Being There Is Cinema’s Greatest Rorschach Test | CineFix Top 100
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- Опубліковано 16 бер 2024
- “I like to watch.”
From director Hal Ashby, Being There is wildly intelligent movie about an incredibly unintelligent man. Peter Sellers stars with Shirley MacLaine in a story about a simple-minded gardener and the power brokers who seem to think he’s a genius. Clint, Cal and Alex talk about the power of projecting only what we want to see, how films can become eternally relevant and who has the bigger fan base, the Chicago Bears or the film While You Were Sleeping.
Meanwhile, Dan’s algorithm has its seasons. First it has Spring and Summer, but then it has Fall and Winter. And then it has Spring and Summer again…
CineFix Top 100 was created by Clint Gage and Dan Parkhurst and is produced by Tayo Oyekan, with Director of Photography, Jamie Parslow and Technical Producer, Marhyan Franzen. Our Executive Producers are Clint Gage and Corrado Caretto. Logo and graphic design by Eric Sapp and title animations by Casey Redmon.
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When I saw it in the theater, years ago, I took the ending to show that he's so pure and so innocent that he didn't know he couldn't walk on water, so he did.
Just watched it for the first time the other day. I absolutely loved it.
If you haven't yet, you should watch Network (1976) next.
I haven't seen Network yet. Thanks for the tip@@robdielemans9189
Clint is the man. I will watch/listen anything to anything he does. and another worthy addition to my to watch list!
Being a movie buff, Cinefix has been my go to place for any discourse about movies and while everyone on the panel is awesome, Clint is the face of the channel. His movie analysis often draws from established theories that one learns in a film class and yet it is easily accessible for people not familiar with them. My only complain is that they don't release their videos soon enough. But then, I will take quality over quantity every single time.
Sellers said in an interview that his entire career before 'Being Thjere' had been mere training for the role of Chance the Gardener. 6 months after the movie wrapped, he was dead. Guess he felt his work was done here.
Ah, yes, one of my personal favorite films. I'm glad to see you guys discussing this film. Hal Ashby is the closest thing to a hometown hero I have regarding filmmaking.
Even just the last scene is worth watching 1000 times
Brings me to tears just to think of it. I first saw the film in the cinema when it came out.
I think this belongs in top movies that comment on the interrelationship with us and the media: Face in the Crowd, Network, Electric Horseman, and Truman Show. This is definitely right up there with all of that. And Peter Seller's restrained performance is so beautiful.
Hal Ashby was so criminally underrated. A brilliant filmmaker. Unfortunately Being There was his last great film.
Reagen was elected fall of 1980 and was inaugurated in 1981.
I don't work in the industry but I think it takes more than a couple of months to go from filming to showing a film in theatres.
Being there is one of most underrated 1970s movies
Have you seen "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers"? It's so well done. It has Geoffrey Rush playing Peter Sellers with almost chameleon like precision. They show how passionate he was to get Being There made and that puts me squarely in the Peter Sellers as MVP for this film.
Just watched this yesterday. One of Hal Ashby's best films right there with "The Last Detail."
People projected onto him, such as when many people thought he spoke their language because they would say something to him and he would respond by laughing.
I like to watch.
Didn't think being there would be there in the top 100! Peter Sellers is a champ of early comedies.
You guys need to be a compulsive cataloguer like me. If I was asked to make a top 100, I'd pull up my spreadsheet of films watched and just selectively delete 3,240 rows. No forgetting!
Sellers is the MVP, no question. This was his movie; a passion project that I don't think would have been made without him. And Sellers' genius was his ability to erase all traces of himself to inhabit someone else. It's why he could play multiple roles so often. In this case, he could delete himself and leave nothing behind but emptiness. I can think of few other actors that could have pulled that off anywhere near as effectively. Chance was the apex of what Sellers was capable of.
This film was and is a timeless masterpiece. It needs to be seen by all...
A dead man is horizontal in bed while the television plays a cheery jingle about having a "Sealy Posturepedic Morning!" That's funny.
1941 has a lot of visual effects. Any spectacle happening at night are all miniatures. That damned epic Ferris wheel is a miniature. If you didn't remember them as effects, that's a testament to how real they looked.
spine nerving comedy in this film, really good one
First comment - and on a video about one of my all-time favorite films no less 🥰
Yay! one of my alltime favorites!
a truly unique movie, worthy of discussion and recognition!
