district 9

[cocaine]

yes, i know theres a thread on it already but i'd like to raise a few more points

an outstanding film, one that i actually held interest in and was able to watch it the whole way through without becoming bored. a great storyline and first time actor Sharlto Copley (Wikus Van De Merwe) stole the show. amazing actor.

i see one flaw however - how come the aliens were speaking alien and the humans speaking english yet they could understand each other? weird.

[kk.]

its one of those things that needed explaining but didnt. 20 years, they mustve started to understand each other.

did you know that the whole script was apparently improvised? Probably why he said '****' an uncountable amount of times ahha

[cocaine]

the whole of it improvised? surely there must have been some sort of guide no?

[kk.]

im not sure, its what i read lol

[Neversoft]

The whole script wasn't improvised, but most of the documentary scenes were.

Also, from IMDb's FAQ...

How do the humans and aliens understand each other?
The aliens had been on Earth for 28 years, more than enough time to learn each others' languages.

[Browney]

yes, i know theres a thread on it already but i'd like to raise a few more points

an outstanding film, one that i actually held interest in and was able to watch it the whole way through without becoming bored. a great storyline and first time actor Sharlto Copley (Wikus Van De Merwe) stole the show. amazing actor.

i see one flaw however - how come the aliens were speaking alien and the humans speaking english yet they could understand each other? weird.

I thought Sharlto was awesome. He was funny, he was dramatic, I felt compassionate towards him. Everything an actor should be. I thought it was great casting.

[cocaine]

The whole script wasn't improvised, but most of the documentary scenes were.

Also, from IMDb's FAQ...

How do the humans and aliens understand each other?
The aliens had been on Earth for 28 years, more than enough time to learn each others' languages.

oh my bad then :D thanks


I thought Sharlto was awesome. He was funny, he was dramatic, I felt compassionate towards him. Everything an actor should be. I thought it was great casting.

yeah its great to see amazing no-name actors doing good jobs

[Misawa]

A good film, but overhyped.

[Shoed]

i didnt like this, saw it last night LOL

[Black_Apalachi]

Like I mentioned in the other thread, I found the main character's accent extremely annoying but the actor is amazing and did a great job.

I also questioned the language barriers (or lack of), but then thought of the amount of time they had been there. Although I was only aware of the time lapse when it was mentioned by characters. There was nothing visual to suggest time had progressed; none of the characters seemed to age apart from the documentary scenes towards the end. I wouldn't have expected the same team of people (soldiers etc) on the case that far ahead either. Also, the alien's child didn't grow up? Of course we can assume they age much slower than us I guess :P.

I would still like to have seen a much bigger difference between the aliens' general language structure versus our own, but that's a separate issue really.

Also, I found it odd how the Nigerians decided to live in the alien camp in the first place. Of course in real life, the US (and possibly UK) government would have stormed in from the word go back in South Africa :P.

All in all I found it fairly emotional and I reckon it was much better than I expected.

[Browney]

Like I mentioned in the other thread, I found the main character's accent extremely annoying but the actor is amazing and did a great job.

In the other thread, you thought he was supposed to be dutch. No, hes South African.


I also questioned the language barriers (or lack of), but then thought of the amount of time they had been there. Although I was only aware of the time lapse when it was mentioned by characters. There was nothing visual to suggest time had progressed; none of the characters seemed to age apart from the documentary scenes towards the end. I wouldn't have expected the same team of people (soldiers etc) on the case that far ahead either. Also, the alien's child didn't grow up? Of course we can assume they age much slower than us I guess :P.

I dont get you? From where we start properly watching, something like 76 hours elapses. It all happens on the same day. The bits at the start just introduce us to the story and situation.


I would still like to have seen a much bigger difference between the aliens' general language structure versus our own, but that's a separate issue really.

As said, the humans have learnt alien and vice versa.


Also, I found it odd how the Nigerians decided to live in the alien camp in the first place. Of course in real life, the US (and possibly UK) government would have stormed in from the word go back in South Africa :P.

