The WHF Film Club

[John Duncan]

If we're discussing genuinely emotionally articulate young actresses, Carey Mulligan's a pretty good shout.

As is Saoirse Ronan

 

[strapped for cash]

I tend to agree with that, although my Mulligan exposure is limited to Never Let Me Go and Shame. She was superb in the latter.

And in the former; a somewhat underrated film, in my view. Mulligan was also fantastic in An Education.

 

[strapped for cash]

As is Saoirse Ronan

I've honestly not seen her in anything, so I can't comment. (I'm sure I will at some point. As I say, my knowledge of recent cinema is actually pretty awful.)

 

[BenLaw]

I tend to agree with that, although my Mulligan exposure is limited to Never Let Me Go and Shame. She was superb in the latter.

And in the former; a somewhat underrated film, in my view. Mulligan was also fantastic in An Education.

I wasn't aware Never Let Me Go was poorly rated, it just seemed to go a bit under the radar. It was a good film, it fell short of my expectations by less than I thought it might! It's one if my favourite books of the last few years and it's very difficult for any film to have the subtlety and nuances of such a great novel, although Remains of the Day did very well. I still can't understand why in the film they decided to reveal 'the secret' at the start instead of allowing the tension and creeping dread to build like in the book. I also felt she was playing a more difficult role and was more exposed in Shame and would rate that performance more highly.

 

[strapped for cash]

I wasn't aware Never Let Me Go was poorly rated, it just seemed to go a bit under the radar. It was a good film, it fell short of my expectations by less than I thought it might! It's one if my favourite books of the last few years and it's very difficult for any film to have the subtlety and nuances of such a great novel, although Remains of the Day did very well. I still can't understand why in the film they decided to reveal 'the secret' at the start instead of allowing the tension and creeping dread to build like in the book. I also felt she was playing a more difficult role and was more exposed in Shame and would rate that performance more highly.

Shame is strange one. It's very well acted and directed; yet I didn't believe a minute of it.

I'm not suggesting the film adaptation of Never Let Me Go is a masterpiece (it isn't), though I thought Mulligan gave a suitably nuanced performance.

Shame is a showier film, in my view; and I quickly tired of parochial w***ing over McQueen. There you go; different strokes for different folks.

 

[strapped for cash]

Ben (and others), given the date, you may enjoy the late, great Robin Wood's seminal essay on the American horror film.

The full essay is available online here (pp. 25-32):

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Az5dE4nyznsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

On the other hand, you may not be remotely interested. I'll leave it up to you. It's not a long piece, though may prove intriguing in light of our discussion of surrealism, expressionism, the return of the repressed, and the real good guys in The Wicker Man.

 

[The_Lhc]

Mulligan was also fantastic in An Education.

Oh <facepalm> THAT'S what I've seen her in! Ta, been bugging me that has...

 

[John Duncan]

Oh, and Rooney Mara.

 

[strapped for cash]

Oh, and Rooney Mara.

I've actually seen some of her films. She's currently working with Todd Haynes, which could be interesting.

I'm sure she'll work with Fincher again, perhaps on The Girl Who Played with Fire (I'm not sure whether Fincher's directing). Hopefully they'll work together on something other than another Stieg Larsson adaptation. (I liked The Social Network better than the US Girl with the Dragon Tattoo film.)

 

[John Duncan]

Oh, and Rooney Mara.

I've actually seen some of her films. She's currently working with Todd Haynes, which could be interesting.

I'm sure she'll work with Fincher again, perhaps on The Girl Who Played with Fire (I'm not sure whether Fincher's directing). Hopefully they'll work together on something other than another Stieg Larsson adaptation. (I liked The Social Network better than the US Girl with the Dragon Tattoo film.)

The Swedish one is better, yes, but she still does well in it. Her best performance is Side Effects, though (even if portrayals of mental illness often shout 'oscar nom').

 

[strapped for cash]

even if portrayals of mental illness often shout 'oscar nom'

Yeah, that kind of thing really winds me up.

A very close relative suffers from debilitating and often distressing mental health difficulties.

I'm often angered by representations of mental health issues in cinema. Films often patronise people with mental health problems, or exploit them for comedic effect, or suggest they'll murder you at the earliest opportunity.

It's a subject I'd like to write about at some point.

 

[John Duncan]

suggest they'll murder you at the earliest opportunity

It's one of those. But it's not at all what you think (or I thought, which may not be the same thing).

 

[strapped for cash]

I'll get around to watching Side Effects soon, probably when I can pick it up cheaply on Amazon. I'm aware going in that it has a twist or two, though that's perhaps as much as I should know.

 

[John Duncan]

I'm aware going in that it has a twist or two, though that's perhaps as much as I should know.

Correct on both counts. I hate knowing there's a twist - I then spend loads of time trying to work out what it is and if I guess right it spoils the film for me (cf: Sixth Sense and The Village - though maybe Shyamalan's just not very good at disguising them). Further, I'm glad I didn't read the blurb on the back of The Departed DVD before I watched it, since it tells you!

