The Life Cinematic Weekly

WE LIVE!!!!!!!!

2010-09-07T06:54:00.002-06:00

In a lot of ways Clooney is the image that America wants to propagate to the rest of the world - the good looking, disarming charmer and business man. It isn't a false image per se but it is of a minority and Clooney himself is in a smaller minority of movie star, and movie star he is, not actor. The industry is like a preteen girl with this man, and I can't say I haven't fallen under his spell on occasion.

WE LIVE!!!!!!!!

TLC blogs for the new year

2009-12-30T14:13:00.002-07:00

I am no longer administrator of this blog (nor have been for awhile). You can see what this has done for it. (I can only hope that TLC has not fallen on similar hard times.)

But TLC blogging is well and fine elsewhere! Two new TLC blogs have recently made their appearance: DG's Something Sweet, Something Tender, where DG has published his first post with thoughts on Claire Denis; and Olof's Jesusolofchrist, Olof as misguided and entertaining as ever.

TLC master-mistress Lauren has also reclaimed her blog. This reporter expects great things from this blog. Please stop by and support her (she is, after all, your master (certainly mine)).

As a final reminder, keep an eye on the TLC Blogroll at the side of this blog. There you will find all the updates/wonderful things you need. You might also start a blog of your own.

And one day, as this reporter imagines it, TLC and blogs will live in harmony. That will be the day.

Vol. II, No. 29

2009-10-18T08:25:00.004-06:00

Oct. 18-24, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The polls for the following years are currently running at the Yearly Consensus: YC3: 1925 OPEN, YC3: 1935 OPEN, and YC3: 1945 OPEN.
-Vote in the Actors Polls by October 31, 2009 aka Halloween: Actors Poll 2009 Edition - Part I: Favorite Actors List & Actors Poll 2009 Edition - Part II: Favorite Performances.

-Vote in t5 director hot streaks

-The MoM continues with Maddin, Leigh, and Clair (that's Guy, Mike, and Rene).

Comment & Review.
-People are starting to think about NaNoWriMo!.
-Phil recaps on this year's season of Swedish Idol by posting a Tove Styrke poll.
-Happy Birthday Daniel Z!
-Boss Pimp Panda is on the search for some good One-Act plays.
-All the Texans see Where The Wild Things Are and give it moderate/so-so reviews.
-TLC welcomes the return ofWhiteboy567.
-You are always free to contribute or give us the heads up on articles. Post the info here: TLC Weekly Home.

Vol. II. No. 28.

2009-07-19T15:58:00.012-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
July 13-19, 2009

Announcements.

RETURN OF THE MACK!

DC's still open for Hal Hartley, Joris Ivens, Iosif Kheifits and Larissa Shpitko (someone notify VivaLuis...)

The YC2 roll-out concludes...

More! More! More!

(August MoM Noms Thread will go up tomorrow 7/20, check back here for link. Or just check the thread on the board, duh...)

Comment & Review.
This editor loves the Spelunker av's, courtesy Simon M.

Movement of the Summer is dwindling, is it a conspiracy?

Busta-Bust for our next synchronized viewing? Who's in?

Sean P joins us. Did we ever figure out what his Natalie Portman-ish avatar was from?

The Benny Profane sighting has turned into a setting-up of camp. This editor says "Yay!" (Did we ever figure out what his Man Flying in Shopping Cart avatar was from? Is that Cuba Gooding Jr in Radio? This editor wants to know!)

Voll. II. No. 27.

2009-07-12T20:46:00.013-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
July 7-12, 2009

Announcements.
- 'Twas ('tweren't?) no rumor, the YC2 Roll-out has begun.

This editor (I love saying that!) thinks Lauren is doing a fantastic job. Inside scoops indicate we can expect the Top 25 in all four categ-ories to roll out as this week progresses!

Check back with your friends here at "The Weekly" to learn more as we go! ...Or just check out those threads themselves!

Comment & Review.
Our top story tonight:
- End of an Era? or Good Riddance to Overwritten Rubbish?
Please include your email address in the comments section should you be interested in receiving a pirated copy were this to actually happen (and in karma for the untold revenues due the producers of hours and hours of illegal Buffy downloads...)

- Passenger gets all poetic on that azz.

- Is the world folding in on itself?

- Is he not back?
- And when will this poster leave already?

- A Benny Profane sighting! Droppin' some straight science...

- How enigmatic is p-rouge? (And Ben?)(?)

- How uncool is wigwam?

Vol. II. No. 26...ish

2009-07-06T09:13:00.003-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
July 3-6, 2009

Announcements.
He's back.

Comment & Review.
He's still here...

you shall not pass!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-04T19:58:00.003-06:00

Greetings, greetings. In an attempt to put Mango back in service I've decided to fool the current owners and post a silly weekly update. I shouldn't have said this, would have been more effective. I'm sorry for this.

Vol. II. Nos. 24 thru 25 and a half

2009-07-02T13:18:00.008-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
(and by 'weekly' we maybe mean 'monthly')
June 14 - July 2, 2009; this week (fortnight?) at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
- Jon Jost is our democratically elected July MoM. Hooray for America! And Canadia, as our very own JimmyJames curates for us.

- Some of us are still Living (Dying?) a Life (Death?) UnCinematic, with the Movement of the Summer

- and supposedly there's still one of Olof's dumb ideas going on
(which I keep meaning to participate in)
(Xala is on Netflix Instant for those who wanna dip a toe...)

- YC2 comes to a close and we really owe an enormous debt of gratitude for Lauren for making it as awesome as it was. This editor looks forward to the rumored wrap up!

- Allison has begun a new Favorite Directors Poll, and it's very close between Pedro Almodovar and Whit Stillman so far...

Comment & Review.
- Most users ever online was 36 on Thu Jun 25, 2009 1:27 pm
We wonder why...?

- Our TLC Ambassador takes his stack it up philosophy to the streets of Paris. He is two parts lucky and one part classy.

Queen Christina disappears on us, and in kinda old-skool Mango fashion

- Doormouse returns, with a rad blog, too!

- Where the fuck is zograf?

- Is this man a genius? Probably...

- Olof disappoints, yet again...

Open For Biznazz During the Remodeling

2009-06-25T17:32:00.000-06:00

How cool is P-Rouge?

Empty Lot

2009-06-22T14:46:00.001-06:00

This property is abandoned. If you would like to develop this property, please speak to the current land-owners.

Vol. II. No.23

2009-06-13T00:45:00.002-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Jun. 7-13, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The polls for 1977, 1987, 1997, and 2007 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-Tired, quiet.

Vol. II. No.22

2009-06-06T01:22:00.000-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
May 31 - Jun. 6, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-Letter to JLG by TLC

Announcements.
-TLC turns two.
-Please give your input for the site's Ban Policy.
-The polls for 1898, 1908, 1918, 1928, 1938, and 2007 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-Poll: Signature images?
-Three for the Apocalypse -- rogue MoMers.
-Jos goes spelunking.

Letter to Jean-Luc Godard

2009-06-01T22:40:00.003-06:00

Dear JLG,
At our internet forum, we chose you as our Master of the Month for May 2009. It was a great month, and we wanted to write to you some of our thoughts.

wigwam writes:

dear jlg,

can you please upload the following to kg so i can be done with you?

Socialisme
VAi passport
Plus Haut
Adieu au TNS
Pour Thomas Wainggai
L'Enfance de l'art
Le Rapport Darty
Changer d'image
Reportage sur Orly
Une Femme coquette
Opération béton

warm wishes,
-wig

Carmelo writes:

Dear JLG,

Like most people I started off with your 60s films. They were good and I was instantly a fan. Recently I finally got around to exploring your 80s - present work. I realize that I made a mistake putting them off for this long. You have really perfected your film making with these later films. To be honest your later films are actually much better than the 60s films which I loved. Notre musique and JLG/JLG are two of the most beautiful moving films I've seen. Please keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing more of your marvelous recent films.

