MovieChat Forums > A Story of Children and Film (2014) Discussion > Cousins: STOP NARRATING YOUR OWN WORK

Cousins: STOP NARRATING YOUR OWN WORK

posted 10 years ago by mistresspixel
9 replies | jump to latest

It has to stop. Whatever vanity or self-delusion led him to excruciatingly self-narrate The Story of Film: An Odyssey is creeping onward.

Who are the oblivious yes-men telling Cousins his voice is anything less than grating and off-putting?! It's not his accent: It's his dragging, half-whispered monotone with a rise at the end that makes every sentence sound like a question. Ridiculous, and completely destroys otherwise very interesting documentaries.

MARK, PLEASE STOP.

[–] AnimalTrousers 9 years ago

I agree 100%. This guy's voice made the film unbearable, I had to stop watching 10 minutes in because his voice was so grating it was giving me a headache.

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

[–] annfurbol 9 years ago

Absolutely. His affected drawl and rising tones are horrendous. He has spoiled every film criticism programme he has ever done on Channel 4.

[–] Thom_Frost 9 years ago

oh stop whining! the man has a great knowledge and a great taste. let him narrate whatever he wants to. He is not an actor, he's not supposed to have the most interesting voice or the most beautiful look.

[–] mistresspixel 9 years ago

What are you, Mark's mum? We don't "let him" do anything. And since he doesn't appear in his documentaries, your "most beautiful look" is especially dumb. Go sharpen your crayon and try again.

[–] Thom_Frost 9 years ago

Since you have made a post here ' mistress pixel', you should learn how to take a different point of view. In each and every thing that the man has done there are tons of threads saying that his voice makes everyone cringe. I'm just saying that he is one of the few people that has made a good documentary on cinema which doesn't rely on the same four 'big' movies and I would happily get over his voice. I was making a reference to his appearance just to state that he is in there as an 'expert', and maybe he doesn't want somebody else to do all the talking. Is that so strange to you?

[–] mistresspixel 9 years ago

Not at all; narcissistic hubris is not uncommon. Neither is someone being contrary for the sake of it, but what I do find strange is you attempting to defend Cousins without ever having sat through one of his self-narrated torture tests yourself. If you had, you would also find his enormously affected and bizarre narration so insanely off-putting as to be completely indefensible. But thanks for trying. I guess.

[–] Thom_Frost 9 years ago

well, if you don't like narcissistic hubris you will find yourself struggling with most of the great directors, in my opinion. Anyway, I have watched both the 'story of film' and 'a story of children and film'. It wasn't a problem. It is worth saying that I'm italian, so my ears are not the ones of a native english speaker. I do hear his thick accent and his bizarre narration though, I just don't care. If it was a science documentary I wouldn't mind listening to two hours of Stephen Hawking's robotic voice , if you know what I mean. That's it. We both don't like his voice, you care, I don't care. Bye.

[–] mistresspixel 9 years ago

BYE.

[–] russalex86 9 years ago

I think he'll continue to narrate his own films and i'm glad. I rather like his voice. It wouldn't be the same in someone else's. It's sad that it puts so many off his work so I wonder if he'll change his delivery. I can understand that if you don't like a voice it's a problem. I find Slavoj Žižek's thick accented and mumbling voice hard to follow and it also doesn't help that he sniffs every so often. Unlike Cousins Žižek feels the need to appear on camera so they can't cut out the sickly sniffing.