Baumer's live reaction to Hard to be a God | And some other people subject themselves to it as well

[baumer]

And I think the movie gods were granting me mercy.  The film just shut down with 10 minutes left in it.  It will not play anymore.  Someone out there was looking out for me.  

[Dementeleus]

Dammit, lol.

[Water Bottle]

2 hours ago, Telemachos said:

 

Pretentious student filmmakers are the worst. And every student filmmaker is pretentious.

 

 

 

(Speaking as an ex-student filmmaker, and a pretentious one at that).

 

That's why I wasn't a pretentious filmmaker but a non-pretentious total sellout TV writer from the very beginning, baby!

[Dementeleus]

40 minutes ago, baumer said:

Full name

 

Truth or Dare. A critical madness. 

Directed by Tim Ritter

 

36 minutes ago, baumer said:

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0092118/

 

It doesn't seem to be available in any sort of streaming format, but I did watch the trailer on YouTube.  

[baumer]

Ok, here is what I think I got out of it:

 

 

 

This is more than a movie, and like Tele said, it takes you into this other world with a brilliant set design, and evetually you forget you are watching a movie and you kind of feel immersed into this world, like you are actually there.  Even simple scenes are shot and shown in a very difficult manner by camera moves, by vast number of layers of characters, objects etc. and very documentary-like sound effects. It's a new World for a viewer, shown in such intense detail and density, that it becomes very much overwhelming.  There doesn't really seem to be a plot per say, but it's like you stepped into a time machine and landed in this alternate universe.  The director, German, definitely accomplished something interesting- he made the whole movie feel like it was shot in the actual Middle-ages and then this footage was brought to us and edited to a movie. You feel yourself in a full-dimensional World, where every object seems like it is from this world, every character seems like they are part of the fabric of the film.  Every scene is putting you right there, constantly drawing you further in its realm. There are very few camera cuts when the action takes place and this makes you feel like you are spying on this world and these characters.  You witness people kill for the hell of it.  People shit in the streets.  People fornicate while others watch.  There's hangings in central square...all done naturallu like the way we put gas in our cars or watch the news every night.  The film never tries to really explain itself and that is where most of my frustration comes from. In Hard to be a God you are constantly distracted from the important, by a sudden person appearing at the front, doing some medieval shit that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  I don't even know how you direct someone to do some of this.  

 

"It's not the Earth, it's another planet. Just like the Earth, but 800 years ago", says the narrator at the beginning. You see people, from such a distant past, that you cannot imagine people like that.   From my point of view, German must have set out to make it dirty and gory, and definitely not some glossy, noble vision of Medieval, but that's how it was back in time, I assume. 

 

Don Rumata is believed to be a God by locals ( I had to rewind it to pick this part up....thanks @Telemachos ). He is from our times, from Earth. A scientist, who lives there, studies them, tries to guide their civilization towards the Renaissance. Yet, he cannot use force. He can only observe.  He is the only somewhat normal person in the whole movie He serves the role of a liase between us and them. He is constructed in such a way, that he feels like he is a God, wandering, watching that World slowly evolve. He has a lot of gold, many slaves and he plays Jazz in the morning on some stupid clarinet.   He is trying to make these people better, I think but then the government comes in and kind of messes it up.

 

Hard to be a God is a challenging film and not exactly something I enjoyed.  But at least I got through it.

 

@CJohn...you're next!

[LateReg]

2 hours ago, Telemachos said:

 

I think only @CoolioD1 and maybe @Jake Gittes?

I've seen it twice. It's a masterpiece. Reading the book definitely helps. The director is a master, but his films are probably harder to come by than those of any other super-acclaimed filmmaker (for obvious reasons once you've seen any of them...they're difficult and specifically political). The only other one I've seen is Khrustalyov, My Car, also a masterpiece.

[baumer]

Well to get the bad taste out of my mouth, I'm going to watch a recommended horror movie from @The Stingray called The Hallow.

[LateReg]

6 minutes ago, baumer said:

Ok, here is what I think I got out of it:

 

 

 

This is more than a movie, and like Tele said, it takes you into this other world with a brilliant set design, and evetually you forget you are watching a movie and you kind of feel immersed into this world, like you are actually there.  Even simple scenes are shot and shown in a very difficult manner by camera moves, by vast number of layers of characters, objects etc. and very documentary-like sound effects. It's a new World for a viewer, shown in such intense detail and density, that it becomes very much overwhelming.  There doesn't really seem to be a plot per say, but it's like you stepped into a time machine and landed in this alternate universe.  The director, German, definitely accomplished something interesting- he made the whole movie feel like it was shot in the actual Middle-ages and then this footage was brought to us and edited to a movie. You feel yourself in a full-dimensional World, where every object seems like it is from this world, every character seems like they are part of the fabric of the film.  Every scene is putting you right there, constantly drawing you further in its realm. There are very few camera cuts when the action takes place and this makes you feel like you are spying on this world and these characters.  You witness people kill for the hell of it.  People shit in the streets.  People fornicate while others watch.  There's hangings in central square...all done naturallu like the way we put gas in our cars or watch the news every night.  The film never tries to really explain itself and that is where most of my frustration comes from. In Hard to be a God you are constantly distracted from the important, by a sudden person appearing at the front, doing some medieval shit that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  I don't even know how you direct someone to do some of this.  

 

"It's not the Earth, it's another planet. Just like the Earth, but 800 years ago", says the narrator at the beginning. You see people, from such a distant past, that you cannot imagine people like that.   From my point of view, German must have set out to make it dirty and gory, and definitely not some glossy, noble vision of Medieval, but that's how it was back in time, I assume. 

