The Official Movie Thread

[challenge_everything]

The best Japanese film of every year – from 1925 to now

Some pretty right-on picks.

Good to see Woman in the Dunes there; love that movie. I'm at a loss about all that 70s material though.

 

[rms]

Spoiler

If someone's blinded to something, doesn't that mean they don't know?

Hah, you said convinced himself!

 

[CiG]

The best Japanese film of every year – from 1925 to now

Some pretty right-on picks.

One Kitano is better than nothing I suppose. I really need to see Cure already.

 

[Einherjar86]

Hah, you said convinced himself!

Spoiler

I said he either doesn't know, or convinced himself otherwise. You said he knew, but was blinded to it; I'm saying I think those two things are mutually exclusive.

 

[Bloopy]

Spoiler

I know others have already responded, but:

For me, it's more even than whether he's a robot; he's paranoid about what's inside him, which obviously intersects with his paranoia that he might be a robot. But it's the terror about not knowing what's inside us without cutting into ourselves.

Regarding Ava's actions at the end, I think this is fascinating. I taught this movie once, and my students loved it... until the ending. They wanted to sympathize with Ava, but said they couldn't when she abandoned Caleb to die. This betrays the implicit anthropocentrism with which we approach the film. We want Ava to accord with what we would expect a human to do--but why should she? She's a machine being held captive. I think my students' dislike of the ending also betrays our (and I'm using "our" very loosely and generally) failure to realize that Caleb is complicit in Ava's captivity, even if he falls for her, or whatever. He may want to help her escape, but Ava has no real reason to trust him. She's playing the long game; he's falling victim to his very human emotions.

When I taught the film, all except one student in the class was a man. When the men voiced their dislike and discomfort with the ending, the sole woman in the class expressed her confusion. She felt Ava was justified, and that her actions didn't constitute a betrayal or anything. This is to say, there's undoubtedly a gender analogy to the narrative, and it's nearly impossible that Garland is unconscious of this. Alan Turing actually lifted his version of the Turing Test from an older version in which two unknown players (one man, one woman) both try to convince a male observer that they're men. So from the get-go, the Turing Test is already a gendered construct. Ex Machina definitely plays off that.

Spoiler

I had little sympathy for Caleb as he was a dumbass to fall for that shit. Any sympathy I had for Ava was as artificial as she is and I could compartmentalise that away, but I enjoyed that she escaped and left him caged. I'm not surprised if I'm at odds with your male students. My compassion seems quite womanly, though I juggle my emotions in an analytical way.

 

[CiG]

Wtf.

 

[challenge_everything]

One Kitano is better than nothing I suppose. I really need to see Cure already.

I watched it the other week. Awesome, although I really need to talk about the ending with someone because there was a blur of subtle details and I've been feeling dumb for not being able to put them together

 

[CiG]

I watched it the other week. Awesome, although I really need to talk about the ending with someone because there was a blur of subtle details and I've been feeling dumb for not being able to put them together

I hate that. Sometimes I see something and want to discuss it, do a search in here and el zilcho haha. Fucking sucks, and that reminds me @no country for old wainds do you still dislike Mystic River?

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

you still dislike Mystic River?

it gives him bad flashbacks.

 

[CiG]

lmfao that's brutal.

 

[no country for old wainds]

lol i havent seen it since about 2007 so i have no idea

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Watching:

 

[CiG]

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

About to start ...

 

[CiG]

What did you think of it?

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

What did you think of it?

i enjoyed it, pumpkin puss. The hollywood scenery was on point and the film was pretty damn solid form a technical standpoint, as expected from a Tarantino film. That ending with his signature mix of brutality and humor was fucking great and bumped up the movie from a 6.5-7 to an 8 for me. Goddamn hippies.

Oh and this scene was fuckin hilarious ...

 

[CiG]

I fucking love the ending too. Sometimes I put it on just from the moment he lights up his acid-dipped cigarette and walks his dog. Legit one of Tarantino's funniest movies in ages. Also the dog was the best character in the movie lol.

 

[Einherjar86]

Fuckin brutal ending.

 

[no country for old wainds]

RIP fred willard