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Ragtag Discussion Board » Recent Topics http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Films, events, and everything else Ragtag en-US Thu, 17 May 2012 00:36:23 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/search.php Jai on "Cannes last year: a sight bite" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=216#post-503 Tue, 15 May 2012 19:46:33 +0000 Jai 503@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ With the 2012 Cannes starting tomorrow. Here is a sight bite from Dennis Lim about the resonance of last year's Cannes. "The 2011 Palme d’or winner, Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, while divisive, was widely seen as a creditable pick. The Artist, the breakout crowd-pleaser, cleaned up at the Oscars, and Midnight in Paris, which opened the festival last year, became Woody Allen’s biggest hit in decades. The competition slate included many of the past year’s best-reviewed films: Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Kid With a Bike, Lars von Trier’s Melancholia." Jai on ""Bike" blurbs by Scott May and Lisa Schwarzbaum" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=215#post-502 Thu, 10 May 2012 18:53:12 +0000 Jai 502@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ First, a short take on Kid with a Bike by Lisa Schwarzbaum. <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20578464,00.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20578464,00.html</a> I saw this Cannes winner, a few weeks ago at the Plaza Frontenac; and Scott May is right: this is the type of authentic virtuoso work that Hollywood no longer is able to produce. I suggest that you see the film for yourself before reading May's review because he gives away details you might prefer to discover for yourself. But here's a slice from his rave review that doesn't spoil anything. "The Dardenne brothers' direction is austere and, in the most delicate way, very soulful. I loved the simplicity of the script, especially scenes meant to show Cyril's loneliness and determination. Throughout the film, the camera and young Doret are in perfect sync, existing on a level where words are not necessary. A remarkable achievement." Showtimes for Kid with a Bike Friday May 11 @ 6:00 Saturday May 12 @ 1:15 and 6:15 Sunday May 13 @ 12:30 and 5:30 Monday May 14 @ 6:00 Tuesday May 15 @ 6:00 Wednesday May 16 @ 9:00 Thursday May 17 @ 9:45 One last thing. Don't let the trailer for this movie keep you from seeing it. These Belgian brothers make films that work in ways that really don't clarify well into trailers. Jai on ""Elena" with soundtrack by Philip Glass" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=214#post-501 Sun, 06 May 2012 13:12:30 +0000 Jai 501@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ I did a small mailing among friends when The Return directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev screened at the old Ragtag sometime after the turn of the century. All of us who were there were totally awed by the dramatic and visual style and impact of that film --one of the dozen best that Ragtag has shown. In ten days, The Film Forum in New York will open his newest work, Elena, and that noir thriller is being distributed in the U.S. by Zeitgeist Films. Here's a link which includes the trailer. <a href="http://www.filmforum.org/movies/more/elena#nowplaying" rel="nofollow">http://www.filmforum.org/movies/more/elena#nowplaying</a> Jai on "Critics picks: "Marley" and "Trouble in Paradise"." http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=213#post-500 Sun, 06 May 2012 09:54:56 +0000 Jai 500@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ I don't think there's much I can write that will change anyone's mind about Marley. I mean you could be a) totally in love with the man and his music, b) know that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and want to know more or c) think Mitt Romney will save us from Obama. (I will check 'a' and 'b', even though I try to understand where the c's are coming from.) Here's my old-timer brag. My introduction to Reggae was at the old Tinker St. Cinema in Woodstock, New York with the fairly macho left-wing fable starring Jimmy Cliff, The Harder They Come. That was 1972, just under 40 years ago!! The Woodstock Times had an article at the time on this new type of music called "reggae." (Where did all that time go?!!!!) If you go back another 40 years, on Wednesday, May 16th, you get to Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise, which I saw ten(?) years ago at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA. Here's a passage from Wikipedia. "a romantic comedy, written with Samson Raphaelson, Trouble in Paradise (1932). Later described (approvingly) as 'truly amoral', by critic David Thomson, the cynical comedy was popular both with critics and with audiences. But it was a project that could only have been made before the enforcement of the Production Code, and after 1935, Trouble in Paradise was withdrawn from circulation. It was not seen again until 1968. The film was never available on videocassette and only became available on DVD in 2003.' "Writing