I just re-watched Mirror, after getting the Tarkovksy boxset, and liked it even more than on the first watch. I came across this in a review online:
"Andrei Arsenievich Tarkovsky was presented at the screening and he talked to the audience before the show. I remember him repeating over and over that there were no tricks, no puzzles, and no tongue-in-cheeks in the film; that every symbol, image, dialog, and sound was there because they belonged there. He asked us if we had questions. Someone from the audience suggested that we saw the film first, and then, asked questions. Tarkovsky replied that from his experience, not many viewers would sit through the film and who ever would, usually leave in silence, not asking anything. And then he told us a story. After Zerkalo was completed, it was first shown to the group of the famous critics. After watching it, critics started to argue about it, trying to find the hidden meaning and make sense of what they just saw. It went on and on until the cleaning lady who came to the screening room and had been waiting for the end of discussion to do her job, asked them for how long they would stay? Someone said to her that they were discussing a very complicated film, and they needed time to understand it. Cleaning lady asked, "What is that you do not understand in this film? I saw it also, and I understood everything." Critics were silenced for a moment, and then, one of them asked the woman to share her thoughts on Zerkalo. She answered, "It is about a man who had caused too much pain to the ones whom he loved and who loved him. Now he is dying and he is trying to ask them for forgiveness but he does not know how." After the pause Tarkovsky said that he had nothing else to add about his film to what the cleaning lady had to say."
2012-02-07 1704 (UTC-8) Spam Patrol ===============
Deleted 10 new spammer accounts, 1 new spam comment and 1 new spam article since 0247
2012-02-07 0247 (UTC-8) Spam Patrol
Deleted 14 new spammer accounts since Feb 5
Deleted 1 spam article and 4 spam links posted in comments by bugnotme.
A strange case since bugnotme is a long time subscriber who has not spammed until now. http://www.listology.com/user/118337/comments
If he spams again he will be blocked.
2012-02-05 1750 (UTC-8) Spam Patrol
Deleted 8 new spammer accounts since Feb 4
I understand how frustrating it is. I am currently pondering going back to a time-based system where you have to be a member for a certain number of days to post (similar to what we had on the old site.) I really hate doing that though, it is totally demotivating for new members who really want to get into contributing right away. I also know some of the people on the Mollom team, and I may start reaching out to them to see if I can't get some information about what we can do to help. Mollom analyzes literally hundreds of thousands of postings daily. Its hard for me to believe that another filtering system will approach things better.
It is interesting to think of painting innovations as “technologies” in and of themselves… If we do that, recent changes seem more in line with historic shifts in technique, do they not?
hello! please help me!
I'm not sure if it was a series of video cassetes of the same company or one animated movie that has before the start of the animated movie an old man (real person, not animated) sitting in his armchair and a dog beside him (idk if he talked or not). He acted like a narrator and he would open a book, I think...
The atmosphere was really comfortable, not creepy like the storyteller.
That would be Tempo Di Viaggo/Time's Journey/Journey Of Time. Sculpting in Time is a great book though-- the introduction was really sweet, mostly a compilation of letters he got from viewers of Mirror; ranging from people saying he should be sent to the gulags for "making such filth", to a woman saying "My childhood was that, but how did you know?... For the first time in my life I haven't felt so alone".
I think October is a good "next step" after Potemkin. It's still valid in the comparison, but October is even MORE frenetic and makes even larger logical leaps between shots.
Gotta see that and the other thing and Traveling Players and Landscape In The Mist and Dust fo Time and Weeping Meadow!!!
Maybe I Should put "Angelopoulos retrospective" into the suggestionbox of the theatre that was showing Tarkovsky.
Yeah I actually just got into two a lot the other day when I left it on. I wouldn't rank it last anymore. Regardless, ranking them is tough because they are all awesome.
Yes! Glad you enjoyed Eternity and a Day! It really is something else.
I can see Wild Strawberries as being a large (thematic) influence on Nostalghia and consequently Eternity and a Day (as Angelopoulos is most obviously influenced, affected by Tarkovsky), and for that, it deserves respect. But where I see Nostalghia as being a cathartic experience with each perceptual happening occurring as a consequence of its preceding state, I see Wild Strawberries as being a film (inadvertently) bent on exposing the viewer to the extreme cruelty of boredom. Of the three, I prefer Nostalghia, but I have to admit that Angelopoulos' trademark "gaze" (existent in many of Eternity and a Day's long, extended shots) moves me greatly as well! That border/fence scene is truly remarkable! I'm filled with despair every time I see it.
Many thanks for posting this list,can some one tell me where to find Hopper's "Nighthawks", Grant's "American Gothic", Wyeth's "Christina's World"? think the Bosch is usually called "The Garden of Earthly Delights".
You're right, a very good read. Carney did a great job of describing the films qualities. One thing I'd never quite thought of to the degree he states it is the different spatial relationships in the film (passengers in cars, subway trains, apartments, behind windows, etc) as representations of how closed off they were from eachother.
Lol, whatever I saw it was a documentary that I believe had "Time" in the title. It was about him, art, cinema, life - and I haven't seen the whole thing yet. I thought that was what you were referring to, but...yea... Anyway, I'll check out Sculpting in Time.
Interesting definitions of sublime... I've never seen October but if I insert Battleship Potemkin as a comparison to Nostalghia I imagine I'm understanding very closely where you're coming from.
