tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post6094029699976198365..comments2024-03-27T21:42:56.131-05:00Comments on 1001plus: All the FeelsSJHoneywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-53636066417669160612015-04-05T21:37:14.935-05:002015-04-05T21:37:14.935-05:00I was unaware of A Very Long Engagement's prob...I was unaware of <i>A Very Long Engagement</i>'s problems with the French government. Seems like politics ruins a lot of what it touches, doesn't it?<br /><br />You know or at least strongly suspect, as do I, that a lot of those problems would've been happily overlooked for a film that depicted France much more positively. It's another case of following the rules to the letter when it suits and ignoring such things when that suits better. Typical, really.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-5135774081098705642015-04-05T21:35:07.911-05:002015-04-05T21:35:07.911-05:00There's a particular timelessness to the place...There's a particular timelessness to the place depicted here. It would drive me crazy pretty quickly, but it's certainly beautiful. <br /><br />Politics do obviously come into play eventually here, but for a film with some political leanings in its main characters, the politics mainly stays in the background. I appreciated that quite a bit.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-28729020186852443992015-04-05T16:29:17.829-05:002015-04-05T16:29:17.829-05:00It's my understanding that Italy nominated a d...It's my understanding that Italy nominated a different film to punish to producers for using a British director. Politics plays an even bigger role in awards overseas than it does here at home, believe it or not. The French film A Very Long Engagement was similarly hurt by this. As I wrote in my review:<br /><br />"While Amelie received a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination, A Very Long Engagement did not. The French government determined that even though it was written, directed, produced, and performed by French people, was set in France, was filmed in France, and was about France, that it was not French enough because Warner Brothers owned one of the production companies. Not so coincidentally I’m sure, this also meant that the government could withhold the funds that they give filmmakers to support the French film industry. This ruling meant that it also could not be France’s candidate for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. <br /><br />Just to add insult to injury, the Cannes Film Festival organizers refused to allow the film to be shown there since it was first shown outside its country of origin – France – even though the government had said it was not a French film. In both cases I think the film was penalized for showing how badly the French government treated its soldiers during World War I. The 1957 film Paths of Glory, which was far more damning on the same subject, was actually banned by the French government for many years."Chip Laryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00787403805554027107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-65136457779143610722015-04-05T01:13:01.414-05:002015-04-05T01:13:01.414-05:00"This is especially true when she finds the l...<b>"This is especially true when she finds the lines stolen from Neruda that Mario has copied for Beatrice."</b><br /><br /><i>"Nuda..."</i> the priest intones gravely. Hilarious moment. And definitely a beautiful movie. It evokes all of my most pleasant memories of a Mediterranean Europe awash in glorious sunlight—Europe at its best, at least in terms of nature (both human and ambient) if not in terms of politics. This movie is the one I think of whenever I watch Eddie Izzard's "Dress to Kill" routine about happy-go-lucky Italians on scooters going, "Ciao!"Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.com