354 Clean, Shaven

[thethirdman]

Worse than Armageddon?

I don't think DVDFile likes this title:

A painfully pretentious experience – and the longest 79-minute home theatre experience I've suffered in a long time – Clean, Shaven is, shall we say, an acquired taste. This Criterion release offers a nice transfer and an appropriate sound mix, but the Soderbergh/Kerrigan commentary is a shallow bust and the rest of the bonuses are so-so at best. It's ironic that Criterion follows up their best September ever – new versions of Playtime, Amarcord, Seven Samurai, and Brazil – with Clean, Shaven, arguably the worst picture in its 300+ title catalog. Proceed with caution.

[Cinesimilitude]

I love how soderbergh is tied to this, as Schizopolis is my least favorite picture in the collection.

[toiletduck!]

We're still taking DVDFile seriously? Wasn't there a memo going around about this?

-Toilet Dcuk

[Matt]

We're still taking DVDFile seriously? Wasn't there a memo going around about this?

Yes, it has been long established around here that a particular DVD File reviewer (who shall remain nameless) has the critical skills of a pebble.

If you've ever had a buddy in film school (or went to film school yourself), you know the kind of skin-crawling pain that comes with watching a bad student film.

And if you've ever read the writing of a guy who thinks because he's seen a bunch of films he's Pauline Kael (or have been a film reviewer yourself), you know the kind of skin-crawling pain that comes with reading patently amateur film criticism.

Edited to be not quite so vicious.

[Galen Young]

This new release looks and sounds great. Getting to hear Soderbergh interview Kerrigan is terrific -- that statement about the commentary being a "shallow bust" is utterly ridiculous. Sometimes I wish DVD producers would include a PDF transcript of commentary tracks on their discs -- I think this one would look good in print.

[MichaelB]

There won't be a PDF on the disc itself, but transcribed excerpts from the commentary tracks that the Quay Brothers recorded for the new BFI DVDs will be added to the BFI's Screenonline site in the very near future (certainly before the DVD is officially released).

On the disc itself, the commentaries have optional subtitles - and I've made sure that every permutation of soundtrack and subtitles is possible, so if you want to watch the films with the original soundtrack and the commentary as printed "footnotes", go right ahead. Given the number of obscure Eastern European artists they namecheck, subtitles weren't so much a luxury as a necessity at times!

[cdnchris]

Okay, that knob from DVDFile is so full of shit. I watched this lastnight, and, despite it's rough edges (yeah, it does have a student film sort of feel and the acting is not great, except for Greene, who I thought was fantastic in the role) it's a very compelling and unnerving film. I don't think I've ever felt this uncomfortable with a movie.

As well, the commentary is excellent.

[Rupert Pupkin]

I picked up a copy at Kim's in the East Village (NYC) and it's missing a booklet. I know they break the street date early, so not everyone might have gotten a copy yet, but has anyone else had this problem?

I just got my new Rohmer box the other day, so maybe I'll bug the person who shipped it from CC and see what happens.

me too I just got my copy today; and no booklet.nI ordered it from DVDPacific. I wrote a note on where's my criterion thread...

Whatever, the DVD is great... beautiful transfer... extras sound great...

Lodge Kerrigan quotes A Woman Under Influence, Taxi Driver (and I think - Though a Glass Darkly...) as greatest movies about mental illness, schizophrenia; but I think that he should have quoted Repulsion. Because Polanski's work around Carol character and how he filmed Deneuve; the use of sound to create Carol's world of fear. In Polanski's masterpiece the soundtrack is a movie in itself. I'm sure this has been a big influence for Kerrigan. This also makes me think of another precursor : the way Bresson reworks and alterates sound on Pickpocket..

[Galen Young]

...but I think that he should have quoted Repulsion.

If I remember, Soderbergh asks him what kind of films he was watching when he started work on the film and he says "a lot of Polanski". So no doubt Repulsion figures into the mix. (when is Criterion going to reissue their fabulous LD of that film onto DVD anyway...?)

[miless]

...but I think that he should have quoted Repulsion.

