That movie! So long ago. I saw it in the Ghent movie festival in the early seventies together with some friends during our fabulous hippy trip. I still remember parts of it now, especially where the parents behave doubtfully.

I didn't even have sex at fifteen. Sometimes this makes me sad, but sometimes it makes me sad I had sex at nineteen.

Forman

I've never seen that movie.
I thought Goya's Ghosts was a letdown. Valmont didn't do it for me eiher.
Man on the Moon, Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on the other hand are probably among the best films ever made.

Laura loved "Juno". I absolutely hated it.
I really liked "No country for old men". Laura hated it.
We're going to see "The diving bell and the butterfly" next.

Arnon

Happy birthday

Oscar

I liked 'No contry for old man ', but the scenario wasn't that satisfying..

Oscar

Why did you hate Juno?

David

I plan to see Valmont tomorrow.

Monica

Thanks!

Arnon

Please let me know what you think of Valmont.

speaking about great movies

Don't forget to go to The banishment.

Arnon

Juno's supposedly witty sarcasms struck me as tedious, repetitive and contrived. I didn't think that the movie was funny at all. Yet I found myself part of an audience that kept laughing out loud throughout the film. This was almost unbearable.

Oscar

But Oscar, I thought that Juno’s contrived witticisms were part of her adolescent charm. They didn’t make me laugh, but somehow they made Juno vulnerable.
(I was reminded that my witticisms were contrived as well, when I was fifteen.)

Arnon

I guess I'm getting old. (I wasn't that witty when I was fifteen.) I failed to see the charm in Judo's witticisms, which to me rendered her character incredible and unsubstantial.

Arnon

To this I should add that I was the only person in the theater who laughed out loud, and repeatedly, during the scene in "No Country for Old Men" where a dog chases the main character swimming down a river.

Oscar

I missed “No Country for Old Men” on purpose.
Juno’s character is not very much believable, and her witticisms are not funny (her boyfriend is much funnier) – nevertheless the absence of really funny witticisms is part of her charm I argue.
A character can be charming and not believable, in the movies that is -- maybe also in literature.
Juno’s parents were even less believable. Nevertheless I found her stepmother at least once funny, but I cannot remember why exactly.
I don’t think Juno is a funny movie. Basically Juno is about rewarding suffering and the denial of suffering.
Juno is saying: You suffer, don’t get mad, you get air miles for suffering, so get over it ASAP.
That people seem to take this message seriously and laugh about it at the same time is telling.
The actress who plays Juno is good.
The fact that Laura liked Juno is probably a sign that she thinks time has come to reproduce. Maybe your dislike of the movie is connected to you having a different opinion on this matter.

Arnon

You may be right, perhaps Juno is a movie about suffering. In light of this, my response to the movie was perhaps just very adequate: I suffered watching it.
I made up for the mishap of watching "Juno" by seeing Godard's "Pierrot le fou" in a local movie theater. This movie, which I found much more credible than "Juno", left me feeling very satisfied. And I almost fell in love with Anna Karina.

Pierrot le fou

The trailer of "Pierrot le fou":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIhzVi33IBE

Oscar

I think I have "Pierrot le Fou"on dvd, but I cannot find it.
Credibility is not the sole criterion for judging a movie. If you think that Juno is not charming, “Juno” – the movie – fails, absolutely. I was just surprised that you hated the movie. Juno is about the denial of suffering, more than about suffering itself.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is intense, a good movie. There is a scene on the beach in this movie that made me cry.

Arnon

Laura and I just saw "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and both really liked it. We saw the film in the one remaining and original local theater in this city. The theater is home to an old cat, which walks around the theater and likes to sit on peoples' laps.
We were moved by the movie, but not moved to tears. Earlier this week, I was extremely moved by a live musical performance of a piece for two groups of brass. The piece was very short, yet it triggered an immediate and powerful emotional response in me that caught me completely off guard.

Oscar

Yes, there is something cerebral about “The Diving bell” – for some strange reasons it hardly ever happens that music moves me to tears, which is not to say that I’m insensitive to music.
But for the hardcore emotion I need a narrative. Maybe this is proof that I’m too sentimental. Not that I long to be sentimental, quite the opposite.

Arnon,
Why did you miss No country for old men on purpose?
It's an impressive movie.The dialogues, the perfect 'cadrage' of scenes,
the details, the landscapes,...
I liked Le scaphandre et le papillon (The diving bell...) also very much.
With tears. You didn't see it in French I presume?
I mentioned The banishment earlier. A breathtaking Russian movie.
If you have the chance...next time you are in Europe.If not, let me know.