It's interesting how our tastes are so different but we are tightly bound together in our hatred of critics!
And you bring up something I noted in response to your comment on my site (before my reading this): art directors tend not to be good at telling stories! Regardless, the characters they render don't behave the way I know humans to behave. Are these filmmakers psychopaths? Is that why they don't know about the emotional lives of human beings?!
Looking back, it's hard to understand why the Neorealists were loved by critics. After all, those films are all about humans acting like humans in human situations! Where's the art in that?!
Over the past couple of years, I've come to a conclusion about happy endings. They should be the default. If you provide me with a sad or uncomfortable ending, there'd better be a reason beyond the director cackling behind the camera. My favorites tend to be unclear endings that provide me with a "make your own adventure" ending. But those almost always imply a positive or negative ending. Regardless, the best example that comes to mind is "Night Moves." That ending is perfect because it encapsulates the theme of the film. It doesn't matter if Moseby bleeds out or not. Up to that point, his life has been going in a circle and it will continue to, if he lives. (Sorry! I got excited there!)
When I was a teen, I saw "Amarcord" and "And the Ship Sails On" in a double feature. And I thought they were great! Then I watched others of his films. And I didn't much care for them. And then, I saw "8.5." And I wanted to get a baseball bat, if you know what I mean. It really does seem that critics love art films about terrible people. They think it is the height of artistry.
I used to think that the Italians did dubbing well because they mastered the technology. And they did! But that's not why they are so good. They care! I recently saw a French action film that was technically dubbed well. But the English voice acting was worse than you'd hear at a high school play. And the writing was awful! The subtitle writing was fine! The main thing is that they were clearly doing it for American audiences and they think we are idiots. I have never seen a dubbed Italian film done poorly. My advice: if you don't care enough to do it well, don't do it at all! Subtitles are fine.
You might want to check out Pasolini. Don't watch Salo! But "The Gospel According to St Matthew" is one of the best religious films I've ever seen. It's up there with Calvary, although it couldn't be more different. As I recall, we share an admiration for Calvary.
I keep meaning to watch Pasolini's St. Matthew around Easter time and I keep forgetting to. I shouldn't bother with the timing. I've certainly watched enough Christmas movies out of season.
The thing with critics is, who are they writing for? In Fellini’s heyday, it was middle-class twits who wanted to know what movies they should mention around their peers to sound "sophisticated." Today, it’s... largely the same, so far as I can tell.
I love this line: "there'd better be a reason beyond the director cackling behind the camera" for a bummer ending. Yes! Absolutely! If I'm gonna give yer fuckin' movie two hours of my time, and engage with the story it's telling, you'd better have a damn good reason for giving me a bummer ending.
Who comes out with their future happy and comfortable in De Sica or Rossellini's neorealist films? Or Reichardt's "Wendy and Lucy," or Jafar Panahi’s movies? Nobody. But that's not the director cackling. That's the director feeling anguished that this is how it is. The only anguish I get in Fellini is "not enough people worship My Artistry Yet." What a pucking futz. He really did marry up, but that's no crime (so did I).
And I like that line about "humans acting like humans in human situations." I like goofy movies, I just edited a fun video clip about Richard Roundtree and David Carradine fighting an Aztec Demon Dragon. (I am getting better at video editing, it's a process!)
But what I enjoy most at my age is just movies which seem like the characters are trying to deal with life the best they can. Night Moves is a good example -- that guy’s no saint, he’s just trying to be decent.
If you love ambiguous endings, you have GOT to see Bill Paxton’s "Frailty." Paxton directed it, and he's merely an OK director (he is by no means bad, and he's a damn sight better than your buddy Joey Mankiewicz). But he gives a good performance, and the script is outstanding. That's a "sad" ending which totally makes sense! I think you might really like it.
Or, if you don't... I'll bet you can write a pretty terrific essay about why not, and I'd like to read it.
The thing about Umberto D and The Bicycle Thieves is that people's lives suck but they choose to go on. Interestingly, I just realized that this is how Modern Times ends too. Of course, you can (and many do) call this sentimental. But I think you can't apply that to De Sica because he creates real characters. But I do think the pro-life themes in De Sica's work explains why I enjoy his films in a way that I don't Rossellini's.
In my review of Q, I wrote, "Mexico doesn’t just send us their rapists; they also send their Aztec gods..." Larry Cohen was really good. Somehow, he could make anything work. And his film "It's Alive" was actually pretty thoughtful. But what is this about video editing? What are you doing?
I've found a copy of Frailty so I'll try to watch it soon. Things are a little weird right now. I have someone coming in to pull out all my floors and put new ones in. So I'm going to stay with my cousin for the next week. But I'm working in my garage. I've cleaned it. But the smell of rat urine is still here. Plus I am a man of habits. So I don't know what the next week is going to be like. At least I'm a week ahead on my required writing!
And the odd living situation! You've been through a lot these last years.
The video editing is that Substack lets you upload video. And I've had some fun learning how to edit/upload video files I've gotten from Internet Archive. I have Acquired Editing Skills! Aren’t I clever!
