Film The Redcafe Movie Club Thread

Badunk said:
Ok, I watched this film this morning and I really enjoyed it. I found the film's use of long pauses really refreshing and they naturally added to the pacing of the story. At two hours long, you're not left looking at your watch and hoping that it's nearly over, which is a testament to the director I suppose.

I viewed the film through the eyes of the class struggle: Georges' parents are obviously fairly liberal, especially for the time period, to have given Majid's family jobs on their country estate, and the fact that they were willing to adopt him after their disappearance is to be commended. However, the actions of Georges, even at such a young age, had such life-changing ramifications for Majid and the film, for me at least, was an example of a well off, middle class, liberal elite trying to hide his horrible past and persuading himself and those closest to him that he was really the victim in all this. The French were obviously cnuts in the 60s towards people who were part of their empire (Algerians, Vietnamese, etc) and Georges was a bad bastard towards Majid, but both the state and the individual believe that their thin veneer of respectability exonerates them from all their wrongdoings of the past.

To me, the film was all about chickens coming home to roost and the symbolism of Georges telling Majid to kill the cockerel wasn't lost on me (but maybe it wasn't intentional by the director). The fact that the film ends with Majid's son seemingly up to something nefarious with Georges' son solidifies my interpretation that the sins of the father will befall the son.

I had so much to say and I've maybe gone off on a tangent but I think it's one of those films where the lack of blatant explanations of every plot device means that it's very much open to interpretation and this is mine.

I'll give it a Sir Bobby and kudos to @Murder on Zidane's Floor for a good selection.

I loved the sections with no dialogue, for the reason I stated.

I suppose I disliked that a cockerel had to die.

Best scene was social services arriving to take Majid to the orphanage - again, a brilliant use of the absence of dialogue, shot from afar, showing the brutality of the state towards a child who had lost his parents and who would be traumatised for the rest of his life.

I think Georges was played brilliantly. He stole the show, even though I thoroughly disliked him.
Click to expand...
Great review, like your perspective on this. It's a really good film and sometimes people over look these type of films because they're French and "difficult to follow".

European cinema as a whole has so many gems and each region really has a different vibe.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, this is exactly what the thread is for.
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:
Great review, like your perspective on this. It's a really good film and sometimes people over look these type of films because they're French and "difficult to follow".

European cinema as a whole has so many gems and each region really has a different vibe.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, this is exactly what the thread is for.
Click to expand...
Indeed. I've never heard of the director before but I've just added another of his films to my watch list. "The White Ribbon" will probably get watched on my days off.
 
Ooo if we're talking about Michael Haneke, I was always partial to The Piano Teacher which feels like a bit of an 'under the radar' movie of his.

Like many of his early/mid films - Funny Games, Cache, Benny's Video etc - it's a horrible watch but aptly reflects the darker recesses of character that stem from traumatic incidents. In the film, the main character gets into a relationship with one of her students and it becomes something of an obsession for her. Masochistic tendencies show up and you're left with the impression that she never really learned to love herself so couldn't provide affection for others. It all comes to a pretty bloody and violent head but it's hard not to feel sorry for her in a way.

I always liked how Haneke made films like this that questioned viewers like this. It's been a while since I saw Cache but the links between racism and media seemed clear at the time.

Badunk's write-up is very good, particularly the point about 'lack of explanation'. Haneke extrapolated that in an earlier film called Code Unknown which is has half a dozen separate storylines that end in abrupt ways without resolution. It's the type of thing that's frustrating to watch but leaves the viewer questioning what's going on. Funny Games is also very much like that.

Ruben Ostlund - the guy who directed Force Majeure and The Square - seems like a continuation of the sort of cinema Haneke used to make.
 
Last edited:
Vidyoyo said:
Ooo if we're talking about Michael Haneke, I was always partial to The Piano Teacher which feels like a bit of an 'under the radar' movie of his.

