My poll 38 is inspired by the film THE SKY,THE EARTH, AND THE RAIN, which contains numerous long walking scenes in which nothing important happens. However, Filmsick and I like this film very much. One of my most favorite scenes in the film is the one in which the heroine carries many apples while walking, but after a while, she can’t carry them any more, so she has to throw some of them away. Filmsick also likes this scene very much.
You can read Filmsick’s review of this film in Thai here:
http://filmsick.exteen.com/20081029/wfbkk-2008-roughcut-part1
This poll is also inspired by two posts by Adrian Martin and Pilgrim Akimbo about walking in cinema.
Adrian Martin’s writing:
http://unspokencinema.blogspot.com/2008/01/chantal-akerman-walking-woman.html
Pilgrim Akimbo’s writing:
http://pilgrimakimbo.blogspot.com/2008/01/wrong-move-our-institution-of-high-art.html
THESE FILMS HAVE MEMORABLE WALKING SCENES. WHICH FILMS DO YOU LIKE?
1.AUTOHYSTORIA (2007, Raya Martin, Philippines)
2.BIRDSONG (2008, Albert Serra, Spain)
3.THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972, Luis Bunuel, France)
4.ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (1958, Louis Malle, France)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSAH_pSnDWI
5.EMPTILESS LANDSCAPE (2003, Nat Satayamas, Thailand)
This short, black-and-white film is shot in New York City. If I remember it correctly, it is about a woman who thinks she may be stalked by another woman. Some viewers say this film reminds them of Maya Deren, though Nat had never seen any films by Deren before he made this film. The title of this film means that the landscape in this film may look empty, but in fact it is not empty, that’s why it is called “emptiless”.
6.FALSE MOVEMENT (1975, Wim Wenders, West Germany)
This film is also called WRONG MOVEMENT.
7. “4” (2004, Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Russia)
8.FROST (1997, Fred Kelemen, Germany)
9.GERRY (2002, Gus Van Sant, USA)
10.GOOD BYE, DRAGON INN (2003, Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan)
11.IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA (2007, Jose Luis Guerin, Spain)
12.MUSASHINO HIGH VOLTAGE TOWERS (1997, Naoki Nagao, Japan)
13.NIGHT AND DAY (1991, Chantal Akerman, France)
14.NIGHT TIME PICNIC (2006, Masahiko Nagasawa, Japan)
15.PISCINE (2002, Jean-Baptiste Bruant + Maria Spangaro, France)
In this 60 minutes film, we see nothing except a group of people walking in a swimming pool and chanting. It gives me an ecstatic experience.
16.SATANTANGO (1994, Bela Tarr, Hungary)
If you want Bela Tarr to keep on making films, you can sign a petition at Unspoken Cinema’s blog:
http://unspokencinema.blogspot.com/2008/11/tarr-bla-quits-cinema.html
17.THE SENSUAL WORLD (1989, music video of Kate Bush)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJc64xncBt4
18.THE SKY, THE EARTH, AND THE RAIN (2008, Jose Luis Torres Leiva, Chile)
19.UNFINISHED SYMPATHY (1991, music video of Massive Attack)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGYRvIOZfZ8
20.THE WAY (2005, Uruphong Raksasad, Thailand)
You can cast multiple votes.
--Konmongnang said that ALICE IN THE LAND (2008, Esteban Larrain, Chile) is also full of walking scenes. You can read his review of this film in Thai here:
http://konmongnang.exteen.com/20081015/entry-1
--The theme song of this poll is YOU’RE WALKING by Electribe 101.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpnhQP3VQ0U
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14 comments:
My own vote is for AUTOHYSTORIA, EMPTILESS LANDSCAPE, FROST, MUSASHINO HIGH VOLTAGE TOWERS, NIGHT TIME PICNIC, PISCINE (2002, Jean-Baptiste Bruant + Maria Spangaro, France), and THE SENSUAL WORLD (1989, music video of Kate Bush).
i love this poll very very much so i voted for more than half of them . i love the lasr cene of GOODBYE DRAGON INN the sweet music and the loneliness of waliking alone in the rain i used to play the this scenee repeating many time to listen to GRACE CHANG's music until now i still can't find this song .
i'm very glad u put AUTOHYSTORIA in the poll . The first 3o minutes of this film was classic
I want to put more for that poll like the last scene from VIVE'LA MOUR (but GOODBYE DRAGON INN was better choice) and some scene from NOW SHOWING(but AUTOHYSTORIA was more great walikng scene!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cym07_WESOA
the song from GOODBYE DRAGON INN!
http://www.surrealmoviez.info/readarticle.php?article_id=5467
so sad it have no subtitle but i think it';s not important much right?
--I like CASE FOR A ROOKIE HANGMAN (Pavel Juracek) very much. I hope it will be released as DVD with English subtitles soon.
--I agree that that scene in AUTOHYSTORIA is a classic scene.
