Recent Viewings:

Without Pity (Lattuada, '48): Italian Post-War Noir. Good cast, script by Fellini. Not outstanding but everyone involved went on to do bigger things together. Gotta give them some leeway, everything was still literally rubble.

Hundreds of Beavers (Cheslik, '22): Fuck'n great. I had a smile on my face the entire time. A+ Live Action Cartoon. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin would be proud.

The Rules of the Game (Renoir, '39): People tell me this is one of the greatest movies ever, but I didnt get it.

Black Gravel (Kautner, '61): Killer Germen Noir. Might be bleak but it looks great! Worth a watch.

Toccata for Toy Trains (Eames, '57): A short film about toy trains made by the eames chair people.

Randall went and saw Phantom of the Paradise tonight at the Clinton St Theatre

After much deliberation I think I prefer THE APPLE over Phantom of the Paradise

    Just rewatched Europa by Lars Von Trier. He came in swinging early in his career. Use of rear projection and other innovative camera work and elaborate staging made it a really satisfying film to revisit. Intense! Decadent! Breathtaking!

      Been watching Giallo movies all month, did this one last night, an all timer of the genre. Works in some Rosemary's Baby and wild occult stuff. Featuring the queen herself, Edwige Fenech.

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      I recently watched William Eggleston's Stranded In Canton. Cool to see all the Jim Dickinson and Furry Lewis footage

      Yesterday I watched Ben Wheatley's The Sightseers, which could be described as the ultimate romantic comedy in an anti-romantic comedy sort of way. A beautiful love story wrapped in murder and mayhem.

        terminalsunset Really like Von Trier's first three, especially Epidemic. Funny how they're so heavily stylized in contrast to the Dogme movement. On that note, I did watch The Idiots recently and enjoyed it for what it was. Von Trier is really hit or miss for me, but his high water mark is The Kingdom by far, which I'm due for a rewatch of (maybe that's for the TV thread).

          ExpKind I plan to dive into The Kingdom soon as well! I kept thinking the same thing rewatching Europa in that he was such a formalist at the start, only to then attempt to dismantle the perceived artifice of cinema. A polarizing and not always successful filmmaker in my view, but someone whose work I'll always check out.

          Very well said. I've watched The House that Jack Built twice just because I feel like there's something there that just needs to click. Still hasn't happened, but even his failures (in my eyes), are generally interesting.

            ExpKind I love The House That Jack Built personally. It's so self-indulgent, but I love its prodding into the nature of art's moral imperative. Does art have intrinsic moral value? Does it have a moral responsibility? As someone who had to belabor those questions constantly in art school, I found his frankness about it refreshing. I also find it to be one of his funnier films, and I think he shines best when he lets himself be funny and not overly serious or dour.

            Poor Things and Everything Everywhere All at Once were 2 great ones of recent years, I just watched.

            Also, of other recent ones, Tár, Babylon and Pig were really good.

            Finally got to see the Kaoru Abe/Izumu Suzuki biopic 'Endless Waltz' the other day, after years of trying to track it down on the web (turns out it's been on rarelust this whole time). Needless to say I loved it, as I've loved every Wakamatsu (the director) flick I've seen lately. Great little Keiji Haino/Fushitsusha cameo too.

            I liked A Different Man. Stylistically it's great. Great soundtrack. The story is a little bit obvious. It's a spin on the Beauty and the Beast concept. Adam Pearson delivers a great performance.

            Big fan of the movie BRICK love the music to it and a movie that can keep my interests whenever I watch it.

            I saw "Hard Truths" in the theater today. Mike Leigh is definitely the king of miserists. The misery was so unrelenting there was even a 20% walkout(only five people in the theater).

            Drumstruck (1991). A short film about a glitchy rock n roll drummer in trashland. It was usually paired with Tetsuo: The Iron Man on vhs.

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            Tetsuo's where I first saw it. Dug it then and dig it now