Jose Chase2 said:I had that exact same experience with both the first and second movies—I just sat there, staring at the screen without even thinking about rewinding, totally blown away for like half an hour. Absolute masterpieces. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
...man, I think I actually felt that same rush back when I was hanging out at the Borac Club—now I finally get why I'm so obsessed with talking about 😁David Fincher .
...hey, beaver, I'm a bit pressed for time here and this is kind of a life-or-death situation—so please, just give me a quick and dirty answer (!!!)....
I bet boldmaker8 is thinking about... Mattia PellonpaaProbably one of that Jeffersonian guy's "most loyal" actors... I mean, was he some kind of Finnish Sherbedzija? Honestly, I don't even know who the American version of Sherbedzija would be. 🙂 ..., but unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.😢 Not even a single one. Finally, a website that actually makes sense. Not much to say about him... but give it a shot. tu...and maybe even that too. Here.Maybe this will come in handy for you...🙂
...man, you two are killing me—"Balalaika" was totally off my radar, and Drifting is 😍 😍 😍 but I’m stuck out here in the sticks while everyone else is hanging out in NYC 😢
...I think I'll go check out i Hired a Contract Killer (which just happens to be playing nearby) just to feel something again 😬 😍
...I had no idea the turnout for screenings at the Sundance Film Festival was this low...🙂 Maybe that's because the movies are—as you put it—a bit too "intellectual" for the average crowd (though now I'm curious, how old were you back then? Just so I can check which films were actually in the competition 😬), but honestly, that seems to be the case at most serious festivals. At the ZFF (is that even considered a serious one? 🤔 😬), the theater—the one at the SC; the one over in Europe is a totally different story—is always packed. To me, it feels more like it's about the vibe Sundance has going on. It’s basically one big multi-day party where the films are just background noise. People care more about showing up, being seen, and partying than actually sitting through a movie... correct me if I'm wrong, but that's always been my impression...🙂
...from my own personal experience, I’ve come to the conclusion that being a cinephile who volunteers at a film festival is easily one of the most bizarre things you can do—because you’re either working or you're socializing, and in the end, you actually see fewer movies than if you had just planned your schedule and bought a ticket 🙂 and thought you’d somehow manage to catch everything 🙂 ...honestly, last year at the Sundance Film Festival, I wanted to go for some not quite cinematic 😳 reasons, but it didn't work out in the end...
..things are always different "behind the scenes" than how they look from the outside—but hey, you've gotta try everything at least once 🙂 unfortunately, landing a volunteer spot at the Sundance Film Festival is incredibly tough, so I can only wish Vesna the best of luck 🙂
northerncrane4 said:I watched it last year. It was just—honestly—terrible.
...care to elaborate? I’m genuinely curious why it missed the mark for you... personally, I'd rank it among the worst Jeffersonian films out there, but—despite that "unscripted" feel to the plot—I actually liked it. And Janne Hyytiäinen? Even though most critics trashed his performance as Koistinen, I found him pretty moving...
...no matter how bizarre it felt—given he’s been on NPR or something similar so many times before—watching him for the first time actually left me feeling a bit let down... it has its perks, sure (there's that lovely atmosphere built by the phenomenal music—the way the melodies contrast between scenes, specifically those with George versus the ones with her husband, I practically froze 🙂; there's the adorable little Anna Paquin and an unusually striking—if slightly unhinged—Robert De Niro; there's an overwhelming amount of beautiful—if occasionally over-the-top—symbolism; it has a gorgeous opening and a sooo beautiful ending...), but I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching a cookie-cutter exploitation flick. It exploits the setting and context just to pretend it has depth, and it exploits emotions just to squeeze out emotions. Then there's that tired, repetitive trope of the unloved man who can only ever become the "aggressor"—he's really just a catalyst for the other events, but he isn't even a caricature, let alone a fully realized character (and it's always been this way since Meat—well, even before that, but Baptiste's wife is the first person who comes to mind, and she was a much stronger "character" than this guy, since Neill's character doesn't truly exist—at least until Jane Campion arrived....)...I don't know, I spent the whole time thinking the film would be drastically better if it were "stripped down," taken out of its context and presented as a study of the "layers" between the characters. It would be fascinating to see how a slightly "grittier" director would handle it (my picks would be either Michel Chereau or Michael Haneke 🙂, though I suppose Arnold could do a good job too, but maybe I'm still just under the spell...) ...but even so, I have to admit, I was moved by 🙂
...but one thing occurred to me while watching—Matanović's "Fame" owes more to this than any other film 🙂 (some scenes are almost identical copies...)
...so, I missed Ariel today—which marks my first (literally the very first!) film in this series that I’ve both missed and have absolutely no intention of catching at Central Park...😢
...if that's the case, you should definitely check out what's left from his final trilogy—Traveling Cloud and Man Without a Past (both are absolutely phenomenal 😍), Leningrad Cowboys go America (I haven't seen it myself, but apparently it's his most famous 🙂), the girl from the match factory and, say, Ariel, or even Hamlet goes into business (mostly because if any of the others end up on the big screen in the future, I doubt you'll actually want to see them...) 🙂...but those are my top picks 🙂
edit: after watching it tonight, I'm adding Calamari union to the list—it's such a sweet and hilarious little riff on cinema 😍 (it's airing again this Wednesday 🙂 )
...Alright, the cycle has officially kicked off, so let's hear some thoughts 😍 ...Did anyone catch Twilight? Or maybe Crime, assuming you haven't already seen it (even if you have)? For those of you who were at the festival last year—did the third part of the losing trilogy leave you feeling disappointed or actually impressed? 🙂 😍
...And was 😉Central Park🙂 swarming with forum regulars as expected?