about Lubitsch's work, critic Michael Wilmington observed: "At once elegant and ribald, sophisticated and earthy, urbane and bemused, frivolous yet profound. They were directed by a man who was amused by sex rather than frightened of it-- and who taught a whole culture to be amused by it as well." Jai on "Metacritic scores: April and May" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=212#post-499 Sat, 05 May 2012 18:05:40 +0000 Jai 499@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ April feature films………… (Metacritic scores) Miss Bala………………………………….. (80) Coriolanus………………………………… (79) The Yellow Sea…………………………. (78) Chico and Rita………………………….. (76) Boy…………………………………………… (70) We Need To Talk About Kevin ……… (68) The Innkeepers……………………………… (64) Jeff Who Lives at Home…………………. (60) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen…………. (58) Friends with Kids……………………………. (55) Casa de mi Padre…………………………… (52) For eleven Ragtag feature films screened March 30 thru Aoril 30th, the median Metacritic score is sixty-eight (68). May feature films………… (Metacritic scores) The Kid with a Bike…………………. (87) Marley……………………………………. (82) Footnote………………………………… (82) Undefeated……………………………. (72) Sound of My Voice.............................(68) Damsels in Distress………………… (67) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel……….. (61) For seven Ragtag feature films screenimg May 4th thru May 31st, the median Metacritic score is seventy-two (72). Jai on ""The Deep Blue Sea" and excuses for neglecting art films" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=211#post-496 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:21:16 +0000 Jai 496@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ I'm disappointed that the opening of The Deep Blue Sea, originally slated for May 4th, has been scratched, apparently to make room for Damsels in Distress. The Belcourt juggled its schedule for the same reason, but, to its credit, The Deep Blue Sea is now scheduled to open there on May 11th. I drove to St. Louis eight days ago, and got to see Terence Davies latest masterwork. It captures the bell-jar world of a woman in the '50's, like no other movie I've seen since the Todd Haynes technicolored Far From Heaven. Davies' new movie has many of his trademark entrancers including remarkable use of light and color, as well as at least a couple of scenes of a group of people singing together in public, just for the fun of it. The performance of Rachel Wiesz in the role of Hester should be noted as an accomplished achievement, albeit one that won't even be mentioned during this year's awards season. As A.O. Scott wrote: "Ms. Weisz, for her part, gives Hester a full melodramatic coloration without overdoing, conveying the essential split in the character’s nature. She is at once a sensible, capable, intelligent Englishwoman and a mad, keening martyr for love." Years ago, when Don Choate and I watched The Long Day Closes together at his house, he was fascinated and delighted by the artistry and the evocation of time and place. I sat alone at the Plaza Frontenac feeling forlorn that Don wasn't around to see The Deep Blue Sea with me. It looks like the best we can hope for is a June opening at Ragtag. But I wonder whether Ragtag will screen The Deep Blue Sea at all, or just come up with yet another excuse. With the help of tapestore, and with the current screening of Miss Bala, I've dispatched the oft-repeated excuse that Ragtag could not show a particular art film because it has been released on DVD. Let's turn to another excuse that Ragtag has offered for not showing superb art cinema (ironically, it's one most recently plopped on this forum by tapestore: (one of the reasons he gave for not screening The Turin Horse) "it's 2.5 hours." To start with let's consider The Yellow Sea which this website lists as 157 minutes long. That would be 2 hours and 37 minutes long or 2.6 hours. However, the website has it wrong as the movie is actually 136 minutes long which is only 2.26 hours long. So maybe 14 minutes more (2,5 hours) is intolerable? Returning to The Deep Blue Sea, it's only 98 minutes long --that's 1.63 hours. Ragtag should show it ASAP. It wouldn't be bad to screen the recently restored and re-released The Long Day Closes while you're at it. Jai on "The scoop on "Miss Bala"" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=210#post-493 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:05:24 +0000 Jai 493@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Friends of mine who watched "Miss Bala" with me tonite didn't know there really was a beauty queen named "Miss Bala". Here's the account from Manohla Dargis. "In 2008 a Mexican beauty queen named Laura Zúñiga and seven men were arrested, their S.U.V. loaded with cash and guns. Ms. Zúñiga was soon anointed Miss Narco by Mexican newspapers, and the American news media had its fun too. Time magazine ran an article about her with the headline “Busted! Taking Down Miss Hispanic America,” embellishing it with a glamour shot of her in a gown, her bosomy cups running over. Her arrest, as Time put it, provided “some variety in the news for a nation weary of piles of corpses and vicious