--I like the last scene from VIVE L’AMOUR very much. I like the sound of the heroine’s steps in the park (I hope I don’t remember it wrongly). However, sometimes I think my love for hearing this kind of sound may result partly from the fact that I want to wear high-heeled shoes in public and make some sound like that while walking in the street, but I can’t. I can only wear high-heeled shoes in my apartment. And I can’t make much noise from wearing my high-heeled shoes in my apartment, because I don’t want to disturb the people who live in the floor under my room.
Talking about the sound caused by the walking of a female character, I would like to mention that I also love the stepping sound from these films, too:
1.EMPTILESS LANDSCAPE
2.THE ECLIPSE (Antonioni)
I think in the early part of this film we can hear the heroine’s steps while she is walking.
3.SUSPIRIA
This is one of the most exciting stepping sound. We can’t see the person who walks, but we must count the number of her steps, so that we can know the secret of the building.
My favorite is Marsha on the beach in Alone.
I said The Sky ,the Earth and The raine because I would like to do as the leading actress did in this movie
--Peter, I had forgotten about the beach scene in ALONE (2007, Banjong Pisanthanakun + Parkpoom Wongpoom, A-) until you mentioned it. Is it the scene in which Marsha walks alone on the beach, but when she looks back, she finds the footsteps of two people on the sand instead of one?
I give ALONE only A- because I don’t like the last act of this film. However, one of the things I like very much in this film is the acting of Hatairat Egereff + Rutairat Egereff as the adolescent twins.
--Initial A, at first I don’t know what you mean by “do as the leading actress did” until I read your blog. It means you would like to walk into the forest, doesn’t it?
One of the things in this film that I keep thinking about is what happens to Marta.
1.Does she commit suicide by walking into the sea again?
2.Does she commit suicide in the forest?
3.Does she go to the mainland?
4.Is she killed by some hunters in the forest?
I don’t know the answer to this question.
I just found out that Marilyn Ferdinand wrote a great review on this film. You can read it at:
http://ferdyonfilms.com/2008/10/2008-ciff-the-sky-the-earth-an.php
Reading Filmsick’s review on this film also helps me understand it better. At first I think the heroine steals some money from her employer in order to save the money to pay for her mother’s treatment, but after I read Filmsick’s review, I understand that she may not steal the money.
Yes, that scene which was in all the previews, is what I was thinking of with Alone. Still no US release in any format which is too bad.
I did find out that Wonderful Town is scheduled for a US DVD release.
i give ALONE A-/B because i know what's gonna happen after i've seen only half of the film but what i don't like most in the film was the way the film show itself to be a UNIVERSAL film .It's like you can replace the situation , the place ,the characater the llanguage so it can be hollywood , korea ,japan film ,so to me it's like READY -TO -MAKE FILM .
but what i lkie most in ALONE was ฑ๊RUCHANOO BOONCHODUANG (who plays rhe mother) she was the great actress from thai film and TV seires through th 80's (if i remember correctly she used ro play ghost TV series that'ivw been afraid of so much !) so sad her role was very minor.
What i lke most abot what happened to MATA in THE SKY ,THE EARTH and THE RAIN was she just DISAPPEARD . No matter what happens to her it 'll be mysterious forever .
Peter, I’m glad that you may have a chance to see WONDERFUL TOWN (A+). However, I think it is interesting that it is easier both in the USA and Thailand to find foreign arthouse DVDs than to find foreign horror DVDs (the word “foreign” here doesn’t include Hollywood-made films). Many years ago, I used to think that horror films are easier to access, understand, or appreciate than arthouse films, so I assumed that horror fan base or cult film fan base should be larger than arthouse fan base. But when it is about the market of foreign DVDs, especially in Bangkok, I find that my assumption is totally wrong.
For example, in Bangkok, it is much easier to find some illegal DVDs of Bela Tarr, Valerio Zurlini, Miklos Jancso, Alexander Kluge, or Artour Aristakisian sold in the markets, but it is much harder to find the DVDs of THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS (Pupi Avati), NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS (Aldo Lado), LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN (Lucio Fulci), FLAVIA THE HERETIC (1974, Gianfranco Mingozzi), or ALUCARDA (1978, Juan Lopez Moctezuma) sold in the markets. At first I thought that this kind of thing may happen only in Bangkok, but now I think it may happen in many places in the world.
Filmsick, I can’t remember much about Ratchanoo Boonchuduang in ALONE, but I like her ghost TV series very much. I like KRASUE (1977, A+), the Channel-7 TV series in which she plays the eponymous ghost. It scared me a lot when I was a child. I also feared her very much in PITSAWAS (1981, Ratanaporn Intarakamhaeng, A+), the Channel-3 TV series in which she plays the 200-year-old ghost from Ayudhya period. If I remember it correctly, the story of PITSAWAS involves a painter who tries to paint a portrait of the young and beautiful heroine (Ratchanoo), but he can’t. Everytime he tries to paint this portrait, the woman in the portrait looks very old. I feared that portrait a lot—the portrait of the old-faced Ratchanoo. It looked really scary. I think there are also some scenes in which blood is flowing out of this portrait.
vote for 4 ja
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