Films you've seen lately

[Nick Armstrong]

I went to see it yesterday with a friend, who whispered about half way through 'This is tripe': we both found the script terrible, the dialogue laughable, the characterisation painfully thin….

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/24/france-ridley-scott-napoleon-french-history

I was rather looking forward to it, too

[Anastasius]

I enjoyed Black Box (or for FF, BOÎTE NOIRE ).

Obsessive forensic analyst Mathieu Vasseur is disappointed to be sidelined in the examination of the black box of an Atrian 800 airliner which has mysteriously crashed in the Alps. When his boss goes missing, Mathieu is asked to step in, and he concludes that there was an unauthorised entry into the cockpit. A press conference is held to announce the findings, but Mathieu is subsequently presented with conflicting evidence.

Not to be confused with another film of the same name.

[smittims]

I've been moved and fascinated by 'The Father' on Channel 4, a recent film about the nature of reality, and the question of how we can be sure something is actually happening or whether we are imagining it. An excellent cast: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Coleman, Rufus Sewell and Mark Gatiss. I think this is a film I shall watch again and again. Anyone who liked 'Amour' by Michael Haneke should respond to 'The Father's intense atmosphere.

[johncorrigan]

I haven't seen the other two programmes in the series, 'Billy How Did You Do It?' but I found last night's episode three where director, Volker Schlondorff, interviewed Billy Wilder very funny, very interesting, and very illuminating. Although it was not an easy watch switching back and forward between English and German, the episode dealt with Wilder's encounters with Dietrich, Monroe and Lemmon among others. To be honest, I didn't know he was Austrian. I think I will go back and watch the other two. The Beeb also showed 'Some Like it Hot' last night, and Wilder offered great insight into the making of the film, the unreliable Monroe, and the way that Lemmon dragged a performance out of the initially uncomfortable Tony Curtis.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001symr/arena-billy-how-did-you-do-it-part-3

[gurnemanz]

I've been moved and fascinated by 'The Father' on Channel 4, a recent film about the nature of reality, and the question of how we can be sure something is actually happening or whether we are imagining it. An excellent cast: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Coleman, Rufus Sewell and Mark Gatiss. I think this is a film I shall watch again and again. Anyone who liked 'Amour' by Michael Haneke should respond to 'The Father's intense atmosphere.

We saw the British stage premiere in the intimate surroundings of the Ustinov Theatre in Bath (review). It was a compelling staging with such powerful performances from Ken Cranham, Lia Williams and others that we decided to let that be the definitive version for us and despite the good reviews we deliberately, perhaps perversely, did not watch the film.

[smittims]

I can understand that, gurnemanz. At any rate you had a fine cast there, and one always fears that a film will alter a play for the worse. Even Mike Leigh said he could never watch the famous film of 'Abigail's Party'. But I sensed that the film of 'The Father', which was directed by Zeller himself, is faithful to the original, despite being transplanted form Paris to London. .

[richardfinegold]

I finished reading Killers of The Flower Moon and then we immediately streamed the movie. The flick proceeds in a more linear fashion than the book, which presents the crimes and then works backwards to explore the perpetrators. The book also goes more into the background of the Federal Agents that eventually solve the crimes. In the movie they suddenly appear out of nowhere and we have no context for them (given the length of the film, I am suspect that some background scenes were deleted). Where the movie triumphs over the book is giving a tactile believability to the characters played by Di Caprio and De Niro. The book is more of a newspaper reportage, albeit a vey powerful story

[johncorrigan]

Mrs C and I decided to have a Hogmanay outing to see 'Wonka'. We found it a most entertaining film with a great performance by Timothy Chalamet who seemed to channel the ghost of Gene Wilder brilliantly. It was funny, the sets looked great, in places reminiscent of 'Oliver', and there were some fine performances by a cast of UK actors, including Hugh Grant who was extremely amusing. The music was, in general, bearable. The two hours flew by, I have to say, and I laughed quite often.

[kindofblue]

Went to HOME in Manchester just before New Year to see the latest Miyazaki film, 'The Boy and the Heron'. [Interestingly the literal translation from the Japanese is 'How Do You Live?']. There are apparently some significant parallels between the main boy protagonist Mahito, and Miyazaki himself. The start of the film deals with scenes during WW2 and the consequences for the boy's/Miyazaki's family. As always the animation is staggering and Miyazaki's imagination is limitless. I don't think I really 'got' it, but apparently that's not the point anyway. As a film to be experienced and appreciated it's first class.