Carmelo.

Ally writes:

dear jean-luc godard,
[...] Thank you for Breathless and other fond memories from the sixties.

Love,
Allison

Elephant_Gun's letter.

Mango writes:

Dear Jean-Luc,

Thank you for making movies. They have taught me a lot and will teach me a lot more.

When I first watched your films, I did not understand them. I was petty enough to insult them, and occasionally insult you. I would like to apologize for that. Since then I have grown, and no longer try to reduce films to my narrow ideas of artistic worth. Instead I take films as a potential experience for personal growth; and by experiencing your films, I have grown in valuable ways, even when I find myself frustrated by your methods. I am sorry for ever insulting your films. I hope you can forgive me.

Your early career is very popular; those films are fun and at the time presented a lot of new and energetic ideas. I am particularly fond of your portrayals of Paris and modernity in those pictures.

I also like their characters and their physical spontaneity and earnest digressions into social issues.

But it is your more recent films that have been most rewarding, and I find in them the seeds of dense ideas which root and sprout in many ways in my mind. You have a way of leaving ideas open and allowing others to interpret those ideas in their own way. I like that. I also like the way you compose your shots; the way you frame them, stage them, light them -- very distinctive. I think they are beautiful.

Although I have to admit, there are times when I still do not quite understand what you are doing.

Altogether, your career has been remarkable. You have challenged me in ways no other modern filmmaker has. I appreciate this, and want to thank you. Thank you for making pictures that have challenged me and countless others around the world. Thank you for choosing cinema, believing in the image, and standing by it after all. Thank you for being the marvelous exception to the ever-powerful and stifling rule. Thank you for working your soul into an increasingly spiritless art. Thank you.

I hear that this upcoming film will be your last. If true, this is depressing news. To retire from work is to retire from life; eternity is all that remains -- the possible of the impossible. I will be sad to see you go. You have spent your career fighting for the exception of art against the oppressive rule; now that you have reached the end, I beg you to fight against that most final of rules for the most impossible of exceptions. Must you go quietly? Rage, rage...

Sincerely,
Ian

This has been an exciting MoM. Carmelo perhaps best represents this month's success when he writes:

To be honest, I only planned to watch a few of Godard films this month and after starting Alphaville, I was only going to watch 4 or 5 more and then quit, but then came Hail Mary and it was so beautiful and amazing, I had to further explore his work. I discovered that while I've not been in the mood for his 60s work, his 80s - present stuff is some of the type of cinema I now love.

This has been a great month of watches, before this began Godard didn't even my most recent top 25 favorite directors, I think today I would rank him as number 1 (this might change to #2 once the new Brakhage set is released). JLG/JLG would be my #7 favorite film. This is probably my favorite MoM yet.

Here are my final rankings of his films for this month (although I'm not ready to be finished and will likely spend part of next month further exploring).

Thanks for the great month, JLG!

Signed,
The Life Cinematic

TLC JLG MoM.
Ally on Pierrot le fou
David on "ten things I love about Godard"
Simon M on Week End
Carmelo on La Chinoise...
Mango on jlg, questions of history
wigwam on A Film Like Any Other
Carmelo on DVG films
Carmelo on Tou va bien/Ici et ailleurs
Carmelo on Numero Deux
Eddie on Numero Deux
Lauren on La Chinoise
Carmelo on Histoire(s)....
Lauren on Sauve qui puet (la vie)
Lauren on Passion
Carmelo on Detective/Nouvelle vague
Mango on Breathless
Carmelo on Oh, Woe is Me

Vol. II. No.21

2009-05-30T06:13:00.000-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
May 24-30, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The Weekly asks for Letters to JLG. One day left to submit.
-Francois Truffaut is June's MoM.
-The polls for 1938 and 1948 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-Jos tells us about his travels, sports a donkey.

Vol. II. No.20

2009-05-23T12:21:00.000-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
May 17-23, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-JLG Carnival!#2 eds. Mango and wigwam

Announcements.
-The polls for 1958, 1968, 1978, and 1988 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-New people, new lists.
-Spam breaks through. Can we delete it, please?
-Mango suggests site improvements; great suggestions, if you ask this editor.

JLG Carnival! #2

2009-05-22T21:51:00.007-06:00

JLG: "A man, nothing but a man... no better than any other, but none better than he."

Intro.
[Hullo TLC! The JLG Carnival is back this week with books and articles and other stuff you probably won't read. Let's welcome gaston and his brief musing on viewers and JLG.]

With audiences, there is usually an offended resistance towards Jean-Luc Godard's films. Claims to his snobbery, contextual lameness, and some other superficial annoyances disinterest casual viewers to the point of anger and disgust. Such reactions are, unfortunately, expected from on-the-fly moviegoers who look for nothing more than mordant pleasure or brief life lessons. But to anyone who claims to be a student of culture, and more appropriately cinema, there is arguably no filmmaker whose oeuvre is richer than Jean-Luc Godard.

Godard's constant exercise of filmed and recorded language is incomparable, mainly because few filmmakers have considered the motion picture as a language. His fascinating use of sound, text, and image isn't intended to mix in or complement each other to create some "real" effects; on the contrary: his sounds, text, and images are all utilized to their genuine power to present multiple thoughts pertaining to cinema's relationship with the world.

It is understandably considered that Godard's practice as stated was born in the late sixties, beginning with some of his first forays into the filmed essay, mastered with his Dziga Vertov Group documentaries and video essays of the seventies. Though this isn't to say that his earlier, more celebrated films are useless; those films represent Godard's fascination with narrative where secondhand characters excavate a radically blooming Paris in the sixties. Although there aren't any messages or montages, Godard's early films still represent a relationship between text (voice-overs), image, and sound -- it should be mentioned that Godard was probably forced to dabble with post-synchronized sound due to monetary reasons considering the expense of sound equipment. There are also Godard's infantile thoughts on socialism by way of Hollywood and crime novels (I use the term infantile not because his thoughts are childish, but because his views on socialism are relatively basic compared to his later, wiser films). And then there is some deserved interest towards the comparison between his youthful narrative films of the sixties and his more thought-provoking and classical study on the narrative form of the eighties, where his take on the narrative as thought blossomed and ultimately matured.

-gaston monescu

Books.
There are many books on JLG and his work. Here are good places to begin:
Godard on Godard by JLG
Jean-Luc Godard by Douglas Morrey
Speaking About Godard by Harun Farocki and Kaja Silverman
For Ever Godard by Michael Temple
Nul mieux que Godard by Alain Bergala
Jean-Luc Godard: son + image, 1974-1991 by Raymond Bellour and Mary Lea Bandy
Godard: images, sounds, politics by Colin MacCabe
Jean-Luc Godard: interviews by JLG
Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at 70 by Colin MacCabe
The Cinema Alone: Essays on the Work of Jean-Luc Godard, 1985-2000

Articles and Interviews.
Expanding the article links wig and David began at TLC. Some interviews, too. Do some browsing.
Jean-Luc Godard by Craig Keller
Only the Cinema by John Conomos
A Beautiful Exception: Godard's For Ever Mozart by Fergus Daly
Leap Into the Void: Godard and the Painter by Sally Shafto
The Man With The Magnétoscope by Alexander Horwath
Thanatos ex Machina: Godard Caresses the Dead by David Sterritt
End Game: Some thoughts provoked by recent exhibitions, and Godard's Éloge de l'amour by Jon Jost
Germany Year 90 Nine Zero by Marc Lauria
Detective by Anna Dzenis
Rosenbaum on Histoire(s) du Cinema
Numéro Deux Godard’s synthesis: politics and the personal by Reynold Humphries
Le Gai Savoir Godard and Eisenstein—notions of intellectual cinema by Ruth Perlmutter
Le Gai SavoirPicture and act—Godard’s plexus by James Monaco
Speaking and Writing About Godard: A Response to Nochimson and Sutton by David Sterritt
For Ever Godard. Two or three things I know about European and American Cinema by Peder Grongaard
Qu'est-ce que l'art, Jean-Luc Godard? by Louis Aragon[!]
On Jean-Luc Godard by Christopher Mulrooney
Godard's Moments Choisis des Histoire(s) du Cinéma by Robert Keser
I, a Man of the Image by Michael Witt
In Images We Trust by Hal Hartley
JLG's BFI page

