'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

[Lowry_Sam]

Well I looked up Last Year At Marienbad on Amazon to see how the price was doing & couldn't resist checking out the type of reviews (particularly the one stars) it inspired. I noticed the best of the lot by a religous nut (or perhaps troll) was covered earlier, but here are a few more:

Wolf Forrest "cryptkeeper" (tucson, az)

This has to be on many lists for the worst movie of all time, and it is. It's pretentious "art house" nonsense masquerading as a deep movie. Admittedly, some of the visual compositions are striking,and it HAS influenced many films(like "Melancholia", another yawner) but the dialogue is so insipid that that it renders any appreciation for its visuals meaningless. This film would be better served if it were re-cut(something I would never advocate for ANY other film) down to thirty minutes, and a new voice-over created, so that the finished product would resemble something like Chris Marker's LA JETEE. I actually bought the screenplay of LAST YEAR AT MARIENDBAD in the 1970s to see if it was just as bad as the movie--and it was. Resnais and Robbe-Grillet are just pulling the wool over your eyes, as did Warhol with an eight-hour movie of a man sleeping. Forget this "masterpiece". Or, you could just spend millions on a painting created by a chimp with a squirt gun, and marvel over his mastery of the complexities of the universe.

Raymond Louis Llompart (NYCity)

emptiness...........
This SILLY, unnecessary, pathetically dated, pretentious, vacuous exercise of directorial arrogance somehow managed (and continues to manage) to impress Venice so much in 1961 that it received the "grand Prize"-----or some such.......
Forget about the intellectuals trying to convince you of some profound "logic" to it all-------there is none.
Having said that, the "film" renders a number of VISUAL pleasures: a group of exquisitely turned out women-------and I mean CLASSICALLY turned out (no one is wearing the equivalent of Versace here------more like Balenciaga!), there are rooms that would be perfectly at ease at Versailles, and Louis XIV would salivate for the exquisite parterre----a dream of mine if I win the Lotto........
Basically plotless, you could call it a "dream"--------much more a NIGHTMARE, really, since Resnais decides to "pleasure" us with some Baroque organ music that would make BACH throw up his hands at its mediocrity, and which ended up giving me a headache.
Perhaps we could say that this is the HELL in which the "idle rich" live in, but not even, as such a culture of whispers, aristocratic elegance, grand chateaus, and delicate hinting is just about dead, having been replaced with the coarseness of "celebrity".....
Again, looking for plot? well, a man is obsessed with a hollow, soignee woman who keeps insisting that they have never had an affair before, which may or may not have taken place. His voice-over (intermittently turned into dialogue) comes to weary----and EXHAUST----you by the middle of the film.....
Meanwhile, her cadaverous husband (?)---who bears an uncanny resemblance to that repugnant person by the name of Joseph Goebbels---- always wins at a table game that, if indeed a real game, seems fascinating (yes, I shall Google it).
It is interesting to watch, as a one-shot deal. Anyone who wastes her time with a second viewing is the type who finds JEFF KOONS a revelation. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha..........

Last Pear at Marienbad", August 31, 2009
By
Bartok Kinski "A casual stroll through the lu... (Prague)

This is a Boring, basic "French" movie, although I wouldn't put it in the same sentence with "The Seventh Seal". It's a movie with questionable Claude Levi-Strauss language in spots, some meaningless New Wave scenes, no character development in others, and a somewhat predictable ending that altogether serves to pass the time away and/or play in the background while you do something else.

Not exactly a landmark of French film making. Technically speaking, this movie is well made, which somehow makes it even worse.

Quel dommage!, January 20, 2005
By
thisisgibbie (Indianapolis)

In Alain Resnais' 1961 feature there is A, X et M posing in decontructionist metaphors a Chanel.

Whether the movie has to do with "The Invention of Morel", the anthropological archetypes of Claude Levi-Strauss or whether or not it is a French or Italian film is meaningless.

Because, whatever angle you take, it just doesn't matter.

What the hell is going on?
By
Carrie Elizabeth (Washington state)

I decided to get this movie because the plot sounded interesting and most people gave it rave reviews. From the moment I pushed play I had no idea what was going on. This dramatic instrumental music that didn't fit with some of the scenes gave me a major headache, but I kept watching, hoping the movie would get, I don't know, normal, I guess. It didn't. Supposedly, this film has great cinematography...again, it just gave me a headache. By the time the movie was done, I still knew nothing about the characters, and I felt like I was having an anxiety attack!

