I am very impressed with how the Danish film industry has expanded in the past decade, both commercially/internationally and artistically.
It's no secret for instance that the "Dogma" film makers have had a big impact on the global film industry.
Different, but related, is the Pusher trilogy by Nicolas Winding Refn.
Basically I don't think there's been anything quite like it before. How often can you say that? The films are three loosely related stories about people stuck in the seedy underbelly of Copenhagen. They are highly realistic, often bloody, very seminal works of art.
They are not glamorous "gangster movies" by any measure. You can almost smell the fear and the sadness and the desperation that is seeped through these lives. And yet at the same time the films are captivating and interesting, and often funny. It's a monumental accomplishment.
I like the Hollywood blockbuster movie as much as anybody, but sometimes it's wonderful to see something groundbreaking, something different, something on the edge.
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You can almost smell the fear and the sadness and the desperation that is seeped through these lives.
Eolake, sometimes I think Hollywood cranks out unrealistic films. Sadly we are a nation full of materialism and greed and we are spoiled.
Don't get me wrong, I love America because she is my birth nation and I was raised here but if Hollywood would settle down and do more films that you spoke of I'd think it would wake a lot of us up to the "real world."
One of the most insideous and unrealistic sitcoms ever broadcast here in America was the "Cosby Show." I know it wasn't a film but too many times our "media" tries to make us believe the unbelievable.
Cosby had its place. Moralizing but amusing, with the fringe benefit of Lisa Bonet.
However, I wish Hollywood would realize that America is ready for a wider variety of cinema. Just look at surprise hits that fell outside the mold. "Trainspotting", "Fargo", "Clerks", "Il Postino", "Like Water For Chocolate", "Repo Man", "PI".
There is an extensive list of films which rapidly become water-cooler gossip, and are widely watched, and enjoyed in the US, but never had the hyped release that the blockbusters do.
Or maybe I live in a peculiar sub culture of America. I did a road trip to New York, and passed through no where like the Bay Area.
I would love to see more alternative movies.
On the other hand, I do realize that a film costs many millions to finance, and that making anything different is a big risk to take.
Cosby had its place. Moralizing but amusing, with the fringe benefit of Lisa Bonet.
It is so fake and plastic unlike the landmark sitcom The Jeffersons. At least George Jefferson told the world how he acheived his success and escaped the ghetto.
With Cosby I never recall any background (for his character) he made into the doctor, only stale laughlines pushed by a button. Lisa Monet........well, not much depth there, sorry friend, just another face in the crowd.
Even the Fresh Prince of Belair had his setbacks unlike the fake Cosby character. It was like whatching a modern "Father Knows Best" episode. Pass the bag, I'm getting sea sick.
Cosby had his heyday with Fat Albert and Co. Also "Good Times" starring John Amos was a realistic sitcom full of hope and inspiration (quite believable)
Everything was rosey-red with the Cosby show, too syrupy and plastic. Kinda like Leave it to beaver. Never an ounce or two of trouble or misfortune. Please change the channel, thanks.
Insidious, the Cosby Show? Why on Earth would you feel that way???
I think it filled its precursor role perfectly. Wasn't any more fake than most other sitcoms of the time. Generally less. Sure, TODAY it feels dated...
"Never an ounce or two of trouble or misfortune."
Well, I remember the episode when Theo borrowed the car without permission, trashed it, and was brought home by the police. "Father Knows Best" getting mental on him was overdone in the usual fashion, but quite good.
(Very soft voice, spookily calm) "You know, my son, an American teenager has two rites of passage to look up for in life: prom night, and getting his driver license. Well, I really, really hope your prom night is a great success... BECAUSE YOU'RE NEVER, EVER DRIVING ANOTHER CAR IN YOUR LIFE!!!!!
- Dad... you-you're scaring me!
- THAT'S-GOOD! I-MEAN-TO!"
Ooh, boy! :-D
And Cliff was hardly the all-wise patriarchal figure that you see in Asian movies. Nobody was "perfect", not even wonderfully emancipated Claire.
[Cliff to Claire, about an adorable baby that makes her consider another child:] "This, my dear, is very sneaky false advertizing. This little bunch of cuteness and love will grow up, one day it will take the car, crash it, and then say «what did I do wrong?» I'm not falling for it again."
[Claire's mother:] "Smart man."
Of course, I might be slightly biased by the fact that nearly anything was better that the local TV shows on lebanese TV during the 30-year war. Like all cultural concepts, "fresh" is relative.
But man, Lisa Bonet wuz KYEWTE!
A reminder of the whole universe of clichés created by the illusion factory of Hollywood:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tropes
"Now, with our simple 144-step program, YOU TOO can become a lame-ass multi-million-dollar movie producer and proudly dumb down America's masses! Call now, yes now, at 555-6789..."
Sorry, the Jeffersons didn't make it to the UK. In Britain at that time we had already seen a large rise in non-Caucasian doctors, so I guess I just assumed that in the more advanced US Cosby could be an MD.
It's contemporary import sick-coms in the UK were "Diff'rent strokes", "Happy Days", "Joanie Loves Chachi" and "Holmes and YoYo".
And Lisa Bonet was probably one of the better looking girls in all those sitcoms. Then again I used to think Pam Dawber (sp) looked good in "Mork and Mindy"
Yes, The Cosby Show was groundbreaking in having a black cast. Blaming it for being too white-bread is misplaced.
"And Lisa Bonet was probably one of the better looking girls in all those sitcoms. Then again I used to think Pam Dawber (sp) looked good in "Mork and Mindy""
Oh, but she did!
And it's a pity Lisa Bonet has been so underused since then. There was a cosby spin-off where she was star. There was a T&A part in Angel Heart. And a good bit part in Hi Fidelity.
I grabbed a movie from the grocery store the other day, I only got it because it stared Jean Reno. I saw the producer had also been involved in Luc Besson films, so I was feeling flush, and grabbed it. Turns out it's a French film, but still there on the grocery store impulse buy shelf.
The film is "Empire of the Wolves" and is a very intriguing, twisted plot. I'm an hour and some into it, and I have no idea where it will end. The camera work is great, the locations fantastic. It is too convoluted to be Hollywood, and the cast are just off sexy enough to be not Hollywood.
Seems America is ready for something new in this polished political action drama.
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