Café Cinema: 1895 - 1999

All non-Nolan related film, tv, and streaming discussions.
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Dado wrote:Seriously? I can't recall a single thing about it, so it didn't have any effect upon me (as a matter of fact, I vaguely remember not quite enjoying it) but if you have it in such high standard, I'll try to check it out if I get the chance.
HD is the way man, it really brings out the fact that twenty something years after it's still a technical marvel (Henson is the man); it also works as an Alice in Wonderland-like (fairy)tale, alegory if you want.

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Just watched this. Great film, the best from Sam Wood that I've seen thus far. Teresa Wright is amazing, but so too is Coop. I don't think Hollywood ever before or since managed to get so many wonderful performances out of someone so technically limited.

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The Sacrifice (1986)

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The Sacrifice is a 1986 Swedish film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Starring Erland Josephson, it centers on a middle-aged intellectual who attempts to bargain with God to stop an impending nuclear holocaust. The Sacrifice was Tarkovsky's third film as a Soviet expatriate, after Nostalghia and the documentary Voyage in Time, and was also his last, as he died shortly after its completion. Like 1972's Solaris, it won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Tarkovsky nuts among us are well aware of this film, but I thought I'd post it here to see if anyone who hasn't seen much Tarkovsky might be interested. Granted it probably isn't the best starting point to get into his work (that would be Stalker and Solaris, pronto!), but it's an interesting piece to view. It is one of the best shot films in the history of the craft - period (...just like most of his work lol). Every single frame is a painting, every camera movement is methodical and patient to the point of drowsiness. It's a dream within a dream (pun intended), a slow echo that keeps going and going and going, etc. The way the characters are choreographed and framed in the shots are so precise, it's almost like a play or like mentioned before, a painting. Even if you aren't entirely sure what is being discussed or what is exactly going on plot-wise, the cinematography itself should at least be enough to grant you a viewing of the movie.
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(Notice how specific the actors are placed in the shot)
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^ Hopefully most if not all the images there show up. If not, I'll rehost the ones that do not appear.

Seriously though. See this film if you haven't. Just be patient with it, don't watch it if you get bored easily with these types of films because you will be turned off. It's slow and methodical like all of his movies, but I actually find it to be one of the easier ones to follow in his filmography even if it does deal with vagueness. Enjoy.

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I wish I could say I liked Solaris, but I just really didn't. And I am not one of those people who didn't love 2001 I really love it. I haven't moved on to other Tarkovsky stuff yet. I haven't been extremely motivated since Solaris, though am interested still somewhat and curious about Salker. His stuff his hard to find though. Criterion doesn't even have much of his shit

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Why didn't you like it?

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Thinking about Solaris, you reckon the relationship between Mal and Cobb was inspired by Kris and Hari?

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ChristNolan wrote:Why didn't you like it?
I found it long winded and tedious. The reason I brought 2001 was to show that I can appreciate "slow" paced science fiction without action (other than that they don't have that much in common really, though I guess Tarkovsky said Solaris was a response to 2001) but in one case it really worked for me and in another it didn't. Solaris just didn't "click" with me on any level except parts were very beautiful to look at. But nothing else connected. Tarkovsky said he thought 2001 lacked humanity and so he made Solaris... I found much more humanity in 2001. So much more. I'm gonna still move on to other Tarkovsky soon enough, I've heard people say Solaris is one of his lesser works.

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BlairCo wrote:Thinking about Solaris, you reckon the relationship between Mal and Cobb was inspired by Kris and Hari?
I've always thought so but Nolan said Hoyte introduced him to Tarkovsky's work with The Mirror, so I'm guessing he has never seen Solaris.

@Terry, you also must take into account that Tarkovsky was a poet who saw film a pure art in which nature is almost seen as a character in of itself with man. All of his films follow this style which is why they are slow. He made films differently than a technician or architect would (like Kubrick). It just not might be your thing, which is fine.
Last edited by ChristNolan on February 20th, 2015, 5:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Hmmm... Interesting. It's a very similar relationship, and the dynamics are very similar as well.

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ChristNolan wrote:
BlairCo wrote:Thinking about Solaris, you reckon the relationship between Mal and Cobb was inspired by Kris and Hari?
I've always thought so but Nolan said Hoyte introduced him to Tarkovsky's work with The Mirror, so I'm guessing he has never seen Solaris.

@Terry, you also must take into account that Tarkovsky was a poet who saw film a pure art in which nature is almost seen as a character in of itself with man. All of his films follow this style which is why they are slow. He made films differently than a technician or architect would (like Kubrick). It just not might be your thing, which is fine.
I think sometimes maybe I didn't "get it". I'll probably revisit it again someday but I want to see his other stuff first, particularly Stalker and The Mirror sound interesting.

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