Nicolas Roeg RIP

..and why not?
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the masked man
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Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby the masked man » 24 Nov 2018, 15:12

One of my favourite directors died today at 90 years old. I think I’ll watch Eureka tonight as a tribute.

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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby GoogaMooga » 24 Nov 2018, 15:13

Walkabout is Zilth Pilchards' favorite movie of all time. He insists on watching it whenever he comes to visit me.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby The Modernist » 24 Nov 2018, 15:34

A master. One of the absolute greats. What I loved about him was his films were like no one elses, he really did create his own world.

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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby Minnie the Minx » 24 Nov 2018, 16:00

The Modernist wrote:A master. One of the absolute greats. What I loved about him was his films were like no one elses, he really did create his own world.


Yes.
RIP Nic.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby Jimbly » 24 Nov 2018, 16:01

What an amazing talent. And suffered from the rise of the accountants in the film industry. Like Moddy says there was no one like him at all.

I need to get a copy of Eureka saw it in hmv last week.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby Davey the Fat Boy » 24 Nov 2018, 16:52

Oh no! One of the best of the best.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby GoogaMooga » 24 Nov 2018, 16:57

You don't even have to be in a "state" to trip on them. Something like "Walkabout" has a hallucinogenic intensity by itself.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby $P.Muff$ » 24 Nov 2018, 17:27

The first time I watched Walkabout was with my dad years ago on IFC before they started commercial breaks. Neither of us had heard of the film or knew anything about Roeg but we were both entranced. I've seen it several times since, but that first viewing will always be dear to me.

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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby driftin » 24 Nov 2018, 18:16

He was one of my favourite British directors ever. I love Performance, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bad Timing and of course Don't Look Now. Even The Witches remains one of my favourite childhood films, as patchy and flawed as it is. However it's Walkabout that really lifts him up for me into the higher echelons. That film was a huge influence for me as a teenager after studying it for English class and becoming absolutely obsessed with it. The more I watched it and the older I got the better it became.

RIP

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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby Snarfyguy » 24 Nov 2018, 19:23

Oh dear. The earlier stuff is about as good it gets.

One of my very favorites.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby never/ever » 24 Nov 2018, 20:45

Just echoing all of the remarks here. Watching Don't Look Now at our school film club was one of the most memorable experiences and one that hooked me on films forever.

RIP.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby Quaco » 26 Nov 2018, 16:57

Walkabout was one of the first movies I remember seeing. Great director and cinematographer. Strange, I saw everything up through Insignificance, then nothing after that.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby The Modernist » 26 Nov 2018, 17:06

Quaco wrote:Walkabout was one of the first movies I remember seeing. Great director and cinematographer. Strange, I saw everything up through Insignificance, then nothing after that.


Give Eureka a go. It's not up there with his best films, but has enough wild imagination to be interesting. Still his latter career was a disappointment.

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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby the masked man » 26 Nov 2018, 17:08

Eureka was made before Insignificance, so Quaco would have seen it.

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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby Quaco » 26 Nov 2018, 17:09

The Modernist wrote:
Quaco wrote:Walkabout was one of the first movies I remember seeing. Great director and cinematographer. Strange, I saw everything up through Insignificance, then nothing after that.


Give Eureka a go. It's not up there with his best films, but has enough wild imagination to be interesting. Still his latter career was a disappointment.

I have seen that one, but didn't love it. (Wasn't too sure about Insignificance either. Maybe that's why I stopped seeing his newer films.) I really should give it another shot though.

His early run of films is about as impressive as anybody's. I need to see Bad Timing again too. I remember that as absolutely devastating.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby The Modernist » 26 Nov 2018, 17:17

I remember being disappointed by Track 29 too. I had high hopes for a Roeg/Gary Oldman combination. I was excited about seeing his tv adaptation of Heart of Darkness too, but it was disappointingly conventional. He did go off the boil quite badly.

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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby Sneelock » 28 Nov 2018, 00:23

I try not to force feed my family with my enthusiasms. But, I needed to quickly explain who Roeg was so they would know why I regarded him. I found myself using "Walkabout" as my example. we spend so much time watching interesting creatures that the main characters end up among them.

I was a HUGE fan for quite a while. I think I called the love affair off after "Cold Heaven". I think he sort of found himself in a style trap but his style is certainly what I liked about him.

In "Eureka" the only moment in the film that is as beautiful and stylish as discovering gold is the main character's death. in "bad timing" the story is not told in a linear way but an emotional one. Harvey Keitel struggles with his accent and pokes the air with his fingers as he tries to will himself into the obsessed man's mind. the director's cut of "man who fell..." has all that stuff with Bowie and Candy Clark that deepens the bond between the characters. they are together mainly because they are. this seems more like a real relationship with these unusual details.

some of his movies are like puzzles inasmuch as you need to process them a bit. "Don't Look Now" is only gripping if you give yourself over to it a bit. when Teresa Russel leaves Denholm Elliot in "bad timing" it's pretty direct. he doesn't want her to leave but she feels it's time. this is done pretty wordlessly but with the support of the music on the soundtrack. Rip Torn feels guilty for what he did to Newton at the end of "man who fell" but Newton doesn't require this of him. Roeg's movies stressed details that others might not emphasize. I was very fond of how he could walk between the raindrops without getting wet. By "Castaway" I thought he was getting pretty wet. LOL. RIP. his movies continue to be fun to process even after many viewings.
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby Quaco » 28 Nov 2018, 02:49

In Performance, was he primarily the cinematographer? In what way was he also "co-director"?
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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby $P.Muff$ » 28 Nov 2018, 04:00

Quaco wrote:In Performance, was he primarily the cinematographer? In what way was he also "co-director"?


I've only seen it once not too long ago, but this article was re-posted on The Guardian shortly before his death and it's somewhat insightful, though it doesn't completely answer your question:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/21/james-fox-sandy-lieberson-how-we-made-performance

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Re: Nicolas Roeg RIP

Postby Quaco » 28 Nov 2018, 04:59

$P.Muff$ wrote:
Quaco wrote:In Performance, was he primarily the cinematographer? In what way was he also "co-director"?


I've only seen it once not too long ago, but this article was re-posted on The Guardian shortly before his death and it's somewhat insightful, though it doesn't completely answer your question:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/21/james-fox-sandy-lieberson-how-we-made-performance

Thank you for that. It does suggest that Roeg was a lot of the visual part, while maybe Cammell was the conceptual? The visual is a huge part of the thing, so that's not disparaging at all.
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