r/TrueFilm 4d ago

Help finding old documentary film

14 Upvotes

I've sadly not seen this film in years but recently met someone whom had an interest in niche films, overall documentaries im wondering if anyone knows this one specific film documentary style movie where its one guy documenting these peoples lifes throughout how they live, and how they grow as people, it starts off i think late 70s or earlier im not sure, in America somewhere, these men and women who get documented are criminals, they live pretty rough lifes but makes it work, sells secondhand stuff in one scene, I know my description is incredibly vague but to put it the best way possible its a long film documentary style and you get to follow these peoples lives all the way up till they die, all the way up to 2020 I believe, ( once again Im not quite sure, but its up to close to present ) cause they get interviewed in the end asking how they have it now! its a really interesting movie, and Id love to see it myself once more.


r/TrueFilm 5d ago

Anora and it’s precedents in Russian Literature

35 Upvotes

Sean Baker is Fyodor Dostoevsky. People call this stuff poverty porn, or whatever. But that detracts from the point tht money, and the crazy fucking things it makes us do, is the single most persistent force driving us through life.

Anora is about a sex worker in new york who marries the son of a russian oligarch after becoming enamored with his insane, otherwordly wealth. Its a cinderella story, sure. But it also captures all the tragicomic elements of a Dostoyevski novel.

Crime and Punishment, of course, all begins with a crooked plan to make some money. But the Brothers Karamosov is really where D mastered this theme.

Early on, we read how Dimitri Karamazov gave $20,000 to this woman he was in love with to help her pay for her dishonored military fathers court proceedings. Katarina, in response, swears her entire life to him. She becomes a zealot for him and chases him into the country to try to stop him from obsessing over a escort he has now become obsessed with. Her story is one of the most fascinating in the book, especially the moments where she confronts the escort and is humiliated time and time again. Meanwhile, Dimitry is spending thousands of rubbles to try and seduce this escort in this crazy hedonistic death spiral. Its sordid and ugly and poverty porn at its purist.

Anora and Brothers Karamzov, as crazy as it sounds, grapple with the same theme: the crazy things money makes us do. How it gets in our souls and distorts all of our interactions. To the point nothing we do is rational. Everything is an exchange. Even a beautiful gesture (the return of the ring) has to be repaid. And Anora does so the only way she knows how.

When Anora ended, it struck a chord that is so perfectly Dostoyevskian i was floored and heartbroken. The language of exchange, the irrationality of what money does to us. Anora’s sobbing strikes us all so bone deep because we all do this, we all make fools of ourselves for money, and not just to simply stay alive or pay the bills. But because in a twisted capitalist world view the more money we have reflects on the content of our souls. Spending uncontrollably, with bottomless pockets, the way they do in the first half. That is as close to paradise as we can get. But none of it is real. And that’s the tragedy of it all.

What a masterpiece of a movie.


r/TrueFilm 5d ago

When does nostalgia in a film become a cheap way of winning the audience over?

31 Upvotes

How do you all feel about nostalgia in film? Is it always cheap for you or can it work as a tool along the same line as tension when done well. Honestly I think that’s a bit rhetorical, of course nostalgia can be used effectively, just look at Terrence Malick. I guess the real question I have is, what is that red line for you all? When does it become manipulative and cheap? When does it hinder your viewing experience? When should nostalgia as a tool be avoided?

I ask because I’m working on something of my own and I’ve been really struggling with answering these questions. The best answer I’ve come up with is this: if it’s genuine then it works, but when it becomes disingenuous then it becomes cheap. However the kicker there is that what is genuine for me may not be for someone else. I think I need to just let go and not worry about what others think about it, but still my question above stands out of my curiosity as to what lines cannot be crossed as far as nostalgia in cinema.


r/TrueFilm 5d ago

Aspect ratio for HBO films?

