I first heard about it right after it won the golden palm and I was intrigued by the decision to give the award to the two women as well as the director. Very unprecedented, but not a wrong decision IMO.
It was actually Spielberg being the Cann chair that year who suggested it I believe, I can kind of see it both ways as yeah the actresses were obviously a massive part of the films success including a lot of improvisation but also that Kechiche might take it as a bit of a slap in the face considering its never happened before. That was I suspect part of the reason for the tension with Seydoux especially, well that and perhaps the view the film takes of her character with Adele obviously reflecting the directors background more although I think a lot of its strength is in does that without demonising the former or making the later a saint as happened too often.
Again in retrospect I think beyond daring to show graphic sex as actually healthy and enjoyable rather than some form of abuse or mental dysfunction a lot of the reason for the negative coverage is due to that, Normally you'd expect that kind of film to be the story of the closeted working class character being "saved" from bigots and elevated by the modern liberal individualistic character, I mean theres some of that but also ultimately a very critical eye of the potential elitist nature of that culture including the very kind of people who would be reviewing and commenting on it. That to me makes it vastly more interesting than just another worthy liberal drama simply reaffirming viewpoints most of the audience likely have already.
I've had A Brighter Summer Day from this same director Edward Yang on my watch list for a while, but at four hours it's difficult to pull the trigger. I didn't realize he died in 2007 and that Yi Yi is his last film.
Yeah so have I although I'v not pulled the trigger yet more because I'm cheap and the Criterion Bluray is £18 and I'm hoping for a sale, I spose you get your moneys worth at four hours. Yi Yi is still actually the only Taiwanese new wave I'v seen and I get the impression it wasn't just the end of Yang's career but a bit of a cap on the whole movement. The influence does seem pretty strong on cinema since though, I remember one of the main things I thought watching Yi Yi was "ah so this is what Coppola was watching when she made
Lost in Translation".
One thing I always disagree with back when Lost in Translation was released was that it was focused on the characters being alienated by the location. I think quite the reverse as in Yi Yi its showing a modern Asian city of hotels, towerblocks, franchise cafe's, etc as being a lot more personal and human than we normally see and this having a positive effect on previous alienated characters.
I can definitely see why Yang's film is held in such high regard, it does feel like he's showing so many strengths in terms of writing, visuals, etc without making the film feel at all "showy", not that I'v anything against that in itself as a lot of my favourite films are very showy but it did definitely feel like something a non cinephine would potentially enjoy and indeed a standard a lot of adult drama should try to meet,
I actually felt it was very well paced and I didn't feel the run-time that much.
Again I think its moreso the style of the film than it having some sprawling narrative, you have several scenes that I'd guess are pushing 10 mins. Story wise I think its petty tightly focused on Adele's character.
That's hilarious. Ceylan is another as yet unexplored director for me.
I think if you like Tarkovsky Uzak is definitely a good place to start, men wandering around a snowy Istanbul in an ennui like state,
I admit watching that film was almost a bit too close up home, the lead character is a shall we say rather withdrawn landscape photographer, enjoys watching Stalker repeatedly and I was even putting up a friend who'd lost his sub rental at the time I watched it, not commenting on any further similarity.
That guy has a really intense face. Apparently the sound designer that worked on Stalker thinks that Tarkovsky, Tarkovsky's wife, and Solonitsyn all died from the same type of lung cancer due to exposure to toxic chemicals while filming the movie? Wonder if there's any truth to that.
The claim was I believe there was a paper mill up stream(the foamy river in that wide shot just before the "meat mincer" tunnel) putting out toxic pollution rather than the actual sets(its mostly filmed in a disused hydro power plant and salt warehouses I believe) being dangerous. Tarkovsky was supposed to be planning on casting him in both Nostalgia and The Sacrifice before he died, Earland Johnsen certainly wasn't bad in the latter especially but I suspect they films might have been more effective had he lived to be in them, not to rubbish them but whilst excellent by most directors standards I don't think they quite reach the standard of Tarkovskys soviet releases.
The apes from the Planet of the Apes series looked quite good to me as did Thanos in Infinity War, although perhaps not that much more impressive than anything in Lord of the Rings considering the time passed.
Indeed, not that CGI characters haven't impressed post Gollum but he was clearly a big leap forward in the technology being used effectively relative to say "he who shall not be named" from the starwars prequels.
She never seems to close the thing. It gives her a look of almost constant wonderment. I can see why Kechiche would cast based on that.
His films(even moreso Secret of the Grain) certainly break with the cliché of actors never eating on camera as well and really if your going to spend over half a three hour film in closeup of someone they better have a very expressive face.
Very spoilish clip even in the name so I'v hidden it but a 19-20 year old giving a performance like that almost on debut is pretty amazing, moreso than the sex almost makes me feel a bit guilty for watching it in how pained it looks.