firefights in its relentless drug war.” She was soon released and, while she lost her pageant crown, unlike some casualties of the drug war she did keep her head. The director Gerardo Naranjo coaxes a few anxious laughs out of this weird tale, which he has liberally expanded on, but his tone remains almost relentlessly sober. It’s no wonder: According to the Mexican government more than 47,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderón began deploying the military against the cartels in 2006, a number that makes the body count in the film seem conservative. Even so, while Mr. Naranjo adds some real, grim statistics to the fictionalized mix, he doesn’t try to legitimize the story with documentary verismo. Instead, working from a script he wrote with Mauricio Katz, Mr. Naranjo gives Miss Bala the pulse of an action film, the tears of a telenovela and a heroine who easily shoulders the metaphoric weight of a people living under siege." Jai on ""The Yellow Sea" --Manohla Dargis and Scott May" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=209#post-492 Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:30:45 +0000 Jai 492@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ When I opened my Trib today, I was surprised to see that Scott May had taken the time to watch and review The Yellow Sea. I'd like to thank him for giving this movie some visibility as it is easy to overlook in the weekend shuffle. Manohla Datgis is a big fan of this Korean movie and her four and a half star review is linked below. <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/movies/the-yellow-sea-from-south-korea-review.html?ref=movies" rel="nofollow">http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/movies/the-yellow-sea-from-south-korea-review.html?ref=movies</a> Scott May thinks the movie only rates three stars, but he too finds much to admire. <a href="http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/apr/26/between-the-devil-and-the-yellow-sea/?go" rel="nofollow">http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/apr/26/between-the-devil-and-the-yellow-sea/?go</a> I'll be checking it out for myself in the next day or two. Jai on ""Poetry" of Wesley Morris" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=208#post-486 Sat, 21 Apr 2012 05:15:11 +0000 Jai 486@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ If you are not familiar with Wesley Morris, the 36 year old Boston Globe film critic, who was just awarded the Pulitzer Prize, check out his exquisitely written review of Poetry (below). I note also that the Korean actress, Yoon Jeong-hee, who plays Mija, won the Los Angeles Film Critics award for Best Actress. The DVD is available for rent at Ninth St. Video. <a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2011/03/04/lee_chang_dongs_poetry_nearly_perfect/" rel="nofollow">http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2011/03/04/lee_chang_dongs_poetry_nearly_perfect/</a> Jai on "Kid with a Bike coming in May" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=206#post-478 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:27:29 +0000 Jai 478@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Here's a description and a trailer for the Dardenne Brothers movie, Kid With a Bike. Note the sponsor (bottom of the trailer) that helps support the Belcourt screenings. <a href="http://www.belcourt.org/events?id=78847" rel="nofollow">http://www.belcourt.org/events?id=78847</a> Jai on "Where did Miss Bala go?" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=207#post-479 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:12:20 +0000 Jai 479@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Both this website and your Facebook page tout the opening of Miss Bala on Friday April 20th. But your Calendar says she won't be here. Did she get shot down after all? Jai on "Your reply makes sense" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=205#post-477 Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:30:39 +0000 Jai 477@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Your reply (below) makes sense, tapestore. I personally am glad for your efforts, even though I am not always interested in seeing everything you program. Just so you know, Matt and you have one thing in common: each of you have access to a huge number of movies on DVD that most of us do not, and watch a lot of stuff that Ragtag couldn't show if they wanted to, due to lack of availability. One thing that's different is that Matt a) lives quite a distance away and b) (unlike me) is not always happy about seeing movies with an audience. But the primary point of my "DVD release" post (below) was just this: a DVD or streaming release does not preclude a Ragtag screening. You seem to agree with me. Here I will spell out other point that you implicitly make: Showing movies that are not heavily marketed and are longer than average often is a financial drain. A third point you don't mention, that I will, is that venues (including Ragtag) can make this work by finding benefactors as e.g. Upstate Films does with their "Well Worth Watching" series. <a href="http://upstatefilms.org/film-series/well-worth-watching" rel="nofollow">http://upstatefilms.org/film-series/well-worth-watching</a> And the Belcourt does with their First Run Films Series (Open link and scroll down to see sponsor.) <a href="http://www.belcourt.org/events?categories=First%20Run%20Films&id=79308" rel="nofollow">http://www.belcourt.org/events?categories=First%20Run%20Films&id=79308</a> Finally, I'm not usually privy as to who does what at Ragtag, but I am glad that I'll get to see Miss Bala and The Yellow Sea.. So thanks for that. Jai on "Ragtag movies & DVD releases: Which tapestore are we on?" