(no subject)

[spudtater]

Just finished watching Cold Mountain. Wish I hadn't. For some reason, instead of making me sad, it just made me coldly, infuriatingly angry. It's something that's only happened once before, and that was when I watched Million Dollar Baby. For both films, I think something about the plot — so much effort, so much staked on a long, arduous task... only to have things dashed at the end by some random event. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I know that's what life is really like; I'll even admit that not being able to deal with that may be a sign of emotional immaturity. But still. Jesus. I just don't react well at all to a plot like that.

And please, don't suggest that "you're actually upset with yourself because you don't want to cry". I'm not that ridiculous cliché of the bottled-up, bravado-and-stiff-upper-lip male twat. When I find a film sad, I cry at it. Sometimes I get embarassed about crying, but that's an entirely different kettle of emotions.

Men: do any of you know what I'm talking about? Ever watched a "sad movie" and found yourself shaking not with sobs, but with impotent rage? (I say 'men' because this feels to me like an extremely male emotional response. I'll accept that I may be wrong in this, though!) Please comment, as I'd like to know that I'm not alone! (Or, alternatively, that in fact I am a freak...)

Right. My emotions may have cooled down to a point where I'm able to get to sleep now. 'Night all.

P.S. Zoo pictures coming soon. Tomorrow, hopefully. Yay zoo!

Comments

[gominokouhai]

I've not seen either film cited above, so I'm guessing here.

Was it the unfairness of life that made you angry, or was it possibly a cheap and easy way out taken by the filmmakers? They needed to inject some drama and/or emotion, so they inserted a natural disaster or a random event instead of making the plot work?

The only example I can think of from my own experience was one of those terrible made-for-TV disaster movies. After the earthquake, the mother and grown-up daughter were stuck in the elevator for hours, and when they got rescued, they argued for five seconds about who got to climb out first... the daughter got to climb out first, and then there was an afterquake, and we got to watch the mother's face as the elevator plunged 37 floors....

Kept me up at night for weeks, that did, but I'm not sure it has any relevance to your question.

[(Anonymous)]

You need to see Million Dollar Baby. That is all. Classical 30's style storytelling, as potent and brilliant as anything John Ford directed.

And yes, the finale left me shaken, with compassion and horror. Without it, we're talking a well-made feminist Rocky IV.

[scotm.livejournal.com]

Damn posting from work.. need to login. :(

[gominokouhai]

I could tell it was you anyway.

And I really don't care about pugilism. It doesn't matter what happens to the characters or the moral and emotional dilemmas they face, they're still going to be morons who punch each other for money.

Word of advice, feminist boxing girl! Learn to fucking type!

[scotm.livejournal.com]

"And I really don't care about pugilism."

Neither am I, really. It's a great drama about a boxer, not a boxing drama. If you value my judgment, and I hope you do, you'll stick it on 'the list'.

I think there's an old review floating around on my LJ...

http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?film_id=10555 - this will do.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure. All I know is that it made me angry.

[scotm.livejournal.com]

The Grey Zone did that for me. Shaking in horror and blind rage.

Didn't care enough for Cold Mountain to feel much anyway.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

But... it's just not a good feeling. At least to me.

[scotm.livejournal.com]

When you watch a lot of movies, those that make you feel anything other than contempt for those involved are the interesting ones. Anger in cinema, that isn't contempt isn't a good feeling, but at least you're involved and caring about the story and characters enough to feel upset on their behalf.

Anyway, another one - don't watch Irreversible. That's another picture that punished me for watching it.

[chaos-monkey.livejournal.com]

I don't know what emotion the film was *meant* to elicit, but the one I remember making me physically shake with anger was "Priest". I watched it about 10 years ago and at the end left the room and went into the kitchen for a bit cos I couldn't sit still. I was crying, but it was crying, shaking rage, not sadness.

It doesn't feel nice, but it does alert you that you must feel quite stringly about the subject if a film can do that.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I do, at least in this instance. Million Dollar Baby, maybe. (You could argue that that was the intended emotional effect, thus making the film a bit of an anti-boxing polemic. Don't know if it was meant to be, though.)

Cold Mountain was just a guy going all the way back to find his girlfriend, only to get killed just afterwards. If that says anything, it's that life is shit, so why bother trying?

[chaos-monkey.livejournal.com]

ok, so its not a universal theory... :P