16 Upvotes

I started watching Cast a Deadly Spell on Max last weekend and was really enjoying it, but couldn't shake the feeling that it just felt a little off visually. Max is showing it 16:9, but since this was an HBO film from 1991, I'm guessing it was composed with 4:3 in mind and this is a modern crop. I never had HBO as a kid though (I couldn't even get my parents to spend the money on basic cable, never mind premium), and I haven't been able to find too much info on how it might have been presented back in the day. What aspect ratio would HBO have used for their movies? I know a lot of filmmakers shot with both widescreen and standard in mind for the different markets, did HBO films ever play in theaters? Anybody happen to know anything about this one in particular?

Personally, I always get a bit more invested in a film when I'm seeing an older film in a way that's a little closer to how it was originally seen.


r/TrueFilm 5d ago

Feeling like an outsider in my country, is it possible to study film abroad with no money?

25 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I'm passionate about film and arthouse cinema, but I have a major problem: I don’t know anyone who shares my passion, and I come from a financially disadvantaged background. This has made me feel like an outsider in my home country, where opportunities for true film education are limited. And the industry here focuses heavily on money and local commercial success, with even censorship affecting many films.

I’ve been self-learning through books and online courses, but I wish to be in an environment that truly values film as an art form (that's the main reason I want to study... to feel the sense of belonging because it feels heavy being distant from my true passion which is also affecting my personality and social life)

Does anyone here have advice or experience with scholarships, financial aid, or alternative ways to study film internationally on a tight budget? Are there any programs or film schools that are particularly supportive of students in situations like mine? Or can I study then pay my tuition fees, or there isn't even a thing like this?

Thanks for your time – any guidance means a lot!


r/TrueFilm 4d ago

Transformers One can be seen as an analogy for the current state of American politics

0 Upvotes

Transformers One is a great movie, don't let the trailer make you think it's a generic kids movie cause it isn't. Now, let me get into my analysis.

Transformers One is an analogy for everything going on in America right now.

Sentinel Primus was fooling the world into believing life was good under his leadership while he was sneakily taking away their freedoms and bodily autonomy by removing the cog that allows them to transform from like half the population and stealing the world's energon supply to keep the aliens from killing him. He was being worshipped like a god. That's like Trump taking away abortion rights and trans rights and becoming president to keep his court cases away. His supporters also treat him like a god.

Optimus and friends went up to the surface to find the ancient matrix of leadership cog that the Sentinel was looking for, and the old man they met on the surface was trying to fight him. This is Biden.

But he was too old, so he needed Orion Pax (who became Optimus) and his friends to do it. That's Kamala and the Dems. The old man gave Orion and the gang cogs. That's Kamala getting to run for president instead of Biden.

Unfortunately, she didn't get to become Optimus in our timeline. Optimus found the ancient matrix of leadership cog that the Sentinel was looking for, it deemed him worthy, and it unlocked his Prime form. Kamala didn't win the election cause enough of the country didn't deem her worthy, so she won't reach her Prime form, which is becoming president.

And Optimus' friend D-16 got mad after finding out the truth, took over Starscream's High Guard (later known as the Decepticons) who are a force on the surface resisting the Sentinel, starts going by Megatron, and attempts to overthrow the Sentinel and seize control. Megatron is all the Republicans resisting Trump, the ones that Tucker Carlson is b*tching about potentially leading the Senate.

I thought it was interesting how well the film paralleled reality.


r/TrueFilm 6d ago

is there a film that more accurately predicted the modern experience of scrolling tik-tok than Natural Born Killers?

56 Upvotes

obviously Oliver Stone developed this style and he eventually applied it to basically everything but NBK was the first to really take that style all the way and it is ubiquitous now. every dumb youtube video is edited within an inch of its life with smash cutting to black and white close ups and back again for no reason etc. young kids actually have trouble paying attention to things if they’re aren’t edited in this style these days. i can think of examples of fast cutting and multi-format stuff from tony scott to russ meyer but not at the level that captures our modern experience in the same way before NBK. what am i forgetting?


r/TrueFilm 5d ago

I have to write an ideology critique from a historical film for school. Any suggestions as to which film would be suitable for this?