Re: Angelopoulos ... Eternity and a Day is a much closer comparison, though Ulysses' Gaze has its similarities too.
Is it shameful to admit I've never been much of an Ella fan? I've heard some of her stuff, but I only like it when Louis accompanies her. Maybe I'll have to dig a little more. As far as vocal jazz goes Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Nina Simone are more my thing. And Helen Merrill's Anything Goes made me fall a little bit in love with her.
And since a class I'm in made going to Nostalghia a requirement I was thinking about its relation to "THE SUBLIME" but moreso to the contrast to the movie I saw right before it: October.
A writer tried to make a sort of pseudo-scientific post-structuralist definition of two sorts of sublime. One being "too many signifiers flooding everywhere", and "too much signified through sparseness". And these definitions perfectly describe the transcendent qualities of October and Nostalghia respectively.
It was kind of an interesting definition and fun that I read it right before going to these two movies to so fully illustrate that contrast!
View it? It's a book! I mean it's really well-designed with good proportions and typography, so I guess viewing it is good too, but reading it would be better. :P
Rublev just about gets me in tears almost constantly throughout it. Nostalghia is a perfect example of him trying to make filmic haiku (which he actually talks about in Sculpting In Time) in which it's entirely about capturing a unique and singular moment. It's also very Italian; you can kind of see that Tarkovsky was buddies with Antonioni in it.
It might move down to 9.5 at some point but it's certainly not going any farther down than that. Nostalghia, Love Streams, and Sacrifice are all in a nebulous cloud of best-anythings-of-the-1980s. I was thinking it might be more reasonable to wait until the next top-ten-whatevers to change my vote. Even then, I'm not so sure about having more than one film by a director in the top-ten-list (as many things like that have for a restriction). I was thinking what lists like that would be like if there was a "only one per country" or "only one per decade" restriction. With all three of those restrictions, it might yield interesting results.
Someone was talking to me after seeing Nostalghia that it reminded me of Angeloupoulous's Ulysses' Gaze. GODDAMMIT EVERYONE IS SUDDENLY TELLING ABOUT THIS RANDOM GREEK, I BETTER GET ON THIS.
Also if you want more Tarkovsky there's a documentary he did with Tonino Guerra (co-writer of Nostalghia) about himself/the making of Nostalghia called Tempo di Viaggo, and also a video-recording of a production of the Mussorgsky opera Boris Godunov he did between Nostalghia and Sacrifice at Covent Garden.
Also also also: If you ever notice that within 100 miles of you Nostalghia is playing at a theatre on a 35mm print motherfucking go to it.
Update #04 (31 January) - Two new players this week, we have 33 players now. Mightysparks stays strongly in the lead, but is one film short of keeping an average of three films/day. Still, mightysparks is the only player with an average of more than two films/day. Nine more players have seen more than one film/day. That's one player (kgracetasticsake) more than last week. Kgracetasticsake, too, is the only new player in the top 10. I saw 19 films and went from 26 to 14, the most remarkable change of the week.
With 92 films in January, mightysparks is on course for 1083 films this year. That would be the one but best result ever. Longtime players might remember that staup2005 saw 1413 films in 2006, or 3.87 films/day. In the following years, no one, not even staup2005, came near this result. As a matter of fact, no other player has ever ended the year with an average of more than two films/day. Just to point out that mightysparks is playing highly impressive.
I've seen some of Sculpting in Time and it was quite interesting. I should probably view it some more.
I agree that Mirror is his most visually and structurally dense, though Andrei Rublev (due in part to its much greater length) may have something to say about that. I think Nostalghia attains more density of emotion/profundity than either of them, even though it appears to be using less to attain it - with Nostalghia practically every shot/sequence expresses something profound and/or deeply moving.
Agreed re: Godard
And I am ecstatic that you found Nostalghia to be one of the greatest films you've ever seen :) I'm assuming this would mark a change in your top 10 vote on my poll, so let me know if a change is in order.
I highly recommend you see Nostalghia's "kid brother", Angelopoulos' Eternity and a Day. It would be a perfect introduction to the incredible cinema of Angelopoulos. He is a dream come true if you've ever wished that Tarkovsky had made more films. As far as I can tell after seeing 4 of his films, he is the 2nd most profound director in film history (Tarkovsky the 1st). You may not believe me now, but the gap between them is not significant at all.
