Boz
Published writer
Posts: 1,451
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Post by Boz on Jan 21, 2007 21:26:37 GMT
Last Year at Marienbad (1961/Resnais)Thank god there's an alternative to Netflix, because some classic films aren't on DVD yet. My college library has a great selection of all types of film media, and I was happy to see they had this. I kind of wandered in not intending to actually sit and watch the whole thing, but hell, it's that good. Equally blown away by my 2nd viewing. Eager to see how other Resnais films compare. Further Thoughts
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Boz
Published writer
Posts: 1,451
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Post by Boz on Jan 22, 2007 3:00:28 GMT
Last Year at Marienbad (1961/Resnais)Originally Written 7/2/06
First viewingThis was a fantastically mysterious film. The beautifully haunting opening sequence, with graceful, smooth, uninteruppted tracking shots taken at odd angles down a hotel corridor draws you right in and immediately sets the style and tone for the film. Resnais uses unnamed characters, heavy symbolism, and his complex mixture of dreams, fantasies, nightmares, memories, reality, and subconcious is stunning, in a bewildering sort of way. I recently saw this listed as one of the most confusing films of all time, and it was this intriguing label that made me seek out the movie. This description plays out in full. Resnais strategically places quick segments of staccato editing and emotionally disturbing scenes in between the long eerie scenes of the regular story which is always accompanied by a ghostly organ score. I look forward to rewatches not to try to understand, but simply to expierience what Resnais has put together.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Aug 4, 2007 23:32:03 GMT
L'année dernière à Marienbad Last Year at Marienbad Alain Resnais 1960 France / Italy At a vast hotel of decorated corridors and anonymous mirrors, a man tries to convince a woman they've met a year previously…but did they, and was it Marienbad or Frederiksbad? Another of those films strictly for cinema buffs; the director clearly loves the medium (which New Wave child didn't?) and here he presents the whole proceedings as a completely intrinsic, insular world, detached from any kind of external society or politics. The protagonist, the only character with any kind of life or awareness of his own existence, acts as a kind of self-reflexive justification for the narrative's convolution, which determines what we see and how it is edited. The entire thing floats by like a fever dream, preoccupied with its own form, its own convention, wherein character names matter little, and distinguishing time and space is futile.
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Post by svsg on Aug 4, 2008 20:33:50 GMT
I wanted to buy this for a friend, but there is no Region 1 DVD
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Post by bobbyreed on Aug 4, 2008 21:32:59 GMT
Criterion's going to release it.... someday.
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Post by svsg on Aug 4, 2008 21:44:51 GMT
Criterion's going to release it.... someday. IIRC, you said you were near Berkeley right? If so, this month, it plays in a theater there: rialtopictures.com/marienbad.html
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Post by bobbyreed on Aug 4, 2008 21:57:25 GMT
Yeah, I'm seeing it next Friday.
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Post by svsg on Aug 19, 2008 2:46:54 GMT
Did you see it? How was the big screen experience?
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Post by bobbyreed on Aug 20, 2008 3:36:04 GMT
Haha, sorry svsg, forgot to reply. No, I missed it and the screening on Sunday. Didn't have a car to use and I didn't want to take the buses both ways. I've had bad luck trying to catch night films lately.
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Post by svsg on Aug 20, 2008 3:44:23 GMT
Haha, sorry svsg, forgot to reply. No, I missed it and the screening on Sunday. Didn't have a car to use and I didn't want to take the buses both ways. I've had bad luck trying to catch night films lately. Too bad, you missed it due to a car!!! Hope you watch it the next time. Unlike Dallas, you seem to be living in a place where you can watch some of these good movies. Robert C., living in Austin, you too should not miss this the next time it comes there.
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Kino
Published writer
Posts: 1,200
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Post by Kino on Dec 17, 2008 1:42:21 GMT
Criterion's going to release it.... someday. The blog's post said they just had Resnais watch the current transfer and he gave some specifics of what he wanted. Out sometime next year? Disappointed in the Oshima they're working on, but I hope that means more are on the way!
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Post by bobbyreed on Dec 17, 2008 1:52:10 GMT
Yeah, I'm guessing summer sometime. I'm not crazy about Senses either, and they do have a lot of other, more interesting Oshimas they'll be releasing eventually, Violence at High Noon, Japanese Summer: Double Suicide, and Cruel Story of Youth among others.
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Post by svsg on Dec 17, 2008 3:00:41 GMT
Wow that is the most wonderful news ever!! I watched it last week and fell in love with it all over again
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Kino
Published writer
Posts: 1,200
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Post by Kino on Dec 17, 2008 5:37:23 GMT
Yeah, I'm guessing summer sometime. I'm not crazy about Senses either, and they do have a lot of other, more interesting Oshimas they'll be releasing eventually, Violence at High Noon, Japanese Summer: Double Suicide, and Cruel Story of Youth among others. Those are coming up? I kind of guessed with the last one since TCM aired it this past summer. And I think the first and third titles were released earlier this year on European DVD. I rate both highly, but I want to see the radical Oshima, stuff I haven't seen.
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Post by bobbyreed on Dec 17, 2008 5:49:44 GMT
Most of his ATG films are New Yorker-owned, unfortunately.
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Kino
Published writer
Posts: 1,200
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Post by Kino on Jun 29, 2009 4:36:44 GMT
Happy Birthday, man. Gave the Marienbad Blu-Ray some burn yet? DVD, not Blu-ray. I watched it yesterday night and the clock rang 12.00 at the exact time it was 12.00 midnight in the film, when they escape the chateau. Eerie coincidence DVD extras are nice, including interviews with Resnais and some production crew. Huh. I thought I read you write that you were considering picking up a Blu Ray player strictly for Marienbad. Guess you were just joking.
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Capo
Administrator
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Post by Capo on Jun 29, 2009 10:30:49 GMT
I thought I read you write I've just taken several minutes figuring that out.
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Post by svsg on Jun 29, 2009 14:28:29 GMT
DVD, not Blu-ray. I watched it yesterday night and the clock rang 12.00 at the exact time it was 12.00 midnight in the film, when they escape the chateau. Eerie coincidence DVD extras are nice, including interviews with Resnais and some production crew. Huh. I thought I read you write that you were considering picking up a Blu Ray player strictly for Marienbad. Guess you were just joking. Ah, you are right I wrote about it. But I dropped the idea soon. Can't understand why Blu-ray players are so expensive even after a year
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Blib
Ghost writer
Posts: 623
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Post by Blib on Jan 16, 2010 17:06:26 GMT
I look forward to rewatches not to try to understand, but simply to expierience what Resnais has put together. This is how I feel. I was trying to understand the film, but once I realized it probably wasn't meant to be understood I began thinking about how pleasing it was visually. One of the most interesting and different films I've seen.
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Post by Michael on Jan 16, 2010 17:08:31 GMT
I gotta watch this. I have a sneaky feeling I'll love it.
Hiroshima Mon Amour is one of my all-time faves.
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