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14 September 2011
Film Still Field Day Does anybody else collect film stills? I watch most of my movies on my computer, and sometimes I pause a flick and take a snapshot of particularly beautiful or amusing frames.→[More:]
Just for fun, I won't include sources, in case anyone wants to play a guessing game. Won't you join me, please? Let's see some stills!
The second #1 is BL:PoC. Iguanatastic. And I feel pretty sure that I've seen the first #1 but it has blurred into all the other dudes face down in front of a temple-thing scenes I've ever seen. My movie tastes are far too crappy!
I often think of this when watching beautifully-filmed .. films.. but haven't figured out how to do it on my ancient laptop.
Unsurprisingly, I haven't seen any of these, though I googled them out of curiosity. I need another lifetime for watching movies, in addition to the five to ten extra lifetimes I've requested for reading books and travel.
5 is in my queue.
1.2 I haven't seen due to being fed up with Nicolas Cage.
2.2 would be in my queue if Netflix had it, since it's a potentially non-awful Viking-era movie and those are in curiously short supply.
Ah it must be 13 Assassins. I haven't seen the remake yet, though it's on the list. (Though I almost guessed 47 Ronin and stopped myself. And then there's Sanjuro and like Samurai I-III for cheatings.)
The movie of any discernable quality I've seen most recently was Palm Beach Story last week. Movies were so saucy and jaded before the Code. I don't think that movie could be remade, the premise wouldn't work at all. (I guess I'm not sure if it worked in 1942 either.) So many great lines.
More pictures! I can't share any, I have one of those setups involving one of those 'television' things.
Yup, 13 Assassins is right. I liked the original better than the remake; I think Miike gets too much squeamish delight in the brutality. Both show the action in a comprehensive way, you never get lost in the fight, even as the actors might.
Throne of Blood is indeed black and white, what a great movie! But the first still is from Thirteen Assassins (1963). Upthread fleacircus mentioned 47 Ronin; Hiroshi Inagaki's Chushingura is in color, and is just visually stunning. It's three hours long and every shot looks like it could be painted on a shoji screen. Cherry blossoms under the eaves. Visual poetry.
Oho you're right that one is in my wheelhouse, such as it is.
I think that's Samurai II, the big fight in the marsh where Musashi invents two-sword fighting, on his way to discover that being awesome at everything was a valid life strategy. Or at least he discovered that being ultra-famous for killing shitloads of people would lead to painters, flower-arrangers, and tea-pourers validating his skills in those areas as well. Oh yes, he's just amazing at those things too! A total natural, nothing to teach him, wouldn't he like to continue his travels now?
I haven't seen the Samurai's in a looooong time. I remember thinking they were a little flawed and Mifune wasn't at his best. But of course they were bound to follow the biography and show the well-known scenes, and couldn't just be a tight story with character development like Yojimbo.
You're making me think I don't pay enough attention to the excruciatingly beautiful things.
Excellent, fleacircus, it's Samurai II! In truth, I think the best treatment of the story is Eiji Yoshikawa's 1935 novel Musashi. It manages to be propaganda without warmongering; it expresses national spirit, even martial spirit, without justifying militarism. A sprawling story with dozens of character arcs, masterfully told. Yoshikawa's Taiko, about Hideyoshi, is also tremendous.
She guessed Lust for Life and I was hoping she'd know the van Cleef and Bergman ones but no. Best guess for the comic one is Iron Man. I only know 4.4 by reputation.
The one with le Bison I guessed, though I was a little thrown off by the seaside as I didn't remember that particular shot. It looks like when they are going to do the thing with the towel, though. The scene with the main Resistance leader and the other guy in the waiting room, that is mostly without dialogue, but you can see the other guy's surprise turn to fear then resignation as he realizes what he's going to have to do... one of my favorite scenes in any movie.
I did read Musashi back in like '94, during my shameful Japanophile phase, and you're right it is great. (I didn't finish Taiko.) Matahachi's mother is pretty hilarious.
I give up what's the "One of the best films ever. Silent."?
Hey, great stuff. I couldn't figure out a good hint for Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans but it is one of the best films ever, and silent to boot.
I agree about L'armée des ombres; that scene! The whole movie, all these normal people grimly doing extraordinary things and being obviously but silently affected by it.
Oh, and 4.4 - La passion de Jeanne d'Arc, I can't recommend enough. It's in my top three of all time. The Criterion release with the Richard Einhorn music is stunning.
Thanks, HJ and BP! I'll give it a watch with confidence now. Never heard of L'armée, but it looks interesting. I'm continuing to hold off watching Falconetti's Jeanne until just the right moment. Right now, I'm hovering in the 30s, dodging screwballs as best I can while chasing racy pre-Code dramas and charming little British comedies.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