TLC JLG MoM thoughts.
David discusses Sontag article
wigwam on Caméra-oeil
roujin on 2 or 3 Things...
Eddie Yang on Band of Outsiders
Eddie Yang on Je vous salue, Sarajevo
Ally on Breathless
Simon M on Band of Outsiders
David on For Ever Mozart
James on a bunch
Eddie Yang on Sympathy for the Devil...
Mango on 2 or 3 Things
Carmelo on several
wigwam on L'amore
wkw on Hail Mary
Carmelo on For Ever Mozart/Notre Musique
Will on Notre Musique
Eddie Yang on Anticipation
James on Prenom Carmen/Made in USA
Simon M on Masculin feminin
Eddie Yang on Puissance de la parole
Will on Passion/Carmen
wigwam on Le gai savoir
Will on Helas pour moi
Eddie Yang on Une femme mariee
Simon M on Made in U.S.A.
James on Married Woman/Notre Musique/JLG/JLG
Some new ups

Vol. II. No.19

2009-05-16T11:23:00.005-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
May 10-16, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The polls for 1978, 1988, 1998, and 2008 are currently running at The Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-Simon declares MoS... no, this editor cannot bear to comment on it.
-Jos heads for opportunity. We wish him a safe trip and return, though we will understand if he doesn't make it back to TLC.
-Lauren solves registering crisis; newbies flood in.
-zograf wonders why an experimental cinema forum exists. This editor wonders why one doesn't exist.
-Yet another pair-up round.
-JLG Carnival returns next week.

Vol. II. No.18

2009-05-09T01:26:00.000-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
May 3-9, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-JLG Carnival! #1 eds. Mango and wigwam

Announcements.
-The polls for 1899, 1909, 1919, 1929, 1939, 1998, and 2008 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-Juan returns for the JLG MoM. Is Godard our great uniter?
-The Jerry Lewis thread derails into bickering. Is bluesoul our great divider?

JLG Carnival! #1

2009-05-08T22:27:00.008-06:00

[Note: because of the editors' current time restraints, the current carnival remains unfinished. Help us finish it by posting links and thoughts in the comments section!]
Intro.
"I've seen so many people live so badly, and so many die so well." -JLG quoting Louis Aragon

Welcome to the Jean-Luc Godard Carnival, week 1. If you are not yet aware of it, JLG is this month's MoM; if you are participating, we are here to make the month easier and more exciting for you -- if you are not participating, we are here to molest, abuse, and ridicule you until you fold and watch some JLG or die from stubborness (we are OK with either).

JLG says: Give me love...

...watch my movies.

In Le gai savoir, JLG's students follow a three-course study of cinema: (1) they collect images and sounds; (2) they criticize them; (3) they construct their own images and sounds. Godard's career roughly follows this three-course study. Above all he is a student of cinema, and we are all his classmates.

Lesson -- cinema and reality, I cannot tell the difference. JLG had been making pictures years before he ever picked up a camera; he made them sitting in the cinematheque; he made them with Nic Ray and Sam Fuller; they were masterpieces. Language? Reality? That is cinema.

Lesson -- what is an image? Where is it born? What does it love? Whom does it hurt? Why does it move? How does it die?

Lesson -- love and work. History and catastrophe. Question and answer. Dream and reality. Cinema is all. There is no "or," no other; there is only and, only everything. Only cinema.

Much of JLG's reputation now rests with his 60s work -- his revolution has been co-opted. For this month's MoM, I would like to see more people go to school, take some notes from JLG. Too often people avoid his post-68 work, finding it withdrawn, regressive, too intellectual; this is unfortunate. It's in his post-68 work that JLG really grows, and in his post-80 work that he finally matures. His is not a cinema of consumption, but a cinema of dialogue. Too few people take up this dialogue. Too few ask themselves the difficult questions. If there is anything I hope this JLG month accomplishes, it is to inspire others to enter this dialogue.

"With our questions, we look as though we are always trying to have the last word, when actually it's the first word we're after. And if the second word rarely comes, it's because we are alone in doing this kind of work." -JLG

JLG says: cinema is cool.
-Mango

Movies.
Opération 'Béton' (1954)
Une femme coquette (1955)
Charlotte et Véronique (1959) R1DVD watch it
À bout de souffle (1960)  ... aka Breathless R1DVD trailer
Charlotte et son Jules (1960)  ... aka Charlotte and Her Jules R1DVD watch it
Une histoire d'eau (1961)  ... aka A Story of Water watch it
Une femme est une femme (1961)  ... aka A Woman Is a Woman R1DVD clip
Les sept péchés capitaux (1962) (segment "Paresse, La") watch it
Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (1962)  ... aka My Life to Live R1DVD trailer
Le petit soldat (1963)  ... aka The Little Soldier R0DVD clip
Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963) (segment "Nuovo mondo, Il")
Les carabiniers (1963)  ... aka The Carabineers R1DVD clip
Le mépris (1963)  ... aka Contempt R1DVD trailer
Reportage sur Orly (1964)
Bande à part (1964)  ... aka Band of Outsiders R1DVD clip
Les plus belles escroqueries du monde (1964) (segment "Grand escroc, Le")
Une femme mariée: Suite de fragments d'un film tourné en 1964 (1964) R1DVD clip
Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965) R1DVD watch it
Paris vu par... (1965) (segment "Montparnasse-Levallois") R1DVD
Pierrot le fou (1965) R1DVD trailer
Masculin féminin: 15 faits précis (1966) R1DVD watch it
Made in U.S.A. (1966) R1DVD watch it
2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (1967) R1DVD clip
Le plus vieux métier du monde (1967) (segment "Anticipation") watch it
La chinoise (1967) R1DVD
Loin du Vietnam (1967) (segment "Camera-Eye")
Week End (1967) R1DVD R2DVD clip
Un film comme les autres (1968)
Cinétracts (1968) (segments 14, 16, 23) 23
Sympathy for the Devil (1968)  ... aka One Plus One R1DVD trailer
Amore e rabbia (1969) (segment "L'Amore") R1DVD
Le gai savoir (1969)  ... aka Joy of Learning R1DVD clip
Vladimir et Rosa (1970) watch it
Pravda (1970) watch it
British Sounds (1970)  ... aka See You at Mao watch it
Le vent d'est (1970) ... aka Wind from the East watch it
Lotte in Italia (1971) watch it
One P.M. (1972) watch it
Tout va bien (1972) R1DVD clip
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still (1972) R1DVD watch it
Numéro deux (1975)  ... aka Number Two clip
"Six fois deux/Sur et sous la communication" (1976) clip
Ici et ailleurs (1976)  ... aka Here and Elsewhere watch it
"France/tour/detour/deux/enfants" (1977) watch it
Comment ça va? (1978)  ... aka How Is It Going?
Scénario de 'Sauve qui peut la vie' (1979)
Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980)  ... aka Slow Motion R2DVD clip
Scénario du film 'Passion' (1982)
Passion (1982) R1DVD clip
Lettre à Freddy Buache (1982)  ... aka A Letter to Freddy Buache
Petites notes à propos du film 'Je vous salue, Marie' (1983) watch it
Prénom Carmen (1983)  ... aka First Name: Carmen R1DVD clip
'Je vous salue, Marie' (1985)  ... aka Hail Mary R1DVD trailer
Détective (1985) R1DVD watch it
Meetin' WA (1986) watch it
Soft and Hard (1986) watch it
Aria (1987) (segment "Armide") R1DVD
King Lear (1987) clip
Soigne ta droite (1987) ... aka Keep Your Right Up clip
On s'est tous défilé (1988) watch it
Puissance de la parole (1988)  ... aka The Power of Speech watch it
Le rapport Darty (1989)
Nouvelle vague (1990) ... aka New Wave clip
Contre l'oubli (1991) (segment "Pour Thomas Wainggai, Indonésie")
Allemagne 90 neuf zéro (1991)  ... aka Germany Year 90 Nine Zero
Les enfants jouent à la Russie (1993)  ... aka The Kids Play Russian
Je vous salue, Sarajevo (1993) watch it
Hélas pour moi (1993) ... aka Oh, Woe Is Me R1DVD
Comment vont les enfants (1993) (segment "L'enfance de l'art")
Deux fois cinquante ans de cinéma français (1995) clip
JLG/JLG - autoportrait de décembre (1995) trailer
For Ever Mozart (1996) R1DVD clip
Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988-1998) R2DVD clip
The Old Place (1998)
L'origine du XXIème siècle (2000)  ... aka Origins of the 21st Century watch it
Éloge de l'amour (2001)  ... aka In Praise of Love R1DVD
Liberté et patrie (2002)  ... aka Liberty and Homeland
Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002) (segment "Dans le noir du temps") watch it
Moments choisis des histoire(s) du cinéma (2004)
Notre musique (2004)  ... aka Our Music R1DVD trailer
Vrai faux passeport (2006)
Une catastrophe (2008) watch it