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=204#post-475 Sun, 15 Apr 2012 11:33:59 +0000 Jai 475@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Back when I complained that tapestore's first Passport series program in 2010 was a little shopworn, tapestore wrote an on-target reply to me which follows: "Lastly, I don't quite understand your DVD complaint. I don't think are many people who would known about ALAMAR if we hadn't programmed it (love Film Movement, but I don't think they have much of a Columbia fan base). And in any case, films like ALAMAR are meant to be seen on a big screen. Isn't that why you go to Ragtag? To see films projected? Why is ALAMAR suddenly stale and unworthy of big screen projection once it's available on DVD?" A little over a year later, when I complained that Uncle Boomnee Who Can Recall Past Lives did not screen at Ragtag last year, tapestore wrote: "I said that UNCLE BOONMEE would come to Ragtag but noted that it probably wouldn't be until Passport 2011. It ended up on DVD very quickly (July), and by the time we realized this (early June) it was too late to book it, as we had already locked TREE OF LIFE and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. Sorry about that, but had the theatrical-to-DVD window been longer, it absolutely would have played the theater." Given the increasing availability of films via various delivery systems (including the simultaneous release of movies such as Melancholia in theatres and "on demand" on pay per view), I want to say that I find the response of tapestore #1 to be more apropos than the response of tapestore #2. So apparently does whoever booked two small movies that are Manohla Dargis faves: Miss Bala from Mexico and The Yellow Sea from South Korea. These movies were released on DVD In February, but will open at Ragtag on April 20th and April 27th respectively. All this comes to mind because of Matt's post last week which read in part: "The Turin Horse is set for DVD/Blu-Ray release in the US July 12th. Though this does not preclude a Passport appearance, I would think it would diminish the need. That being said, I've seen The Turin Horse already and may be willing to see it again at Ragtag should they acquire it,..." Given the great reviews and the beautiful black and white photograhy that Bela Tarr is known for, I suggest that, be it during the 2012 Passport Series or otherwise, Ragtag do just that, let us see it on the big screen. Jai on "We Need to Talk About Kevin" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=203#post-474 Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:36:33 +0000 Jai 474@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Here are two positive reviews of We Need to Talk About Kevin. The first was penned by A.O. Scott who concludes: "We Need to Talk About Kevin with help from Seamus McGarvey’s fever-flushed cinematography and Jonny Greenwood’s heartsick, throbbing score, saturates the senses like illness or bad weather. It is beautiful and demonic, like Kevin himself, and the bad feelings it induces are likely to be accompanied by helpless and stricken admiration. You may well need to talk about it afterward, but then again, you may be left speechless." <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/movies/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-with-tilda-swinton-review.html" rel="nofollow">http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/movies/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-with-tilda-swinton-review.html</a> Then, today's Tribune has a five-star review from Scott May. <a href="http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/apr/12/something-to-talk-about/" rel="nofollow">http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/apr/12/something-to-talk-about/</a> gregorybrown on "That Dead Horse" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=200#post-467 Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:21:16 +0000 gregorybrown 467@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ I suppose it's impossible to think that folks in Nashville might be more sophisticated than Columbians. The turnout there was likelier due to some misunderstanding. People heard "Tourin' Horse" and assumed it was a doc about one of the state's famous Tennessee Walkers, or maybe a personal appearance by the equine star of WAR HORSE or another of the horsey movies released these past few years. I wouldn't have heard about the film nor about Bela Tarr if it weren't for Jai's references. I'd like to see TURIN HORSE based on reviews I've seen as a result of that. Maybe Tapestore can sang it for the next Passport Series. Jai on "Let me be a little clearer" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=202#post-471 Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:50:14 +0000 Jai 471@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Not wanting to beat a dead Horse, let me come right out and air my thoughts about many of Ragtag's fair to middlin movies of the past six weeks and the possibility of Ragtag Cinema living up to its potential on a more reliable basis. 