No.2121
For our second Film Club, we're exploring horror with this late-career effort from Polish director Wojciech Has. The film was adapted from
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, a 1824 novel by Scottish author James Hogg.
Synopsis:
In the 18th century, a recently deceased young man is exhumed by a gravedigger, suddenly revives, and then launches into the story of his highly eventful life. Brought up in a puritanical household, Robert is seduced by a mysterious stranger into killing his wine-, woman- and song-loving brother. What follows is a descent into a hallucinatory hell, where reality and illusion merge, as Robert's evil doppelganger sins with terrible abandon–and Robert stands accused.More information:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091697/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_a_Sinnerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Private_Memoirs_and_Confessions_of_a_Justified_SinnerPost last edited at 2014-10-20 06:53:34
No.2126
Downloaded the XviD rip. Is there a DVDR on Karagarga?
No.2127
There's a custom DVDR on KG which is tempting to get. Nearly everywhere else has the same 700 MB rip. That's a little undersized for a 2 hour visually-appealing film.
No.2128
>>2127That is undersized. To quote from The XviD Releasing Standards 2005
>PAL (25 fps) = MINIMUM runtime is 100 minutes/CD.A 112 minute film should be 1400MB, or 2 CDs.
No.2129
Here's an mkv, but it's 2.35 GB … nearly half the size of the DVD.
http://www.secret-cinema.net/viewtopic.php?id=33204 The DVD is also at tik though.
http://cinematik.net/details.php?id=34444 No.2132
I've got the DVD of this movie. I'll see if I can make a better rip when I have time.
No.2152
Here it is, finally.
rwoj8kv56t.1fichier.com
pass: 8chan.co/film/
I had to use an old computer so it took forever to rip. The mkv file is a bit larger than I wanted, but it should be an improvement over the xvid.
No.2155
No.2161
>>2152now where can I find subs?
No.2162
>>2161subs are embedded
opensubtitles might have them too
No.2165
No.2185
We need a new film!
No.2187
>>2185… but I think we need to actually discuss this one first, right? I still haven't had a chance to watch but I'll try to do it this weekend.
No.2197
Yes it would be nice to move on to another feature at the beginning of next week.
So now is the time to watch this film and post your reactions.
No.2199
Glad to have found this place.
Hello everyone.
No.2219
Memoirs of a Sinner was the fifth Has film I've seen. I liked it quite a bit. It has the dreamlike atmosphere and sumptuous sets that drew me to both The Saragossa Manuscript and The Hourglass Sanitarium. I'm less enthusiastic about the straight storytelling that seems typical in Has's earlier work.
His use of doubles here was certainly notable, first with the character's brother and then with his tempter. I thought the film might riff on the concept a bit more, as Saragossa took the concept of nested stortytelling to extreme lengths. I read an IMDb review complaining about the philosophical discourses peppered throughout the film, but I actually enjoyed them too.
My only complaint was in the presentation of the film. I watched the French DVD which seemed to have a distorted AR (too narrow). And it's touchy to complain about fansubs, but the continuous and unneeded use of ellipsis was distracting.
Other than that it was a great choice for Film Club. Has anyone seen anything else Has did in the 80s?
No.2225
>>2219
> The Saragossa Manuscript and The Hourglass Sanitarium. I'm less enthusiastic about the straight storytelling that seems typical in Has's earlier work.Yeah I've watched Lalka AKA The Doll (1968). It was made between TSM and THS.
It's pretty good as an ornate historical drama, but I came into the film hoping for a less linear narrative.
No.2228
You guys can (and should) keep discussing this film here, but it's time to move on to the next feature.
The person who suggested City of Pirates is welcome to start a thread for Film Club #3. Otherwise I'll do it once again.
No.2247
I'm not sure what to say, first off I think it's funny that it got nominated for some award for the film's score, it's probably the worst part of the film and is comically cliche sounding. The atmosphere is very well constructed, I liked the introduction of the "angel" by the use of mirrors and the mimicking actions of both his assumed forms. I wished it would've explained Calivinism, I didn't know that in that religion some people are destined for hell and others are predetermined for heaven until I read about it elsewhere.(Maybe this is my fault for not knowing, I dislike explanation, but this seems easy to fit in the dialogue) There's light dialogue that sort of implies it, but I couldn't make the connection. Some of the satirical elements shine through, notably the men taking a zombie to explain himself in court. It handles the source material well from what I can tell and broadens the Calvinist problem to nearly all religion. It's a bit plodding in the first half, but the interest picked up in the second half to the point where I didn't mind the first. I specifically liked how it dealt with the lapses in time and the morality predicament similar to the story of Abraham, I just read Fear and Trembling so that thing is still fresh on my mind. Well-shot, an interesting morality tale, and a well executed story with a very good atmosphere to it. I have had Has on my watch list for a while, watching this has prompted me to watch some of his other films right away. Just my thoughts, I find it difficult to inspire conversation about a film. Going full yolo and putting spoil tags on the entire thing.
No.2249
>>2247The
religious aspects were somewhat ill defined to me too. The
minister was portrayed as a phony so he wasn't much of a counterbalance for
"The Devil". I wonder how that dynamic worked in the source text.
It's true the
concept of predestination came out of nowhere, although I did like how the concept was cleverly twisted to
make excuses for the man's crimes.
No.2254