151 replies to this topic

[Overstreet]

Spoiler

They did. He hesitates, he opens the door with the bread still in his hand, and after she leaves and starts walking, he eats.

I'm telling you... this is what it's like, ruminating on this film after seeing it a second time:

[Nathan Douglas]

I think I could watch that for almost as long as the movie.

I'll be seeing this again as soon as I can manage. It's been a while since I've been seized by that sort of urge, too.

Spoiler

"J-J-James..." is the first truly electrifying cinematic moment I've had this decade. Equal to "Did you find your Indies, John?"

[Overstreet]

Ha! That's a great comparison.

[Darren H]

I really wish I'd thrown this onto my laptop before I left for my business trip. Instead, I'm trapped in a hotel room with 25 channels of basic cable.

[M. Leary]

N.W. Douglas, on 30 March 2011 - 02:17 PM, said:

I think I could watch that for almost as long as the movie.

I'll be seeing this again as soon as I can manage. It's been a while since I've been seized by that sort of urge, too.

Spoiler

"J-J-James..." is the first truly electrifying cinematic moment I've had this decade. Equal to "Did you find your Indies, John?"

Yeah, that is a clever parallel. I am quite sure this film is going to have the same grand effect on me that TNW still has. I love the frisson of having potentially watched one of the greatest films I will ever see.

[Darrel Manson]

Heartbreaking. Maybe.

The film that came to mind for me as I watched was Ma Nuit Chez Maud. It's just as talky. Some similarities in themes.

I also need to see this again. I want to read the first half in the light of the second.

[Darrel Manson]

About the distribution of this:

I have lots of art houses available to me. Often a film will open in L.A. but will be in OC in a week or two. (OC is much more convenient, though we sometime like the trip to Hollywood or the Westside.) We kept waiting for it to move, but it was starting to cut back on venues rather than spread out, so we braved the traffic to see it in Hollywood. Certainly worth the effort, but even more - it's worth letting people see it.

I think the culprit here is that IFC wants it seen through the on demand option. On the one hand, it makes it available to people who don't live in art house rich places like this, but on the other hand, I think this is going to be better on big screen rather than a smaller - even HD screen. First thing that comes to mind are those head shots where we see them as if we are the mirror we are looking into. Those faces filling the screen just won't be the same unless you really have a big screen.

OK, rant over.

[Overstreet]

Alejandro Adams just Tweeted:

Quote

Criterion's "brand value" was shot the minute they got in bed with IFC. The Dunham pickup is icing. The Certified Copy snub demonstrates... ... that the folks at Criterion are racists--Kiarostami has just made his most sophisticated film but it's not "Iranian" enough. That's gross.

[Christian]

Overstreet, on 05 April 2011 - 11:29 AM, said:

Alejandro Adams just Tweeted:

Quote

Criterion's "brand value" was shot the minute they got in bed with IFC. The Dunham pickup is icing. The Certified Copy snub demonstrates... ... that the folks at Criterion are racists--Kiarostami has just made his most sophisticated film but it's not "Iranian" enough. That's gross.

Did I miss something? Criterion has "snubbed" a movie that's still in theaters? Doesn't the label sometimes pick up titles after their initial video release on other labels?

As for Dunham, is Criterion releasing Tiny Furniture? It's a real favorite in these parts!

EDIT: OK, I just went to that fella's Twitter page, at which I found this:

Of the Tiny Furniture Criterion thing I said: "That makes me want to give up." SMV: "No, it just proves there's no order in the universe."

Was this guy alive when Criterion released Michael Bay films on laserdisc?

Edited by Christian, 05 April 2011 - 11:57 AM.

[Overstreet]

I've been looking around for more on whether it's true that Criterion passed on Certified Copy. Found this:

Quote

Thanks to The CriterionCast, we’ve gotten wind of a recent conversation that a user on these forums had with IFC President Jonathan Sehring following a recent screening of Werner Herzog’s CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, and ultimately found out news on a few possible upcoming releases.

First, and most interestingly, according to this report, Criterion’s own Peter Becker found Abbas Kiarostami’s latest film, CERTIFIED COPY, to be “minor Kiarostami,” ultimately meaning that the film will not be getting it’s day in the Collection. One film that will be? Lena Dunham’s fantastic debut feature, TINY FURNITURE. Also mentioned here are Errol Morris films THE GATES OF HEAVEN, VERNON, FLORIDA, and THE THIND BLUE LINE. Criterion will also be releasing Herzog’s aforementioned DREAMS, and possibly 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, with the capper here being Wim Wenders’ 3D dance flick, PINA. Talk about a lineup.