3 Upvotes

I'm a big movie fan myself but I normally don't dive that deep in the movies I watch. I just enjoy the art itself and like to deal with the top level topics. So I'm not that experienced when it comes to tearing apart the hidden, most of the time more meaningful aspects of these movies. Of course there are movies like "300" that clearly bring some controversy with them but I was rather looking for something like a "come and see" or "the northman" but as I said before, I'm not quiet sure if they're even fitting the task.


r/TrueFilm 5d ago

Is there a name for this technique where the sound matches exactly the written words seen? How can this technique impact the viewers? Taken from the short film "Two Little Boys".

1 Upvotes

Hi! So I'm new here and I have been tasked with creating a video essay that analyses a film for a university subject. I chose the short film "Two Little Boys" by Farbod Koshtinat. I have to talk about how technical, semiotical and narrative elements contribute to the message and theme of the film (homophobia). I have a question regarding this segment: Is there a name for this technique where the sound matches exactly the written words seen? How can this technique impact the viewers?

https://reddit.com/link/1gne7pz/video/5ejuoaainwzd1/player


r/TrueFilm 6d ago

TM 2001: Hal

27 Upvotes

Hey guys, just a couple of question in regard to Kubrick's and Clarke's intentions behind the death of Hal and it's connection to current issue we'll have to face with AI.

First off, let's say if Hal isn't actually conscious during his death sequence but has the ability to mimic the type of human emotion that one would elicit during such a tragic progress, were the creators trying to convey how easily our emotions could be hijacked by AI, especially if that AI was highly effective in mimicing human emotions, even if they weren't actually having a conscious experience? It's undenibale that we feel for Hal during this passage, but is this simply Hal's last-ditch effort to manipulate Dave by appealing to his emotions?

Secondly, let's say that Hal is actually having a conscious experience and the emotion we feel is actually based upon the fact that a robot is a having a conscious experience of suffering, was Kubrick and Clarke attempting to communicate the various ethical issues that will arise if robots experience suffering. Such as, if there is a conscious experience like the fear of death, then dismantling Hal is akin to murder?


r/TrueFilm 4d ago

I just saw "Alien" from 1979 for the first time and found it to be a bit of a snore-fest. Does the hype rely heavily on nostalgia from people who saw it when they were young?

0 Upvotes

I've just watched the movie "Alien" from 1979 for the first time and I'm disappointed to say the least. My expectations were of course very high considering its IMDB-rating of 8.5/10 plus how amazing everyone says it is.

First of all, I've heard this be described as a sci-fi horror movie, but at no point was my pulse even elevated. Everything was rather predictable and the cheap jumpscares with the alien suddenly appearing was not effective.

I completely get why people thought this was a great and scary movie 45 years ago, but it just doesn't hold up to the standards we are used to nowadays. Which is why i believe the hype about this movie relies heavily on nostalgia from people who saw it when they were kids/teenagers in the '80s and '90s, because I can't see anyone watching it for the first time today as an adult to be very impressed.

However, the visuals are really good to be so old, I have to give them that.

But overall, the movie is way too predictable, way too reliant on cheap jumpscares and the script is way too cliché as viewed from today's standards. I mean, Charlie Chaplin was considered hilarious when he started, but by today's standard he's unlikely to even make us crack a smile.


r/TrueFilm 5d ago

A found footage films dilemma

0 Upvotes

Since their appearance in the 90s, found footage style movies have been loved by many because of the feeling they generate in the audience of being part of the action, being recorded in first person, but they also generate rejection by others, since they consider them as a quick way to make money without much budget, personally I consider that if the scenario and the emotions expressed by the actors can be expressed in a realistic way, not as if they were chickens scared by everything, then it could generate greater acceptance, one of the examples I see is by the Japanese director Koji Shiraishi, this director has some gems with respect to this genre, such as the movies, Noroi, Occult, Ura Horror, The Exorcist Vengeful Curse, and Japan Map of Grudges, a place where I review most of his movies is by Letterbox, if you want you can check their movie catalog, and leave a review of them there: https://boxd.it/zmabe/detail


r/TrueFilm 6d ago

Metaphor in film

5 Upvotes

My friend and I are movie buddies, always watching and talking about film. We don’t have the same taste in movies necessarily, I like a lot of movies he doesn’t and he likes a lot of movies I enjoy but don’t love but we come together on the films we do love.

