paging Mr. Marshall - I bet you hate Greenaway, don't you? Me, I loved his films from The Draughtsman's Contract through to The Cook, but after that... nah. Mind you, Nightwatching is meant to be a return to form. My choice: the gorgeous Drowning By Numbers. A visual feast.

A Zed & Two Noughts ~ a great film.
Hard to seperate his films (well, the ones i've seen) from the fantastic Michael Nyman scores though.
Top film maker.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover had the most direct impact on me. ^_^ The Draughtsman's Contract has the longest lasting impact on me and therefore I chose it.

Drowning by Numbers comes pretty close and I also would like to see A Zed & Two Noughts again sometime soon.

Getting extremely bored by The Pillow Book prevented me from watching the successional Greenaway films.

Havent seen all of the films, but that doesnt detract from the enjoyment I got from 'Drowning by Numbers'. As the film,s plotline started to get a bit too fantastic, the actors seemed to recognise that and hold it together anyway.
Some of them were even in on the joke of the 'Numbers 1--100' turning up, at one point looking around for the next one at a close of scene.
Great Film.


(57)

Wot he sed...word for word. -_- :beer:

:o

What's that scene in The Cook etc: I'd rather eat my own shit. :lol:

Not really seen much of his stuff. I like the idea that he is a painter (or at least I think he is :huh: )

What makes you say that, sir?

I applaud Greenaway's stance of keeping his films low-budget and therefore not prone to creative interference from nervous investors, and his films sure do look fantastic, but I find them all really hollow, and the adoration of Michael Nyman (not least by himself) remains a mystery to me, my loss.

I did find myself feeling quite sexy after the Pillow Book, and quite enjoyed Drowning By Numbers' conceits, though. And I was fortunate to interview him for about 45 mins in about 1995, quite took me back how fucking erudite he was, yet likeable with it.

Have you seen what he just did with/to The Last Supper? - gotta hand it to him, he must be very persuasive. Details: http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2288367,00.html

The Baby of Macon is one of the worst films, pretending to be a good film, I've ever seen and put me off Greenaway for life- yes it's that bad. I saw The Draughtsman's Contract and didn't really like it either. I do admire his outsider approach to film making but really don't like the results. The films I've seen irritated me and do seem rather hollow like Fritter said above. I don't like Nyman much either; he's so philipglassboring, but worse somehow.

Well you don't like Jarman, and I think Greenaway and Jarman are both prone to self-indulgence and lack of emotion in the interests of art. Sorry for jumping to conclusions.

I didn't take offense...you might be right. I really haven't seen enough of Greenaway's work to comment. He flickers at the corner of my eye. I know I should see some of his work...but I usually get distracted. Any recommendations would be gratefully accepted :)

Albatross was alright, but his middle class white boy English take on the blues was superior only to Eric Clapton.
he needs to cut his fingernails.

Watchable but they are dreadfully pretentious 80's nonsense really.

Drowning By Numbers is my favourite. Bit of a desert island film for me, and I could take or leave the rest.

Ill second that, look out for the 'Rockets' and the way the film draws you in then brings a 'Real World' evaluation to whats happening.
Sheep on the Beach is good too.

It's particularly useful if you can watch Greenaway's documentary about the film 'Fear of Drowning' straight after. It explains a lot of the themes and references.

DRowning by Numbers is one of the best awake-dreams I've ever had.
Such great performances from the male leads in DBN, Cook, and Belly as well, the latter being my fave domestic-dispute type film of its era.

I liked what Greenaway said about why he makes his films so complicated: (With a knowing grin) "Ah, it's purely for commercial reasons. If I get them back into the cinemas to see them again I make more money..."