“Where do you find the time to watch all of this stuff?” is a question frequently asked of the well-versed cinephile, and often the answer is, “Sometimes I don’t.” It’s not easy to fix one’s gaze and have, you know, a life, and, you know, read books, and, you know, all that. Some things fall by the wayside. My own domestic situation—that is, being married to the most wonderful woman on earth—is highly satisfactory, but it does, by necessity, sometimes cut in to my absolute autonomy in terms of home theater usage. But hark! My Lovely Wife departs for an extended sojourn away from home this week, and while I have a host of other plans—a barbecue, a screening of Up, catching Cheetah Chrome at Maxwell’s, maybe, not to mention karaōke—I thought I’d set myself a challenge during her time away and see how much of the above I could knock off. I’m only going to tackle the Medici volume of the Rossellini set—but that’s four hours and change in itself. (For the record, that’s the only film I’ll be completely new to—I’ve seen at least portions of both the others.) The Tarr is seven hours, the Fassbinder…well, all told we’ve got about 27 hours worth. I shall keep you apprised of my progress and methodology as I go along. I’m wondering if I should start a betting pool or something.
Eh just watch SATANTANGO and BLAISE PASCAL. Those are the best things up there.
Glenn, is that Region 2 of “Satantango” akin, as far as extras and picture quality, to the recent Region 1? Because God knows the Region 2 is a hell of a lot cheaper, and I’ve been tempted to go that direction.
Berlin Alexanderplatz is phenomenal, worth every second of its 15 hour running time. It’s an exhausting experience, though. Good luck tackling that AND the rest of the above. I watched it 2–3 episodes per night for about a week.
On the other hand, I’ve had that Region 2 of Satantango practically since it came out and still haven’t managed to set aside the solid block of time to watch it in.
I love Satantango – perhaps too much – but watching it on a small screen? I’m not sure I could do it. If you’ve not seen it projected in its entirety, I honestly think you should wait for such a chance to watch it.
I’ll be interested as to your take on The Age of the Medici. I saw it many years ago just prior to a trip to Florence, so I was predisposed to liking it I guess.
I know what you mean. I’m fifty pages from the end of Dostoevsky’s Devils (or Demons depending on the translation), and cannot really think of anything else while this wonderful book is on my mind (seriously, I’m not really a fan of the more celebrated Crime and Punishment but this is an extremely compelling read, to the extent that I sometimes wish my train to work was cancelled so I would have more time to read it on the platform!)
So instead of applying myself to Rohmer or Tarr or Fassbinder or any of the great films piled up, I’ve ended up watching lighter films like Doomsday (a lot of fun) and Music and Lyrics (which…wasn’t much fun) to prevent my head exploding like an over inflated balloon!
Though I had a strange moment of serendipity when I just decided for no particular reason to rewatch Notre Musique for the first time in three or four years. Imagine my surprise when characters start paraphrasing speeches from Dostoevsky, and not just any Dostoevsky but Demons/Devils!
Perhaps I’d made the connection subconsciously?
BERLIN was a draining, unforgettable experience. Episode 12 always breaks my heart, and the epilogue always blows my mind. I’m envious of your lifestyle, Glenn.
Yep, envy is the word.
Sátántango Sátántango Sátántango! Party at Mr. Kenny’s!
Sontag’s ghost smiles indulgently down upon you.
To those who have expressed and envy of my lifestyle: Thanks. I do (try to) enjoy it. Be assured, though, that my enjoyment is at least tempered by a knowledge that it could implode in mere minutes!
I’ve had a friends copy of BERLIN for going on two years now. Someday. It’s just so daunting.
Er, you’ve seen Sátántangó theatrically already, right? (Dumb question, possibly.) So not a home video movie.
Huh. My wife’s out of town till Wednesday and all I managed tonight was cold pizza and “They Live” on Encore. Thanks, Glenn…I feel like a jerk now. I’m gonna go watch “Shivers” which I recorded on DVR so…there.
And there’s me thinking my trip to London to see For Your Eyes Only on the big screen last weekend makes me all cultured and stuff.
I am still waiting for someone at Netflix to send back the Bondarchuk War and Peace disks so I can rent them … and no doubt have them sit on my shelf for a while.
A while back I did a “use it up” challenge with the DVDs I own but haven’t seen and so far I haven’t done too bad, but there’s still a few I need to see. Next week Mr. C is also out of town so I will see if that frees up more viewing time.
I’ll be really curious to hear about Berlin Alexanderplatz. I love Marriage of Maria Braun but The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant was…trying. Beautiful but trying.
Bravo! I haven’t seen any of these titles and it makes me feel better about myself knowing that neither have you. It’s a growing joy of mine to hear about the movies all the for-real critics never saw. There is so much to see, when will there ever be time in the entire duration of my life to see them all? Never. So off we go in solidarity armed with a long queue of classics still yet unseen…Ah! But with the hope that we will one day conquer them!
I have a feeling I will never see Berlin Alexanderplatz. Does that make me a bad person? Shit. Now that I say that my guilt complex is getting the better of me and I think it’ll end up nearer to the top of my Netflix queue than anticipated. *swallowing large gulp of wine now*
Progress? If there is a betting pool, I’ll put a tenner on Berlin Alexanderplatz finished before the wife returns.
Berlin is definitely one of the greatest miniseries to ever air on television, and it really saves the best for last…even if it wasn’t a part of the original novel.
jc,
a misconception perpetuated by who knows. fassbinder places the events of the end of the novel into an epilogue that jumps in time but the events of the epilogue are entirely from the novel.
Ah, I see, jj. I must have misunderstood something I watched in the special features.
Cheers.
JC, are you speaking of the scene at the very end with Biberkopf in his new place of employment? Or the 90-minute psychotic fever dream that precedes it? Because though the former is in the book it was my understanding that the latter was not.