1) Many if not all of the "mixed review" movies as well as the well-reviewed Japanese Disney wide release Ragtag has featured would have been picked up by our local corporate theatres. 2) Ragtag shows movies all the time that are not particularly lucrative. But virtually the only time Paul puts down a movie for not being lucrative is in reference small distributor art films that tend to lack a marketing budget. These are the movies that need support not snide and inaccurate putdowns. 3) Although I don't want Ragtag to show only gourmet dishes, it might do better than to trend to top box office chart movies that will soon grace the bargain bins at Walmart. 4) If Paul's post relating to the well-reviewed movies coming in May comes true, then those who love well-made thoughtful entertainment can look forward to: The Deep Blue Sea Footnote The Kid with a Bike 5) That's good, but overall Ragtag can do better. To name just two movies that were notable by their absence here in 2011: Le Quattro Volte and Poetry. The former may not be to everyone's taste, but there are both a spiritual and an art cinema audience iin Columbia that would have appreciated the chance to see this --at least if someone at Ragtag let them know what it was. The second film, Poetry , showed at a great many independent theatres and in virtually every Landmark Theatre city. It may not have drawn the Kill List demographic, but it would have moved many of my and gregorybrown's generation had they had the chance to see them at Ragtag. 6) Have you checked out the Belcourt first run schedule lately? This is engaged, informed, and canny programming. Just what Ragtag has been known to do, just not consistently. <a href="http://www.belcourt.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.belcourt.org/</a> gregorybrown on "brows high, low and sweated" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=201#post-468 Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:46:29 +0000 gregorybrown 468@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ I can't dismiss CASA DE MI PADRE as simply "lowbrow "junk'". PORKY'S is lowbrow junk. JACKASS and those supposedly funny summer films that batch a group of movie Super Heroes in a pointless raunchfest are lowbrow junk. The tween-exploitive twinkly vamp films are lowbrow junk. And so are many of the Hollywood '"religious" films of the 50's and later--QUO VADIS, THE ROBE and more. Back during the Reagan years I was willing to share the cost of cable before the Vast Wasteland became a Putrid Swamp. I've 96% given up on TV as entertainment or even information now but recall that I enjoyed the intricate story lines of DUKES OF HAZZARD, as well as the culturally revealing Telenovelas on Univision. Overacting, or merely an exaggerated style unfamiliar to a bored Anglo trying to get relief from the tedium of a NW Ohio winter, ridiculous stories, cheap special effects--lowbrow, yes, but not exactly junk on the level of today's "reality TV". CDMP lacks the wit and puckishness of early Christopher Guest parodies. Yet it achieves a high level of faithfulness to the methods and appearance and feel of the Telenovela. It is mass entertainment, with no pretense of being high cinema art. It is funny, and certainly funnier on more levels for viewers familiar with the originals. I laughed and enjoyed it. I actually saw it. Can the poster who scoffs at it see the thing? I hope so. A diet of Twinkies and Ho-Hos isn't healthy, and neither is one constructed solely of haute cuisine. I think CDMP is peachy. Jai on "Paul's straw "Horse"" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=199#post-466 Sat, 07 Apr 2012 11:42:26 +0000 Jai 466@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ In his response to my "Check out the Belcourt" post below, Paul wrote: "I bet Toby would've played Salmon Fishing if he had the choice. That's because I'd be surprised if more than 75 people total showed up opening weekend for The Turin Horse." Hold on a minute. Let's think about this.... Fact #1: The Belcourt does show some films with overall middlin' reviews. Facts #2 and #3: Reviews of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen are mixed and it may not have been available to the Belcourt as it was showing elsewhere in Nashville. Nonetheless it surely is not an either/or choice of showing any given movie instead of The Turin Horse. It is not logically inconsistent for Toby (or Paul) to book low brow "junk" such as Casa de mi Padre (e.g. in the belief that Will Ferrell will generate dollars) and at the same time book high brow movies such as the The Turin Horse (e.g. knowing it may be an exceptional work but with less commercial potential). While nosing around in