Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006)

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Antoine Doinel
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#76 Post by Antoine Doinel » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:21 pm

How come?
Read this.

And that's only scratching the surface.

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Michael
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm

#77 Post by Michael » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:25 pm

That article is hilarious. I didn't realize that about Travers but it's so true.
Last edited by Michael on Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Barmy
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#78 Post by Barmy » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:48 pm

I agree with that article (not the Travers piece but the other one).

Why didn't the nanny just leave the kids "home alone"? They were old enough to survive on their own for 2 days.

Why did wealthy Americans choose to vacation in a dusty hellhole?

I found Babel to be entertaining in a traveloguey way, but that's about it.

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Antoine Doinel
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#79 Post by Antoine Doinel » Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:43 pm

Firstly, it was fairly well established that the parents had been away longer than 2 days. Secondly, those kids were not old enough by anyone's measure to be left alone for a couple of days.

And not all wealthy Americans choose to vacation in Ibiza. That's a fairly weak argument to level against the film.

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Michael
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#80 Post by Michael » Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:32 pm

Barmy wrote:Why didn't the nanny just leave the kids "home alone"? They were old enough to survive on their own for 2 days.
No wonder why movies like Babel continue getting made.

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lord_clyde
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#81 Post by lord_clyde » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:44 am

Got the dvd a week early and I have to agree with Michael wholeheartedly. I need to go back and watch Amorres Perros and 21 Grams again, but I feel this is the strongest of the three, and a good note to end that 'trilogy' on. Here's hoping it beats Little Miss Sunshine at the Oscars.

marty

#82 Post by marty » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:00 am

lord_clyde wrote:Got the dvd a week early and I have to agree with Michael wholeheartedly. I need to go back and watch Amorres Perros and 21 Grams again, but I feel this is the strongest of the three, and a good note to end that 'trilogy' on. Here's hoping it beats Little Miss Sunshine at the Oscars.
No chance. I think Babel is no longer a serious contender. It looks like its between Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed, imho.

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lord_clyde
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#83 Post by lord_clyde » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:22 pm

marty wrote: I think Babel is no longer a serious contender. It looks like its between Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed, imho.
Really? The Departed? It is my favorite of the films nominated, but I was under the impression it was a dark horse due to its bleak tone. Still, a Departed win would make my year.

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King of Kong
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#84 Post by King of Kong » Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:36 pm

Jeez. Babel gets slammed on the Beaver

Robert de la Cheyniest
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#85 Post by Robert de la Cheyniest » Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:05 am

[quote] It is especially galling to see a “high-mindedâ€

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Jeff
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#86 Post by Jeff » Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:30 am

[quote="moreysurf8"][quote] It is especially galling to see a “high-mindedâ€

Roger_Thornhill
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#87 Post by Roger_Thornhill » Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:59 pm

King of Kong wrote:Jeez. Babel gets slammed on the Beaver
That review pretty much articulated my feelings on this film, but in a far more amusing and sly manner. Emotional porn? That's great, I'll have to use that some day. :D

He probably could've been more sensitive in his comment about Latin American machismo, but, on the other hand, as someone who has family in Mexico he's absolutely right. It is a male dominated culture, like most cultures on Earth, which is why his singling out of Latin American machismo is rather silly and pointless. Racist? Perhaps, but I try not to pull out my race card too often since it's done a bit too much these days, IMO.

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Belmondo
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#88 Post by Belmondo » Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:49 am

Yeah, and after the Beaver review accuses the movie of being emotional porn, it goes on to say that the theme of the movie is "dumbness" on the part of most of the characters and the choices they make. This is meant to be harsh criticism, but the truth of the matter is that both of these alleged flaws are perfectly valid themes in a movie that is trying to tell us that we are connected in ways that may be both universal and perverse. Think there are any white boys out in the woods doing stupid things with guns? Think there are any white girls flaunting their sexuality a few years before they should? I know nothing about the emotional state of young, deaf, damaged Japanese girls, and I may be guilty of enjoying a bit of "emotional porn" in these scenes, but I found them absolutely fascinating in a way that clearly transcended any prurient interest. We are all at that "rave" whether we can hear what's going on or not. This movie has, so far, produced four or five pages of intelligent discussion and criticism, and I regard this as proof that the movie is at least trying to say something worth saying - a goal not even attempted by most current movies. If "Spider-Man 3" provokes this much discussion, then we will know we are all connected in ways even more perverse than anything attempted here.

Anonymous

#89 Post by Anonymous » Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:45 am

Babel really is a bad film and if it should turn out to win at the Oscars, that would be yet another shame for the Academy. It's one big Syriana rip-off, which already wasn't particularly original or inventive. In Babel characters are once again painted in black and white and the chance encounters Inarritu created are utterly ridiculous. All the other four films nominated at the Oscars are far superior to Babel.

Napoleon
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#90 Post by Napoleon » Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:04 pm

That Beaver review is hilarious. It seems as though Yunda Eddie Feng just reached his threshold and let rip.

