My vote for the best films since 2000:
2046
Old Boy
Ichi the Killer
Irreversible
Ashes of Time Redux (I'm cheating, the redux version is from the '94 version, re-edited and re-released in 2008).
Of those, I think Irreversible is probably the most unique film to have come out recently, though I'd pick 2046 for the best.
Vote for the best Best Picture ever
Moderators: sgt.null, dANdeLION
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The Dreaming
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The Dreaming wrote: ...foreign films are cheating!
I've only seen a couple and only the Seventh Seal recently enough to have an opinion on. Seventh Seal is great, though not for everyone. It has quite a unique and utterly oppressive tone. I do really admire Bergman's philosophy on film.The Dreaming wrote: I'm not so hot on Bergman though)
"For the love of God, Montresor!"
"Yes," I said, "for the love of God!" - Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado.
"Yes," I said, "for the love of God!" - Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado.
Didn't see The Seventh Seal until 1990, as part of a local Ingmar Bergman film festival. It was the first time I got to appreciate a foreign filmmaker's body of work. That movie made a deep and lasting impression on me.
Oh, and I can't believe I left Kill Bill off my list of favorites since 2000. Dammit.
(commits hari-kari)
Oh, and I can't believe I left Kill Bill off my list of favorites since 2000. Dammit.
(commits hari-kari)
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The Dreaming
- The Gap Into Spam
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- Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2004 11:16 pm
- Location: Louisville KY
I hate to say this, but I don't think I get the movie. Everything that actually happens is so cryptic, symbolic, and open to interpretation. Unlike a David Lynch movie though, a real story is set up with discreet events and characters reacting to events that I cannot tell are really happening or not. The line between real and surreal doesn't even exist. (Lynch usually keeps the line pretty distinct. I haven't seen inland empire yet though, so I could be wrong.)
Maybe it's unfair to compare the two. But I feel like a David Lynch movie is a puzzle that has an solution, albeit cryptic and buried. The Seventh Seal doesn't seem to have one. Maybe the movie deserves a second viewing. And now that I think about it so does Blue Velvet. That would make a hell of a double feature!
Maybe it's unfair to compare the two. But I feel like a David Lynch movie is a puzzle that has an solution, albeit cryptic and buried. The Seventh Seal doesn't seem to have one. Maybe the movie deserves a second viewing. And now that I think about it so does Blue Velvet. That would make a hell of a double feature!
Maybe Montresor is able to explain The Seventh Seal's qualities better than I can. This was one of those movies that affected me on a number of levels, and I'm not sure how to articulate them. But I think I get what you mean by "the line between real and surreal doesn't exist." The film has the feel of a haunted dream, filled with metaphors and such. David Lynch's Eraserhead feels like that too, if we're doing a comparison between Bergman and Lynch.
You do me too much flatterymatrixman wrote:Maybe Montresor is able to explain The Seventh Seal's qualities better than I can.
One thing to keep in mind about The Seventh Seal is that it keeps its setting in mind religiously throughout. Its tone, atmosphere, morality, and unreality are all absolutely enshrined within its medieval setting. Few films within this period have represented their age quite so well as The Seventh Seal. For me, it's like a dream told by someone living at the height of the Black Death, which somehow manages to express the world they live in in absolute terms. Beyond this, it is about Death, the Infinite, and Inevitability...and not to forget the confusion that devout people feel about the 'silence of God' in times of cruelty and tragedy. I don't think you have to be religious to appreciate this (I'm certainly not remotely religious).
Obviously, the film's strongest theme is death, which is treated both as a disturbing joke to be bartered with over something as trivial as a game, as well as something to be both feared and revered.
That's my take anyway
lolsgt.null wrote:Shakes the Clown
"For the love of God, Montresor!"
"Yes," I said, "for the love of God!" - Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado.
"Yes," I said, "for the love of God!" - Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado.
Thank you for your excellent take on the film, Montresor! Yes, The Seventh Seal is deeply religious without being preachy. It's not interested in dogmatic bull crap. This is a soul-searching film that is direct and earnest in questioning matters of faith and existence.Montresor wrote:One thing to keep in mind about The Seventh Seal is that it keeps its setting in mind religiously throughout. Its tone, atmosphere, morality, and unreality are all absolutely enshrined within its medieval setting. Few films within this period have represented their age quite so well as The Seventh Seal. For me, it's like a dream told by someone living at the height of the Black Death, which somehow manages to express the world they live in in absolute terms. Beyond this, it is about Death, the Infinite, and Inevitability...and not to forget the confusion that devout people feel about the 'silence of God' in times of cruelty and tragedy. I don't think you have to be religious to appreciate this (I'm certainly not remotely religious).
Obviously, the film's strongest theme is death, which is treated both as a disturbing joke to be bartered with over something as trivial as a game, as well as something to be both feared and revered.
Good point about how Death is depicted as both a sublime figure of dread, and as a "person" mundane enough that he can be negotiated with over a chess game. There is dark humor at play which I like. It helps ameliorate the film's otherwise severe tone.
