Elephant's not TOO bad, I think some of the direction is topnotch. It just felt like it'd be a better short film than a full length film .I feel the same about most of Van Sant's films. The loneliness and emptiness, and various other themes are explored to a much greater degree in everything from My Own Private Idaho to Paranoid Park.
Jodorowsky is great, Fando Y Lis is great, Santa Sangre is a bit long but is awesome. HOLY MOUNTAIN is probably the best-directed film ever, a million dollars but looks like ... a lot more. El Topo is by far my favorite work of his. "WE MAKE WAR TOYS" haha. That's such a great scene, so brilliant. The psychadelic weapons and whatnot. I mean, it's a fairly obvious film in places, but it's deep in a lot of other areas. One of those films that can be rewatched over and over.
I thought I'd seen every Kaurismaki film but I'd never heard of Dogs Have No Hell. It's part of the TEN MINUTES OLDER series, eh? Wenders and Herzog is on this one too. I've seen the "Cello" one (this one is "trumpet" one), which had Godard. I'll have to check this one out.
I bought CHANTAL AKERMAN IN THE 70's, aka ECLIPSE SERIES 19 via Criterion. This is probably the best DVD I own .Check it out.
la chambre - 9/10
hotel montery - 9/10
news from home - 10/10
je tu il elle - 9/10
les rendez-vous d'anna - 10/10
Akerman's quiet, contemplative, meditative, patient cinema is a sight to behold. I remember being blown away by how personal a film like Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is.. that film, as well as News From Home, has been a huge inspiration for my stuff. But every film in this set is better than Jeanne Dielman (a film I'd give a 7/10; it's just WAY too long, and the ending blows). Truly one of the best filmmakers of all time.
ALSO watched the documentary Citizen Shane
a shocking, interesting little documentary. Kinda sad in places too.