Rendezvous Made by Claude Lelouch (an otherwise respected, conventional French director, as far as I can tell) in 1976, it’s a nine-minute drive across Paris, shot from a camera mounted on the front bumper of a Ferrari. The only soundtrack is the engine and squealing tires. The driver runs red lights, goes into oncoming lanes and a sidewalk to get around slow traffic, and gets into fifth gear on the Champs Elysees. Filmed in the early morning, with no permits and no closed streets. Rumors about this movie abound, including that Lelouch was arrested after its first public showing.
The verdict? Meh. There was no way to see this movie for decades. It only got a video release in the last few years. But it survived by word of mouth, and legends about the movie were embellished until they were better than the movie itself. I don’t think the driver was really going as fast as some of the figures I’ve heard and read. And my copy was as badly transfered to video as any bootleg. (Or it was just that way originally, cameras, film and lighting being what they were 30 years ago.) If he really did it the way they say he did, I tip my cap. But the final result isn’t as stirring as it should be.
I finally caught this about a year ago. It has some of the same dynamic as South Park; an innocent situation, utterly profane language and behavior, and characters who live in that world as if it’s normal. There’s something absurd about that combination that works on me, if it’s done right. I’ve recommended this movie, but only to certain people.
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story Ex-Lax, Anorexia and Rock & Roll. Performed by an all Barbie Doll cast.
The Happiness of the Katakuris A family coming together film that could only have come out of Japan.
When Nature Calls Man moves family to the country, daughter falls in love with a bear. Includes an outrageous intermission scene ala* let’s all go to the lobby* that’ll make you think twice about that tub of buttered popcorn.
No, you really don’t, but not for any of the reasons given. The main reason not to see it is:
IT SUCKS!!!
No, really, IT SUCKS!!!
No plot. No meaningful characters. No emotions. Nothing but a overblown fever dream of a film school pretender who revels in the surreal.
Now, Elephant Man is a fabulous movie that is actually horribly disturbing because it has a real plot, real characters, real emotions, and some great visual work. I am constantly amazed those two movies were made by the same person.
But Eraserhead is a pretentious, boring waste of celluiod.
Not only have I seen this, I’ve seen it three times, twice on the big screen. When talking about Miike, there are certainly more notorious choices (Ichi and Q have been mentioned here already), but it’s definitely a riot of a movie.
Re Eraserhead:
It sucks if you think a movie must contain these elements. On the other hand, if you can watch a movie simply for its visual poetry (e.g. Herzog’s Fata Morgana or Fricke’s Baraka), without feeling like you need to be told a conventional story, then Eraserhead is worthwhile.
To be a movie, it need only be a series of images projected upon a screen. Koyaanisqatsi and your mentioned Baraka are very good movies, or, if you’re feeling a bit smug, they’re very good “visual poetry”.
Oh, sweet merciful jeebus, and also Pink Flamingos. I’ll try to explain, but…
Divine holds the title for the world’s most disgusting person. Challenging her title are a toe-sucking couple who kidnap young girls and hold them hostage in their basement and have a guy impregnate them and then sell the babies. From there, the movie degenerates (if that’s even possible) into a horrible nightmarish mess. High points include the guy jerking off into the condom, Devine eating shit, and a grown woman in a diaper who is very fond of eggs. Actually, I think I have mentally blocked out most of this movie. And I didn’t even make it to the end before I chickened out. BRAIN BLEACH REQUIRED.
I agree. It’s interesting to watch, but isn’t nearly worth the hype it’s received. A better one, in my opinion is Climb Dance, of a Peugeot (Renault?) rally car doing the Pike’s Peak run. It uses a mix of on-board, roadside and helicopter cameras and is quite breathtaking.