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PeruvianSkies
05-12-2007, 04:48 PM
Have you ever watched a movie and at first were unimpressed or just didn't seem to click with you? I sure have. Plenty of them. I have a rule...always give a film a second chance. Sometimes we can be cold towards a film just by the mood we are in at the time of initial viewing, other times we can be cold just because of where we are in life at that moment...it can be a plethora of things. I'd like to share a few films that I didn't really care for the first time around, but then upon revisiting...really enjoyed. They are:

CLOSER (2004) This Mike Nichols directed film made me cringe the first time I saw it. The characters are flawed, annoying, bitter, and always yelling. There is not ONE likable character in this film. However, upon revisiting this film I realized the irony of the film. The title "Closer" is hardly the way that I would desribe these characters as ALL of them seem incapable of intimacy or any type of human-closeness. They are all searching for something that is right in front of them, yet because of their various discontent attitudes they are never satisfied with what they have. Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen all give incredible performances despite playing characters that are non-typical for them. Again, the actors are almost cast in a way that they are playing uncomfortable characters, which adds to the chemistry of making this film work. If you don't catch these subtities the first time around it can be a complete turn off, but I'd recommend giving this film a second chance.

http://www.nat-portman.net/gallery/movies/closer/closer018.jpg

RONIN I don't think I was really in the mood for this film when it first opened in 1998. I was a huge John Frankenheimer fan and with the lineup of stars in this film I was expected all out guts and glory. What I ended up with was a psychological action film with great car chase scenes. After the highlight moments of the film and the many many many plot twists it was giving me a headache. Two years earlier I had the same feelings about Brian DePalma's MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. A friend of mine a few years later told me how RONIN was one of his favorite films and we watched it again. Terrific. This time my hopes were already destroyed and I found myself watching the film through a different perspective. This time around I decided to just go along for the ride, rather than try to put my own influence into the film. I just sat back and let it go. By doing so I realized just how intricate and detailed this film is, and what a masterpiece (and I do mean masterpiece) of film editing this is! If you want to see a film to learn how to edit material...look no further than this!

http://www.independentcritics.com/images/roninSPLASH.jpg

DON'T LOOK NOW Nicolas Roeg is one of the most underrated and yet disturbing filmmakers ever. Films like THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH with David Bowie is just ...way out there, yet beautiful in some strange way. DON'T LOOK NOW is a dark, eerie film that verges on horrorfying at times. It stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as two parents who are grieving the loss of their young daughter. The rest of the film is contructed in a very non-traditional way as it psychologically works on the viewer in subtle ways. The first viewing of this film tends to be a boring ride, but the second time around you pick up on little nuances here and there that make this film more powerful in the most subtle ways. While this is not a film for everyone, it does have an appeal factor for certain tastes...even if it takes another viewing to find out.

http://www.iansmith.co.uk/image/blog/December2006/DontLookNow_1_400.jpg

LOST IN TRANSLATION I really enjoyed Sofia Coppola's directoral debut THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and my expectations were high upon seeing LOST IN TRANSLATION. Afterwards I really didn't know what to think. I liked it, but I didn't at the same time. Something was there, but I couldn't really detect what it was. I knew that I had to see the film again and so a few weeks later I did just that. I realized this time around what I really enjoyed. First, I like the films pace. We are going nowhere fast. In most cases that would be boring as is the case with Coppola's MARIE ANTOINETTE, which I think is the biggest heap of crap ever. Anyway, here we are introduced to a world that doesn't really fit. Bill Murray's character is trapped in Tokyo and as an outsider...doesn't really translate this new surrounding. He meets the character played by Scarlett Johansson and that is where things start to make sense. My conclusion with this film is simple and it really boils down to this: in another world, in another time, another place maybe things could be different, but we must live with what we have, what we have now. This is what our two characters realize after spending time together. They are on the same wavelength and maybe if things were different than maybe something could work out, but they are aware that their circumstances are simply their only connection and that they must live out separate lives.

http://sandybox.net/archives/lost_in_translation.jpg

Rich-n-Texas
05-13-2007, 03:57 PM
I think the film MOMENTO would fit here. That one confused the hell out of me. I haven't watched it a second time because I feel like if I did it would be kind of anti-climatic, but it's definately one that needs to be viewed twice just the same.

PeruvianSkies
05-13-2007, 04:30 PM
I think the film MOMENTO would fit here. That one confused the hell out of me. I haven't watched it a second time because I feel like if I did it would be kind of anti-climatic, but it's definately one that needs to be viewed twice just the same.


MEMENTO gets better each time you see it. There is no doubt that each time you see this film you will have a different interpretation of what actually happened.

Smokey
05-13-2007, 07:14 PM
LOST IN TRANSLATION I really enjoyed Sofia Coppola's directoral debut THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and my expectations were high upon seeing LOST IN TRANSLATION. Afterwards I really didn't know what to think. I liked it, but I didn't at the same time. Something was there, but I couldn't really detect what it was. I knew that I had to see the film again and so a few weeks later I did just that. I realized this time around what I really enjoyed.

http://sandybox.net/archives/lost_in_translation.jpg

I bought Lost In Translation couple of months ago, and still haven't took off the plastic wrap. May I should give it a spin.

The movie that did not impress first and then grew on me was Brian De Palma's Body Double. The plot is complex and twisted and have a hint of Hichcock, but facinating to watch. Very under rated movie.

PeruvianSkies
05-13-2007, 07:20 PM
BODY DOUBLE is a film that is definitely a tribute (or perhaps copy) of your classic Hitchcock plot twists and pace. DePalma unquestionable is a Hitchcock fan and pays homage quite often to the master. I agree that this film is underrated, but then again they show it all the time on TV in a cut version, so it's no wonder why people don't really appreciate the film.

Another few great films of DePalma would include SISTERS, BLOW OUT, and THE FURY. Most people only know him for CARRIE, SCARFACE, THE UNTOUCHABLES, but these are films of equal caliber if you ask me.