RIP Jonathan Demme

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

 

[Quintus 5,399]

RIP

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

RIP. One of my all time favourite directors.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Silence Of The Lambs is a certified classic. And I always loved his Rachel Getting Married, which is probably the best film surrounding the events of a wedding I've seen.

 

[publicist 4,643]

RIP. 

[Thor 7,503]

Wow, that came out of nowhere. I had no idea he was ill. Terrible news. Great director!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

He also directed Stop Making Sense, which is, in my opinion, the finest concert film ever made.  Great talent!

[Jay 37,355]

Wow, looking at his filmography, I've only actually seen 3 of his films: Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and the Manchurian Candidate reboot.

 

I wonder if he saw the Angie Tribeca Lambs parody.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Rachel Getting Married is a great film to watch with a girlfriend or wife.

[Thor 7,503]

I heartily recommend SOMETHING WILD (1986), if you haven't seen it.

[Jay 37,355]

11 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Rachel Getting Married is a great film to watch with a girlfriend or wife.

 

Wait, I did see that one!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Married To The Mob is good too

[A24 4,331]

I saw Last Embrace but I only remember that Roy Scheider is in it.

 

 

[KK 3,307]

RIP

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I've seen Silence and Philly.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Rachel Getting Maried is probably his best film, followed by Something Wild and Married to the Mob.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Better than Silence?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

None of the 3 he singled out are better than Silence.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Very few films are.

[Quintus 5,399]

Eh? Hundreds of movies are. Silence of the Lambs is a classic and I've always enjoyed it, but it's not hallowed ground or anything. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yes it is. It's special, Lee!

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

24 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Better than Silence?

 

That's one of his worst films, but I appreciate it as a trashy, camp classic, like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls or Mommie Dearest.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,524]

This is sad. R.I.P., Mr Demne.

 

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

He also directed Stop Making Sense, which is, in my opinion, the finest concert film ever made.  Great talent!

 

Stu, STOP MAKING SENSE is the finest concert film ever made!

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

1 minute ago, Richard said:

Stu, STOP MAKING SENSE is the best concert film ever made!

 

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,524]

#James Broooooown

James Brooooooown#

[nightscape94 965]

He was actually much older than I thought.  RIP.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Demme also directed the greatest concert film ever made.

 

 

[Jay 37,355]

5 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

He also directed Stop Making Sense, which is, in my opinion, the finest concert film ever made.  Great talent!

 

3 hours ago, Richard said:

Stu, STOP MAKING SENSE is the finest concert film ever made!

 

3 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

 

 

 

1 minute ago, Sharky said:

Demme also directed the greatest concert film ever made.

 

 

 

 

???

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

So, I didn't the read the posts directly above me. Big fucking deal.

 

You can call off the firing squad.

[filmmusic 1,828]

Philadelphia..

A life changing film for me..

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

David Byrne's tribute to Demme.

 

My friend, the director Jonathan Demme, passed last night.

 

I met Jonathan in the ‘80s when Talking Heads were touring a show that he would eventually film and turn into Stop Making Sense. While touring, I thought the show had turned out well and might hold up as a movie, and a mutual friend introduced us. I loved his films Melvin and Howard and Citizens Band (AKA Handle With Care). From those movies alone, one could sense his love of ordinary people. That love surfaces and is manifest over and over throughout his career. Jonathan was also a huge music fan—that’s obvious in his films too—many of which are jam-packed with songs by the often obscure artists he loved. He’d find ways to slip a reggae artist’s song or a Haitian recording into a narrative film in ways that were often joyous and unexpected.

 

We very much saw eye to eye when we met and the late Gary Kurfirst, who managed Talking Heads, found us the money to shoot Stop Making Sense. We booked four nights at the Pantages Theatre in LA at the tail end of a tour for filming. Jonathan joined us on the road and became familiar with the band and the show. Jonathan was going through a bit of a nightmare during filming—a studio and a star wanted him to reshoot parts of a big budget film he’d just finished called Swingshift. He was dealing with that in the day and shooting our low budget movie at night. Guess which one will be remembered? That said, Swingshift was filled with empathy for the women workers in U.S. factories during WWII—it was character driven, as much of his other work is.

