Most obscure film

grabec · **Posted:** Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:24 pm

MadJohn wrote:

I wouldn't say Malik simply rushed off. I thought that his dilemma was convincingly portrayed. He was terrified, awkward, a mile out of his depth. He first reached to the authorities only to find that path wholly closed to him. It was only after he made the transition from being afraid that the Corsicans would kill him, to being certain that they would that he acted, and only then after some very uncomfortable scenes covering the whole grim practicality of the act. I'm sure a less skilled filmmaker would have made that whole section of the film a lot less convincing.

I did have a few problems with it. The fantasy sequences with Reyeb and the bit with the deer didn't entirely work for me, and gave the impression that Audiard was trying to add a little ambiguity in order to lend the film more arthouse cred. It didn't need that. But I thought the central performance from Tahar Rahim was stunning, right up there with Pacino in The Godfather: an obvious comparison but I think a fair one. I also thought Niels Arestrup was good as the fading capo. The performances were more than good enough to overcome any quibbles I had with the film.

As good as some other prison films? Now there's a thread all on its own! Different things appeal to different people. What are the great prison films? Cool Hand Luke? A Man Escaped? Le Trou? The Great Escape? Shawshank? Life Is Beautiful? (does that count as a prison film?) I think A Prophet is good enough to be included in the discussion. Maybe not even my favourite Jacques Audiard film (I've yet to see a bad one), but it's right up there, and one of the best films of the past year for me. It's definitely better than any of the films that I have seen from the Best Picture Oscar list.

Yes, 'rush off' was an unfortunate choice of phrase. But he did do it, and I wasn't really convinced that a 19 year old with only a history of petty crime could have killed someone in cold blood. Perhaps I'm wrong and it's a male/female thing.
The comment I made about other prison films was just to say that the best of them didn't raise doubts in my mind that the stories they were telling were authentic. And they didn't give themselves titles that made you expect there was an extra dimension going on!
Obviously there were brilliant aspects to 'A Prophet' and the acting was spectacular. I'm sure you're right and it was one of the best films of the year.

grabec · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:55 pm

Yeah, I got some good ideas from this thread, too...thank you one and all.
I got hold of 'The beat that my heart skipped', which was excellent, and 'Delicatessen', which I haven't watched yet.

There's an Agnes Varda season starting in Durham, if anyone's interested... started with 'Le Bonheur' which I wasn't sure what to make of, and didn't really like. Any views on it, John, andy, anyone...??

paulus the woodgnome and a side salad · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 3:17 pm

Saw a good Romanian based film a few months ago on Sky, called 4 Months, 3 weeks, 2 Days, dark and humourless, but very fly on the wall with good acting. Not the best of subjects though....

Another I watched on Film 4 last week called Wolf Creek, which although an Australian horror was very realistic.

grabec · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:24 pm

I have to admit I cannot watch or read horror items.....they live with me for too long afterwards!

grabec · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 5:07 pm

I'll give that one a miss, then. 'The Turn of the Screw' is my absolute outside limit for that sort of thing!

BernardCribbensUSA · **Joined:** Fri Nov 28, 2008 11:48 pm **Posts:** 186

watched a japanese horror few weeks ago called Kansen or infection in english its kinda one of those ones that you start out really confused then you finally get it and get into then the last 5 mins your like wtf!!!

TalbotAvenger · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 8:04 pm

Is there a copy of Darlingboros last promotion available, that must be one rare monkeyfeather

paulus the woodgnome and a side salad · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 11:41 pm

BernardCribbensUSA wrote:

watched a japanese horror few weeks ago called Kansen or infection in english its kinda one of those ones that you start out really confused then you finally get it and get into then the last 5 mins your like wtf!!!

Bernie, dont you find that the majority of Japenese films portray a more westernised approach to them, as the years pass?

andyp · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:54 am **Posts:** 856

MadJohn wrote:

Well it only took me 3½ months, but I finally watched Kontroll last night. Enjoyed it a lot, the sort of filum that only tends to be made in Eastern Europe. Cheers for the recommendation andy :coool:

Bloody hell - I'd forgotten completely !
Glad you enjoyed it though - agree with you about the Eastern European feel of the whole film - not quite sure how he got from there to Vacancy mind ....

grabec wrote:

I got hold of 'The beat that my heart skipped', which was excellent, and 'Delicatessen', which I haven't watched yet.

There's an Agnes Varda season starting in Durham, if anyone's interested... started with 'Le Bonheur' which I wasn't sure what to make of, and didn't really like. Any views on it, John, andy, anyone...??

I've not seen Le Bonheur either, but hope you like Deilcatessen, though I think it's a bit of a "Marmite" film - I absolutely love it - my girlfriend can't watch it.

