Phantom of Liberty

I found this really appealing, rather funny, and very compelling. It's utterly bizarre, of course, but it has a real sense of momentum and invention - it put me in mind of Holy Motors for some reason, probably that sense of always going forward. And the French, of course. I'm sure I didn't "get it" all, so would be willing to give it another look, and definitely feel inclined to check out more by Bunuel.

A few of the segments fall flat but most of them are very enjoyable, and a couple are absolutely hilarious. The film's conceit of stringing together different stories, leaving the previous one hanging at just the right moment is marvelous and well executed as the transitions are surprisingly natural. The emu is great too.

One fantastic gag after another, each exploiting an assumed social dogma (justice, childhood innocence, sacraments, etiquette) until it's just artifice. As perfect as they come from the Great Cynic. God bless Bunuel.

Rationally leaves the room when an emu enters it, as this film shows. A continuous flow of unfinished narratives, characters crossing each others' paths, and some of Bunuel's most overtly surreal and comedic ideas, this manages to be a more digestible film and yet is far less conventional than his other work from the period, and containing some exceptionally scathing humour despite the silly tone to some of the segments. By the end the serious ideas behind the hilarity rings true.

Compared to his other films, has more energy and less inertia with Bunuel's brand of soft surrealism, which is mostly due the vignette structure. It's difficult, but rewarding trying to piece them all together and futilely make sense of them overall, but these individual segments rather quickly show their cheeky humour, such as the rogue sniper, the "missing" girl, and most famously the toilet dinner. As a slow and consistent shock to the system, it's one of my favourites from Bunuel.

Insane - completely insane. Bunuel when he is most absurd, hilarious, surreal, is Bunuel when he is best. I mean - a dinner party where they shit instead of eating, and where referring to eating is frowned upon - insane, insane, insane. Oh, and Monica Vitti is in this, a few years older, some pounds gained(bigger guns) - but she is still the most beautiful female to grace the world of film.

I liked the unusual structure and the humor and the surrealness of it all, but at times it played like a Saturday Night Live episode. Lots of underdeveloped little skits based on simple premises. It's funny, but it's really not that funny. Also, it's got a sort of low-budget feel to it.

It's better to recognize P.O.L. as one of the first multiple story weaving examples. Through indie movies and many examples around the world with some extremely popular ones in the last decade we became used to it. To the point ending with a few seconds of ostrich shots and shouts of freedom. But some of the stories lack the punch as stated. Bunuel may have achieved a better effect with a single story around multiple characters. Viva la revolucion!

The most brilliant segment in this film is the dinner party, where the guests sit on toilets and eat in a private stall. An awesome role reversal. The rest of it is just absurd, in the best Surrealist way possible. In all honesty, the humor doesn't always hit the way it should, but it's hard not to enjoy yourself watching this.

The epitome of Buñuel's unique blend or surrealism and merciless social critique? Could very well be. The structure is genial, the odd details are all in their right place and the film delights and pulls the rug as masterfully as any other in his filmography. Buñuel's agenda may be clear, but his means to get us there guarantee an original cinematic journey.

Apparently I'd watched this before but i honestly couldn't really remember anything about it, which sort of says it all. For a work of surrealism, it's surprisingly forgettable and pedestrian. Bunuel's completely uninspired approach to cinematography probably doesn't help, nor that the targets of his satire, the bourgeoisie and the Catholic Church, get repetitive pretty quickly. That said, it still manages to be better than Fellini though, somehow.

Right from the film's opening segment, Bunuel challenges our psyche accustomed to it's social stigmas and constraints. Each episode oddly intertwined with unique criticism and a humor I've grown a liking too. The hotel bit and poetic shooter were quite the scenes!

It's quite a trick to make a film with this kind of structure consistently interesting and enjoyable, and there are quite a few memorable episodes. Better than DISCREET CHARM but not quite as good as THAT OBSCURE OBJECT.

I thought that nothing could surprise me anymore, but I'm glad I was wrong. Thank you, Lu.

I'm not sure whether I hated/was more bored by this or Discreet Charm. Guess I'm the only one here who thinks Bunuel's 70's stuff sucks?

A masterpiece. A hilariously bizarre work of surrealism. Buñuel is just brilliant.

84.50

the delicate authenticity of a dream

Peixes

# 702

to balance his oeuvre bunuel made a couple of films that are little more on the boring side, strange choice perhaps but you got to respect the master who made El Ángel exterminador

This one melted my brain. The ordinary and the absurd lie very close together here, so it's hard so say if the absurd is actually the ordinary and vice versa. The movie shook my perception of the world we are accustomed to, but in a way that I can't fully explain it. Some of the episodes were a little bit boring but this was the exception.

A series of uninspired vignettes that fail to connect beyond the superficial. Buñuel returns to a primitive and mawkish surrealism that just doesn't measure up to the society at the time.

Estive revendo porque Buñuel em sua autobiografia disse que era seu filme favorito dos que tinha feito e o filme condensa mesmo tudo que o diretor já fez. Brilhante em todos os aspectos. Box Versátil O Cinema de Luis Buñuel.

A collection of loosely connected vignettes, which individually and as a whole make for a very funny film about the bourgeoisie's delusions of liberty. Even with all their power and money, they are not as free as they think they are for they cannot help but fall victim to their desires. And when they embrace their desires, they are invariably denied even this gratification. The 'missing girl' and 'dead/alive sister' vignettes are highlights for me.

Maybe this got me on a bad day or something, but didn't enjoy it nearly as much as other Bunuels.

Periodically okay and has a few decent scenes, but Bunuel usually doesn't do much for me, and this is no exception. So much of it just seems random for the sake of random to me, though I'm sure it's going on about the bourgeoise and the church and etc. I think part of my problem with Bunuel is that I just generally don't find his brand of humor funny at all. This is supposedly a comedy, but I really didn't get any laughs. I wish I got him more.

Weird for the sake of being weird can be fun but only if it has some kind of story for me to latch on to. This had no story and didn't interest me all that much. This was my 5th Buñuel and my second dud. I seem to prefer his early works.

#633

It's like watching really boring sketch comedy where all the segments only have one joke to them. Like all sketch comedy, it's very hit-or-miss, but only a very few segments here hit.

Movie 43 if made by the French. It violates the biggest law of comedy films: it's just not that funny. Lots of skits with just one punchline and, after you've watched a few minutes of aimless acting, it barely registers a smile.

622

Weirdest episode of SNL ever.

"This heady masterwork isn't particularly easy to decipher, but it's best approached as the literal comedy of manners Buñuel intends it to be." - Ed Gonzalez

Too strange for my taste. The dinner + child missing segments however were pretty great though, the rest was just too bizarre

Absolutely hilarious, and bizarre. I kept being reminded of Monty Python... but this was smarter and, ultimately, funnier.

My first Bunuel movie. I will be back for more.

Nothing is fun in this movie, and nothing makes sense.

Perhaps not quite as good as "Discrete Charm, but close.

This film is hella cool.

Completely unconventional but strangely gripping.

584

Mockery ftw.

It doesn't really mean anything, as far as I can tell, but some of it is funny.

awesome dinner scene

A hit and miss affair in its treatment of middle-class hypocrites, often funny, but sometimes no more than bizarre, although you keep watching, just to see what happens next.