Films

I saw a documentary about bizarre experiments done by the US Army, and goat-staring was indeed one of the features. I suppose it's one way to get paid and draw a Services pension, with the only prospect of any harm being a damn good butting.
 
krizon said:
Is it about experiments done by the US Army into trying to influence behaviour - didn't they try staring at animals in an effort to paralyse them (temporarily)? The idea being that if you could transmit powerful brainwaves to your enemy, then he'd obligingly fold up in place, while you stepped in to overrun his country. Sorry, to bring democracy and peace to his people.
Click to expand...

Isn't that what horse whisperers were supposed to be able to do?

The Russians discovered that by concentrating very hard on a person it is possible to raise their heartrate and blood pressure significantly. They were training people to induce strokes and heart attacks in various world leaders by using photographs of the intended victim.

The advances of modern science over age-old superstition/tradition - just replace the wax doll with a photo!
 
I'm working at Leeds International Film Festival so getting to see some films that I wouldn't normally watch. Today:

First Squad - Moment of Truth: A cross between a history documentary and a Manga fantasy in style. Pure fictitious. WWII Russians versus the Nazis, with a bit of the dark side thrown in. The animation was accomplished, but didn't try and get in the way of the story. Nice and tight at 70 odds minutes. Surprised how much I enjoyed it.

Latest from Da-Da-eR: The reunification of Germany surreally demonstrated by two clowns. Beautifully composed, if a little bizarre...

Cold Souls: Paul Giametti plays Paul Giametti who has his soul removed, doesn't like being soulless, rents a new soul, wants his old soul back. It could have been better and is certainly no Eternal Sunshine. Good casting though...

Art & Copy: Documentary about the creatives that changed the face of advertising. Pretty interesting, some good insight into some pretty wacky characters. I'm not sure it will be as memorable as some of their ads though.
 
Pontypool: My kind of Zombie film, hardly any zombies at all! Instead all the action is concentrated on a local radio DJ and his producer as the story breaks and unfolds. The whole film is shot inside the studio. Great drama.
 
Bets/grassy - I left it as it was, wondering who might be first in the line... :lol:

Hi, Redhead: mmm, bit more to it than that (horse-whispering). And staring into a horse's face is very confrontational, so no, that's something they wouldn't do to get co-operation! It's really all part of studying animal behaviour, and adapting yourself to their ways, rather than trying to force your own human code onto them. Thus, the woman in South Africa who 'works' with baboons, the late Diane Fossy among the gorillas, Jane thingy among the chimps, bear whisperers, bush trackers, dog trainers, you name it. Have you had the chance to see a Monty Roberts demonstration? They're very interesting in the way the person works with the horse in an oblique, not direct, way. If you can get to see one, have a look-in. Fascinating stuff.

The staring stuff - i.e., putting people off their stride by impassively looking at them without speaking, etc., will usually disturb the person being stared at. "What do you think you're looking at?" being the aggressive response in many cases, or getting up and walking away being another. It's pretty difficult to be stared at for long, especially by a stranger, and not want to effect some sort of response. Hey, gang, let's all try this out next time we're on a bus or train, shall we? :blink:
 
Oh, it is actually about staring to get a result then, Kri? Yes, very aggressive and confrontational and likely to get one bitten/kicked/bashed etc. Wouldn't have thought that staring alone would get a result. As you say, there is a lot more to dealing with animals than that. Although the stories one hears about the old-fashioned horse whisperers rather than those like Monty Roberts who actually understand their mental processes are much more spectacular!

When you mentioned that the title of the film actually did involve staring at animals, I thought there was supposed to be some mental work going on behind the stare. Such as imposing one's will without actually being confrontational, just making the other person/creature think that it might be a good idea to do such-and-such a thing.

I used to have a teacher who used to stare us down to make us feel small - mental bullying. He could never be accused of verbal or physical abuse because how can a schoolkid complain that "he just looks at me, Sir"? Very unnerving when such a person locks eyes with you, until I learned to look between his eyebrows so that I was still looking at him and not being insubordinate or discourteous but not being threatened by him. The intent behind the stare is everything, and his was to intimidate and humiliate.

My cats stare to get my attention and then tell me in their own little ways what they want (usually food). I once looked up to find my old cat Oscar staring at me. Once he had got my attention he came to my feet and looked up into my face and as I leaned down to fuss him I said "I must get your teeth seen to, old fella". The next day his face had puffed up with a dental abscess.

Thought is a powerful thing. Thank Heavens the majority of people have insufficient concentration to make it effective!
 
There was supposed to be mental work going on behind the US Army's experiments, though - I meant that the horse whispering stuff wasn't about staring out the horses! The Army guys were trying to cause an effect by their long-term concentration of thought on the animals, which they hoped one day would translate to people in faraway people. In other words, if they sent powerful malign thoughts to X or Y, they would cause them to become ill or die. Yes, and the moon is made out of cheese! Strange how they never thought to concentrate their thoughts in a positive way - to cause their enemies to suddenly love them and want to be peaceful and play nicely. Always with the aggression!
 
redhead said:
I used to have a teacher who used to stare us down to make us feel small - mental bullying. He could never be accused of verbal or physical abuse because how can a schoolkid complain that "he just looks at me, Sir"? Very unnerving when such a person locks eyes with you, until I learned to look between his eyebrows so that I was still looking at him and not being insubordinate or discourteous but not being threatened by him. The intent behind the stare is everything, and his was to intimidate and humiliate.
Click to expand...

