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Matt wrote:

Beaver wrote:The Criterion DVD looks as competent as one might expect.

Such ecstatic praise! I hope no one's expectations will be unduly raised.

I thought the same thing. I hope Criterion uses that line as a pull-quote on their website.

I own the Spanish DVD and just by glancing at those Beaver screencaps, I can say for the sake of comparison that the Criterion looks miles better. The transfer on the Spanish disc is way too dark. A double-dip is on the way for me as I love this little movie.

This movie is amazing, one of those Criterion "surprise of the year" type films. I knew nothing about it going into it (not that I could have gleaned anything from reading this thread), had never seen a Saura film, and was seriously impressed. It's one of those rare films that made me want to watch it again immediately. I highly recommend it.

Oh, and I love that song and the fact that it's played almost in its entirety four times in the movie. Eat your heart out, Wong Kar-Wai.

I agree, it was a nice surprise. This was my first Saura and I'm anxiously awaiting the Eclipse box and trying to track down some of his other films on DVD. The clips in the included Portrait of Carlos Saura documentary look great. Hopefully they'll sell well and Criterion will release some of his other films.

For people who want to get comfortable with Saura, I suggest Bunuel and the Table of King Solomon. It's like Indiana Jones with Bunuel, Dali, and Lorca. Great fantasy scenes, and completly bizarre. Especially the fact it takes place in modern times, yet they dress like it's the twenties. Also, in typical Saura fashion, there is a flamenco scene too. Great stuff.

That's my favorite film of his, and maybe his most accessible.

That was one of the films that really intrigued me from the clips. A lot of his DVD's seem to be out of print. Are there any good English friendly versions that anyone can recommend that are readily available?

criterionsnob wrote:That was one of the films that really intrigued me from the clips. A lot of his DVD's seem to be out of print. Are there any good English friendly versions that anyone can recommend that are readily available?

Not that I know of. I had to order a DVD from Spain with no subtitles. I think they may sell one somewhere with subs, or so I've heard. I never really bothered. I understand every single word of Spanish, but still have problems actually saying a single word.

I've never ordered from Xploited Cinema, but they seem to have several

The film is an absolute gem. If you're interested in the song that all the kids are going crazy over, here it is:

Jeanette - Porque te vas

Narshty wrote:The film is an absolute gem. If you're interested in the song that all the kids are going crazy over, here it is:

Jeanette - Porque te vas

that's hilarious... I love how there's a dozen people "singing" but only one voice to be heard.

The versión en francés of Porque te vas does not have nearly the same amount of charm as the Spanish version.

Matt wrote:This movie is amazing, one of those Criterion "surprise of the year" type films. I knew nothing about it going into it (not that I could have gleaned anything from reading this thread), had never seen a Saura film, and was seriously impressed. It's one of those rare films that made me want to watch it again immediately. I highly recommend it.

Oh, and I love that song and the fact that it's played almost in its entirety four times in the movie. Eat your heart out, Wong Kar-Wai.

It will definitely be a contender for my "best surprise" in this years CF.org awards. I saw it for the first time a couple of months ago in a 35mm print as part of the Janus retrospective. I previously had little knowledge of the film or Saura, and had no interest in the disc when it was first announced. After seeing it in the theater though, I couldn't wait to get home and pre-order it. I dig the annoying song too, and I think it's an integral part of one of the film's greatest virtues: the evocation of a specific time and place. In truth I don't know shit about what it was like to be a kid in Spain in 1976, but for two hours, I was one. Great stuff.

I'm surprised how many people on this forum hadn't seen any Saura until this came out on DVD. What the hell....that's what makes Criterion great. Now if they just get cracking on The Garden of Delights, I'll be happy.

Just saw it and loved it. My only misgiving is for the voiceovers by the adult Ana in the form of her mother. They were unnecessary.

GringoTex wrote:Just saw it and loved it. My only misgiving is for the voiceovers by the adult Ana in the form of her mother. They were unnecessary.