David's R2DVD recs

For the innocent.
For the guilty.
For TLC.

MoM thoughts of the week.
DG on Eloge de l'amour
wigwam on lots...
wigwam on more...
Will on Detective
Mango on sarajevo
Ally on Soft and Hard
Carmelo on Hail Mary...
Carmelo on Slow Motion...
Carmelo on Le gai savoir
Will on A Woman is a Woman
Simon M. on Alphaville

Vol. II. No.17

2009-05-02T08:31:00.002-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Apr. 26-May 2, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-Godard is the May MoM. Godard madness to follow.
-P_rouge opens up the Godard Directorial Consensus for the MoM.
-The polls for 1919, 1929, 1939, and 1949 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-MoM jump-starts: wigwam on Made in USA, Carmelo on Alphaville, and Mango on "Dans le noir de temps".
-This editor is ready.

Vol. II. No.16

2009-04-25T01:07:00.000-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Apr. 19-25, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-May MoM nominations. Looks like Godard has it.
-The poll for 1949 is currently running at the Yearly Consensus. Oh, and everything else Lauren hasn't updated.

Comment & Review.
-All is noise. Let me be deaf.

Vol. II. No.15

2009-04-18T00:24:00.005-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Apr. 12-18, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-Lots of polls running at the Yearly Consensus: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1959, 1969, 1979, 1989.

Comment & Review.
-We need a TLC Sheriff. Where's our TLC Sharoff? TLC Sheruff please.
-Now hiring: Weekly rabble-rouser.

If you like causing trouble and want to enjoy the fame writing for the TLC Weekly brings, please submit your resume to editor-in-king, Mango. The Weekly is looking for dedicated, passionate mischief-makers willing to test the boundaries of TLC forum policy and report on them in an exciting, engaging weekly article. [Sandy need not apply.]

Vol. II. No.14

2009-04-11T01:40:00.005-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Apr. 5-11, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-Philosophe_rouge completes her Unofficial Female Film Canon.
-The polls for 1989 and 1999 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-Having failed to visit TLC during the past week, this editor is proud to write that whatever happened in his absence -- undoubtedly many a thrill and amusement -- will remain unreported, forever forgotten. Blank pages of TLC history promise to be the new trend of the Weekly's commentary.

Vol. II. No.13

2009-04-04T03:41:00.002-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Mar. 29 - Apr. 4, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-Murnau and Sukorov tie for the April MoM.
-With a temp ban of Sandy, new warning and ban rules are considered. Jos for TLC Sheriff?
-The polls for 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-Has Kankelbar returned? Will calamity follow?
-Final Ford reviews:
@blogs
The Lost Patrol (John Ford, 1934) by Simon M.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962) by Simon M.
@TLC
Simon M. on My Darling Clementine
Jos on The Prisoner of Shark Island, Hangman's House, and The Whole Town's Talking
James on Born Reckless, The Wings of Eagles, and Two Rode Together
This ends the most successful MoM we've had in a while...

Vol. II. No.12

2009-03-28T06:37:00.001-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Mar. 22-28, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-Nominations for the April MoM. Poll to take place Monday.
-The polls for 1940, 1950, and 1960 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-Troubles with the bot filter. This has gone on too long -- Lauren, stop being lazy!
-Between HoN and TLC's 100 worst list, this editor is unsure his conscience can allow him to visit the site anymore. Do we have a deus-ex machina button? Only Zeus can solve this moral dilemma.
-More Ford reviews:
@blogs
John Ford's unofficial Cavalry trilogy, parts 2 and 3 by Simon M.
Sergeant Rutledge (John Ford, 1960) by Simon M.
The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1940) by Simon M.
@TLC
james on Born Reckless and The Wings of Eagles
james on Cheyenne Autumn
jos on Mogambo, The Lost Patrol, and Just Pals
jos on Four Sons, 3 Godfathers, and The Long Voyage Home

Vol. II. No.11

2009-03-21T01:35:00.001-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Mar. 15-21, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The polls for 1960, 1970, and 1980 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment & Review.
-How did you find TLC? This editor is both ashamed and proud to have partaken in its creation.
-More Ford reviews:
@ blogs
Sergeant Rutledge (1960) by Philosophe_Rouge
Donovan's Reef (1963) by sidehacker
The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1953) by Simon M.
The Whole Town's Talking (1935) and Fort Apache (1948) by Simon M.
@ TLC
wigwam on Sergeant Rutledge
Jos on The Cavalry Trilogy
sidehacker on The Lost Patrol and The Informer
James on 3 Godfathers
wkw on Stagecoach
wkw on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Vol. II. No.10

2009-03-14T09:50:00.000-06:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Mar. 8-14, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-a Jettison section by Ian.

Announcements.
-The polls 1901, 1911, 1980, and 1990 for are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.
-Year 4 has commenced at the Directorial Consensus. Please rank Disney Animated Films, the films of Budd Boetticher, Wesley Ruggles, and Alain Robbe-Grillet.

Comment and Review.
-The number of reviews for Ford films, both at TLC and blogs, shows a strong favor for this month's MoM.
@blogs
Tobacco Road (Ford, 1941) by Philosophe_Rouge
John Ford in Review by Philosophe_Rouge
How Green Was My Valley (John Ford, 1941) by Simon M.
Tobacco Road (John Ford, 1941) by Simon M.
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940) by Simon M.
Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford, 1939) by Simon M.
The Hurricane (John Ford, 1937) by Simon M.
@TLC
sidehacker's comments (please keep them up):
Just Pals, Born Reckless, and Up the River
Doctor Bull, Pilgrimage, and Judge Priest
Jos's comments
Tobacco Road, The Horse Soldiers, and How Green Was My Valley
Young Mr. Lincoln, Sergeant Rutledge, and The Quiet Man
Ally on Tobacco Road
badering on How Green Was My Valley
Eddie Yang on The Grapes of Wrath
Jewellrunner on Sergeant Rutledge
Jewellrunner on Stagecoach
Mango on December 7th
Any new (thoughtful) reviews will be noted in the Weekly. How many comments can TLC rack up? This editor hopes lots.

a Jettison section

2009-03-12T14:37:00.005-06:00

If we are to keep forum discussion as concentrated as possible, TLC ought to have a forum to which we can jettison worthless threads. While forums such as the Directors forum or Yearly Consensus serve as their own personal archives, a number of forums bear topics that quickly die, or test topics that have no discussion, and the topics become clutter.