The lady in the film said that the nigerians are pretty much con men. And they saw an opportunity in that alien camp to sell cat food for extortionate prices. AND they wanted to horde all the alien weapons. Basically, they survived in the slum, which means it's fairly lawless.


All in all I found it fairly emotional and I reckon it was much better than I expected.

Yeah me too.

[Black_Apalachi]

In the other thread, you thought he was supposed to be dutch. No, hes South African.


I know, he just had a Dutch sounding name. My point was his accent sounded like a mix of many accents.



I dont get you? From where we start properly watching, something like 76 hours elapses. It all happens on the same day. The bits at the start just introduce us to the story and situation.


Oh I see, so from where they first try to approach them with their eviction notices up to when he turns into one of them, is the same couple of days? Didn't realise that.



As said, the humans have learnt alien and vice versa.


I know, that's not my point. If I were creating a fictional alien species, their discourse wouldn't be so much like our own, is all I meant. It wouldn't be so simple.



The lady in the film said that the nigerians are pretty much con men. And they saw an opportunity in that alien camp to sell cat food for extortionate prices. AND they wanted to horde all the alien weapons. Basically, they survived in the slum, which means it's fairly lawless.


Yeah I just thought it was strange how they did so at the beginning before they knew what the aliens were like or anything.

[Immenseman]

watched it last night, one of the worst films i have ever seen. serious. was awful. wth.

[Accipiter]

sorry but, i watched it, it was not a good film.

*REMOVED*

Edited by PriceTags (Trialist Forum Moderator): Please don't avoid the filter.

[Misawa]

sorry but, i watched it, it was not a good film.

*REMOVED*

I liked it and I've watched thousands of films. So what does that make me?

[Accipiter]

I liked it and I've watched thousands of films. So what does that make me?

a person who's watch thousands of films, tbh, i found it quite a racist script, and i found the script badly writen... it was a pathetic script that even a kid given a brief of the movie could write. (if they knew how to swear)

[Misawa]

I haven't read the script to find that out.

[Accipiter]

I haven't read the script to find that out.

its basically based on district 6, which was a black community forced out by white people, they basically classed black people as aliens -.-

[Misawa]

No idea what District 6 is, but I know District 9 is the feature adaptation of the director's short film.

[Neversoft]

District 9 is not racist. Some people clearly took the movie the wrong way.

[Accipiter]

District 9 is not racist. Some people clearly took the movie the wrong way.

i don't see it as strongly racist, i just see it as a no-brainer by an idiot.

[cocaine]

sorry but, i watched it, it was not a good film.

if you enjoy scripts that look like "**** , SHIZ, **** off, ******* hell mon, FURKKKK" through a movie, then you haven't watched many.

i'm quite sure if a race of aliens came and lived in your country and you then got infected by an unknown spray which turned you into an alien you'd probably be frantically swearing quite a bit too.


its basically based on district 6, which was a black community forced out by white people, they basically classed black people as aliens -.-

hardly, its an adaptation. you might as well say that 'the day after tomorrow' is allah cleansing the world of white people.


i don't see it as strongly racist, i just see it as a no-brainer by an idiot.

could you write a script for a film that would score more than 8.5/10 on IMDB - a world-known reliable movie website? until you can, you have no right to say that.

[kk.]

a person who's watch thousands of films, tbh, i found it quite a racist script, and i found the script badly writen... it was a pathetic script that even a kid given a brief of the movie could write. (if they knew how to swear)

As I found out in the other thread, the main characters script was actually improvised, so I'd expect it to have a lot of swearing in

[Misawa]

As I found out in the other thread, the main characters script was actually improvised, so I'd expect it to have a lot of swearing in

Actors don't have personal scripts catered to them. There is one sold script for the entire film. He would have had lines, he obviously chose to ignore them and the director went with them. So they must have been better than what he wrote.

