Movie Club

My thoughts on Komitas (1989) by Don

🎬 Komitas (1989)

Dir: Don Askarian

"Time means nothing to me."

- A film on Komitas, a monk, a composer, a singer, a priest, and a choirmaster who is widely seen as a martyr of the genocide and has been depicted as one of the main symbols of the Armenian Genocide in art.

The film is consists of broken narratives that depict the different stages of the life of Komitas. It was a bit hard to understand (at least for me) because I was not familiar with the Armenian history and the Armenian Genocide. So, I stopped the film and spent a few hours reading about the history and the genocide first. Komitas is really a big name in Armenian history and reading about him was sad due to his tragic life. The film is sad too and the director's approach to show us the film in a non-linear way pays off.

Komitas was like watching Tarkovsky's Stalker (Philosophical) + Parajanov's The Color of Pomegranates (Cinematography) & Piavoli's Voices Through Time (Silence) but all the credits to the crew and the director for making something so special. In short, a perfect 5/5 film.

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[US] Nobody Knows I’m Here (2020): Memo lives on a remote Chilean sheep farm, hiding a beautiful singing voice from the outside world. A recluse with a glittery flair, he can't stop dwelling on the past, but what will happen once someone finally listens?
https://www.netflix.com/title/81020106?s=i&trkid=13747225

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My thoughts on The Lighthouse *spoilers*

I know I am later than most to this party, but it took ages to come out where I live, and now, I can finally say I have seen it. However, I am still conflicted as if it's amazing psychological horror or just an artsy horror flick.

Let me just state the obvious. Dafoe and Pattinson are an amazing duo, and they compliment each of their roles flawlessly. I love that Pattinson's growth throughout the film much like the entire atmosphere of the whole film, beginning eerily and moody to complete madness and chaos by the end of it all.

Then there's Dafoe. His was my favourite performance of last year by far. Everything he does is perfect. His prayers before dinner. His heckling towards Winslow. His amazing dialect. His fucking farts. All, perfect. The Sea Curse scene is probably my fav scene in the film, that and the climax with the light. The way that Dafoe doesn't blink, the shadow surrounding his face and his eyes hypnotized as much as they terrified me. Brilliant.

I think you can tell what stood out the most for me was the acting. But some shots that Eggers compose are just terrifyingly amazing. When Dafoe is being buried after being treated like a dog, and we see his face covered in dirt in the ground, stuck with me. Also there is a shot of the lighthouse being completely desolate, I don't remember exactly when, but it being surrounded by darkness of the sea and the sky just encapsulates the feeling of complete loneliness.

Now the ending, which I think has stirred most of the cerebral soup boiling after watching this. I got chills watching it, which almost never happens to me with a horror flick. The only time it happened before was when I watched Hereditary for the first time, which was the most visceral experience I have had watching a movie.

Anyway, I think the ending shows the whole point of the movie, since it tackles madness and insanity. I think Pattinson represents people trying to search for something or answers, but maybe we should leave those things alone. Pattinson is maybe the stubborn beast within all of us who refuses to give up his search for the light. Maybe the film is telling us the light is sometimes not what it seems, and will destroy you if you are not careful or unwise enough to think you deserve it.

These are just my two cents, and I would love to hear what you think. Do you agree? Disagree? I know there are many more things to discuss with this movie, such as symbolism and the way its shot etc. But these were the things that stuck out the most for me in this roller coaster.

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IJW: Demolition (2015)

It was very different kind of an experience for me watching this. Each person deal with loss in a different way and this guy(Jake) takes on demolition. I could relate to a lot of things emotion wise. And I really loved the way it ended by saying “enjoy being yourself.”

I’d love to hear thoughts of ya’ll on this movie if you’ve watched.

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What constitutes “great” acting?

The difference between bad and good acting is pretty obvious. But I’ve never really understood how you can separate the great acting from the good acting. I feel like when ever people talk about great acting performances, they always just name whoever did the “most” acting. Other times I feel like great performances are more attributed to the great dialogue, than the actual acting.

I want to hear some people’s ideas on what is the difference between great and good acting.

