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I managed to get the Blu Ray today, so I’m ok for Monday and voted accordingly, but of course can do it later as well.
Since I haven’t done this before, one question:
Are we supposed to watch the whole show before commenting or one episode at a time?
I couldn’t quite make it out from the comments so far.

vsski wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 14, 2023 6:32 am

I managed to get the Blu Ray today, so I’m ok for Monday and voted accordingly, but of course can do it later as well.
Since I haven’t done this before, one question:
Are we supposed to watch the whole show before commenting or one episode at a time?
I couldn’t quite make it out from the comments so far.

You don't have to watch the whole show before commenting. If you want to go an episode at a time, you can, but you can also do write-ups of two or three episodes at a go if you want. The spirit of the thing is to record your progress through the show as others do the same. Past examples: The Young Pope, Euphoria.

Got it - thank you. I will take notes along the way!

I want to say before I squirrel these posts away that the lone 'No' made me chuckle every time I saw it.

I'm excited for this. I've seen quite a bit of anime but never finished Lain (not due to lack of interest, it just took a backseat to other things and I never returned to it).

Anime is filled with so much diversity of genre and form, and the style and tropes of its medium are unlike any other form of serialized visual storytelling. I would love to see the forum's readings of the Monogatari series but obviously one step at a time.

Swo17, perennial and much-deserved member of the year, has curated a vote of Criterions he thinks are a bit underrated or have good discussion potential.

Some days Pascal is my fave all time film so if it wins I promise to do a crazy long post semi-coherently explaining why.

knives wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:18 am

Some days Pascal is my fave all time film so if it wins I promise to do a crazy long post semi-coherently explaining why.

I thought that was Cartesius? I'd be interested to know what differences and similarities you see between the two, and especially why one might usurp the other as your favorite film now that I know you regard both as top contenders.

To qualify my curiosity, I feel the same about both: they're 'fine' and unspectacular compared to each other, so I wonder how someone with a different eye might interpret the relationship between the philosophers' respective practices with the filmmaker's seemingly static form across these works

You’re right down to the plan. I think they’re connected films which express two competing aspects of Rossellini’s essence bad an artist with Cartesius being empathetic dislike whereas Pascal is full on love and a piece with his saint films.

That said Rossellini speaks to me so deeply that if I were an artist I’d want to be him.

I almost feel like we should quote them, kind of like the way they show clips of performances at the Oscars.

Should this round wait a week until after the anime one ends?

I think they can run concurrently. I'm treating the anime discussion as its own special thing. And, really, the viewing demands on that one are rather small, and only three people are still watching episodes.

Meanwhile I still need to get to The Third Man..

Vote!

Paris, Texas has got to be up there with the most beloved Criterions not yet discussed here. I don't love it as much as most, but it probably has the most potential for a rich discussion

Some runners up from previous votes.

Five random Criterions.

Here's my plug for Passing Fancy (from long ago): https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2004/cteq/passing_fancy/

I voted for The Human Condition because I've been meaning to get around to it, but've been turned off by its sheer length. If it wins, I think I'll make the round 3-to-4 weeks instead of the normal 2, and I plan to watch the whole thing and comment on each of the three parts individually as I watch them.

It's actually 6 parts, 2 in each installment

swo17 wrote:It's actually 6 parts, 2 in each installment

Oh, no kidding. Actually makes it easier, not having to chunk out three-hour sessions.

Voting time.

therewillbeblus wrote:

therewillbeblus wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 05, 2023 10:07 am

Boosmahn wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 26, 2022 10:09 pm

Speaking of Monster, it appears that it will be coming to U.S. Netflix (not sure about other countries) on January 1st. I believe it was on the platform before, though I don't know when.

FYI, only 30 episodes are available, and the show has 74. No word from Netflix that I can find on whether they're going to release more episodes in batches...

Netflix now has all 74 episodes up, which is huge as I think it's the first time it's been legally available in the U.S. (only the first batch of eps was released on DVD before being discontinued years ago). Anyone that hasn't gotten to this yet should prioritize it - one of my favorites (*cue: another anime project?*)

What kind of anime project were you thinking?

I guess something similar to Lain, though that was 13 episodes whereas this is 74... Now, Monster isn't as intra-episodically "dense" as Lain, and while many episodes are self-contained pitstops on the character's journey, they can bleed into each other to develop the story through arcs (I'm not sure people would have a whole lot to say about each episode here). I actually think a shorter show like Neon Genesis Evangelion would be a better fit, something where each episode can be mused upon in great length, but isn't as intense and overwhelming a commitment. I just wanted more people to be exposed to Monster, but that requires a Netflix account, whereas Evangelion is accessible outside of Netflix

74 episodes is a bit much for the Film Club if it isn’t broken up into seasons. I’m always open to suggestions, tho’, if there’s something more manageable you want to do.