Cinema Paradiso is one of the greatest films ever made and Tornatore is a very good director.
Considering the history of Italian film they have dropped off in the last few decades though.
A thread where people talk about anything that doesnât involve Jason Statham. Sad.
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Was Lock, Stock not independent?
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True. He also wore a skivy in the mechanic.
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Black skivvies. Now I canât get The Sharpâs Talking Sly out of my head.
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Thereâs no real definition of an arthouse film. Itâs partly subject-matter, partly point of view, partly language, partly budget, partly all sorts of other things that I canât think of at the moment.
A week or so ago I watched The Longest Day on Foxtel. That was your classic studio movie â 20th Century Fox, produced by Daryl F Zanuck â starring the biggest names of the day from John Wayne and Robert Mitchum through Richard Burton and a host of others down to a very young and lean Sean Connery, and a storyline that was basically a straight historical account of D-Day from both sidesâ points of view, with typical Hollywood-style stories of âlittleâ individuals in specific and poignant situations. But it was shot (absolutely beautifully) in black and white and some of the good guys didnât win and the German scenes were in German and subtitled and it was released in 1962 (and I first saw it back then), and I found myself wondering whether it now qualifies as an arthouse film. I think it probably does. Youâre certainly never going to see it except at the Nova or the Astor.
I did propose a little while ago a distinction between films for kids and films for grownups. Perhaps a working definition of an arthouse film is one that kids wouldnât be interested in.
Someone asked years ago what a Classic movie is defined as.
I defined it as an old movie that I like.
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Trying to define an arthouse movie is counteru productive, so l will just give an example instead. Fitzcorraldo.
Forrign language doesnât qualify as arthouse. The Longest Day would have been a major release in itâs time and having the germans actually speak german is just added realism.
Citizen Kane, A Clockwork Orange, Mulholland Drive are probably good reference point. Fireign films are more likely arthouse just because they experiment more than safe blockbuster Hollywood
Couple of years ago, Australiaâs own, Josh Lawson, made and starred in a movie called The Little Death, derived from the French term le petit mort, an orgazm.
It was remade as Kiki, Love to Love, by a Spanish crew and with lots of guapas mujeres españolas, hot Spanish women.
Itâs a series of short vignettes about different sexual -philias, the best of which was with a girl who makes phone calls for deaf people, interpreting through video calls. One guy calls wanting a phone sex call. Rather amusing as her co-workers wonder what the heck is going on, particularly when sheâs called cara de coño (c**tface).
Also been seeing a couple of AlmodĂłvar films on SBS on DemandâŠKika plus Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
Foreign language films are classified under the âblack skivvy wankerâ grouping, generally shown at Palace or Nova cinemas, which are overwhelmingly arthouse.
There was an Italian film from the late 90âs. It was an auteur effort. Think the English title was Dear Diary. It was a middle aged bloke on a scooter who was obsessed with Jennifer Beals. Biggest load of self indulgent rubbish Iâve ever seen, someone shouldâve pulled him up. Unless Iâm missing the joke of it being a comedy, it was pretty rank. Comedy doesnât often translate through language barriers and cultural references and nuances, then again I donât think it was even an intentional comedy.
Sounds fairly standard for Italian comedies. I saw one down here last year (Pazza Gioia) or some such.
And yes, i did laugh seeing âpazzaâ is Italian for mad.
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Checking out SBS On Demand, I saw my first ever German rom-com last night, and quite enjoyed it.
SMS fĂŒr Dich or Text For You, itâs written, directed by, stars Karoline Herfurth, a 30-odd childrenâs book author and illustrator, whose fiancĂ© is killed by a drunk driver.
She tries to keep his memory alive by sending texts to his phone, but of course, someone else has been given his old number. Could be more cloying than I found it, as it surely would be if Katherine Heigl or Kate Hudson had the role.
One thing Iâve noticed is that music soundtrack is about 90% English language.
Now this is more like it. Iâm in the third day of a cold so parked on the couch. French film called Une Nouvelle Amie (The New Girlfriend), freely adapted from a Ruth Rendell (prominent English detective writer) novel.
Claire and Laura are best friends from age 7. Laura dies from an illness, and when Claire drops in to see the grieving father, she finds the grieving father dressed in the dead motherâs clothes.
Never used to leave the house but theyâve just gone shopping for cosmetics and on comes the Katy Perry song, Hot N Cold.
Getting a bit icky now but at least Claireâs done a shower scene. Bit skinny, and I think Iâve seen enough.
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Hey I use to wear a black skivvy. You need 1 when you visit Melbourne in August!
It is if you bugger them in France
Picked up a couple of movies on Fox Classics on Saturday night. A Long, Hot Summer and 23 Paces to Baker Street.
A Long, Hot Summer was a southern potboiler made in 1958 and based on a story by one of the great Southern playrights, William Faulkner.
Stars the perennial fifties stars in Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward (this is the movie they hooked up for life). Also stars Orson Welles as the family patriarch who dominates a Mississippi town and Lee Remick as his younger daughter.
Newman is Ben Quick, a roustabout whoâs run out of town for suspicion of burning down a barn and ends up hitchhiking into Frenchmanâs Bend with Woodward and Renick. Welles employs him and wants him to marry Clara (Woodward) and give him some grandsons.
Angela Lansbury costars as a woman who has designs on Welles.
There were lots of these films made in the 50s and 60s - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cool Hand Luke, East of Eden.
Theyâre of a distinct genre, with real manly men and women with barely suppressed desires.
Sometimes, those manly men were played by Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift and James Dean who were very good with interior design.
Saw a A Long Hot Summer was on, I had watched it again a few months ago, so didnât watch , but I have recorded Gilda, which was on later, hopefully I can find some time this week to watch it.
A Long Hot Summer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and East of Eden are a few movies Iâve really liked.
Have you ever watched Imitation of Life with Lana Turner, John Gavin and Sandra Dee?