The WHF Film Club

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Thanks for the list, BigBern. The only one I know of those is Yojimbo. I must admit feeling a bit tentative about watching any of Takashi Miike's films, after all he's supposed to be the goriest director around, isn't he? One film I do have and still haven't summoned up the stomach to watch, although I'd really like to see it, is Audition.

Have just remembered Kitano Takeshi, some of whose films I really enjoyed. An old flatmate was a big fan, so I saw most of his films up to Brother when we lived together. Must dig a few out and watch them again.

I've seen a fewTakeshi Kitano films, including Brother. I have a box set of Violent Cop, Boiling Point, and Sonatine, but I've only ever got around to watching Violent Cop. You know he's a comedian don't you? And he still appears on Japanese tv doing stupid sketches which make my wife laugh aloud.

I can never watch Audition again. It's great, but it makes Misery look like a Disney film, and it seriously made me think twice about being married to a Japanese lady.

Maybe you should stay clear of Gozu and Visitor Q, or atleast do some serious research in to them, because Gozu is incredibly surreal, and Visitor Q visits every taboo subject you can think of, and would shock 99.9% of the world's population. You have to view them as extremely dark comedies and laugh, otherwise they could seriously disturb you.

Miike Takashi isn't all about gore, but he is about boundary stretching, so I would definitely look into a few of his films, because he's quite diverse, original, and prolific.

I can't recommend Onibaba highly enough, it's up there with all my favourite films, including Yojimbo. You have to watch it. Another film I would highly recommend to you is a Korean film called Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...and Spring, it's a truly beautiful film, and just writing it's name as made me want to watch it again. I think you'd love it.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I've now watched Floating Clouds.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

The above was my rationale for joining the club. I can say that the exercise has been educational, in that i have enjoyed learning about different film types, film movements, filmcraft, directors etc, and discussing the various monthly films. I have also built up a collection of dvds to watch, plus many recommendations regarding films, from the other club members. I think that one of the interesting consequences of being a member, is that I have been exposed to many new films (plus ideas and recommendations), that would never have entered my field of vision otherwise . Key to this experience was the presence of Strapped, who was able to introduce the academic perspective into the discussions, so I hope that he returns. It does sound as if the Pronster, maybe blessed with similar academic knowledge as well.

It is clear that the original operation of the club, ie nomination, vote, detailed discussion, has proved unworkable in the long term, so we will have to think of a different operation for the future. Taking on board the comments by BBB and the Pronster about recommendations and discussion, maybe one member each month should propose the main topic for the next month, and propose their list of 5 films related to that topic (plus a sentence or two explaining why they proposed each film), and then leave it to the other members to watch (and discuss) those films if they wish. There would be no compulsion that everyone watches the same film. We can still continue to include alerts regarding future films on TV, plus discussion and recommendation of other films, just as at present.

I agree with the Pronster, that we need discussion to be more meaty than just saying "I watched this film and liked it", but it is unrealistic to expect a thesis about every discussion topic.

Anyway these are just a few ideas, so it will be interesting to hear how everyone else feels about them.

Personally speaking, I thought the original operation of the club was workable, and I still feel it is. We lost a few members along the way, but recruited some new ones, it's just when Ben left the forum, so therefore the flm club, it seemed some of us lost interest, including yourself Mike.

As I said before, the discussion part of the club never totally interested me, because I'm not particularly academic, don't retain detail well, so continuing the film club as a topic-based discussion group doesn't really appeal to me.

If Strapped is interested in returning, and yourself, the pronster, Richard and David would like to continue, we have a good, knowledgable group of 6 to continue the club with, but it's finding agreement on the path forward that may cause problems.

 

[expat_mike]

Personally speaking, I thought the original operation of the club was workable, and I still feel it is. We lost a few members along the way, but recruited some new ones, it's just when Ben left the forum, so therefore the flm club, it seemed some of us lost interest, including yourself Mike.

As I said before, the discussion part of the club never totally interested me, because I'm not particularly academic, don't retain detail well, so continuing the film club as a topic-based discussion group doesn't really appeal to me.

If Strapped is interested in returning, and yourself, the pronster, Richard and David would like to continue, we have a good, knowledgable group of 6 to continue the club with, but it's finding agreement on the path forward that may cause problems.

The club seemed to have lost its momentum and reason for existance. We started off with 6 enthusiatic members, who watched each months film, and then discussed how they felt about the film, plus sometimes tried to understand aspects of the filmaking movements, directors ethos, etc. Some members left, but were partially replaced, but we went for many months without the full 6 members. Then gradually members started to say that they were too busy with work, to devote time to watching films. Eventually it felt like there were only two people watching the film and discussing the film. At that point it started to feel like the club was existing in name only, with half the members rarely bothering to post. I became disillusioned, and lost interest in films, partly helped by the return of warm summer evenings, and the chance to get out on my bike in order to lose some weight. I even lost interest in visiting the WHF site for a few weeks.

Anyway that is now history. However we need to clarify the role of discussion within the club - I think in your original post, you said that were interested in forming a book club, but for films. My understanding of a book club is that all the members read the same book each month, then meet somewhere and discuss the book in depth. To be honest, we did seem to achieve that for films, in the early days of the club, so I have always assumed that you felt that discussion was a key element of the club. My assumption has obviously been wrong.