 

[strapped for cash]

I'll be recommending a film with a twist (of sorts) when it's my turn to nominate, though the twist isn't what makes it a great film, in my opinion.

In fact, the twist is one of the least interesting things about the film, though you need to figure it out to get beneath the surface of the narrative. It's utterly incomprehensible otherwise.

 

[strapped for cash]

Right, since it's Halloween, I'm off to watch, err, Halloween, and maybe The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

 

[BenLaw]

I wasn't aware Never Let Me Go was poorly rated, it just seemed to go a bit under the radar. It was a good film, it fell short of my expectations by less than I thought it might! It's one if my favourite books of the last few years and it's very difficult for any film to have the subtlety and nuances of such a great novel, although Remains of the Day did very well. I still can't understand why in the film they decided to reveal 'the secret' at the start instead of allowing the tension and creeping dread to build like in the book. I also felt she was playing a more difficult role and was more exposed in Shame and would rate that performance more highly.

Shame is strange one. It's very well acted and directed; yet I didn't believe a minute of it.

I'm not suggesting the film adaptation of Never Let Me Go is a masterpiece (it isn't), though I thought Mulligan gave a suitably nuanced performance.

Shame is a showier film, in my view; and I quickly tired of parochial w***ing over McQueen. There you go; different strokes for different folks.

Other than that I didn't exactly 'tire' of it I wouldn't disagree with you about Shame. If it was meant to be believable then I didn't believe it. But Fassbender and Mulligan are excellent, and I'd watch it again for their performances and her amazing song. I liked Never Let Me Go a lot and I'm sure would have done so even more if I hadn't read the book.

 

[BenLaw]

Ben (and others), given the date, you may enjoy the late, great Robin Wood's seminal essay on the American horror film.

The full essay is available online here (pp. 25-32):

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Az5dE4nyznsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

On the other hand, you may not be remotely interested. I'll leave it up to you. It's not a long piece, though may prove intriguing in light of our discussion of surrealism, expressionism, the return of the repressed, and the real good guys in The Wicker Man.

Sounds interesting, I will try to find some time, thanks.

 

[BenLaw]

suggest they'll murder you at the earliest opportunity

It's one of those. But it's not at all what you think (or I thought, which may not be the same thing).

I'd be interested to hear what you both made of Silver Linings Playbook. It was much more sensitive than I had feared (and proved conclusively for me that Cooper can act) but still seemed overly simplistic in its redemptive story.

 

[BenLaw]

Right, since it's Halloween, I'm off to watch, err, Halloween, and maybe The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

If anyone's interested Haxan is on at 1.10 tonight on film4. One of the few early classic horrors I've not seen, so looking forward to that

 

[expat_mike]

Luckily it's a public holiday in France today, so I have been researching art house films that could be candidates when I compile my list of three films. I have come across this thread

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/off-topic-and-miscellaneous/foreign-language-films

and I can see that BBB and SFC seem to have seen all the foreign language films already. This research could be time consuming. :type:

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Luckily it's a public holiday in France today, so I have been researching art house films that could be candidates when I compile my list of three films. I have come across this thread

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/off-topic-and-miscellaneous/foreign-language-films

and I can see that BBB and SFC seem to have seen all the foreign language films already. This research could be time consuming. :type:

There's loads I haven't seen, don't think I'd seen any of Ben's choices, definitely none of HFOs, though I had seen 2 out of JDs 3. I think Ben has seen more than Strapped and myself.

There's loads of great films out there, maybe do what I do sometimes and search for a film in Amazon that you really like, then follow the links to other films from there, I've found some great films doing that. Or just go with 3 that you've seen that you really like.

 

[strapped for cash]

If anyone's interested Haxan is on at 1.10 tonight on film4. One of the few early classic horrors I've not seen, so looking forward to that

I hadn't seen it either. I quite respected its thesis that repressed sexual impulses (through religious instruction) found expression through torture and sadism.

If only they'd had a healthier attitude toward sexual expression, like them Summerislanders.

 

[BenLaw]

If anyone's interested Haxan is on at 1.10 tonight on film4. One of the few early classic horrors I've not seen, so looking forward to that

I hadn't seen it either. I quite respected its thesis that repressed sexual impulses (through religious instruction) found expression through torture and sadism.

If only they'd had a healthier attitude toward sexual expression, like them Summerislanders.

Not watched it yet, I'll get back to you when I do.

 

[expat_mike]

SFC

I mentioned in one of the early posts, about researchers trying to record/understand how the brain responds to visual stimuli and the emotions that they generate.

I have now found the details of some of the work, available at http://gallantlab.org/publications/nishimoto-et-al-2011.html

It is interesting how similar some of the regenerated images are to the original movie trailers.

However there is always the statical risk that they generated 1000s of regenerated images, and only show the best few on the website.

It also suggests that there is still a lot of work to be done, before Big Brother can accurately read your mind.