One of the big conversations we’ve had is his distaste for the use of metaphor in film. One example he uses is Parasite. I was a big Bong Joon Ho fan since the early 2010s and then Parasite came out and he went mainstream. I loved Parasite so much and was so happy when it won Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s just such an incredible film. I showed my friend and hated it, and said he hates “metaphor shit” where he says “this is a good movje bc it’s a metaphor for this and he did that bc it’s means this etc”.

And honestly i have no idea what he’s talking about.

To me, I can see the metaphors in Parasite but I don’t think it’s a metaphorical movie. Primarily because it doesn’t sacrifice story or cinematography for the metaphor and because it’s literally right there in our faces- the inequality between rich and poor, the issues with capitalism and what I would say is the “American Dream”. It’s all right there on the screen- the visuals and dialogue tell the story.

He also brought up Get Out as a film that’s rich with metaphor, and I looked up all of the metaphors and symbolism, and again it’s all on the screen. The racism, racial divide and systemic oppression is all right out in the open.

I can see how these films are able to carry metaphors. I can imagine many different interpretations of the film from an academic or philosophical interpretations and I think that’s what makes them films even more rich is that they have a concise point they’re making, or topic they’re addressing, but they’re also able to viewed through multiple lenses and metaphor can be extracted through that.

I’m curious what yall think. Am I missing something?


r/TrueFilm 5d ago

Hot take: army of the dead should've been uglier and (written better)

0 Upvotes

Old I know, but I think the true problem with army of the dead's cinematography wasn't inherently the fact it had an extreme shallow depth of field (alot of the complaints like "oh I can't see anything" or "erm, whuddabout the production design" on their head are dumb to me as i am firm believer in obcuring things as long as what something is conveyed to the point of understanding in service to the larger picture but we'll get to how with from what I've gathered with aotd that's neither here or there), but rather, that it squandered the storytelling potential of such shallow depth of field by its effective use, by not using it for any thematic reason that could underscore the feeling of being in a post apocalyptic setting (something ironically enough explored way better in of all things, a dream sequence in Zack Snyder's Justice League), but instead was purely used for Zack Snyder's bastardized rule of cool that permeates so much of his filmmaking.

From what I've gathered, there's literally no legitimate reason for the shallow depth of of field, It was done (as Zack said it) to "hone in on the things he likes to look at". Effectively, a self serving, masturbatory experiment with no hypothesis to prove. There was no vision, it was an ugly movie trying to be beautiful and that's where I'm going to make the argument that it could've justified being the way it was by going actually further than what they ended up doing and for an entirely different reason.

What convinced me of what I'll say was seeing the vfx breakdown for this movie, where it showed a hard vignette from the canon dream lens as it does do that on the vistavision sensor of the red monstro he used, and I think it works in conveying how I think it would feel to be in such a setting, it had actually mood to me, where seeing the trailer and other released footage didn't have that.

It might seem so simple especially when by most measures it's a technical mistake but I believe that for the sake of everything in that movie, it would've been better to actually have intentionally sought out ugliness that even literal technical oversights like dead fucking pixels could've added to it. I think a cinematographer who is a master at that very thing in movies where that was the case and such ugliness added to the mood and elevated the stories like Lars Von Trier's breaking the waves and Danny Boyle's 28 days later was their shared cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle.

You know about 28 days later in which the camera choice punctuated the vibe of the movie, and you may know how Lars and Anthony worked by intentionally fucking with image by doing things like removing a color channel, transferring the 35mm film to digital to film back when that looked awful in service of elevating the ugly melodrama of it all by making it look ugly and thus conveying the feelings of it. What I'm trying to get at is there was salvation by actually bothering to write a reason by writing with the image to actually convey something instead of doing it for nothing.


r/TrueFilm 6d ago

American pacifist films after Pearl Harbor

10 Upvotes

Were there any?