Now, it goes without saying that this is still very much a rumor. The fact that Becker went out of his way to say “minor Kiarostami” is really bizarre, at least given the film’s buzz at this point. It has been talked about joining the collection for quite some time, so at this point, take this with a grain of salt. That said, a lot of these films seem like relative locks. Outside of COPY, don’t be shocked if this list comes to fruition in some way down the line. I’m particularly most excited about films like 4 MONTHS and TINY FURNITURE, both films I absolutely adore. Fingers are definitely crossed for this one.

[Darren H]

I love that Alejandro actually called CC "racist." Dude doesn't mince words.

[M. Leary]

He is in a rare mood today. This is an instant Alejandro classic: "'Independent film' is a commodifiable glaze, a mere button in our editing software. It's not a world/field to which one should aspire."

[Crow]

A gorgeous visual film. and rich in ideas. It's fascinating how these two characters represent such a head vs. heart dynamic: dry intellectualism vs heart emotion; a spark of intimacy vs. the 27 Eharmony points of compatibility. Also I find the film offers much to chew on as far as the nature of fiction: a created history vs. a lived history. Can two strangers, in one day, can two strangers develop that kind of intimacy that is developed in a long-term relationship. This is so rich, it demands another viewing to unpack the copies, the layers.

Spoiler

The ending is heartbreaking. Keeping a schedule, meeting a train as opposed to finding true love. As Mark Heard once said, "Ain't that the curse of the second hand,
Ain't that the way of the hour and the day."

[Darren H]

Kartina Richardson has posted a wonderful essay about the film.

[Overstreet]

Thanks, Darren.

So, someone else copied down long swathes of text from this film. I transcribed almost the whole thing the second time through, because I can think of few films whose every line is as charged as this film's.

I'd recommend that folks reading this thread avoid reading that essay, though, until they see the film, since it reveals quite a bit that was, at least for me, great to discover during a first viewing.

[Persona]

Wow! What a knockout film. So glad I waited for the theater and didn't get it ON DEMAND. I figured with Kiarostami's first film as a foreigner it might be worth the wait, that the visuals would be done with better, western funding. And I think it showed. I have no proof about the financing and whether that went like I thought it out, but the visuals here are the best he's done. Some of it simply because he's in Italy. Some of it because he is a master filmmaker.

I went into this having only read this thread (without the spoilers) and thinking, "Oh boy, here we go again, I'm gonna hate it and probably won't even post." Not this film. Give me this over Linklater's Before whatevers any day of the week -- and I actually (mostly) like both of those films.

Binoche takes it, yet again, to another level. The James Miller guy -- eeh, not so much. But Binoche carries his weaknesses, she makes up for him everywhere they go. And in the end, in that final scene, he makes up for a quite a few of his earlier, less convincing rants.

The use of mirrors, hallways, windshilds, alleyways, staircases, wedding parties, old folks, lighting, camera movement, perspective in the visuals -- stunning. Nothing less. And not so serious that it can't be enjoyed. This is the highly enjoyable film that I wade through films like Helena From the Wedding in order to find. Truly a classic, released in Grand Rapids this week for the first time, I am counting it for my 2011 TEN.

Like quite a few here have said, I have got to see this again.

And who was Kiarostami reminding me of with all the mirror shots and that awesome windshield scene? Is there another director that makes films like this?

The Linklater films are one point of comparison. Lost in Translation might hit even closer to home.

Edited by Persona, 15 April 2011 - 08:28 PM.

[M. Leary]

Persona, on 15 April 2011 - 08:28 PM, said:

The Linklater films are one point of comparison. Lost in Translation might hit even closer to home.

I agree, but Certified Copy is the platonic ideal and these films are the shadows.

[Ryan H.]

M. Leary, on 16 April 2011 - 08:35 AM, said:

I agree, but Certified Copy is the platonic ideal and these films are the shadows.

Another M. Leary pull-quote for the posters:


"CERTIFIED COPY is the platonic ideal!"
~Michael Leary, Arts&Faith

[M. Leary]

Just to clarify. Linklater and Coppola the Younger are in my cinema pantheon. That is how good CC is.

[Ryan H.]

My wife saw THE CERTIFIED COPY without me (sadly), and she liked it a good deal. However, the fact that she has seen it already means that I will be waiting for the DVD release.