Yogi's Movie Consumption Blog

A death obsessed young man encounters a crazy, but spirited elderly lady and a most improbable love story unfolds. After "Being there", I felt pleasured recognize the director's trademark. Slow editing, a penchant for very long shots and an incredible attention to production design. The story is rarely cut for punch lines and once in a while I felt that he would linger around a bit too long after the point was made. (Most notably in the shot where the 'date' runs off after presumably having seen him burning himself in the garden) Although it is too early to derive anything from only having seen two of Ashby's films I had the impression that the films don't take place in the US, but they seemed to fit the general mental landscape of the quirky English upper class whose brains deteriorate in lavish mansions somewhere in the countryside as the growing grass on their perfect lawns watches them wither away morally. In any case, both films have an ...

A young undertaker falls in love with the daughter of the official executioner. This was quite the discovery - incredibly funny and nicely paced. I enjoyed this movie from beginning to end. There is a tendency that everybody talks at the same time, which made it sometimes very hard to follow what they were saying. But mostly, the scenes were so hilarious that it was more than enough just to grab the snippets of the conversation - and one could still understand really well what was going on. I haven't seen this kind of comedy in newer films, I wonder why - maybe Curb your enthusiasm is coming close sometimes. The political tones, although still present and discernible, have faded a bit in the passing of time and Spain being a democracy now. Some of the more socially concerned details do still show through quite clearly. Pacing: The development of the story is slow at first, but that's got more to do that I didn't really know what to expect from it - when I realized ...

A couple tries to get rid of a whole car filled with money in the Iranian highland. An amazing film and with a lot of humor. The first scene was hilarious in that it immediately immersed the audience in the tension and in the absurd humor of the whole film. After a while, though, the fun turns rather somber and sinister. The story is divided very noticeable into scenes - but even though the framework is highly visible the film works nevertheless. Especially the first scene was quite interestingly written. Haghighi has worked quite a bit on the balance in between the three actors - every 20 seconds or so somebody else has "control" of the situation. Establishing something like a "slapstick" drama - and it also turns quite physical at the end.

A betrayed remote family member of the Duke of Asgoyne murders his way to the top of the inheritance succession. An extremely amusing story - the comedy comes a lot from the comedic variations on the same kind of difficult action (ie killing the next relative in line) - watching the actors was a delight and some of the impersonations of Alec Guiness were jaw-dropping, especially the old priest, slightly senile and the "fool of the family". The open ending helped me to keep the tension and fresh in memory. There seems to have been a different ending in the US, which I haven't seen, but was supposed to give "moral" closure, as crime was not allow to pay back then.