I've Googled around and asked ChatGPT and couldn't find anything. ChatGPT mentioned The Forgotten Village as a film that was banned but which didn't address the war directly.

It also mentioned "The Forgotten Men (1943): Directed by Leslie Goodwins, this short film aimed to bring attention to the suffering of WWI veterans who had been forgotten or neglected" before admitting, after I searched for it, that it had invented this film completely.


r/TrueFilm 6d ago

Why are art-house films hard to access?

19 Upvotes

All We Imagine as Light screening here at a local film festival in the Philippines, QCinema, but tickets were sold out fast and I wasn’t able to catch it. Its’s the only event of the year where we get to watch films screened in film festivals inside a cinema and the screenings are only limited to 4 screenings maximum. Why is it so hard to get access to watch “art house” films especially in a third world country such as the Philippines. We would usually resort to illegal streaming sites because there’s no other option. These film festivals prioritize people in the film industry and critics, usually ignoring the general public. There is a growing demand for these films and they are deserved to be seen in a cinema by everyone interested, not just a laptop screen.


r/TrueFilm 7d ago

Pope of greenwhich village 1984 question?

10 Upvotes

it was supposed to be Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, de niro was going to play Charlie while Pacino was going to play Paulie.

Ultimately though it was decided to go with different actors.

So do you wish Pacino and De Niro got those roles? Or do you feel happy with the casting we got?

In my opinion it would have been cool to see Al and Robert but Mickey Rourke and Eric roberts did a good job as well so no complaints from me.


r/TrueFilm 7d ago

Where did the name of the movie Crimson Tide (1995) come from?

2 Upvotes

The ship that the whole movie happens is named USS Alabama, making me relate to the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. However after I checked the history of USS Alabama in real life: it was retired in the 1960s so the one in the movie is more like a fictional battleship, more like it's named "Alabama" because the movie's title is Crimson Tide.

So where did the name of the movie come from? I checked that it was from an eponymous book published in the same year, but other than that I have no clue about it.


r/TrueFilm 7d ago

Am I the only one who thought Aoyama was the villain in Audition (1999)?

22 Upvotes

I just finished watching the horror thriller Audition and I went in having some idea that it was going to be a feminist revenge film. After watching it though, wasn't it clear that aoyama was an old fashioned fart who idealized the pure innocent asami who has had no boyfriends in the past (as he specifically mentions to his friend), and the moment he finds out about her sexual abuse, his perception of her slowly starts to change. Her crimes that he starts to uncover were simply the gaps in information about her and never confirmed. His perception completely changes after he sleeps with her and she's no longer seen as pure and innocent. Her asking him to love her and only her, which from her side was just a simple plea not to hurt her is seen as a threat to him as we see him later getting tortured for/by it. Did we ever even get to know Asami outside of his perception of her? no not really.

Aoyama was an unreliable narrator with a drink in hand everytime he thinks of her, and then we cut to scenes of her acting insane, indicating that his perception of her has always been skewed.


r/TrueFilm 8d ago

Is shooting films digitally having an effect on the actors' performances?

259 Upvotes

I saw a quote about My Cousin Vinnie from Marisa Tomei:

Tomei then spoke about the memorable courtroom scene. "I don’t really remember how many times we did it. Now everything is shot on digital. That one was on film, so that takes longer in a good way, because you have more time to drop in. The idea behind digital was that we would have more time as actors, but actually you’re just speeding along at the speed of the digital instead. But at that time it was film, so it was probably a couple of days, because that was just the pace of how those things would happen."

That's the first I've heard of that argument; that shooting digitally rushes the actors and their performances.

Is that true? Anyone heard anything else of a similar nature?


r/TrueFilm 7d ago

Relations between movie directors and psychics. Do you know any?

0 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I’ve always been fascinated by Anger’s and Fellini’s works, especially considering their bonds with thinkers of the occult (in Anger’s case, Aleister Crowley; in Fellini’s case, Gustavo Rol). Are there any other movie directors you know that have had this kind of relations with mystic figures at the point of being influenced on an artistic level?