the box office charts, I stumbled into the weekend box office for The Turin Horse I hate to "surprise" Paul too much, but it turns out that the Belcourt took in $1481 dollars for its Friday, Saturday and Sunday screenings. Assuming all tickets sold for $9.50, The Belcourt weekend screenings the movie attracted 156 viewers, which is more than double Paul's surprise threshhold. Maybe Toby Leonard's Nashville friends were surprised as well. The Belcourt added a fourth screening last Tuesday. Sorry but I wasn't so vigilant as to find out how many people showed up on Tuesday night. Jai on "Check out the Belcourt's first run films" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=198#post-460 Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:19:01 +0000 Jai 460@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ The Belcourt's schedule of first run films fearures great exemplars of what Ragtag and other independent movie places could aspire to. See this link. <a href="http://www.belcourt.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.belcourt.org/</a> Between March 30th, when it opened The Turin Horse, and May 4th, when it begins a run of The Great Blue Sea, the Belcourt will show the five top critically reviewed movies of the year. That together with its Robert Bresson's retro, and a cool assortment of other stuff makes me think of The Belcourt as something of a marvel. Of course Nashville is a big city so they will get the great stuff quicker than Ragtag. But maybe with the money Ragtag makes from the star-driven things it is currently showing, Ragtag could be not far behind in May and June. The next five posts below provide a quick guide to the top films waiting for a Columbia booking. Jai on "This is Not a Film" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=193#post-454 Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:12:52 +0000 Jai 454@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Metacritic notes that A Separation was the number one critically reviewed movie of 2012. For the first quarter of 2012, the top metacritic score goes to another Iranian film by the acclaimed and jailed film maker Jafar Panahi. Here's some apt lines about it from A.O. Scott. "So if this is not a film, it is, among other things, a statement of creative resistance in the face of tyranny and a document of intellectual freedom under political duress. But that “among other things” brings us, in a way, back to Magritte, because while This Is Not a Film bristles with a topical, real-world urgency pointedly excluded from the Surrealist project, it is also a provocative, radical and at times surprisingly playful meditation on the nature of representation." — A. O. Scott Jai on "Rounding out the top five of 2012" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=197#post-459 Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:00:04 +0000 Jai 459@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ ...Is Bela Tarr's The Turin Horse which ends its run at the Belcourt Theatre in Nahville today. I've already posted a bunch about this, and I think it would be a classy move by Ragtag to bring it in. I will paste this beautifully-written passage by Tony Scott to leave a clue why... "In Mr. Tarr’s earlier films — like the magisterial, nightmarish, seven-hour Sátántangó and the wintry Werckmeister Harmonies — the heaviness was punctuated by incursions of the grotesque and the surreal, which may be why he has described them as comedies. Next to them, The Turin Horse is a pared-down, sinewy parable, as clear and simple as Fred Kelemen’s exquisitely lucid monochrome cinematography but also as layered and mysterious as Mihaly Vig’s jaggedly romantic score.' "The rigors of life can grind you down. The rigor of art can have the opposite effect, and “The Turin Horse” is an example — an exceedingly rare one in contemporary cinema — of how a work that seems built on the denial of pleasure can, through formal discipline, passionate integrity and terrifying seriousness, produce an experience of exaltation. The movie is too beautiful to be described as an ordeal, but it is sufficiently intense and unyielding that when it is over, you may feel, along with awe, a measure of relief. Which may sound like a reason to stay away, but is exactly the opposite." --A.O. Scott Jai on "Footnote" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=196#post-457 Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:45:13 +0000 Jai 457@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ The fourth critical favorite of the quarter was written and directed by American-born Israeli director Joseph Cedar. Here's a sample from A.O. Scott's review. "(S)urely the rest of us have more important things to worry about than the wounded vanity of intellectuals. The genius of Footnote is that it is about those important things too. Deftly turning the law of inverse proportions on its head Mr. Cedar spins a committee-room squabble into something authentically grand: a piercing satire, a poignant family drama and an investigation of the competing claims of honesty, loyalty, ambition and love. Really, the stakes could hardly be higher." Jai on "The Deep Blue