Has anyone seen "Home" - the Isabelle Huppert film from last year ?
Quite a lot of publicity when it came out last year (including a surreal interview on Breakfast tv) but then it disappeared without trace.

grabec · **Posted:** Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:46 am

No, not seen 'Home', and it does seem to have disappeared, doesn't it? It's not on any of the listings I've looked up, at all. Probably it will surface soon at some obscure cinema that no-one can get to unless they live in upper Penrith.

klinger · **Joined:** Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:27 pm **Posts:** 1589

watched a really good/different Swedish vampire fillum the other day called 'Let the right one in'.

its now getting re-made american style so will probably end up like twilight.

TalbotAvenger · **Posted:** Sun Jun 13, 2010 10:53 pm

Bollox to 'obscure'

Loid Haw-Haw of Sussex · **Posted:** Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:03 pm

TalbotAvenger wrote:

Is there a copy of Darlingboros last promotion available, that must be one rare monkeyfeather

I watched a film called the Hostel recently Talbot...The torture scenes were quite disturbing , i couldn't help but think about you throughout it...

TalbotAvenger · **Posted:** Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:50 am

Sussex07 wrote:

TalbotAvenger wrote:

Is there a copy of Darlingboros last promotion available, that must be one rare monkeyfeather

I watched a film called the Hostel recently Talbot...The torture scenes were quite disturbing , i couldn't help but think about you throughout it...

I watched one called 'Tramps pissing their pants and drinking meths', I thought of you all the way through

grabec · **Posted:** Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:18 am

[quote="chip fireball"]

its a shame vue in hartlepool makes zero attempt to screen interesting british/european films . ive been there with the kids to see stuff where it was virtually empty so surely they could run a world/independent cinema thing once a week on a friday or saturday night about 9 o clock even if it was just on a trial basis.
/quote]

I would guess they probably haven't even thought of doing that......possibly they might if someone suggested it. I don't suppose anyone employed in a big cinema chain thinks about anything much but ordering the latest mainstream films.

Decades ago, someone got a Film Club started in the Art College, and it was usually full, so there is a demand. It was a bit amateur...the films were usually well-used.....so you got flickering screens etc, and sometimes the film vanished altogether for a few minutes and you sensed frenzied activity behind the scenes, to re thread it onto the projector!
But that all added to the atmosphere.......

My film knowledge is very patchy. I'd love to find a cinema that showed the whole works of directors like Godard, so that I could fill in the gaps.

andyp · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:54 am **Posts:** 856

MadJohn wrote:

Home is a mixture of sweet and bloody annoying. It starts off with a convincing depiction of a loving family who get on with their happy lives miles away from the worries of the city. When things change and the family get all irritable and claustrophobic I couldn't help thinking "oh for god's sake woman, MOVE!!" But I enjoyed it. All five of the cast are excellent, especially the annoying little brother.

Cheers John - I'll have to look out for the DVD - the brother was in clip I saw which grabbed my interest ... sounded like a great jazzy soundtrack as well.

grabec wrote:

Decades ago, someone got a Film Club started in the Art College, and it was usually full, so there is a demand. It was a bit amateur...the films were usually well-used.....so you got flickering screens etc, and sometimes the film vanished altogether for a few minutes and you sensed frenzied activity behind the scenes, to re thread it onto the projector!
But that all added to the atmosphere.......

That might have been me !!
You're right - the projectors were as old as the filums, which often came in the wrong boxes, spooled the wrong way. The real trouble started when one of the projectors died, so we couldn't run one reel into the next - so there was always a delay while we swapped reels, which gave people a chance to have a chat and pass the sweets around. I only did it a few times, but even when everything was working, it was the most stressful job I've ever done and nowt like Christian Slater in True Romance.

You're right about Vue as well Chip - you would think there would be a market for one screen a week to show less mainstream filums, but that said the biggest independent cinema in the area The Tyneside is showing Sex and the City 2 this week .... I guess Vue just can't be arsed for the small amount of revenue it would bring in ...

grabec · **Posted:** Wed Jun 16, 2010 2:28 pm

Hey, I didn't know you were an entrepreneur, andy. Your experience sounds great material for a stage-play!
I'm trying to think of the films I saw at the Art College and the only two I can remember are 'Aguirre, Wrath of God' and the Maria Braun one.

parmopooly · **Posted:** Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:53 pm

it seems that marginal tastes in anything isn't given the time of day because of marketing strategies. If it doesn't fit into the mainstream then they are more or less saying, "Tough - you are going to go unentertained in that case"

andyp · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:54 am **Posts:** 856

grabec wrote:

Hey, I didn't know you were an entrepreneur, andy. Your experience sounds great material for a stage-play!
I'm trying to think of the films I saw at the Art College and the only two I can remember are 'Aguirre, Wrath of God' and the Maria Braun one.

