CINEMANIA:

Conversations with Ben pt. X-ish

Today's agenda: The Sea Inside (Spain, 2004, Amenabar)

Ben asks:

Have you finished The Sea Inside?

And Dan responds:

Yes, I finished it this morning before classes began. It was very moving. In fact, I must confess that it took awhile for me to compose myself. Even though, from an aesthetic standpoint, it isn't particularly memorable filmmaking, it is a really compelling story, with some terrific performances. Even though I knew from the opening frame how it would play out, I was still moved to tears, so they were doing something right.

Son of The Return of The Conversation, starring Ben Livant

Today's agenda: Buster Keaton Exonerated! Featuring many of the great films of Keaton, including The General, Sherlock Jr., The Cameraman, The Playhouse, Neighbors, Spite Marriage, Seven Chances and Steamboat Bill Jr.

Beginneth Ben:

For all his massive technical creativity and considerable conceptual inventiveness, he is first and foremost a master of action.  Alas, I continue to be unable to refrain from comparing him to Chaplin.

Conversations with Ben (Again and Again)

On the Docket: Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man (USA/Germany, 2005)

Ben Sed:

Where to begin? A remarkable film. Working on so many levels. I won't get into the thing as a piece of cinema; i.e., the Playhouse/Sherlock Jr. film-on-film going on. Suffice to admit that it truly would lend itself for some postmodern intertextual reading, especially given that the star and the director are both celebrities of sorts. For this is no standard documentary.

Son of More Conversations with Ben

On the Docket: Last Year at Marienbad (France, 1961, Alain Resnais)

Ben sed:

I have to go with the Dukes of Hazzard fans this time. I made it all the way through but not without making a lot of What's Up Tiger Lily? jokes along the way. I grasp the ground-breaking experimental nature of the film and sometimes I was impressed by the experience it was giving me. But mostly it felt like a Twilight Zone episode that couldn't kick-start itself into being.