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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours

trip9 posted:

Does Nymphomaniac count?

I haven't seen it yet because the idea of buying two tickets to see it is absurd to me. I was reminded very much of Enemy watching this.

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No Wave
Sep 18, 2005

HA! HA! NICE! WHAT A TOOL!

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:

What's another example?
Spring Breakers is the obvious one.

Vhak lord of hate
Jun 6, 2008

I AM DRINK THE BLOOD OF JESUS
I think Nymphomaniac is a tad more obvious also Only Lovers Left Behind. I don't think displaying sex as grotesque or weird is anything new but there does seem to be a resurgence.

trip9
Feb 15, 2011

Vhak lord of hate posted:

I think Nymphomaniac is a tad more obvious also Only Lovers Left Behind. I don't think displaying sex as grotesque or weird is anything new but there does seem to be a resurgence.

Only Lovers Left Alive didn't seem grotesque or weird to me at all. Their relationship seemed pretty romantic actually. drat I enjoyed that movie.

Enemy totally fits into this category though.

Two Worlds
Feb 3, 2009
An IMPOSTORE!

No Wave posted:

I don't get what's with all these incredibly unsexy movies that are ostensibly about sex. It's depressing.

I'm glad. Sex is disgusting.

SALT CURES HAM
Jan 4, 2011
How was Shame not the first movie to come up in this discussion after UtS?

King Geedorah
Apr 29, 2014

Mmm delicious rap snitch knishes
The book was fantastic, I haven't heard anything but bad reviews for the movie however. I mean I think this thread has the only positive reports of it.
I have a terrible feeling they really messed around with the plot :(

Ersatz
Sep 17, 2005

King Geedorah posted:

The book was fantastic, I haven't heard anything but bad reviews for the movie however. I mean I think this thread has the only positive reports of it.
I have a terrible feeling they really messed around with the plot :(
86% of the critical reviews aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes for this movie are positive.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours

King Geedorah posted:

The book was fantastic, I haven't heard anything but bad reviews for the movie however. I mean I think this thread has the only positive reports of it.
I have a terrible feeling they really messed around with the plot :(

What reviews are you looking at?

King Geedorah
Apr 29, 2014

Mmm delicious rap snitch knishes

Ersatz posted:

86% of the critical reviews aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes for this movie are positive.

Huh well there you have it. The ones I read in the paper were all pretty bad, must have been missing something

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
Print is dead, my friend.

Taear
Nov 26, 2004

Ask me about the shitty opinions I have about Paradox games!

King Geedorah posted:

The book was fantastic, I haven't heard anything but bad reviews for the movie however. I mean I think this thread has the only positive reports of it.
I have a terrible feeling they really messed around with the plot :(

They did, it's not much like the book. The book is a lot clearer about what is going on and also why. Everything in the film you sort of have to guess. I mean it's not difficult, but motivations and things are laid out when you read the book.

King Geedorah
Apr 29, 2014

Mmm delicious rap snitch knishes

Taear posted:

They did, it's not much like the book. The book is a lot clearer about what is going on and also why. Everything in the film you sort of have to guess. I mean it's not difficult, but motivations and things are laid out when you read the book.

Gotcha, I really loved the book and would hate to see it changed. Even then I guess I never expected them to make a film out of it so I can't really complain all that much. I'll give it a shot, but not gonna go in expecting anything as good as the book.

Tsyni
Sep 1, 2004
Lipstick Apathy

King Geedorah posted:

Gotcha, I really loved the book and would hate to see it changed. Even then I guess I never expected them to make a film out of it so I can't really complain all that much. I'll give it a shot, but not gonna go in expecting anything as good as the book.

Glazer said in the Q&A after our screening that the book was simply the genesis of his inspiration for the movie. I wouldn't go into it considering it an adaptation.

99 CENTS AMIGO
Jul 22, 2007
Also movies are, in their own inimitable way, not books.

Hijinks Ensue
Jul 24, 2007
I'm a big fan of the book, but I enjoyed the movie a lot too. As much as I like the book, I don't think a movie of it would work primarily because of depicting Isserley and the other aliens as goat-like creatures - it works on the page but would be laughed at onscreen.

BrutalistMcDonalds
Oct 4, 2012


Lipstick Apathy

Tomtrek posted:

The thing that impressed me the most about it is how totally not gratuitous it all was. In what could have been a very leery film that objectified it's lead actress (y'know, like Species), we get a film that very much shows you objectification, but never encourages you to participate in it and instead lets you see its damaging results. The main character is objectified by almost every other person she meets, she was created literally as an object for men to look at, and as we start to connect with her as the film goes on we see how her growth into something more human is repeatedly stopped by being treated as an object.

Scarlett Johannson's performance was amazing, for someone who is essentially playing an emotionless creature you are still able to empathise with her totally. There are a few scenes which consist just of her either staring into mirrors or out into space, and they're some of the best scenes in the film. And when she speaks, which she doesn't do very much, you get this really creepy sense of the falseness of what she's saying.
Just saw the movie, agreed totally. You hit the nail on the head. It's one of the doomiest movies I've ever seen, but also one of the most acidly subversive and intelligent.

