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| Time Indefinite (Ross McElwee, 1993) - Movie Club 2018 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 22 2018, 12:27 PM (459 Views) | |
| Mauries | May 22 2018, 12:27 PM Post #1 |
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g legs' sweetheart
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Recording himself, sitting in a chair and talking to the camera: ‘Once you get sucked into the vortex of family, there’s no way to get out, except to die’ Voiceover-commenting on himself: ‘I wish the camera battery would die’. Time Indefinite (Ross McElwee, 1993) I'd rather not tell to much about what happens in the film, it's even better to not read any summary (this applies on almost every film actually..). I do like to say that I'm a sucker for diary films. This film is not so much a feast of beautiful images like Mekas' films, but very rich when it comes to insightful voiceovers and just picturing life as it comes by. Life is art, as we all know. The voiceover of McElwee tends to get a bit pretentious at points, but he always knows this right away and reflects on his own words immediately - often with a healthy dose of cynisism. Funny, full of life, never ponderous or exploiting, but as a whole it was a devastating experience for me. Hope you all get something out of this one. ![]() Edited by Mauries, May 22 2018, 12:57 PM.
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| The Economy stinks, bees are dying, and movies are pretty much all sequels now | |
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| Roscoe | May 22 2018, 12:33 PM Post #2 |
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g legs' soul mate
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Gotta say I preferred SHERMAN'S MARCH to this one, but a revisit is in order.
Edited by Roscoe, May 22 2018, 12:53 PM.
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| Mauries | May 22 2018, 12:52 PM Post #3 |
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g legs' sweetheart
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This was my first McElwee, but I added Sherman's March to my watchlist right after I watched Time Indefinite. |
| The Economy stinks, bees are dying, and movies are pretty much all sequels now | |
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| Holymanm | May 23 2018, 06:06 PM Post #4 |
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moats n groats
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fun fact: i saw six o clock news by this guy a couple weeks ago, and he was in attendance for a q&a... but i didn't know who he was, and i didn't really like the movie, so i didn't stick around for it (i just took this pic in case it turned out he was famous and i could sell it later)
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| kanafani | May 23 2018, 06:34 PM Post #5 |
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I've seen him in attendance at the Harvard Film Archive a bunch of times. He introduced a movie once, I can't remember which. I've seen a few from him, I enjoyed all very much, so looking forward to this one!
Edited by kanafani, May 23 2018, 06:39 PM.
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| mesnalty | May 23 2018, 11:24 PM Post #6 |
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g legs' flame
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Liked this quite a lot. In fact I wouldn't use the word "pretentious" to describe his voiceover at all. Sure, he does get all "amateur philosopher" at times, but it always feels completely sincere. He's bracingly self-critical at times, which is refreshing. Though I would have been interested to see him go deeper into his relationship with Marilyn - the bits where she asks him to turn off the camera are fleeting but suggest some dynamics in his marriage that might have been interesting to explore... This was my first McElwee, but to me there's an interesting contrast with someone like Mekas, who's more deliberately lyrical. McElwee tackles a lot of deeply emotional topics but with a nearly uniformly flat effect. And while it doesn't generally have the poignancy of Mekas for me, there are moments where the understated voiceover in combination with the imagery really packs a punch - I'm thinking especially of the extended shot of the dying fish. |
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| kanafani | May 25 2018, 01:43 PM Post #7 |
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I really enjoyed this one. McElwee is really a pioneer of the “intensely personal home-movie documentary” genre. But beyond the intimate subject matter (family, marriage, coming to grips with parenthood, dealing with the death of parents, etc), his movies are also very engaging portraits of the American South. They capture the essence of a very particular time and place quite effortlessly. Really a superior example of “regional cinema”. The comparison with Mekas is interesting. They both tend to hyper-focus on ultra-intimate subject matter (the self and the atomic family), and in the process, in their best moments, they capture cosmic-sized impressions about our world. I really don’t understand why works like McElwee’s (so immediately engaging, so heartfelt, about subject matter that anybody on planet earth can relate to) are so underseen. In an ideal world, this is what “reality television” would look like. |
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| Mario Gaborovic | May 28 2018, 09:07 PM Post #8 |
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g legs' wife's lover
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I love the guy's style, totally intimate as it should be; though personally I prefer phenomena as subject, rather than lives of usual folks who offer little than what I already know, need to know, or want to delve into.
Edited by Mario Gaborovic, May 28 2018, 09:09 PM.
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| Mauries | May 28 2018, 09:33 PM Post #9 |
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g legs' sweetheart
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In documentary, or also in fiction? |
| The Economy stinks, bees are dying, and movies are pretty much all sequels now | |
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| Mario Gaborovic | May 28 2018, 09:44 PM Post #10 |
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g legs' wife's lover
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No, no, documentary of course! Wait to see my next pick.
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| Mauries | May 29 2018, 08:23 AM Post #11 |
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g legs' sweetheart
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Yeah, I thought so. I was asking because I never really get the hard distinction between fiction and documentary. Every film is in a way some sort of hybrid, and even the most surreal fictions start from reality. I'm curious what is making the difference for you, that you prefer phenomena over ordinary people in doc and not in fiction? |
| The Economy stinks, bees are dying, and movies are pretty much all sequels now | |
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| Mario Gaborovic | May 29 2018, 10:13 PM Post #12 |
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g legs' wife's lover
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I prefer phenomena in both fiction and reality. If you ask me why, I could draw a parable and say it's just like you don't hang around with everyone, but choose friends among individuals that offer something different than most others. I bet you're a sucker for cinema verite, am I right? |
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| Mauries | May 30 2018, 10:59 AM Post #13 |
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g legs' sweetheart
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I am Life is very rich and I see beauty everywhere - when a specific theme or phenomena is the starting point of a film, I tend to feel more pushed in a certain direction (depending on the approach of course). I prefer more relatable themes and observational cinema. I guess I also choose my friends based on if I can relate to them. Edited by Mauries, May 30 2018, 10:59 AM.
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| The Economy stinks, bees are dying, and movies are pretty much all sequels now | |
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| Lencho of the Apes | Jun 11 2018, 05:55 AM Post #14 |
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Let's go do some crimes
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It took me this long to catch up with this; I apologize. Nothing really to add, except to mention how elegantly it's structured -- another really striking feature. |
| "The four cardinal points of the compass? In reality, there are only three: North and South." | |
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| bure420 | Jun 11 2018, 07:22 AM Post #15 |
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deadpan darling
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Also just watched this. It was really interesting. I haven't seen too much of this personal documentary sorta stuff. I'll have to check out Sherman's March |
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