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MUBI

fisgon

MUBI, for those who don't know, is a film streaming site that curates a selection of films for streaming; there are only 30 films on the site at any one time and each film stays available for 30 days, when it disappears.

The films are more or less arthouse films, Indie, subtitled, films from the great directors of the history of film. I have discovered it during the lockdown, and am addicted - it is a complete film education.

At the moment, there is a stunning selection available. Some I have watched include....

Woman in Chains – La Prisonniere – Clouzot 1966
Started off intriguing, erotic, some light Dom and Sub, and then it turned into a very conventional love story, a guy with commitment issues, a girl who turns soppy and crazy – Jose is the girl, the central character, but also the character who lets the whole enterprise down. Falls flat at the end after a promising beginning.

Visitor Q – Takashi Miike - 2001
Deranged, nasty, implausible, directionless.

L’Eclisse – Antonioni – 1962
Very slow, some nice moments, almost nothing happens. The best scenes are those in the Roman Stock exchange which are chaotic and bedlam. The 2 main characters are Vittoria – blond, dreamy and vapid – and Piero – a good looking, arrogant, superficial stock trader. Neither very interesting nor sympathetic – had no interest in whether they would get together or not.
It finishes with this succession of images of modern suburban life, all right angles and empty roads, as if it was commenting on something, though it all feels dated and tired.
Also, there is no eclipse.

Saraband – Bergman – 2003
A film about terrible fathers, really awful, weak, contemptuous, hateful fathers. A film about the past, about loss, about regret, intense and quietly shocking. There is the suggestion of incest, suicide, there is tenderness and affection. It is like a play, arranged in 10 different scenes.

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johnny_ultimate

Have been waiting to have a nice afternoon free to watch Vitalina Varela, having been disappointed at not getting to see it in the cinema. Thankfully, a smaller screen does little to dull some of the most stunning imagery I've seen in quite some time. A triumph of composition - the darkness and the light contrasting and clashing in ways that often resemblance more than anything else Renaissance painting. Breathtaking cinematography in each and every frame.

If you haven't seen a Pedro Costa film before, this is as good an introduction as any as it's a little bit more accessible and straightforward. Be prepared: it's still extremely meditative, slow-paced and devoid of traditional narrative momentum. But do try and give it a chance: meet its not insignificant demands, and there's a starkly beautiful, quietly moving study of human disappointment and resilience in the face of unresolved conflict and trauma. It's heavily based on the real-life experiences of the eponymous actress (with Costa regular Ventura playing a key role as a frail priest who has long battled his own sense of disappointment), adding that extra layer of unspoken power to proceedings.

fisgon

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Have been waiting to have a nice afternoon free to watch Vitalina Varela, having been disappointed at not getting to see it in the cinema. Thankfully, a smaller screen does little to dull some of the most stunning imagery I've seen in quite some time. A triumph of composition - the darkness and the light contrasting and clashing in ways that often resemblance more than anything else Renaissance painting. Breathtaking cinematography in each and every frame.
.

I began watching this, and though it is certainly very painterly, it is a hard watch.

The themes are tough, and after the umpteenth sixty second shot of a dark room where nothing is happening, I moved on to the next film on the list. Maybe I should have stuck with it, but there is too much on MUBI to explore and too little time - I just didn't have the patience for Pedro Costa.

Undertow

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Just to note the Library should now be available on the app as well - certainly is on iOS

It doesnt appear to be on the Android app or Samsung app, but maybe its imminent then! Thanks!

fisgon

This week's MUBI reviews...

Hoop Dreams – 1994
One of the most famous documentaries of all time, it follows two black teenagers as they pursue their dreams of basketball fame and fortune in Chicago in the nineties. About much more than basketball, it is especially relevant now with the Black Lives Matter movement – one of the kids, Arthur, has a father addicted to crack and gets held up at gunpoint in his ‘hood. We see the pressure both kids are under, with family, coaches and teachers all expecting huge things from them.
It works because you root for them, want them to succeed, to overcome their difficulties.
  

Mia Madre – Moretti – 2015
Never really engaged me, this film. There are constant dream sequences and flashbacks, and they break up the flow, take you out of the narrative. It is also very meta, a film partly about film-making, which is not as interesting as the director thinks it is.