Update 6/2-12: Out The Secret Life of Bees - In Coriolanus
Update 1/2-12: Out Hereafter - In We Need to Talk About Kevin
Update 27/1-12: Out Tabloid - In Footnote ("Hearat Shulayim") Out Baarìa - In In Darkness ("W ciemnosci") Out Blue Valentine - In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Update 25/1-12: Out Hanna - In Pariah
Update 20/1-12: Out Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles - In Pina Out Burn After Reading - In Potiche
Update 6/1-12: Out Ballast - In Bridesmaids Out I.O.U.S.A. - In Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Update 4/1-12 (New year's update): Out No Country For Old Men - In A Single Man Out There Will Be Blood - In The Stoning of Soraya M. Out The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ("Le scaphandre et le papillon") - In My Week With Marilyn Out 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days ("4 luni, 3 saptamini si 2 zile") - In This Is It Out Persepolis - In Margaret Out Atonement - In Alice in Wonderland Out Juno - In Project Nim Out Into the Wild - In Warrior Out Michael Clayton - In Four Lions Out La Vie en Rose ("La môme") - In The Good, the Bad, the Weird ("Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom") Out Eastern Promises - In Animal Kingdom Out Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - In The Help Out Ratatouille - In The Skin I Live In ("La piel que habito") Out The Kite Runner - In Like Crazy Out The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - In Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort") Out The Bourne Ultimatum - In Food, Inc. Out The Band's Visit ("Bikur Ha-Tizmoret") - In Away We Go Out Lust, Caution ("Se jie") - In Higher Ground Out Taxi to the Dark Side - In Hunger Out Zodiac - In Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work Out Control - In Pineapple Express Out Sicko - In Please Give Out American Gangster - In The Great Buck Howard Out The Savages - In The Karate Kid Out Lars and the Real Girl - In Brüno Out The Darjeeling Limited - In Tropic Thunder Out The Counterfeiters ("Die Fälscher") - In Win Win Out You, the Living ("Du levande") - In Waiting for 'Superman' Out In the Shadow of the Moon - In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Out In the Valley of Elah - In X-Men: First Class Out The Great Debaters - In Bolt Out Mongol - In Let's Talk About the Rain ("Parlez-moi de la pluie") Out Paranormal Activity - In The Secret of Kells Out The Visitor - In The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Out Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - In Somewhere Out I'm Not There - In Rango Out Hairspray - In The Interrupters Out No End in Sight - In Bill Cunningham New York Out Charlie Wilson's War - In Silent Souls ("Ovsyanki") Out Chop Shop - In Flipped Out The Edge of Heaven ("Auf der anderen Seite") - In Into the Abyss Out Starting Out in the Evening - In The Secret Life of Bees Out 12 - In Hereafter Out Across the Universe - In Tabloid Out Waitress - In Baaria Out The Lookout - In Blue Valentine Out King of Kong: A Fistful of Dollars - In Hanna Out Silent Light ("Luz silenciosa") - In Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles Out Gone Baby Gone - In Burn After Reading Out My Winnipeg - In Ballast Out The Brave One - In I.O.U.S.A. Out Knocked Up - In Burma VJ
Update 1/1-12 (not the new year update, yet): Out A Single Man - In Page One: Inside the New York Times Out The Stoning of Soraya M - In Buck Out My Week With Marilyn - In Shame Out This is It - In Goodbye Solo Out Alice in Wonderland - In Julia Out Warrior - In Trucker Out Death Proof - In Across the Universe Out Planet Terror - In Silent Light ("Luz Silenciosa") Out Four Lions - In Take Shelter Out The Good, the Bad, the Weird ("Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom") - In Cave of Forgotten Dreams Out The Orphanage ("El Orfanato") - In Disgrace Out Animal Kingdom - In My Winnipeg Out The Help - In Skin Out The Skin I Live In ("La piel que habito") - In The American Out Like Crazy - In Che Out Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort") - In Standard Operating Procedure Out Food, Inc. - In A Dangerous Method Out Away We Go - In Terri
Update 20/12-11: Out Higher Ground - In Hugo Out Hunger - In The Kid with a Bike ("Le gamin au vélo") Out Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - In War Horse Out Pineapple Express - In My Week With Marilyn Out Please Give - In The Help Out The Great Buck Howard - In The Skin I Live In ("La piel que habito")
Update 12/12-11: Out The Karate Kid - In A Separation ("Jodaeiye Nader az Simin") Out A Mighty Heart - In 13 Assassins ("Jusan-nin no shikaku") Out Brüno - In The Artist
Update 26/11-11: Out Paranoid Park - In In the Loop Out Tropic Thunder - In Paranormal Activity Out Win Win - In Four Lions Out Waiting For 'Superman' - In The Good, the Bad, the Weird ("Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom")
Update 22/11-11: Out Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - In The Descendants Out X-Men: First Class - In Le Havre
Update 12/11-11: Out Bolt - In Melancholia
Update 5/11-11: Out Burma VJ - In Martha Marcy May Marlene Out The Aerial ("La Antena") - In Like Crazy
Update 17/10-11: Out Let's Talk About the Rain ("Parlez-moi de la pluie") - In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Out The Secret of Kells - In The Ides of March Out Somewhere - In Drive Out Rango - In Warrior
Update 13/10-11: Out In the Loop - In Moneyball Out King of California - In 50/50
Update 7/9-11: Out Love in the Time of Cholera - In Life, Above All Out Molière - In Higher Ground
Update 18/8-11: Out You Kill Me - In The Guard
Update 4/8-11: Out Flipped - In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Out The Secret Life of Bees - In Super 8
Update 16/6-11: Out Hereafter - In X-Men: First Class
