hate each other, and that prevented the film from embracing the neon fun vibe that it seemed to be going for. It's the same problem that Scorsese had with New York, New York, in that both films struggle to reconcicle a style suited to fun and glamour with rather dark subject matter. You definitely can do a serious, dark musical, but I don't think you can do one that's so committed to being a homage to the light musicals of the past.

That said, One From the Heart was a really entertaining film, and one that I would reccomend checking out. It's troubled, yeah, but is by no means a disaster.
 
 
Shrug
15:34 / 19.03.06
I saw Capote last night. Certainly an interesting film even just for all the little factoids there to gain regarding Capote's life. The only thing I really picked up on though, other than what were some wonderful performances, was the cinematography and how well the film lent itself to the widescreen format at times. It probably bears some repeated viewing on my behalf but it's a pretty topical film at the moment. Anyone else see it?
 
 
Mourne Kransky
19:45 / 19.03.06
Saw Capote with expectations of a strong central performance but little more. Was very impressed. Bennet Miller was making his first film, I gather, and that's remarkable. It dragged a little, latterly, as further stays of execution were granted, but was otherwise very well judged and in no hurry. Time enough to reflect on what we were seeing and hearing.

I really wanted to be able to dismiss Hoffman's Capote as an impersonation, because I had so wanted Heath Ledger to win the Oscar. I would still have given Heath the prize but Hoffman is great and is barely out of shot throughout. He does impersonate Capote beautifully but he does a lot more, showing us his bravado, insecurity, vanity, ruthless ambition, and lusts too. And makes you forget how silly the Melanie Griffiths voice is.

Catherine Keener does a lot with the subsidiary Harper Lee role but I would have liked a better sense of the dynamic between Capote and Jack Dunphy, his lover. Maybe that's there but I wasn't picking up.

The guy who plays Perry Smith has a restricted palette to work with but does a lot. He's credible as the evil, attractive, pathetic focus of Capote's fascination. And gives Hoffman what he needs to drive Capote's inner turmoil.

All in all, it was a treat. Much more than I anticipated going on in there. I did wonder whether they had hired lots of seven foot tall actors because Hoffman's a big lad and yet still managed to shrink himself into Capote's little gerbil physique somehow.
 
 
elene
09:09 / 18.05.06
Breakfast on Pluto finally arrived in our little city on the Danube for one night only, but in the original (language) with subtitles, yesterday, and I saw it. It was great fun. Ireland really was like that. IRA men, British cops and soldiers were just like that. And the bands and the music and the cloths. The motorbike gang had unusually powerful bikes though, and I thought they only had milk bottles with tin-foil caps in England. Oh well.

Anyway, it was a lot easier to watch than it was to read. The book's by Patrick McCabe, who also wrote the really superb Butcher Boy which Neil Jordan also filmed, but which I've sadly never seen. Breakfast on Pluto is not in the least similar to The Crying Game, have no fear, and again as others have said, Jordan is an excellent film maker.
 
 
lonely as a cloud...
10:29 / 18.05.06
I went to see a play called Hysteria by Terry Johnson the other night, in the Project Theatre in Dublin. Very good show. The play is based around a fictional meeting between Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dali - apparently, Johnson has a habit of including famous people in his work, he's got another play in which Einstein meets Marilyn Monroe, and she explains the theory of Relativity to him.
 
The show was an excellent production - there were some slapstick elements, which required some very quick and precise movement by the actors, which they pulled off admirably; there was also a dream-sequence, and the transition between the previous stage set-up and the dream-setup was quite seamless and very well executed.
 
As a play, it was an excellent mix of farce, slapstick, surrealism and seriousness. A lot of the dialog involved examining Freud's reasons for deciding to ditch his Seduction theory (i.e. that all hysteria was caused by pre-pubescent seduction/rape) in favour of the Oedipal complex (i.e. that all hysteria was caused by made-up traumatic memories caused by a desire to kill one parent in order to seduce the other), which I found interesting - but Dali's caricaturisation brought light relief in the midst of more serious issues.
 
 
Gendudehashadenough
18:22 / 24.08.07
Passing lately, I just watched Oedipus the movie laughed all the way through. The eyes...lmao, cause he's rooty and the severing down the center of the broccoli. Most excellent.
 
