I did, DoH in particular. TTRL is full of very real feeling carnage and matter of fact warfare but it has the same ponderous, dream like quality. I’ll have to watch it again, probably saw it twice, may three times, and was really taken with it.
That dreamlike quality is what makes Days of Heaven so magical. It’s very rare, but it’s what makes the best movies so good. I wouldn’t use the word ponderous, which suggests plodding, elephantine; unhurried perhaps is better. Badlands has it too, despite the frequent brutality in the story. Roger Ebert didn’t think much of TTRL, but I might take a deep breath and give it a go.
Yeah I’ll cop that, I think I was optimistic it might contain the origin of ‘to ponder’ but I gather it doesn’t. The other film maker, (and I’m sure there are more than a few), that achieves something in the same neighbourhood but with as much a focus on detail as expanse is Tarkovsky. Stalker in particular is a slow, compelling trip that rewards in a similar way, similar calm with a specific kind of unease. Very different sort of filmmaker in most regards but the films do the same strange job on me at least.
The French Film Festival starts in Melbourne on March 4, through to April 8.