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[request] found footage horror movies

Any good found footage horror movies on netflix?

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[NEWS][US] Everything Leaving Netflix in July 2020

Check everything that's leaving Netflix in July!

https://www.addtothelist.com/user/Admin/lists/everything-leaving-netflix-in-july-2020

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[US] Straight Up (2020): Todd and Rory are intellectual soul mates. He might be gay. She might not care. A romantic-comedy drama with a twist; a love story without the thrill of copulation.
https://www.netflix.com/title/81229555

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Just got a subscription for the Criterion Channel for my birthday and I'm looking for a kind of general list of the best movies I should watch as somebody looking to begin a more serious journey into film.

Basically what the title says. Like everyone on here I've loved movies my whole life but I've finally decided to make a concerted effort to understand them in a better way and really learn about the medium. I'm not a total newbie but the list of "artistically significant" movies I've seen basically comes down to the top 1 or 2 most famous films of people like Godard, Truffaut, Bergman, Kurosawa, Fellini etc. I've also seen a decent amount of stuff from slightly more prominent filmmakers like Kubrick, Hitchcock and Tarantino, and obviously most of the big blockbuster stuff like MCU Star Wars and Spielberg.

Hopefully it's alright to ask for just a basic watchlist primarily focusing on CC for maybe one or two movies per week, I strongly welcome any and all advice or discussion and thank anyone who contributes in advance.

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could I get some recommendations for outsider directors?

hello. i'm interested in outsider art (especially outsider music). the definition of outsider art is a little hazy, so to be clear, i see outsider art as art coming from outside the mainstream system, and often created without much budget or even necessarily much talent going into the product. most of these works are only discovered long after they were made. for a mainstream example, i would consider the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky (especially his earliest stuff) and Eraserhead to both be works of outsider cinema, which managed to grow so popular that they bled into the mainstream anyway.

does anyone here have any recommendations for directors who have either consistently or initially worked outside the system and created an unusual and idiosyncratic body of work?

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[US] Jailbirds (2019): Incarcerated women attempt to make the best of their situation. Love, friendship and meeting people through the bowl!
https://www.netflix.com/title/80216756?s=i&trkid=13747225

https://redd.it/hgykia
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[NEWS][US] Everything Coming to Netflix in July 2020

Check what's coming to Netflix in July 2020!

https://www.addtothelist.com/user/Admin/lists/everything-coming-to-netflix-in-july-2020

https://redd.it/hgyqai
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10 Greatest Acting Performances

What would you consider to be the top five greatest acting performances in the history of film?

My List in no order:

Daniel Day Lewis- There Will Be Blood

Robert Deniro- Taxi Driver

Robert Deniro- Raging Bull

Naomi Watts- Mulholland Drive

Sheryl Lee- Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me

Joauquin Phoenix- The Master

John Wayne- The Searchers

Jimmy Stewart- Vertigo

Al Pacino- The Godfather

Leonardo Dicaprio- The Wolf of Wall Street

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The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013): beautifully melancholic

“The happiness you wished for me was hard to bear.”

This is Isao Takahata’s last film before he passed away and was in development for many years and was unfortunately criminally under seen upon release but hopefully the Netflix release draws more eyes to it.

The film somehow blends this extremely picturesque animation and fantastical story with grounded, human moments and characters. There’s many long scenes just focused on observing Kaguya simply living and it’s a unique blend that works really well. I cannot even behind to explain how gorgeous the animation in this movie is and it’s all punctuated by the incredible score. It’s hard to not feel sad watching this but it’s not a miserable film by any means.

The fantastical elements of the story take a backseat and instead a deep exploration of human emotion takes center stage. The plot in this movie is paper thin and it’s built almost entirely on watching her go through this really sad life and how she grows and changes and goes from being this super happy kid to an incredibly depressed teen. It’s this emotional powerhouse of a film that just left such a huge impression on me when I first saw it.

Incredibly melancholic but also visually stunning with an art style that is so perfect and is genuinely probably the most gorgeous I’ve ever seen in an animated film. Also the ending just decks you right in the face so be prepared for that.

https://redd.it/hgyvrz
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