tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post8901200680598799199..comments2024-03-24T13:26:57.317-07:00Comments on Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule: THE SLIFR MOVIE TREE HOUSE v.2011 #16: FAITH LOST AND FOUNDDennis Cozzaliohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-26608418945532342442012-02-01T14:59:55.943-08:002012-02-01T14:59:55.943-08:00Completely awe-struck by the beauty of this post. ...Completely awe-struck by the beauty of this post. There's plenty left to believe in, my friend. Your words are proof of that.Peet Gelderblomhttp://www.directorama.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-31910530237011826492012-01-27T17:07:25.405-08:002012-01-27T17:07:25.405-08:00The only films that come to my mind that take fait...The only films that come to my mind that take faith seriously are Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew as well as Diary of a Country Priest and Ordet.John Severahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12041582801138109430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-81073202000856116872012-01-25T16:55:38.369-08:002012-01-25T16:55:38.369-08:00Steven, I will definitely use your blurb! Thanks s...Steven, I will definitely use your blurb! Thanks so much for your kind words. <br /><br />And I can't believe I forgot about <i>The Rapture</i>. I only wrote about it some six months ago when the world was scheduled to end. It's a brilliant movie and exactly what I was bemoaning the lack of-- movies that are about what it really means to have religious faith, or what it means to lose it. (I should also see <i>The Apostle</i> again-- I remember thinking it was kind of misshapen when I saw it years ago, but it seems it belongs in this conversation.)Dennis Cozzaliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-73813573920834074102012-01-25T16:37:17.066-08:002012-01-25T16:37:17.066-08:00That asteroid (or whatever it is) hits, implying t...<i>That asteroid (or whatever it is) hits, implying the event that will lead to the extinction of all these mysterious creatures (one that Malick wisely leaves to the realm of Fantasia) and I'm agog all over again. And then Sean Penn stumbles in and suddenly I remember the uncomfortable seats and the sticky theater floor. Is this what it was like to be cast out of the Garden of Eden?</i><br /><br />Just one of the priceless passages here. And the closing lines are sublime, downright prayerful. (If there were a trailer for post #16, you'd have to go with my blurb. :-) )<br /><br />I missed HIGHER GROUND and haven't yet seen WAR HORSE, but, after reading this piece, they're both a priority.<br /><br />Jason, aside from easy picks like THE RAPTURE and THE APOSTLE I'm drawing a blank on exemplary "religious faith" flicks, but, like you, I know that others will pop up as soon as I hit PUBLISH. The Lawd werks in mysterious ways.Steven Boonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10533736956366847765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-54020854417062351162012-01-25T10:38:39.379-08:002012-01-25T10:38:39.379-08:00Thanks, Sheila.
Jason, I suspect this is a subje...Thanks, Sheila. <br /><br />Jason, I suspect this is a subject that contemporary American movies may have difficulty ever getting "right," and maybe that has to do with the current nasty political climate. Those who make faith-based movies like the "Left Behind" series and Kirk Cameron's efforts are concerned mainly with proselytizing. On the other end of the spectrum filmmakers who are looking to score easy satirical points at the expense of true believers as well as hypocrites are likely to take the Kevin Smith broadside tack (as, apparently, the makers of <i>Salvation Boulevard</i> did) rather than dig deeper and try to really examine what it means to carry serious religious conviction in this country today.<br /><br />I continue to be fascinated with the subject, but I don't know that it's one that fiction films have ever come close to doing justice to. And as soon as I press "post" I'll probably think of a couple of good exceptions to that generalization. I hope so!Dennis Cozzaliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-79663499239603498352012-01-25T08:55:03.776-08:002012-01-25T08:55:03.776-08:00I wrote on my blog (shameless plug!) that with his...I wrote on my blog (shameless plug!) that with his performances in Of Gods and Men and The Princess of Montpensier, Lambert Wilson had produced the most serious argument for real, contemplative faith in this one year than any other year of movies that I've seen. <br />Higher Ground has been on my must see list since I saw Vera Farmiga discussing it in an interview back in the spring; unfortunately it never played around here and doesn't hit video til next month.<br /><br />Unfortunately, 2011 was also a year which saw Salvation Boulevard squander a brilliant cast (Greg Kinnear, Marisa Tomei, Pierce Brosnan, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris) on a comedic(?)-thriller about the cover-up of an accidental homicide by a mega-church pastor. Depicting the churchgoers as overzealous, unthinking fanatics instead of as real people completely undercuts what, conceptually, is a very intriguing premise about how the cult (no pun intended) of personality surrounding a mega-watt pastor could cause internal dissonance among the faithful in the event of a scandal or even scandalous allegations. The only ostensibly sane people in the movie were the two on the outside of church (and the pastor himself, portrayed as an amoral charlatan working a real-estate deal).<br />We saw something similar late in the year; though it's not <i>exactly</i> a church, look at the range of reactions to Joe Paterno in the wake of the Sandusky scandal; from passionate defense to complete reappraisal.Jason McGensyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06642280227698493182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-20650975585979418682012-01-25T07:21:01.286-08:002012-01-25T07:21:01.286-08:00This is just damn beautiful, Dennis.This is just damn beautiful, Dennis.Sheila O'Malleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05859697259996394827noreply@blogger.com