The movie also subverts the male gaze. Women in most movies are seen through the eyes of men -- predatory men at that. This movie flips it on its head. Johannson is looking at men through a predator's eyes. In its own dark, weird way, that humanizes Johannson and alienates the ordinary Glaswegian men, who are not even acting! (The screwed up alien society in this movie is our own.) Absolutely brilliant.

messagemode1
Jun 9, 2006

Just watched the film this weekend.

Best moments are how the film abstractly handles what happens to the men, and her struggle with how to be a human, she felt a bit autistic towards the end of the movie when she stops faking her seduction routine.

I wonder what the deal with releasing the naked elephantitis guy was, only to have him be captured and killed by the motorcycle man. Also the result of the neighbor watching was largely unexplored, the police show up on the scene but the motorcycle guy is long gone.

I also though that there was a funny species bias in the movie: human beings are so irresistible that you can't help but want to be human, which is a little conceited.


Beautiful and evocative cinematography. Soundtrack is a little aggressively art house but still neat.

BrutalistMcDonalds
Oct 4, 2012


Lipstick Apathy

messagemode1 posted:

I wonder what the deal with releasing the naked elephantitis guy was, only to have him be captured and killed by the motorcycle man. Also the result of the neighbor watching was largely unexplored, the police show up on the scene but the motorcycle guy is long gone.
Well, he's the first human she meets that she could relate with. He lurks around at night to get his food, like her. There's a person underneath the superficial exterior. So it provokes a crisis of conscience. Previously she's amoral, now she's making moral judgements, which begins her process of understanding her humanity. She also *might* have begun the process earlier. After abandoning the baby on the beach, she glances at a baby in a passing car. So the elephantitis guy was the precipice.

The motorcycle men are ruthlessly practical. But they're also a metaphor for the powerful and anonymous forces that oppress us and seek to use us -- and objectify us -- for their own ends. Objectification isn't just sexual, it's using other people as tools without regard to their dignity and feelings. Anyone in this movie who has any bit of empathy dies.

Lord Krangdar
Oct 24, 2007

These are the secrets of death we teach.

No Wave posted:

Spring Breakers is the obvious one.

Don't you think it was entirely appropriate for that movie, though?

King Geedorah
Apr 29, 2014

Mmm delicious rap snitch knishes

Hijinks Ensue posted:

I'm a big fan of the book, but I enjoyed the movie a lot too. As much as I like the book, I don't think a movie of it would work primarily because of depicting Isserley and the other aliens as goat-like creatures - it works on the page but would be laughed at onscreen.


Wait goats?! I assumed they looked more like a dog or something along those lines.

King Geedorah fucked around with this message at 12:27 on May 6, 2014

Hijinks Ensue
Jul 24, 2007

King Geedorah posted:

Wait goats?! I assumed they looked more like a dog or something along those lines.

The way Isserley described Amlis Vess made him seem very goat-like, and she describes sheep as looking like her species' children, and even tries to talk to the sheep in her language.

UnknownMercenary
Nov 1, 2011

I LIKE IT
WAY WAY TOO LOUD


It's not a wide release, but this movie is now showing in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver for somebody who was wondering way earlier in the thread.

Taear
Nov 26, 2004

Ask me about the shitty opinions I have about Paradox games!
Don't read any of this if you haven't seen the film okay thanks.

messagemode1 posted:


I wonder what the deal with releasing the naked elephantitis guy was, only to have him be captured and killed by the motorcycle man. Also the result of the neighbor watching was largely unexplored, the police show up on the scene but the motorcycle guy is long gone.


This bit confused me, because I thought it was just another Alien wearing the skin - since that's the assumption the film sort of brings you towards. It didn't occur to me it would be the actual guy.
He gets into the boot of the car so easily, so it seemed like Motorcycle Man was just getting him ready for whatever they'd use his skin for.

TrixRabbi
Aug 20, 2010

Time for a little robot chauvinism!

She released him because she took pity on him and started identifying with the humans. Hence her wanting to try and live life as a human (trying the food, having sex). I assume that the motorcycle man is another alien who finds out she released the deformed man, and doesn't want this man escaping with the knowledge of what's going on. He kidnaps him in order to tie up the loose end, should the deformed man tell anybody. As well, they apparently need the bodies, for whatever it is they are doing.

Eggnogium
Jun 1, 2010

Never give an inch! Hnnnghhhhhh!
Speaking of the motorcycle man, what do people make of all the shots of him after Johansson's character goes rogue? At the time I assumed they were building to a climax where he found her and tried to kill or capture her, but since that didn't happen I'm not sure what to make of them.

Hewlett
Mar 4, 2005

"DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!"

Also, drink
and watch movies.
That's fun too.

Eggnogium posted:

Speaking of the motorcycle man, what do people make of all the shots of him after Johansson's character goes rogue? At the time I assumed they were building to a climax where he found her and tried to kill or capture her, but since that didn't happen I'm not sure what to make of them.