John Tuturro turns up, playing an American actor (more meta) and is one of the few shafts of light in a kind of pedestrian work that often descends into strange melodrama, and is only briefly moving near the end.
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Krabi 2562 - Rivers/Suwichakornpong - 2019
Some beautiful images, interesting use of sound, effectively makes you feel as if you are there, in coastal Thailand. Is it a documentary, a fake-doc, is it fiction, or somewhere in between? It is certainly experimental; if you have to leave for 5 minutes and forget to pause the film, don’t worry, you haven’t missed anything. More like an art film you might see in a gallery, playing on a loop, than a movie as such. There is a half-hearted attempt at some kind of structure, but it never really comes together. Not a film to choose if you are looking for characters and a storyline.
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Love – Gaspar Noé – 2015
Famous for real sex scenes (and there are a lot of them). There is intensity here, and passion, but the central character, Murphy, an American in Paris, is a complete tool, a tantrum-throwing, arrogant, pretentious tool, and so it is hard to have any sympathy for him as his life unravels. It gets a bit repetitive, and goes on too long, but the style and the eroticism of the film give it something powerful.
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fisgon

Films on MUBI at the mo....

La Dolce Vita – Fellini – 1960

Fabulous start to this film, with a long shot of a helicopter flying over Rome carrying a statue of Jesus. It continues in this stylish, glamourous way, centring on Marcello, a gossip journalist in Rome, mixing with celebs, working with the paparazzi (this film gives the origin of the word, even in Italian), living what seems to be an incredibly romantic life.

The story turns sour near the end, with a tragedy of such horror that it is difficult to fit it into the rest of the narrative, which is reminiscent of the Great Gatsby in its decadence. Marcello loses his way, world weary, stuck in a milieu that he no longer feels is his. The film ends on a down beat, with a surreal party and an air of melancholy.

No. 6 on Time Out’s 100 Greatest movies, it was a pleasure to finally get to see this; wild, romantic, grand, fun, passionate, ultimately quite sad.
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Duck soup – Marx Brothers - 1930

There are moments of surreal comic genius here, and you can see the influence on later comedy outfits like the Pythons, and especially Vic and Bob, but a lot of this is just annoying and silly. It hasn’t really aged well. All of the characters other than the Marx Brothers are more like props than people, just fall-guys for Groucho’s constant, stream of consciousness monologue, and this gets old quickly. Curious and bizarre, and quite irritating.
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Woman at War – Erlingsson - 2018

Similar in theme to Night Moves, on MUBI last month, this focuses on an eco-warrior – this time in Iceland – who is sabotaging the country’s electricity grid.
We don’t really get into the ideas at stake here very deeply, there is some discussion about the narcissism of various forms of idealism but mainly this is about the conflict between Halla’s single-minded pursuit of her goal, and her desire to be a mother with a little about the power and value of family.

Some stunning shots of Icelandic scenery, there is also a little running joke about a Latin American tourist who keeps turning up. It is also punctuated by curious musical interludes which at first seem random, but which actually become part of the narrative. Intriguing, inventive, satisfying.
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Una – Andrews – 2018

A film about child abuse, but not really heavy or depressing, which is an achievement in itself. An intense story, drawing on flashbacks that add to the whole rather than overwhelming it, it is an uncomfortable, contradictory watch at times as a young woman confronts her abuser. The performances are excellent; Rooney Mara especially as the eponymous Una. Holds the viewer’s attention.
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Fysh

Today's offering, at least in the Uk, is Almodóvar's Pain & Glory, and therefore highly deserving of your time. I'm definitely looking forward to rewatching this.

Irish Aris

Fysh wrote: »

Today's offering, at least in the Uk, is Almodóvar's Pain & Glory, and therefore highly deserving of your time. I'm definitely looking forward to rewatching this.

One of the best Almodovar films, for me the best since Talk to Her (Hable con ella). I could really relate to the character of Antonio Banderas. Highly recommended.

fisgon

Fysh wrote: »

Today's offering, at least in the Uk, is Almodóvar's Pain & Glory, and therefore highly deserving of your time. I'm definitely looking forward to rewatching this.

Funny, I am usually a fan of Almodovar - All About my mother and Volver are works of genius - but I saw Pain and Glory when it came out last year and found it very tedious.

Big disappointment for me, though it did get great reviews.

fisgon

Speaking of great films; David Lynch's weird slice of genius, Mullholland Drive, has just come on to MUBI today - can't wait to watch that again, haven't seen it since it came out.