[duncan]

Went to HOME in Manchester just before New Year to see the latest Miyazaki film, 'The Boy and the Heron'. [Interestingly the literal translation from the Japanese is 'How Do You Live?']. There are apparently some significant parallels between the main boy protagonist Mahito, and Miyazaki himself. The start of the film deals with scenes during WW2 and the consequences for the boy's/Miyazaki's family. As always the animation is staggering and Miyazaki's imagination is limitless. I don't think I really 'got' it, but apparently that's not the point anyway. As a film to be experienced and appreciated its was first class.

I also saw this recently. I'm a fan of the studio so bear this in mind.

It starts with what feels like a scene from Grave of the Fireflies (the Ghibli movie set during and after the 1945 firebombing of Tokyo) and the death of the central character's mother. The rest of the film seemed to be about the protagonist's search for her, psychologically and perhaps physically too, though this is ambiguous. The structure is similar to Spirited Away and several other from the studio: the first act is almost naturalistic, the second and third are a quest through increasingly psychedelic worlds. Or are they an extended dream sequence after a bang on the head? In the epilogue we return to the world of the first act. What has changed?

It's got many of Miyazaki's favourite themes: an adolescent central character, world war two, flying, natural disasters, the sea, pantheism, man-made structures reclaimed by nature, and - most of all - a supernatural world hidden in plain sight. It's also got a Fascistic parrot, nods to Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland, a supreme being that looks like Friedrich Nietzsche whose power derives from a floating rock straight out of Magritte. It's a bit chaotic with arguably too many ideas but also a glorious feast of the imagination and frequently visually stunning. Middle rank Ghibli which still makes it better than 95% of animation.

[Master Jacques]

I also saw this recently. I'm a fan of the studio so bear this in mind.

[...]

It's got many of Miyazaki's favourite themes: an adolescent central character, world war two, flying, natural disasters, the sea, pantheism, man-made structures reclaimed by nature, and - most of all - a supernatural world hidden in plain sight. It's also got a Fascistic parrot, nods to Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland, a supreme being that looks like Friedrich Nietzsche whose power derives from a floating rock straight out of Magritte. It's a bit chaotic with arguably too many ideas but also a glorious feast of the imagination and frequently visually stunning. Middle rank Ghibli which still makes it better than 95% of animation.

Not much to add to Duncan's excellent summation. Having recently watched Miyazaki's first TV series Conan (1999) the hero is a retread of that first, boy hero, with many of the same qualities and similar animation, so he really is coming full circle. He obviously loathes the urban parakeet invasion (!) though the threatening pelicans come out a lot better. We saw it in IMAX a few days before the official release, luckily for us, as I went down with Covid three days later. Thoughtful, visually rich and intelligent at every level, this is what animated films ought to be, but aren't except in Japan!

[kindofblue]

I bow, Japanese style, to the excellent summaries and thoughts of duncan and Master Jacques. Great to have some fellow fans on the forum. Wasn't aware of the parakeet issue in Japan, I was wondering what they had done to deserve this treatment!

[johncorrigan]

Last night we headed through the wind and rain to Dundee to take in Miyazaki's 'The Boy and the Heron'. Unfortunately the showing was full. However, at almost the same time, in the other screen they were showing 'Next Goal Wins', directed by Taika Waititi and starring Michael Fassbender as Thomas Rongen, a man sent against his will to coach the American Samoa footie team. So we decided to take it in. The film is based on a documentary of the same name that I enjoyed a few years back, and Waititi has turned it into a comedy. American Samoa hold the record for the greatest ever loss in a world cup qualifier when they were beaten 31-0 by Australia, and they sat at the bottom of the FIFA world rankings at the time, even below Scotland.
Mrs C, not a fan of football, and I laughed a lot through the film - great look at the different culture between the angry Rongen and the easy going Islanders. Some beautiful scenery too.

Waititi also made a film I enjoyed very much, 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople'. We'll just have to try again to catch the Miyazaki.

[smittims]

It can be rewarding to watch a film one didn't initially intend to see. I remember many years ago going with a friend, who wanted to see it, to Blame it on Rio, starring Michael Caine. I would otherwise never have thought of going to see it but I enjoyed it. Only afterwards I read that it was universally derided by the critics.

[Serial_Apologist]

Yesterday I watched The Leather Boys (1962), courtesy the wonderful Talking Pictures TV site, which for some reason I hadn't seen before. It came with a recent interview with the ever-sprightly Rita Tushingham - who at nearly 82 has hardly changed in appearance since her 20-year old self in the film - conducted at The Ace Café on the North Circular, used as a favoured gathering point by motorcycle gangs back in the day and only comparatively recently restored as an eatery. The movie must have shocked when released in 1964 with its tacit gay parallel narrative, although Rita had magnificently covered a similar theme in A Taste of Honey one year before - another of my favourite British films from that era.