one of the best!!!! - Simón del desierto (1970) Discussion

[–] JIM_KELLYS_AFRO 18 years ago

i love this short master piece!!!!!after smoking some weed watching it is really ideal...ahahaha!!!

peace

Bullshyt MR han-man!!

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[–] Kinematico 17 years ago

IMHO "Simón del desierto" is one of Buñuel's finest works, and one of the most surreal as well

They who believe that the money does everything, end by doing everything for money

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[–] suckerdwsp316 17 years ago

I wonder why Bunuel didn't make it into a feature. The way it is, it's absolutely brilliant. But few know about it, because it's only a medium length film.

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[–] Mike_Bunuel 17 years ago

I had hoped that Criterion would release a double feature of UN CHIEN ANDALOU and SIMON OF THE DESERT, but alas they didn't.

And I do think this is one of his best, but again, he had many, many great movies.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] suckerdwsp316 17 years ago

G-d, I just wish he made this into a feature length film, it seriously could of been top 10 material!!! that how ingenius I feel this film was !!! beyond anything I've ever seen!!

and why would criterion do us that favor?? they are so popular these days, they make so much money, they dont care. 2 separate dvds=more green from us

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[–] Gloede_The_Saint 14 years ago

45 minutes = a feature lenght film (if we go by 1930's standards), I count it as a feature.

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

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[–] robertotrujillo 16 years ago

"Simón del Desierto" was actually concieved as a full length feature, but one day the producer came to Buñuel at the very end of the second week of shooting and, in the middle of one take, just told him: "We don't have more money to continue filming". Buñuel, totally upset, took the script and rewrote the film's ending in one night. This is why the film just runs 45 minutes. More scenes, more ideas were originally concieved.

True story. For more info, read: "Prohibido Asomarse al Interior", Buñuel's film memories...

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[–] suckerdwsp316 16 years ago

wow, i cant believe that. thats so weird that he didnt have more money to shoot with, considering that he made films almost every year, so he was backed by someone year in and year out.

did it go into detail any further? like where he got the idea from? what the original ending would have been had it been a feature?

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[–] thecultofhorror 15 years ago

i agree this is my second favorite bunuel film, with That Obsucre Object of Desire being first.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] SeisCinemaSeis 15 years ago

Yeah, it's a pity that this film couldn't be finished. Potentially could have been Buñuel's best film ever. However Simón del desierto remains as a wonderful short film. Perhaps the best short film ever made ("Un chien andalou" and "La jetée" completes my list for the best short films ever).

BTW I knew that "Simón" couldn't be finished because Gustavo Alatriste (producer) ran out of money but I didn't know that a few years later Silvia Pinal tried to produce a "triptych" adding two short films more directed by renowned directors such as Fellini and Jules Dassin. However it couldn't be made because Fellini and Dassin wanted their wives (Giulietta Masina and Melina Mercouri, respectively) to play the lead role. Silvia Pinal who was making the effort of producing the triptych wasn't agree, she obviously wanted to have the lead role in those segments as well.
You can hear Silvia Pinal talking about this in an interview included on Criterion DVD.

Probably it was better to let "Simón del desierto" as a "rara avis" and not just as another segment of a feature film (triptych).

10/10

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] skoo_123 15 years ago

Stupid, extremely flawed, wannabe surrealistic... nonsense. It's not that the movie is unfinished or whatever, it is just bad. Viridiana is a very good film. It attacks christianity in a witty manner, but this one and Le voie lactee are just bad. If all atheist thinkers would create works like this, I'd immediately become a believer.

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[–] TheWanderingFish 14 years ago

I'd love to know how it's "extremely flawed" - but since "flawed" is generally just used as a meaningless cop out word to represent your inability to actually identify any problems with the film, I'm going to assume that it really just means something along the lines of "I didn't like this movie much so it must have had lots of problems and flaws because I didn't like it much even though I can't really think of anything other than that it was boring and stupid and stuff and I didn't like it much."

For the record - it was actually very far from being stupid, nonsensical, or bad. But keep on trying.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

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[–] JellyFish19 12 years ago

Interesting, but for me it's not really his best, maybe I just didn't understand it. The ending seem abrupt too.

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[–] newguyindc2001 9 years ago

Why do you have to choose a "best" Bunuel film? I like all Bunuel films, some more than others, but I have enjoyed all of them.

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