To jettison a topic, a member simply needs to post a vote for jettison, and if no one objects, an admin or mod can pitch the topic into the jettison forum. Just as easily, if a member wishes to revive a topic in this forum, a vote and no objection to a restore post will bring it back to a prominent forum.

This will not only keep the forum relatively uncluttered, it will renew interest in older topics that have been long ignored, stimulating discussion.

The Jettison forum itself will remain hidden from public view--but still available to all members--so as to keep the forum as concentrated as possible.

Vol. II. No.9

2009-03-07T08:38:00.003-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Mar. 1-7, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-Elite Master of the Year, African Cinema; Olof's boldness is to be admired.
-Pair-up game, Round 6. Join in.
-Now open at Yearly Consensus (quite a few): 1902, 1941, 1931, 1921, 1911, 1901, 1971 (should be closing soon though), and 2000 (new!).

Comment and Review.
-There has been quite an influx of Norwegians at TLC. The Swedes are jealous, looks like.

Vol. II. No.8

2009-02-28T09:18:00.002-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Feb. 22-28, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The TLC 1000 is fully revealed. #1 agreed to be a serious let-down.
-The polls for 1902, 1971, 1931, 1941, and 1951 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus. The polls have been open longer than usual to give everyone a chance to see enough films, namely Out 1 by Jacques Rivette from 1971.
-John Ford is elected March's MoM; sidehacker is curating.

Comment and Review.
-Though a somewhat serious attempt ought to be made to analyze our top 1000, especially in comparison to last year to tease out the trends that have swept through our humble community, seeing a young, sensitive, arthouse-lite film top the list -- not to mention the many others that populate the top 100 -- dampens this editor's spirits. Though our diversity shines through and our intellectual curiosity is ever-present, is our community still reducible to a cliche? May this stimulate a strong response for next year.
-And many more thanks to wigwam, James, Simon, and Ryan for the work.

Vol. II. No.7

2009-02-21T08:36:00.001-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Feb. 15-21, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-Top 1000 countdown begins. It is nearing the end!
-The polls for 1961 and 1951 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment and Review.
-This editor has nothing to comment on, in spite of the harassment and immaturity that still dominates the forum. Oh! A thanks to those brave men who have brought the TLC 1000 to life.

Vol. II. No.6

2009-02-14T01:43:00.002-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Feb. 8-14, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-Deadline to submit your top 100 to the TLC1000 is TODAY, Feb. 14. Your kneecaps should have already been busted if you haven't submitted a list.
-This month's MoM, Philippe Garrel continues.
-The polls for 1902, 1971, and 1981 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.
- Park Chan-Wook, Terence Young, Hong Sang-Soo, Tay Garnett, and a special Directorial Consensus for MOM director: Phillipe Garrel are currently running at the Directorial Consensus.

Comment and Review.
-HoN Forum? Really?
-James uncovers a movie called Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? in his journal.

Vol. II. No.5

2009-02-07T01:16:00.001-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Feb. 1-7, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-MoM considerations by Ian.

Announcements.
-Animation forum is created.
-Deadline to submit your top 100 to the TLC1000 is only a week away, Feb. 14. As allowed by law, the Weekly will spend the week busting knee-caps.
-Sarajevo curates this month's MoM, Philippe Garrel.
-Graveyard Sluts changes its image; Experimental Cinema removes its cult partner.
-The polls for 1902, 1991, and 2001 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.
-WS Van Dyke, Paul Morrissey, Henry Hathaway, and Volker Scholondorff are currently running at the Directorial Consensus.

Comment and Review.
-This editor still refuses to acknowledge the existence of HoN polls, in spite of the imminent tourney.
-TLC on dating pay-etiquette -- strictly theoretical.
-Rome + Browns attire.
-Blogs are awfully quiet these days. Awfully quiet.

MoM considerations

2009-02-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

MoM is a distant presence at the forums. It grows and recedes according to member interest during any given month. It is isolated; left alone, but not forgotten. Unlike the other topics, its focus of discussion is limited; unlike other topics, its limited discussion is focused, occasionally dense and fascinating. Its potential for great discussion is its draw, but the fulfillment of this potential is rare.

Having given more thought to the amusing problem, here are some ideas to be filed with my other unsuccessful suggestions:

We ought to find a way to:
1) promote viewership
2) promote uploading and availability
3) promote criticism/amateur scholarship

2 and 3 should build interest in 1, so it is up to the curator to do this. But how can we get an invested curator?

I think we are need of other ideas.

Vol. II. No.4

2009-01-31T00:14:00.022-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Jan. 25-31, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements
-The TLC 1000 - 2009 Edition. List your top 100 films through
1912, 1922, 1932, 2008, and 2009 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.
-Currently at the Directorial Consensus:

Comment and Review

While Jake Aesthete was away, a joke was organized (by wigwam). Nearly everyone used a "Jake Aesthete" avatar. The point was that we wanted Jake to think he was hallucinating when he returned to TLC.

Here are the users that participated:

Allison Almodovar

Carmelo

CoinQuatro

Elephan Gun (also Jake)

Gumboy aka Olof

JJJames

Jos

Mikadzuki

Passenger

Philosophe_rouge

Pimp Panda

roujin

Simon M.

Skritek

Spamdy

Stefan

Voyageur Esthetique

waxy

wigwam

wkw

Here are some first-hand accounts of what happened:

"See, I don't think he's necessarily out of town, or if he is I didn't know and that didn't inform my completely random idea, i just noticed he hadn't been on in a coupla days and wanted to get it all set up since I expected him back any second, now the anticipation is so bothersome to me that I wished Ii'd never even thought of it!" -Wigwam, Organizer

Says Jake Aesthete about the whole thing, "Seriously, coming back to a message board after one week away and finding everyone obsessing about you in your absence doesn't exactly make you want to keep posting there."

Olof persists, "Where were you anyway?"

Jake dissolves the mystery by saying, "Having a regular life away from the internet. Sort of."

That seems like a depressing end, but it's not. Everyone has abandoned their Jake avatars except Philosophe_rouge aka Justine. She says, "I've become one with the Jake."

Vol. II. No.3

2009-01-24T00:01:00.020-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Jan. 18-24, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The TLC 1000 - 2009 Edition. Chip in your top 100.
-The polls for 1942, 1952, and 2009 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.
-This week at Directorial Consensus:

Comment and Review.
-Passenger's review for The Cranes Are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)
-Reviews for Revolutionary Road:

-Jake Aesthete's reviews for: Bresson's A Gentle Woman and Fassbinder's The Little Chaos
-Check out TLC's Oscar Hopes and Predictions after the Nominations were announced Thursday morning.

Vol. II. No.2

2009-01-17T04:27:00.005-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Jan. 11-17, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The TLC 1000 - 2009 Edition. Chip in your top 100.
-The polls for 1972 and 1962 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment and Review.
-Juan pays a visit.
-queenchristina invites us to her forum dedicated to art torrents.

Vol. II. No.1

2009-01-10T01:16:00.002-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Jan. 4-10, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The polls for 1992 and 1982 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment and Review.
-Poll: De-Admin Simon M.? Or is this a case of punished power-abusers wimply retaliating?
-Poll: Ban Sandy? This editor wonders what would happen to Sandy were he ever to face a real trial.
-Olof invites you to read his completely unadvertised, uncensored, unpublic Insanity Log, '09.
-Dear Weekly, how will you survive this uninterested editor?

