The Non-metal music thread

[Prospero]

I love Tango - but wasn't so keen on this film to be honest.

This guy is, for me, the emperor of Tango.

[danthepoetman]

"Beautiful film, beautiful soundtrack. I have both the DVD and the CD."

Great director. 21 grams is probably his best film, but Amores Pecores, Babel and Bioutiful are also very good movies! With 21 grams, it's the constant existential questions that is so compelling. But you know, I think Amores Pecores, although much more violent and crazy, meant pretty much the same thing, but for a public that has to go through much more than we do, the Mexicans... Alejandro González Iñárritu is a great director. But after Babel, I'm not sure we'll see much more coming out Hollywood...

[Prospero]

Sorry to disagree dan... but i thought babel was pretentious and somewhat banal

[Prospero]

This is one of the most perfect blends of Arabic music and the western tradition - part of the Good friday service sung by the Lebanese superstar Fairouz

[danthepoetman]

Sorry to disagree dan... but i thought babel was pretentious and somewhat banal

It was a terrible critique (blame? denounciation?) of the American way of seeing the world. A banal incident in a remote country has consequences on people from so many other countries just because the victim was American. To me, it was brilliantly made! And so courageous! But they got it in Hollywood! We won't see anything from Innaritu with a real big budget. That's one of the thing I admire of the guy: no matter what the cost was, he delivered his message. That's an artist. You know, Diogenes used to say: "What's the use of an artist or a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?"

[robertlouis]

Sorry to disagree dan... but i thought babel was pretentious and somewhat banal

Tend to agree, but Motorcycle Diaries is exemplary film-making in every way, and 21 Grams was never less than intriguing.

If you enjoy Latin American cinema head south to Argentina - The Secret in their Eyes is very powerful, as is Caranjo. Oh, and Nine Queens.

[Prospero]

Motorcycle Diarie I am afraid I also disliked intensely... the romanticising of Che Guevera just nauseated me. it was sentimental and trite. Sorry

[danthepoetman]

Tend to agree, but Motorcycle Diaries is exemplary film-making in every way, and 21 Grams was never less than intriguing.

If you enjoy Latin American cinema head south to Argentina - The Secret in their Eyes is very powerful, as is Caranjo. Oh, and Nine Queens.

Oh! you meant Motorcycle Diaries, Robert Louis? Well, just the topic was fabulous! You know, when I think of all what was made of Marx's work, I just stop to think about the unimaginably horrible condition of life of people, during the so-called "second industrial Revolution", in the XIXth century. Very few authors had the courage (and the empathy) of talking about it. Men working 16 hours a day, 6 days a week in abominable conditions, women 12 to 14, children as young as 6 or 8, 8 hours a day, sometimes suspended over the machines, tortured, and all of that for just enough to barely survive; you put the whole body of work of Marx in a whole other context. What other author talked about it? Dickens. In french, Zola, Hugo. Well, to me, Motorcycle Diaries does the same for Ernesto Guevara: what got him there? It's this travel! Beautiful movie!!!

[robertlouis]

Motorcycle Diarie I am afraid I also disliked intensely... the romanticising of Che Guevera just nauseated me. it was sentimental and trite. Sorry

Ah, are we getting into the eternal debate about film making per se and film making as an accurate record of the past? Is your issue with Guevara as he was or as he is portrayed?

Oh, and any thoughts on contemporary Argentinian cinema?

[danthepoetman]

Motorcycle Diarie I am afraid I also disliked intensely... the romanticising of Che Guevera just nauseated me. it was sentimental and trite. Sorry

I would agree with you that Motorcycle Diaries is not a great movie from a cinematic standpoint, Prospero, and I now see the director in you. But the subject was very compelling, you have to admit it, no? As to 21 grams, no, if you didn't see some greatness in this movie (and I'm not talking Tarkovsky or Bergman), I have to disagree...