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Post by queenzod on Dec 10, 2018 8:39:24 GMT
I just finished watching this Cohen brothers movie on Netflix, and it is brilliant! Six short western tales that are arresting, surreal, touching, sad, and violent (parts of it I couldn’t watch). An amazing cast!
In the last short there there was an actor I couldn’t take my eyes off of. He looked familiar, so I looked him up. It was Jonjo O’Neill, who played the slimy Seamus in Patrick Melrose. He was mesmerizing in this.
I highly recommend it.
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Post by sgev1977 on Dec 10, 2018 14:18:21 GMT
I love it but some stories were better than others. I liked the one about the girl, the very cruel one with Liam Neeson, the one with Tom Waits and the last one with O´Neill. In a lot of ways his character was very similar to Seamus. Both were manipulative and, yes, slimy except that his real intentions were more mysterious ( and probably supernatural ) here! |
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Post by roverpup on Dec 13, 2018 3:49:11 GMT
We watched the first three and I have to say I was not impressed at all. The title vignette was one of THE most stupid things I have ever watched. It was so bad I actually got more and more irritated as it went on. We watched two more and although they were better I don't know if I can be arsed enough to continue with it. The one with Liam Neeson was very disappointing and pointless as far as I was concerned. In fact so was the one with Franco, although at least I found it mildly amusing when he said a funny line.
Not my cup of tea... obviously. I would rate it a big bunch of drivel and a waste of acting talent.
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Post by queenzod on Dec 13, 2018 5:43:28 GMT
Welp, Cohen brothers do be like that for some people. 😉
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Post by sgev1977 on Dec 13, 2018 14:38:35 GMT
Buster Scruggs is a live action version of an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. Meanwhile I was watching it I thought: "OK, this is The Hudsucker Proxy's Coen brothers". That movie also had someone dying appearing later with the same little angel wings! It's extremely silly, I know and probably one of the weakest chapters but I think the intention was to show the American singing cowboy of old Hollywood movies as a psychopath (He reject the idea that he is a "misanthrope" and see himself as an artist. It could also be a reference to the Coen brothers themselves, tho. They are indeed frequently accused of being "misanthropes"). I laughed a lot in the scene with the table. I think that was a great example slapstick humor but in a very sadistic and bloody way.
I can understand why someone wouldn't like the one with Liam Neeson. It's so cruel and nasty but I think it's the one who better resume the theme of the film and probably of all Coen brother's films: the stupidity of the human race. On one side you have someone representing the sensibility of the real artist being betrayed in such an awful way by the brute who would never understand the words even when he is there (again, probably a reference to the stupidity of Hollywood producers. Other frequent theme in their works).
IMHO the one with James Franco was the weakest but it's also about stupidity, fatality and destiny. There is almost not hope in those stories but mainly it's a farce. A very tragic farce. The only one with a "happy" ending is the episode with Tom Waits and at the same time there is a clear oposition between the peaceful and paradisiac natural scenery with the dirty, bloody and cruel human's actions when they invade it.
Probably you didn't watch it but the one about the settlers is the best one. It has more developed characters and they are kind of sweet and feel real but again it didn't finished well. Also I can see people being angry at the way Native Americans are portrayed there: they are scary and very clearly "the other". On the other hand, that's the way white settlers would see them at the time so in certain way it's much more realistic interpratation of a story of that time than something with today's sensibilities. I would understand the criticism, tho. The scene of the battle is a filmic masterwork.
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Post by roverpup on Dec 13, 2018 20:00:10 GMT
Well perhaps I am just too unsophisticated to fully appreciate the brilliance of the Coen brothers.
Some of their stuff I like, and Fargo is something I could watch a hundred times and still find it entertaining and interesting, but a lot of their movies I just find to be almost juvenile. Sometimes they seem to lay things on with a trowel when I have seen other directors handle similar themes with a much more subtle touch and totally succeed.
I don't mind off-beat things either (example - I just watched The Killing of a Sacred Deer and found it disturbing but highly entertaining and spent some time after thinking on what I had seen) but after watching 3 of the "episodes of Buster I mainly felt like I had wasted a goodly chunk of my night and nothing they said or showed visually was worth reflecting on later.
I absolutely love farce (its probably my favourite kind of humour) but this was overstuffed to the point of bursting on its own pomposity as far as I am concerned.
Yeah, they're big time auteur directors and I'm just a backward, old fogey who doesn't know shit from shinola, but I am just expressing my true feelings about what I saw nevertheless.
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Post by sgev1977 on Dec 13, 2018 20:34:25 GMT
Of course, you aren't! I couldn't finished The Killing of a Sacred Deer because I couldn't stand the way actors were speaking! And the director is the coolest thing right now in cinephile circles!
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Post by roverpup on Dec 13, 2018 23:41:27 GMT
Of course, you aren't! I couldn't finished The Killing of a Sacred Deer because I couldn't stand the way actors were speaking! And the director is the coolest thing right now in cinephile circles! I found the actors vocal tonal style off putting at first until I realised that it all harkened back to the ancient Greek theatre as referenced in the theme and title. As well I later read an article explaining that the monotones were purposely used by the director because of the transactional quality of the dialogue - it plays directly into the characters' actions throughout. It is fascinating how the director interwove ancient Greek theatre into this modern retelling of a classical myth. |
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Post by sgev1977 on Dec 14, 2018 0:01:43 GMT
I understand it was intentional because everyone was talking like that! But I just hated it! Well, with the exception of Nicole Kidman who was the only one who seemed to talk like a normal human being or maybe she was just bad! Considering she wasn't following the instructions of her director!
Maybe I would try to watch it again!
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