What quirky DVD's have you watched lately?

Posted by: ErikL on 14 February 2004

I recently watched these and both are recommended:

Capturing The Friedmans- A documentary of a middle-class Long Island family, when a son and father were accused of molestation and sodomy. Definitely not a comfy Valentine's Day sort of movie; it's uncomfortable and unsettling but well done as all sides of the events are touched upon.*

Man on the Train (L'Homme du Train)- Two very different guys in an excruciatingly dull town in France, a thief and a teacher, cross paths and form an odd relationship. Definitely a slow builder to the climax where both experience life-altering events, but worth every minute.

(* Don't watch this the same weekend you watch L.I.E.)
Posted on: 23 July 2004 by bhazen
The most brilliant thing about that film is how Godard convinces you, narratively, that the film is in the future...but films it in plain sight in 1965 Paris! No attempt at all to build futuristic sets or generate special effects. He conjures Tomorrow out of the lo- tech details of Today (well, '65).

Try watching it with TV sound off, and Kraftwerk's Radioactivity on the hifi.
Posted on: 23 July 2004 by Stephen Bennett
quote:
Originally posted by bhazen:
The most brilliant thing about that film is how Godard convinces you, narratively, that the film is in the future...but films it in plain sight in 1965 Paris! No attempt at all to build futuristic sets or generate special effects. He conjures Tomorrow out of the lo- tech details of Today (well, '65).




Agreed. Apart from the Fan Heaters.

Stephen
Posted on: 24 July 2004 by long-time-dead
http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=158253&p=57&c=&g=72

..... and less than a tenner !!!!
Posted on: 26 July 2004 by Stephen Bennett
quote:
Originally posted by long-time-dead:
http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=158253&p=57&c=&g=72

..... and less than a tenner !!!!


I've seen it - it's rubbish.

No, for a Connoisseur of the genre, this is what you need.

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?searchtype=r2title&searchstring=vampire+lovers&page=search&Go.x=9&Go.y=16

Cool

Stephen
Posted on: 28 July 2004 by Berlin Fritz
I've just finished being enlightened by "Mrs Dalloway" from the Virginia Woolf novel, most enjoyable if I may say so.


Fritz von Snob
Posted on: 09 August 2004 by JeremyD
Finding Dolls for sale for half price, I spent £10 I don't have on it and was pleased to find it just as moving as the first time.
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After more than two months, http://www.101cd.com finally sent me a copy of Rhapsody in August! I suppose I ought to have been annoyed about the delay but for £3.99 inc. postage I thought it was worth the wait.

I watched it this afternoon (not deliberately choosing Nagaski Day) but thanks to the effects of insomnia I kept drifting in and out of consciousness, so I can't really comment on how it seemed the second time.
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The Son's Room. I bought this a few weeks ago, after reading some favourable reviews and finding it on sale for ~£7. It's in Italian with English subtitles.

My chief complaint is that it contains what I would call a pornographic scene (no doubt to the amusement of some forum members) which I would rather do without.

However, setting that aside, I didn't really know what to make of the film, and found it very slow moving. I thought it would have been
better if 15-30 minutes had been edited out. Funnily enough, it was on BBC2 the evening I watched it! If anyone has seen it and can say something more constructive about it then please do...
Posted on: 10 August 2004 by Mekon
I second the reco for The Station Agent, and throw in one for Capturing The Friedmans, although I have a suspicion that if you know too much about the case, it could be frustrating.
Posted on: 26 September 2004 by Not For Me
{After having no broadband for 2 weeks, I'm back!)

The last quirky DVD I watched was :

"A Bitter Message of Hopeless Grief" by Survival Research Laboratories

A compelling mixture of dead animal grinding and bizarre machinery, with a really good low end industrial soundtrack, really pushing the subwoofer!

DS

OTD - The Osmonds - Love me for a Reason

*** All the views expressed within this e-mail are the sole responsibility of DS, and as such are subject to chaining ***
Posted on: 04 October 2004 by JeremyD
I don't know if it's because I'm very tired but I've been through the whole thread and cannot find the posts mentioning the anime Grave of the Fireflies, which is the story of two children living in Japan during World War II.

It's been available in the UK for a while, and I bought my copy last week.

The story begins with a flashforward to the death of one of the two main characters, including a scene whose significance is obviously going to become apparent to us over time.

It then returns to the start of the story, at which point it follows a direction quite different from what I was expecting. I must admit there were times when it seemed distressingly literal, and I lost faith that it was leading me anywhere that a distressing documentary would not.

I need not have feared, however, because it all made sense in the end, and led to a deeply moving ending, after which my remaining criticisms suddnely seemed unimportant...