Can anyone list highly entertaining shocking, creative, avant-garde films?
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Can anyone list highly entertaining shocking, creative, avant-garde films?
I finally saw Sweet Movie, a highly entertaining wacky film. There seems to be a lot to it more than just the shock value, but i'm probably not smart enough/educated enough to totally understand it (Yugoslavia, communism, Katyn massacre, etc). There are some interviews on the DVD which explain the movie, but it's not as clear as such as listening to the director's commentary of The Holy Mountain, in which Jodorowsky explains everything. Here are the good ones that I can think of:
1. The Holy Mountain
2. Sweet Movie
3. Mathew Barney's Cremasters
4. Clockwork Orange
5. The Idiots
I guess Ken Park, El Topo, and Taxidermia could go in the list as well, but I didn't really like them...
Can anyone recommend any other highly entertaining, shocking, arty, avant-garde films? I say entertaining because I like my films with energy, music and visuals - and a storyline which is ripping on the norms of society. I'm not interested in seeing a controversial boring film which is 5 hours long or slow or the whole film is shot in one take...
1. The Holy Mountain
2. Sweet Movie
3. Mathew Barney's Cremasters
4. Clockwork Orange
5. The Idiots
I guess Ken Park, El Topo, and Taxidermia could go in the list as well, but I didn't really like them...
Can anyone recommend any other highly entertaining, shocking, arty, avant-garde films? I say entertaining because I like my films with energy, music and visuals - and a storyline which is ripping on the norms of society. I'm not interested in seeing a controversial boring film which is 5 hours long or slow or the whole film is shot in one take...
Last edited by toddly6666; 03-01-08 at 08:15 PM.
#3
Excellent choices! Here's mine:
Bunuel: Viridiana, The Milky Way, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeiosie
Fassbinder - two favorites of mine are Satan's Brew and The Stationmaster's Wife, unforgettable mini-epics of heatbreak and humiliation.
Addio Zio Tom - I know, when I rented it I thought "OK, let's have a good laugh at some overhyped Italian sleaze that's stilted and amateurish in the end." I couldn't have been more wrong: from the famous Age of Saturn-era of filmmaking, this stuff is inflammatory, incredibly detailed and not for the squeamish. It's even decently acted (although the uncut print has southern blacks dubbed in Italian which is weird) and what an invigorating score!
Bergman - how about Persona? Or Cries and Whispers? On a Scandinavian tip -
Bloody Angels - Detective drama with a genuinely scary and heartfelt solution. Someone post with the original title, please?
more when I think of it.
Bunuel: Viridiana, The Milky Way, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeiosie
Fassbinder - two favorites of mine are Satan's Brew and The Stationmaster's Wife, unforgettable mini-epics of heatbreak and humiliation.
Addio Zio Tom - I know, when I rented it I thought "OK, let's have a good laugh at some overhyped Italian sleaze that's stilted and amateurish in the end." I couldn't have been more wrong: from the famous Age of Saturn-era of filmmaking, this stuff is inflammatory, incredibly detailed and not for the squeamish. It's even decently acted (although the uncut print has southern blacks dubbed in Italian which is weird) and what an invigorating score!
Bergman - how about Persona? Or Cries and Whispers? On a Scandinavian tip -
Bloody Angels - Detective drama with a genuinely scary and heartfelt solution. Someone post with the original title, please?
more when I think of it.
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thanks for the recommendations...after watching some of the recommended trailers and reading reviews, I'm probably just gonna buy The Milky Way and W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism, and rent the others if possible...
Where can I find the DVD for Addio Zio Tom?
Where can I find the DVD for Addio Zio Tom?
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*French disc is English friendly.
By Desson Howe
Washington Post Staff Writer

Set on the eve of the French Revolution, "Marquis" is unbridled bestiality in wig and powder. Imagine Jim Henson's Muppets or the cast of "Animal Farm" whipped into a lewd frenzy by David Cronenberg and you'll have some idea about this French movie.
Based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade, this bawdy, one-of-a-kind production features human bodies in puppet-like animal heads, experiencing various throes of sexual, moral and political decadence in and around the famous Bastille prison.
Bert and Ernie would be traumatized for life.
The "story" is centered on the Marquis of the title, a dog-headed personality who -- in the sleazy context of this movie -- turns out to be the most moral of the bunch. Imprisoned apparently for defecating on a cross, he spends his days writing, evading his lascivious rodent-like jailer Ambert and, uh, talking to his sexual organ. The latter turns out to be a rather friendly, chatty being by the name of Colin.
The Marquis is surrounded by bipedal animals ranging from pigs to cows to camels. Justine, a bovine little number, was raped by the king. She has been imprisoned with the hope that the Marquis will further dishonor her, thus indemnifying the lusty monarch.
There's horse-headed Juliette, a mistress of the rooster-governor, who is working behind the scenes to free the prisoners. There's a pigheaded fellow called Pigonou, who's a pork trafficker and who will, if you insist, slice you a piece of hogmeat from his own leg.
As for the activities in this movie, readers of de Sade will need no further explanation. Just about every taboo gets its due here, from masturbation to fellatio to necrophilia. The thing that distinguishes "Marquis" from straight-out pornography is its wicked, satirical agenda. There is some kind of story and commentary going on, involving society's hypocrisies and, well, the French revolution.
It is intriguing to experience this alternate universe, a world of animalistic craziness created by director Henri Xhonneux and graphic (literally) artist Roland Topor. But there is no towering, transcendent quality to the movie. For the most part, despite that satire, it's a whimsical, one-dimensional titillation of the senses. But it does have its amusing elements. At the end, for instance, when the prison doors are opened, look for Colin to make a clean break.
MARQUIS (Unrated) -- In French with subtitles.
Washington Post Staff Writer