Vol. I. No.9

2009-01-03T11:00:00.003-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Dec. 28, 2008 - Jan. 3, 2009; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The poll for 2002 is currently running at the Yearly Consensus.
-(Because of whim) Carmelo is curating the Jan. MoM, Stephen Dwoskin.

Comment and Review.
-The Weekly survives through Vol. I. Chances for survival through Vol. II are slim.
-Poll: Should there be a top 5s section? This editor hopes you voted 'no.'
-In spite of the warnings, Ally is pushing forward with her Philippe Garrel month. Wigwam has promised a Feb. MoM; will Ally curate?

Vol. I. No.8

2008-12-27T10:21:00.003-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Dec. 21-27, 2008; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The poll for 1933 is currently running at the Yearly Consensus.

Comment and Review.
-Lauren has given us more smileys. Now we can properly salute Olof in the OT forum.
-The holidays are here; hopefully you don't spend them at TLC or watching bad Christmas movies.
-This editor wonders: What happened to Juan?
-Another pair-up game is underway.
-End of the year means end-o-the-year lists. Have any more you want to share?
-Torrent section is seeing some activity. Generosity = holiday love.

Vol. I. No.7

2008-12-20T10:30:00.004-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Dec. 14-20, 2008; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-Question from the Weekly, Dec. '08 by Ian.

Announcements.
-The poll for 1953 is currently running at the Yearly Consensus.
-The Pre-1940 Cinema Club takes a break from weekly themes. They are expected to begin again mid-January.

Comment and Review.
-From the blogs, 20 favorite Actresses: Allison, Lauren, Philosophe_Rouge.
-Over at her blog, Philosophe_Rouge has begun an epic project on French film. This editor is surpised by her vigor and encourages her to keep up the work.
-TLC has seen an influx of new members recently. The close TLC community can be difficult to break into, and this editor is surprised to see some members sticking around. Question for newcomers: Why stick to our humble forum?
-Sandy opens up to wigwam in the WALL-E thread.

Question from the Weekly, Dec. '08

2008-12-18T19:28:00.004-07:00

It's some wonder that The Life Cinematic has as many members as it does. Here's a question for everyone in hopes that some of you will provide amusing answers:

Q: Why do you bother to visit TLC and what makes it worth playing around at?

You can answer here in the comments, at the forum, or at your blog. Any answers will be collected into another article and published in the next Weekly. Thank you to whoever responds.

Vol. I. No.6

2008-12-13T10:03:00.008-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Dec. 7-13, 2008; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-Personal TLC Pet-Peeves, Dec. 08 by Ian. A list of things that bug Ian about the forums.

Announcements.
-To make it easier for people to write Articles for the Weekly, you may now write Articles at either your blog or at the forums and post a link to them here. There are no submission guidelines, but editors will accept submissions with discretion.
-The poll for 1973 is currently running at the Yearly Consensus.
-Frank Borzage has been this week's theme at The Pre-1940 Cinema Club.

Comment and Review.
-TLC Headmistress Lauren is asking for smileys to add to the current pool. This editor hopes for a sleeping smiley and for at least one of the obscene smileys to sneak in.
-Poll: Should Hot or Not be its own forum? Thankfully TLC says 'No.'
-Allison writes about her screening of Arzner's Working Girls thanks to UCLA's archives.
-Olofsson returns to TLC with a new account.
-TLC-ers on Netflix.

Personal TLC Pet-Peeves, Dec. 08

2008-12-11T22:20:00.007-07:00

Something like a to-do list; personal complaints:

-Off-topic threads. Right now this is currently embodied by the Hot or Not polls. Most of these threads only receive a page or two of responses before being forgotten forever, although some interesting ones have appeared. Generally, I hate signing in and seeing a highlighted forum begging for me to click on it, only to discover that the thread is "Hot or Not ###". All off-topic threads should be in the Off Topic forum, and we are lucky that HoN did not become its own forum as was proposed. On the contrary, I think the Polls forum should be merged with the Off Topic forum--has there yet been a poll in there that had relevance to the site? I don't think so. Destroy it! Give it to defunct-Olof domain! (Aren't there other sites we can export HoN to?)

On the whole, I am for forum concentration. When topics and discussion is thinned out, the forum generally suffers. Discussion should be dense and frenzied--that's the forum I want. As an example, consider the difference between the Film Journals and the Off Topic (Dust in the Wind) forums:
FJ: 74 topics, 23040 posts= 311 posts per topic (just over 12 pages of discussion)
OT: 410 topics, 12602 posts= 30 posts per topic (just over a page of discussion)

-Avatars. I turned them off months ago, but I still sometimes browse the forum without logging in... and remember why I turned avatars off to begin with. The worst are avatars violent or sexual in subject--this is not a matter of finding offense, but with being annoyed with the images people think they express their individuality with. There are a number of simply quirky avatars that suffer from the same sin. There is also Panda's Rivette avatar, which he has had for nearly a year, and which thrusts itself obtrusively into the subject posts--too big! I imagine he has been able to keep it because he is an admin, but I encourage him to change it; does it take that much effort to scale it down?

There are a number of classy avatars I have enjoyed, but they are rare. Avatar simplicity should be promoted, I think. But I suppose as long as I remember to sign in before forum browsing, this subject doesn't much matter.

-Signatures. These suffer as avatars suffer. Must we have pictures and links and quotes and other junk that makes our sigs larger than our average post? Too many posters are guilty of ballyhoo. Of course, I have these disabled too, so I just have to remember to log in to keep myself safe...