This was one of my favorites at the time. It has since faded, but nice to revisit once in a while.
Reagan opened the door for 24 news/entertainment cycle when he got rid of the fairness doctrine.
You know who also walked on water in the finale of a movie... *Popeye.*
In fact, he danced on water.
Sweet, I've been meaning to get to this movie for years, and now I have an excuse!
There’s an HBO biopic, the life and death of Peter Sellers, with Geoffrey Rush in the main role… I’m trying to decide if I should recommend it, because it’s worth the watch, but it also shows Sellers as something of a sleazebag, in a departure from the public image
This is just layers upon layers of creative dialogue that still sadly resonates to today. God this is a great film.
Jack Warden - 12 Angry Men and Heaven can Wait!
Haven't seen the film, but read the book in grade school. Would love to see a "What's the Difference" analysis!
The book, as I remember it (it's been 50 years), was more sharply satirical -- especially of television's capture of the public consciousness.
I contend the 24-hour news cycle started with the Iranian Hostage crisis in 79...
The She and Him christmas album shout out is not what I expected to hear mid march pod cast. What a deep cut
Being There > Forrest Gump
For sure
Dental cleanings > Forrest Gump
My local indie theater was advertising Winter Kills, they were bringing it back, apparently Tarantino was spear heading a revival of it.
It took y’all 47 minutes but you got finally there!
On the question is this a proto Yorgos movie? I would add: is this a post Lanthimos (especially the ending of Kynodontas) movie?
If Being There is the proto-Lanthamos, Robert Bresson is rhe proto-Being There
All these years of watching this and never noticed Caleb Deschanel was the director of photography (husband of Mary Jo and dad to Emily and Zooey). Also Fran Brill was one of the lawyers and she was also a Muppeteer (Prairie Dawn and Zoe on Sesame St.). Lastly Barbie the Movie features 2001 homages at the beginning for Barbie (Dawn of Man) and when Ken discovers patriarchy. Ken's scene has a similar funky Also Sprach Zarathrustra as the one in Being There. I am sure that was Great Gerwig's homage to Being There. The song in Being There was by Deodato and was a top 40 hit in the early 70s (one of my favorite songs ever).
Off by one on Reagan's election. Elected on November 4, 1980 and took office in January 20, 1981. He did run for president in 1976, but lost the nomination to Gerald Ford.
"That little thing" is his "slowness."
I feel like your interpretation of the movie and of the protagonist ist too cynical. I don't agree that the movie even remotely tries to depict him as stupid. What Chance symbolizes is child-like innocence which is something very different. You would never call a small child plain stupid. But that's who Chance is. Whether you agree or not, the movie suggests that this is something we should all strive to. Chance unwillingly helps the people he meets not by making any efforts or trying to achieve a (selfish) goal but by simply *being there* for them. That's why the ending scene is brillant! It is not to be taken literally.
Repo Man next week
Wow, even I've seen Winter Kills, and I'm not even a Cinephile.
Come on, he's expelled from the garden and it's surprising that he steps into hell?
Chance the gardener walking on water wasn’t vague
Yay so glad the Burbs made room for this one.
2:45. Uh, no. The film is based on a novel by Jerzy Kosinski, not inspired by the election of Ronald Reagan, though it can certainly be taken as commentary on it.
No, I don't think Chance is "stupid Jesus" - I think the walking on water thing is suggesting that Chance is a spirit, a caretaker or guardian of the garden and not mortal or human.
Reagan announced his third candidacy for president in November 1979. The campaign would have been from around then until the election in November 1980. He would have taken office in January '81. He was the 10th Republican to announce his candidacy. He probably would have been a relatively minor figure when this movie was being filmed.
Almost 1.5 hours and no one mentions the writer? Jerzy Kosinski adapted his own novel for the screen, with a surprising difference in theme and tone -- I had read the book several years before the movie came out, and (although I enjoyed it tremendously) the film took me by surprise.
Do they always neglect to mention writers?
My thoughts exactly, they had enough time to praise supporting actors and do a trivia quiz, but not enough to mention its literary source and the fact that Jerzy Kosiński was the author of the book and the coauthor of the script.
these reviews get more and more painful to listen to.
Next time, can we get an angle on Alex where half her face isn't obscured by the microphone the entire show? It got distracting really quick
US elections are always on even-number years. Regan was elected on 4 November 1980 and inaugurated early 1981. If I were to rate Peter Sellers' acting roles, my pick for #1 is A Shot In The Dark. The range and perfection of his facial expressions in that movie blow me away.
