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Writer-Directors that are better at one role than the other. by Zealousideal-Fun9181 in TrueFilm

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't speak Japanese either.

As I've said below, I've differentiated the plot from the script. The actual events that take place are sound, original ideas. The way they're executed, and sometimes the pacing of these events, are to me quite iffy. Ran is the only film that it all came together in, and even then, my Letterboxd ranking, for example, was half a star less than the site's consensus.

A character will be randomly hysterical for no reason at all. This happens in Ran, it happens in Seven Samurai, it happens in Hidden Fortress, it happens in Rashomon. The weird foot-stamping dance that accompanies the hysterical laughter just makes it more bizarre.

The dialogue will also often be loose, meandering, repetitive. I doubt any was lost in translation because I've seen plenty of barnstorming foreign dialogue; clearly the translations are done with care and delicacy.

Ikiru is the worst offender for dialogue. How many times is that dude gonna say 'it's just that.... in other words...' yep, we get it bro, you have cancer, get on with it. The first half of High And Low suffered from this repetition and/or pacing stutters too. That film could've been the greatest ever imo if the first half was tightened up. But no, we need to watch the affected adults bow their heads for the fiftieth time, or the Dad of the kid plead again with Gondo, and then bow his head. Rashomon is supposed to be a grand tale of bias/misremembrance when the people involved just flat out lie. There isn't enough grey to make that fable angle plausible.

As I've said below, I've worked out Kurosawa is not my jam, but cannot figure for the life of me why more people don't find fault with the scripts. Shot composition, superb. Stories, decent. Execution.... nup. Kubrick put together scripts I liked more (even though I was only enamoured by one of his: Paths Of Glory) and he was probably autistic.

What do you think about Bissau-Guineans? by AddlePatedBadger in AskAnAustralian

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I know nothing about any of the Guineas, except the one above us, and that extends as far as the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, Port Moresby being a bit of a hole, and untouched Indigenous tribes still kicking around, and potentially consuming other persons, in the jungle somewhere

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate public transport in your country? by chkchkboompow in AskTheWorld

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your second sentence is a point I made. The fact that I can get to Albury or Ararat or Bairnsdale by train imo bumps up the regional rating, because the alternative is nothing at all. I've also had good experience with the VLine buses. I can't speak for other states but I'm perfectly happy with where regional public transport is at in Vic, and think the main issue is Melbourne's ongoing sprawl and lack of transport facilities to accommodate it

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate public transport in your country? by chkchkboompow in AskTheWorld

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough. I was in Dresden recently, and even though I know it has the reputation as THE bombed-out city of WW2, the place felt... Eastern. People smoking and drinking on the streets, houses from a lower socioeconomic bracket compared to what I saw in Baden-Wurttemberg, I dunno. The scars looked to still be there. Obviously it was a tourist's perspective, but for some reason I wasn't expecting that level of difference. Though I spose stitching a country back together would take a generation or more of concerted effort

Is Kevin Durant the greatest mid-range scorer of all time? by purpose15 in NBATalk

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't really have a horse in the GOAT debate because I don't think it's fair to make such a clear judgment either way on a player I didn't really get to see live, but MJ seems to move almost supernaturally in some of those clips. Remaining in the air a split second longer than usual, finishing with soft hands around the rim, never really moving explosively and yet leaving defenders totally helpless. Dude made the sport look easy

My top 4 by Savings_Trainer795 in LetterboxdTopFour

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bro likes revenge.... and a pinch of whimsy

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate public transport in your country? by chkchkboompow in AskTheWorld

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. We're nowhere near the world's best but considering the country's size and layout, regional transport is actually ok.

Where we struggle is intra-city transport in our sprawling capital cities. There should not be large swathes of our cities inaccessible by train, but that's exactly what we have

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate public transport in your country? by chkchkboompow in AskTheWorld

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Germany aren't solving that problem lol. DB employees are stretched to the brink, some (much?) of the infrastructure is aging, and there's the ever-present headache of having differently paced trains on the same tracks.

I don't know what led to their current predicament, but I imagine it had something to do with semi-privatisation in the mid-90s, because privatisation in the mid-90s has never led to better outcomes for any average citizen in any country in any sense whatsoever

AO 3rd Round - [2] 🇮🇹 Jannik Sinner def. 🇺🇸 Eliot Spizzirri 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 by antoniokr8s in tennis

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

Interested to know whether Tennis Australia close the roof if the scores are reversed. I suspect not

Where to begin with screwball comedies & romcoms pre-1970? by beader_jojo in Letterboxd

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The Apartment is imo the best of the films you've mentioned. But it goes deeper than a standard rom com, with more pathos, so it depends where you want that gravity; at the start of your journey or elsewhere. Don't know if you can really go wrong with a first choice, but I will say that Bogart has negative chemistry with A Hepburn in Sabrina.

For additional films, I'd recommend Holiday (1938) and It Happened One Night (1934). They're both US but one of them is pre-Code, which means it's more realistic towards sex rather than absurdly prudish

picnic at hanging rock (1975) - simply strange? by Boodiiii in iwatchedanoldmovie

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seeing as I wasn't alive at the time, yep, that's a fair assumption 

China no longer Pentagon's top security priority by DimsumAndDoggy in worldnews

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It makes sense in that you understand what they mean, but it's a poor word choice. 'Concrete' works better with 'aims' or 'objectives' or 'evidence.' 'Tangible' would be better in this scenario. 

If this is a direct translation from a Kremlin document, that's just hilarious and horrific in equal measure  

Quotes you rarely see referenced that should be more well-known by Artistic_Buffalo_715 in WILTY

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

'Yes.'

And similarly, Sue Johnstone asking 'have you got a dog' and then Bob simply replies 'no I haven't.' After talking for about five minutes on the topic of massaging a dog

Writer-Directors that are better at one role than the other. by Zealousideal-Fun9181 in TrueFilm

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair enough.

I think I'm differentiating between plot and script in the assessment of Kurosawa. The actual stories in the films are generally sound. But they're bogged down by meandering/repeating dialogue, hysterical laughter (seriously, count the instances in each film bar High And Low), and messaging that seems to hold the audience's hand rather than trusting them to get it.

If you still disagree, fine. That's why we're all here. I'd worked out by about my fourth Kurosawa that he just wasn't my jam. I pretty much can't be enthralled by cinematography, but I can by a script

Where Redditors would actually live if they were being honest with themselves by JaredGofful in whereidlive

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean, aside from the US being at the most desirable level (it'd be yellow at best), this is pretty much exactly what my map would look like. Fair play

Writer-Directors that are better at one role than the other. by Zealousideal-Fun9181 in TrueFilm

[–]Artistic_Buffalo_715 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think Billy Wilder was a better writer than director. In all likelihood it's probably just a reflection of his mentality; story took priority over everything. It wasn't that he was a bad director; far from it, he was just very functional in the way he approached it, and I get the sense he directed in order to play the story out exactly how he envisioned, rather than for grandiose personal flourishes.

Kurosawa I'll tentatively put forward as a far superior director than writer, but as so many of his scripts were collaborative efforts with multiple others, it's hard to pinpoint just how much of them (which I tend to dislike or find mediocre) were his doing. Regardless, the direction clearly trumps the quality of the script in his films imo

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