Bad and Boring - Brief Encounter (1946) Discussion

[–] TaterMitts 16 years ago

Hardly surprising.

Mein Fuhrer! I can valk!

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[–] electrictroy 15 years ago

I was going to report shanekeane's post (below) for "hate speech" against the Jewish and Germanic peoples, but I decided to leave it stand so everyone can see and learn how NOT to act.

Anyway I agree this movie is a little dull, especially considering how simplistic the subject matter is (married woman meets man and falls in love). Perhaps if it was shortened to a 40-minute TV episode it would play better.

What I find REALLY surprising is that it's in the Top 250 of all time movies. I think it deserves a good score, but I could easily name 1000 movies that are better than this.

-----
Because God created it, the human body
can be uncovered and preserve His splendor. -Pope John Paul

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[–] bartekfm 15 years ago

If you don't like it, it simply means that you don't like films. Go watch your Transformers again.

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[–] Towelie_Towel 15 years ago

I disliked this film aswell. Can't I have an opinion of my own without being insulted? This film was pretty bad, over acted and pointless, I don't see what's so special about this one.

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[–] lizandrich 15 years ago

Can't I have an opinion of my own without being insulted?

In this case, no.

One of the greatest films ever made. Heart wrenching.

She's a man, it's a sled, he's dead already.

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[–] Towelie_Towel 15 years ago

That's just your opinion.

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[–] DreadedPestilence 15 years ago

wOw! i'm surprised anyone with an insulting nature such as yourselves would enjoy this film. i guess that's what happens when kids sneak downstairs and raid their parents film collection after they've gone to bed! grow up! fetus's :P (booyaa!). sorry, but it had to be said. oh right, yeah.. the film..
i myself loved it, for sooo many reasons. like, the way the film stereotype the husband to be a loveless, ignorant lump who is more interested in his daily paper and slippers than his wifes feelings. so much so that he doesn't even recognise when she pours her heart out to him, blatantly admitting her love for another man. and yeah, i guess i can see how it could come across a bit boring, but ffs IT'S HALF A CENTURY OLD!! yet it still holds strong values today AND has more depth and is more thought provoking than 80% of todays western cinema. right. rant over. my favorite film is alien by the way. and i hated transformers too! michael bay shouldn't be allowed, he sat on our childhood and farted away our dreams. :S

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[–] Towelie_Towel 15 years ago

Yeah... "Fetus's", I guess that's what I am. Even though Metropolis is 20 years older than this and I don't find it boring, in fact, it's one of my favorite films. Same goes for Chaplin, or M, or It Happened One Night, or Mutiny on the Bounty, or any Hitchcock film like Rebecca and The Lady Vanishes or Lifeboat.

You're right, Brief Encounter is not just a bunch of two dimensional characters talking like they have no life, with pointless and corny dialogue.

[/irony]

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[–] DreadedPestilence 15 years ago

"Yeah... "Fetus's", I guess that's what I am. Even though Metropolis blah blah...."
to be fair mate you jumped in front of a bullet there. lol, metropolis was pretty cool. cheers, i was looking for something to download for this afternoon. nice and artsy. ARTsy, not to be confused with...erm whatever this falls under. lighthearted romancertainment or some crap. anyway, i'm just sayin there's no comparison between the two. yeah, it was probly wrong to bring the age of the film into direct play. hell, nosferatu is a fave of mine, far superior to brief encounter, because it's a completely different style. generic romcoms and lighthearted dramas and the like are inherently rubbish next to epics and masterpieces by weirdy beardy's like lang or lynch, or hitcock apparently, coen, Mamoru Oshii, tarkovsky, blah bah... but some are better than others. law of averages i guess.

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[–] smith-684 15 years ago

I agreed with you until you trashed Transformers in such a silly way. What happened? You were going great guns and then you stooped to the silly children responses we are all getting so sick of and that make us wish we had a more mature, even paid, site to read about movies and comment.

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[–] DreadedPestilence 15 years ago

Smith 684 - fair point, i did kinda go off on a needless one with the whole michael bay thing, think i may have been drunk or something. i still believe it, but i didn't have to say it. so, apologies for rant. but honestly, can anyone name a decent bay film?? (lol, sorry. did it again!)

everyone - and what's so wrong with simplicity? there are enough explosions, deaths, ghosts, plot twists and just pure crazy in plenty other films out there, and i'm not saying these things are bad, but when you blow something up or kill someone every 5 minutes it soon loses it's charm. a nice easy film is a refreshing change. farenheit 451 for example. relatively simple/linear, but a good film all the same....
yes, there are thousands of films far superior to this, but who builds their opinions on other peoples? besides, most polls and what-have-you are predetermined anyway so i wouldn't take it too personally

i honestly think this film, for what it is and for the time it comes from, is far from "bad and boring".

hmmm, maybe i shoulda just said that to begin with.