It's interesting how our tastes are so different but we are tightly bound together in our hatred of critics!
And you bring up something I noted in response to your comment on my site (before my reading this): art directors tend not to be good at telling stories! Regardless, the characters they render don't behave the way I know humans to behave. Are these filmmakers psychopaths? Is that why they don't know about the emotional lives of human beings?!
Looking back, it's hard to understand why the Neorealists were loved by critics. After all, those films are all about humans acting like humans in human situations! Where's the art in that?!
Over the past couple of years, I've come to a conclusion about happy endings. They should be the default. If you provide me with a sad or uncomfortable ending, there'd better be a reason beyond the director cackling behind the camera. My favorites tend to be unclear endings that provide me with a "make your own adventure" ending. But those almost always imply a positive or negative ending. Regardless, the best example that comes to mind is "Night Moves." That ending is perfect because it encapsulates the theme of the film. It doesn't matter if Moseby bleeds out or not. Up to that point, his life has been going in a circle and it will continue to, if he lives. (Sorry! I got excited there!)
When I was a teen, I saw "Amarcord" and "And the Ship Sails On" in a double feature. And I thought they were great! Then I watched others of his films. And I didn't much care for them. And then, I saw "8.5." And I wanted to get a baseball bat, if you know what I mean. It really does seem that critics love art films about terrible people. They think it is the height of artistry.
I used to think that the Italians did dubbing well because they mastered the technology. And they did! But that's not why they are so good. They care! I recently saw a French action film that was technically dubbed well. But the English voice acting was worse than you'd hear at a high school play. And the writing was awful! The subtitle writing was fine! The main thing is that they were clearly doing it for American audiences and they think we are idiots. I have never seen a dubbed Italian film done poorly. My advice: if you don't care enough to do it well, don't do it at all! Subtitles are fine.
You might want to check out Pasolini. Don't watch Salo! But "The Gospel According to St Matthew" is one of the best religious films I've ever seen. It's up there with Calvary, although it couldn't be more different. As I recall, we share an admiration for Calvary.
I keep meaning to watch Pasolini's St. Matthew around Easter time and I keep forgetting to. I shouldn't bother with the timing. I've certainly watched enough Christmas movies out of season.
The thing with critics is, who are they writing for? In Fellini’s heyday, it was middle-class twits who wanted to know what movies they should mention around their peers to sound "sophisticated." Today, it’s... largely the same, so far as I can tell.
I love this line: "there'd better be a reason beyond the director cackling behind the camera" for a bummer ending. Yes! Absolutely! If I'm gonna give yer fuckin' movie two hours of my time, and engage with the story it's telling, you'd better have a damn good reason for giving me a bummer ending.
Who comes out with their future happy and comfortable in De Sica or Rossellini's neorealist films? Or Reichardt's "Wendy and Lucy," or Jafar Panahi’s movies? Nobody. But that's not the director cackling. That's the director feeling anguished that this is how it is. The only anguish I get in Fellini is "not enough people worship My Artistry Yet." What a pucking futz. He really did marry up, but that's no crime (so did I).
And I like that line about "humans acting like humans in human situations." I like goofy movies, I just edited a fun video clip about Richard Roundtree and David Carradine fighting an Aztec Demon Dragon. (I am getting better at video editing, it's a process!)
But what I enjoy most at my age is just movies which seem like the characters are trying to deal with life the best they can. Night Moves is a good example -- that guy’s no saint, he’s just trying to be decent.
If you love ambiguous endings, you have GOT to see Bill Paxton’s "Frailty." Paxton directed it, and he's merely an OK director (he is by no means bad, and he's a damn sight better than your buddy Joey Mankiewicz). But he gives a good performance, and the script is outstanding. That's a "sad" ending which totally makes sense! I think you might really like it.
Or, if you don't... I'll bet you can write a pretty terrific essay about why not, and I'd like to read it.
The thing about Umberto D and The Bicycle Thieves is that people's lives suck but they choose to go on. Interestingly, I just realized that this is how Modern Times ends too. Of course, you can (and many do) call this sentimental. But I think you can't apply that to De Sica because he creates real characters. But I do think the pro-life themes in De Sica's work explains why I enjoy his films in a way that I don't Rossellini's.
In my review of Q, I wrote, "Mexico doesn’t just send us their rapists; they also send their Aztec gods..." Larry Cohen was really good. Somehow, he could make anything work. And his film "It's Alive" was actually pretty thoughtful. But what is this about video editing? What are you doing?
I've found a copy of Frailty so I'll try to watch it soon. Things are a little weird right now. I have someone coming in to pull out all my floors and put new ones in. So I'm going to stay with my cousin for the next week. But I'm working in my garage. I've cleaned it. But the smell of rat urine is still here. Plus I am a man of habits. So I don't know what the next week is going to be like. At least I'm a week ahead on my required writing!
Oh no! Sorry about the rat piss!
And the odd living situation! You've been through a lot these last years.
The video editing is that Substack lets you upload video. And I've had some fun learning how to edit/upload video files I've gotten from Internet Archive. I have Acquired Editing Skills! Aren’t I clever!