Update 5/6-11: Out Disgrace - In The Tree of Life
Update 26/5-11: Out Goodbye Solo - In Midnight in Paris
Update 8/5-11: Out Julia - In Meek's Cutoff
Update 25/3-11: Out Trucker - In Win Win
Update 14/3-11: Out Baaria - In Rango Out Blue Valentine - In Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives ("Loong Boonmee raleuk chat")
Update 27/2-11: Out Burn After Reading - In Barney's Version
Update 27/1-11: Out Across the Universe - In Incendies Out Vicky Cristina Barcelona - In In a Better World ("Hævnen")
Update 23/1-11: Out How To Train Your Dragon - In Biutiful Out Where the Wild Things Are - In Blue Valentine
Update 7/1-11 (correcting the years of release): Out Once - In Hereafter Out The Host ("Gwoemul") - In Disgrace Out This is England - In Goodbye Solo Out Lake of Fire - In Julia Out Offside - In Trucker Out Away From Her - In Baaria ("Baaria - La Porta del Vento") Out Tell No One ("Ne le dis à personne") - In Burn After Reading Out Live and Become ("Va, vis et deviens") - In Vicky Cristina Barcelona Out 300 - In Across the Universe Out I Served the King of England ("Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále") - In How to Train Your Dragon Out An Unreasonable Man - In Where the Wild Things Are
New year update 5/1-11: Out The Lives of Others ("Das Leben der Anderen") - In Crazy Heart Out Pan's Labyrinth ("El Laberinto del Fauno") - In Never Let Me Go Out The Queen - In A Single Man Out The Departed - In The Stoning of Soraya M Out Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - In This Is It Out Little Miss Sunshine - In Alice in Wonderland Out Babel - In Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Out Volver - In Death Proof Out United 93 - In Planet Terror Out Letters From Iwo Jima - In The Orphanage ("El Orfanato") Out The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada - In Animal Kingdom Out Apocalypto - In Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort") Out Days of Glory ("Indigènes") - In Food, Inc. Out Dreamgirls - In Away We Go Out Little Children - In Hunger Out Children of Men - In Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work Out Flags of Our Fathers - In Pineapple Express Out A Prairie Home Companion - In Please Give Out Inland Empire - In Tell No One ("Ne le dis à personne") Out The Death of Mr Lazarescu ("Moartea domnului Lazarescu") - In The Great Buck Howard Out Shut Up and Sing - In The Karate Kid Out Superman Returns - In A Mighty Heart Out Black Book ("Zwartboek") - In Brüno Out Notes on a Scandal - In Paranoid Park Out The Painted Veil - In Tropic Thunder Out The Wind That Shakes the Barley - In Waiting for 'Superman' Out Casino Royale - In Live and Become ("Va, vis et deviens") Out Neil Young: Heart of Gold - In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Out V For Vendetta - In 300 Out The Last King of Scotland - In Bolt Out Thank You For Smoking - In Burma VJ Out Blood Diamond - In I Served the King of England ("Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále") Out Marie Antoinette - In The Aerial ("La Antena") Out The Science of Sleep ("La science des rêves") - In Let's Talk About the Rain ("Parlez-moi de la pluie") Out An Inconvenient Truth - In The Secret of Kells Out Cars - In Somewhere Out World Trade Center - In In the Loop Out Hollywoodland - In King of California Out Half Nelson - In Love in the Time of Cholera Out The Ground Truth - In Molière Out God Grew Tired of Us - In An Unreasonable Man Out The Heart of the Game - In You Kill Me Out Water - In Flipped Out The Devil Wears Prada - In The Secret Life of Bees
Update 1/1-11: Out Crazy Heart - In True Grit Out Never Let Me Go - In Rabbit Hole
Update 24/12-10: Out A Single Man - In I am Love ("Io sono l'amore") Out The Stoning of Soraya M - In Mother ("Madeo") Out Brick - In The Fighter Out This Is It - In Carlos
Update 11/12-10: Out Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - In Black Swan Out Death Proof - In The King's Speech Out Planet Terror - In Monsters Out The Orphanage ("El Orfanato") - In Of Gods and Men ("Des hommes et des dieux") Out Animal Kingdom - In Soul Kitchen Out Quinceañera - In White Material Out Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort") - In Shutter Island
Update 25/11-10: Out Food Inc - In 127 Hours Out Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - In Another Year
Update 23/11-10: Out Please Give - In Lebanon ("Levanone")
Update 1/11-10: Out Away We Go - In The Social Network Out Hunger - In The Town Out Pineapple Express - In Never Let Me Go
Update 28/10-10: Out Tell No One ("Ne le dis à personne") - In Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort")
Update 15/9-10: Out For Your Consideration - In Scott Pilgrim vs The World
It's real bunk that it appears to be unrecorded, or at least gigantically difficult to find some kind of bootleg. BECAUSE I AM SO CURIOUS.
Also a gigantic shame about recordings, is how little film/video there is of Maria Callas, who was as much a great singer, an amazing actress; it would have been great to SEE her do Lady Macbeth or Tosca or Lucia Di Lammermoor or Abigaille or Violetta or anybody!
Ever listened to Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Duke Ellington Songbook? Or any of her Songbooks for that matter? The Cole Porter and Gershwins ones are divine.
If Angelopoulos keeps this pace up with The Beekeeper and Suspended Step of the Stork and Weeping Meadow, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find him in my top 5 directors.
Re: the weekly log... thanks, those films were all quite amazing. Syndromes deserves another viewing (at least). Late Spring and Sansho were very moving. Army of Shadows was visually stunning and very expertly (and realistically) presented. Out of all them, Sansho was the biggest surprise because it fairly significantly exceeded my expectations.