If I remember, Soderbergh asks him what kind of films he was watching when he started work on the film and he says "a lot of Polanski". So no doubt Repulsion figures into the mix. (when is Criterion going to reissue their fabulous LD of that film onto DVD anyway...?)

last I heard, Sony had re-released a new print of it (around the same time as The Passenger)... so let's hope they (Sony) get on top of things

[Mental Mike]

Good movie...I thought it captured one of the symptoms of schizophrenia well...and that is the main character's difficulty in expressing pleasure...a negative symptom of schizophrenia

[Paul Moran]

I picked up a copy at Kim's in the East Village (NYC) and it's missing a booklet. I know they break the street date early, so not everyone might have gotten a copy yet, but has anyone else had this problem?

Yes. There was no booklet in the sealed copy I received today from CD Wow. I've reported it to CC via their "Support & Feedback - Report a Problem" page.

[miless]

Good movie...I thought it captured one of the symptoms of schizophrenia well...and that is the main character's difficulty in expressing pleasure...a negative symptom of schizophrenia

as opposed to the many positive symptoms?

[Mental Mike]

The positive symptoms were there too...(things added to the person, rather than things taken away)...like auditory hallucinations, delusions (the belief in transmitters in the brain and finger)...but some of the negative symptoms are horrible (the things taken away) like inability to show facial expressions of emotion, something the main character struggles with...and the loneliness of the disease was well represented..the character can't really find a way to integrate himself in life, which is understandable considering his condition...

...this is my Psyche 100 analysis of the movie...

[mikeohhh]

Yeah, delusions kick ass

[miless]

I just picked this up today, and low and behold... no booklet. I e-mailed [email protected] and got a response in about three hours saying that they'd send me one.

I've never gotten a response this quick

addition: now that I've seen this film, I have to say that it's one of my favorites in the collection. I just love the use of sound and the odd (and at times almost experimental) storytelling style. This is now among my favorite films, right next to Cronenberg's Spider and Lynch's Lost Highway.

[Mental Mike]

Are you a psychiatrist? That would explain your fascination for movies about mental illness...seems like you have a very interesting group of favorite films a la Spider!

[Le Samouraï]

One hardly needs to be a psychiatrist to appreciate Lynch or Cronenberg and their playing around with multiple levels of reality. An interest in the different ways of constructing a narrative or in how we percieve reality should be enough. I for one love those film mentioned and the comparrison made me very interested in this title.

Oh, I also like Philip K. Dick. Should I consider myself a basket case?

[Lemmy Caution]

Good movie...I thought it captured one of the symptoms of schizophrenia well...and that is the main character's difficulty in expressing pleasure...a negative symptom of schizophrenia

as opposed to the many positive symptoms?

Such as, you're never alone with a schizophrenic

[miless]

Such as, you're never alone with a schizophrenic

you mean: you're never alone if you're a schizophrenic

Are you a psychiatrist? That would explain your fascination for movies about mental illness...seems like you have a very interesting group of favorite films a la Spider!

as a subject, schizophrenia and mental illness are very intriguing to me. Particularly when the mental illness is shown from a subjective point of view (a la Clean, Shaven, Lost Highway or Spider).

as an aspiring filmmaker these subjective films are very inspiring for me. This is sort of the route of filmmaking that I would like to pursue (which I think is fine because there aren't really that many films in this vein)... and I am actually shooting a film right now on a similar subject matter.

all of my favorite filmmakers are subjective and expressionistic in regards to structure and subject matter (Lynch, Tarkovsky, Cronenberg, Buñuel, Bergman, etc.)

[Mental Mike]

As a sufferor of the disease, myself, I think that all the films about schizophrenia have failed to portray what a psychotic episode is really like, even Clean, Shaven, Spider and a Beautiful Mind...

...this is due to either a lack of understanding of the disease by filmmakers or film is not a developed enough medium to express what is going on in psychosis...

[hammock]

I had to close my eyes during the XXXXXXXXXXX removal scene in the car. Never happend to me before. I ate donuts watching Salo and drank diet coke when they boiled shit in "The holy mountain" but I almost puked during this scene. Other than that this is among my favourite films in the collection, but I always loved the schizophrenic theme.

