After class today I wondered whether anyone else enjoyed the discussion as much as I did. I know I talk too much, and I hate people who talk too much. Somehow I delude myself into believing that I am exempt from the axiom that states simply and clearly that one should not do all the talking.
And today there were a lot of really good comments. Perhaps there would have been more had I zipped it a bit. Marotta's point that we cannot trust anyone in this film, not even ourselves was right on the money. It's hard to remember exactly what people were saying, but at the time I was very much taken by what Marissa said, and Billy,... Nick, of course, Maria, Sherif, hmmm.... there were others too, but memory is, well. need I say more, considering our topic? Give a shout-out to whomever I left out in the comment section below. Oh, Eric had a very insightful contribution, as I recall. But, damned if I can remember exactly what it was. Remind me.
So, is it education? Did anybody learn anything? Honestly, I don't give a damn. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, felt happy to be alive for 41 minutes. What more can one ask for?
Anyway, I'd say from the reaction of the class that my winning streak is unbroken here. Every major film I've shown has been a home run. "Signs" is the only film I won't go to the wall on. I showed that for a specific reason, namely as a counterpoint to Existentialism.
Our next film is "A Simple Plan." It is another variation on the theme of film noir. The premise is simple enough. Three guys stumble upon four million dollars in cash while walking through a frozen forest wasteland. The main character tells teh other two that they have to turn the money over to the authorities. You can probably imagine what happens next.
Don't yell at me Nick. I promise you that I didnt give anything away. That happens in the first 5 minutes of the film and I won't say a word about the rest except that I am confident that you will enjoy it, and you will have a lot to talk about concerning the basics of film making.
Until tomorrow, then.
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Discussions about Memento tend to be very fun because there is just so much too it. I can talk for hours about it. Since it is such a deeply affecting film, it has a tendency to garner a variety of reactions.
ReplyDeleteAnd I won't yell at you as long as you don't give me a reason to haha.
Today was a great discussion, I know Yuriy made a comment that I would have made similarly myself. The discussion today was probably the best we have had in the class all year and it prompted several blog posts so I think that is the way to keep such a lively discussion going.
ReplyDeleteI will be making a post on the different ways I felt during this movie and Dark City but I will give a little bit of an opening comment that may seem blasphemous:
Memento didn't do it for me as much as I hoped.
I don't know about the rest of the class, but I'm a big fan of the Tom Bennett show. It's one thing to listen to just anyone go on about something (like Mr. Brayman), but your engaging and sometimes twisted sense of humor add to my day, the fact that you have good taste in movies doesn't hurt either. I don't suppose my words will have much conviction on you, so whether or not I'm brown nosing is ultimately your decision to make.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Memento goes, the thing I enjoyed most was getting into Leonard's head in just one dimension: being confused, at first, as Marissa mentioned, I had a hard time following the reverse plot. Because it's so much harder to achieve, I respect this film more than Dark City in that sense. A few quick shots is much easier to pull off.
Jimmy Cassidy, what wonderful coment are you referring to my man? ;-)
ReplyDeleteActually Mr.Bennett, the reason I took the class was to listen to you speak since a certain someone said you have somewhat brilliant things to say ;). In general, I prefer stream of consciousness type books, poems, drawings, everything, and not too many people actually say aloud what they are thinking, so kudos to you!
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