Definitely didn't do Aguirre, Wrath of God but I did do Fitzcarraldo which went on forever. I'm pleased to say I haven't got an entrepreneurial bone in my body - it was all run thanks to an Arts Council grant even though it made a small profit until a couple of years before it folded. Some really odd film choices in those last couple of years, just cos they were cheap !

Which is part of the problem with the likes of Vue I guess - films are (or were anyway) really expensive to hire, even the old ones, because there just aren't that many copies about. Add in the cost of the projectionist, the staff etc etc and it starts needing a lot of people to break even - sadly Parmo's right - they don't really give a monkeys. Be interesting to see how much they charge to hire a screen as a one-off though.

The Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh's worth a visit if anyone's up there - proper old-fashioned pictures.

Mr Ripper · **Posted:** Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:48 am

chip fireball wrote:

well vue have 7 or 8 screens and i doubt they are all being used.

they run a kids film club on a satuday morning which are one off screenings of classic kids films and they are usually very busy ( the one i went to was anyhow ) so i cant see what they would have to lose showing arty films at 9 o clock on a friday/saturday night when the place is open anyway, and theres screenspace available.

dunno how costly it would be to get copies of films and show them like, but it cant be that much surely ? even if they only got 50 or 60 punters in at £6 a pop, hoy in food/drink sales and they would be taking £500-£600.

Good call. There isn't enough "minority" cinema showing non mainstream films around Hartlepool.

Chuck in a few hardcore porn, beastiality and snuff nights and they could clean up I reckon.

Dugoutpaddy · **Joined:** Sat Sep 02, 2006 10:23 am **Posts:** 1772

Flix in Church square have started a world cinema night I believe.
Free entry, food available and a bar
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hartlepoo ... 8412607217

grabec · **Posted:** Thu Jun 17, 2010 10:30 am

Definitely didn't do Aguirre, Wrath of God but I did do Fitzcarraldo which went on forever. I'm pleased to say I haven't got an entrepreneurial bone in my body -[/quote]
I meant 'entrepreneurial' in the philosophical sense. I realise your motive wasn't financial. :coool:

(Where on earth can I have seen Aguirre, then, if it wasn't there? It must have been somewhere in the north because of where I was living at the time.

)

andyp · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:54 am **Posts:** 856

Dugoutpaddy wrote:

Flix in Church square have started a world cinema night I believe.
Free entry, food available and a bar
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hartlepoo ... 8412607217

Looks really good and not a bad line-up and it looks like you get the chance to vote for what you want.
Do you know what they show the filums on ? Is it a home-cinema projector or a big telly ?

Sorry to mislead you Grabec - we definitely showed Aguirre, it was just someone less hapless and ham-fisted than me doing the projection. If there was a stage-play it would need to be in the style of Jacques Tati ....

Dugoutpaddy · **Joined:** Sat Sep 02, 2006 10:23 am **Posts:** 1772

There are 3 x 120' Screens showing the same film, each 'room' has comfy leather chairs with a small table and table service. You can hire it out as well I believe

http://flixmoviecafe.com/

Dugoutpaddy · **Joined:** Sat Sep 02, 2006 10:23 am **Posts:** 1772

Next one from the world cinema thingy is this one

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4 ... 8412607217

Not my thing but hope you enjoy

paulus the woodgnome and a side salad · **Posted:** Sun Jun 27, 2010 9:57 am

Mad John.....notice that your avator is Peter Lorre, in a shot from that German classic "M" ?. I watched that a few years back on Sky-good flim, although made in 1931(dir.Fritz Lang) it is very atmospheric and you can see from his facial expressions why he went on to become a big star in the U.S.

He was born in Austria btw......just in case anyone wondered....was'nt there another infamous German born in Austria

MFR · **Posted:** Fri Jul 02, 2010 10:45 am

Not particularly obscure, but has anyone seen Life During Wartime? And second question, if you did see it, did you watch all of it? And lastly, and predictably, why?

threepintwonder · **Posted:** Fri Jul 02, 2010 11:19 am

i know its not really an obscure film but is american gangster any good?

TalbotAvenger · **Posted:** Fri Jul 02, 2010 11:48 am

MadJohn wrote:

paulus the woodgnome and a side salad wrote:

Mad John.....notice that your avator is Peter Lorre, in a shot from that German classic "M" ?. I watched that a few years back on Sky-good flim, although made in 1931(dir.Fritz Lang) it is very atmospheric and you can see from his facial expressions why he went on to become a big star in the U.S.

He was born in Austria btw......just in case anyone wondered....was'nt there another infamous German born in Austria

Yeah, that's from the last five minutes of M, when Beckert is cornered in the kangaroo court

This bit...

I like Warner Brother cartoons with him in

MutleyRules · **Posted:** Fri Jul 02, 2010 1:57 pm

threepintwonder wrote:

i know its not really an obscure film but is american gangster any good?

It's very good!!!! :coool:

Most obscure film

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