[Rupert Pupkin]

As a sufferor of the disease, myself, I think that all the films about schizophrenia have failed to portray what a psychotic episode is really like, even Clean, Shaven, Spider and a Beautiful Mind...

...this is due to either a lack of understanding of the disease by filmmakers or film is not a developed enough medium to express what is going on in psychosis...

Beautiful Mind is the worst of all...

I think that Clean Shaven was closer... But perhaps more close with some scenes like when he visits his mother...

Or Deneuve's eyes in Repulsion, or De Niro's eyes in Taxi Driver... You don't need to use a bulldozer (aka The Wall) to show what schizophrenia can be...

I think that some scenes in Pickpocket, or in Samouraï can come close to some aspects of schizophrenia because they simply show someone's isolation and suffering... I think that it's impossible to show the "positive" symptoms of Schizophrenia (hallucination, etc...) Beautiful Mind is the worst of all... Often, cineasts fell like they are obliged to use a P.O.V-like perspective to show you what it is to be in the head of someone who is schizophrene... It's interesting with some cineasts like Cronenberg, because they have a very interesting and imaginative world... Bunuel, Gilliam can create a whole universe... visually it's interesting... (look at Brazil, or Tarkovsky "The Mirror"... of course it's not about schizophrenia, but Brazil can be the story of a man living today seeing the world like an imaginary totalitary world (which is not so far from ours and trying to escape in a world of fantasy; trying to find a place in his mind to escape... but in the end, many thinks that he failed because he's lost in his mind... But did he really fail? Philip K.Dick world is interesting...) And Clean-Shaven is close too I think...

I think Clean Shaven is better than Spider. Because Spider revisiting Naked Lunch's theme (the final scene and the way of the character is the same... he finds his way through his mind and the end of the tunnel is a truth he tried to forgot). Clean Shaven is even more troubling and deranging with the duality theme : with the cop (look how it is pre-TV series The Expert, etc...) because there is a very fascinating feeling of mind-sharing whereas the 2 characters didn't meet. It's something like the trio in Bad Timing, but even more deranging, troubling, and really better done -IMHO. We see 2 different POV: which one is really mad ? How can be the cop "contaminated" ? because he's some kind of profiler ? (the syndrome in Michael Mann's "Manhunter") or just because he's suffering of the same fear and isolation feelings than everybody and that the border of "mental illness" is always closer than we thought...

on the other hand, we are very close to some themes that Cronenberg approches in history of violence : the scenes in the bar, what we can hear on the radio, etc... I think that it's even better in clean-shaven...

Really, it's a fantastic movie.

"Frontal" approches of mental illness "world" are often irritating or could be totally wrong. I think it can be better to choose an alternative way, such as sci-fi movies, etc...

"negative" symptoms (inhibition, guilty, paranoia, fear, etc...) are "easier" to show (of course, you need a good actor such as De Niro or Deneuve and a good director) because those feelings are...well so familiar to the common human-being... we all know what fear is, what isolation can be... it's "only" a matter of degree...

in this perspective, Repulsion, Taxi Driver, Pickpocket, Samouraï, many Cassavetes movies and many others succeed... Of course these movies are not all totally about schizophrenia, but they show - IMHO - the way to mental illness, or the border of illness...

[Lemmy Caution]

Lemmy Caution wrote:
Such as, you're never alone with a schizophrenic

you mean: you're never alone if you're a schizophrenic

Actually I was just quoting the Ian Hunter album title, so people would know where I swiped the idea from. I think here (in Brit-speak) the "with" means something akin to "in the case of". Maybe it would make more sense as "You're never alone with schizophrenia."

I thought the film was pretty good, with a strong lead performance and interesting soundtrack. Some of the other actors and the look of some scenes were a little shaky. The scenes with his mother and at his mother's house were, imo, the most effective. I liked it enough that I picked up Keane.

[miless]

I liked it enough that I picked up Keane.

Keane is amazing, IMO