Movies - The White Ribbon A Prophet

bassie

I finally saw The White Ribbon and really liked it.It was a very different type of film for Haneke on one hand, in look and feel more than subject. The social commentary was there as always, but more buried than his other films. If anything, it was just a really great story.At different points, it reminded me of Von Trier?s Europa, Visconti?s The Damned and any number of B&W evil children movies of the 50s.And I saw A Prophet yesterday which will be hard to beat as the best film of the year. http://www.aprophet.ca/

SIRUS

yeah, i still need to see both of these. have you seen "mother"?

bassie

No - the preview looked good though. I liked Memories of Murder and never saw The Host...Mother has got mixed reviews, right?
Have you seen it? What did you think?

dreskieboogie

A Prophet is great!

I want to see it again.

Dress

Junior

I must confess that when I saw the basic synopsis of A Prophet it didn't strike me as a movie that I would rush to see as I've become more and more lazy about watching "challenging" cinema.

However I loved The Beat That My Heart Skipped and have read a few interviews Audiard about the process he went through to make it and am going to raise myself out of my popcorn cinema slum to go watch it on the big screen. Glad to hear it lives up to expectations.

onetet

LOVED The White Ribbon. Saw it a month or so back and despite seeing dozens of films since, it's still very much in my mind.

MOTHER was kinda meh to me. It had some gripping moments, but Memories of Murder did many of the same things better. Additionally, there's a very broad portrayal of a challenged person central to the film that just didn't work for me. Might be cultural-differences-related, but if the character was meant to be funny it really fell flat w/ me.

bassie

I actually had no idea what to expect from A Prophet. I read the synopsis when it played the Toronto Film Festival last fall and remember being interested in it but forgot the details. I have only seen Read My Lips by Audiard abnd loved that, too. Now I have to see the others by him.

You know, it's challenging, but not overwhelming. There are some harsh moments and some very tense ones, too. But it is not an unrelenting movie that tears your guts out and/or has images that will haunt you for days.

Junior

Ah, I did wonder. It was more the whole set up of the prison scenario and some of the things I read about incidents within it that made me think it might be a brutal movie to sit through. Having said that, The Beat.... hardly had the most uplifting plot but its energy and force of the performances stopped it from ever becoming a gruelling watch.

hertzhog

Yeah, I didn't find A Prophet 'challenging', either. It's a very smart movie I thought; equally enjoyable as a gritty prison flick and an allegorical look at (French) society. I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone.

I want to go see White Ribbon this week. Haneke is one of my favorites-- though I did skip the Funny Games remake-- so I'm really looking forward to it.

bassie

Yeah, I didn't find A Prophet 'challenging', either. It's a very smart movie [/b]I thought; equally enjoyable as a gritty prison flick and an allegorical look at (French) society. I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone.

Yes. There are a few elements in the film that in the hands of a lesser director/editor/art director would be corny or fail altogether. Having said that, the acting really carries the film.
It is in no way like Hunger or Ghosts of the Civil Dead in which one has to endure cruel act after violent act and so on.

magnetic

And I saw A Prophet yesterday which will be hard to beat as the best film of the year.


http://www.aprophet.ca/

Thanks for the recommendation i just downloaded it.

magnetic

Watched it last night i was impressed,i decided to look up his bio on imdb to see what film i want to see next from him.I'm going for the one starring Vincent Cassel since the other one is the Fingers remake,why mess with perfection? on that note they have remade Straw Dogs it's set in the south now Straw Dogs 2011

bassie

I'm going for the one starring Vincent Cassel

Read My Lips? Let me know what you think...

Junior

on that note they have remade Straw Dogs it's set in the south now Straw Dogs 2011

I must say I have nothing but the lowest expectations for this but then I wasn't even a great fan of the original so probably not for me anyway.

I would highly recommend checking out the Fingers "remake" - it's definitely not just an updating of the story to modern days in Paris. It has a very distinctive energy all of its own and Romain Duris is absolutely outstanding in the Keitel role.

magnetic

If the remake has a similar imposing pimp character like the OG does(The scene with Jim Brown and the 2 girls is classic) i'll give it a chance.

Thinking back on "The Prophet" the part where they hit the deer rings so true down here there's no wasting of good meat(here its goat though).

onetet

I would highly recommend checking out the Fingers "remake" - it's definitely not just an updating of the story to modern days in Paris. It has a very distinctive energy all of its own and Romain Duris is absolutely outstanding in the Keitel role.