Like many of his early/mid films - Funny Games, Cache, Benny's Video etc - it's a horrible watch but aptly reflects the darker recesses of character that stem from traumatic incidents. In the film, the main character gets into a relationship with one of her students and it becomes something of an obsession for her. Masochistic tendencies show up and you're left with the impression that she never really learned to love herself so couldn't provide affection for others. It all comes to a pretty bloody and violent head but it's hard not to feel sorry for her in a way.

I always liked how Haneke made films like this that questioned viewers like this. It's been a while since I saw Cache but the links between racism and media seemed clear at the time.

Badunk's write-up is very good, particularly the point about 'lack of explanation'. Haneke extrapolated that in an earlier film called Code Unknown which is has half a dozen separate storylines that end in abrupt ways without resolution. It's the type of thing that's frustrating to watch but leaves the viewer questioning what's going on. Funny Games is also very much like that.

Ruben Ostlund - the guy who directed Force Majeure and The Square - seems like a continuation of the sort of cinema Haneke used to make.
Click to expand...
Fantastic, thanks for this post, really enjoyed reading it.
 
Film 3 - The Right Stuff
Right! Apologies for the delay (again), been dealing with more personal stuff, but enough about that - back to it!

Get your butterkist popcorn in the microwave (other brands are available), grab a cold one, dim the lights, kick back and enjoy this week's featurette...............


.....................The Right Stuff


pdysmo3lx005qt3mggvv-800x445.jpg


Synopsis: The movie covers the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager to the Mercury 7 astronauts, showing that no one had a clue how to run a space program or how to select people to be in it.
Release date: 21 October 1983 (USA)
Director: Philip Kaufmann
Screenplay: Philip Kaufman
Box office: $21.1 million
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:
Right! Apologies for the delay (again), been dealing with more personal stuff, but enough about that - back to it!

Get your butterkist popcorn in the microwave (other brands are available), grab a cold one, dim the lights, kick back and enjoy this week's featurette...............


.....................The Right Stuff


pdysmo3lx005qt3mggvv-800x445.jpg


Synopsis: The movie covers the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager to the Mercury 7 astronauts, showing that no one had a clue how to run a space program or how to select people to be in it.
Release date: 21 October 1983 (USA)
Director: Philip Kaufmann
Screenplay: Philip Kaufman
Box office: $21.1 million
Click to expand...
One of my go to movies as a kid along with 2001 ASO. I always loved the slightly directionless and ambiguous nature of the film. There's no real hand holding, start, middle or end. It's just a snapshot of history and the characters of the time. The cinematography is amazing, the vast space of the desert and skies are perfectly captured and the soundtrack is also incredible.

Great ensemble cast, the 'All american' cast is perfect for the subject matter.

Will give it another scan this week, been a few years.
 
feck why did I miss this thread? Cache is a brilliant film.

I'm a bit tied up at the moment but will try get involved in the future.
 
Volumiza said:
One of my go to movies as a kid along with 2001 ASO. I always loved the slightly directionless and ambiguous nature of the film. There's no real hand holding, start, middle or end. It's just a snapshot of history and the characters of the time. The cinematography is amazing, the vast space of the desert and skies are perfectly captured and the soundtrack is also incredible.

Great ensemble cast, the 'All american' cast is perfect for the subject matter.

Will give it another scan this week, been a few years.
Click to expand...
Amazing, can't wait to hear your thoughts.
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:
Right! Apologies for the delay (again), been dealing with more personal stuff, but enough about that - back to it!

Get your butterkist popcorn in the microwave (other brands are available), grab a cold one, dim the lights, kick back and enjoy this week's featurette...............


.....................The Right Stuff


pdysmo3lx005qt3mggvv-800x445.jpg


Synopsis: The movie covers the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager to the Mercury 7 astronauts, showing that no one had a clue how to run a space program or how to select people to be in it.
Release date: 21 October 1983 (USA)
Director: Philip Kaufmann
Screenplay: Philip Kaufman
Box office: $21.1 million
Click to expand...
I watched this last night. Wow, what a long film! At over 3 hours, you need to cancel all appointments and turn your phone off. Blockbuster cast (for the time) and a momentous period in American (and world) history, so it should make for a good film.