Anyway I have enjoyed the club too much, so I would like it to continue, and I will not make the presence/abscence of detailed discussion a dealbreaker. However I think we do need to agree the path forward.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

My original original idea didn't really contain a discussion element, but I was persuaded by Ben and Strapped (I think) that there needed to be a discusson element. I don't have a problem with discussing films (I do think it's an important part of the club), I just don't want it to become a discussion group, rather than a film watching one.

If Strapped can be persuaded to return, I think yourself, the pronster, and Strapped are quite capable of leading any discussion, and with David's film knowledge, and Richard's enthusiasm, I think the original idea could work, but we need all of us fully on board.

 

[richardw42]

The film club was a good incentive to me to watch and seek out films I might not normally bother with.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I'm back from Amsterdam. *shok*

I'll cut to the chase, who's interested in resurrecting the film club?

 

[John Duncan]

I was a rubbish member, sorry... :-(

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I was a rubbish member, sorry... :-(

Partilcularly when you returned to the club. *blum3*

 

[expat_mike]

I'm back from Amsterdam. *shok*

I'll cut to the chase, who's interested in resurrecting the film club?

Did you find plenty of films in Amsterdam? *lol*

I will give the film club another go.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Did you find plenty of films in Amsterdam? *lol*

I saw many many things; red lights, blue lights, red & blue lights, but no films. *biggrin*

I will give the film club another go.

Good. That makes 2 of us. Hopefully we can entice a few others out of Richard, David, Pronster, Strapped and JD, and of course anyone else that's interested.

 

[richardw42]

I'm in

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I'm in

Good. 3.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

thescarletpronster, Strapped, David, and even JD *biggrin*, are you interested in resurrecting the film club?

 

[thescarletpronster]

I'll cut to the chase, who's interested in resurrecting the film club?

I'd love to be a part of a film club, but I can't promise to be amazingly committed, as my energies flucuate up and down. Would this be the original 'everyone-watch-a-particular-film' concept, or something more informal?

ps: re discussions I mentioned earlier, I wasn't thinking of academic analysis of cinematography etc., just the kind of discussions of our reactions to films we've seen (the bits we remember!), what we enjoy/don't enjoy, etc. A sharing of information and love of films. Doesn't have to exclude anyone.

 

[richardw42]

I agree.

The almost forensic analysis can put me off at times.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I'll cut to the chase, who's interested in resurrecting the film club?

I'd love to be a part of a film club, but I can't promise to be amazingly committed, as my energies flucuate up and down. Would this be the original 'everyone-watch-a-particular-film' concept, or something more informal?

The original idea.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Sorry for the briefness of my answer above, but I was busy working, and only had my mobile on me.

I agree with your ideas on the film discussions, though that's more or less what we were doing, I think.

I'd like to continue with the original concept. Each member takes it in turns to nominate 4 films each month, the other members award 4 points for the film they would like to watch the most, down to 1 point for the film they would like to watch the least, then the film with the most points is watched by all members before the end of the month. Discussion can start at the beginning of the next month, or before, if all members have watched the film. The next in line can then nominate their 4 films as soon as possible in the month, and so on.

What do you think? If you're in, I think 4 of us is enough to get the club up and going again, though ideally, I'd like one or two others to join.

 

[strapped for cash]

thescarletpronster, Strapped, David, and even JD *biggrin*, are you interested in resurrecting the film club?

Excuse the delayed response. As before, I can't really commit; and it sounds like less formal/forensic discussion of films is probably the way forward anyway.

I hope you can keep the film club going.

I'll still check in from time to time and, assuming a non-members can contribute policy is still in place, I'm sure I'll have a few ideas to throw around on occasion.

All the best.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

thescarletpronster, Strapped, David, and even JD *biggrin*, are you interested in resurrecting the film club?

Excuse the delayed response. As before, I can't really commit; and it sounds like less formal/forensic discussion of films is probably the way forward anyway.

I hope you can keep the film club going.

I'll still check in from time to time and, assuming a non-members can contribute policy is still in place, I'm sure I'll have a few ideas to throw around on occasion.

All the best.

You're always welcome here, Strapped.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

So, Mike, Richard and scarletpronster, are you ready to continue with the film club?

 

[richardw42]

I'm ready to start, the only consideration is maybe 3 or even just 2 films, but I'm happy to go with 4 if that's what everyone wants.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I'm ready to start, the only consideration is maybe 3 or even just 2 films, but I'm happy to go with 4 if that's what everyone wants.

I do feel 2 would be too few, but how about leaving the choice of either 3 or 4 to the nominator?

3 was the original quantity, but we later added the possibility of renominating a previously nominated film as a 4th choice.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Could really do with some input from Mike and thepronster.

 

[expat_mike]

Could really do with some input from Mike and thepronster.

OK for me.

Several of the members have watched hundreds or thousands of films, so choosing two films that no-one had watched before would prove difficult, so I would prefer 4 films, and at least then we have a chance that there will be some films that are new to most of the club.