But I think she's not really supposed to be in the form of her mother. Granted, it's the same actress, but they dubbed a different voice for Geraldine Chaplin when she does the monologues as Ana. I was thinking that maybe Ana, as an adult, has difficulty remembering her mother and so just remembers her as kind of looking like herself (Ana).

Matt wrote:I was thinking that maybe Ana, as an adult, has difficulty remembering her mother and so just remembers her as kind of looking like herself (Ana).

This brought up an interesting point for me. I was watching the movie as grounded in the present, and so the adult Ana felt like a time traveler from the future- it was almost like a sci-fi element that felt intrusive to me.

Of course, now it's not 1976 but 2007, and so the adult Ana is no longer from the future but in the present. Reading the action of the movie as grounded in the past, I no longer object to the adult Ana. Perspective's everything.

GringoTex wrote:Just saw it and loved it. My only misgiving is for the voiceovers by the adult Ana in the form of her mother. They were unnecessary.

The reason the dubbed voice is necessary, is to distinguish the two characters; Ana (as the adult) and Ana's mother, due to them being played by the same character (to avoid confusion as to who is who).

Additionally, I read on this Site (in Spanish) saying that as Ana's mother has a slight English accent it wouldn't make sense for Ana to have lived all of her life in Spain and having that strange accent too, thus the need for the dubbed voice.

Thanks, kev, (and welcome to the forum) but that doesn't really address why Saura cast Chaplin in both roles in the first place.

I also loved this film... I keep planning to pop it back in but keep getting preempted by something else. I knew nothing of it and blindbought, and was absolutely mesmerized with my gut stuck in my throat the whole time.

The great thrill of the song as well as the hangout/dancing scenes is it absolutely suddenly sees you as a 6 or 7 yr old totally digging that song on a childs terms.. the movie sets you up to be completely ready for it by slipping you into the childs world.. then does the most sneakily natural thing-- get you bopping to kiddy bubble gumm pop.

He so preceisely recreates the world of Little Kid Hangout, those scenes-- even for a dude who grew up in a house w 3 brothers & no sisters, like me-- were total nostaligic magic. This and BEEHIVE are just fucking precious.

Matt wrote:Thanks, kev, (and welcome to the forum) but that doesn't really address why Saura cast Chaplin in both roles in the first place.

Thanks Matt. My take on it was simply that Ana resembled her mother and rather than trying to find another actress that would cast well as Ana the adult he chose G. Chaplin due to the supposed similarity (and I guess convenience). I'm sure there's a point in the film where the maid says something like you look exactly like your mother, which furthers the fact that she 'supposedly' looked liked her. I'm not really sure, it's all that I can come up with.

I wonder if Saura did this because he wants us to think that young Ana has bascially turned into the same person her mother was. Perhaps she is also depressed and going through a failing marriage just like her mom and this is just another way of saying that we all become our parents.

To echo Matt, the film is amazing. I'm not sure that Ana Torrent's performance is acting (in the sense of consciously creating and inhabiting a character), but her moody, willful, intense persona--and those EYES--are mesmerizing, and reason enough for Saura to write the screenplay for her. And yet, there is an intelligence and maturity behind those eyes. The scene with her made up in lipstick and wig (playing a particularly dead-on version of "House" with her sisters) is alone worth the price of the DVD.

I think it cheapens Saura's achievement to see the film as political allegory, as some have done.

It's a film I look forward to revisiting.

Also ... for those of us not fluent in Spanish, here are the Spanish lyrics and an English translation of "Porque te vas". Like many pop songs of the 60s and 70s, I instantly liked it, but it's charms will likely fade the longer it's stuck in my head (it's wedged in there pretty tightly right now).

FilmFanSea wrote:I think it cheapens Saura's achievement to see the film as political allegory, as some have done.

Why? How many times is the personal and political fused this well? It should be lauded as a political allegory.