I got the impression that you're right, but the cruelty of man gets to Scarlett first - we're meant to think there'll be a showdown, but Ranger Rapist gets to her first and immolates her. We get that one shot afterwards with the motorcycle man standing atop a hill or cliff, looking impotently for her; I got the impression that he lost her trail or whatever, or that he simply failed in his search.

Cpt. Spring Types
Feb 19, 2004

Wait, what?
Went to see this tonight and was pretty stunned by it. I had browsed this thread and seen the trailer a few times, but I don't think I was really prepared for how utterly bizarre it was. But that's actually a good thing for me, because I loving love films like this. The last time I was so struck by a film was Upstream Color.

Really phenomenal camerawork; the One-Cam is a pretty amazing device, apparently. I never would have guessed the camera was hidden in many scenes unless I knew about it ahead of time. Also, the score really helped build tension and that sense of unease and dread. Johansson also completely owned the role in a way that I didn't really expect. She was downright creepy.

Great film.

That Dang Dad
Apr 23, 2003

Well I am
over-fucking-whelmed...
Young Orc
This was a very mesmerizing film, but a difficult, demanding watch. Others have discussed the plot, so I'll just praise the sound and score. This film used silence and music and sounds so effectively, I've never heard anything like it. I was completely immersed from the opening scene because it's just the cascading wall of audio. The "Seduction" theme will be in my head forever. Seriously, this is a masterclass in film audio and I hope it wins a billion awards forit.

Nosferatu Man
Nov 10, 2008
Speaking of the score, it was done by an artist named Mica Levi who fronts a band called Micachu and the Shapes. They make really great pop music (the kind that get featured in Crayola commercials): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TRkZpFgJcI

There are only a handful of films I've managed to catch in theaters these last few years that have really floored me, like I was watching a burgeoning classic (or just a personal favorite), and Under the Skin was one of them. It would be impressive enough for conveying a fairly abstract (and otherworldly) plot through such clean/pristine images, but Glazer makes it so much more than just a genre exercise or visual experiment. Every image resonates with layers, some of which have already been brought up in this thread. So many elements to talk about, not sure where to start.

Shbobdb
Dec 16, 2010

by Reene
I wish I loved anything even half as much as the director loves Scarlett Jo's feet.

While I didn't like the movie while watching it, the Memento-like twist at the end really justified the Brechtian ordeal, so the pay-off was great.

Tsyni
Sep 1, 2004
Lipstick Apathy

Shbobdb posted:

I wish I loved anything even half as much as the director loves Scarlett Jo's feet.

While I didn't like the movie while watching it, the Memento-like twist at the end really justified the Brechtian ordeal, so the pay-off was great.

What precisely was the Memento-like twist?

messagemode1
Jun 9, 2006

That she's an alien, I'm guessing.

Shbobdb
Dec 16, 2010

by Reene
View the film backwards. She is a normal girl, just a stupid American tourist who was raped on a ramble. This caused some major disassociative problems and she felt like she was an alien in her own skin. She tries to re-establish a romantic connection with her boyfriend but find that sex is now much too impersonal. She just can't do it. So she reverts to hypersexuality as a way to deal with rape (common enough) but this escalates to murder because she is driven by her own need to reclaim some kind of power. Her doting boyfriend does his best to help her but even he eventually has limits and she is left an entirely broken human being. A complete alien clothed in human skin.

vivisectvnv
Aug 5, 2003

Shbobdb posted:

View the film backwards. She is a normal girl, just a stupid American tourist who was raped on a ramble. This caused some major disassociative problems and she felt like she was an alien in her own skin. She tries to re-establish a romantic connection with her boyfriend but find that sex is now much too impersonal. She just can't do it. So she reverts to hypersexuality as a way to deal with rape (common enough) but this escalates to murder because she is driven by her own need to reclaim some kind of power. Her doting boyfriend does his best to help her but even he eventually has limits and she is left an entirely broken human being. A complete alien clothed in human skin.

Um...well that is certainly a unique interpretation.

SALT CURES HAM
Jan 4, 2011
:aaaaa: Holy poo poo that owns.

3 DONG HORSE
May 22, 2008

I'd like to thank Satan for everything he's done for this organization

Shbobdb posted:

View the film backwards. She is a normal girl, just a stupid American tourist who was raped on a ramble. This caused some major disassociative problems and she felt like she was an alien in her own skin. She tries to re-establish a romantic connection with her boyfriend but find that sex is now much too impersonal. She just can't do it. So she reverts to hypersexuality as a way to deal with rape (common enough) but this escalates to murder because she is driven by her own need to reclaim some kind of power. Her doting boyfriend does his best to help her but even he eventually has limits and she is left an entirely broken human being. A complete alien clothed in human skin.

Wow, I love this. I'm going to watch the film again with this in mind.

Hewlett
Mar 4, 2005

"DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!"

Also, drink
and watch movies.
That's fun too.

Yeah, that's kind of great.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
You're leaving out the crucial interaction in the film though: Picking up The Elephant Man.

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fookolt
Mar 13, 2012

Where there is power
There is resistance

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:

You're leaving out the crucial interaction in the film though: Picking up The Elephant Man.

And being lit on fire.

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