CAYOM Festival - Year 7 - Three-Month Funeral triumphs

[ChD]

We're getting word that the screening for Innocense is beginning shortly.

Whose movie is that? And what's it about? 

[4815162342]

Whose movie is that? And what's it about? 

 

Well...

 

We have just received reports that infamously erratic and brain-damaged awards blogger Sasha Stone has left the screening for Blank's foreign film Innocense in a nauseous rage about halfway through. In a rant to theater staff she demanded that the film, which apparently deals with a child molester in Afghanistan, be pulled for offending her womanly sensibilities.

Edited March 19, 2013 by 4815162342

[riczhang]

Whose movie is that? And what's it about? 

 

It's Blanks. And the answer to your other question is complicated.

[riczhang]

And, just a heads up but I plan on writing a Film Fest Diary after the whole thing is over, or a wrap up post. I'm not sure who I want to write it as yet. I'm thinking Wells, Sasha, myself, or Tapley. 

[4815162342]

Please not Sasha. Her fake feminist drivel is painful.

 

If you could pull off the strange comedy of Jeff Wells it might be the greatest thing you have written so far.

[riczhang]

Please not Sasha. Her fake feminist drivel is painful.

 

If you could pull off the strange comedy of Jeff Wells it might be the greatest thing you have written so far.

 

My first two choices would be Sasha and Jeff because they say the stupidest and most controversial things, but I doubt I can pull them off. 

 

 

And on a totally random note, I just misread the thread title as Curious Innocuous Lawyer and was trying to figure out what it meant.

[Ezen Baklattan]

I'm biting my nails about how The Academy will go over.

[4815162342]

The screening for Innocense will be concluding shortly...

[Ezen Baklattan]

I look forward to seeing how Sasha reacts to a certain scene in The Acadmey...

 

EDIT: Maybe two scenes...

Edited March 19, 2013 by Spaghetti

[riczhang]

I look forward to seeing how Sasha reacts to a certain scene in The Acadmey...

 

She'd say that we need TGWTDT sequel ASAP.

[4815162342]

Innocense has finished screening, what does our panel think?

 

 

Innocense

 

A riczhang Review

 

Oh my god. Innocense is perhaps the most fucked up movie of CAYOM 2.0 bar Killer Computer. But, it’s phenomenal, uncomfortable, taboo, and Hanekian in a way that we haven’t seen since maybe La Pianiste more than decade ago. It’s a towering achievement to have made a film that’s so cruel, off-putting, and nasty, yet still connects with the viewer on such a deep level.

 

Innocense is a story of east vs. west, lies vs. truth, innocence vs. guilt, and the truly remarkable capacity of human creativity, imagination, and survival instincts. Reza Naji plays the main character, Asghar, perfectly; he has the right blend of sinister, innocence, and almost winsome and boyish charm. The decision to shoot in black-and-white is also a very good one; it’s a symbolic decision. It blurs the lines between morning and night, just like the lines are blurred between innocence and guilt, punishment and freedom.

 

However, despite all that the film does and the film conveys it feels as if the director, Majid Majidi, really had a full handle on what he wanted to say. The film has a voice, but it’s neither very loud nor very clear. One must go searching for it, and even then it’s not quite apparent. Sitting through the film, one feels like there’s a message deep down there that’s yearning to get out; the film tries to grasp at a concept, tries to make it concrete, but ultimately doesn’t fully complete the job. Perhaps it is the director, Majid Majidi, who has never directed a film quite like this one and perhaps doesn’t quite know what to do with it. Maybe if Michael Haneke took on the film instead, it’d have a clearer, grander, and greater message, and therefore be a greater film. But, that doesn’t matter as Innocense is still truly great.

