Saturday 20 November 2010

A Single Image #10




The Gleaners And I (2000 - Agnes Varda)

3 comments:

Mike said...

Hey Bob, Mike from MellotronSounds here -- long time no message!

It's been awhile since we've gone back and forth about horror or Mulholland Dr on RowThree, but I just wanted to pop in to say that I FINALLY got around to, on your recommendation, checking out some Kurosawa. And I gotta say, my reaction has been interesting.

On one hand, I absolutely love his style (the stuff he does w/ color is primo), and his scares are some of the best I've seen in a long time (Retribution last night -- Oh yeah!). But other times I feel like him and I aren't exactly on the same page. The deliberate pacing, though I love it for the mood, can get a little slow for me, the plots a little convoluted. But I've watched Pulse, Seance and Retribution so far and, all in all--uncertainties aside--the guy's totally won me over.

So, I'm wondering how I should proceed. You think I should just go ahead and watch all the rest of his stuff, or are there a select few you'd give the green light?

Hope everybeen's been great on your end. And keep screening!

Bob Turnbull said...

Hi Mike!

Yes, long time no chat...Good to hear from you again.

I'm glad you decided to check out Kurosawa and I understand some of the reservations you have...Definitely check out "Cure". I also highly recommend "Tokyo Sonata" which is a move to somewhat straighter drama - it's not without some issues, but it's amazing how he pulls in some of his horror and genre background into heightening the tension within a family drama. He also loves to play with frames inside his own film frame and separating people into different ones. Bright Future and Charisma are more "difficult" films that will likely disappoint if you're looking for straight genre stuff, but are both of interest. "Doppelganger" is probably one of the least memorable, but was still pretty fun.

I'd love to hear what you think of anything else you see by him. Hope you're doing well too! Take care...

Mike said...

Oh yeah, I've noticed the frames thing before, Bob, but after you brought it up and it was really in my mind, I literally couldn't stop seeing them!

Thanks for the advice with this guy. I saw Cure last night and, I'll admit, I felt very similarly about it as I did w/ the other films of his I've seen. And I think maybe that's why he interests me so much: even though it's obvious that this is a guy who knows exactly what he's doing w/ his camera, I still don't feel like I totally "get" his method. Something always ends up feeling somehow just out of reach, and so there's this sense of mystique that never truly lets up.

Cure is slow, obviously, but what I like about it is how scenarios sort of play out more through feeling than logic. And this is something I think can be said about a lot of his work. Even though plots get muddy sometimes and may seem a little convoluted or whatever, there's always something underneath the surface, maybe a tonal thing, that stays consistent and ties the loose ends together. Almost like David Lynch.

Tokyo Sonata will be next. Kurosawa's been a very interesting find so far -- great pick!

Until next time.... mike