Sea" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=195#post-456 Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:36:35 +0000 Jai 456@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Terence Davies is one incredible British filmmaker. One can't really blame Ragtag for failing to screen any of his films as his best films came out when there was no Ragtag. His latest is ranked third among current releases by Metacritic. Here's the summary of the Times review which cites his (other) great films at the end. "“I thought, I know what this one is about,” Terence Davies said at a recent screening of his new film, The Deep Blue Sea, adapted from a play by Terence Rattigan. He was explaining why, when he was invited by the Rattigan Trust to film one of that playwright’s works, he had chosen this 1952 tale of adultery and romantic despair. (It was previously brought to the screen in 1955, starring Vivien Leigh in a role performed, in Mr. Davies’s version, by Rachel Weisz.) This compact rendering — at once feverish and meticulous in its calibration of wanton emotions — proves just how deep Mr. Davies’s knowledge goes. Like most good plays “The Deep Blue Sea” is about many things. It is, in the most literal sense, about England in the years just after World War II, a period of weary austerity and quiet hope that Mr. Davies, born in Liverpool in 1945, has returned to again and again in the course of his filmmaking career. His autobiographical masterpieces Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) and The Long Day Closes (1993) evoke, from a child’s point of view, the pleasures and anxieties of a time when Britain, still traumatized by the war, seemed poised uneasily between the old and the new." — A. O. Scott Jai on "The Kid with a Bile" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=194#post-455 Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:26:30 +0000 Jai 455@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ The number two metacritic limited release is the latest from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. They had one great film at Ragtag to date, L'Enfant, and one less stellar effort with a terrible trailer which ensured that people stayed away in droves: that one was called Lorna's Silence A bit of what Manohla Dargis wrote about their latest. "The use of the Beethoven, the music soaring, as well as what appears to be a kind of resurrection, makes it easy to read “The Kid With a Bike” as a religious allegory, though that would be reductive. One thing that makes the Dardennes’ work so vibrant, at once new and seemingly timeless, is that they ask the most urgent questions we can ask of ourselves — including, what is it to be human — and in nondoctrinaire, nonproscriptive terms. This isn’t to deny the religious influence, which runs as deep in their films as it does in the outside world, but to argue that they have recast that influence in philosophical and aesthetic terms. “Rosetta,” “The Son,” “The Child” and The Kid With a Bike are, in the most expansive sense, good works." Jai on "A Separation: Why go (last show Thurs nite)" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=190#post-445 Thu, 29 Mar 2012 06:32:54 +0000 Jai 445@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ This Iranian film excels not only because it takes relatively mundane events and winds them into a taut existential drama. It also succeeds by using morally ambiguous and astutely drawn characters and superb story-telling to engage us, both analytically and emotionally. The main characters are perfectly acted/directed and completely believable. Not to be overlooked is the performance of the actor who plays the father with Alzheimer's. Given the sorry cinematic track record of the Best Foreign Film Oscar winners and the lack of Iranian government censorship of A Separation, I was certainly prepared for a conventionally compromised letdown. Instead I was moved. gregorybrown on "Message board link" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=192#post-449 Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:13:47 +0000 gregorybrown 449@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ I found it via the blog. If I can do it, anybody can. "Peachy" is such a quaint word. Is this really a "forum" given the limited participation? Jai on ""Message Board" link has disappeared from banner" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=191#post-446 Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:14:28 +0000 Jai 446@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ There is some kind of problem in that the "Message Board" link no longer appears at the top black banner of your home page. The only way I am able a access this message board is through my Favorites link. Can someone correct this? pete on "Pariah's last showing...." http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=189#post-444 Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:03:14 +0000 pete 444@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ This film's last showing is thursday night (22 March). As I understand it, it's been sparsely populated, and after seeing it I (we) am saddened by this news. I (we) found