 
Dead Megatron
18:59 / 15.10.07
For the lack of a more suited venue, I shall use this thread to reccomend this movie. I have no idea on international distribution, but if you can get your hands in a copy, see it. I look forward to discussing it with the community.
 
 
Feverfew
19:44 / 15.10.07
That does sound like it would be truly fascinating - but, as you say, possibly difficult to get hold of on the international stage. Anybody got any ideas?
 
 
Dead Megatron
21:47 / 15.10.07
It almost got appointed to run for best foreign language movie Oscar in Brazil's behalf (the movie that got did get appointed is even better, btw), so there might be some sort of limited international release. Look for it in movie festivals I guess.
 
 
Mug Chum
15:26 / 09.11.07
Megatron, I hated that fucking movie man... with the passion of Christ in my fists. It was like watching an 80's version of "Reefer Madness".

Sorry to use this thread in case it's not about TV and not much about requests, but...

Does anyone know where I can download the american version of "The Thick of It"? Imdb has it already rated, but I figure it's just the pilot.

Now THIS is the interesting bit. Written by Arrested Development's creator&writer Mitchell Hurwitz and directed by Christopher Guest.

I really need to see this.
 
 
Dead Megatron
19:47 / 13.11.07
Megatron, I hated that fucking movie man... with the passion of Christ in my fists. It was like watching an 80's version of "Reefer Madness".

Really? Well, maybe you have to live the situation to fully understand it. I can tell you this, though: it is a very accurate depiction of the "state of war" we now live in most of our major cities (mostly notably Rio de Janeiro), not some fear-mongering anti-drug movie.

Some people did accuse the movie of being "fascist", for his (seeming) support of the Police's illegal violence and rush judgement of middle-class drug users, but I don't know, I do get the feeling that would be over-simpliflying the movie.

I am now reading the book in which the movie was inspired (writen by two former policemen and a anthropologist)and it manages to be even harder to swallow
 
 
Mug Chum
21:31 / 13.11.07
Dude, I live in SP. lol... REALLY faraway from the same situation, yeah. But the discussions are somewhat all the same. We should let the police do what it wants, we should let them create a extermination division, we should bring capital punishment, we should be harder on drugs, we should lower the criminal age, fuck education, yada yada yada (and the panicky infantile treatment of drug-dealers in the media, almost like "teh terrorists" are in America's media)...

It felt extremely simplified in its own "I'm a big boy, I know reality!" that something like "24" shares. It's infantile in it's Charles Bronsom subtexts.

- The wild scary drug-dealers carrying AK-47s negros in their funk slum parties!

- The (high)middle-class college kids listening to "Shiny Happy People" in a party as if it was teh awesomez!!!! WTF!? Is there a more idiotic way to end an argument other than treating anyone who has a different opinion from your hero as if they're air-headed ivory-towers "faggy" rainbow retards!? I know most of college students here are stupid pricks, but you know... The film was a bit too much.

- The constant screaming of "pot-heads!" in that same christian-morality vein of "junkies!", as if it was this diabolical weed that allures innocent people into a seduction of a life of addiction ("Reefer Madness" or those brazillian ads of that monsterous "I'm crack!!!!!!! I'm cocaine! argh!").

- The relentless pervasive misoginy in the treatment Nascimento's wife and the temptress air-headed student.

- The extreme infantile panicky soap-opera-ish demonification (if that's a word) of the top drug-dealer (really, the dude is this evil little Gollum thing).

- The cries of "what the media tells you". Like, yeah, "the liberal media". It's everywhere. WTF?

- The college teacher telling us the most stupified explanation of Foucault, him being this alienated little frog who knows shit of the world in a dreamland of french philosophers and ivory towers sociology classes (and the constant almost-villification of him in his way of saying the police is "perverse" and "evil" -- and the caricatural college kids persecuting the poor policemen. Really, some of those kids seemed like "Bocão" from "Hermes & Renato").

- The stupid subtext of the poor persecuted cop who must hide his true self and can't reveal who he really is. Oh my God, the police, will no one think of the poor persecuted police?!

- The soap-opera manner of glorifying the hero through the birth of his son.

- The endless homophobia in a phallus-worship superstrong movie (that, really, is almost two steps away from being gay porn) that could be playing in the background of Village People's "In The Navy".