I just re-watched Mirror, after getting the Tarkovksy boxset, and liked it even more than on the first watch. I came across this in a review online:
"Andrei Arsenievich Tarkovsky was presented at the screening and he talked to the audience before the show. I remember him repeating over and over that there were no tricks, no puzzles, and no tongue-in-cheeks in the film; that every symbol, image, dialog, and sound was there because they belonged there. He asked us if we had questions. Someone from the audience suggested that we saw the film first, and then, asked questions. Tarkovsky replied that from his experience, not many viewers would sit through the film and who ever would, usually leave in silence, not asking anything. And then he told us a story. After Zerkalo was completed, it was first shown to the group of the famous critics. After watching it, critics started to argue about it, trying to find the hidden meaning and make sense of what they just saw. It went on and on until the cleaning lady who came to the screening room and had been waiting for the end of discussion to do her job, asked them for how long they would stay? Someone said to her that they were discussing a very complicated film, and they needed time to understand it. Cleaning lady asked, "What is that you do not understand in this film? I saw it also, and I understood everything." Critics were silenced for a moment, and then, one of them asked the woman to share her thoughts on Zerkalo. She answered, "It is about a man who had caused too much pain to the ones whom he loved and who loved him. Now he is dying and he is trying to ask them for forgiveness but he does not know how." After the pause Tarkovsky said that he had nothing else to add about his film to what the cleaning lady had to say."
Have you heard of this?
2012-02-07 1704 (UTC-8) Spam Patrol ===============
Deleted 10 new spammer accounts, 1 new spam comment and 1 new spam article since 0247
2012-02-07 0247 (UTC-8) Spam Patrol
Deleted 14 new spammer accounts since Feb 5
Deleted 1 spam article and 4 spam links posted in comments by bugnotme.
A strange case since bugnotme is a long time subscriber who has not spammed until now.
http://www.listology.com/user/118337/comments
If he spams again he will be blocked.
2012-02-05 1750 (UTC-8) Spam Patrol
Deleted 8 new spammer accounts since Feb 4
I understand how frustrating it is. I am currently pondering going back to a time-based system where you have to be a member for a certain number of days to post (similar to what we had on the old site.) I really hate doing that though, it is totally demotivating for new members who really want to get into contributing right away. I also know some of the people on the Mollom team, and I may start reaching out to them to see if I can't get some information about what we can do to help. Mollom analyzes literally hundreds of thousands of postings daily. Its hard for me to believe that another filtering system will approach things better.
It is interesting to think of painting innovations as “technologies” in and of themselves… If we do that, recent changes seem more in line with historic shifts in technique, do they not?
hello! please help me!
I'm not sure if it was a series of video cassetes of the same company or one animated movie that has before the start of the animated movie an old man (real person, not animated) sitting in his armchair and a dog beside him (idk if he talked or not). He acted like a narrator and he would open a book, I think...
The atmosphere was really comfortable, not creepy like the storyteller.
That would be Tempo Di Viaggo/Time's Journey/Journey Of Time. Sculpting in Time is a great book though-- the introduction was really sweet, mostly a compilation of letters he got from viewers of Mirror; ranging from people saying he should be sent to the gulags for "making such filth", to a woman saying "My childhood was that, but how did you know?... For the first time in my life I haven't felt so alone".
I think October is a good "next step" after Potemkin. It's still valid in the comparison, but October is even MORE frenetic and makes even larger logical leaps between shots.
Gotta see that and the other thing and Traveling Players and Landscape In The Mist and Dust fo Time and Weeping Meadow!!!
Maybe I Should put "Angelopoulos retrospective" into the suggestionbox of the theatre that was showing Tarkovsky.
It took me a while to get into her myself. Maybe give the whole songbook albums a try instead of just disparate songs would be a good plan?
Yeah I actually just got into two a lot the other day when I left it on. I wouldn't rank it last anymore. Regardless, ranking them is tough because they are all awesome.
I still think 4 was the best however :P
thanks
CW
Removed spam - jw
Yes! Glad you enjoyed Eternity and a Day! It really is something else.
I can see Wild Strawberries as being a large (thematic) influence on Nostalghia and consequently Eternity and a Day (as Angelopoulos is most obviously influenced, affected by Tarkovsky), and for that, it deserves respect. But where I see Nostalghia as being a cathartic experience with each perceptual happening occurring as a consequence of its preceding state, I see Wild Strawberries as being a film (inadvertently) bent on exposing the viewer to the extreme cruelty of boredom. Of the three, I prefer Nostalghia, but I have to admit that Angelopoulos' trademark "gaze" (existent in many of Eternity and a Day's long, extended shots) moves me greatly as well! That border/fence scene is truly remarkable! I'm filled with despair every time I see it.
Many thanks for posting this list,can some one tell me where to find Hopper's "Nighthawks", Grant's "American Gothic", Wyeth's "Christina's World"? think the Bosch is usually called "The Garden of Earthly Delights".
Thanks
CW
Removed spam link - jw
Yeah
You're right, a very good read. Carney did a great job of describing the films qualities. One thing I'd never quite thought of to the degree he states it is the different spatial relationships in the film (passengers in cars, subway trains, apartments, behind windows, etc) as representations of how closed off they were from eachother.
Lol, whatever I saw it was a documentary that I believe had "Time" in the title. It was about him, art, cinema, life - and I haven't seen the whole thing yet. I thought that was what you were referring to, but...yea... Anyway, I'll check out Sculpting in Time.
Interesting definitions of sublime... I've never seen October but if I insert Battleship Potemkin as a comparison to Nostalghia I imagine I'm understanding very closely where you're coming from.
Re: Angelopoulos ... Eternity and a Day is a much closer comparison, though Ulysses' Gaze has its similarities too.
Is it shameful to admit I've never been much of an Ella fan? I've heard some of her stuff, but I only like it when Louis accompanies her. Maybe I'll have to dig a little more. As far as vocal jazz goes Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Nina Simone are more my thing. And Helen Merrill's Anything Goes made me fall a little bit in love with her.