Why see this film?
By
P. A. Cirio (Missouri)

This is without a doubt the most impenetrable film ever made. There is no plot, and we see over and over again the same action. A visual Steve Reich piece. A must see for all serious film buffs, just to say you have done it. You must stay to the end.

And some of the positive reviews:

There will NOT be a Criterion edition of this movie., August 18, 2005
By
Arturo Serrano "Arturo" (Caracas Venezuela)

I'm afraid that despite what someone said in these reviews, I wrote to Criterion and they said that they were NOT going to release this movie in the near or far future since they do not hold the rights. I think we should all write to Fox Lorber and ask them to release it again.

As for the movie you just have to see it, it's breathtaking. Its beauty, its mistery... A classic.

Greatest achievement of Intellect
By A Customer

Very conforting and reasuring film. What we see is pure mind.

BOO YA! This movie is AWESOME!
By
Dr. X-Ray Spex

After I got out of the hospital last fall I decided to do a bunch of things I'd been meaning to do but hadn't ever done. The first was eat eggs. Mission accomplished. (I don't know why I'd been avoiding eggs all those years. They're actually pretty good!) The second was to see "Last Year at Marienbad," since I'd heard that it was the ultimate "art" movie, and all my friends who'd seen it were, like, "Dude, that movie makes no sense!" Well, I knew everyone had to be wrong on both counts, since "Begotten" is still the ultimate art movie, since it's mostly just grainy black and white images squirming around together, and even though I couldn't understand it, it gave me terrible nightmares for months afterward. And I knew that this movie couldn't make any less sense than "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace." Still, I wanted to see this flick and see what all the hoopla was about. Dude, this movie is AWESOME! I don't know what my friends were all talking about. It makes PERFECT sense. It's all in black and white. Everybody speaks like they're doped up on Thorazine (which, after being in the hospital for a whole summer I know a little something about). That hot lady from "La rouge aux lèvres" is in it, only with black hair instead of blond. This dude does this game with matchsticks that only he can win. There's freaky organ music playing during the whole movie. What could make any LESS sense? This movie is all there, dude! You just have to be open to its subliminal messages. Believe me, it's totally awesome! You just have to view it with an open mind.

[Michael Kerpan]

I wonder where all the references to Levi-Strauss came from?

[Gregory]

I think we should all write to Fox Lorber and ask them to release it again.

Dear Fox Lorber: I know you haven't existed since 2002 or something like that, but if you can somehow read this message, please help! Last Year at Marienbad is out of print and we need a new release desperately. I don't want to get a region-free player, so please bring back your letterboxed, PAL-to-NTSC DVD as soon as possible!

[feihong]

I love that the film is so bad that it doesn't matter whether it's French or Italian.

[domino harvey]

To be fair, Last Year at Marienbad is an especially challenging film for any film viewer, but more so if you've been raised on and exposed to solely traditional narrative cinema. Now, of course the impulse of those encountering something new and different and even difficult should be inquisitive variations of "Huh, I don't quite 'get it,' I wonder why others like it so much-- I will learn more about this strange experience before solidifying a potentially uninformed opinion" and not "WAKE UP SHEEPLE, THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES, FRENCH ARE DIRTY AND TOO LUSTY AND WILL TAKE ALL OUR WOMEN, GOOGLE RON PAUL"

[feihong]

Well, I find myself wondering the same thing all the time. Why do people get so angry when they realize that something in a film is beyond their immediate understanding? That usually makes me want to know more--to get to the bottom of the mystery.

[zeroman987]

Well, I find myself wondering the same thing all the time. Why do people get so angry when they realize that something in a film is beyond their immediate understanding? That usually makes me want to know more--to get to the bottom of the mystery.

I feel like a lot of people get angry when they realize anything is beyond their immediate understanding. In fact, I feel like they get angrier when people try to explain it to them. It has to be an ego thing.

[Mr Sausage]

To judge by these kind of reactions, a lot of people read books and watch movies in order to be reassured of their own intelligence. So they become very angry and defensive when that doesn't happen, and, tellingly, declare the thing to be in some way fake or insubstantial, ie. not actually containing anything beyond their powers of comprehension.

This is probably even more common in smart people. They've just never asked themselves: "What's the point of reading or watching things by people who are only as smart as I am?"

