lo-fi tangents

taxi driver (martin scorsese, 1976)

2009-02-18T02:16:06Z

i dont have an official top 10, but this would probably be on it (along with 2001, apocalypse now, godfather part ii, IMFL, vertigo, days of heaven, manhattan)...as i type this, i realize that most of the films on this as of yet completed list are american. funny thing is, though, is that i watch equally as many non-american films as i do american, if not more. and moreover, all but 3 of those 8 films (if you include taxi driver) were made in the 70s, which without a doubt was the greatest decade of film.

anyway, the first time i saw it, i didnt really get it. a few years later, i did get it and was blown away. watching it again this week, i am reminded that this is the greatest thing scorsese ever did.

the blossoming of maximo oliveros (auraeus solito, 2005)

2009-02-16T15:49:52Z

im not quite clear how much this was made for. if it was a small budget (whatever that means), then i respect it. but if it was a large budget, then where did all the money go? because it didnt look or feel like a film with a budget

budgets aside, i liked it. i was going to hate on this film, but it isnt the fault of this for the fact that only a handful of filipino films are available to people outside of the philippines. so i deleted what i just typed. maybe someday average filipino films will be as readily available here in the united states as other average films are.

let's get started (azazel jacobs)

2009-02-06T02:25:21Z

as i write this (which is probably ~~weeks~~ months after it is actually posted), the internet is all about jacobs. so, i decided to check out something i could find, and though this wasnt the first thing i could find, it was the shortest. ok, i guess, but it feels longer than it actually is (which says something, however way you want to take it).

anyway, i agree with anthony kaufmann, there is something about that pic of the goodtimeskid that makes me want to see it, and which led me to watching this

venice/vencie (henry jaglom, 1992)

2009-02-05T01:16:07Z

surprise surprise, here's another jaglom film that i really enjoy. im telling ya, movies about movies really win me over

stray cats (ellen ongkeko-marfil, 2005)

2009-02-03T04:01:52Z

well written for the most part, funny as well. i initially wrote something about the type of filipino film that gets distributed here in the US, but i've decided it was a ridiculous non-existent observation, so i wont make it anymore.

sunflower (zhang yang, 2005)

2009-02-02T04:57:08Z

this is the third film by yang i've seen. i keep coming back to him whenever i get a chance because of the maginficent shower.

this wasnt spectacular, and at times it was particularly cheesy (a little too good of an ice skater if you ask me!). still, it was solid enough that i guess im glad i saw it, but i cant say i need to see it again.

macho dancer (lino brocka, 1988)

2009-01-31T14:00:17Z

its a shame that, until recently, this was the only film i've been able to come across that is available here in the US from the greatest filipino director ever.

perhaps it was daring back in the 80s, but its rather mild now. it just feels that the shock value here is all style (if you want to call it that) and no substance, and like i said, its not even shocking anymore by today's standards. and it has that unintentional humor about it, too. still, i was moved by his relationship with bambi. but that's about it, ...that and the killer 80s score!

last summer in the hamptons (henry jaglom, 1995)

2009-01-30T05:18:12Z

like i said, i really enjoyed festival in cannes, so i really want to explore more of jaglom's work, hoping i will enjoy the rest of it as much as i enjoyed festival. this wasnt so great, but i'll admit that i like certain parts, but there's a pretty big chunk here that i struggled to get through. particularly almost every scene with his wife acting like a leopard

nothing serious (renaud philipps, 2004)

2009-01-28T02:39:58Z

ok, i guess... but nothing special

the diving bell and the butterfly (julien schnabe, 2007)

2009-01-26T02:08:55Z

i would put this under the category of good films, not quite great, but good. more so in the beginning when we have jean-do's perspective as the only perspective. a great voice over too, to match the solid cinematography.

for the most part, i didnt like the use of popular music in this, except for ultra orange and emmanuel, which was brilliantly, absolutely brilliantly used. and also that u2(?) song when they are on their way to lourdes.

all in all, a well-deserved best director award at cannes for schnabel, whose before night falls i didnt care too much for. anyway, i'm tempted to buy this dvd, because schnabel seems like the kind of guy who is capable of making interesting dvd commentaries. although, i will admit, i tried listening to the first few minutes with the commentary on, and it wasnt quite interesting, but i still bet he's capable. he was on 60 minutes a while ago, and i'll say this: he definitely is ... confident. i think i'd like to hear a bit more about what he has to say

eastern promises (david cronenberg, 2007)

2009-01-21T01:49:26Z

much better than his last gangster outing. solid. it doesnt reach the heights of what he is capable of (dead ringers), but a step in the right direction from the disappointment of history of violence

werner herzog eats his shoe (les blank, 1980)

