My personal opinion is that visually, after seeing this film a handful of times, I can't think of any other film where the visual images are more beautiful and appealing than this one. It still blows me away, time after time...
Thoughts??? Can any other film hold a candle to the visual images? I'm just talking about visually, and nothing else (plot, acting, etc.)
Well, there are many other great visual film out there such as:
Playtime(Tati)
Ivan the Terrible(Eisenstein)
The Cook the Thief his Wife and Her Lover(Greenaway)
Black Narcissus(Powell and Pressburger)
Blade Runner(Scott)
The Conformist(Bertolucci)
Days of Heaven(Malick)
2046(Kar-Wai)
Barry Lyndon(Kubrick)
Sansho the Bailiff(Mizoguchi)
The first half of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors(Paradjanov)
I haven't seen "Playtime". Is it better than "Mon Oncle"? I love Tati's "Mon Oncle" and how colorful it is. I've seen some of the films you've mentioned, and haven't seen some of these ("Black Narcissus" is on my list as I enjoy Powell's "Peeping Tom", and Malick is one of the masters of visually appealing/colorful films )
Other "colorful" films that I would place close to the top with "Color of Pomegranates" would be:
-Daisies (great 60's Czech film)
-Fellini's Satyricon
-Santa Sangre (not my favorite Jodorowsky film, but love the use of colors in this film)
-2001: A Space Odyssey
Thanks for the other film recommendations :)
I'd say Palytime is more cinematic and accomplished than Mon Oncle. Both are fantastic anyway.
Oh, and some of the films I listed are in black+white. But who said B+W doesn't count?
That is a really strange list. When I think "visually appealing", I think of pretty things, colors, beauty, happy, etc.
More like "Prospero's Books" than "The Cook the Thief...".
Sansho the Bailiff??? Are there more than one of these? It was in black and white, interesting to look at, as all Japanese pre-western movies are... but nothing really "appealing", to me. Compared to Ran, no way!
Casteneda, I hope you read this. If you like Black Narcissus after watching it, then try these two films: Russian Ark, and Tuvalu. I love The Color of Pomegranates and Black Narcissus, so the other two films will probably give you that same visual stimulation. I think they're absolutely, breath-takingly beautiful. Oh yeah, another surreal like film is the Indian film "Meenaxi: Tale of 3 Cities". The uses of color and viuals are amazing! It's directed by a master painter M.F. Husain. Check it out here on IMDB. You'll love it!
shareWow, I'm going to get these movies right away, most of them I haven't even heard of. I've seen Russian Ark, and although it is extremely beautiful(camera work is great), it's just too dull and pointless, imo. What I liked about sayat Nova is extremely hard to describe, that's usually what happens with great movies.
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Vimichael--
Thanks for the recommendations! I haven't seen any of the films you recommended, and will definitely check them out this week!
Nothing I have seen is as good visually, but the Seventh Seal (dir. Bergman) is very visualing appealing and it conveyed the Middle Ages really well.
shareDefinitely 2001, and Tarkovsky's Solaris (I think that Tarkovsky may have been influenced by this filmmaker's techniques).
The Spirit of the Beehive would get my first pick, more so than this one, because the viewer tends to have an affinity to it, and not this film (interspersal of psychoanalytical images in a surreal fashion). Mind you, I don't care if it doesn't make sense; it is absolutely spellbinding.
By the way, Satantango has some really beautiful shots if you have the patience to watch it. Hope this helps. Oh, and Kwaidan, as well as The Return (russian film).
So, my list:
- Satantango
- Kwaidan
- The Spirit of the Beehive
- The Color of Pomegranates (saw it tonight, and I agree)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barry Lyndon
- Playtime
- Metropolis
- Solaris, Stalker, Andrei Rublev.
- The Return (russian)
- Some (and I do mean some) short films by the Quay Brothers, Stan Brakhage (2 or 3, forget the titles, and, some by Maya Deren).
- Bergmann films (Shame (some scenes of the war), Wild Strawberries, Persona, Silence)
many more i forget
Now, here's my question: have you ever noticed that the most beautiful films are the most intellectually stimulating? Can beauty, its meaning, only be explained by these men, who were absolutely brilliant? That the most beautiful films ask the most difficult questions? And the fact that these are difficult questions, these films are relegated to pigeonholed status of "high-brow" or "art-house" films, and thus, inaccessible? I mean, the Qatsi trilogy is beautiful, but its intended messages can be deep.
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Yes.
This movie does occupy a special space.
Similar, but less beautiful films would be "The Holy Mountain" by Jodorowsky & "Salo" by Pasolini.
Moving on a different tangent, I would place "Stalker", "Andrei Rublev" and "Solaris" by Tarkovsky, in close proximity as well.
Other films with great visual beauty, where long, static shots almost constitute still lifes, slowly moving, would be Kubrick's "2001".
Thus, all of this is very nice, indeed.
Salo is a strange pick, as much as Paradjanov revered Pasolini.
I would throw in all of Tarkovsky's 7 films, Paradjanov was heavily influenced by Ivan's Childhood to start with.
Regarding arthouse films being more courageous in asking the hard philosophical questions more than "entertainment" films, yes it is true.
I like to be entertained as much as I like to be intellectually stimulated, but that requires such a high standard and genius in filmmaking that it's not always possible to have both. So I enjoy as much as I can, and if I cannot, I let my curiosity guide me to finish the film with the intention of studying it.
I think Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, the Ugly is a visual feast for the eyes. Essentially, his style is incredible and each shot is mesmerizing with its rhythm.
Resnais' Last Year in Marienbad also has gorgeous visuals.
As already mentioned, Peter Greenaway films are amazing too in this department.
Films where visual imagery actually causes me to hold my breath by their sheer beauty -
Stanley Kwan's Rouge, Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love.
I think Parajanov is more of a cinematographer master rather than a storytelling director, where the experience of the visual imagery is emphasized.
Last Year in Marienbad-
Mirror-
The Colours of Pomegrenades
that's that! ;)
Parajanov's "Shadows of Forgotten ancestros" is awsome, and in my opinion his masterpiece. I love Color of Pamegranates because it's Armenian, his only film that is completely Armenian. and it's beautiful because it's his homeland and culture, and it definetely has a very deep place in my heart, it is trully a beautiful film. But Shadows of Frogotten Ancestors, visually, and for me, blows this film out of the water. A must watch. The camerawork is mindblowing. It's almost like it was tried for one film in the history of the world, it was the best thing to ever be done, and then it was never done again.
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