this film to be one of Ragtag's best film of the last year. You should probably see it if you haven't. This film touches on conformity, honesty "at home", and relationships. See it. And Love it. Rete and Pete Dan on "Eric Hynes on T/F 2012" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=188#post-441 Sun, 18 Mar 2012 05:20:45 +0000 Dan 441@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Best piece written on this year's fest imho. Also contains a nice shout out to Ragtag. <a href="http://cinema-scope.com/wordpress/cs-online/forever-young-dispatching-the-2012-truefalse-film-festival/" rel="nofollow">http://cinema-scope.com/wordpress/cs-online/forever-young-dispatching-the-2012-truefalse-film-festival/</a> "The value and importance of True/False Film Festival could be discerned within the first few hours of its ninth iteration. At the Forrest Theater, a copiously chandeliered ballroom-cum-screening room upstairs at the Tiger Hotel, the ten-storey Jazz-age building that nevertheless towers over cozy Columbia, Missouri, a film with no track record or advance word (and with rejections from several major US festivals under its belt, as I later discovered) premiered and proved to be one of the freshest and most assured debuts in recent memory. God (and apparently numerous foolish programmers) only knows why Only the Young, an ingratiating and entertaining profile of three suburban Christian skate-punks, hadn’t premiered on a bigger stage, but True/False has made a habit of presenting artistically adventurous documentary films in the best possible light. By the end of the four-day weekend, the pocket-sized festival’s nimble and ecumenical slate made those of the big brother festivals seem small (or at least small-minded) by comparison." . . . "But this year’s festival was ultimately defined by a two-film retro of Russian director Victor Kossakovsky, recipient of the fest’s annual True Vision Award. For those like myself who’d never seen it, watching the 60-minute, rarely screened The Belovs (1993) was like discovering a lost history of the universe, or at least of documentary film. Imagine Grey Gardens (1975) set in Siberia, filmed by Sokurov, and staged by Tennessee Williams, and you’ll begin to have a sense of what Kossakovsky summons with his debut film, shot in the fledgling days of post-Soviet Russia but timeless in its inherently, gloriously Slavic insanity. The Belovs is so singularly destabilizing that you’re truly never certain if you’re watching a comedy or a tragedy, direct cinema or an art film, a day in the life or the end of days. The Belovs was paired with the director’s most recent film, Vivan las Antipodas!, a vastly different yet recognizably Kossakovskian kind of marvel. Riffing on the concept of antipodes—diametrically opposite points on the globe, were a direct line drawn through the earth’s core—Kossakovsky selects four sets (eight locations in all) of land antipodes (which account for only 4% of the earth’s surface), and then simply goes to town (and country). He watches bridge toll-keepers in rural Argentina shoot the shit, then wades into thick Shanghai traffic; he cuts between the leathery hide of an African elephant to a Hawaiian island’s volcanic surface; between a Spanish rock formation and a beached whale in New Zealand; and between the grey and gold sheep-lands of Chile and Siberia. What might have been a nifty excuse to make a nature film is actually a work of cinematic rumination and surrealistic play. The frame is flipped and rotated, music bleeds from one end of the earth to another, and shots rhyme, contrast, provoke, and assert terrestrial complexity. It’s the world as seen, traversed and vivisected by a wise and puckish poet." Jai on "Thanks for "The Artist is Present" and "Antipodas"" http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/topic.php?id=186#post-439 Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:41:22 +0000 Jai 439@http://www.ragtagfilm.com/board/ Due to illness, I missed most of this year's True/False. Still, I would like to thank whoever was behind bringing Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present to the Missouri Theatre. Marina's current performance and teaching space is in Hudson, New York, also home of Time and Space Limited. I remember hearing about the MOMA show two years ago, but, like most people, could not easily attend. So the movie is a treasure, as, of course, is Marina. I also appreciated ¡Vivan las antipodas! and the moving presentation of the True Vision award to its director, Victor Kossakovsky. before a packed Missouri Theatre audience. I was up close, and I thought he was genuinely moved by the crowd. I thought the movie was very good and definitely worth seeing, though too long by twenty minutes or so, ...and the dumb jokes about women by those two men was just a little annoying. I'd give it four stars out of five nonetheless. The five-star referent would be the mostly wordless fiction documentary by Michelangelo Frammartino, Le Quattro Volte. It's a movie at once mysterious, poetic, and concise. It never came to Ragtag, but I saw it at Time and Space Limited. Now I own the Blu-ray. Check it out if you haven't already.