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I'm a 17 year old teenager from Australia who has developed a keen interest in philosophy from an interesting source - cinema.
For almost the last five years, I've possessed an intense passion for film, and naturally, comprehending the best of the artform relies on at least a basic understanding of modern philosophy.

I think it's best if I keep this introduction short, so any questions can be asked in this thread or inside the forums.

Thanks. :whistling:

EDIT: I'm having trouble uploading an avatar; apparently there are errors in "temporary writing". Anybody know anything about this?

@octobrist,

Welcome! (Newbie myself, although a much older one.)

Which films have you found particularly thought-provoking?

@Twirlip,

Well, the films I have found most intriguing are by Ingmar Bergman: His "Silence Trilogy" and earlier films (mid 50's early 60's) express his painful agnosticism.

Are you well versed in cinema? Also, my apologies for the belated reply.

@octobrist,

octobrist;133146 wrote:

Are you well versed in cinema?

I'm afraid not, no, although I do remember being very impressed by some of the films of Bergman and Fellini, in particular, when I was at university, a long time ago - and Renoir's La Regle du Jeu knocked me out, perhaps more than anything else.

Nowadays I hardly get to see anything that's not on UK terrestrial TV, which is very limiting. I was just interested in what you had to recommend, in case I could get hold of the DVDs, or might even get out to the cinema some time!

(I see there's a Film Appreciation Society forum here, so perhaps you would prefer to go into more detail there, as you wanted to keep this introduction short.)

@Twirlip,

Ah, yep. Do you remember what Bergman and Fellini films you saw? Of the latter director, I've only seen La Dolce Vita and 8?, but I will watch Satyricon this week. And I love The Rules of the Game, but unfortunately, that is the only film I have seen from Renoir. I have mainly been watching French New Wave and Kieslowski films in recent times. Dekalog is ten hours long, so I can't wait for it!

And yeah, I'll recommend anything to you anytime. Just ask.

Once again, so sorry for the late reply.

@octobrist,

octobrist;133167 wrote:

I will watch Satyricon this week.

Fellini's Satyricon is a nice film, but I suspect it would be rather confusing if you're unfamiliar with the book.

@ughaibu,

ughaibu;133169 wrote:

Fellini's Satyricon is a nice film, but I suspect it would be rather confusing if you're unfamiliar with the book.

Yeah, I suspected so. I was planning on just watching it for aesthetic value, and then "researching" it afterwards.

@octobrist,

Are you still having problems uploading an Avatar?

Oddly enough, I purchased (very cheaply and on sale) Satyricon just a few weeks ago; as I have seen it several times, it is still sitting in its plastic wrap (why do they make opening DVDs so difficult?). If you want to start a thread, that would give me an excuse to watch it.

Fellini, along with Bergman and Eisenstein seem to have achieved unique perspectives with their cinematic discourse, but I am sure others could also be mentioned.

Welcome to Philforum!
Regards,
John

@octobrist,

octobrist;133167 wrote:

Do you remember what Bergman and Fellini films you saw?

(Don't worry about taking time to reply. So do I, and, I'm pretty sure, so does everyone else. Perhaps you're used to 'chat' environments, where such delays could be construed as rude, and could cause confusion? Not here.)

Embarrassingly, I can't recall the title of a single one of the Bergman films I saw. This was in the early 1970s, and I have a very poor memory. But that doesn't explain it, because I do remember the titles of several of the Fellini films I saw at about the same time (perhaps because I've seen most of them again since then): La Dolce Vita (wonderful), 8 1/2 (left me cold), Satyricon (confusing, indeed), La Strada (heartbreakingly good, an early masterpiece), Roma (great), Amaracord (great), and above all, Juliet of the Spirits, which I think doesn't have the reputation of being the greatest of his films, and indeed it didn't make such a deep impression on me the second time I saw it, but for me at the time, it was up there with La Regle du Jeu and Dr. Strangelove in contention for being the greatest film I saw. Perhaps I was stoned at the time! This was the 1970s, after all. Perhaps that also explains my poor memory. :sarcastic:

@jgweed,

jgweed;133186 wrote:

Are you still having problems uploading an Avatar?

Not anymore. I tried saving the image onto my computer and then uploading it. Thankfully, it worked.
Cheers for the welcome.

