Film Director, Nicolas Roeg, has died aged 90

I have to admit to a loathing of Guy Ritchie, but you are absolutely correct.

 

Yeah, I love MoC. I have a complete collection of their releases.

 

Yes, I’m always impressed with MoC releases. Didn’t they do Metropolis? The reissue with the extra footage has to be one of the best ever.

 

Multiple times. The 90th anniversary edition is the most comprehensive; now OOP.

 

love roeg. my personal favorite is insignificance. on the music side the soundtrack for that has never been released digitally as far as I know. love the orbison track (which is available on cd in some collections).

 

My bad for being lazy. I'll rephrase and say that I'm thankful that Russell was a kid when he made Don't Look Now.

 

RIP Film Diretor Nic Roeg..

 

I just re-watched (after decades) Tony Scott's 1st film, The Hunger (Bowie-Deneuve-Sarandon) So Performancey that I googled and sure enough Scott freely admits "complete ripoff."

 

It's a shame he didn't seem to get the credit he deserved. I hope he knew how much his films were loved. He was hugely influential on people like Christopher Nolan as well - that whole time displacement thing where you are not sure if you are in the past, present or future - big influence on Nolan.

He was brilliant and a great favourite of mine, I love his films.

As far as lists go then this one I think is much better, the Time Out list of the 100 best British films ever:

The 100 best British films

Number 1 - Don't Look Now
Number 7 - Performance
Number 61 - Walkabout
Number 70 - Bad Timing

Number 1 and two in the top 10 is better than anyone else.

 

Definitely. I thought Inception owed a great deal to Roeg

 

Eureka is a bit of a mess of a film, but, there's still gold in that there film

just look at the images
Eureka Blu-ray - Gene Hackman

 

RIP.

 

That is one weird list, they have Lawrence of Arabia (24) behind Life of Brian (20), yikes!

Anyway, as much as I love Don't Look Now and think its a great movie, it's not better than the Third Man, for instance.

 

A great filmaker.
RIP

 

IDK how Eureka ever got made in the first place. Thankfully it did. I think appreciation for it will increase until its regarded as Roeg's best film.

 

It is, but I like it when they shake things up a bit rather than having the same list for years and years.

 

I became a Nicholas Roeg fan after I saw Don't Look Now at a revival movie theater in the late 1970s. I thought so much of that movie that when I arrived in Venice in 2008 and was utterly disappointed by the city's touristy ambiance (in the St. Marks area) I decided to spend a good deal of my time discovering Roeg's Venice, which culminated in tracking down the small church that the Donald Sutherland character was restoring in the film (pictured in post #28 above). I also got my share of chills when my wife and I totally got lost after eating at a restaurant only a few blocks from our hotel. We were looking for the bridge - see post #31 (though probably not the same bridge) - that would lead back to the hotel. We simply couldn't find it, just like in the movie. I ended up going down a walkway that led to nowhere (just like Sutherland in the movie, though no rats). I muttered to myself "I know this place" - again like Sutherland in the movie, but that was because of the movie I thought that! I get chills just thinking about it!

Number one British film of all time? Not sure about that, but it is a remarkable movie that I found (and continue to find) riveting from beginning to end. No mater how many times I watch it, I continue to be amazed at Roeg's razor direction, which is fast paced, seamless and expressive. There isn't an ounce of fat in the film. Anyone who has never seen it must do so! The first ten minutes is, as they say, worth the price of admission.

 

For maximum atmosphere, winter is the best season to visit Venice. We were there during Xmas week, when there were fewer foreign tourists milling about. The days were cold, yet clear and bright. The nights were dark and deserted, very much like in Roeg’s film. During one late night walk, we took a wrong turn and found ourselves at the Grand Canal with no one around. And I mean no one. Not a single boat on the canal, not a voice to be heard anywhere. It was a fantastic moment.

You definitely need a good map to find your way around. There are virtually no straight lines between any two points of interest. I had roaming data activated on my phone, so that came in useful.

The Don’t Look Now location hunt is an interesting way to explore the city, as it will take you to areas that few tourists bother to see. The church John is restoring in the film, for example, is in the far southwestern corner of the city, in the Dorsoduro district, and the little marina where the police fish the first victim out of the water is close by. However, the park where Laura goes for a walk after leaving the church, is several miles to the east, in the Castello district. In reality, she’d never have been able to walk between those two locations.

 

I wrote my Master's Degree dissertation on his first 6 films. I had the chance to exchange a few words with him on the phone. He had the rare capacity to be an intellectual without being aloof or disconnected from the simple pleasures of life. A great man, lover of music, who left us a unique oeuvre.

 

"Once I had it all. Now I just have everything": Nicolas Roeg Remembered on Notebook

 

Don’t forget the Church of Saints John and Paul. Not only was it my favorite church in the city (yes, more than St. Mark’s), but it was where Roeg filmed the scene where Laura lit the candle and John saw the sisters and tried to hide from them. You can tell by the Doges on - or should I say in - the wall. It is MUCH larger than it appears in the movie. I think I took about 80 (flashless) pictures there.

 

Remembered by Donald Sutherland -
Nicolas Roeg remembered by Donald Sutherland

 

Oh, I completely missed this sad news. I always loved "Performance", "Don't Look Now" and especially "Insignificance". Rest in peace.

 

Indeed. For more on Roeg’s own philosophy on filmmaking, it’s worth reading his memoir, The World Is Ever Changing.

In other news, The Witches has just been released on Warner Archive BD. My copy should be arriving this week.