shane meadows
yeah
Falling down
- Thread starter Relahni
- Start date
yeah
Spion
I hear ya
Because they're twats? - because they empathise with a character who is clearly painted as losing it and taking it out on all the wrong people, including ethnic minorities and his wife and child.
I liked the film. It's no classic but it's good for atmosphere (that LA freeway gridlock scene for eg), and the slow motion car crash speactacle of a man falling apart
Spion
I hear ya
Best LOL of the day so far.
neonwilderness
What would Badgers do?
I think you can empathise with him a bit at the start of the film, although his reactions are a bit OTT. But as the film progresses this wears off as you realise there's more to him than just having a bad day.
I like it, it's not amazing but it's not shit either.
Spion
I hear ya
Yeah, he loves Sean Meadows movies. They're quite underrated and scarce thoso you only watch/like movies by these people?
This for me too but it's why I got bored of the film. There wasnt enough there to grip me once the empathy with douglas wore off. I stopped caring what happened to the storyline after that.
so you only watch/like movies by these people?
Relahni's general rule - American films are a pile of shite. Films by Southerners are shite and usually made by twats from the Home Counties who are obsessed with gangsters. Northerners can make good films, but Midlanders are the best.
You've missed out on much in between. Actually, the best films arent made in any of those places.
neonwilderness
What would Badgers do?
Yeah. After that point the most interesting bit for me was what happened with Prendergast and his wife.
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
I can't really watch Hollywood now but I do remember this intrigued me. I think I fell asleep though part way through - just a late night thing rather than the film.
Yetman
Cheesecar Fucksquad #1
One of my favourite films.
I've got a massive poster of it in my bedroom too
My mate had one of those too. Get some new posters you freaks.
His though, was hanging on by just one bit of blu tac in the corner, hence was actually 'falling down'. This slither of humour in his otherwise grey and damp existence was the only reason he actually kept it up.
Whats your reason skyscraper?
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
I normally can't stand Michael Douglas but I think he plays the character very well here.
I like the film. It's not a timeless work of art, but it's got a solid central concept, it's not flabby, and it's a good satire on traditional "urban revenge fantasy" films, which I can't stand.
I like the film. It's not a timeless work of art, but it's got a solid central concept, it's not flabby, and it's a good satire on traditional "urban revenge fantasy" films, which I can't stand.
100% masahiko
i is a professor and is magical like totoro
LOL!!! When Falling Down was released alot of American academics commented how racist the Michael Douglas character wsa.
For example, at the start when he's in the traffic jam - he looks at the American Flag. Only to get vexed when it belonged to Latinos. The Korean store - I mean how dare they come into 'our' country and up the price on everything.
And finally when he kills the Nazi in the end - that's only because he was a mirror of himself.
I can't stand that film. Ugly.
For example, at the start when he's in the traffic jam - he looks at the American Flag. Only to get vexed when it belonged to Latinos. The Korean store - I mean how dare they come into 'our' country and up the price on everything.
And finally when he kills the Nazi in the end - that's only because he was a mirror of himself.
I can't stand that film. Ugly.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
lol. I also saw the humour in it when mine once started coming off the wall.
My reason... I always loved the film. I think I was about 12 when it came out so it was one of those films that I watched at least 15 times again in my teens and it seemed to get more relevant the older I got in certain real life situations. I always wanted a poster of it when I was younger but I was unable to get one due to living in the sticks with no internet and not much money. So I always had it on my list of things to acquire when I had my own place and the money to source one from somewhere. Finally I found a store in the US who printed new ones so I ordered online.
kabbes
First intersubjective, then internalised
They aren't very good "academics" then.
Of course he was racist. This was part of the point. He was not supposed to be a hero.
WTF does "academic" mean with respect to "Falling Down", in any case? Are we talking about Stephen Hawking here? Richard Dawkins? My old director of studies of maths?
100% masahiko
i is a professor and is magical like totoro
Academics as professors teaching on race and film in universities. I think Richard Dyerr or Gutirrez-Jones wote something.
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
Great portrayl of the alienation felt by many men of the generation that Douglas was playing at the time it was made. Still good as a movie, but it's lost it's social relevance to a great degree, as the generation of men it's about are dead/retired now.
kabbes
First intersubjective, then internalised
I would hesitate to label people teaching film as "academics"
Anyway, frankly, just because they understand about films, doesn't stop them being clueless idiots that can't spot the point when thwacked around the head with it. You wouldn't believe the rubbish I have to deal with with supposed leaders in their fields in far more rigorous disciplines than film studies.
Anyway, frankly, just because they understand about films, doesn't stop them being clueless idiots that can't spot the point when thwacked around the head with it. You wouldn't believe the rubbish I have to deal with with supposed leaders in their fields in far more rigorous disciplines than film studies.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
it's my favorite Michael Douglas film ever
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
True. But it would have been 100% win if
It would have felt more righteous
he'd just lost it that day and gone off, rather than having a pre-existing lunacy
It would have felt more righteous
100% masahiko
i is a professor and is magical like totoro
True. But it would have been 100% win if
he'd just lost it that day and gone off, rather than having a pre-existing lunacy
It would have felt more righteous
Why do Hollywood need to rationalise eveything?
Clair De Lune
Apocalypse cocktails
I enjoyed it, the first half was great..it did go a bit downhill after that though.
I would hesitate to label people teaching film as "academics"
Anyway, frankly, just because they understand about films, doesn't stop them being clueless idiots that can't spot the point when thwacked around the head with it. You wouldn't believe the rubbish I have to deal with with supposed leaders in their fields in far more rigorous disciplines than film studies.
Ceej
Where is my mind?
Like most of us, I appreciate the possibility - I've always felt there must be something deeply satisfying about completely losing it. I don't seem to have the diva gene necessary to make this happen - more likely to stay in bed with my head under the duvet that blow someone away.
Not a great film though - Michael Douglas isn't up to much as a threatening figure or a pathetic one - didn't really find his character real.
Not a great film though - Michael Douglas isn't up to much as a threatening figure or a pathetic one - didn't really find his character real.
Agreed. It should have been the general state of the country that made him go off on one rather than his unhappy life.True. But it would have been 100% win if
he'd just lost it that day and gone off, rather than having a pre-existing lunacy
It would have felt more righteous
With regard to the good guy/bad guy issue, there is a point in the film when he changes from his white shirt into black overalls that I think represents the moment in which you are meant to stop being on his side.
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
Surely it was the combination of the two tho? It wasn't just that his job for life defending the country by building nukes was gone; it's not just that there are Koreans in his cornershop and that McDs won't serve breakfast 1 minute after 10am, or that when you get the food it looks nothing like the picture; it's not just the roadworks with no one working on them; it's not just his wife having left him. It's the complete collapse of everything he's been bought up to believe would be fixed and inchanging - which includes his marriage - has been 'broken' and has changed.
I actually think as an archetype of the US version of the salaryman, D-Fens is a very real person who has been left adrift and alienated by, among others, people like us. His world is gone, and there's nothing left for him to hold on to.
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