 

Stop Making Sense was character driven too. Jonathan’s skill was to see the show almost as a theatrical ensemble piece, in which the characters and their quirks would be introduced to the audience, and you’d get to know the band as people, each with their distinct personalities. They became your friends, in a sense. I was too focused on the music, the staging and the lighting to see how important his focus on character was—it made the movies something different and special. Jonathan was also incredibly generous during the editing and mixing. He and producer Gary Goetzman made us in the band feel included; they wanted to hear what we had to say. That inclusion was hugely inspirational for me. Though I had directed music videos before, this mentoring of Jonathan’s emboldened me to try making a feature film.

 

Jonathan helped me as I was developing True Stories, I wrote a song for his film Something Wild, a score for Married to the Mob and we made a test sequence for a never completed documentary featuring Robert Farris Thompson called Rule of the Cool. Jonathan went on to make a lot more features—some hugely successful, others not so much. He interspersed these with a number of documentaries and music films. The documentaries are pure labors of love. They tend to be celebrations of unsung heroes—an agronomist in Haiti, an activist (cousin) and pastor and an ordinary woman who does extraordinary things in New Orleans post-Katrina. The fiction films, the music films and the docs are all filled with so much passion and love. He often turned what would be a genre film into a very personal expression. His view of the world was open, warm, animated and energetic. He was directing T.V. episodes even this year, when he was in remission.

 

Jonathan, we’ll miss you.

 

David Byrne

 

April 26th

 

http://www.stereogum.com/1937607/david-byrne-eulogizes-stop-making-sense-director-jonathan-demme/news/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=timeline

[mrbellamy 6,286]

Absolutely loved Demme

 

Something Wild is probably my favorite, brilliantly rides that line between absurdist comedy and action thriller. Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, and Ray Liotta are all amazing in that, I think that was Liotta's first movie? Agree that Rachel Getting Married is a great one too, hysterically funny and heartbreaking. Everyone always talks about Anne Hathaway but I remember Bill Irwin also making a huge impression on me.

 

Definitely on the Silence of the Lambs hype train any day. Some of the greatest uses of closeups ever??

 

 

 

His docs are great too, watched Neil Young: Journeys recently, wonderfully bittersweet. 

 

And Stop Making Sense, the greatest goddamn concert film ever made.

 

 

 

My favorite. Great shot at 4:55!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The way he shot "This Must Be the Place" in Stop Making Sense is so magical. One of the strongest musical moments in film history IMO.

 

 

In my younger days, there were many occasions where I "partook" and watched that movie.  Beautiful memories.

[crocodile 8,012]

6 hours ago, Quintus said:

Eh? Hundreds of movies are. Silence of the Lambs is a classic and I've always enjoyed it, but it's not hallowed ground or anything. 

Don't know, mate. There is a certain tenderness to it that makes it very unique.

 

Karol

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

Don't know, mate. There is a certain tenderness to it that makes it very unique.

 

Karol

 

There's a sadness to it.

[Quintus 5,399]

The lambs are burning, they're bleating out to be rescued, whaaaaaa. 

 

BAAAAAAaaaaaaaa

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Don't be a twat!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Sounds like something Miggs would say.

[crocodile 8,012]

I don't even think this melancholy/sadness has anything to do with the script. It's just a combination of the mundane setting/autumnal season/editing/cinematography and, yeah, Howard Shore's unusual score.

 

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Very true.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,524]

14 hours ago, Sharky said:

So, I didn't the read the posts directly above me. Big fucking deal.

 

You can call off the firing squad.

 

"For you the blind, who once could see, the bell tolls for thee".