Snake-Pit Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 This Mr. Vampire (1985)Hong Kong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axlfan88 Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 The Society of the spectacle is easily one of the top 3 movies ever made. I'll probably open a thread about Guy Debord's films in the forthcoming months. "On the Society of the Spectacle (Original Announcement for the Film)"Until now it has generally been assumed that film is a completely unsuitable medium for presenting revolutionary theory. This view was mistaken. The lack of any serious attempts in this direction stemmed simply from the historical lack of a modern revolutionary theory during virtually the entire period of the cinema’s development; as well as from the fact that the potentials of cinematic composition, despite so many declarations of intent on the part of filmmakers and so much feigned satisfaction on the part of a miserable public, have as yet scarcely been liberated.Published in 1967, The Society of the Spectacle is a book whose theoretical insights have profoundly influenced the new current of social critique that is now more and more openly undermining the established world order. Its present cinematic adaptation, like the book itself, does not offer a few partial political critiques, but a total critique of the existing world; that is, a critique of all aspects of modern capitalism and of its general system of illusions.The cinema is itself an integral part of this world, serving as one of the instruments of the separate representation that opposes and dominates the actual proletarianized society. As revolutionary critique engages in battle on the very terrain of the cinematic spectacle, it must thus turn the language of that medium against itself and give itself a form that is itself revolutionary.The text and images of this film form a coherent whole; but the images are never mere direct illustrations of the text, much less demonstrations of it (cinematic “demonstrations” are in any case never reliable due to the unlimited possibilities of manipulation offered by the unilateral editing of the material). Instead, the film’s use of images (whether photographs, newsclips, or sequences from preexisting films) is governed by the principle of détournement, which the situationists have defined as “communication that includes a critique of itself.” The images through which spectacular society presents itself to itself are taken and turned against it: the spectacle’s means should be treated with insolence. As a result, in a certain sense this film, coming at the end of the cinema’s pseudo-autonomous history, incorporates all the memories of that history. It can thus be seen simultaneously as a historical film, a Western, a love story, a war movie, etc. Like the society it examines, it also presents a number of comical aspects. In talking about the spectacular order, and about the commodity domination that it serves, one is also talking about what this order hides: class struggles and strivings toward real historical life, revolution and its past failures, and the responsibilities for those failures. Nothing in this film is made to please the fashionable blockheads of leftist cinema: it has equal contempt for what they respect and for the style in which they express that respect. One who is capable of understanding and denouncing an entire socio-economic formation will denounce it even in a film. Objections to our “extremism” are meaningless, because current history is already on the verge of going beyond the most extreme possibilities imagined.Theses that have never before been presented in the cinema will now appear there in a never before seen form, simply because for the first time a filmmaker has undertaken an uncompromising critique.In the socio-economic context, the total freedom required to create such a film obviously means that the producer must renounce any claim to exert any preliminary control over the director, whether by insisting that he present a synopsis or by seeking to obtain from him any other sort of meaningless commitment. This has been recognized in the contract between the filmmaker and the producer, Simar Films: “It is understood that the filmmaker will carry out his work in complete freedom, without any control or supervision whatsoever, and without even being obliged to pay the slightest attention to any comment that the producer might make regarding any aspect of the content or of the cinematic form that the filmmaker feels appropriate for his film.”Considering that this film itself expresses its meaning in a sufficiently comprehensible manner, the producer and the filmmaker believe that it is unnecessary to provide any further explanations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhead74 Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 In The Mood For Love - directed by Wong Kar Wai. In ChineseA Bout de Soufle (aka Breathless) - with Jean Seberg. In FrenchBelle de Jour - with Catherine Deneuve. In FrenchSpoorloos (aka The Vanishing). In Dutch (don't confuse this for the American remake which is lame in comparison to the original)Mon Oncle - with Jacques Tati (the man was a genius). In FrenchAny film directed by Pedro Almodovar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselDaisy Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Speaking of Mr Vampire (which I like by the way), I just watched Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain! Now that is a wacky film. It stars Biao, Samo and, sexy as hell, Brigette Lin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GivenToFly Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I watched Once Upon a Time in China and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon for the first time recently and rewatched Hero.Hero is beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselDaisy Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Once Upon A Time in China 2 is also excellent. 3 is, alright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhead74 Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Watch some French films people! They make extraordinary films about interesting subjects and filmed in the most beautiful way. I'm rarely disappointed by French film and can actually sit and watch the whole way through. I find a lot of films to be very poorly scripted and/or directed, but the French ones tend to stand out the most to me. I suppose if you like action, then Chinese cinema is pretty cool, but I'm not into that (hence my preference for Wong Kar Wai films when it comes to Chinese cinema). Most Chinese films are very 1 dimensional in my view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselDaisy Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 I am a Hong Kong Kung Fu film addict. If the film is not about, ''bring down the Ching, long live the Ming'' or ''you killed my teacher'' then it is baisically not a movie as far as I am concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Len B'stard Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 (edited) NOW LISTEN UP...CUZ I'LL ON SAY ONCE...WE ARE NOT SICK MEN! *struts out of the thread like a badman* Watch some French films people!Check out Les Enfants Du Paradis if you like French cinema Edited July 31, 2013 by sugaraylen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasted Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 only one I can think of that I've seen recent is Let the Bullets Fly and Guns and Roses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhead74 Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 NOW LISTEN UP...CUZ I'LL ON SAY ONCE...WE ARE NOT SICK MEN! *struts out of the thread like a badman* Watch some French films people!Check out Les Enfants Du Paradis if you like French cinema The three hours and 15 minutes duration has put me off before. I really don't have that kind of attention span any more. Get too distracted and turn it off after a while and have to do something superfluous before watching again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Len B'stard Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 A wonderful poster on this forum introduced me to the works of Hungarian Bella Tarr, amazing director Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzygirl Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Life is beautiful is a must watch for everybody. I've watched lately Los Olvidados (The young and the Damned) by Buñuel, amazing film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zint Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Mon Oncle - with Jacques Tati (the man was a genius). In FrenchThis is an all time fav!I absolutely love this film. Tati was brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GivenToFly Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Speaking of French cinema, for the past few months I've been subjected to this poster almost everyday in the Underground. That's the most punchable face in history. One cannot look so douchey without being French.Just fucking look at him! I would pay good money to perform the head stomp from Drive on his face based on that picture alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzygirl Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Taxi is a great movie too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgy Zhukov Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Kurosawa's Ikiru was a beautiful film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasted Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Mesrine part 1 and 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake-Pit Posted August 1, 2013 Author Share Posted August 1, 2013 Why does Marquis (1989) have a talking penis? I'd never know, but it does.(France) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marj Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Why does Marquis (1989) have a talking penis? I'd never know, but it does.(France)Jesus!What the hell was that?! To answer your question, maybe because "it" seems to have a brain of his own too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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