A question about Babel

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 1:39am

I just saw this movie and I LOVED it. Very powerful but at the same time it kept my interest level......I thought it might be more like 21 grams which did not maintain my interest level.

Anyways, what do you think the note that Cheiko wrote to the police man said?

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 9:50am

Who cares? That whole Japanese segment should have been cut. The film would have been much tighter, shorter and although I thought the girl was excellent, a much better film. Thematically if they felt the need to include someone from that angle the storyline should have been about the FATHER, not the girl.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 10:03am

But the movie's running theme was about communication (or lack thereof) and, since the girl was deaf, I think she symbolically drove the message home. (Or was supposed to, anyway.) I just finished watching this movie, like, an hour ago and I liked it. I don't get the BABEL-hate.

To answer your question: I was thinking that maybe somehow Chieko was involved in her mother's death (her father disposed of the rifle to protect her) and she confessed to the officer via the note.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 10:14am

But if the theme is communication why not focus on the father not being able to communicate with his deaf daughter? He is the one who gave the gun away and thus his character is the one that ties the Japanese story to the others. Just my opinion of a film that could have been so much better...and SHORTER!

Why the extended (way too long) scenes at the wedding and the nightclub? Just ridiculously self indulgent film making.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 10:23am

I don't think Babel could have been any better or any shorter. It's perfection, I think the note, was a suicidal note, like a farewell letter.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 10:35am

I thought the premise of the movie was excellent, the execution flawed. The movie should have been edited to be tighter because I got bored at some of the overly long scenes. It seemed that the screenwriter and director favored some of the story lines over others, but chose the not necessarily most evocative. The Japanese story line was the most intriguing and best acted, IMO, but seemed hastily handled while the Mexican scenes were extended as though they were a free standing movie.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 10:39am

Muscle, why did those scenes have to go on for sooooo long? What in god's name did that nightclub scene have to say for what seemed an eternity that could not have been said in two minutes? The same with the wedding scene.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 10:42am

I didn't think the nighclub scene was very long. Methinks you have a short attention span, Sue.

You want to talk about a long wedding scene? Rent DEER HUNTER sometime.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 10:43am

Well Sueleen, you have a point, the Mexican story overall didn't make much sense, I posted a thread not long ago and most people thought it was ridiculous-including myself-, but all I can say is that I can't focus when I go to see movies for too long, and this movie kept me engaged till the final minute, I loved everyminute and I think it was a masterpiece, it was Oscar-worthy.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:08am

So, contrary to what you said in your previous post it COULD have been better and shorter?
Muscle, it is clear that you and I have very different tastes. I am not saying that to criticize your preferences, but I find that the things you seem to love I can't really stand. To each his own...

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:14am

It could have been shorter and better, but Im saying I loved it just the way it was, and *I* personally wouldn't change a thing.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:15am

muscle, you make no sense!

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:19am

"I don't think Babel could have been any better or any shorter. It's perfection"-Muscle

"It could have been shorter and better."-Muscle

Huh?

[tazber]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:21am

This conversation is exactly like the one I just had with someone else.
Suleen, I agree with you 100%. I only cared about the Mexican nanny and her story didn't even get interesting until the 2 hour mark.
I'm glad you enjoyed it though muscle. It's always good to hear different oppinions.

I gave the pic a C-

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:26am

Almost every movie I see "could have been" better and shorter, the same way I could run this country better that dubya, and if I was king of the world we would drive electric cars, we'd have free health care and no war.

Alas, I know nothing about film making, so I have to make do with what's thrown at me. And I LOVED Babel. I have the attention span of a 2-year-old, and the movie managed to keep me focused the entire time.

Why the scenes so long? I think a lot of it was just visual... especially the club scene. I don't know. I don't know his intention at every step of the way. But I loved the movie nevertheless.

(and I am not being snarky...)

[brad3]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 12:29pm

I couldn't even finish the movie, I agree with muscle. Better and shorter. I saw the trailer and I was like "ohh that looks good" but I couldnt even finish the movie. Good plot. Good cast. But I could only get through like a little more than an hour of it. It bored me.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 12:48pm

OT but Stage Manager - you do realize that the reason (or one of them) that the wedding scene is so long in Deer Hunter is the war/peace parallel. The movie was not intended to be a war movie and the apparent normality of the wedding scene - its banality even - was meant to balance the jungle scenes. I have a hard time being bored by any movie that has a cast like Deer Hunter - there is always someone to watch.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 1:20pm

I don't think the Mexican wedding scene or the nightclub scenes were long either. At all. They showed a moment in the real life of real people...I thought the whole Mexican wedding was beautiful.

And yeah...go watch THE DEER HUNTER.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 1:23pm

I don't think Babel could have been any better or any shorter. It's perfection"-Muscle

"It could have been shorter and better."-Muscle

Huh?

Oh honey, ok, any movie could be better or shorter, ANY movie, including Babel, I loved Babel, I thought it was perfection, yet, any movie could be better or shorter. Would I change Babel? No. I thought it was perfect. Could it be shorter or better? Yes!
Too hard to understand?

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 1:29pm

I have a hard time following that logic. If you feel it could have been shorter and better how could it be a perfect film?

Yes, the wedding scene in Babel WAS a beautiful scene if you take it out of context (and I had less of a problem with that scene than I did with the disco scene, perhaps because I thought that story was much more interesting)but it would have had just as much impact and been half as long, in my opinion.

The wedding scene in Deer Hunter is long, too, but as was pointed out earlier it is to contrast the war scenes and supports the film as a whole and all of the principal characters are involved.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 1:33pm

First, don't "honey" me.

Second, you clearly contradict yourself. You say you don't think it could have been any shorter or any better, and then a while later you say "it could have been shorter or better." If you son't see how that is a blatant contradiction, then I can't help you.

And, no, it isn't too hard for me to understand. Unfortunately, I am able to understand very stupid arguments a lot of times. I get your "logic." You're saying that while the movie COULD have been shorter and better, you PERSONALLY do not think it could have been shorter and/or better. That's the point you're trying to make. Unfortunately for you, that whole argument has absolutely no logic behind it. Either you think it could have been better or you don't think it could have been.

"I thought it was perfect. Could it be shorter or better? Yes!"

That statement defies logic. If you thought it was perfect, then you clearly don't think it could have been better.

Updated On: 3/25/07 at 01:33 PM

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 1:38pm

Im not even going to argue, I truly feel like Im wasting my time, just read what I wrote again, if you have any issue or questions, feel free to PM me.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 2:32pm

It reminds me of that person on the main board who in one post called Curtains amazing and a smash, and in the next post said the jokes were flat and the book hard to follow. I may be paraphrasing, but that was the gist.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 2:40pm

Priest, you should know by now that trying to get a point across to Muscle is like trying to snatch a vat of mayonaise away from Star Jones.

NOT gonna happen.

[Revolutionary]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 2:51pm

Hah. To be fair though, I don't think Star Jones eats mayonaise anymore. Mayo gives gastric bypassers the runs.

I personally loved the club scene, and the playground scene before it, with the all the disconnect and the sound coming in and out... I thought it was very effective.