To me, the best scene in Being There is where he tries to switch off the louts with his remote control.
Spine #864 of the Criterion Collection. I think you're missing a trick when you review a movie and don't mention if it's in the Criterion Collection.
Analogies and comparisons only go so far. Here are a couple, cats and religious texts.
Cats meow when they are hungry and thirsty, two things that Chance keeps telling people, too, and, without any direct sharing of insightful wisdom, cats can provide comfort by simply BEING THERE. Some cats are also never allowed outside the house. Am I saying that Chance is actually cat? Why, that's just silly.
Some religious texts involve stories of trees, floods, and gardens. People read individual deeper meaning into these, sometimes claiming only whatever suits their own aims and fancies. I've attended a few Bible Studies, and heard all kinds of interpretations. Could the parable about the sewer of seeds actually simply be about taking care of cats? Why, that's just silly.
The algo is so jacked :(
Cinefix is absolutely the gold standard when it comes to movie discussions, though I often don't agree with your picks (The Burbs? lol)..You guys rock! 🙏🙏🙏
Jack Warden in Heaven Can Wait
No .THe election was 1980.RR became president in 1981.
Reagan ran in 1980 and became president in 1981
Bulworth is the best political movie of all time.
I saw this 1 year after release. I didn't think of Chance as stupid Jesus, rather as smart, hip Satan. My interpretation
I'm enjoying your Top 100 reviews; however...I have to say...your most recent choice to take Being There over My Cousin Vinnie confounds me. BT is certainly interesting, funny, and deep, but (to me) is much farther down on the list than the cinematic masterpiece that is the Leo Getz version of Tommy DeVito navigating Herman Munster's courtroom with the Oscar-winning assistance of Aunt May. MCV told a tight, moving, hillarious, well-written, well-structured, well-shot heartwarming story. BT was more of a smart, straight-played SNL skit taken way too far; plodding. Peter Sellers was impressive, but the joke was old before Shirley's Eve Rand character entered the story. The movies are incomparable and should be separated by great distances on any movie quality list. Just my two cents. Please keep doing what you're doing; much more interesting than the single movie appreciation class I took 35 years ago!
The Old Man is Dead
Chauncey likes to watch
Eve is a "virgin" "mother" to Chauncey
Rand is buried in a pyramid
Chauncey walks on the water like Jesus
Chauncey is Horus
Interesting interpretation
The talking over each other to say nothing in particular is getting pretty annoying
The symbolism behind the walking on water thing is that he is able to navigate fluidly amongst all walks of life by being above worldly concerns. This was the nature of Jesus who was a king and also associated with the prostitutes.
Jesus taught that you can be like Him by putting away worldly things, which is exactly what Chance does. He is not actually Jesus or even special.
This is occult knowledge that is well known and understood in the masonic tradition, the ability to be a day-walker and exist simultaneously amongst princes and paupers.
First good movie on their 100. Can't belive...
You guys at Cinefix have a Ferrari here, but you drive it to the 7-11.
Jerzy Kosinski saw all this, lived with it, expressed it, and, with this intuition, preferred to kill himself than continue living with that singular sensibility.
_Deregulation_, newsrooms allowed to court advertising (having to) is what started electing actors as presidents. Not Ronnie. And RR would have been running his campaign on a wave of pro-savage capitalism sentiment, which Kosinski would have been seeing the trend towards, at 2 years, 18 months out, at a minimum, while writing it.
This film, from 45 years ago, is one of those direct-throughlines you hear about, leading right to Trump, our perception of Biden, and all the rest of this mess around us.
Trump is the ultimate Rorschach test. I believe good people truly identify with T, in all their fears and good intentions, with him, as their savior. For the rest of us, he's the Anti-Christ. Ultimate example of this R test.
It is a very interesting movie, but the introductory commentaries on the charater are not. Actually, the discussions on the movie is not interesting. I prefer the one-man narration, scene analysis, technical coparisaons and the context in the creation... more subject consistent. Thank you
go back to the old format before you sold out, this is failing and your view count shows it
not as bad as his "the party" but "being there" is one of those overrated movies, like "forrest gump". i can't see anything appealing in it. nothing whatsoever. maybe gordon willis-esque cinematography.