Film Movement

Vinegar Syndrome, Deaf Crocodile, Imprint, Cinema Guild, and more.
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Ted Todorov
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:00 pm

#1 Post by Ted Todorov » Fri May 20, 2005 12:19 pm

This is a rather unusual boutique label in that they offer a subscription, though you can buy individual films from their web site or Amazon.

They feature undistributed films from the festival circuit. Some of them are quite good -- Raja (seen at NYFF) is absolutely scintillating.

All their DVDs include a short film (by a different director) in addition to the feature. Transfers tend to be anamorphic but second rate -- they are yet to discover the existence of dual layer DVDs.

Catalog: https://www.filmmovement.com/Forms/Film ... sting=past

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jorencain
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:45 am

#2 Post by jorencain » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:26 pm

I've been very curious about this. Has anyone subscribed and can comment on them? I really like the idea of it, but you're really rolling the dice when they choose which film you'll be getting each month. I may give it a shot, though.

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Poncho Punch
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:07 pm
Location: the emerald empire

#3 Post by Poncho Punch » Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:39 pm

Check your local library. This kind of service is perfect for them, and if they don't already have a subscription, I'm sure they can convince their patrons to pay for one. My small town library had a number of these discs, and I watched a few. Decent films, though I don't recall the names of them right now.

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Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

#4 Post by Gregory » Sun Jun 05, 2005 2:20 am

Also, they do sell back titles individually on the site. They're still not cheap, but it's a good cause. Also, every few months they run discounts on specific titles.

stroszeck
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 10:42 pm

Re: Film Movement

#5 Post by stroszeck » Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:00 pm

Normally I hate bumping a thread, but since its been 7 years since there's been a post, I thought Film Movement deserves a bump. I have to say, there are a LOT of hidden gems in the line. Some absolute highlights include Her Name Is Sabine, Spare Parts and Antares. All decent transfers and some very good but relatively unseen movies.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Film Movement

#6 Post by zedz » Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:32 pm

Some of their releases have been celebrated in other threads. I highly recommended Yanagimachi's Who's Camus Anyway? in the 2000s list thread, and I'd also highly recommend the Kiarostami-written absurdist comedy Men at Work. It's a wonderful film about a bunch of guys who come across a quasi-Kubrickian monolith on the side of the road and, being guys, just have to knock it over.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Film Movement

#7 Post by knives » Wed Sep 05, 2012 11:51 pm

I'll second Men at Work and want to put in very good words for Alamar and A Screaming Man the later of which is easily one of the best of its year.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Film Movement

#8 Post by zedz » Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:08 am

Alamar is a lovely film. I hadn't realised that Film Movement released that (I picked up the UK disc).

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Film Movement

#9 Post by knives » Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:15 am

Their release is really good with their typically excellent choice of short as extra.

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repeat
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:04 am
Location: high in the Custerdome

Re: Film Movement

#10 Post by repeat » Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:23 am

Maren Ade's debut film The Forest For The Trees is good - Neil Young's review sums it up better than I can: 75 minutes of "genuinely uncomfortable awkwardness" (made even more awkward by the handheld low-quality video it was shot on), plus
SpoilerShow
an ambiguous "symbolic" ending in the style of Unter dir die Stadt.
Definitely recommended for those who liked Everyone Else - although the films are very different, Ade's extraordinary grasp of characters and dialogue is already well apparent on this one.

Troubled Water looks interesting, can anyone recommend that? #23 on the Norwegian national poll, plus you can never have too many movies with church organ soundtracks, can you? Also, any thoughts on the two Wang Xiaoshuai films?

mteller
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:23 pm

Re: Film Movement

#11 Post by mteller » Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:13 pm

Troubled Water has some nice qualities and very powerful moments, but a rather pointless bit of ambiguity for its own sake.

Of the dozen or so FM releases I've seen, my favorites are Who's Camus Anway? and The Bothersome Man. I also really liked Mine and Alamar. Honestly the only one so far that was kind of a stinker is Ali Zaoua.

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repeat
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:04 am
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Re: Film Movement

#12 Post by repeat » Thu Sep 06, 2012 2:33 pm

Can't say I cared much for The Bothersome Man, I found it annoyingly whimsical in that particularly Scandinavian way - the Poppe film seemed like it might stand out in that respect, dunno, I'll have to see.

Actually I think I undersold The Forest for the Trees up there a bit - the more I think of it, the more masterful it feels; I think I liked it even better than Everyone Else, and that's saying something. The "production values" are severely shocking/disorienting at first, but eventually start to amplify the film's best qualities in a strange way.

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Forrest Taft
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:34 pm
Location: Stavanger, Norway

Re: Film Movement

#13 Post by Forrest Taft » Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:25 pm

I fucking hate Troubled Water.
"Have you ever heard the story of when Jesus walked on water?"
"Yes. I didn't care for it".
Actual dialogue from this movie. This was a suprise screening at a Film Club I attended a few years ago. Even the programmers hated it (they had not had a chance to screen it for themselves beforehand). They hated it so much that they later apologized for having shown it to us.