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colinr0380
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#91 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:24 am


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Joe Buck
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#92 Post by Joe Buck » Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:25 pm

I rented it over the weekend. I can't understand what all the hype is about. That was the biggest pile of dung I've ever sat through. I know we're supposed to be hip and like these "artistic" movies, but c'mon! Such a disjointed mess. Someone had three unfinished scripts that they cobbled together. This is not some grand statement on people's inability to communicate, it was a overlong collection of unfinished ideas. I had no idea what the whole asian subplot had to do with anything. By the end of the film I was so irritated and irate that I was ready to kill someone. If this steaming pile of waste wins best picture then the Academy needs their heads examined. I can't believe that I was suckered into watching this so-called "Best Picture of the Year". Gimme a break. It was a disaster. Pointless scenes of children masturbating and air-head japanese girls flashing their genitalia. And for what? What's the message? Who even cares? I'm sure I'll get torn to bits over this but it's how I feel. This movie was sheer torture. In the words of Roger Ebert, I hated, hated, HATED this film. Sorry if I'm out of line, but I had to get that off my chest.

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JFarina
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#93 Post by JFarina » Sun Feb 25, 2007 7:21 pm

Joe Buck wrote:I'm sure I'll get torn to bits over this but it's how I feel. This movie was sheer torture. In the words of Roger Ebert, I hated, hated, HATED this film. Sorry if I'm out of line, but I had to get that off my chest.
I wouldn't worry. Seems to be the general consensus around here. :?

My distaste for the film wasn't as strong, but I can certainly agree with the sentiment.

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HerrSchreck
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#94 Post by HerrSchreck » Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:38 am

I'm emailing around the blurb from the Feng review quoting Puccio (I can't find his original review being quoted no matter where I go-- RTomatoes or DVDTown or Empire, etc) via the allegation that it's a film about "dumbness". That about sums it up.

"Emotional porn" is really spot on too... emotional porn for THE VERY SERIOUS WHITE AUDIENCE. Topically and via the contrived assembly & affectations (but not stylistically of course and certainly not visually) this film reminds me of the worst of Kieslowski. My own anglo-mutt blood shudders at this sort of overwrought breathlessness.

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lord_clyde
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#95 Post by lord_clyde » Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:31 am

I liked Babel enough to buy it, and I'm pretty much in agreement with Michael that it is a film about parents and children. I showed it to some friends the other night, and when I got home I couldn't sleep so I popped in Magnolia.
Either I need to watch Babel again or just forget it altogether, because Magnolia is so much better of a film with the same theme (parents and children) that Babel lost a lot of stature after that.
I guess it would be the same if I watched Natural Born Killers followed by Badlands.

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teddyleevin
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#96 Post by teddyleevin » Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:17 pm

lord_clyde wrote:I liked Babel enough to buy it, and I'm pretty much in agreement with Michael that it is a film about parents and children. I showed it to some friends the other night, and when I got home I couldn't sleep so I popped in Magnolia.
Either I need to watch Babel again or just forget it altogether, because Magnolia is so much better of a film with the same theme (parents and children) that Babel lost a lot of stature after that.
I guess it would be the same if I watched Natural Born Killers followed by Badlands.
I definitely agree with you there, and the comparison featuring Natural Born Killers and Badlands is spot on. Babel is at least interesting enough to watch, but similar movies have been made in the past that are much better (such as Magnolia). Babel is definitely not Best Picture material or even nominee material, for that matter. There were better films that could have been up. Oh well, its just a matter of opinion. The Oscars aren't the supreme source for the best films of the year, anyway.

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Antoine Doinel
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#97 Post by Antoine Doinel » Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:15 pm

I guess since the Oscars are over now, Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga can stop denying that they have been feuding over the creative credits for the film:

From IMDB:
'Babel' Creators Publicly Babble Over Credits

A public feud has broken out between the Mexican movie making team of director Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga in the wake of the success of their latest film, Babel. As reported Tuesday by the Associated Press, Iñárritu, joined by actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Adriana Barraza and Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla, said in a letter to Arriaga published in the Mexican magazine Chilanga, "It's a shame that in your unjustified obsession to claim sole responsibility for the film, you seem not to recognize that movies are an art of deep collaboration." Asked about the letter during a radio interview, Arriaga complained that Iñárritu was stealing credit for the movie by listing himself in the credits as the movie's creator.

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Michael
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#98 Post by Michael » Wed May 02, 2007 5:13 pm

Make sure not to let your Japanese friends borrow your DVD of Irreversible. Babel sickens Japanese viewers.

portnoy
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#99 Post by portnoy » Thu May 03, 2007 7:56 am

Antoine Doinel wrote:I guess since the Oscars are over now, Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga can stop denying that they have been feuding over the creative credits for the film
God, who would want to take credit for this thing? That said, let's hope this means they never work together again.

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manicsounds
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#100 Post by manicsounds » Thu May 03, 2007 10:17 pm

Michael wrote:Make sure not to let your Japanese friends borrow your DVD of Irreversible. Babel sickens Japanese viewers.
15 people get 'sick' and it causes a commotion in Japan. I say it's part of marketing to get people to see it. I would think more people got sick watching 'Saw' or 'Hostel' than Babel..... meh.

I think in a way it says the film 'works'. I'm guessing these people who felt nauseated were feeling that because of the frustration with xenophobia and language barriers in the movie. If the movie made people feel that way, that's Inarritu's way of saying 'that's the problem with people'. But for the sick viewers they won't see that point.

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