-Lazy moderators. There are too many misplaced threads and unkempt forums. Olof's dead account is moderating two forums. If there is anyone out there who thinks they ought to have a crack as a moderator and plans to bring some vigor into one of the forum sections, please nominate yourself in the Board Issues forum and demand an election. That's what we're missing from the forums, some innovation and passion. Give power to those who want to do something with it (and let us take it away if they fail). Aside from the admins, the only mods I can think of who have exercised their powers are Olof (old account) and wigwam. Props to you both. Also some recognition to Ally, who has made some timid use of the power she's been given.
~~~
Aside from those larger issues, there are smaller annoyances I mention in passing here:
-self-righteous opinion-making (most of the forum)
-superfluous threads
-the porn thread, and similar tasteless sections
-Directorial Consensus
-threads with lots of pictures (that take ages to load)
-Ally's politics
-Simon M.'s responses to me
-Sandy

^I wish there were ways to turn this stuff off, too.

Vol. I. No.5

2008-12-06T10:00:00.001-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 2008; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-December's Masters by DG. Hopes for the new MoM.

Announcements.
-Passenger is curating December's Manoel de Oliveira MoM. Sarajevo is curating a Johan Van Der Keuken Elite-MoM.
-The poll for 1993 is currently running at the Yearly Consensus.
-Wheeler and Woolsey has been this week's theme at the Pre-1940 Cinema Club.

Comment and Review.
-We thank jose for bringing L'Amour fou to the public. Thank you!!
-sardis has written a great piece on Deanna Durbin in his film journal; she turned 87 the other day, and as a fan of her movies this editor hopes that she is well.
-The Weekly has adopted a new template. Any thoughts?
-This editor quite likes the amusing thread which has appeared in Olof's vaccuum: The Bash Olof Thread.
-Simon M. reviews Diamonds of the Night on the heels of last week's profile. Coincidently, Jan Nemec also appears in the recent Directorial Consensus.
-Mango liveblogs in response to Lauren's. Any other live bloggers out there?
-List asceticism has become a recent craze, many users stripping their favorites list to the absolute "essentials." Mikadzuki, Voyager Esthetique, roujin, Aesthete, and sidehacker are among the trend-setters.
-This editor wishes to know: how did the Polls forum degenerate to Hot or Not games? Justification for that forum's annihilation has never been stronger.

December's Masters

2008-12-03T16:20:00.005-07:00

Following "wishy-washy" proposals in accordance with Ian's MoM reforms, wigwam made the executive decision and appointed the first real nominee--Manoel de Oliveira, nominated by Passenger--as the December MoM. The Elite MoM for December, curated by Sarajevo, is Dutch documentary master Johan van der Keuken. This contributor is looking forward to more activity in these MoMs than in November's--while David's Swiss Cinema sparked some interest, sidehacker's Naruse did not generate the excitement an MoM ought to. While this contributor does not intend to see more than one or two Oliveira films in December, he is excited about the selection of van der Keuken, one of his favourite documentarians, as MoM, and has already rented two of his films.

There are some potential problems here, however. 3 or 4 of Oliveira's films are on public trackers, but many are only accessible via that place we all know and love; if some good samaritan would deign to upload some of his better known ones on Piratebay (e.g. Abraham Valley), it would be much appreciated by the community at large--one need look no further than the recent popularity of Diamonds of the Night to see that simply making a film available is enough to generate interest. More pressing even than this, however, is the fact that none of van der Keuken's films are available on public trackers. Given that he is not very well known even among TLCers, this contributor fears that unless some are made available and publicized, the MoM will fall flat. At the very least, this contributor asks the community to share van der Keuken's most popular and highly-regarded works: The Eye Above the Well, a beautiful documentary about India, and The Long Holiday, his last film before his death, which incidentally this contributor has not seen.

Both curators--Sarajevo and Passenger--are to be commended on the work they have already put in to their MoMs; of particular note is Passenger's inclusion of links to torrents of Oliveira's films, where available, and for pointing people towards which films to see first--well done! To further publicize December's MoMs, however, some more links to essays on the directors' work might be helpful, as well as posts by the curators in their threads to remind people to see their MoM's films. This contributor looks forward to a spirited month of film viewing and discussion!

Vol. I. No.4

2008-11-29T11:00:00.010-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Nov. 23-29, 2008; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-"Diamonds of the Night" according to TLC by Ian. A profile of the film through quotes taken from the TLC community.

Announcements.
-December is approaching and MoM is giving the reform proposal a test run. If you wish to be curator, post your name and the theme you wish to present. MoM is expected to being Dec. 3rd. Thoughts and critiques on how MoM is run are encouraged.
-Cinemaniacal/Voyager Esthetique/Ryan has created a new blog. Check it out!
-Polls for 1924 and 1914 are currently running at the Yearly Consensus. 1904 and 2003 begin afterwards.
-Abel Gance has been this week's theme at the Pre-1940 Cinema Club.

Comment and Review.
-PimpPanda/Eli is taking his love for especially long cinema to the extreme over his winter break--and challenging everybody to a marathon of longfilm endurance.
-Over Thanksgiving weekend, Lauren is catching up on all of her TCM tapes with her first liveblog. This editor hopes to see more liveblogs in the future, and is particularly interested in seeing one at the blogs of Philosophe_Rouge, sidehacker, or Eli. (Ian has promised to do one in the near future.)
-At his blog, James ponders the nature between art and politics.
-This editor wishes to know: when will DG accomplish any of the blog goals he set for himself last week?
-Last week, a new profile under the name of reeta appeared along with a list of favorites covering many Hollywood classics--bluesoul's lost crusade, it happens, is becoming more elaborate and clever in nature. This editor wishes to know: does bluesoul even know what he is fighting for?
-Allison shares some footage she took of downtown L.A. May we hint about the potential a TLC YouTube channel offers? Don't worry, Allison is working on an Emmanuelle Devos special.
-The Wall-E debate

Reminder: adding a news item to the Weekly is easy; just stop by and post your news in this thread.

"Diamonds of the Night" according to TLC

2008-11-27T23:28:00.009-07:00

Démanty noci AKA Diamonds of the Night (1964) directed by Jan Nemec

[Skritek writes: "Démanty is the nominative plural of démant, which is Czech for diamond (yes, we are heavily influenced by German). And Noci is the genitive singular of noc, which is night."]

Collected together here (sources unedited) are some thoughts and photos from the TLC community. They paint a fine portrait of the film.

DG writes: "To me, this is the pinnacle of film technique. It takes a story - two Jewish teens escaping from a train bound for Auschwitz - and makes it into an impressionist poem, a meditation on the nature of humanity and the humanity of nature. It should have started a trend in experimental film, its form copied and improved, its free take on the subject matter embraced by the art film community. Instead it is an anomaly, one of only a handful of films of its kind. It's not too late though - in this day and age, when it is easier than ever to make a low-budget movie, this kind of film could indeed see its heyday."

sidehacker writes: "Lately, it seems like I’ve been watching a lot of rather unique films, but this has to be the single most unique cinematic experience I’ve had in a long time...
...All of these flashes are hauntingly poetic with a poignancy obtained by the current situation the two lead characters are in. I say “current” but I feel that completely disagrees with what makes the film so special and that is how flawlessly it demolishes a sense of time which corresponds to the runaway lifestyle of the two men."

kiddo writes: "It's personal, unique and intimate in it's own distinct - and very "cinematic" - way."

James writes: "Unbelievably, almost indescribably amazing. I'm kind of glad it's so widely unseen, because I don't think I'd be able to stomach a bunch of dumbfucks throwing empty complaints at it. It's so completely assured in its style and execution; I mean, it doesn't need me verbalizing over its poetry, its poignant, elemental humanism, or its you-have-to-see-it-to-cream-your-pants-over-it photography. You bring to it what you're able to, and your emotional wager comes back tenfold. How many more ways can I say it? It's fucking incredible."

VivaLuis writes: "Just saw the film. Blown away. 11/10!!!"

On Lists:
DG [solid motion; #2?1?]
James [#10]
Jewellrunner [#36]
NilbogSavant [#25]
Yearly Consensus, 1964

kiddo writes: "There's some really impressive touches and striking, resonant images here, expressing a genuinly impressionistic notion of reality and articulating the nervous desperation and indeterminate memories of the main characters... But I was not engrossed by this dizzy flow of cloudy images, not absorbed in the bewilderment of time and place and psychological anxiety."

DG writes: "I'm reminding myself of an idea(l) I was formulating a few months ago - that is, Cinematic Impressionism. It remains an ideal of sorts for me - technical rigor at the service of pure Impression, which is to say: Experience. The only film that I've seen that really fulfills this, and the one that is the basis of the entire philosophy, is Diamonds of the Night, a 1964 Czech film by Jan Nemec... I have to be careful here. I said: "an ideal", which was meant to imply that there other ideals. Film is a medium of endless possibility, and while Diamonds of the Night is the film that has most influenced my conception of some sort of "pure" cinema, I am open to other approaches, especially given that Diamonds seems to be such an anomaly - a search for films like it has been, for the most part, futile."

PimpPanda writes: "Haha, even Leonard Maltin really likes this movie."

kiddo writes: "...looks stunning."

DG commands: "...watch it."

DG writes: "This is my first time making a torrent, hope it worked..." [<-TPB torrent]

NilbogSavant writes: "How on Earth did it take you this long to see Diamonds of the Night?"

~~~
The Weekly is looking for more in-depth reviews and thoughts from TLC about Diamonds of the Night. Please write them and toss them this way. For those who haven't seen the film, be sure to grab it from TPB!

Vol. I. No.3

2008-11-22T09:55:00.005-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Nov. 16-22, 2008; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-MoM Reform by Ian. An article proposing changes to Master of the Month.

Announcements.
-Allison has become an Editor for the Weekly. Eli and Philosophe_rouge are now Contributors. Welcome! Anyone who wishes to become a Contributor should drop a line at this thread.
-At the Yearly Consensus, the 1944 poll runs until Sat., Nov. 22; 1954 is also still running; 1934 soon begins and expects to run until mid-week.
-This week's theme at the Pre-1940 Cinema Club is Based on Emile Zola.