David M.
Joined: Sat May 10, 2008 1:10 pm

Re: Film Movement

#14 Post by David M. » Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:27 pm

What's so terrible about that dialogue?

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Film Movement

#15 Post by knives » Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:28 pm

They certainly have more than their fair share of terrible films (be glad if you've not seen Helena at the Wedding), but they seem so low budget that I think it's forgivable.

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Forrest Taft
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:34 pm
Location: Stavanger, Norway

Re: Film Movement

#16 Post by Forrest Taft » Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:43 pm

David M. wrote:What's so terrible about that dialogue?
It's not so much the dialogue itself as the way it is delivered, and how the scene plays out. And the fact that one even has to ask someone who plays the church organ whether or not he's ever heard of this story seems a bit...unecessary. The question is asked by a priest, who happens to also be a good looking blonde. The two have sex shortly thereafter.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Film Movement

#17 Post by zedz » Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:50 pm

After a quick look at their catalogue, here are some more recommendations:

Lake Tahoe - Superb cinemascope comedy, quite possibly a masterpiece. Eimbcke, like Tati and Keaton, charges the entire frame with the task of delivering his deadpan. Like Who's Camus Anyway?, this would likely figure in my 2000s Top 50. Eimbcke's previous Duck Season was less formally ambitious, but is also a great comedy well worth seeking out. SPOILER: Not a single scene of this film takes place in or near Lake Tahoe.

How I Ended This Summer - Very accomplished Arctic psychological thriller. Great photography and excellent agoraphobic / claustrophobic / paranoiac tension, where the direction of the threat keeps shifting.

Noise - Very ambitious Australian thriller. I personally found this film a little over-worked, but it's nevertheless very impressive (and I was in a distinct minority in my opinion). As I recall, David Hare on this board was a big fan, and he's normally quite critical of Australian films.

Aaltra - Sub-Kaurismaki shaggy dog comedy. Generally entertaining and nicely shot in black and white, but your mileage will vary depending on how indulgent you are with the doggedly dumb protagonists and the extreme shagginess and dogginess of the tale. If you're a big Kaurismaki or Jarmusch fan, dive in.

The Wind Journeys - I still haven't seen this, but as I recall it came very highly recommended by somebody here during the 2000s list voting.

stroszeck
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 10:42 pm

Re: Film Movement

#18 Post by stroszeck » Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:29 pm

For those who have Netflix Instant, quite a few of these are available, including Men at Work and A Screaming Man.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Film Movement

#19 Post by knives » Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:33 pm

Also there's an OnDemand (at least for Cox customers) that is just Film Movement films.

Numero Trois
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 5:23 am
Location: Florida

Re: Film Movement

#20 Post by Numero Trois » Sat Oct 27, 2012 2:30 pm

Actually, I think most of their catalog is on Netflix Instant.

I also mentioned it in the "New Italian Films" thread, but my favorite from FM so far is Giuseppe Piccioni's dreamy Light of My Eyes. Essentially a love story between two lost souls barely surviving in Rome. Highly appealing performances by Luigi Lo Cascio and Sandra Ceccarelli with an atmosphere you could cut with a knife.
As I recall, David Hare on this board was a big fan, and he's normally quite critical of Australian films.
Speaking of which, I totally despised Alexandra's Project. A prosperous husband gets back from work only to find an empty house with a single videotape left by his missing wife. Maybe it sounds intriguing, but this one-note "War of the Sexes" story stacks the deck in favor of the wife to such a degree that it makes one question the intelligence of everyone involved with the film. Just witless.

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Lemmy Caution
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:26 am
Location: East of Shanghai

Re: Film Movement

#21 Post by Lemmy Caution » Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:14 pm

This is a good label with an interesting catalog and choice short films as extras.
That earlier catalog link didn't work for me.
This somewhat large pdf has the films listed, covers and brief synopsis. Also looks nice and has a good index at the end.

From what I've seen of their catalog:

GOOD
The Wind Journeys -- a trek through northern Colombia with an accordion.
Easily my favorite of those I've seen.
How I Ended This Summer -- A reasonably tense remote-location drama.
Protektor -- slightly odd but effective film about being Jewish during WWII.
The Way I Spent the End of the World -- I seem to remember liking this, but my memory isn't coming through. I can recall the attached short film, The Last Man in Brooklyn, which is good.

OKAY
The Colors of the Mountain -- Kids trying to have a childhood amidst the guerrilla war in Colombia. Uneven, but some nice moments.
If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle -- the set up and characters in the first half are reasonably interesting and then the film doesn't manage to do much with them.
Alamar -- rather simple celebration of native culture, family and living in harmony with nature.

BAD
Piano in a Factory -- rather weak and disappointing. Devolves into a lighthearted feel-good film.
A Call Girl -- something like the Slovenian version of The Girlfriend Experience. Not much there.

I've been wanting to see He Died with a Felafel in His Hand and Karen on the Bus.
I haven't gotten to Dreams of Dust yet.