And it was. It's not quite the epic that it might have been but it's worth a look regardless. Think Top Gun but in the 50s and 60s instead of the 80s.

With such a heavyweight cast, you'd think that the film was guaranteed to be a masterclass in acting prowess but I think it's a big drawback. Without a strong lead actor, the film fails to get under your skin and you're not overly invested in any of the characters. The (former) Nazi scientists leading the space programme are very two dimensional, right down to the pockmarked faces, permanent scowls and lack of empathy for the personal safety of the astronauts. The film focuses on the pilots flying the experimental planes trying to break speed records, many of whom go on to become astronauts in the space race against the Soviet Union. You witness the home lives of the 7 pilots who are eventually chosen to man the first rockets to leave the earth's atmosphere and the training they had to go through to be accepted. You are privy to the machinations of the politicians who are engaged in a battle for supremacy with the Soviets, so you get to see both the micro and macro pictures.

However, I think this is where the film falls down. By trying to cover all bases, it never really packs the punch that it should and could have. Top Gun was a huge hit at the box office because both iterations focus on the experience of dog fighting. Most of the movie(s) is in the cockpit. Yeah, there's a bit of a love interest, yeah there's some insubordination, yeah there's one liners and cockiness, but the number one priority of the director is to show what it's like to actually be in a fighter jet. The Right Stuff, I would argue, might have been a better movie if it had focused on one aspect of the space race, like the training, or the strain on the marriages of the astronauts, or the political chicanery, or the experimental nature of the technology, or something else. Instead, it leaves you looking at your watch wondering how long there is left and with a feeling that an opportunity has been missed.

As far as ratings go, it's somewhere between a Roy Keane and a Lee Sharpe for me. It does everything well but nothing is outstanding.

I think the movie highlighted the haphazard nature of the early space programme. We automatically think that pilots were first choice to be astronauts but the film shows that trapeze artists, divers and all sorts were considered as well. I'd have liked more of this.

I disliked the fact that we didn't really see much cockpit action in a movie about great pilots. Dennis Quaid brags about how he's the best but we don't see him in action. In Top Gun, you see how great Maverick is umpteen times.

Best scene was Ed Harris when his heat shield was burning up and he thought it was fireflies.

My main criticism of the movie is that it gives everyone a chance to shine but nobody really does. That being said, I thought Donald Moffat was a very convincing Lyndon B Johnson.
 
Badunk said:
I watched this last night. Wow, what a long film! At over 3 hours, you need to cancel all appointments and turn your phone off. Blockbuster cast (for the time) and a momentous period in American (and world) history, so it should make for a good film.

And it was. It's not quite the epic that it might have been but it's worth a look regardless. Think Top Gun but in the 50s and 60s instead of the 80s.

With such a heavyweight cast, you'd think that the film was guaranteed to be a masterclass in acting prowess but I think it's a big drawback. Without a strong lead actor, the film fails to get under your skin and you're not overly invested in any of the characters. The (former) Nazi scientists leading the space programme are very two dimensional, right down to the pockmarked faces, permanent scowls and lack of empathy for the personal safety of the astronauts. The film focuses on the pilots flying the experimental planes trying to break speed records, many of whom go on to become astronauts in the space race against the Soviet Union. You witness the home lives of the 7 pilots who are eventually chosen to man the first rockets to leave the earth's atmosphere and the training they had to go through to be accepted. You are privy to the machinations of the politicians who are engaged in a battle for supremacy with the Soviets, so you get to see both the micro and macro pictures.

