I love Towne but...
The beginning is damn slow. I'm exceedingly surprised to even have to say that. Towne, and all the hype and awards... but I'm not getting it.
I will give it a few minutes then I'm pulling the plug.
[deleted]
MovieChat Forums > Shampoo (1975) Discussion > I love Towne but...
[deleted]
Maybe if you had actually got comfortable and concentrated on the character interactions in the film rather than dividing your attention by writing posts here you just might have gotten into Shampoo. "Plots" are for children. Grown-ups appreciate the audio/visual experience of a movie that tells its story through atmosphere and character. You missed out.
shareyou have your predicate reversed.
had the film been interesting enough it never would've crossed my mind to come to the board.
the film is boring. I stand by that. And don't forget, I am a huge huge Towne fan. Probably way moreso than you.
Thanks for responding. Out of curiosity, do you like Robert Altman films? I've always felt that Shampoo has that hazy, laidback Altman style. I've wondered if Ashby-Beatty-Towne were influenced by RA.
sharethat is a good point. and yes i see what you mean. quite similar.
i am not the mindless michael bay aficianado type but i just prefer a narrative that's more overt than not. out of all of Towne's films the only two I didn't care for are thsi one and ask the dust. they just bore me. i mean, i could 'work' to try to like them, to connect to the characters, etc but honestly that doesn't make for a fun watch.
good point about altman. i have a term for films that meander aimlessly and require a lot of inference on the viewer's part: i call them 'literary' films. because, they employ devices that are generally better suited to novels, such as introspection and other non-visible cues. literary films rely heavily on the viewer to connect dots themselves, since some of the information is not conveyed.
sorry for rambling. probably because i have not had supper yet. :)
I still need to see Ask the Dust.
I suppose I'm intrigued by narratives that are less overt; "literary" films as you describe them. I understand your reference to them being akin to introspective novels, but, on the other hand, I like how the best of them use visual ideas and "shorthand" to tell their stories. The films of Michelangelo Antonioni, for instance, combine literary, visual, and atmospheric values well - they tend to be more character than plot-driven, as Shampoo is.
I apologize for being bitchy in my initial response yesterday. It's just that I'm a firm believer in plot not being the end-all for an absorbing movie and I'm afraid you were caught in my crossfire! I certainly do like plot-driven films, just as long as they are very well-crafted.
Have a good supper. :D
[deleted]
[deleted]
It sure didn't take me long to pull the plug, when I checked it out, way back in 1981.
shareI liked Goldie Hawn and Jack Warden but otherwise didn’t care for Shampoo at all.
shareA good follow up movie to watch would be "The Ice Storm" (1993).
The rapid advance of declining morals, distrust in the state, and various liberations cause a very wide gap in the existing generations. I would say not seen since the explosion of the net.
The allowed practices in the name of sophistication are shocking to the same PERCENTAGE of people now as then.
In other words, what they thought would be profitable due to the shocking content has been relegated to boring.
Yeah, it really takes its time to get going.
share