Thoughts on Sodenbergh's Che Pt. 1 & 2?

EvaUnit02 on 12/7/2009 at 15:21

I'm currently contemplating seeing a festival screening of Stephen Sodenbergh's Che films, within the next week. The problem is both parts are only being screened back to back (with a 15 min intermission), making the combined running time ~4hr 35min.

What are people's thoughts on these films and are they sort of thing that benefit from the unique cinema experience?

Thanks in advance.

Scots Taffer on 13/7/2009 at 00:01

That'll be showing at the (http://www.stgeorgebiff.com.au/default.aspx) BIFF this year too, though I'm far more interested in catching Moon which will also show. Soderbergh is too patchy for me to really care about, last film of his I really liked was Traffic - haven't seen terribly many of his films after that, right enough.

ZymeAddict on 13/7/2009 at 03:06

Four and a half hours would be pushing it for me for any film, much less some propaganda piece about a communist thug who for completely nonsensical reasons enjoys a ridiculously-hyped cult of personality among trendy lefties.

Scots Taffer on 13/7/2009 at 03:13

fight the power

Mr.Duck on 13/7/2009 at 04:03

Dammit...I wish they showed the 2nd part over here in Mexico already. :(

I hope they haven't showed it yet and I simply missed it (which I doubt).

For the record, I loved Part 1.

:)

Muzman on 13/7/2009 at 06:43

I haven't seen it but was reminded that Soberbergh is a bit of legend who does whatever he damn well pleases in this (http://www.avclub.com/articles/space-oddity-case-file-141-solaris,30122/) AVclub look at Solaris
He has had quite the career.

I guess you could always go for part one and see if you can stand it. Or leave and get the rest out on disc later (probably what half the audience will do). That's pretty much what happened with Branaghs four hour cut of Hamlet that had a short run back in the day, from memory, even though it was good.
Che's always going to be interesting because he's a true idealist among revolutionaries. Most of them seem to lose their shine once they win (or weren't such in the first place).
Does it begin from the beginning or does it sort of start where The Motorcycle Diaries ends?

Thirith on 13/7/2009 at 07:18

I'd definitely make the decision based on what you thought of Soderbergh's other films. Personally I liked a couple of things he did after Traffic a lot (namely Solaris and Ocean's 11), and I've found something worthwhile even in the films I didn't like. In addition, Benicio del Toro is usually a pretty compelling actor. But I'm not sure I'd want to sit through 4+ hours without the possibility to break whenever I want, so in this case I'd go for the DVD experience.

Aja on 13/7/2009 at 07:44

Quote Posted by ZymeAddict

um, also among actual cubans

Fafhrd on 13/7/2009 at 08:09

I actually missed Part 1 when it played locally, sort of regret it as I've heard it's really good.

At the same time, the only reason I can really think of to see it theatrically is to see if the Red One's quality is really as good as the fanboys say it is. (even then I'd take Soderbergh's results with a grain of salt, since he has access to really high end post facilities that the majority of the indie filmmaker market segment Red is marketing to won't have.)

MorbusG on 13/7/2009 at 08:30

Although I liked part 1, I didn't really feel like it gained much when seen on the big screen.