However, I think this is where the film falls down. By trying to cover all bases, it never really packs the punch that it should and could have. Top Gun was a huge hit at the box office because both iterations focus on the experience of dog fighting. Most of the movie(s) is in the cockpit. Yeah, there's a bit of a love interest, yeah there's some insubordination, yeah there's one liners and cockiness, but the number one priority of the director is to show what it's like to actually be in a fighter jet. The Right Stuff, I would argue, might have been a better movie if it had focused on one aspect of the space race, like the training, or the strain on the marriages of the astronauts, or the political chicanery, or the experimental nature of the technology, or something else. Instead, it leaves you looking at your watch wondering how long there is left and with a feeling that an opportunity has been missed.

As far as ratings go, it's somewhere between a Roy Keane and a Lee Sharpe for me. It does everything well but nothing is outstanding.

I think the movie highlighted the haphazard nature of the early space programme. We automatically think that pilots were first choice to be astronauts but the film shows that trapeze artists, divers and all sorts were considered as well. I'd have liked more of this.

I disliked the fact that we didn't really see much cockpit action in a movie about great pilots. Dennis Quaid brags about how he's the best but we don't see him in action. In Top Gun, you see how great Maverick is umpteen times.

Best scene was Ed Harris when his heat shield was burning up and he thought it was fireflies.

My main criticism of the movie is that it gives everyone a chance to shine but nobody really does. That being said, I thought Donald Moffat was a very convincing Lyndon B Johnson.
Click to expand...
Fantastic write up, really enjoyed reading and I'm inclined to agree to an extent as well. I think film making in the era was a little different.
 
Film 4 - Audition
Right! Get your popcorn in the microwave, grab a cold one, keep the lights on, lock the doors, kick back and enjoy this week's featurette...............


.....................AUDITION!


Audition-20-1.jpg


Synopsis: A widower accepts his friend's offer to audition girls in order to search for his new wife. However, the girl he likes does not appear to be the one she claims to be
Release date: 16 March 2001 (UK)
Director: Takashi Miike
Language: Japanese
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:
Right! Get your popcorn in the microwave, grab a cold one, keep the lights on, lock the doors, kick back and enjoy this week's featurette...............


.....................AUDITION!


Audition-20-1.jpg


Synopsis: A widower accepts his friend's offer to audition girls in order to search for his new wife. However, the girl he likes does not appear to be the one she claims to be
Release date: 16 March 2001 (UK)
Director: Takashi Miike
Language: Japanese
Click to expand...
Will watch this when I get a chance.
 
Rooney in Paris said:
Is it a porn film?
Click to expand...
You havent seen Audition? Dont know if it holds up but I remember feeling sick the first time I saw it back in uni. Dont know if I can put myself through it again. It's like really slow and then suddenly makes you feel sick.
 
So, did anybody watch this? I caught it last night - free of charge if you know the right people.

Some thoughts...

The restrained first hour is a superb way to lull us into a false sense of security. The events are grotesque in their own way - luring a woman as a marriage candidate under the guise of an audition for a movie - but it's dealt with so matter-of-factly that you don't question what's happening. The main character doesn't appear ogre-like as we might imagine, just a sad old man.

The steadily increasing strangeness of MC's nightmarish visions bring with it a greater sense of unease but it's still unclear at this point, much as it is to him, what the truth behind Asami is. This is where the film starts to descend into a frenetic fever dream and while we seem to understand a link between Asami and the murders, we don't know why or what her motive is.

The last part... well what can you say? It's incredibly disturbing, much more than I remember. Wince-worthy but oddly engrossing, much as the best horror is when we know we're safe ourselves from the ensuing madness. That it doesn't end in a cathartic way makes it all the more unsettling and ambiguous, neither character feels like we're supposed to root for them.

More critically, I found at times it was very much style over substance. This isn't atypical of Takeshi Miike's work as he's a b-movie auteur who works in a way that aims to capture our attention with his advertising-like approach to filmmaking. The disjointed edited works in terms of giving it some pizazz but did leave me wondering how much analysis the story demands.

