tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post8103285692424143747..comments2023-10-31T10:21:00.796-04:00Comments on Thanks for the Use of the Hall: Antonio Pietrangeli, BAM, July 6 and 26; and Other Italian MattersDan Sallitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13136066978329749513noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-71275735640240153082007-06-14T16:33:00.000-04:002007-06-14T16:33:00.000-04:00I did manage to catch Schopenhauer, but I liked it...I did manage to catch <b>Schopenhauer</b>, but I liked it a bit less than you did, Sky. Couldn't quite put all the elements together: the withholding seemed intended as droll, shaggy-dog humor; but there was also a strain of coarser humor (sex changes, flagellation) that was getting in the way for me. The shot choices seemed downright bizarre at times.Dan Sallitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13136066978329749513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-86702261079547047022007-06-11T12:22:00.000-04:002007-06-11T12:22:00.000-04:00Schopenhauer is the one I missed, in order to see ...<b>Schopenhauer</b> is the one I missed, in order to see Fuller's bizarre <b>Street of No Return</b>....<br><br>I was very tempted to walk out of the Sorrentino myself, but I think there was something interesting buried in there under its many offputting elements. About halfway through I began to sense a rather somber, philosophical sensibility, starting with the grave conversations between the beautiful young woman and the ugly, malevolent protagonist: there was something fascinating in how they understood each other instantly. Ultimately it felt like a movie about a guy whose greatest joy is also his undoing, and who knows and accepts that from the beginning.<br><br><b>In Memory of Me</b> was very much in Bresson's shadow - it felt like <b>A Man Escaped</b> with hints of <b>Escape from Alcatraz</b>! - but I didn't enjoy it. It's a classic case of a filmmaker unwilling to go to the interior place that his material demands, and so inadvertently turning his movie into a plodding pseudo-noir about monks spying on each other and not learning anything interesting....Dan Sallitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13136066978329749513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222475879097604897.post-86593927759913929612007-06-10T20:07:00.000-04:002007-06-10T20:07:00.000-04:00I W/O'd of the Sorrentino, but I can heartily ...I W/O'd of the Sorrentino, but I can heartily recommend <i>Schopenhauer</i>, which is strange and withholding but has an amazing visual sense. Bresson seems like a big influence on the affectless performances and the way sound design has to suffice when an image would be too much, but Maderna has his own weird, sometimes very funny approach to storytelling. There's a perverse reticence to the way his characters behave, but the film might've fallen apart without it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com