Loving these guesses, but no.
dtolman
1628
Isn’t Eyes Wide Shut the required guess whenever that last clue is given?
Okay, Bella is cheating, he’s just describing his own weekends at home now!
Lies, I don’t wear earrings.
- Sun
- Controversial Cigarette
- Demolition hammer
- Rabbit
- Earrings
- Steam bath
- Intense combing
- Orgy
- Heist
Not that. I’ll wait for the Americans to get out of bed until I start with the more obvious clues.
What’s your mother tongue @Buckaroo? I might have to run something by you concerning this movie.
Djscman
1636
Sexy Beast? I don’t remember an orgy, but there was certainly a heist and a boulder.
This cigarette causes some controvery.
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Demolition hammer - Utilized during break in and its sound is used very effectively.
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Rabbit - First, there is the rabbit that escapes with his life due to a rifle malfunction during a hunt in the Spanish countryside. Then there is the grotesque rabbit man that appears at two points in the movie, most notably when Gal is confronted about Don’s whereabouts while in London.
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Earrings - Gal steals them from one of the safe deposit boxes during the underwater heist and stuffs them into his Speedos as a present to his wife. They end up being the only booty he gets to bring back to Spain after not being paid for the job.
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Steam bath - The break in into the bank is accomplished from the steam bath next door.
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Intense combing - When the mastermind behind the heist, Ian McShane’s Teddy Bass is first introduced, he is pacing up and down in his apartment, wearing a black silk night gown and intensely combing his pitch black hair.
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Orgy - Teddy Bass first encounters the bank’s manager during an orgy with remarkably bored participants. He ends up taking one for the team in order to get close to the manager. Spanking, wanking, cocaine, camcorders. It was like ancient Rome
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Heist - The already mentioned underwater bank heist.
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Boulder - A boulder rolls down the hill next to Gal’s Spanish Hacienda and crashes into his pool, foreshadowing the arrival of unstoppable force Don Logan.
Don’t think I’ll ever tire of this movie and it is a remarkable feature debut of a unique directing talent. I was telling Buckaroo how much I loathe dubbing in movies, but against all odds, this movie that relies so heavily on language and its very disitinct rhythms and choice of words is equally good in German. I can’t think of any other movie where this is even remotely the case as well.
You’re up @Djscman!
Djscman
1638
That’s interesting that you thought it worked so well in German. I can’t think of any other possibilities for you – though I once had the opportunity to see American Beauty dubbed in German and subtitled in English, back when I thought it was the best movie ever. On the whole, it didn’t seem to be a good substitution. The exception was the Annette Bening character. Her dialogue positively crackled in German (or so it sounded to me, a non-speaker of the language).
Here’s the next one:
- Johannes Van Hoytl the Younger
- Robes
- Barley surviving
- Changes of perspective over time with new aspects rationed out
- Mexico
l had never even heard of this movie, but after having watched the cigarette scene, and based on what BellaConfusione says about it, I’m now dying to watch it! Probably tonight (although maybe not the German-dubbed version yet !)
Now, regarding our new movie, my guess may be too obvious to be correct, but The Grand Budapest Hotel?
There are plenty of great voice actors and the likes of DeNiro and Kingsley are blessed with particularly good ones. I still can’t stand dubbed movies as so much of a performance is conveyed just by tone and gets lost in translation.
The thing that stands out about Sexy Beast is the writing I think. This movie shouldn’t work - it has a very distinct rhythm and the cockney accent just cannot be replicated with generic tough guy talk. Instead of trying to ape the original (which never works), the writers went into very unexpected directions with their translations and the result is unique and can stand on its own. There are some expressions in there that I haven’t heard since my grandmother used them 30 years ago and it just works.
Don’t know why I’m telling you all this since none of you will ever experience it. I’m just glad I’ve finally found a real life example for what I believe Walter Benjamin described in his The task of the Translator essay that has haunted me for years.
Djscman
1641
I’m afraid it is that obvious, and it is The Grand Budapest Hotel.
was the painter of the, uh, “object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion”, the priceless artwork “Boy With Apple”. Of course he did not exist in this non-Wes Anderson universe.
The silliest part of the movie: there was a monastery peopled with monks that were both inscrutable and extremely eager to help, and they even handed out spare robes to outsiders.
Some characters, riding in a train, noted that they were stopping in a snowy barley field. They narrowly escaped. Then later, nearly the same thing happened with a different ending.
- Changes of perspective over time with new aspects rationed out
I thought playing around with aspect ratios as the time periods switched was a gimmick, but what a delightful, revelatory, and creative gimmick it was. There’s an excellent video on the recent Criterion Collection about it.
The shape of the port-wine birthmark on Saoirse Ronan resembled the political borders of Mexico, at least as of the Gadsen Purchase. Interesting that in an Earth with a Eastern-By-Central-Eastern European country like Zubrowka (within a stone’s throw, no doubt, to Ursula K. Le Guin’s Orsinia and Lucas Pope’s Arstotzka), there is still a Mexico.
You’re up, @Buckaroo!
l remembered the fake Dutch painter, and the aspect ratios somehow confirmed it, but l thought it could be a trap.
Also, l watched Sexy Beast yesterday. l enjoyed it mostly, Kingsley was great in it, but it felt very unconventionally structured and balanced. Not necessarily a bad point, but somehow unsettling, especially for a heist movie, which is generally such a by-the-numbers genre. Usually, the recruiting-a-team segment is only a small part at the beginning of the movie; here, it is basically the movie. The heist in itself, although somehow original, probably takes no more than 5 minutes on film, preparations included.
Also, l understand a bit more the heavy use of symbolic now that l know Jonathan Glazer also directed Under the Skin (probably a good movie, but clearly not my cup of tea).
Just a side note: am l the only one to be shocked both Ray Winstone and Amanda Redman (Gal and his wife DeeDee respectively) were only 42 when this was shot? ls it due to a great make-up job, or just to the fact they are both English?
Anyway, l’m glad l’ve watched it! Thanks for the recommendation!
Alright, a very easy one:
- Braces
- Many actors coming back from the director previous movie
- Loud music
- Drawing on the film (l dunno if i am clear here; think of something like the triangle Mia draws in Pulp Fiction for example)
- A bit of Schnitzler
Nobody? This will surely help:
