JFF: What Was the Last Film You Saw, and How Would You Rate It? (Pt. 19)

@Tsarstepan​ 

EO interests me.

The 2015(?) live version of the Rifftrax Live: Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (1972), 1/10 for the movie.

1/10 for the shorts: The Tale of Custard the Dragon (1965) and Santa's Enchanted Village (1964).

9/10 for the live riffing treatment.

Rajamouli improved on CGI.

Rajamouli could improve CGI because of the success of Baahubali. 

About the characters, it was never about any character, other than the two leads. Baahubali was much more. While RRR is not inferior, Baahubali was a phenomenon. This time Rajamouli and team has tried hard to make RRR a phenomenon.

P. S. I don't think it's going get as many nominations as you have stated below. 

@Brijesh​ 

To me, it is a problem when a film introduced and develops characters poorly and refuses to take accountability on the basis that the film was not really about those characters. Bonafide also told me that the romance in this film was just for romance's sake because people want romance and that is it. The problem is: romance for romance's sake is precisely the kind of romance that I don't like. There are a ton of writers who include love stories in their film (just as there is a ton who include death/murder in their films), but few are brave enough to actually tackle the subject deeply. 

P. S. I don't think it's going get as many nominations as you have stated below. 

The picks I made below are not predictions for the Oscars. There are my own picks for the 2022 year based on the films I have seen. Every year, I publish my "homemade award ceremony", in the last years I made complete videos to present the nominees and the winner, this year I have been lazy because the previous years' participation rate wasn't high. I didn't see so many 2022 films that is why RRR is nominated in 5 categories. 

About the characters, it was never about any character, other than the two leads. 

This was for RRR btw. 

I think why Baahubali worked better is because of the scale and it's underlying themes taken from Indian epics. Indian audience had never seen that before. 

The characters in Baahubali had more to contribute to overall story than what we get to see in RRR. I was surprised that you put Alia Bhatt (RRR) there. Just like romance in Baahubali, she was there for the sake of it like so many other characters. 

Every year, I publish my "homemade award ceremony"

That's good to know and sorry for the confusion there. It's just that RRR is trying hard for the Oscars, I said it out aloud.😋

There is no doubt that RRR is highly entertainment but it doesn't reach to Baahubali level for me (not that it has to). Recently, I have been watching a lot of good Indian films and that undermines RRR for me. 

@Brijesh​ 

I think why Baahubali worked better is because of the scale and it's underlying themes taken from Indian epics. Indian audience had never seen that before.

Since the first Indian films that I watched, I have thought that the most powerful and "passionate" Indian films are the ones that tackle the country's history and social issues directly (Swades, Article 15, Black Friday). When there are no roots in reality, it often goes array (Baahubali, Dil Bechara, Andhaghaaram). Sometimes, it goes array regardless (PK).

It depends on the taste and personal interest. While some movies (Article 15, Aruvi, Jai Bhim, Pink, Udaan, A Wednesday) take on the harsh reality and are raw in their presentation, some (3 Idiots, Munnabhai, Hindi Medium, Toilet, Badhaai Ho, OMG) take a soft route to tackle social issues to reach to wider audiences.

History has been equivalent to patriotic movies in India and that trend still continues. Numerous movies (Dangal, Chak De, Sardar Udham, Major, Lagaan, Shershaah, Rocketry) are made about the history everyone know. Audiences do accept when something different (Baahubali, Kantara) comes up even though it isn't perfect. They may not be truly historical (the history we know), they still leave a greater influence. 

@Brijesh​ 

It is subjective yes. But, I don't believe that Indian cinema's problem is lack of audience (within the country). Even the film you call "raw" are quite sensationalistic by the rest of the world's standards. Indian cinema has little visibility worldwide. I don't think I have seen a single indian film being screened in my region this year. 

Lack of audience is a problem within the country as well. If you ask a person whether they watched India's official Oscar entry, there is a 99℅ chance they would say, No. If you ask them about RRR, at least they would recognize the movie, if not seen.

Movies with such narrative don't get enough viewership, neither in theaters nor on TV until after they have become a cult. 

Even the film you call "raw" are quite sensationalistic by the rest of the world's standards

That's why movies that work with international audiences are chosen over popular ones for Oscars. 