This essay on Wings of Desire may interest you.
And since a class I'm in made going to Nostalghia a requirement I was thinking about its relation to "THE SUBLIME" but moreso to the contrast to the movie I saw right before it: October.
A writer tried to make a sort of pseudo-scientific post-structuralist definition of two sorts of sublime. One being "too many signifiers flooding everywhere", and "too much signified through sparseness". And these definitions perfectly describe the transcendent qualities of October and Nostalghia respectively.
It was kind of an interesting definition and fun that I read it right before going to these two movies to so fully illustrate that contrast!
*ramble ramble*
View it? It's a book! I mean it's really well-designed with good proportions and typography, so I guess viewing it is good too, but reading it would be better. :P
Rublev just about gets me in tears almost constantly throughout it. Nostalghia is a perfect example of him trying to make filmic haiku (which he actually talks about in Sculpting In Time) in which it's entirely about capturing a unique and singular moment. It's also very Italian; you can kind of see that Tarkovsky was buddies with Antonioni in it.
It might move down to 9.5 at some point but it's certainly not going any farther down than that. Nostalghia, Love Streams, and Sacrifice are all in a nebulous cloud of best-anythings-of-the-1980s. I was thinking it might be more reasonable to wait until the next top-ten-whatevers to change my vote. Even then, I'm not so sure about having more than one film by a director in the top-ten-list (as many things like that have for a restriction). I was thinking what lists like that would be like if there was a "only one per country" or "only one per decade" restriction. With all three of those restrictions, it might yield interesting results.
Someone was talking to me after seeing Nostalghia that it reminded me of Angeloupoulous's Ulysses' Gaze. GODDAMMIT EVERYONE IS SUDDENLY TELLING ABOUT THIS RANDOM GREEK, I BETTER GET ON THIS.
Also if you want more Tarkovsky there's a documentary he did with Tonino Guerra (co-writer of Nostalghia) about himself/the making of Nostalghia called Tempo di Viaggo, and also a video-recording of a production of the Mussorgsky opera Boris Godunov he did between Nostalghia and Sacrifice at Covent Garden.
Also also also: If you ever notice that within 100 miles of you Nostalghia is playing at a theatre on a 35mm print motherfucking go to it.
Awesome list. Although I'd personally add in Love Washes Over (Airwave Remix) by Art of Trance as well.
Update #04 (31 January) - Two new players this week, we have 33 players now. Mightysparks stays strongly in the lead, but is one film short of keeping an average of three films/day. Still, mightysparks is the only player with an average of more than two films/day. Nine more players have seen more than one film/day. That's one player (kgracetasticsake) more than last week. Kgracetasticsake, too, is the only new player in the top 10. I saw 19 films and went from 26 to 14, the most remarkable change of the week.
With 92 films in January, mightysparks is on course for 1083 films this year. That would be the one but best result ever. Longtime players might remember that staup2005 saw 1413 films in 2006, or 3.87 films/day. In the following years, no one, not even staup2005, came near this result. As a matter of fact, no other player has ever ended the year with an average of more than two films/day. Just to point out that mightysparks is playing highly impressive.
I've seen some of Sculpting in Time and it was quite interesting. I should probably view it some more.
I agree that Mirror is his most visually and structurally dense, though Andrei Rublev (due in part to its much greater length) may have something to say about that. I think Nostalghia attains more density of emotion/profundity than either of them, even though it appears to be using less to attain it - with Nostalghia practically every shot/sequence expresses something profound and/or deeply moving.
Agreed re: Godard
And I am ecstatic that you found Nostalghia to be one of the greatest films you've ever seen :) I'm assuming this would mark a change in your top 10 vote on my poll, so let me know if a change is in order.
I highly recommend you see Nostalghia's "kid brother", Angelopoulos' Eternity and a Day. It would be a perfect introduction to the incredible cinema of Angelopoulos. He is a dream come true if you've ever wished that Tarkovsky had made more films. As far as I can tell after seeing 4 of his films, he is the 2nd most profound director in film history (Tarkovsky the 1st). You may not believe me now, but the gap between them is not significant at all.
It's a local Indian way of saying it, but "aavjo" sounds good. Literally it means, Come again.
Thanks
CW
Removed spam link - jw
Update 6/2-12:
Out The Secret Life of Bees - In Coriolanus
Update 1/2-12:
Out Hereafter - In We Need to Talk About Kevin
Update 27/1-12:
Out Tabloid - In Footnote ("Hearat Shulayim")
Out Baarìa - In In Darkness ("W ciemnosci")
Out Blue Valentine - In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Update 25/1-12:
Out Hanna - In Pariah
Update 20/1-12:
Out Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles - In Pina
Out Burn After Reading - In Potiche
Update 6/1-12:
Out Ballast - In Bridesmaids
Out I.O.U.S.A. - In Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Update 4/1-12 (New year's update):
Out No Country For Old Men - In A Single Man
Out There Will Be Blood - In The Stoning of Soraya M.