 

Don Rumata is believed to be a God by locals ( I had to rewind it to pick this part up....thanks @Telemachos ). He is from our times, from Earth. A scientist, who lives there, studies them, tries to guide their civilization towards the Renaissance. Yet, he cannot use force. He can only observe.  He is the only somewhat normal person in the whole movie He serves the role of a liase between us and them. He is constructed in such a way, that he feels like he is a God, wandering, watching that World slowly evolve. He has a lot of gold, many slaves and he plays Jazz in the morning on some stupid clarinet.   He is trying to make these people better, I think but then the government comes in and kind of messes it up.

 

Hard to be a God is a challenging film and not exactly something I enjoyed.  But at least I got through it.

 

@CJohn...you're next!

This was fun watching you watch this. I will say that the movie is entirely difficult to the last as it never once makes anything clear regarding the actual plot (of which there definitely is one, having read the book, but the movie is more interested in throwing you into the shit, so to speak), and it is so chaotic that it is easy to be overwhelmed by it and not understand a single thing about it. It's also so viscerally repulsive that it can make a viewer physically ill amidst one's disorientation. I'm speaking from experience, of course.

 

One key to understanding it is to remember that this movie is actually set in the far off future...but on a planet that is still stuck in the middle ages and resembles earth during that time. Rumata et al are there studying the people, but they are only allowed to observe despite wanting to help. So they have all the power, yet are powerless. So it's essentially a science fiction movie that seems like it's just a movie about the middle ages, and that's a very frustrating concept, especially if a viewer is looking for a great science fiction movie where these future folk eventually show us some insane futuristic weapon. Now that would be an awesome contrast within this movie! Like you said at some point, this is as far from Hollywood as it gets. Kudos for sitting through it and for getting out of it what you did.

[LateReg]

7 minutes ago, baumer said:

Well to get the bad taste out of my mouth, I'm going to watch a recommended horror movie from @The Stingray called The Hallow.

The Hallow is a pretty good slow burner. It's kind of not that different from Hard to Be a God in some ways!

[filmlover]

We need to have more of these live movie chats involving everyone.

[Jake Gittes]

42 minutes ago, LateReg said:

I've seen it twice. It's a masterpiece. Reading the book definitely helps. The director is a master, but his films are probably harder to come by than those of any other super-acclaimed filmmaker (for obvious reasons once you've seen any of them...they're difficult and specifically political). The only other one I've seen is Khrustalyov, My Car, also a masterpiece.

 

Yeah I'd go as far as to say he's the greatest filmmaker I know of the past half century who's still largely unknown in the West even among cinephiles and critics, and of the celebrated Soviet/Russian directors of his era he's at least on par with Tarkovsky and Kalatozov and arguably even better. The pre-Khrustalyov stuff is much less difficult and political though - and better, as far as I'm concerned - which makes it even more of a shame that it's so hard to access if you're not Russian.  

[baumer]

The dog is going to die in Hallows. I can already tell. 

 

Not happy.

[baumer]

And this actress could pass for Blake Lively.

[baumer]

Hallow is freaky so far.

[filmlover]

9 minutes ago, baumer said:

And this actress could pass for Blake Lively.

Are you sure you're not watching The Shallows?

Edited January 30, 2017 by filmlover

[baumer]

Hallow is freaking intense.

 

Great recommendation by @The Stingray

[Dementeleus]

1 hour ago, LateReg said:

This was fun watching you watch this. I will say that the movie is entirely difficult to the last as it never once makes anything clear regarding the actual plot (of which there definitely is one, having read the book, but the movie is more interested in throwing you into the shit, so to speak), and it is so chaotic that it is easy to be overwhelmed by it and not understand a single thing about it. It's also so viscerally repulsive that it can make a viewer physically ill amidst one's disorientation. I'm speaking from experience, of course.

 

One key to understanding it is to remember that this movie is actually set in the far off future...but on a planet that is still stuck in the middle ages and resembles earth during that time. Rumata et al are there studying the people, but they are only allowed to observe despite wanting to help. So they have all the power, yet are powerless. So it's essentially a science fiction movie that seems like it's just a movie about the middle ages, and that's a very frustrating concept, especially if a viewer is looking for a great science fiction movie where these future folk eventually show us some insane futuristic weapon. Now that would be an awesome contrast within this movie! Like you said at some point, this is as far from Hollywood as it gets. Kudos for sitting through it and for getting out of it what you did.

 

Yeah, it's basically just a take on the Prime Directive from STAR TREK -- you're not allowed to interfere. But the society depicted is total shit (literally). They are destroying and ruining any essence of humanity they had -- through books, art, culture, anything -- just so they can shit and kill and fuck and wallow around in the mud in more-or-less utter misery unless they're making life miserable for someone else.

[baumer]

I don't think I've ever seen a movie before, a horror movie I mean, where the bad things go for a human baby. They've already killed a dog and now they're going after a kid. This goes against all the regular movie tropes that you are supposed to avoid in the North American movie.

[Avatree]

FUCK, I missed this thread. What a movie though.

 

I hope the film is held up in high regard through time - I don't think anyone can call themselves a true fan of cinema until they have had to endure this. 

[Water Bottle]

32 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

 

Yeah, it's basically just a take on the Prime Directive from STAR TREK -- you're not allowed to interfere. But the society depicted is total shit (literally). They are destroying and ruining any essence of humanity they had -- through books, art, culture, anything -- just so they can shit and kill and fuck and wallow around in the mud in more-or-less utter misery unless they're making life miserable for someone else.

 

Not the politics thread.