@Brijesh​ 

Lack of audience is a problem within the country as well. If you ask a person whether they watched India's official Oscar entry, there is a 99℅ chance they would say, No. If you ask them about RRR, at least they would recognize the movie, if not seen.

That again to be is subjective. Properly Canadian films are not big either. If you ask an English speaking Canadian if he has seen Canada's submission for Best Foreign Film, the odds are null because practically all the Canadian film nominated in that category are french-speaking. If you ask anybody younger than 40 if they have seen a Quebec film, they probably have seen two in their entire life. As I said to Mykola recently, with the budget of the 5 Avatar films, one could fund 90% of all Quebec's films of the last 80 years. In Canada, we are 40 million-ish, In Quebec, we are 8 million. In India, you are 1.4 billion, there are more cinema tickets sold in India in half a year than there have been tickets sold in Quebec in all its history. For a small province, we have gotten a lot of worldwide attention (Denys Arcand, Jean-Marc Vallée, Denis Villeneuve, Xavier Dolan), but it is laughable compared to India's. Can you imagine the number of people who work in India's TV/Film Industry alone is superior to 6 of Canada's 10 provinces' population? Visibility of cinema (domestic) is far far far from a problem. It is the biggest cinema industry in the world. 

Of the films mentioned above, I've only seen Udaan, and I have Dangal in my Netflix list waiting to be watched. I'm not sure about Toilet, as it sounds like it could be better known by another title. I'd be curious to know what Indians who maybe watch indies think about Haraamkhor, Chauranga, Paharganj, Bhasmasur, Salaam Bombay, Shonar Pahar, Kaaka Muttai or Mumbai Cha Raja. I seem to gravitate whatever is the genre that encompasses these, and if I recall correctly, none of them have a flash-mob-style musical scene.

Comparing India with any other country will mostly yield that kind of a result. 🙂

My point is that movies with unsettling narrative don't find a lot audiences until after too late. Even substandard movies get more attention than those. It's an invisible loop, theatres don't release those movies widely because there is no audience, audiences don't watch those movies because it's not available to them. 😅

Something on the original point, Baahubali is a milestone movie in Indian film industry because that was an effort made to make something new and it succeeded big time there. It did something that Avatar did for Hollywood. 

@jeorj_euler those are exactly the kind of movies that don't find much audience here. 

I haven't seen any of those but I have Salaam Bombay and Kaaka Muttai in my watchlist. I will share what I think after seeing them. I must say there are many more movies that I am discovering recently that doesn't have flash-mob-style musical scene and are very good. 

Toilet is Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017) 

@Brijesh​ 

The major problem for me watching Indian movies is when there isn't a German dub. If there were more Indian movies with German dub, I would have a deeper interest. Especially because of German's #1 dub industry in the whole world. German dubbers even make the movie more interesting than it is, because they take special care on it. For me it is exhausting watching a movie which runs for 2 or 3 hours while always looking down and up to understand it. I'm spoiled somehow, because I got that service since I was a kid and got used to it since then.

@cinephile​ 

Those who are familiar with the opinions and rating I posted on this forum this year can try to guess the winners. I will announce my picks on January 1st. Until then, it is subject to change.  I will try to see Avatar, Bardo, EO, The Fabelmans, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Tàr, and The Banshees of Inisherin.

Ah, my kind of movie.

@cinephile​ Just wanted to randomly compliment how you're always spotlighting the under the radar films.

And, well, apologize for being an irritating prick lately. Most certainly I never wanted you to delete any comment you've written (it's a "I might disagree with your opinion, but I also might die for your right to have one" situation). I feel like long COVID eliminated at least 50% of my communication skills and it seems that I routinely hurt people by my remarks.

Mostly, though, I hurt myself, because even when I'm forgiven, I never forgive myself for being a prick to people. You let that slide once and it snowballs into a giant pile that crushes you.

@MykolaYeriomin​ 

Your reply to the post about Spotify playlists was justified. My post was not very bright. It is simply that I'm tired of seeing YouTube shorts about the Wednesday dance on so on. People are so busy discussing irrelevant anecdotes and making memes that they forget to discuss the actual performance. 

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Actually, I don't try watching under the radars film. There is actually very little thought process going into me watching a film. I just watch whatever is on my way except Marvel.

@jeorj_euler​ 

I want to warn you. It is not a sci-fi film. It is a fairy-tale about mother-daughter relationship. The time travel part is not so important. But, if you liked Portrait of a Lady on Fire, you should like it.