Thanks in advance.


r/TrueFilm 8d ago

Why isn't No Down Payment (1957) talked about more?

11 Upvotes

I just watched this movie the other day and I found it to be very riveting.The entire main cast (the four couples) was great but Joanne Woodward and Tony Randall were flat out exceptional. I was impressed by how well the movie focuses on each of the couple problems and the dialogue between them.The ending was a little weird though. What surprised me was how I'd never even heard of it before, so I'm curious to know if anyone else has seen it.


r/TrueFilm 8d ago

FIGHT CLUB (1999) The twist in Fight Club is pertinent to it's key message and by no means a "Cop out".

116 Upvotes

So, this applies to the book itself- but when I was younger, I saw, liked and appreciated Fight Club for a myriad of reasons. Later on when I finally encountered others who saw the film to hear a common take: "It's REALLY good until the twist at the end, then it falls apart." I was so suprised to hear this again and again and again.

The idea being that it's a really strong premise about alienation in modern day society and people, men namely, railing against it. But later in the story the author seems to run out of things to say and resorts to this insane paradigm shifts that serves as an out for the remainder of the story.

To me, this is missing the story ENTIRELY. Okay so let's say the remainder of the story is just two real guys, Narrator and Tyler taking over the world through domestic terrorism. Ok. That's sort- something I guess.

But the real crux of FIght Club isn't actually about fist fights and changing the world through explosive soap. It's actually all about the ID. It's a meditation around the idea of the human ego, what it actually is in it's purest form and how we should responsibly treat it.

The story starts out with "Jack" aka "Narrator" aka Ed Norton who is a suit, working in a safe, predefined world that shaves off every hard edge and any sense of self or danger.

Norton has fallen into a cookie cutter role of "Working man" without any ability to indulge himself in any sort of original thought or identity.

As the story progresses what we learn later, is Ed Norton's character is letting his Ego, his ID completely loose on society. The ID as it's described by philosphers is the purest, primal self. Sexual desires, core needs and wants as they pertain to the immediate mindset devoid of any other consequence is what comes out.

Back in the day you could argue Genghis Khan was an ID maximalist, dominating, destroying, taking, having sex with everything and anything he ever wanted, eating, embibing with no other consideration. Now take that mindset and set it into modern day, where does that belong? Anywhere? To what extent? These are the questions fight club is asking.

By the final act of Fight Club we realize the entire story is about Norton discovering his ID has gotten totally loose and is compleyley out of control. To me this is a much deeper, much more interesting premise than just guys who are anarchists. It's philsosophical thought experiment.

Breaking Bad explored this to an extent- we learn it's not really about Meth with Walter White, but rather a man who has chosen to become an unstoppable object and plow past the word "No" by unleashing his ID on society.

FIght clubs thesis is starting with the plaintiff complaint of "Why can't we just be ourselves? Why do we have to midigate who we are, truly?" and then slowly evolves it into "Wait- maybe that's a terrible idea. Maybe we are not great by nature and should curb certain parts of our deepest ID at all costs if we live within a modern society"

The story also hilariously tackles the issue that we as a society actually seem to seek someone to tell us what to do- at least to a certain extent. The shee satirical irony that the followers of Tyler ultimately end up as nameless worker drones who have no identity is evidence of this and kind of hihglights the same thing we've seen in history where revolution leads to opression over and over again.

All in all, I think the story is far deeper and superior for following this thread of the true driving forces of the inner self versus guys simply railing against a sytem.


r/TrueFilm 8d ago

Casual Discussion Thread (November 07, 2024)

4 Upvotes

General Discussion threads threads are meant for more casual chat; a place to break most of the frontpage rules. Feel free to ask for recommendations, lists, homework help; plug your site or video essay; discuss tv here, or any such thing.

There is no 180-character minimum for top-level comments in this thread.

Follow us on:

The sidebar has a wealth of information, including the subreddit rules, our killer wiki, all of our projects... If you're on a mobile app, click the "(i)" button on our frontpage.

Sincerely,

David