 

9/10

 

 

 

Innocense

 

An Alfred Rating

 

Concept/Idea: 10/7

 

Plot/Story/Characterisation: 10/7

Casting: -

Opening: 5/4

Ending: 5/3

Location: 5/4

X Factor Bonus: 5/4

 

Overall: 72%

 

 

 

Innocense

 

A Numbers Review

 

The Good Die Young

 

 

My fellow reviewer riczhang is correct when he stated that this is one of the most disturbing films that have appeared so far in our world, and yet unlike Killer Computer, which goes so over-the-top in its debauchery that the graphic horror becomes plain graphic, the disturbia generated by this film is far more lasting and poignant, because somewhere in the world, a story like this has actually happened. Innocense is a film about today and about the inequality of gender in a deeply religious region. Whereas the worst crime one could think of in a Western nation is the rape of a child, the film, almost casually, shows that too often, the child is blamed and condemned and the perpretator walks away with no consequence. The most disturbing part of Innocense is that, like or not, it is true.

 

The decision to film the movie in Black & White is an interesting one, yet fitting. 90% of the film takes place in a single house and the use of B&W heightens the scaling down of setting and stakes. I disagree with my fellow reviewer riczhang on the other meanings of the color use. Whereas he argues that it helps to blur the lines, I say that it makes them more distinct. The use of Black & White is meant to say that like the colloquialism, there is right and there is wrong, and there is no hiding behind culture or religion or custom to fudge things around, there's only two choices, and the film clearly places the actions of Asghar on the side of wrong.

 

The tension and drama of the film are thick, almost unbearably so, deliberately making the audience squeamish and yearning for a comeuppance that never arrives. Innocense is an indictment of the system Majidi lives in and one that does not shirk away from the reality of his world. It makes Innocense a brave film, and however upsetting it is, that can't detract from its quality.

 

A-

 

[Alpha]

So good reviews for Innocense...

[4815162342]

I'd call a 72% grade fine but not noteworthy.

[ChD]

I like how riczhang and numbers are working their asses off to write a review and Alfred writes around 20 words and is done. Like a boss.

Edited March 19, 2013 by ChFloppit

[Blankments]

Pleasantly shocked about Innocense's reviews. On riczhang's comment of Haneke, it was either between Majidi or Asghar Farhadi, since I wanted someone who is from the Middle East to direct the film that shows their own culture and the disturbing things that can happen. I went with Majidi because my main character's name is Asghar.

 

Well...

 

We have just received reports that infamously erratic and brain-damaged awards blogger Sasha Stone has left the screening for Blank's foreign film Innocense in a nauseous rage about halfway through. In a rant to theater staff she demanded that the film, which apparently deals with a child molester in Afghanistan, be pulled for offending her womanly sensibilities.

 

[riczhang]

I like how riczhang and numbers are working their asses off to write a review and Alfred writes around 20 words and is done. Like a boss.

 

I wouldn't call ranting for 1000 words and then cutting it down to a third of that size working my ass off... I just talk it all out. 

[riczhang]

Pleasantly shocked about Innocense's reviews. On riczhang's comment of Haneke, it was either between Majidi or Asghar Farhadi, since I wanted someone who is from the Middle East to direct the film that shows their own culture and the disturbing things that can happen. I went with Majidi because my main character's name is Asghar.

 

 

 

I don't think that either Majidi or Farhadi are particularly good fits for the movie. It's so Haneke through and through that I honestly can't imagine anyone else doing the movie. 

 

 

And shit, I just realised I forgot to add something into the review. I thought it was too sentimental at the end with the flowers. I would've preferred no flowers, or not showing him arranging the flowers. 

[Blankments]

Well too bad Haneke was taken

[riczhang]

Well too bad Haneke was taken

 

I have a totally different take on Haneke. It's more in the vein of recent, getting softer with his old age Haneke. 

[4815162342]

Hmm...now trying to think what downbeat films I have made in my CAYOM career...

 

 

My film The Square Mile, which won BP in Y46, 1.0's last year before the forum extermination, had a downer ending with the bad guys (Russian Mob) getting a partial victory.

Edited March 19, 2013 by 4815162342