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Post by Martin Stett on Nov 26, 2017 3:01:17 GMT
It seems like a movie that would be heavily divisive between "pretentious crap" and "art house masterpiece," and I'm wondering where everyone lies. I'm definitely closer to the "masterpiece" side, although some scenes (the party scene, some of the stuff with the pioneer family) didn't seem to fit 100%.
But by heaven, when this movie works, it is on fire. I admit to turning into a blubbering wreck at "I don't think they're coming back." Can I say I loved everything about the Mexican(?) family and the way they highlight everything good and bad about the Ghost's previous life? And the city scene... it was so astonishingly sad and beautiful and horribly wrong. *sniff*
I kinda want to convince my mom to watch this movie just to laugh at her after it's over, but she'd never accept a recommendation from me again. It's hard enough as is.
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Post by stephen on Nov 26, 2017 3:06:14 GMT
I think it would've made a marvelous short film, but it feels stretched increeeeeeeedibly thin over its feature-length duration. The music is gorgeous (and really should make a showing for Best Song and Score at the Oscars if there were any justice), I really like the camerawork, and the two performances are fine if not particularly standout (but then, it's not that sort of a movie). It's very evocative and resonant, and I love that Lowery made it, but again, it would've been better as a short.
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Post by Martin Stett on Nov 26, 2017 3:25:33 GMT
I think it would've made a marvelous short film, but it feels stretched increeeeeeeedibly thin over its feature-length duration. The music is gorgeous (and really should make a showing for Best Song and Score at the Oscars if there were any justice), I really like the camerawork, and the two performances are fine if not particularly standout (but then, it's not that sort of a movie). It's very evocative and resonant, and I love that Lowery made it, but again, it would've been better as a short. I get what you're saying, but I sort of think that it needed to be feature length (even if the feature was only, say, 65 minutes instead of 90) to pull off what Lowery was doing with the Ghost's perspective. If it was a short of 25 minutes or whatever, it wouldn't have the time to get under the skin and hypnotize in the way it did for me. And yeah, I've been listening to "I Get Overwhelmed" on repeat over the past 24 hours. The rest of the score is fantastic work as well (especially "Thesaurus Tuus" which plays during the city scene). Daniel Hart is unlikely to get in though; Mica Levi's beautiful work on Jackie made it, but Jackie was about a historical figure (even if the film was very experimental and miles better than any of the shit that actually got Oscar attention last year). A Ghost Story is about a guy in a sheet, and nobody in AMPAS will look past that.
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Post by stephen on Nov 26, 2017 3:37:53 GMT
I get what you're saying, but I sort of think that it needed to be feature length (even if the feature was only, say, 65 minutes instead of 90) to pull off what Lowery was doing with the Ghost's perspective. If it was a short of 25 minutes or whatever, it wouldn't have the time to get under the skin and hypnotize in the way it did for me. And yeah, I've been listening to "I Get Overwhelmed" on repeat over the past 24 hours. The rest of the score is fantastic work as well (especially "Thesaurus Tuus" which plays during the city scene). Daniel Hart is unlikely to get in though; Mica Levi's beautiful work on Jackie made it, but Jackie was about a historical figure (even if the film was very experimental and miles better than any of the shit that actually got Oscar attention last year). A Ghost Story is about a guy in a sheet, and nobody in AMPAS will look past that. Yeah, I wouldn't have minded it if it were an hour long, but come on: did we really need four-and-a-half minutes of The Roons eating a pie? Mica Levi's score for Jackie was pretty good, but I choose to believe she got nominated as a makeup for missing out for Under the Skin, which I really adore and is my runner-up to another snubbed score that year ( Birdman).
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Post by Lord_Buscemi on Nov 26, 2017 3:49:06 GMT
I get what you're saying, but I sort of think that it needed to be feature length (even if the feature was only, say, 65 minutes instead of 90) to pull off what Lowery was doing with the Ghost's perspective. If it was a short of 25 minutes or whatever, it wouldn't have the time to get under the skin and hypnotize in the way it did for me. And yeah, I've been listening to "I Get Overwhelmed" on repeat over the past 24 hours. The rest of the score is fantastic work as well (especially "Thesaurus Tuus" which plays during the city scene). Daniel Hart is unlikely to get in though; Mica Levi's beautiful work on Jackie made it, but Jackie was about a historical figure (even if the film was very experimental and miles better than any of the shit that actually got Oscar attention last year). A Ghost Story is about a guy in a sheet, and nobody in AMPAS will look past that. Yeah, I wouldn't have minded it if it were an hour long, but come on: did we really need four-and-a-half minutes of The Roons eating a pie? Mica Levi's score for Jackie was pretty good, but I choose to believe she got nominated as a makeup for missing out for Under the Skin, which I really adore and is my runner-up to another snubbed score that year ( Birdman). Yes. The pie scene is a beautifully tender sequence, of appropriate length, about grieving that says everything without needing to speak a single word. It's hard to believe how many people exaggerate this scene. It's not like the extent of Stray Dogs, wherein a man mauls a cabbage for 13 minutes or such. The deliberate pacing is entirely fitting within the pre-established flow of the film.