Out The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ("Le scaphandre et le papillon") - In My Week With Marilyn
Out 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days ("4 luni, 3 saptamini si 2 zile") - In This Is It
Out Persepolis - In Margaret
Out Atonement - In Alice in Wonderland
Out Juno - In Project Nim
Out Into the Wild - In Warrior
Out Michael Clayton - In Four Lions
Out La Vie en Rose ("La môme") - In The Good, the Bad, the Weird ("Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom")
Out Eastern Promises - In Animal Kingdom
Out Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - In The Help
Out Ratatouille - In The Skin I Live In ("La piel que habito")
Out The Kite Runner - In Like Crazy
Out The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - In Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort")
Out The Bourne Ultimatum - In Food, Inc.
Out The Band's Visit ("Bikur Ha-Tizmoret") - In Away We Go
Out Lust, Caution ("Se jie") - In Higher Ground
Out Taxi to the Dark Side - In Hunger
Out Zodiac - In Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Out Control - In Pineapple Express
Out Sicko - In Please Give
Out American Gangster - In The Great Buck Howard
Out The Savages - In The Karate Kid
Out Lars and the Real Girl - In Brüno
Out The Darjeeling Limited - In Tropic Thunder
Out The Counterfeiters ("Die Fälscher") - In Win Win
Out You, the Living ("Du levande") - In Waiting for 'Superman'
Out In the Shadow of the Moon - In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Out In the Valley of Elah - In X-Men: First Class
Out The Great Debaters - In Bolt
Out Mongol - In Let's Talk About the Rain ("Parlez-moi de la pluie")
Out Paranormal Activity - In The Secret of Kells
Out The Visitor - In The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Out Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - In Somewhere
Out I'm Not There - In Rango
Out Hairspray - In The Interrupters
Out No End in Sight - In Bill Cunningham New York
Out Charlie Wilson's War - In Silent Souls ("Ovsyanki")
Out Chop Shop - In Flipped
Out The Edge of Heaven ("Auf der anderen Seite") - In Into the Abyss
Out Starting Out in the Evening - In The Secret Life of Bees
Out 12 - In Hereafter
Out Across the Universe - In Tabloid
Out Waitress - In Baaria
Out The Lookout - In Blue Valentine
Out King of Kong: A Fistful of Dollars - In Hanna
Out Silent Light ("Luz silenciosa") - In Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
Out Gone Baby Gone - In Burn After Reading
Out My Winnipeg - In Ballast
Out The Brave One - In I.O.U.S.A.
Out Knocked Up - In Burma VJ
Update 1/1-12 (not the new year update, yet):
Out A Single Man - In Page One: Inside the New York Times
Out The Stoning of Soraya M - In Buck
Out My Week With Marilyn - In Shame
Out This is It - In Goodbye Solo
Out Alice in Wonderland - In Julia
Out Warrior - In Trucker
Out Death Proof - In Across the Universe
Out Planet Terror - In Silent Light ("Luz Silenciosa")
Out Four Lions - In Take Shelter
Out The Good, the Bad, the Weird ("Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom") - In Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Out The Orphanage ("El Orfanato") - In Disgrace
Out Animal Kingdom - In My Winnipeg
Out The Help - In Skin
Out The Skin I Live In ("La piel que habito") - In The American
Out Like Crazy - In Che
Out Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort") - In Standard Operating Procedure
Out Food, Inc. - In A Dangerous Method
Out Away We Go - In Terri
Update 20/12-11:
Out Higher Ground - In Hugo
Out Hunger - In The Kid with a Bike ("Le gamin au vélo")
Out Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - In War Horse
Out Pineapple Express - In My Week With Marilyn
Out Please Give - In The Help
Out The Great Buck Howard - In The Skin I Live In ("La piel que habito")
Update 12/12-11:
Out The Karate Kid - In A Separation ("Jodaeiye Nader az Simin")
Out A Mighty Heart - In 13 Assassins ("Jusan-nin no shikaku")
Out Brüno - In The Artist
Update 26/11-11:
Out Paranoid Park - In In the Loop
Out Tropic Thunder - In Paranormal Activity
Out Win Win - In Four Lions
Out Waiting For 'Superman' - In The Good, the Bad, the Weird ("Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom")
Update 22/11-11:
Out Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - In The Descendants
Out X-Men: First Class - In Le Havre
Update 12/11-11:
Out Bolt - In Melancholia
Update 5/11-11:
Out Burma VJ - In Martha Marcy May Marlene
Out The Aerial ("La Antena") - In Like Crazy
Update 17/10-11:
Out Let's Talk About the Rain ("Parlez-moi de la pluie") - In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Out The Secret of Kells - In The Ides of March
Out Somewhere - In Drive
Out Rango - In Warrior
Update 13/10-11:
Out In the Loop - In Moneyball
Out King of California - In 50/50
Update 7/9-11:
Out Love in the Time of Cholera - In Life, Above All
Out Molière - In Higher Ground
Update 18/8-11:
Out You Kill Me - In The Guard
Update 4/8-11:
Out Flipped - In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Out The Secret Life of Bees - In Super 8
Update 16/6-11:
Out Hereafter - In X-Men: First Class
Update 5/6-11:
Out Disgrace - In The Tree of Life
Update 26/5-11:
Out Goodbye Solo - In Midnight in Paris
Update 8/5-11:
Out Julia - In Meek's Cutoff
Update 25/3-11:
Out Trucker - In Win Win
Update 14/3-11:
Out Baaria - In Rango
Out Blue Valentine - In Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives ("Loong Boonmee raleuk chat")
Update 27/2-11:
Out Burn After Reading - In Barney's Version
Update 27/1-11:
Out Across the Universe - In Incendies
Out Vicky Cristina Barcelona - In In a Better World ("Hævnen")
Update 23/1-11:
Out How To Train Your Dragon - In Biutiful
Out Where the Wild Things Are - In Blue Valentine
Update 7/1-11 (correcting the years of release):
Out Once - In Hereafter
Out The Host ("Gwoemul") - In Disgrace
Out This is England - In Goodbye Solo
Out Lake of Fire - In Julia
Out Offside - In Trucker
Out Away From Her - In Baaria ("Baaria - La Porta del Vento")
Out Tell No One ("Ne le dis à personne") - In Burn After Reading
Out Live and Become ("Va, vis et deviens") - In Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Out 300 - In Across the Universe
Out I Served the King of England ("Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále") - In How to Train Your Dragon
Out An Unreasonable Man - In Where the Wild Things Are
New year update 5/1-11:
Out The Lives of Others ("Das Leben der Anderen") - In Crazy Heart
Out Pan's Labyrinth ("El Laberinto del Fauno") - In Never Let Me Go
Out The Queen - In A Single Man
Out The Departed - In The Stoning of Soraya M
Out Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - In This Is It
Out Little Miss Sunshine - In Alice in Wonderland
Out Babel - In Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Out Volver - In Death Proof
Out United 93 - In Planet Terror
Out Letters From Iwo Jima - In The Orphanage ("El Orfanato")
Out The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada - In Animal Kingdom
Out Apocalypto - In Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort")
Out Days of Glory ("Indigènes") - In Food, Inc.