HOWEVER if I were to look deeper I'd consider it social commentary on how females are treated as objects, which comes up often in Japanese horror movies, not least by Miike's contemporary Sion Sono. Asami takes the role of a figurative avenger in the latter section - a woman underestimated if ever there was one - creating havoc to people who've wronged her. In this case towards MC who led her under false pretense. That his approach doesn't appear 'wrong' would miss the power dynamic aspect favouring his ability to put her in that position.

It's also the case that Ryu Murakami, the original author, tends to be interested in power relations. I haven't read the book, but it struck me in a similar way to Coin Locker Babies and Piercing. The former being a novel about marginalised boys put into a care home; the latter a tete-a-tete between a businessman and prostitute, similarly violent though more equally so.

What I also found interesting - not least because I was wearing headphones - is how fantastic the sound effects are. There's a scene early in where Asami expects a phone call from MC and the sound is just incredibly loud, ringing for about 20 seconds before it's cut by an equally loud bang by the anonymous man she's tied up in the sack. It made me flinch.

I'd also like to make a brief point about domestic horror as I find this is a curious Asian phenomenon that we don't necessarily have a counterpart to in the West. There's a classic Korean movie called The Housemaid from the 1960s Audition is a more modern-day version. A movie where the horror starts and ends in the home, a place we don't expect it to.

Overall, I'd say it's a strong movie with lots of interesting scenes and some curious themes. Not exactly masterful but certainly impactful as the best horror tends to be.
 
Vidyoyo said:
So, did anybody watch this? I caught it last night - free of charge if you know the right people.

Some thoughts...

The restrained first hour is a superb way to lull us into a false sense of security. The events are grotesque in their own way - luring a woman as a marriage candidate under the guise of an audition for a movie - but it's dealt with so matter-of-factly that you don't question what's happening. The main character doesn't appear ogre-like as we might imagine, just a sad old man.

The steadily increasing strangeness of MC's nightmarish visions bring with it a greater sense of unease but it's still unclear at this point, much as it is to him, what the truth behind Asami is. This is where the film starts to descend into a frenetic fever dream and while we seem to understand a link between Asami and the murders, we don't know why or what her motive is.

The last part... well what can you say? It's incredibly disturbing, much more than I remember. Wince-worthy but oddly engrossing, much as the best horror is when we know we're safe ourselves from the ensuing madness. That it doesn't end in a cathartic way makes it all the more unsettling and ambiguous, neither character feels like we're supposed to root for them.

More critically, I found at times it was very much style over substance. This isn't atypical of Takeshi Miike's work as he's a b-movie auteur who works in a way that aims to capture our attention with his advertising-like approach to filmmaking. The disjointed edited works in terms of giving it some pizazz but did leave me wondering how much analysis the story demands.

HOWEVER if I were to look deeper I'd consider it social commentary on how females are treated as objects, which comes up often in Japanese horror movies, not least by Miike's contemporary Sion Sono. Asami takes the role of a figurative avenger in the latter section - a woman underestimated if ever there was one - creating havoc to people who've wronged her. In this case towards MC who led her under false pretense. That his approach doesn't appear 'wrong' would miss the power dynamic aspect favouring his ability to put her in that position.

It's also the case that Ryu Murakami, the original author, tends to be interested in power relations. I haven't read the book, but it struck me in a similar way to Coin Locker Babies and Piercing. The former being a novel about marginalised boys put into a care home; the latter a tete-a-tete between a businessman and prostitute, similarly violent though more equally so.

What I also found interesting - not least because I was wearing headphones - is how fantastic the sound effects are. There's a scene early in where Asami expects a phone call from MC and the sound is just incredibly loud, ringing for about 20 seconds before it's cut by an equally loud bang by the anonymous man she's tied up in the sack. It made me flinch.