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[–] lewis-51 14 years ago

This is a superb film and as far from boring as any movie ever made. My wife and I were absolutely riveted while watching it.

May I hazard a guess that the people who find it boring are rather young? Maybe, female and under 30, male and under 40?

You'll grow up eventually.

- henry

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[–] Jewels200987 14 years ago

I LOVE this film and I'm a 22yr old female. I shouldn't love it though and I'm really surprised that I do because I generally have a really poor attention span and don't like these types of movies. I think if I hadn't watched it from start to finish then I would have come out with the impression of it being really boring. I rarely watch films from start to finish. I first saw parts of the film in film class a few years ago and bought it recently just because I wanted to see the "grit in the eye" bit again! I didn't know I was going to really enjoy the whole film.

I can't stop watching it (although that's usually what I do when I like a film-watch it everyday for about a week!). My mum on the other hand found it "ok" but doesn't get why I like it so much. I can't explain why I like it so much either, I just do!

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[–] loza-1 12 years ago

"One of the greatest films ever made. Heart wrenching."

No, not heart wrenching but gut wrenching.

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[–] Mohsen-Qassemi 12 years ago

Boring for me too. So boring that I had to force myself to watch in three sittings. And how unattractive and dull was Laura. The only good thing was Rachmaninov's concerto!

Mohsen Qassemi

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Screenwriter_Brandi 14 years ago

Insightful!

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[–] DreadedPestilence 14 years ago

@ Lewis_51
a little stereotypical fella. i first saw this when i was about 15, really enjoyed it. (indeed, my favorite film was Alien then too, lol). my sister liked it too, she's only 3 years older than i.

i can understand why some people wouldn't rate it. it is quite linear, and there are no explosions. what i don't get is why these people can't just say "It's not really my bag" instead of "it's *beep* that's probably one of the most common symptoms of an inflated ego, one thinking something's not good, just because it's not to ones taste.
lets face it, you're not gonna be offended by this, it's the most inoffensive film i've ever seen. even with the male stereotype (cos us blokes can take a joke :) ((that was a joke, females ;) ).

my point being, it's not a *beep* film, it's probly just not your bag.

another good one from the same period is 'the dark mirror'. the attitude of the detective is questionable, but it all makes for an entertaining sunday arvo watch.
.. discuss..

"Now, if we don't find the bible means of stopping this *beep* Sharkzilla is gonna own the sea!" - Megashark vs Giant Octopus(2009)

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[–] franzkabuki 13 years ago

No film I´ve ever seen has come close to being as boring as the messages on IMDb saying "this film is boring", are.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Tchoutoye 12 years ago

This mundane, romantic drivel, depicting nothing more than schoolgirl escapism, has to be one of the most overrated films of all time. It has no redeeming elements whatsoever, not even Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto which was used more effectively in The Seven Year Itch. The redundant voice over narration merely tells what we already see; if it serves any purpose, it's to annoy audiences with the character's suburban shallowness.

And lest anyone recommend me Michael Bay, I'm writing this as a huge fan of 1940s films, films by Val Lewton, Orson Welles, Carol Reed, etc.

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[–] michael_wallace_ellwood 11 years ago

If it is not to people's taste, then fair enough. We all have our own particular taste in films.

But to say it is actually bad means that you haven't watched it enough times.

To appreciate all the good points about it requires several viewings, with an open mind, and probably a gap in between.

There is a lot of symbolism, hidden or suggested meanings, and some quite clever film technique (especially for its time, and made under wartime conditions).

On the DVD version I have, there is a very interesting documentary about the film, including some of the people who helped to make it. Worth seeing.

The BFI Classic Films book by Richard Dyer is also worth reading, although I don't go along with all his comments.

Far from being a bad film, it is an almost perfect film.

Definitely in the same class as, say, The Third Man (1949) (also with Trevor Howard), but technically perhaps, slightly better.

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[–] loza-1 10 years ago

michael_wallace_ellwood

You're having a laugh.

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[–] DaVooz 11 years ago

Well, some of the acting was bad - why do actors in that time particulary and still insist on playing a simple minded character with a crazy and annoying voicevoice...

But imo it's a good theme and a good story - in fact I think the characters behaved pretty decent. A David Lean picture is always worth watching.

BTW: where did all the smart people go on IMDb?? I mean smart and interesting, not 13-year old smart. I hardly read any interesting remarks anymore, just the basic stupid impulsive YouTube short remarks and "shocking" replies.

with [cheese]

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[–] whostercogburn 9 years ago

If that's all you can say, it doesn't say much about your intelligence.

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