[Lowry_Sam]

Films like Last Year At Marienbad really seem to draw out the worst in people though. There are many films that get rave reviews that I dislike, however if I take the time to write a review on Amazon, I at least try to identify something concrete underlying the reason why. It's amazing how something that people find so boring would compel people to write reviews using lots of exclamation points or use extremely vitriolic language, and yet all they can say is "it's boring". It's also striking how inarticulate people are, even when they're citing French philosophers or dropping names that are more associated with a higher level of education (Jeff Koons, Chris Marker, Levi-Strauss...).

I love that somebody (claimed to have) bought the manuscript in the 70s to see if it was as poorly written as the movie's dialogue appears in the movie. I'm assuming that this actually means that he bought the book to find out more about it, but disliked it too (which is of course also completely different from actually buying a manuscript of a film).

I'm not convinced though that people are angry that they can't understand it (most of the comments don't show any interest in trying to find out more about why people enjoy it or what was the director's intent). I think they get riled up because others enjoy it when they don't (which conflicts with a world view in which good/bad is a simple matter & their world view is the only one).

[rspaight]

I think it may be as simple as assuming anything they don't understand/enjoy is a scam.

[tenia]

This is a Boring, basic "French" movie, although I wouldn't put it in the same sentence with "The Seventh Seal"

Probably my favourite one. I love how you can say "basic [insert nationality] movie" for everything, despite most likely having seen a lot of said movies, but also most likely knowing that there will be tons of counter exemples.
But I also love how he then cites The Seventh Seal, which he "wouldn't put in the same sentence".

Name dropping brought to non-sense.

Well, I find myself wondering the same thing all the time. Why do people get so angry when they realize that something in a film is beyond their immediate understanding? That usually makes me want to know more--to get to the bottom of the mystery.

I feel like a lot of people get angry when they realize anything is beyond their immediate understanding. In fact, I feel like they get angrier when people try to explain it to them. It has to be an ego thing.

I never thought about the ego stuff, but indeed, it might be it. That's why most people say "the movie makes no sense" and not "I haven't understood a thing". It's all vacuous, there is no profound logic, it's basically plotless and exhausting, meaningless, abnormal, headache-inducing, impenetrable.

No one even question the possibility of simple not getting the movie.

No, it's the movie which makes no sense. Always.

[Roger Ryan]

I'm reminded of a Blockbuster customer who was ahead of me in line about eight years ago. She was demanding her money back for renting SYRIANA (2005). "I watched the first ten minutes of it and couldn't understand how any of the scenes were connected," she explained to the store employee. "Why would they even make a movie that is so incomprehensible?!"

[tenia]

Well, I have a cousine which thought that the main male characters of Sin City were a unique character, dying and resurrecting for each segment... Of course, she said that "it made no sense at all" without thinking one moment it could be her who didn't get it.

I'm also quite sure I have a friend who thought Pulp Fiction was incomprehensible.

[zedz]

A somewhat disturbing TCM listing for The Story of SeaBiscuit (1949):
"The tale of a champion race horse and the little girl who roots him to victory."

[domino harvey]

Gary Tooze weighs in on Frozen

The upshot is that it is great entertainment, if slightly leaning to a female movie (according to my two lads). The film is ambitious punishing into, marketable but, unnecessary areas.

[matrixschmatrix]

Ah, females: can't live with 'em, they're unnecessary.

[Zot!]

I'm not so sure if that is so much insensitive, as incomprehensible.

[mfunk9786]

A very bizarre eBay username that's the high bidder on one of my items at the moment:

[sir_luke]

While I personally love TO THE WONDER (and every other film Malick has made), I understand the common complaints about it. Some of the Amazon reviewers put a nice personal spin on their gripes, however:
"Awful movie...love Ben Affleck...but Awful just awuful...I paid full price for this movie and just want to break it...can not tell you one redeeming thing...but Ben Affleck in it"
"one of the most boring films i have ever seen in my entire life and I've seen at least 10.,000 movies."
Another instance of weird name-dropping not unlike those above provides some humor: "...they should have learned from 'The Artist' or 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920)."
And my favorite... A review with the headline, "Warning! strange movie!"

[The Narrator Returns]

So, that second person has seen 10 movies total, if we go by their punctuation.

[sir_luke]

You know, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Jeff]

Actual sentence from another forum:

I've never heard of any of the films except The Big Chill, and that's the one i'll be getting as it is a Best Picture nominee.

[domino harvey]

(It's real)

[jindianajonz]

This will be familiar to any Cards Against Humanity players

[Lemmy Caution]

It's real

Those reviews are great.
But click there now and check out the new review by George Takei referencing the San Diego Gay Pride Parade ...