[Neversoft]

As I found out in the other thread, the main characters script was actually improvised, so I'd expect it to have a lot of swearing in

As I said on the first page; the whole script wasn't improvised, only the documentary scenes were. Which makes sense because only improvisation can give it that raw documentary feel.

[kk.]

...

MovieRetriever: What was the most challenging element of the production – either specific or general?

COPLEY: One of the more challenging things was actually the ADR process afterwards – recreating a performance that you improvise on the day. There were never lines. So, the speech patterns are very real – he’ll stutter, repeat himself, "um" and "uh." Repeating that in a dark room with a microphone and you've got to be crying and you've got to be happy and you've got to be beaten up ... it's something that actors don't seem to talk about much but it's a massive thing. We're lucky that we use a lot of our original audio, but that's because of the nature of our film. Most films now, ninety to a hundred percent of what you're hearing the characters say wasn't said on the actual day, it was recreated. There's a kind of magic that we had on this shoot on the set and I was very determined to get it either better or the same than we had it on that day. As a non-actor, it concerned me how good I would be at that. But it seemed I had an aptitude for it and I did get it by the end.

MovieRetriever: You mention improvising. Tell our readers about the process of District 9.

COPLEY: All of my dialogue, all of my actual lines are improvised. There's a script but Neill works within a structure. "This is what needs to happen in the scene – go there, evict the guy, pull the guy outside, go inside and see the computers." And then I'll work with Jason and improvise and keep throwing stuff, throwing different options. Physically, you've got to be aware of where you're moving for continuity. Once we get something down, then I can change the lines, but try and be IN the shack at this point in the scene so that it will cut with other runs. It was a fascinating filmmaking process. It was very different from the way people normally do it.

http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/404/interview-with-sharlto-copley-star-of-district-9

so it was basically improvised. He said there was a script, but the director gave him directions and just went with it, using original audio etc.

[Black_Apalachi]

a person who's watch thousands of films, tbh, i found it quite a racist script, and i found the script badly writen... it was a pathetic script that even a kid given a brief of the movie could write. (if they knew how to swear)


its basically based on district 6, which was a black community forced out by white people, they basically classed black people as aliens -.-

The whole point of it being set in South Africa relates to the apartheid-era and the general themes surrounding it like social segregation. The black people being seen as equal at the aliens' level is the whole point. I'm sure someone involved with this area of the film was Nigerian anyway, can't remember who now.

But I couldn't say this was a bad film - on the contrary, it was very well-made and to say anything along the lines of 'if you liked this then you haven't seen many films' is just ignorant really.

[Accipiter]

tbh i found the beginning extremely boring, unless it picks up half way through (which i tried to watch but couldn't find the time, and tbh didn't want to because i disliked the first half) i stick with my opinion of it being a terrible movie.

[Immenseman]

yeah, the beginning was awful. i was looking around like wth o.O i almost left half way through. i endured the end and it wasn't all that much better.

[Black_Apalachi]

I must admit I was thinking of leaving at one point (this sounds stupid lol), but I was thinking about other things at the time and I guess I wasn't concentrating on it properly and just thought all the emotions and themes it raises were kind of overwhelming :P.

Either way, I thought the visuals themselves were immense. I was watching Jurassic Park the other day and couldn't help noticing the way the dinosaurs move on screen, it just doesn't look like there's a real animal next to the people. That made me realise how amazingly real they managed to make the aliens and any special effects in this look.

At the beginning I thought the film didn't look very good myself, but I just gave it a chance and understood it I guess. I'm actually looking forward to the sequel (District 10?).

[Misawa]

The CGI in Jurassic Park is brilliant and has stood the test of time very well. It's also sparingly used, as most of what you see are brilliantly made anamotric puppets.

[Black_Apalachi]

The CGI in Jurassic Park is brilliant and has stood the test of time very well. It's also sparingly used, as most of what you see are brilliantly made anamotric puppets.

Yeah it is good, especially for its time. It was just a generic example of something which I would say District 9 is far superior to in this area.