- The life-giving cop who dies because he was bringing vision (glasses) to the poor little boy so he could read, study and have a future. ARGH!

- The student who is the top drug-dealer's bro... ok then... (and accomplice in the cancer of the country and the killing of a good man policeman)

- Those goddawful scenes where the girl was practically going "I'm sorry, you were right!", almost leg-humping Matias.

- The inclusion of "abortion clinics" with prostitution, gambling, drugs and pimping in one of the character's monologues. You could almost hear "It kills babys!, says the man protecting the Pope (the good one, not the nazi Lord Sidious pedo one)".

- The constant mention of those college students as the cancer of the country, in their alienated sociology classes and "their social consciousness". Deluded in their NGO work while FINACING THE DRUG-DEALERS ("see kids, a good reason to grow your own! Or to decriminalize and legalize and take away the money from teh terroris... I mean the drug-dealers!"). 'Cause, you know, the cops (sorry, super-cops. Elite and stuff) are the ones who truly know what's going on. They're the ones we should deposite our world in a blank check to (yes, they're "in the front" -- sure, let's say they're "in the front" like in a hollywood action movie. But would you trust a soldier in Iraq to know what the situation in foreign relations is and where the war is headed and what is it about?).

- Torture as "necessary evil", the burden of the only hardened-men who can deal with the truth and reality. The lack of mention that there's no proof that torture works. The serendipitous finding of someone who had the info the cops wanted when they're about to shove the broom stick in the little boy's asshole ('cause those policemen "in the front" know when somebody knows or doesn't. "PAPA KNOWS BEST!").

I still have trouble figuring out how the dude from Bus 174 did this.

And I still have trouble figuring out how people are liking this. If it was just ideologically awful (yeah, a bit middle-class scare "Linha Direta" fascistic -- you really can't imagine this film being a huge success in the days of the dictatorship?) but at least fun or enjoyable then I could understand. Even if it presented arguments I didn't liked, but that at least I couldn't deny. But it's just... boring trash. Charles Bronsom trash.

In the version I saw at first, I actually thought it could be a satire when one of the chapter's titles was "Mission Accomplished". I thought it could be having a glimpse of self-awareness and irony in the use of George Bush's banner on the war against terror (which isn't so different in the "war against drugs" bullshit). But no, no irony. At all.

Sorry for long ass post. That movie sort of made me pissed.
 
 
Dead Megatron
13:48 / 14.11.07
IN essence, I agree with everything you said. But that is the point, isn't it? The unapologetical (and violent) approach of the "war on drugs" by the point-of-view of the elite cops who fight it in a daily basis. Which is something that has been lacking in Brazilian cinema. We have a long tradition of "crime movies", but such movies are always from the point-of-view" of the criminal (Madame Satã, O Bandido da Luz Vermelha, and the more recent City of God are a few examples), but the point of view of the police, has never been assessed before, as far as I know. Violent? Yes. Mysoginistic? Yes. Homophobic? Yes. Intollerant of the drug-user, while tolerant of police use of excessive force? Yes. All the rest you said. Oh,yes. But, it is one side of the picture that needed to be despicted at some point. I do not support the opinion and/or actions of the characters in real life in any way (though many do), mind you.

It doesn't surprise me that the director of Bus 174 made this movie. I believe he intended to use its apparent unapologetical attitute towards police extrem brutality as a way to "expose the reality" (or a part thereof),just like his genious documentary did. If some people seem not to notice this subtle irony, it is because it is hard to see it in the mist of so much blood shed

As for it being boring, that's where we'll have to agree to disagree. I thought it was an amazingly exciting, adrenaline-packed movie with some amazing acting work, most notably by Wagner Moura, but also for all characters. It was like an extended "The Shield" episode, only with much bigger guns and a lot more ammo.

In time, most characters were based on real people, from the "temptress college girl", to Matias, to Cap. Nascimento.

In the end, one might say this is a movie about hypocrisy: the hipocrisy of others that we get so angry about (in the movie, represented by the "pot-smoking/cocaine-snorking elite/middle-class who finances drug cartels and then go on protests for peace in the weekend"), AND our own hipocrisy that we don't even notice (in the movie, the hipocrisy of the cops who commits several illegal actions and claim they do it to "defend the law")
 
  
Add Your Reply