I saw Babyteeth today.
It’s quite good. Might be a bit slow for some.
Mendehlson I thought was terrific, in fact most of the cast is.
The young male actor must have been terrific too, because I wanted to punch him for the entirety of the movie.
I really enjoyed it. Film about blaxploitation film getting made which itself contains elements of blaxploitation. It’s deliberately over the top but also quite subtle, very clever and sweet.
l watched it again last week, with my brother-in-law who hadn’t seen it before. It is just as impressive the second time around. The best WW1 movie l have seen.
I’d get told off if I called them incompetent buffoons, so I didn’t…I just thought it. They’re my barometer for TV or movies…if they like, I know I won’t.
I watched Blood Simple last night on Mubi, the Coen brother’s first film, made in 1984. For those who don’t know it, it’s been described as Texas noir; a thriller set in Texas with Dan Hedaya as Julian Marty, a bar owner, a very young and beautiful Frances McDormand as his wandering wife, John Getz as Ray, who works in the bar and has a fling with Frances McDormand, and Emmet Walsh as a private detective hired by Marty to kill his wife and Ray.
It’s compelling to watch, beautifully shot and lit, very atmospheric, but I just can’t like the Coen brothers. Their films are too self-consciously arty for me. There are some actors like that, Charlotte Rampling being a prime example. They do everything right, but you can’t help being conscious as you watch them that they’re actors playing a part: there’s Charlotte Rampling brilliantly portraying a grieving woman; there’s Charlotte Rampling brilliantly portraying a woman infatuated with her lover. Kenneth Branagh is another. For me, that’s what the Coen Brothers’ pictures are like. There’s a scene in a bar that the Coen brothers have brilliantly lit with a neon light giving that whole area a blue tinge; there’s a room that the Coen brothers have brilliantly arranged with shadows on one wall from a venetian blind on the other side of the room. It sets my teeth on edge.
Their films also glory in extreme violence. They’re far from the worst, I know, but much of the gore is unnecessary.
I have to give it 8, but I didn’t really enjoy it.
I don’t like all the Coen Brothers movies, e.g. Barton Fink and in particular Inside Llewyn Jones which failed to engage any interest.
Blood Simple is as impressive a movie making debut as any l have seen. The lighting as you said is quite atmospheric, and the tension it provides is palpable. I also found the film to be deliberately claustrophobic, which again added to the atmosphere. Emmet Walsh steals the movie with a superb performance, he makes an outstanding sleaze bag. l gave it a 9/10.
Are you sure it was based on those murders? They were committed by two petty crooks who had met in gaol, where they had heard of a supposedly rich farmer in the midwest, and they murdered him and his whole family. That’s nothing like Blood Simple.
Watched Monster’s Ball tonight. I cant make up my mind. Superb performances by Berry, Thonton and Ledger (for the half hour he is in it) , but dunno, just found the actual story a bit rough around the edges. It seems a bit contrived and not overly subtle thematically.