Quote:

Embarrassingly, I can't recall the title of a single one of the Bergman films I saw. This was in the early 1970s, and I have a very poor memory. But that doesn't explain it, because I do remember the titles of several of the Fellini films I saw at about the same time (perhaps because I've seen most of them again since then): La Dolce Vita (wonderful), 8 1/2 (left me cold), Satyricon (confusing, indeed), La Strada (heartbreakingly good, an early masterpiece), Roma (great), Amaracord (great), and above all, Juliet of the Spirits, which I think doesn't have the reputation of being the greatest of his films, and indeed it didn't make such a deep impression on me the second time I saw it, but for me at the time, it was up there with La Regle du Jeu and Dr. Strangelove in contention for being the greatest film I saw. Perhaps I was stoned at the time! This was the 1970s, after all. Perhaps that also explains my poor memory. :sarcastic:

Yeah, that is strange how you don't remember a single Bergman film. I'd assume that one of those films you saw is featured in my avatar.
La Strada and Juliet of the Spirits are two others I've been meaning to watch. As I said before, I have not seen much Fellini.
And Dr Strangelove is great, but for me, 2001: A Space Odyssey is easily his greatest film. In fact, I'd place it as one of the very best American films (despite the fact it is partly British).

And yes. I've heard PLENTY about the 70's. :a-ok:

@octobrist,

Hello there. Welcome to the Philosophy Forum. There are others in the forum who share your passion for cinema and the arts and would be more than willing to discuss.

@Leonard,

Leonard;133429 wrote:

Hello there. Welcome to the Philosophy Forum. There are others in the forum who share your passion for cinema and the arts and would be more than willing to discuss.

Thank you very much.

I'll be doing university next year, and I was wondering, does a Major in Philosophy really open up many opportunities? Are there a lot of prospects involved in the field?

@octobrist,

octobrist;133414 wrote:

Yeah, that is strange how you don't remember a single Bergman film.

I can remember the titles of some I've seen, just not when I saw them (some were on UK TV, although not recently). I'm not a member of the Film Appreciation Society (and probably don't know enough for it to be worth joining, although I might browse there a bit to see), so I can't post this list there (entries copied from the IMDb):
# Ansikte mot ansikte (1976)
... aka Face to Face (USA)
... aka L'immagine allo specchio (Italy)
# Trollfl?jten (1975) (TV) (uncredited)
... aka The Magic Flute (Europe: English title) (USA)
# Scener ur ett ?ktenskap (1973)
... aka Scenes from a Marriage (USA)
# Persona (1966)
# Tystnaden (1963)
... aka The Silence (USA)
# Ansiktet (1958)
... aka The Face (UK)
... aka The Magician (USA)
# Det sjunde inseglet (1957)
... aka The Seventh Seal (UK) (USA)
I think those are the ones I've seen. I've bought a boxed set of DVDs of his films, but haven't watched any of them yet:
The Passion Of Anna
The Serpent's Egg
Hour Of The Wolf
Shame
What mostly sticks in my mind is an image of Erland Josephson, wearing women's clothes and being very depressed. Very like myself! I think that might have been in Face to Face. Whichever film it was, Liv Ullman was in it too, but that probably doesn't help to narrow it down much!
The other image that sticks in my mind was an incredibly scary supernatural face. I'm getting shivers just thinking of it now. Total silence. Possibly from The Face?
So, faces all round, then! Yours is from The Seventh Seal, I imagine? (Oddly, since it's so famous, that film didn't make much of an impression on me.)
Although I haven't seen any Bergman movies for ages, other more recent movies with a similarly truthful and bleak ambience are Magnolia (1999) and Happiness (also 1999). Magnolia, especially, is wonderful. I tend to find gloomy stories (and music) uplifting, probably because of the truthfulness. I must get round to reading Schopenhauer!
Do you like Pedro Almod?var? I've only seen All About My Mother (1999 again!), but I want to see more of his.

@Twirlip,

Twirlip;133503 wrote:

Yours is from The Seventh Seal, I imagine? (Oddly, since it's so famous, that film didn't make much of an impression on me.)

Very powerful film; the image of Death when Block first sees him is one of the iconic images of not just cinema, but 20th century art. The scene is so penetrative that it has survived countless parodies.

I also find it interesting that you have seen The Silence, but not the other two films from the trilogy! Both of them are much stronger films, with Winter Light being my favourite Bergman film, just before Persona.
Wild Strawberries and Autumn Sonata are two more that you MUST see.

Twirlip;133503 wrote:

Although I haven't seen any Bergman movies for ages, other more recent movies with a similarly truthful and bleak ambience are Magnolia (1999) and Happiness (also 1999). Magnolia, especially, is wonderful. I tend to find gloomy stories (and music) uplifting, probably because of the truthfulness.

Have not seen Happiness, but Magnolia is great. I love Anderson's use of Habanera during the development of relationships. Who can ever forget the "raining frogs" scene?

Twirlip;133503 wrote:

Do you like Pedro Almod?var? I've only seen All About My Mother (1999 again!), but I want to see more of his.

I have seen two Almodovar films, but unfortunately All About My Mother is not one of them. I've only seen Bad Education (2004) and Volver (2006). I must get onto him.

@octobrist,

Iican't put my finger on it right now, but I remember several discussion threads answering similar questions about the pursuit of a degree in Philosophy and whether it has marketable value. Perhaps someone can find them quickly and provide the links.
Speaking from my own experience, I would say it does, but in a somewhat indirect way.

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