Out Dreamgirls - In Away We Go
Out Little Children - In Hunger
Out Children of Men - In Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Out Flags of Our Fathers - In Pineapple Express
Out A Prairie Home Companion - In Please Give
Out Inland Empire - In Tell No One ("Ne le dis à personne")
Out The Death of Mr Lazarescu ("Moartea domnului Lazarescu") - In The Great Buck Howard
Out Shut Up and Sing - In The Karate Kid
Out Superman Returns - In A Mighty Heart
Out Black Book ("Zwartboek") - In Brüno
Out Notes on a Scandal - In Paranoid Park
Out The Painted Veil - In Tropic Thunder
Out The Wind That Shakes the Barley - In Waiting for 'Superman'
Out Casino Royale - In Live and Become ("Va, vis et deviens")
Out Neil Young: Heart of Gold - In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Out V For Vendetta - In 300
Out The Last King of Scotland - In Bolt
Out Thank You For Smoking - In Burma VJ
Out Blood Diamond - In I Served the King of England ("Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále")
Out Marie Antoinette - In The Aerial ("La Antena")
Out The Science of Sleep ("La science des rêves") - In Let's Talk About the Rain ("Parlez-moi de la pluie")
Out An Inconvenient Truth - In The Secret of Kells
Out Cars - In Somewhere
Out World Trade Center - In In the Loop
Out Hollywoodland - In King of California
Out Half Nelson - In Love in the Time of Cholera
Out The Ground Truth - In Molière
Out God Grew Tired of Us - In An Unreasonable Man
Out The Heart of the Game - In You Kill Me
Out Water - In Flipped
Out The Devil Wears Prada - In The Secret Life of Bees
Update 1/1-11:
Out Crazy Heart - In True Grit
Out Never Let Me Go - In Rabbit Hole
Update 24/12-10:
Out A Single Man - In I am Love ("Io sono l'amore")
Out The Stoning of Soraya M - In Mother ("Madeo")
Out Brick - In The Fighter
Out This Is It - In Carlos
Update 11/12-10:
Out Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - In Black Swan
Out Death Proof - In The King's Speech
Out Planet Terror - In Monsters
Out The Orphanage ("El Orfanato") - In Of Gods and Men ("Des hommes et des dieux")
Out Animal Kingdom - In Soul Kitchen
Out Quinceañera - In White Material
Out Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort") - In Shutter Island
Update 25/11-10:
Out Food Inc - In 127 Hours
Out Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - In Another Year
Update 23/11-10:
Out Please Give - In Lebanon ("Levanone")
Update 1/11-10:
Out Away We Go - In The Social Network
Out Hunger - In The Town
Out Pineapple Express - In Never Let Me Go
Update 28/10-10:
Out Tell No One ("Ne le dis à personne") - In Mesrine: Killer Instinct ("L'instinct de mort")
Update 15/9-10:
Out For Your Consideration - In Scott Pilgrim vs The World
It's real bunk that it appears to be unrecorded, or at least gigantically difficult to find some kind of bootleg. BECAUSE I AM SO CURIOUS.
Also a gigantic shame about recordings, is how little film/video there is of Maria Callas, who was as much a great singer, an amazing actress; it would have been great to SEE her do Lady Macbeth or Tosca or Lucia Di Lammermoor or Abigaille or Violetta or anybody!
Ever listened to Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Duke Ellington Songbook? Or any of her Songbooks for that matter? The Cole Porter and Gershwins ones are divine.
PS: <3
If Angelopoulos keeps this pace up with The Beekeeper and Suspended Step of the Stork and Weeping Meadow, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find him in my top 5 directors.
Re: the weekly log... thanks, those films were all quite amazing. Syndromes deserves another viewing (at least). Late Spring and Sansho were very moving. Army of Shadows was visually stunning and very expertly (and realistically) presented. Out of all them, Sansho was the biggest surprise because it fairly significantly exceeded my expectations.
Great list. Might I suggest another deeply disturbing Lynch film: Inland Empire.