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Post by stephen on Nov 26, 2017 3:56:15 GMT
Yeah, I wouldn't have minded it if it were an hour long, but come on: did we really need four-and-a-half minutes of The Roons eating a pie? Mica Levi's score for Jackie was pretty good, but I choose to believe she got nominated as a makeup for missing out for Under the Skin, which I really adore and is my runner-up to another snubbed score that year ( Birdman). Yes. The pie scene is a beautifully tender sequence, of appropriate length, about grieving that says everything without needing to speak a single word. It's hard to believe how many people exaggerate this scene. It's not like the extent of Stray Dogs, wherein a man mauls a cabbage for 13 minutes or such. The deliberate pacing is entirely fitting within the pre-established flow of the film. I'm glad it worked for you, but for me, a lot of the film feels like it's retreading the same ground over and over, and while it is still a very provoking experience, I think it would be more affecting if it were cut down by at least half. But different strokes, I guess.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Nov 26, 2017 4:03:28 GMT
Echoing Stephen’s sentiments that it would work better as a short. It’s a lovely and naturalistic little movie, and I love me my Rooney, but this movie takes too long to say too little. And oddly enough, I think that by playing so naturalized, it works against it, just making it feel detached and icy.
And in conclusion, I’m just going to leave some thoughts I shared with Christ_Ian related to those subtitled ghosts.
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Post by getclutch on Nov 26, 2017 4:14:20 GMT
Very atmospheric, the mood of the film especially in the last section is quite magical.
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Post by Pavan on Nov 26, 2017 7:34:55 GMT
I'll just copy-paste my Letterboxd review here
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no
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Post by no on Nov 26, 2017 7:55:06 GMT
Best of the year stuff
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Film Socialism
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Post by Film Socialism on Nov 26, 2017 9:58:53 GMT
this isn't really that slow paced compared to most of slow cinema stuff. which isn't a knock for or against it - just something weird when i see people talk about the deliberate pacing. i think a few of the "bigger" moments could have been trimmed and left for more meditative ones, but eh i love it plenty as is.
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atn
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Post by atn on Nov 26, 2017 10:21:15 GMT
sorry jay/cat/baph/fly not a fan
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Post by notacrook on Nov 26, 2017 10:28:44 GMT
It was okay. It almost simultaneously moved me and tested my patience.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2017 11:50:24 GMT
one of the highlights this year.
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oneflyr
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Post by oneflyr on Nov 26, 2017 18:41:30 GMT
It's a nice movie that approaches death and eternity from the ''other'' side while also toying with ideas of timelessness and time itself being an illusion that in the process also manages to make the viewer feel like a minuscule, insignificant piece of shit, in the best possible way. Some of the best editing on display since The Tree of Life?
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Post by ibbi on Nov 26, 2017 19:42:04 GMT
If it ain't my number 1 of the year it's a very, very close second. I loved it. I could have for sure done without the Will Oldham monologue, but it was one of those scenes where even if it sort of lessens the movie as a whole, it's still pretty great in its own right. The wielding and examination of time is its greatest asset/weapon, and the way without dialogue or much in the way of plot it puts you so strongly in the head of its central character, and turns the other into the ordinary is amazing.
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Post by Martin Stett on Nov 27, 2017 3:37:24 GMT
Any nominations? Best costume?. I haven't seen much from this year and never really know what to do with nominations. It has shots at BP, BD, Original song, maaaaybe original score when all is said and done. I really dug the performances too. Not sure about costume design, but it fulfills my main criterion for a great costumes (what is being worn has to illustrate the wearer's inner thoughts in some way -- being pretty isn't enough), so possibly? I don't really do lineups at all.
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Zeb31
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Post by Zeb31 on Nov 27, 2017 3:42:36 GMT
Any nominations? Best costume?. Affleck's bed sheet is this year's green dress from Atonement.
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Post by stephen on Nov 27, 2017 3:52:50 GMT
Any nominations? Best costume?. Affleck's bed sheet is this year's green dress from Atonement. Except ten times better.
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no
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Post by no on Nov 27, 2017 17:15:20 GMT
Lol at those thinking the nihlism monologue was bad yet think Linklater's philosophy 101 textbook dialogue is good. Of course its basic entry stuff but it is in the context of a casual party conversation.
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Post by Billy_Costigan on Nov 27, 2017 17:42:31 GMT
I'd lean more towards "Art House Masterpiece" than anything else. The ending hit me harder than any film this year. But like others have said, I think it took too long to get there.
I love Rooney, but I don't know why we needed to watch her eat a pie for 5 minutes.
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Post by Allenism on Jan 14, 2018 17:58:49 GMT
It shouldn't work...but it does. I felt myself glazing over for the first half hour or so but then it kept going in expectation-defying directions and by the second half I was very much invested in what was happening. It reads like a student film on paper but the confidence with which Lowery realizes his vision is ultimately what makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. That extended shot of Rooney going HAM on a pie really should've been abbreviated, though.
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