It messes with your head, but in a good way

fisgon

Lilting – Hong Khaou – 2016
A film about communication, - or the lack of it - grief and family. A pretty simple tale which moves slowly and gently on, drawing you in to its wake. No great twists or changes, no great revelations, but effective and engaging in what it is trying to do. Kind of peters out near the end.
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Naseem - Mirza - 1992
A lot of rumours and hints of trouble between Muslims and Hindus in India in this film, but strangely we see almost none of it - the conflict is like a backdrop to this simple story of family and nostalgia, focusing on 15 year old Naseem and her bedridden grandfather, who tells stories of his youth. Feels like a lot of build up and no pay off, though an enjoyable enough journey.
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Virus Tropical – Caicedo – 2017
Very cool, smart, fast moving animated film based on a graphic novel. A coming of age story set between Ecuador and Colombia, the film is really good on the differences between Latin American countries; Cali suddenly seems much more modern and hip after Quito for Paola, the central character. Fun and funny, with a lot of feminine energy.
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Eden – Hansen – 2014
If you’re not into nineties Garage and House, then this may be a struggle. The film just drifts through twenty years in the life of a Paris DJ as he gains success and then loses it, hooking up with a succession of girls on the way. The protagonist is not sympathetic and really the story doesn’t even try to create any depth to any of the characters. Aimless pseudo-coming of age story that just wanders to a conclusion.
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padjocollins

Watched Heli last night. very good film https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2852376/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

pm1977x

Is there no app for smart TVs for this service, seems crazy you have to cast or hdmi your laptop to view on TV or am I missing something?

dave13

I can get the app on my Samsung smart TV. Wasn't pre-installed but could install from app store. Also have it on Amazon Fire stick.

Full list here https://mubi.com/devices

camz09

I really enjoyed the Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. There's a ton of amazing footage and interviews while also an added perspective of the Swedish crew trying to understand the African-American struggle in the US. Slightly depressing though since the same problems have hardly changed from fifty years ago to now.

Also loved the recurring song by The Roots, it's stuck in my head all day..

padjocollins

Irish Aris wrote: »

One of the best Almodovar films, for me the best since Talk to Her (Hable con ella). I could really relate to the character of Antonio Banderas. Highly recommended.

pain and glory is a good film , finished it last night but it didn't catch me and pull me in like talk to her, but that to me is up there with the best films so high praise.

padjocollins

so on mubi (i said netflix origionally, ha) germany the few that are on now that i enjoyed are Heli (second time watching it, brutal but really good),
isreali film , the day after i'm gone, a family drama (well worth the watch).
Just finishing up the Romanian film , the treasure , slow moving but still a good film
i assume these films are available on ie/uk mubi

fisgon

padjocollins wrote: »

so on mubi (i said netflix origionally, ha) germany the few that are on now that i enjoyed are Heli (second time watching it, brutal but really good),
isreali film , the day after i'm gone, a family drama (well worth the watch).
Just finishing up the Romanian film , the treasure , slow moving but still a good film
i assume these films are available on ie/uk mubi

The day after I'm gone is on Irish MUBI but the other two are not. Not sure why they have different films for different countries.... Maybe they give us more English language films?

johnny_ultimate

I’d be 99% confident differences are down to rights issues. You even get fairly significant differences between the UK and Ireland, which is only really explainable by that. Many European countries have completely different rights-holders so no surprise there’d be significant differences across countries, outside Mubi’s own releases.

Honestly, it often works out to Ireland’s benefit - from what I’ve seen the UK gets more mainstream or well-known films that are available everywhere, whereas Ireland often gets smaller or more unknown films instead. That’s a good thing IMO

Lionbacker

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I’d be 99% confident differences are down to rights issues. You even get fairly significant differences between the UK and Ireland, which is only really explainable by that. Many European countries have completely different rights-holders so no surprise there’d be significant differences across countries, outside Mubi’s own releases.

Honestly, it often works out to Ireland’s benefit - from what I’ve seen the UK gets more mainstream or well-known films that are available everywhere, whereas Ireland often gets smaller or more unknown films instead. That’s a good thing IMO

In the past I have noticed that myself, but over the last few months the UK & Ireland have had the exact same catalogue.
Fairly sure the last difference was back on St Patricks day when Irish mubi had the Irish film "Silence" which wasn't available in the UK.

stockshares

I have the Mubi App on a Mecool Android TV Box and on my phone.

There is just a list of 30 movies on both Apps but neither app has a search bar, library or watchlist yet their website has a large library, a search bar and you can create watchlists.

Can you only watch the 30 films listed? If so what is the point of their website? There is a serious lack of functionality and settings options in the apps.

johnny_ultimate

30 films is the whole selling point of Mubi - one film added a day, one taken away. It’s highly curated, so it’s probably the only major streaming service with any sort of actual quality control (which isn’t the same as saying everyone will like every film they put out, because that’s impossible).

