tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post113725236136764592..comments2023-11-05T04:31:48.615-05:00Comments on Elusive Lucidity: SátántangóZChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10211734319629732065noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-14445727438820859802007-02-02T22:14:00.000-05:002007-02-02T22:14:00.000-05:00Gabe, it's Dave Berglund. Good to hear you are sti...Gabe, it's Dave Berglund. Good to hear you are still championing seeing film at the theater. I stumbled upon these posts while looking into Santantango (which has a short run in the Minneapolis area I was thinking of attending if I had the time).<br /><br />Seeing film at the theater is definitely the best way to see film, but many people do not have the luxuries of time and money to do this. I still believe good film is powerful enough to overcome what you consider the downfall's of DVD viewing (people using DVD's as trophies). The people who will use DVD's as trophies will not get anything from the films anyways; we need not worry ourselves with them.<br /><br />But you must understand there are people out there who are genuinely in love with classic film and DVD's are the only option they have. I see nothing wrong with the proliferation of DVD's. Without them, film itself would become elitist and irrelevant. For every couple people using their DVD collection as a trophy case, there is a genuine film lover who uses their DVD's to either experience new and classic films or spread the knowledge of films they love (I fall in to the latter group: I rarely watch the DVD's I own except to share them with people I think would appreciate them).<br /><br />Is it not most important for film to reach the masses so that the sincere artists in the film world can be recognized and appreciated? Is it not worth it to put up with conceited "film buffs" if it means that a small percentage will genuinely benefit from their DVD viewing experiences?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1160123125122083702006-10-06T04:25:00.000-04:002006-10-06T04:25:00.000-04:00Satantango rules. It should be seen in a theater....Satantango rules. It should be seen in a theater. The theater should be locked, and no one is allowed to leave (except for bathroom breaks and the 2 intermissions). In defense of DVD, many directors (especially the American ones), don't frame things well. They have no sense of composition, so seeing in a theater is a waste of time. Seeing Satantango in a theater is mandatory.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1137529654767938052006-01-17T15:27:00.000-05:002006-01-17T15:27:00.000-05:00Thanks for the link! Your point about the fog scen...Thanks for the link! Your point about the fog scene is dead-on.<BR/><BR/>Satantango sold out on Sunday. I was there for the La Cava films. Whether it was still sold out by the time I left, I don't know. The night I went, half the audience had left by the end of the first intermission, with one man angrily saying, "It's a masterpiece of nothing!"<BR/><BR/>Also, during the first doctor scene, the lady next to me wondered out loud, "What's he drinking?" And then there was the person (never identified) who was tapping a zipper along to the music in the tavern scene.<BR/><BR/>How was L'Intrus?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1137363668576261802006-01-15T17:21:00.000-05:002006-01-15T17:21:00.000-05:00At the end of the day, though, you can't put SATAN...At the end of the day, though, you can't put SATANTANGO in your pocket and walk away with it. About all the physical proof you have that you were there is your ticket stub.<BR/><BR/>Talk is cheap -- a DVD, especially from a boutique label like Criterion, is like a trophy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1137342767679977342006-01-15T11:32:00.000-05:002006-01-15T11:32:00.000-05:00"With a theatrical viewing experience, there is no..."With a theatrical viewing experience, there is nothing to fetishize: your faced with the screen and the movie, and usually that's it."<BR/><BR/>Wishful thinking Gabe. At least in New York, casual filmgoers (like, from the sounds of it, your students) can fetishize the very idea of being artsy - i.e., going to see a movie once at MoMA for the mere experience, or being able to point to <I>The Squid And The Whale</I> as proof of your engagement with the "arthouse" when it's the only non-blockbuster you've seen, maybe because you heard it was like Wes Anderson. It's not as bad as what you're talking about, I guess, but it's still annoying. "Dude, did you hear about this weird movie...squid and the...marmot...or something."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1137340846206201592006-01-15T11:00:00.000-05:002006-01-15T11:00:00.000-05:00It's depressing to think that Rialto, Kino, and Mi...It's depressing to think that Rialto, Kino, and Milestone are basically the only three distribution companies in the U.S. actively releasing films made before the 1970s -- yet we live in a movie culture that is clearly interested in the Douglas Sirks and Straub and Huillets of the world, though that interest seems to stem from the sparkling DVDs that are available, not from theatrical viewings of the films. <BR/><BR/>I can't decide which world I would rather live in -- the one before or after DVDs (a lot like the world before and after cell phones from a cinephile perspective).<BR/><BR/>A lot of students at Columbia College -- where I started teaching introductory film courses last fall -- seem to buy Criterion DVDs because of the attractive, smart-looking cover art. The DVDs themselves become the fetish objects, and the films, strangely, become of secondary importance. With a theatrical viewing experience, there is nothing to fetishize: your faced with the screen and the movie, and usually that's it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1137339288557002652006-01-15T10:34:00.000-05:002006-01-15T10:34:00.000-05:00Gabe, I'm basically on your side on this one, and ...Gabe, I'm basically on your side on this one, and don't know if I can say what I want to succinctly in the comments box. Let me see if I can come up with a whole new blog entry very soon that touches upon this topic relevant to all (film) culture, because it actually is getting into some questions I've been thinking about separately for a while now.ZChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10211734319629732065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1137335451148091852006-01-15T09:30:00.000-05:002006-01-15T09:30:00.000-05:00I'll probably piss off a few people by saying this...I'll probably piss off a few people by saying this, but I think the fact that SATANTANGO is coming out on DVD is a shame.<BR/><BR/>Zach, now that you have seen it on film, in a nice theater, and with a/n (presumably appreciative) audience, would you have wanted to see it any other way?<BR/><BR/>Both SATANTANGO's rarity and massive length seem worth justifying, say, a car ride from Florida, or a plane ride on Jet Blue from upstate, to see at MoMA. Art, music, and theater lovers regularly make trips to NYC to see and hear things they wouldn't otherwise be able to see and hear. SATANTANGO is, as they say, "on the level"...<BR/><BR/>The fact that it's coming out on DVD will make all those whiny fly-over people content that they don't have to leave their wives, babies, and/or and cozy home theater systems.<BR/><BR/>But that's not my main gripe. No, my concern is that screenings of SATANTANGO will become even rarer, that fewer people will have the patience for a 10-hour theater experience when they can easily break it down at home, and that, as a result, we will no longer understand a work like SATANTANGO from the point of view of how it was conceived.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1137329227594831862006-01-15T07:47:00.000-05:002006-01-15T07:47:00.000-05:00Well, it was closer to being sold out than I'd eve...Well, it was closer to being sold out than I'd ever have guessed <I>Sátántangó</I> to be, but no, you should be fine. A nice thick attendance, but plenty of stray seats around.<BR/><BR/>My own caveat, to cover my own ass: I saw it on Friday, when it started at 4:30, a time when a lot of people were still working, and which ended after midnight--perhaps the other showtimes this weekend, which start earlier, on full days off (MLK Monday included), would be able to draw even bigger crowds?<BR/><BR/>But I still think anyone who goes to see the film should be fine.ZChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10211734319629732065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10161060.post-1137292238324987922006-01-14T21:30:00.000-05:002006-01-14T21:30:00.000-05:00Would you say it was close to being sold out? I'm ...Would you say it was close to being sold out? I'm nervous about it and will probably make a trip to MoMA tomorrow just to get Monday tickets, but I'm not sure if it's entirely necessary.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com