Set on the eve of the French Revolution, "Marquis" is unbridled bestiality in wig and powder. Imagine Jim Henson's Muppets or the cast of "Animal Farm" whipped into a lewd frenzy by David Cronenberg and you'll have some idea about this French movie.
Based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade, this bawdy, one-of-a-kind production features human bodies in puppet-like animal heads, experiencing various throes of sexual, moral and political decadence in and around the famous Bastille prison.
Bert and Ernie would be traumatized for life.
The "story" is centered on the Marquis of the title, a dog-headed personality who -- in the sleazy context of this movie -- turns out to be the most moral of the bunch. Imprisoned apparently for defecating on a cross, he spends his days writing, evading his lascivious rodent-like jailer Ambert and, uh, talking to his sexual organ. The latter turns out to be a rather friendly, chatty being by the name of Colin.
The Marquis is surrounded by bipedal animals ranging from pigs to cows to camels. Justine, a bovine little number, was raped by the king. She has been imprisoned with the hope that the Marquis will further dishonor her, thus indemnifying the lusty monarch.
There's horse-headed Juliette, a mistress of the rooster-governor, who is working behind the scenes to free the prisoners. There's a pigheaded fellow called Pigonou, who's a pork trafficker and who will, if you insist, slice you a piece of hogmeat from his own leg.
As for the activities in this movie, readers of de Sade will need no further explanation. Just about every taboo gets its due here, from masturbation to fellatio to necrophilia. The thing that distinguishes "Marquis" from straight-out pornography is its wicked, satirical agenda. There is some kind of story and commentary going on, involving society's hypocrisies and, well, the French revolution.
It is intriguing to experience this alternate universe, a world of animalistic craziness created by director Henri Xhonneux and graphic (literally) artist Roland Topor. But there is no towering, transcendent quality to the movie. For the most part, despite that satire, it's a whimsical, one-dimensional titillation of the senses. But it does have its amusing elements. At the end, for instance, when the prison doors are opened, look for Colin to make a clean break.
MARQUIS (Unrated) -- In French with subtitles.