I was actually basing my remarks off the plot outline found on the IMDb title page for Petite Maman, without really having paid close enough attention to your remark about the time travel aspect, cinephile. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if those plot details were even originally included in the post. Wow. Regardless, while I'm an appreciator of movies in the genres of science fiction (and science fantasy and classic fantasy), I most certainly appreciate other genres as well. I've seen more coming-of-age movies, or even child metaphysics movies, than I can seemingly shake a stick at, and I expect to see countless more. I also kind of appreciate terminal (end-of-life) movies, whether it deals with the individual or entire civilizations. If anything, I might find it easier to identify my least favorite genres rather than my favorite ones. Seemingly the movies that I'm least likely to greatly value are ones belonging to the romantic comedy genre or the musical genre, and that's not to say that I don't have any of those that I like. Every basic genre has to something to offer me, I think.

Well, it turns out that I've seen some (almost most) of Céline Sciamma's earlier work: Quand on a 17 ans, Bande de filles, Tomboy and Naissance des pieuvres. I don't remember being especially emotionally engaged with Naissance des pieuvres, but I found the other three to be decent. Wow. I suppose, I shall be making it a point to see Portrait de la jeune fille en feu in addition to Petitle Maman, which theoretically shouldn't be a problem seeing as how they're both (as of the time) available on one of the famous video-on-demand streaming services. I should try to keep an eye out for Bébé tigre too.

(Just to note, I've over five hundred feature-length movies that I plan to watch via Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Tubi, Plex, Pluto or FilmRise, which just barely scratches the surface when accounting for all the public domain material, leniently-licensed material and Soviet bloc cinema, whether short or feature, of which I'm aware that have been uploaded to the Internet Archive, YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion or 哔哩哔哩 Bilibili.)

I very slightly feel guilty that today will be my first time visiting the particular blog, according to my best recollection. For several of the regular participants of this forum, I've glimpsed into their respective public profiles (such as referenced blogs/vlogs), but certainly I've not examined everybody of note, thanks largely to it being too much work to even try.

@jeorj_euler​ 

That is not your fault. I think I have only linked my blog once or twice on this forum: when I created it and when I suggested to Elm my review of The Battle of Algiers. Prior to yesterday, the blog was solely in French, with no options for translation. So there was no point discussing it on this mostly English-speaking forum.

@jeorj_euler​ my dumpster goes since 2007, imagine if anyone would actually bother to read it whole ahahha

Well, thank goodness I'm not the blogging type. I mean, the closet thing I have to such a thing is copies of posts that I've made to one electronic discussion forum or another. I don't even have a proper private journal/diary, just a bunch of disorganized  digital scratchpads scattered across multiple partitions of multiple hard drives of multiple boxes on multiple networks.

@jeorj_euler​ mine is not a blog but written reviews. it helped me to improve my native language and english, also it has records of things i don't even remember ever watching and what i thought about them

or it has contradicting words to how i remember some movies

memory is such a fickle thing

@agof​ 

memory is such a fickle thing

My blog practically has the same purpose. I am the main audience of my Blog, I write the reviews for myself, and if it is well-developed and coherent enough, I publish them. The motivation to write more developed reviews came when I realize that often I have rated a film on IMDb, and I totally forget what it was about and why I gave it a certain rating. Ratings depend on my mood, the meaning of a 6/10 can change over time, it'll be nothing in 2 or 3 years. But, the review I give a film speaks for itself, it can't really be misinterpreted. If my opinion of a film changes, my review won't be worthless, but my rating will be.

As of now, there are 137 drafts (excluding the Tati notes) that I didn't publish, meaning that I publish only 5.5% of what I write. This forum thread is much more of a blog for me than my actual blog.

@cinephile​ same, tho i write jokes that i find to be funny, so some reviews are nothing but seasonal memes and obscure jokes

ratings i do in gauss distribution, most of everything is just okay. a movie has to really try hard to get a negative (1-3) from me. and 1 or 10 are reserved only for things that harm the medium or move it forward

@cinephile​ I somehow missed your blog, too. Quie exciting to have something semi-regular in French to read about movies. 

My French is ridiculously bad for someone who allegedly studied it in the university. Je n'arrête pas d'essayer, cependant. ;)