Spanky The Dolphin wrote:You paid more than $400 for Salo? Jesus, that's a film I don't even ever want to actually see...
I wouldn't blame you if you never saw it, but I'm not sorry that I did. It really is a fascinating film, extratextually at least.
The thing that I find most interesting about
Salo is the way the material is presented. What's happening in-universe is some of the most brutal, vile, degrading, horrible stuff imaginable (and I mean it - you could be rock solid unoffendable like I am and come away unsettled by this movie), but the straightforward, almost documentary style distances you from the subject. Also, it is not pornographic - it explores (in a way no other film that I know of does) the boundaries of what is and is not pornographic, to be sure, but it never crosses that line. Every sex act, every act of violence and depravity depicted is carefully edited and blocked so that nothing too explicit is shown - there's almost a sense of decency in the way the acts are depicted. If any one of the torturous acts were in a film, said film would be lauded for its brutal yet artistic portrayal of such an act - but the fact that
Salo is act after act like this puts it over the top. I'm not saying that it needed to be made or anything - it certainly does go too far - but that in and of itself makes it all the more fascinating.
Salo is also inextricably connected to the bizarre life and death of Pier Palo Pasolini, the film's director, and one of cinema's most interesting and tragic characters. The film has caused such an uproar in its life (often, as is usually the case with such uproars, by people who have not even seen the film) that I feel it is worth preserving.
The Criterion Collection version of the film has an excellent essay on the film and on Pasolini's last years in the insert. I'm sure a copy of it can be found online (probably even at CriterionCo.com). Unfortunately, the DVD is exceedingly rare, hence my paying upwards of $400 for it.
I'm progressing a lot slower than you are. I only have the Brazil set and Solaris, although I've asked for Seven Samurai for Christmas.
As far as
The Seven Samurai goes, that's a great buy. I recommend asking for the Kurosawa boxed set while you're at it (comes with
Yojimbo,
Sanjuro,
Hidden Fortress, and
Seven Samurai -
Yojimbo is my favorite Kurosawa film).
I also have the first printing of
The Seven Samurai Criterion DVD, which includes an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the DVD. Toho made Criterion cut it out of subsequent printings, because Criterion wasn't licensed to present the film outside of its original context. Which is a shame.
And Faram, I'm sorry, but it had to be done