*French disc isn't English friendly.
If Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern's take-notice debut "Aaltra" was cinema of the absurd, their sporadically exhilarating "Avida" heads toward the heights of experimental theater. Somewhere between Monty Python, Jacques Tati and a slideshow of New Yorker cartoons, this critique of life's cruel inconsistency confirms the French co-directors' gift for reinterpreting surrealism in a humorously modern key. Though their often disgusting imagery may alienate the squeamish and send fans of conventional comedy running for the exit, pic's very wildness could earn it a cult following via festivals and maybe attract younger audiences.
Granted, there are some serious longeurs and the sketches are not all equally funny, but enough top-drawer material is packed in the opening half to wring a laugh from almost anyone.
Animals appear in number, and their mistreatment ties in to various abominations to humans via a quote from Chief Seattle: "Whatever happens to animals will soon happen to man." To illustrate the thesis, film opens with a dwarf picador sticking lances into the neck of a rhino lumbering across the lawn, then committing suicide.
Next, a wealthy man (deadpan cameo by screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere) seals himself into his fully automated home, surrounded by high walls and pit bulls, only to fall victim to the most dangerous person around: himself.
His deaf mute dog handler (played by the hairy Kervern) ends up working in a private zoo-cum-restaurant, where a rich gourmet (hilariously limned by director Claude Lelouch) weighs the merits of ordering roebuck or ostrich.
A plot of sorts develops when Kervern is drawn into a dog-napping by two ketamine-addicted zoo-keepers (Delepine and Eric Martin). The scheme fails, and instead they are forced to help the pooch's obese millionaire owner Avida (Velvet) carry out her death wish.
From here on out, the story turns a teeny bit flat and gradually tapers off, until the final shot (the only one in color) hits the spot again. The directors seem to have amused themselves casting and acting in the film. Kervern brings an animal dignity to his slave-like character, while mad hatter Delepine enjoys deforming his face with the futile application of scotch tape.
A good portion of the cast seems to have physical abnormalities. Velvet, the actress who plays Avida, is a half-dressed Venus of Willendorf so obese she can barely walk, like the physical image of her over-consuming class.
Even more than in "Aaltra," camerawork plays a key role in creating a surreal parallel universe. Hugues Poulain's amusing, carefully composed black-and-white cinematography takes animals, buildings, and people grotesquely out of context for shock effect. Shots are full of off-handed literary and artistic references, and are a good joke if you catch them.
Pro-B
Last edited by pro-bassoonist; 03-02-08 at 01:12 AM.
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Also, Zulawski is one of my top five favorite directors and his films are about as challenging and controversial as you could get in mainstream cinema without crossing into other territories. Szamanka comes very highly recommended (look up the review I have for more on it) (in fact, the mystery surrounding the main actress is as controversial as the feature is). Also the recently released The Devil - the one film I never managed to see in Poland but eventually obtained on VHS (now on DVD and part of my collection). You may like On the Silver Globe as it is slightly more easy to absorb, and if you are looking for a purely more mainstream shocker then his Trio Infernal is your ticket (I also posted a review here).
Here are some shots from Szamanka courtesy of the Zulawski forum:
http://www.andrzej-zulawski.com/Gallery-Chamanka.html
Ciao,
Pro-B
Last edited by pro-bassoonist; 03-02-08 at 01:13 AM.
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Pro-Bass, On the Silver Globe looks awesome...I'll get that one...I don't mind full-screen dvds, but I hate dubbed DVDs, so I ain't getting Szamanka any time soon.
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Originally Posted by mario_c
Bloody Angels - Detective drama with a genuinely scary and heartfelt solution. Someone post with the original title, please?
Dazza.
Last edited by Dazza; 03-02-08 at 09:40 AM.
#10
Originally Posted by toddly6666
thanks for the recommendations...after watching some of the recommended trailers and reading reviews, I'm probably just gonna buy The Milky Way and W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism, and rent the others if possible...
Where can I find the DVD for Addio Zio Tom?
Where can I find the DVD for Addio Zio Tom?
Pro-B, je t'aime! Those are some wild suggestions, as always.
Have I mentioned The Fourth Man by Verhoeven?
#14
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Originally Posted by mario_c
Bergman - how about Persona? Or Cries and Whispers? On a Scandinavian tip -
#18
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Fernando Arabal, novelist, playwright and co-founder of the "Panic Movement" (theatre) with Jodorowsky and artist Roland Topor. He also directed 7 feature films. I'd recommend Viva la Muerte and I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse. These are available from Cult Epics. There's also a boxset which also includes The Guernica Tree, probably his most straightforward film.
"He reconciles the holy and the blasphemous, where opposites meet and clash in a search for freedom and the absolute. A non-conformist, he is both an anarchist and a man of tradition."
Not that these are surrealist, shocking and disturbing films which make heavy use of symbolism so they are not easy to tackle. Knowledge of Spanish history (especially the Franco era) certainly helps. Otherwise you'lll just be grossed out and won't understand a damn thing.
"He reconciles the holy and the blasphemous, where opposites meet and clash in a search for freedom and the absolute. A non-conformist, he is both an anarchist and a man of tradition."
Not that these are surrealist, shocking and disturbing films which make heavy use of symbolism so they are not easy to tackle. Knowledge of Spanish history (especially the Franco era) certainly helps. Otherwise you'lll just be grossed out and won't understand a damn thing.

#19
DVD Talk Hero
And about Bunuel, a good introduction to his work would be Un Chien Andalou, and if you get bored, it's only 16 min long. 
You might also want to seek out Ken Russell's The Devils when it comes out in May.

You might also want to seek out Ken Russell's The Devils when it comes out in May.
#20
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Originally Posted by eXcentris
You might also want to seek out Ken Russell's The Devils when it comes out in May.
if you like The Devils' - you'll get a kick with Satánico pandemonium
#22
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I'm drawing a blank on the title, what's the movie about the girl and a tree like baby-thing that she keeps in the basement of the apartment complex that she lives in?
other films that are springin' to mind
The Reflecting Skin
In A Glass Cage - if paedophile/child murderer/homosexual deviant sex if up your alley, you'll enjoy it, it's not "entertaining" just flat out shocking - no other film has ever dared to depict or been so extreme on this topic.
it's a tad slow at points, and highly nihilistic but Joon-ho Bong's Memories of Murder is stunning.
Miike's Ichi and Dead or Alive 2: Birds
Sex and Zen
other films that are springin' to mind
The Reflecting Skin
In A Glass Cage - if paedophile/child murderer/homosexual deviant sex if up your alley, you'll enjoy it, it's not "entertaining" just flat out shocking - no other film has ever dared to depict or been so extreme on this topic.
it's a tad slow at points, and highly nihilistic but Joon-ho Bong's Memories of Murder is stunning.
Miike's Ichi and Dead or Alive 2: Birds
Sex and Zen
Last edited by Giles; 03-06-08 at 11:07 AM.
#23
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Originally Posted by Giles
I'm drawing a blank on the title, what's the movie about the girl and a tree like baby-thing that she keeps in the basement of the apartment complex that she lives in?