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Film Club #001 Subject: City of God
Here are my questions for you guys you dont have to answer these, its just ideas to get the ball started...The questions below were picked out to focus on why i picked the movie in the first place.Ask more
What did you think of the over all story
The Cinematography
Did you identify with any of the characters if so who? (the most notable being Rocket & Benny).
What is the significance of the child being killed so violently twards the end of the film?
Do you feel it is justiified to use such tactics to establish an emotional response in the viewer?
Watched it last week and effin loved it. It was...fairly indescribable, there was little I can think to compare it to. It was a gangster film but not caught up in the Scarface or Godfather clichés. It transcended film in the sense that it was not caught up in telling the story as it began, it really just let fly with the actual train of events and not adjusting the events to fit the story. The sequential aspect risked appearing random, but in making it a story of a neighborhood and not one person, this format aided the delivery of the message. One thing I noticed...or actually didn't notice were any distinct homages to other films. I'm usually not great at that anyways, but there is no film I can look to and say this is the child of. Very unique, very strong, I give it an A. ¿Anything I was supposed to talk about that I didn't?
If it's not consensual, it's not moral. Ever.
One thing I noticed...or actually didn't notice were any distinct homages to other films. I'm usually not great at that anyways, but there is no film I can look to and say this is the child of.
There really isnt direct homages since the book was mostly inspired by the insane world/mindset that Paulo Lins grew up around in the real Cidade de Deus
The closest they come to homages according to Meirelles is the following:
In the DVD commentary track, director Fernando Meirelles reveals that the shot in which we see Alicate, Cabeleira and Marreco through the bumper of the gas truck is a homage/spoof of the TV series "Charlie's Angels" (1976) (the three boys are seen holding their guns pointing to different ways).
**SPOILERS BELOW**
I personally love this film, The characters have so much depth that you cant help but laugh and smile at characters like benny, feel pitty for Lil Ze' and i was almost horrified whenever the gangsters killed the runt.
The combination of beautiful cinematography, excellent fully developed characters,& harsh appropriate violence makes this film simply amazing i feel drained when the movie ends almost everytime.
My feelings changed for Lil' Ze throughout the film. I hated him initially, but in a sense respected him in that he didn't run his empire as brutally as he could have. I began hating the runts but wasn't at all emotionally surprised when they gunned down Ze, that seemed a long time coming. Just ironic that it was the kids that did it.
If it's not consensual, it's not moral. Ever.
Only after reading up about the film after I saw it did I realize that the guy who plays Knockout Ned is Seu Jorge! The guy who sang the Portuguese language covers of the David Bowie songs for Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
It's hard to believe that this kind of violent depravity actually happened. I mean, it's so alien to the ivory tower myself, and other Americans, live in.
The cinematography was great. I'm not sure exactly how to discuss cinematography, though. I mean, what's there really to say? "I like the way the light glimmered off of that runt's forehead when they shot him in the foot"?
Happy Birthday, Sharky!
Loved the cinematography and Knockout Ned.
[IMG]http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/fan/workshop/topdogs/apprentice_Fortune_wookie.gif[/IMG]
[SIZE=1][COLOR=White]With your language, you are looking for a new heart. --- Gordon Lish[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=1][COLOR=White]We use ourselves as medicine. --- Peplau[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=1][COLOR=White]I moved through the days like a severed head that finishes a sentence --- Amy Hempel[/COLOR][/SIZE]
(Spoilers)
I like Knockout Ned. I just wish he hadn't been influenced by Darth Vader and be drawn into the dark side. He first says he's against killing innocent people, but then he shoots and kills that guy in the bank. And what do you know, that guy's son Otto ends up getting revenge on Ned and killing him. And then Otto dies. It's all very Shakespearean.
Why isn't this thread more popular? Why haven't more people seen City of God and are coming here to discuss it? Who the hell do those bastards think they are?
Happy Birthday, Sharky!
I have seen it and was (am) also a big proponent of the Film Club but May has been a very hectic month for me and I start my summer job tomorrow, so I have not found the free time to watch it over again, so as to be informed enough to comment. Plus, with so many films coming out this summer, I have been to the cinema three times this week alone, how is there time to watch movies at home?
sorry about thte silent treatment. i've been a little buisy lately, but i promise, coming soon, my thoughts on City of God and El Topo
I will say, even though my brother turned it off halfway through, I thought it looked terrific. but i didnt see enough to really warrant commenting.
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Joined: 2004-09-06
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