What Classics Did You See Last Week? (5 June to 11 June 2017
Jun 12, 2017 2:35:59 GMT
spiderwort likes this
Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 12, 2017 2:35:59 GMT
Limonádový Joe Aneb Konská Opera (Lemonade Joe) / Oldrich Lipský (1964). You probably won’t find the name of Oldrich Lipský among the list of names of major directors of the Czech New Wave, maybe because he started earlier than the usual names like Miloš Forman, Jaromil Jireš, or Jiří Menzel, possibly because he started earlier than the New Wave newcomers. (You can find another of his films in wmcclain's post, above.) However, “Lemonade Joe” stands firmly within the aesthetic mode of the New Wave, especially with the absurdist humor. (My understanding is that the Czech word “limonádový” doesn’t mean “lemonade” even though it is translated that way in the title and dialog subtitles. Its true translation, I have been told, is the generic “soda pop.” Modern online translators offer “gooey, smaltzy, and sloppy” as translations but these meanings are clearly not the intention in this film.) Anyhoo, “Lemonade Joe” is a spoof of Hollywood westerns, but not an “Airplane” style spoof nor of “Carry On Cowboy.” This western takes a decidedly surreal turn. All the stereotypes and tropes are there – the hero all in white, the virginal heroine, the evil saloon owner, and the dance hall girl looking for redemption – but their story is told with strange editing tricks, crazy camera angles, and events that defy gravity and reality. Still something of a cult film in today’s Czech Republic but, I believe, not well-known elsewhere in the world.
Adéla jeste nevecerela , Dinner for Adele (1978) and 'Ctyri vrazdy stací, drahousku' , Four Murders Are Enough, Darling (1971) are also great... Joe is my favourite
Here is a rave a did in April for spiderwort's "sequences with great editing" thread
Limonádový Joe aneb Konská opera , Lemonade Joe (1964)
Brilliantly directed by Oldřich Lipský , the film is a highly stylized , technically dazzling , outrageously funny, manic, multi layered parody of the American Western and capitalism.
A triumph of production design, which features jump-cuts, sped-up motion, shifts from objective to point-of-view shots, the striking colour scheme has each scene awash in monochromatic yellows, blues, greens, or reds, which frequently change mid-shot .
There is an incredible level of inventiveness in just about every sequence, the film opens with a highly spirited barroom fight moving to the incessant honky-tonk piano and player in the background,
singling out one "great edited sequence"...
The wonderfully edited shootout with the bad guys sees our hero Joe swing into action, one of the best gunfights ever...
Joe appears in stop-action shots on rooftops, in doorways, on the street, guns blaze from all angles and directions, it is a hilarious scene not just for the visual dynamics, the parody here has layers of depth.
An incredibly entertaining film... a must-see for anyone interested in filmmaking, a film to see multiple times to catch every bit of the ingenious detail. 10/10