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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 5, 2018 4:42:17 GMT
Something happens and you get a chance to either start your life over as a "different person" OR to realize that what you are, and what you have are, after all, maybe not as bad as you thought they were. The first film that will come to mind will possibly (ok, probably) be 
My personal favorite of the "possibility for change" films: 
An injury leads to becoming a "new person" : 
I can think of a bunch more but will turn this over to anyone who wants to add to the thread, Essays and images welcomed and encouraged, as always. Thanks in advance to all contributions and contributors.
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Post by mikef6 on Aug 5, 2018 5:11:35 GMT
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Post by mattgarth on Aug 5, 2018 7:23:47 GMT
SLIDING DOORS (1998) -- Londoner Gwyneth Paltrow's career and love life depends on whether she catches a train, seen both ways in parallel.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 5, 2018 9:49:42 GMT
  and many other versions of the story. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2018 13:01:35 GMT
 A film about what might have been if she had made a different decision. |
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Post by bravomailer on Aug 5, 2018 13:18:05 GMT
The Border – Jack Nicholson breaks from the corruption of the Border Patrol.
Bad Boys – early Sean Penn film about a petty criminal changing his life.
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Post by petrolino on Aug 5, 2018 15:08:15 GMT
SLIDING DOORS (1998) -- Londoner Gwyneth Paltrow's career and love life depends on whether she catches a train, seen both ways in parallel. A source of inspiration to the makers of 'Sliding Doors' was Krzysztof Kieslowski's 'Blind Chance' (1987) in which a man struggles to catch a train.
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Post by bravomailer on Aug 5, 2018 16:21:18 GMT
Well, the Ludovico Technique seemed to hold promise for Alex.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 5, 2018 17:02:10 GMT
Well, the Ludovico Technique seemed to hold promise for Alex. I was going to have to ask … but my eyes were suddenly opened ! … a film I have never seen and won't ever see (as previously noted in the "films I will never watch no matter how good they are said to be " thread  ) Great for this thread , from what I have heard, |
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Post by wmcclain on Aug 5, 2018 19:12:44 GMT
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Post by wmcclain on Aug 5, 2018 19:15:50 GMT
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Post by petrolino on Aug 5, 2018 20:18:14 GMT
"I wanted to see Anne Francis (1930-2011) again. She had a stressed beauty with both bright and dark sides."
- wmcclain
Understandable.
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Post by london777 on Aug 6, 2018 6:09:56 GMT
BAT and I think along the same lines. We have an almost telepathic understanding. Maybe we were twins in a previous life? The day before he started this thread I posted this:
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Post by Aj_June on Aug 6, 2018 6:16:21 GMT
BAT and I think along the same lines. We have an almost telepathic understanding. Maybe we were twins in a previous life? The day before he started this thread I posted this: Well, as someone once said to me on this board, "great movie lovers think along the same line". We are all true cinephiles here! |
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Post by Aj_June on Aug 6, 2018 6:22:56 GMT
I do love to mention that Ikiru is very often compared and contrasted with another great movie Umberto D. (1952) by Vittorio De Sica. Both movies have in lead role ageing characters who are about to fail. But what path they choose results in different endings. While Ikiru was more arbour optimism and hope, Umberto D showed human indifference to suffering of others. Both are great movies nonetheless. petercochran.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/umbert_d_and_ikiru.pdf |
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Post by london777 on Aug 6, 2018 6:24:03 GMT
25th Hour (2002) dir: Spike Lee. My favorite by him after "Do the Right Thing". Comes complete with alternative resolutions to the story.
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) dir: Powell and Pressburger. Does not meet either of BAT's conditions, but the hero certainly gets a second chance to live. I think BAT was looking for films where the protagonist learns a moral lesson? Peter D Carter (David Niven) will just carry on what he was doing (being a poet and war hero), because he was damned near perfect anyway. (Well, he would be, he's English).
The Family Man (2000) dir: Brett Ratner. Nick Cage learns to settle for what he has got. Very much BAT's category two.
Does the kid in Big (1988) dir: Penny Marshall become a better person for his experiences?
There is raft of other swapping identity movies which presume to teach a moral lesson:
Vice Versa (1948) dir: Peter Ustinov (and remakes)
Freaky Friday (2003) dir: Mark Waters
etc. etc.
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Post by london777 on Aug 6, 2018 6:57:42 GMT
Well, the Ludovico Technique seemed to hold promise for Alex. An unusual feature of Clockwork Orange (1971) dir: Stanley Kubrick is that the film is based on the American edition of the book, which omits Anthony Burgess' 21st and final chapter in which Alex genuinely and finally reforms. The American publishers, and following them the studio and Kubrick, all preferred the dark and despairing ending we now have. The author, Burgess, was disgusted with the changes. "Hollywood Endings" are notorious and ridiculed worldwide, and this is a rare case of the opposite being true. The "American" view is that Burgess' ending was unrealistically optimistic. Maybe because there was never much hope of it being a "popular" film and being soon pigeon-holed as an art house film? |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 6, 2018 12:06:07 GMT
RE: A Matter of Life and Death (1946) dir: Powell and Pressburger. Does not meet either of BAT's conditions, but the hero certainly gets a second chance to live. I think BAT was looking for films where the protagonist learns a moral lesson? Peter D Carter will just carry on what he was doing (being a poet and war hero), because he was damned near perfect anyway.
Never gave a thought about "moral lessons" as such. Big and the body switch films are fine and I planned to post them if no one else did. I've never seen the Matter of Life and Death , if you think it fits, great ! london777
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Post by london777 on Aug 6, 2018 14:55:34 GMT
I've never seen the Matter of Life and Death , if you think it fits, great! Maybe "A Matter of Life and Death" does not really fit. But never hurts to give it a plug. I urge you to see it. DVDs are available in the US under the title "Stairway to Heaven" for under five dollars (+p&p). Many people rate it the best British movie ever made. |
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Post by london777 on Aug 6, 2018 14:57:12 GMT
Never gave a thought about "moral lessons" as such. Maybe not consciously, but I would have thought that was the whole point of the first two movies you mention. Phil (Bill Murray) learns, after a long and painful process (do we know how many iterations he makes?), to stop being an asshole. George Bailey (James Stewart), after a quicker, but equally painful, process learns not to despair (a great sin theologically). Massive moral lessons. |
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