Foreign film
Added 5/31/2009
If you have a weak stomach, this movie is NOT for you. If you know how to look beyond the abnormal, you will see the beauty and artistry of the film. I totally enjoyed this film years ago when it first showed and it was one of the films I had to have in my film library. Be sure to check the REGION in which the film was made in order for the DVD to be played on your computer of DVD player.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Where's the Region 1 DVD?
Added 5/22/2009
I saw this great movie in the theater when it came out. With all the crap movies out there available on DVD, why is this great flick not available on DVD in the USA? I certainly am NOT paying $90 for a used copy. Put this out on DVD!
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Don't waste your time with this...
Added 4/19/2009
Once every few years we see a movie that is so bad it sets a new standard for absolutely terrible. This one takes that prize, hopefully for a long time because I don't want to sit thru more crap like this for a loooooong time. I went out & rented this because I came across glowing reviews here & on other movie review sites, most of the time I just read the start of the reviews to get a feel for what people think -I don't like to know what is going to happen. Lots of reviews mentioned **spoiler warning** like some exciting twist was going to happen...or shocking !!!
So because I had seen reviews that hinted at something great it kept me suffering thru this BAD movie waiting for something shocking or an exciting twist.
All I will say is watch the first few minutes, if the over-acting artsy poses, changing colors of clothing from scene to scene, terrible choir boy singing, atmospheric smoke clouds, poor sound quality from the main actor (Michael Gambon) and the Italian Cook. Meaning they are mumbling about something for a few minutes, you can't really understand - because the mic is too far away but this movie is so crappy the director didn't do another take - this movie is high school art class quality. If what you see in the first minutes is exciting for you then continue watching - otherwise do yourself a favor & watch something else. There are too many good movies out there to waste your time with this poor effort.
The lighting changes look like what you would see in an elementary school play. It's just terribly bad.
Some reviewers mention that it is "shocking" & they couldn't believe what they were seeing. To us it was just boring, we were yawning & bored. We wanted to fast forward to the end...and we wouldn't have missed anything ...but we were afraid we would miss the great shocking ending. In my opinion do yourself a favor & steer away from this movie. You can find a better way to spend two hours of your life.
2 out of 9 people found this helpful.
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A bitty bit of good news
Added 2/17/2009
Don't waste between $70 and $150 for this DVD when it's getting an official Criterion release.
2 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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Subversive, Bizarre, and Sometimes Annoying
Added 2/11/2009
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover is probably the film most associated with the name of director Peter Greenaway. That's unfortunate because Greenaway has created far better films. This one is notoriously subversive, disturbing, and strange. I would like to say profound too, but unlike many of Greenaway's other films, I can't find much of a message in this movie. So my beef with The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover is not its content but its overall lack of purpose. It seems a bit weird to me that this movie is in such high demand for a DVD re-release when I've yet to see much demand for great Greenaway films like Prospero's Books, Drowning By Numbers, or Baby of Macon. I guess this film caught some kind of sub-cultural fire and is now considered by many to be a rare classic. It's rare for sure, but just because it has poop, nudity, and cannibalism, combined with great photography, does not necessarily make it a classic.
Albert Spica (Michael Gambon), the thief, and his wife, Georgina (Helen Mirren) go to a restaurant Spica has just taken over. A man there named Michael (Alan Howard) soon begins an affair with Georgina. The two have their affair with the help of the restaurant staff, lead by French chef Richard (Richard Bohringer), the cook. After Albert begins to figure things out some truly disturbing things take place. Other actors worth mentioning are Tim Roth and Ciarán Hinds, who play some of Spica's thugs.
There doesn't seem to be any way to justify this film's message overall. It does have a strong performance from Gambon, who delivers far more dialogue than anyone else in the film. It also has some very creative artistic direction, cinematography, and set design that helps control the mood Greenaway may have been searching for. It even has some truly humorous moments. Still, maybe I'm missing something but this feels like a failure. I'm certainly open to hearing other perspectives on more specific and concrete meaning behind this movie, because all I see is indulgence and shock just for the sake of being provocative. I'd still like to see this and many of Greenaway's other films on more widely available DVDs. Right now his films are far too rare.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Foreign film
Added 5/31/2009
If you have a weak stomach, this movie is NOT for you. If you know how to look beyond the abnormal, you will see the beauty and artistry of the film. I totally enjoyed this film years ago when it first showed and it was one of the films I had to have in my film library. Be sure to check the REGION in which the film was made in order for the DVD to be played on your computer of DVD player.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Where's the Region 1 DVD?
Added 5/22/2009
I saw this great movie in the theater when it came out. With all the crap movies out there available on DVD, why is this great flick not available on DVD in the USA? I certainly am NOT paying $90 for a used copy. Put this out on DVD!
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
Don't waste your time with this...
Added 4/19/2009
Once every few years we see a movie that is so bad it sets a new standard for absolutely terrible. This one takes that prize, hopefully for a long time because I don't want to sit thru more crap like this for a loooooong time. I went out & rented this because I came across glowing reviews here & on other movie review sites, most of the time I just read the start of the reviews to get a feel for what people think -I don't like to know what is going to happen. Lots of reviews mentioned **spoiler warning** like some exciting twist was going to happen...or shocking !!!
So because I had seen reviews that hinted at something great it kept me suffering thru this BAD movie waiting for something shocking or an exciting twist.
All I will say is watch the first few minutes, if the over-acting artsy poses, changing colors of clothing from scene to scene, terrible choir boy singing, atmospheric smoke clouds, poor sound quality from the main actor (Michael Gambon) and the Italian Cook. Meaning they are mumbling about something for a few minutes, you can't really understand - because the mic is too far away but this movie is so crappy the director didn't do another take - this movie is high school art class quality. If what you see in the first minutes is exciting for you then continue watching - otherwise do yourself a favor & watch something else. There are too many good movies out there to waste your time with this poor effort.
The lighting changes look like what you would see in an elementary school play. It's just terribly bad.
Some reviewers mention that it is "shocking" & they couldn't believe what they were seeing. To us it was just boring, we were yawning & bored. We wanted to fast forward to the end...and we wouldn't have missed anything ...but we were afraid we would miss the great shocking ending. In my opinion do yourself a favor & steer away from this movie. You can find a better way to spend two hours of your life.
2 out of 9 people found this helpful.
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