A) Watch Annette Bening murder her children?
B) Watch Charlotte Gainsbourg mutilate herself and possibly Willem Dafoe while grieving her dead child?
It's a cheery choice for this Wednesday morning. Good morning!
Sadly option A, which is like the only thing I've been thinking about, is not open to me. Annette Bening playing baby-killing Medea (just the thought of it makes me all tingly... er... The Bening in a juicy ancient tragedy not the killing part, obvs) is only available on stage in California. Go This is probably not the best first day out plan whilst recovering from the worst flu ever, but it will have to do.
What's your day looking like and which options await you?
Posts
27 comments:
You are very brave Nat. I am terrified to see 'Antichrist'. the thought of seeing it really does upset me. I know I will, but still...... genital mutilation really does put me off.
I think I will finally catch 500 Days of Summer in the next few days.
The only "choice" I have for today movie-wise is to go see The Wizard of Oz in HD. Should be fun.
Nathaniel you tease...had me going there. Oh well, good for her. Where did you get that picture from? Between Deirdre, Julia and Carolyn and Amber, Laura and Brenda Julianne and Annette really are horrible mothers. I can't say it enough. I wonder what their spawns in The Kids Are All Right will be like. God help those children.
Antichrist...I too am terrified which means I will definitely see it.
Antichrist will probably be my #1 for the year, so.
Gainsbourg over Annette.
Simply because the only American actress who I think would be absolutely perfect Medea is Julianne Moore.
And any Trier woman is worth a watch, even if she mutilates herself and others.
You'll see there's nothing much to "Antichrist", I think it's a terrific film, just not a very terrifying one.
Damn marketing people for trying to make it sound like "Saw:Dogme 95 Edition".
I was also terrified to see 'Antichrist', but man it was worth all the blood, sex, talking foxes, weirdness and von-trierisms.
It's not a love or hate film. It's a love and hate film. If you love it you still hate some parts; If you hate you still love some of it.
Antichrist simple stays and stays on your mind for days and days (going on weeks and weeks for me)after you watch it.
I had the chance of watching Antichrist at its Cannes premiere and at the time there weren't any cautionary reviews of its terrifying scenes. Its Von Trier, you can expect that, but this one got, in my opinion, exaggerated shocks. It IS shocking, but it's not vomit inducing. Just watch it and get over it, I think everybody is building up this film too much, it's a great film, but I think you're all expecting, as Jose says, Saw: Dogme 95 edition.
i've seen antichrist already so I guess I'd choose A as well.
BTW Philippine's entry for next year's Oscar is "Ded Na Si Lolo"
You can always rent Pier Paulo Pasolini's magnificent Medea. Annette hammy Bening? Let's talk about a real actress, like Maria Callas. See this movie and u'll never forget it.
I was at the screening this morning, as well. The prologue is fantastic. The rest, well, a bit scattershot and, oddly, not as confident (and dare I say moderately tedious). The links between grief and madness are potent, and he introduces them well, but execution is another story. I'm terribly interested in trying to figure out if the filmmaking is sincere, a psychologically probing joke, or, umm, both (too easy?).
Oh, and the post-screening press conference was via satellite (Skype), in the theater, with von Trier's big, impish head governing over the audience of critics. That was amusing.
"I'm glad to see you people in New York. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."
"Oh, yes, the name of the woods is 'Eden'--sorry about that."
"You think Charlotte was a bad mother? You should meet mine."
Nick -- you're stealing my next post!
(Yikes--sorry!)
Why the hate for Annette people?
andrew... i think it's for balance, this being a place of deep Bening discipledom
Oh, I also just remembered von Trier's Medea TV film. God he was such a different filmmaker back then. It's the only pre-Dogme 95 movie of his I've seen. Such style, visually spectacular but surprisingly cold.
Anybody else seen it?
Look at this picture of the animator of the new 2D Disney movie "Rapunzel". The animator has a picture of Michelle Pfeiffer pinned against the wall near his sketches. Is he modelling the new Disney heroine after Michelle? Is she lending her voice for the role or is Kristen Chenoweth? mysterious.....
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1196016-rapunzel/pictures/3.php#highlighted_picture
Better link.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1196016-rapunzel/pictures/3.php#highlighted_picture
Just got back from "Inglourious Basterds." Wowza, those last fifteen minutes are so thrilling! Don't you love that feeling when you see a good movie and it recharges your batteries? Waltz should definitely get that Oscar nom this year.
What does it take - like 20 minutes - to fly NY-LA? I say, go West, young man! Wish I had the option.
And skip Antichrist if you would like to retain faith in von Trier as an infallible genius. This is by no means an 'interesting' failure - it's a thoroughly unrewarding one.
offtopic: Saoirse Ronan will be submitted to Best Actress. http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/oscar-contenders-housekeeping-prediction-clean-up
PS: Nathaniel, if you get Antichrist, please explain it to me. I'm still confused.
Antichrist is vintage Von Trier. By no means a failure! Why has this film divided opinion so much (in terms of its qulity, I mean, not the subject matter)?
Given all the hype out of Cannes, the thing that surprised me the most about the film was just how beautiful, moving, and emotionally potent it was. And not really that shocking. Some of those critics that ended up on the poster have a lot to answer for (hello Anita "The most shocking film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival" Singh of the Daily Telegraph)...
Gainsbourg is pure perfection. Dafoe, a good match. Anthony Dod Mantle's masterful work on this makes his Oscar-winning photography on Slumdog Millionaire look so cheap (which is kind of was, right?).
P.S. I hate Bening and her overacting too... But this didn't stop me from being jealous when I saw the posters for Medea around Los Angeles last month, and knew I wouldn't be there during its run.
Also tempted to come to New York to see Millers Sienna and Jonny Lee doing Marber, and Jude doing Hamlet (which I SHAMEFULLY missed while it was in London. I'm a horrible human being, I know).
I'd then pop down to DC to see Helen Mirren doing Phedre, because I also SHAMEFULLY missed that too when it was half an hour from me. I will never forgive myself for missing those two. I am an awful person.
I'm currently at UCLA so it's very likely I'll see it. If I do, I'll post some review/thoughts. It's gonne be cheap, too. Only $20... :]
moror. I'M SO JEALOUS. TELL ME EVERYTHING
$20 if you're a student.
$80 if you're not.
Post a Comment