Comment and Review.
-Since the Weekly went public last Sat., Allison and James have begun blogs. Ally's is called Cinema Becomes Her. James's is To Here Knows When. We encourage you to stop by and have a look around, give them some encouragement!
-With this new bit of blogging, Olof (aka Lance) has asserted that blogging is the lowest form of existence. This editor wishes to know: Since when has Olof considered himself better than the lowest form of existence?
-After a very long vacation, Daniel Z. has returned to the forums. Welcome back, and stay awhile!
-But while Z has returned, AgentKnight has left the forums, leaving a dense and emotional post announcing his leave.
-Olof's My Winnipeg review.
-Synecdoche, New York reviews:

Reminder: Anyone who wishes to make an announcement or add to Comment and Review, please visit this thread.

MoM Reform

2008-11-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

Each Master/Movement of the Month has varying rates of success, but on the whole it falls flat, inciting activity only in the week or so while we vote on and begin our new subjects; people rush in to vote for their favorites, Masters they are already familiar with, and then rush out before any worthy discussion begins. At the moment, this system is no more than a novelty, and while some MoMs have been wildly interesting and successful, most of them are dull. This MoM forum of ours certainly has many good qualities, but it is time to ask: shall we reform this little forum?

MoM Pros.
Here are several strengths I quite like in the MoM, and perhaps they justify the forum's existence:

-A few people, even when they do not participate in discussion or in any other way at the MoM, watch a film or two of the Master's during the month. An important goal for the forum is to get others watching and learning about these Masters, and even one or two films are better than none (although none is the most common number).

-An occasionally rousing discussion happens. It is, however, often times forced. Most discussions are the result of pedantic justifications for one's opinion (this sums the whole TLC forum, I think) and ignore clarity, propriety, and intelligence. Wigwam's homework assignments, beginning with the John Huston MoM, were an interesting experiment, but they ultimately failed in the following months, showing that their original success was only the result of new blood being added to the MoM system. (Blood must be continually renewed!) Most interesting, however, is the original insight one can give to an MoM, such as David has done for his Swiss-cinema pick--a guiding hand into a relatively unknown territory. I think there were hopes sidehacker would do the same for this month's Mikio Naruse, but so far his contributions have been limited and disappointing.

-Recently torrents have played a part in MoM, and this is the best untapped resource we have. So many hard-to-find films can be brought to a click away, and this creating of an online library is helpful to both the success of the MoM and the forums in general.

Proposal for Reform.
Having curators for the MoM, as we have for the Elite-MoM, is a wonderful idea. A curator is invested in the chosen subject and is more willing to offer their insights and, as in the case of David, a wonderful guide and point of departure for discussion. Instead of having a Master as voted on by the masses, we ought to have curators.

Before each month begins, a member will sign up to be next month's curator and give the subject they are going to present; instead of voting for a Master or Movement in a poll, the members vote for a curator with their chosen subject. At the end of that curator's month, another poll will be taken asking whether or not this MoM was successful.

The one presenting the MoM will have priority to spark interest in their subject and will hopefully discover creative ways to teach and invigorate. New blood is thus assured for every month. I propose we adopt this structure for MoM.

If adopted, the Elite MoM must also take on new priority. I propose that the curator for Elite, still chosen by their calendar sign-up (non-competitive), choose a Master that he or she thinks is neglected by TLC, a subject that is bold new cinematic territory for the forums to explore. The Elite MoM already implies this obligation, but making it explicit would enhance its effectiveness.
~~~
Leave your own ideas about how to reform MoM, or about whether it needs change at all. What do you think is successful about it?

Vol. I. No.2

2008-11-15T11:12:00.001-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Nov. 9-15, 2008; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Articles.
-Constructing the Weekly by Ian. An outline of the publication of the Weekly.

Announcements.
-The Yearly Consensus votes on 1964 until Sat. 15th. Next up is 1954, and 1944 is expected to begin Wed. 18th. Get your votes in!
-The Pre-1940 Cinema Club reveals its first Top Film List as voted by its members. The next survey will be conducted Spring 2009. Join the club to take part in the next survey! This week their theme has been Jessie Matthews.

Comment and Review.
-Eli begins a blog this week. Be sure to stop by.

Constructing the Weekly

2008-11-14T21:19:00.006-07:00

-The Weekly is to be published every Saturday by one of the editors. Each Weekly will contain three major sections: Articles, Announcements, and Comment and Review.

On Articles.
-An Article is a blog post published by a Weekly Contributor which in some way is about the TLC community. Articles may be reports about events at the forum, or op-eds discussing various aspects of the TLC community, or proposals for forum change or new projects, or profiles/interviews of TLC people or specific forums, or published projects (like lists) or statistics created by forum members, or any number of other things as long as their scope is within the range of the TLC community.

-To become a Contributor, go to this thread and post your email (or PM an editor with your email, if the public option is uncomfortable).

-To create an article, simply create a new Blog Post here at the Weekly, write your article, and put in parenthesis next to your title 'DRAFT.' Instead of publishing your article, save it and an editor will look it over; in parenthesis, the editor will comment on the article and/or grammar and style problems and then re-save the article with 'COMMENT' and/or 'READY' next to it. The original author is then able to re-edit his or her piece and then publish it as a new post.

-For those who wish their Article to be published immediately, they may publish without the READY of an editor, but doing so gives the editor permission to pull the article from publication if it be unfit and make minor editorial changes (for grammar, clarity, etc.) without authorial consent.

-Articles may be written and published to the blog at any time.

-Once published, Articles are linked under the ARTICLES section of the upcoming Weekly with a brief description (supplied by the editor unless the author has one ready).

On Announcements.
-Announcements bring attention to new, important updates in the forum and community. Normal announcements include weekly updated events, such as the Yearly Consensus or the Pre-1940 Cinema Club, but other announcements, such as special polls or threads or events, are made.

-Announcements can be given to the Weekly by posting them at this thread.

On Comment and Review.
-Comment and Review is quips that point out specific things in the TLC community that are generally interesting, or enjoyable, or epic, or perhaps regrettable. Specific posts, epic thread, general trends, and so on are open to be posted about and judged.

-To give an entry to Comment and Review, post at this thread.

At the Forum.
-The Weekly is open to all members of The Life Cinematic forums, and it is member participation that will truly define this blog. A close working connection between blog and forum is encouraged. To participate in the Weekly, visit these forums:
TLC Weekly Home
Announcements and Comment and Review
TLC Blog Network

At the Blog.
-Aside from publishing articles, the Weekly is dedicated to interconnecting The Life Cinematic community. For example, this blog hosts the TLC Blog Network, a list of blogs run by forum members. Visit this thread to suggest ways in which to improve this blog and its abilities.

Vol. I. No.1

2008-11-07T22:53:00.010-07:00

THE LIFE CINEMATIC WEEKLY
Nov. 2-9, 2008; this week at The Life Cinematic.

Announcements.
-The Life Cinematic Weekly, a blog that reports on the happenings of the forum, is created.
-This week the Yearly Consensus voted on the years 1994 and 1984. The poll for 1984 runs until the 8th.
-After a surprising election the week before, Mikio Naruse is November's Master of the Month.
-David is curating this month's Non-canon MoM, Swiss cinema. As a native and one of the industry, David shares with us his knowledge of the subject through a list of recommendations, including a brief run-down of the film or filmmaker and nifty links.
-This week's theme for the Pre-1940 Club is Two-Strip Technicolor.
-A TLC Blog Network is created, a blog that follows the other blogs run by members of the forums. It was shortly thereafter integrated as a side-column of the Weekly.

Comment and Review.
-Obama wins the US Presidential Election. Ally is sad. The rest of the world is happy.