They have, however, just recently added a library section which has a more substantial selection of films outside the core rotating selection. It may not be available on every app yet, but is on the iOS and web ones for now at least.

stockshares

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

30 films is the whole selling point of Mubi - one film added a day, one taken away. It’s highly curated, so it’s probably the only major streaming service with any sort of actual quality control (which isn’t the same as saying everyone will like every film they put out, because that’s impossible).

They have, however, just recently added a library section which has a more substantial selection of films outside the core rotating selection. It may not be available on every app yet, but is on the iOS and web ones for now at least.

Thanks, can you play Movies from the Library?

padjocollins

stockshares wrote: »

Thanks, can you play Movies from the Library?

you can . Hoping for an mubi android update soon so i can play them on my android box and phone

stockshares

padjocollins wrote: »

you can . Hoping for an mubi android update soon so i can play them on my android box and phone

Can a movie be casted from the website to chromecast if using the chrome browser on your phone?

JeffKenna

Just in case anyone doesn't know, if you subscribe to Scribd for their free month they have an offers section which gives MUBI free for a year.

stockshares

JeffKenna wrote: »

Just in case anyone doesn't know, if you subscribe to Scribd for their free month they have an offers section which gives MUBI free for a year.

Haven't heard of Scribd for a long time. Used to use it years ago. Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out later.

sumsar

Also, if anyone with Three.. on the 3 plus app back in March I signed up for the €1 for three months promo, I let it expire and then got the notification again today.. it allowed me to sign up for another three months for €1

pm1977x

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

30 films is the whole selling point of Mubi - one film added a day, one taken away. It’s highly curated, so it’s probably the only major streaming service with any sort of actual quality control (which isn’t the same as saying everyone will like every film they put out, because that’s impossible).

They have, however, just recently added a library section which has a more substantial selection of films outside the core rotating selection. It may not be available on every app yet, but is on the iOS and web ones for now at least.

It's not on the Samsung TV app yet anyway, started watching Toni Erdmann on my laptop and wanted to switch to TV but it's a non-runner, 1st world problems I know but surprised how limited the TV app is.

johnny_ultimate

The new Herzog film Family Romance LLC is free for everyone today - subscriber or not.

Heads up that last time this happened with Ema the film was available to subscribers for a month in the end - not sure if that's the case this time, but assume it will be. Non-subscribers definitely get in on the action today though

fisgon

Some MUBI films on at the mo.....

Redoubtable - Hazanavicius - 2017
About Jean Luc Godard and his young wife, Anne, in 1968 in Paris. Godard is horrible; self-righteous, humourless, obsessed with Communist revolution, controlling, self-pitying. The film itself is entertaining, with surprising bursts of humour and jokes at its own expense. Also a fascinating insight into revolutionary 1968 and the woke posturing of its time.


Prince Avalanche – Green – 2013
“Yesterday was Sunday so no parties and no chance of getting puss because everyone was at church.” This sums up Lance, one of the duo of road workers in rural Texas in 1988, working there after massive forest fires. His boss is Paul Rudd, playing Paul Rudd. There are almost no other significant characters, so the weight of the story falls on these two semi-losers; it is a gently enjoyable narrative, with a seemingly pointless supernatural digression near the end. Moments of hilarity but mainly quietly amusing.
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The day after I am gone - Eldar - 2016
Yoram, the central character (looking like a stoic, Jewish Elvis Costello), is like a block of wood; utterly inexpressive despite the tragedy in his life. The film is similar; it explains very little, gives very little context to its events, it is not even clear exactly who some of the characters are or what their relationship is. There is a real blankness to everything. It only rises out of its torpor on one or two occasions.
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Mulholland Drive – Lynch - 2001
“It’s been a very strange day".
Must be great to be David Lynch; you start telling a story, get a bit bored by it and decide to turn everything on its head, swap around identities and actors, throw in some random weirdness, and you are called a genius.
The first half of this film is building into something fascinating, and then it just disintegrates a bit as everything changes. Fascinating, surreal, nightmarish, a little less than it could have been.
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Aprile – Nanni Moretti – 1998
Another film by Nanni Moretti about a film director (this time called Nanni Moretti). This kind of meta film making is a lot less interesting than the director thinks, and smacks of a lack of imagination. The film suffers from not really knowing what it is; documentary, fiction, docu-drama, meditation on politics and Italy? Aimless, pointless and unfocused.
I think this will be my last Moretti film.
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