Objection, m'lud...

Being able to give pupils a 'look' is an important aid towards class management. Often it can be far more effective than other forms of discipline. I've had colleagues ask me how I can control a rowdy class just by looking at them. If a pupil tries to stare me out - and an experienced teacher knows when that's happening - they are in effect attempting to create confrontation with the teacher and thereby undermine their authority, so I look elsewhere and get them for something else later.
 
My mother had 'that look' which said, "that's quite enough of that" far more eloquently than words! When I was very young, one death-ray glance and I used to put myself to bed in shame!
 
The Happiest Girl in the World: A Romanian girl from a poor family wins a car and her parents try and persuade her to sell it so they can use the cash. She has to star in a commercial for the drinks company who put up the prize and look happy. But her parents make her unhappy, which makes the shoot hard work. That was about it.
 
I used to think film critics had an easy job. Sit back and relax and watch whatever films you're told to watch. The older I get the more I reckon I'd hate the job. There are some good films about but surely you'd have to sit through an awful lot of cr@p along the way. Getting to pick and choose what films I want to watch is tough enough when you've been through the collection a few times!

Staying away from home at the moment is bringing this home to me. To keep me occupied in the evening I took along a stack of my favourite DVDs. I reckon I took about 20. I think I watched them all at some point last week, so bad is the telly (and Freeview is very limited in that location).

I had the Basil Rathbone collection of Sherlock Holmes b/w films which I'd never got round to seeing. I've been watching one after work and before dinner. I love 'em.

Then I recently bought a Harrison Frod collection (Patriot Games, Clear & Present Danger, Witness, Regarding Henry, K-19 The Widowmaker and a couple of others). I'm just about finished that.

The Bourne trilogy.

Then my chick-flicks: When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless In Seattle, You've Got Mail, etc.

Then my old classics: Rebecca, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 12 Angry Men, etc etc.

Plus a few others.

But now I'm looking at them and thinking, 'Do I really want to watch that again so soon?'
 
I know what you mean, I actually rarely buy DVDs as I don't tend to watch films over and over. Patriot Games is great though!
 
I buy DVDs because I can't afford to go to the cinema!

Off the top of my head the last time I went to the cinema (apart from with kids from school) was.... to see The Sixth Sense when it came out.
 
I've seen 8 films at the cinema this week and I'm heading out for another one now! Exceptional circumstances though (plus I've only paid for two of them!)

I usually just rent from Lovefilm.com, 340 titles so far!

The DVDs that I own tend just to be my all time favourites.
 
DO, don't you like any of Eastwood's classic Dirty Harry or cowboy films? I can watch 'Unforgiven', 'Pale Rider', etc., 'n' number of times. If you like quality thrillers, the 1980s and early 90s offered some crackers - try 'Jagged Edge' and 'Angel Heart' if you haven't already. Superb cast, acting, production. And for jollier moods, any of the 1950s musicals are still quite marvellous - 'Seven Brides', 'Oklahoma', and any with Doris Day.
 
A Serious Man: A seriously good film! Superbly shot and put together by the Coen brothers, with some great acting too. I wasn't blown away by No Country For Old Men, but this is right up there with some of their earlier stuff. Darkly comic, rather than laugh out loud funny, I'm not sure everyone will like the ending but I did. It seemed to sum up the film perfectly. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
 
Low Lights: An absolutely beautiful film, shot at night whilst driving around the street of Vilnius, Lithuania at night, sometimes with the lights off. A very simple, but engaging story, limited dialogue from gorgeous actors. A soundtrack perfectly suited to the film's moods too.

I love photographs of urban cityscapes at night and especially use of long exposures. At times this felt like those photographs in real time.

Maybe not the most technically accomplished or ambitious film of the festival, but probably my favourite so far!
 
Last edited:
El árbol: Billed as Dardennesque, it never gripped me like the brothers films do. At least I stayed to the end though, unlike a few. Seventy minutes of following a guy who's having a hard time around the streets of Madrid, with a [mildly annoying] handheld camera. Weak ending too.
 
betsmate said:
I usually just rent from Lovefilm.com, 340 titles so far!
Click to expand...

Overall i've seen some brill films I never would have without joining but you did warn me about the quality of the discs. Watched Shikoku, a Japanese horror/thriller yesterday and the disc started jumping all over the place and became pretty much unwatchable fifteen minuted before the end of the film. Very annoying.
 
Yeah I had Crimson Rivers do the same to me this morning. Nothing worse if you're just getting in to it.
 
betsmate said:
I've seen 8 films at the cinema this week and I'm heading out for another one now! Exceptional circumstances though (plus I've only paid for two of them!)

I usually just rent from Lovefilm.com, 340 titles so far!

The DVDs that I own tend just to be my all time favourites.
Click to expand...

A few exceptions aside, the thing about DVDs is there is nothing aesthetically nice about them, that makes you want to own one, in the way you can like a nice book (this is all obviously ignoring the important part, the content!).

Fopp in London must be the place I've come across to buy DVDs - incredible selection of great directors (a central part of the shop is given over to the likes of Kieslowski, Bergman, Godard, Haneke etc as well as a lot of the better more recent stuff) and most DVDs are in the £3-7 price range - none of this silly 3 for £20 rubbish.
 
Back
Top