If anyone's casting an Ian Svenonius biopic, he is also a natural for that role.

robert_murt

Ah, I did wonder. It was more the whole set up of the prison scenario and some of the things I read about incidents within it that made me think it might be a brutal movie to sit through. Having said that, The Beat.... hardly had the most uplifting plot but its energy and force of the performances stopped it from ever becoming a gruelling watch.

I live in the block where they directed the scenes with the Asian girl, teaching him piano lessons. And everyday in the real life I have this dude (or maybe girl) somewhere on the building, who's practicing concerto flute, and constantly reminding me the movie!

MoSS

And I saw A Prophet yesterday which will be hard to beat as the best film of the year.

Prophet was dope, as was White Ribbon. Have you watched Martyrs yet, or did you forget about it? How about Les 7 jours du talion? I think it's only played in Canada outside of a couple festivals. It's pretty brutal. I'm going to see you Sunday at the show, I can bring some treats....

bassie

Martyrs I have on disc, but haven't got to it yet...I have a feeling I have to be in the right mood for it.
Les 7 jours du talion, I need.
I guess I better get my torture and violence mindset up and running lol

Cool! - see you then.

SIRUS

"martyrs" was crazy. made "inside" seem like a sturges comedy.

hertzhog

I just saw The White Ribbon. Haneke is a master, no question. I think he's gotten a bit less bleak and didactic with age-- I guess the turning point was between Funny Games and Code Unknown-- so it's easier to like his films now instead of just admiring/respecting them.

For anyone interested, this insightful article gives an excellent overview of his work:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/oct/31/michael-haneke-films-hari-kunzru

magnetic

I'm going for the one starring Vincent Cassel

Read My Lips? Let me know what you think...

I didn't enjoy it as much as "The Prophet" but it definitely was a unique approach for this type of film.

It was a interesting character study piece, even though she had her insecurities
she was very assured when it came to getting her way.In the end they made a good partnership.

Strange how they worked in that story of the parole officer killing his wife i felt it was random.

bassie

IMO Eupropean, especially French, films do still waters run deep and/or sexy and/or psycho and/or sadistic and/or criminal-in-waiting, etc. really well. I loved the story idea.
Yea, it's not as dynamic as A Prophet.

SIRUS

finally saw white ribbon: one of the most stunning looking movies shot. i thought the movie - while well done - was ultimately frustrating. but then again, what am i expecting from a haneke film?

bassie

SIRUS said:

"martyrs" was crazy. made "inside" seem like a sturges comedy.

Well, I saw Martyrs.
It was worth watching and I really liked the way the story was arranged.

I realize it's a movie, but there were inconsistencies that bugged me.

SPOILERS




If Lucie's cuts were self-inflicted after all, how did she give herself cuts on her back? I get that they put that in to confuse how real the monster was, but it made no sense later.

When Anna finds the woman in basement, there is a shot where they are grasping hands. The captive has immaculate nails - clean, manicured and shapely. Malnutrition and general bloody abuse would make this impossible.

It was almost a throw-away line, but I think the filmmaker put it in there with a purpose...maybe to avoid the film being labelled as something they didn't want to take on...Mademoiselle speaks to Anna about how martyrdom isn't simply religious. Fine, but everything about "witnessing" and especially the experiment's obsession with the afterlife and what one experiences, etc., has to do with religion/spirituality. I am not sure why they wanted that line in there when everything that follows has just as much to do with transcendence as much as human willpower.

Movies like this, they work themselves into a corner. 20 minutes in, I am wondering how the f*ck are they going to even end this? It was all well and good and when they did the cosmos in Anna's eye....they lost me. Goofy.

But yea, it was good to see. The two leads were amazing to watch.

bassie

And I won't lie, there were definitely images burning on the inside of my eyelids last night when trying to go to sleep...no nightmares though!

dwyhajlo

bassie, you might be thinking too hard about the wrong parts of the movie. ;)

bassie

Oh shit! What did I miss?

badder_than_evil

A Prophet is now available to watch on Netflix for anyone who hasn't seen it yet..

willie_fugal

if people are reading this and trying to decide whether or not to watch A Prophet--

DO IT

maybe not quite movie of the year, but it's DAMN good.