I'd also like to make a brief point about domestic horror as I find this is a curious Asian phenomenon that we don't necessarily have a counterpart to in the West. There's a classic Korean movie called The Housemaid from the 1960s Audition is a more modern-day version. A movie where the horror starts and ends in the home, a place we don't expect it to.

Overall, I'd say it's a strong movie with lots of interesting scenes and some curious themes. Not exactly masterful but certainly impactful as the best horror tends to be.
Click to expand...
Great write up as ever, incredibly disturbing and I like your point on women as objects, very astute and a great observation
 
I've never heard of Audition before so thought I might give it a try. I skimmed through a review and it said "the final minutes are as unbearable as film can get." :nervous:

Another website had it listed in "The 100 scariest movie moments." What am I getting myself into here... :lol:
 
Cole9 said:
I've never heard of Audition before so thought I might give it a try. I skimmed through a review and it said "the final minutes are as unbearable as film can get." :nervous:

Another website had it listed in "The 100 scariest movie moments." What am I getting myself into here... :lol:
Click to expand...
Enjoy!
 
I tried to re-watch it
Cole9 said:
I've never heard of Audition before so thought I might give it a try. I skimmed through a review and it said "the final minutes are as unbearable as film can get." :nervous:

Another website had it listed in "The 100 scariest movie moments." What am I getting myself into here... :lol:
Click to expand...
Mental torture mate.
 
Ok, so I watched this last night...

How would I describe it? Pretty Woman meets Hostel? Yeah, that's a good summary.

So our hero, Aoyama, is a widower who wants to get married again after raising his son and his movie producer best friend suggests holding auditions to find a suitable match. He is smitten with a girl whose CV he spills coffee on by accident and starts dating her after the audition. She comes across as very shy and subservient but his mate warns him that none of her references check out. He chooses to ignore the warnings and whisks her away for a weekend, planning to propose to her. She seduces him, while still appearing meek and vulnerable, but he wakes up to find out that she's gone. He goes round to the former workplaces she references on her CV to try and find her and doesn't really get any answers, just some cryptic clues that imply that she leaves a trail of death and destruction in her wake. Then, one night, he comes home, has a drink (which she has drugged) and she ends up torturing him with acupuncture needles and then starts garrotting his feet with a cheese wire. His son comes home, sees Dad, avoids her attempts to spray something in his face (one would assume it's some sort of chloroform type of vapour), and ends up kicking her down the stairs, breaking her neck, and then calling the police.

So, what the f*ck was it all about? I don't know. It was a fairly tepid tale until the last act. It reminded me of Lost In Translation in some ways - older guy, younger woman, will they, won't they, pretty boring restaurant/bar scenes - and I was forcing myself to watch to the end because I was going to review it. Then it went bonkers and I don't know why. I don't know what Aoyama did wrong? We are led to believe that Asami (the prospective wife) has been physically and probably sexually abused by her ballet teacher as a child but why is she taking it out on Aoyama, who seems like a nice guy? There's a subplot involving a woman who works for Aoyama, who seems to hold a candle for him, which he seems oblivious to, but what is its point? Is it saying that what he's really looking for is right under his nose? I don't know. The answer to almost every question I have about this film is "I don't know". Aoyama and Asami seem to be brought together by accident and there's no tying up at the end of the film to show that Asami had manipulated things behind the scenes to make it happen. It's all just a bit pointless to me.

I have to say, though, that as frustrating as it was to watch and try to figure out what it was all about, the sound was horrendous. There are moments when I had to turn up the volume, especially when Asami was talking, and then it'd become loud again. I don't know if the director did this on purpose to highlight Asami's shyness but it didn't work. It only served to annoy me.

It's an Angel Di Maria for me, I'm afraid.

What did I like? Not much, really. I suppose Asami's pretty cute.

What I didn't like? The plot twist, the sound, the fact that Asami sprayed stuff to incapacitate the son and then walked through the mist unaffected.

Favourite scene? Didn't have one.

Who stole the show? Aoyama was a likeable character.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.