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Lemmy Caution
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Location: East of Shanghai

Re: Film Movement

#22 Post by Lemmy Caution » Wed Aug 28, 2013 7:41 pm

Some reviews for a half-dozen FM films I've seen in the past year, listed from best to worst:

Teddy Bear (2012, Denmark) is a very effective Danish small budget film. About a shy, awkward 38 year old bodybuilder who still lives with his controlling mother. So, he ends up looking for love in Thailand. I'm kind of a sucker for films about ethnic cultural mismatches, and cold reserved Denmark and hot lively Thailand makes for a curious pairing.

And the observational style made it feel like a documentary and deepened the focus on the characters. A lot gets said without words in this film, while it's also a film that doesn't explain everything but lets the viewer figure things out. The camerawork was simple but effective, with a fair amount of tight framings which emphasized both the bulk and awkwardness of Dennis. Very effective performances by mostly non-actors, especially super-heavyweight bodybuilder Kris Kold in the lead. Quite a pairing with his frail birdlike mother, who has him totally cowed. Deftly handled. A real nice surprise.


Corpo Celeste (2011) -- fairly good film about a girl coming of age and being involved in the local community church. Nothing special but there are a couple of standout scenes. Stumbling around the church blindfolded works as a metaphor for the Church itself in modern times.


Spare Parts (2003, Slovenia)
A tough unsentimental look at smuggling people from the Balkans into Europe,
Not great and a little predictable in story, but also pretty affecting at times.


Hitler's Children (2011) is a somewhat interesting documentary suffering from a lack of style and nothing that really pulls it together. It's mostly somewhat ugly-looking interviews with some relatives of a number of top Nazis. A niece of Goering lives off the grid outside Santa Fe. There's also Katrin Himmler, great-niece of Heinrich Himmler; Rainer Hoess grandson of Rudolf Hoess, creator and commandant of Auschwitz.

You can see some of the problem in the title -- Hitler didn't have any children and mostly we meet grandchildren and great nieces of high-ranking Nazis, not Nazi children. So most of the people we hear from are an extra generation removed.

Probably the most interesting is Niklas Frank the son of Hans Frank, the Polish Governor-General during WWII, responsible for the ghettos and concentration camps in Nazi occupied Poland. Frank lectures at high schools mostly reading from the books he wrote about his parents' Nazi evils.

Another problem is only the outspoken anti-Nazi relatives agree to be in the film. We don't get any relatives who are Holocaust deniers (though we hear indirectly about one or two) or any who prefer to keep the past hidden away. All that is understandable, but makes for a less interesting film.

It seems odd that there is no mention of Goebbels' 6 children who were murdered in Hitler's bunker, and were probably the children the closest to Hitler. Goebbels' step-son, from his wife's first marriage, who Goebbels was close to, survived the war, but we don't get any Goebbel's relatives in the film. I'd be interested in a doc on the Goebbels and their children.

Anyway, it's interesting to think about those who have such an infamous family name and to meet some of the relatives. But this is sort of a C level effort. The documentary with Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge was better and more insightful.


The Day I Saw Your Heart (France 2011) is a quirky family comedy-drama, which tries too hard to be edgy and modern. There's something there at times, but too often things felt forced and characters felt phony. I had trouble buying in to it, but it's not a bad film.


Little Sparrows (2010, Australia) is a family drama, intended to be touching, but really rubbed me the wrong way with almost all of its choices.

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repeat
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:04 am
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Re: Film Movement

#23 Post by repeat » Sun Jan 26, 2014 12:55 pm

Kantai aka Hospitalité (Koji Fukada, 2010) hasn't been mentioned here yet - it sat untouched in my kevyip for a long time as I let myself be led into believing it was some kind of a run-of-the-mill feelgood indie, but turned out in fact to be something far more interesting: a brilliantly absurd comedy of manners with interesting variations of Japanese family drama themes, also slightly reminiscent of Hong in certain respects (the moments of watch-through-your-fingers embarrassement). Fukada's latest film Au revoir l’ete (apparently the international distribution title) has been eliciting comparisons to Rohmer in the festival reports (apparently it's even shot in 4:3 if I'm not mistaken), and features Kanji Furutachi who gives a great performance in Hospitalité - hope to get a chance to check it out!

Edit: don't watch the Film Movement trailer if you want to avoid spoilers, it's full of them!

John Doe
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:41 am

Film Movement Classics

#24 Post by John Doe » Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:46 am

Greenway's The Pillow Book is apparently coming to blu-ray on June 9

THE TALL BLOND MAN WITH ONE BLACK SHOE is scheduled to arrive on July 9.

FULL MOON IN PARIS and THE MARQUISE OF O should be released in the future too.

http://www.filmmovement.com/filmcatalog ... /index.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

John Doe
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Re: Film Movement

#25 Post by John Doe » Sat May 09, 2015 8:10 pm

Francesco (1989) is coming to blu-ray on 9/1.

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