2009-01-19T16:25:08Z

i liked this one too, because herzog is the type of person that i just want to listen to. also, it makes me want to see gates of heaven.

burden of dreams (les blank, 1982)

2009-01-12T22:02:15Z

my favorite werner herzog film is fitzcarraldo, so naturally i was very interested in watching this. add to the fact that herzog is just a fascinating individual with a myth few can compare to, its really hard to not want to watch this.

one thing you get out of it is herzog's passion, and there's a line early on which pretty much summarizes how intense a dude he can be. he says something like "i live my life with this film or i die with this film". now, i don't think i would ever put art before life, but that's a pretty cool statement nonetheless.

angela (roberta torre, 2002)

2009-01-10T16:45:33Z

pretty good, i wasn't expecting the godfather or anything, but it pretty much met my expectations and was an ok filler for a person who misses watching the sopranos and just needs another mob film

once (john carney, 2006)

2009-01-08T03:55:21Z

the film's alright, but i didnt really like the music, save for perhaps two songs. but i guess that's a testament of how good a film it is, that if a film about music (among other things) has bad music, but you still enjoy it, that says something about the quality of the film. but let's not kid ourselves, its not that great either. enjoyable is about right.

de ja vu (henry jaglom, 1997)

2009-01-06T19:01:17Z

well written.

the first one of jaglom's films ive ever seen was festival in cannes, and i thought it was a fun film. i've decided to explore more of his work, beginning with this. dont like it as much as festival in cannes, but this was a solid film

the mother and the whore (jean eustache, 1973)

2008-11-18T03:44:38Z

similar to another french film i recently saw, in more ways than one (black and white, 3 hours long, occurring within recent time and/or reflectin on may 68), this was actually a lot easier for me to watch than regular lovers. and yet, even though i felt this was easier for me to get through, i much prefer regular lovers.

the dialogue feels too much like a play for my tastes. maybe that's the point, but it doesnt work for me. but i can still empathize with the characters up to a certain point, which is why ended up liking it, but sorry, i cant say i love it. but i definitely respect it.

lick the star (sofia coppola, 1998)

2008-11-16T04:22:54Z

best thing sofia ever did. which, if true, would mean its been all downhill from here. some would agree. but i think she's made solid films with virgin suicides and lost in translation (i know it can be percieved as racist, but it doesnt bug me). then again, marie a. was a failure in my eyes.

although at times it is a little off base, the portrait of adolescence here in general i think is pretty accurate for the most part.

nothing but a man (michael roemer, 1964)

2008-11-14T15:17:15Z

it definitely seems like my perception of other films from that era, dated in technique. but there is one powerful moment in the film when the guy and the girl have a fight. if you watch it, you'll know what scene im talking about. and a scene like that made during this particular era makes this a pretty amazing film.

regular lovers (philippe garrel, 2005)

2008-11-13T05:05:22Z

this was a bit long, but i liked the score. the use of score here is much different than the way other films score their films. at any rate, over all i liked this film, but cant say that i am 100% down with the 3 hour length.

recently saw a discussion of whether a particular film 3 hours long (yi yi) needed to be 3 hours. when the suggestion of trimming it down to a 100 minutes or so was suggested, there was some disagreement. now, i don't mind the length of yi yi, but at the same time, i think it is possible. very possible and edward yang is a capable enough director to have still made yi yi a powerful film were it 100 minutes long versus 3 hours long. as far as this film goes, i might even like it more at 100 minutes than 3 hours, because there were some definite scenes (the party scenes which come to mind) that were mos def too long. because of the length of this film, i dont know if ill ever watch it again. but thats not garrel's prob, its mine

evol (chris vincze, 2006)

2008-11-11T14:43:04Z

.em ot kaeps tndid ti ,riaf eb ot ,ro .ghuoht ,laiceps gnihton .sseug i ,ko saw ti .smlif mota no siht was i

the outsiders (francis ford coppola, 1983)

2008-11-08T16:29:30Z

back from my sabbatical

please tell me that the reason he made this the way it is, was to be intended to be an homage to that era. please

but, being ever the ffc fan, as much as i thought this was ridiculous, i would definitely buy the dvd for ffc's commentary

control (anton corbijn, 2007)

2008-08-30T03:28:56Z

solid, but in the end i think id prefer a doc about joy division and/or just about curtis than a dramatization. i believe there actually is one out. im not a joy division fan anyway, though.

this band's story though is what myth s are all about.

violent cop (takeshi kitano, 1989)

2008-08-18T23:30:38Z

kitano's direction is there, but the story itself isnt really strong. a case where strong filmmaking tries to carry the load for a weak story. i'll certainly watch it again, but only for kitano's direction

ambition (hal hartley, 1991)

2008-08-16T22:36:37Z

again, unmistakably hal hartleyish, but i didnt really get it