bleakest opening may be Halloween : Curse of Michael Myers...Jamie the heroine of 4 and 5 is found to have been imprisoned and attacked for years...then is mangled and dies. Conflicting accounts as to why Danielle Harris ( a favorite ) did not return in the role.
On Oct 30, 11:53 am, David Oberman <dober...@socal.rr.com> wrote:
> "art...@yahoo.com" <art...@yahoo.com> wrote: > >Other bleak movies > >Last Exit to Brooklyn > >Requiem for a Dream > >Little Odessa
> The bleakest film of all time is Bergman's THE NAKED NIGHT.
> ____ > On the question of playing continuo during a Mozart concerto, I can only > reaffirm my belief that it is perfectly fine as long as it is inaudible.
> -- Charles Rosen, "The Classical Style"
Boys Don't Cry Brazil 1984 --the John Hurt/Richard Burton version Miracle Mile
I was going to query this one as well, but then I thought - in the film we're descended from a bunch of apes, developing intelligence not by any Darwinian process, but only through the intervention of a third party. And what do we do with our new found knowledge? We learn to kill lesser apes. Flash forward a few million years and we've evolved into emotionless, soulless automatons, only with better weapons. One of us suddenly gets another boot up the evolutionary ladder and arrives back at earth, gazing down on the lesser apes. Let's hope he's learned something other than better ways to kill us.
> I was going to query this one as well, but then I thought - in the > film we're descended from a bunch of apes, developing intelligence not > by any Darwinian process, but only through the intervention of a third > party. And what do we do with our new found knowledge? We learn to > kill lesser apes. Flash forward a few million years and we've evolved > into emotionless, soulless automatons, only with better weapons. One > of us suddenly gets another boot up the evolutionary ladder and > arrives back at earth, gazing down on the lesser apes. Let's hope he's > learned something other than better ways to kill us.
Oh no. Another bleeding-heart Cro-magnon...
More seriously... if that first ape had evolved straight into Mother Teresa, it would've been a short-lived evolutionary step indeed. And, note that killing wasn't his initial objective (nor necessarily his achievement). Rather, the femur represented access to water... (like a divine divining rod, if you greatly stretch the point...)
On Nov 3, 9:42 am, Halmyre <flashgordonreced...@yahoo.com> wrote:
One
> of us suddenly gets another boot up the evolutionary ladder and > arrives back at earth, gazing down on the lesser apes. Let's hope he's > learned something other than better ways to kill us.
If there is a film with an ambiguous ending, it's "2001." And that's one of the things that I really like about the movie. So while I'm not disagreeing with you, I think there's more to the ending than what you've written above. It's that aspect of hope that you mention that precludes a true bleakness such as you find in many of the other films cited in this thread.
> On Nov 3, 9:42 am, Halmyre <flashgordonreced...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> One > > of us suddenly gets another boot up the evolutionary ladder and > > arrives back at earth, gazing down on the lesser apes. Let's hope he's > > learned something other than better ways to kill us.
> If there is a film with an ambiguous ending, it's "2001." And that's > one of the things that I really like about the movie. So while I'm not > disagreeing with you, I think there's more to the ending than what > you've written above. It's that aspect of hope that you mention that > precludes a true bleakness such as you find in many of the other films > cited in this thread.
> In article <90d56569-4b8a-4130-ae3f-67caa0ec7ed6 > @p33g2000vbn.googlegroups.com>, wlahe...@gmail.com says...
> > On Nov 3, 9:42 am, Halmyre <flashgordonreced...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > One > > > of us suddenly gets another boot up the evolutionary ladder and > > > arrives back at earth, gazing down on the lesser apes. Let's hope he's > > > learned something other than better ways to kill us.
> > If there is a film with an ambiguous ending, it's "2001." And that's > > one of the things that I really like about the movie. So while I'm not > > disagreeing with you, I think there's more to the ending than what > > you've written above. It's that aspect of hope that you mention that > > precludes a true bleakness such as you find in many of the other films > > cited in this thread.
On Nov 3, 11:43 am, Halmyre <no.s...@this.address> wrote:
> OK, I was being tongue-in-cheek - my take on the film is one of hope as well, > but I wonder why Tom Sutpen sees it as being bleak.
***** Hope is not something Stanley Kubrick had much truck with as an artist. The fundamental point of '2001: A Space Odyssey' is that the human race, for all its evolutionary progress and technological advance . . . from wild apes feeding on all manner of earth-bound beast to human automatons noshing on processed ham sandwiches on their way to the Moon . . . has zero control over its own destiny; that we are completely and utterly subservient to a nameless, faceless, unknowable entity that can jerk us from one end of the universe to another at will, and at a time of its choosing; all while letting us kid ourselves into thinking we're in the driver's seat.
> On Nov 3, 11:43 am, Halmyre <no.s...@this.address> wrote:
> > OK, I was being tongue-in-cheek - my take on the film is one of hope as well, > > but I wonder why Tom Sutpen sees it as being bleak.
> ***** > Hope is not something Stanley Kubrick had much truck with as an > artist. The fundamental point of '2001: A Space Odyssey' is that the > human race, for all its evolutionary progress and technological > advance . . . from wild apes feeding on all manner of earth-bound > beast to human automatons noshing on processed ham sandwiches on their > way to the Moon . . . has zero control over its own destiny; that we > are completely and utterly subservient to a nameless, faceless, > unknowable entity that can jerk us from one end of the universe to > another at will, and at a time of its choosing; all while letting us > kid ourselves into thinking we're in the driver's seat.
> If that's not bleak, I dunno what is.
Well, you've reframed the very (very) popular notion of a benevolent God into an existential cul-de-sac. Not that I necessarily disagree... (In fact, that was the best part of WATERSHIP DOWN...)
Still, though, I'm pretty sure that at least some of 2001's genesis was the premise that intelligence/consciousness is a cosmic rarity ...and that advanced instances of it (i.e., the star folks) would surely undertake a cultivation of any biological furrows (i.e., us) they deemed thus fertile albeit primitive. So, the transformative monoliths are actually bootstraps to godhood. And those, of course, could never be bleak...
I thought of this thread as I watched a Hungarian film version of Woyzeck last night. Haven't seen the Herzog version. Given the bleak source material, there is brilliance in Berg's opera Wozzeck both musicaly and strucural arrangement of scenes. I've read the play, but never have seen it. Being something of a Wozzeck 'freak' I nevertheless was totally involved in this black and white film version. I don't know if I'll ever watch ths dvd again because it was soooo bleak....but 'good' bleak it was.
In article <695a777d-444e-4488-b28e-99b9f6347...@a21g2000yqc.googlegroups.com>,
nick <nickmacpherso...@AOL.com> wrote: > On Oct 28, 4:15 pm, forn...@webtv.net (S D) wrote: > > Bleak : bad outcomes presented in a stark or strong ( editing/camera > > angles ) style that emphasizes the unpleasantness.... or a harsh view of > > mankind/the world in general. Devour (horror) is a rough ride for the > > central character.
> Last Night and Miracle Mile. End of the humanity movies are mostly > bleak. The ending of Beneath of the Planet of the Apes is bleak.
I though it was sort of upbeat, given that it absolutely insured that no sequel could ever be made.
-- Stargate Universe SGU: It puts the "U" in "SUCKS"! It's the show 'Defiling Gravity' would be if DG had more regulars, fewer abortions, worse writers, and no budget for lighting. Remember, you can't spell "disgust" without SGU!
|
