Art can be offensive
Added 1/17/2010
Titus Andronicus was considered offensive back in Shakespeare's early days.
The question is always the same: Is it art?
In film, the basic criteria are plot, directing, acting, cinematography, soundtrack music, and a focused overall vision.
This film meets or exceeds "excellent" in all these categories. The story is compelling, the actors are superb, the cinematography is stunning (especially the long moving horizontal shots), the soundtrack music is quite appropriate and kind of spooky, and the director's vision, disturbing as it may be, is skillfully focused. The story leads up to an inevitable climax.
Do we enjoy seeing people being urinated on and smeared with feces? Of course not, but those scenes are quite brief, and they set up the audience's hatred for the antagonist, who certainly receives his due in the climax of the film.
The oft-mentioned metaphor about Thatcherism and its effect on small business owners in Great Britain is quite accurate. Thatcher (much like Reagan) was anti-union and pro big business, allowing big, monopolistic corporations to take power and squash the little guy.
In the film, the male protagonist dies with pages from the book about the French Revolution stuffed down his throat. Isn't it obvious that this director is making a political statement?
Yes, this film is disgusting---but the systematic destruction of the middle class by greedy, exploitative corporate entities is even more disgusting.
I think it's a great film. Even if you don't grasp its political message, it's still an engaging story. And, in classic fashion, the bad guy gets what he deserves.
If only the political bad guys of the 20th and 21st centuries were coerced to do what Michael Gambol has to do at the end of this film. We can only hope.
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(Region 2) No Special Features, but a Nice Looking Picture
Added 11/24/2009
The Region 2 DVD. The picture quality is identical to the Region 1 version; very good but I'm sure it would benefit from a new high definition transfer if someone like Criterion ever got their hands on the rights. But as I said, the picture on this disc is still very good, with sound to match. There are no special features, not even a Trailer. If you have a multi-region player (or are able to convert your Region 1 to Region 0 as I did) then there is absolutely no reason to spend $75+ on the OOP Anchor Bay Edition. Also, this is the 125 Minute Director's Cut, NOT the heavily edited Rated R (98 Minute) Version. Oh yeah, this is a Great Film!
0 out of 0 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.
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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 11 people found this helpful.
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Art can be offensive
Added 1/17/2010
Titus Andronicus was considered offensive back in Shakespeare's early days.
The question is always the same: Is it art?
In film, the basic criteria are plot, directing, acting, cinematography, soundtrack music, and a focused overall vision.
This film meets or exceeds "excellent" in all these categories. The story is compelling, the actors are superb, the cinematography is stunning (especially the long moving horizontal shots), the soundtrack music is quite appropriate and kind of spooky, and the director's vision, disturbing as it may be, is skillfully focused. The story leads up to an inevitable climax.
Do we enjoy seeing people being urinated on and smeared with feces? Of course not, but those scenes are quite brief, and they set up the audience's hatred for the antagonist, who certainly receives his due in the climax of the film.
The oft-mentioned metaphor about Thatcherism and its effect on small business owners in Great Britain is quite accurate. Thatcher (much like Reagan) was anti-union and pro big business, allowing big, monopolistic corporations to take power and squash the little guy.
In the film, the male protagonist dies with pages from the book about the French Revolution stuffed down his throat. Isn't it obvious that this director is making a political statement?
Yes, this film is disgusting---but the systematic destruction of the middle class by greedy, exploitative corporate entities is even more disgusting.
I think it's a great film. Even if you don't grasp its political message, it's still an engaging story. And, in classic fashion, the bad guy gets what he deserves.
If only the political bad guys of the 20th and 21st centuries were coerced to do what Michael Gambol has to do at the end of this film. We can only hope.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
(Region 2) No Special Features, but a Nice Looking Picture
Added 11/24/2009
The Region 2 DVD. The picture quality is identical to the Region 1 version; very good but I'm sure it would benefit from a new high definition transfer if someone like Criterion ever got their hands on the rights. But as I said, the picture on this disc is still very good, with sound to match. There are no special features, not even a Trailer. If you have a multi-region player (or are able to convert your Region 1 to Region 0 as I did) then there is absolutely no reason to spend $75+ on the OOP Anchor Bay Edition. Also, this is the 125 Minute Director's Cut, NOT the heavily edited Rated R (98 Minute) Version. Oh yeah, this is a Great Film!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
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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