i saw it on a website. my friend recommend it to me. it was silly at first but as gradually as the story continued i was sad. the sadness sort of managed to tinge on my day after watching the film. it isn't a easy film to digest. i can say i loved the music behind! i didn't know the carpenters were such a good act. i would like to hear your feed back on this movie? i have to add two things: for all we know is my favorite song ever and todd hayne is a bloody good directory.

[Edited 11/15/10 20:40pm]

I tried watching it once but bored with it. No comment on the film, I just cant watch something on my puter.

sosgemini said:

I tried watching it once but bored with it. No comment on the film, I just cant watch something on my puter.

understandable it is like i said, it is a very hard film to digest. thank you however for posting.

baroque said:

i saw it on a website. my friend recommend it to me. it was silly at first but as gradually as the story continued i was sad. the sadness sort of managed to tinge on my day after watching the film. it isn't a easy film to digest. i can say i loved the music behind! i didn't know the carpenters were such a good act. i would like to hear your feed back on this movie? i have to add two things: for all we know is my favorite song ever and todd hayne is a bloody good directory.

[Edited 11/15/10 20:40pm]

The movie was produced poorly but the Carpenters definitely have hits out their ass. If they had existed at a different time than when they did, they wouldn't have been ostracized as they were. I learn more from their documentaries than I did the movie though.

Karen Carpenter was a deep singer.

i saw it on tv it was alright so sad how she died and i liked thier music

I saw it and loved it.

baroque said:

i saw it on a website. my friend recommend it to me. it was silly at first but as gradually as the story continued i was sad. the sadness sort of managed to tinge on my day after watching the film. it isn't a easy film to digest. i can say i loved the music behind! i didn't know the carpenters were such a good act. i would like to hear your feed back on this movie? i have to add two things: for all we know is my favorite song ever and todd hayne is a bloody good directory.

[Edited 11/15/10 20:40pm]

They do say you learn something new everyday.

Beautiful melodies is what springs to mind when i think about 'The Carpenters'. I ignored them til i got past thirty as they weren't hip when i was a teen or in my twenties, but i regretted that and really wish i'd listened sooner.

And Karen's gorgeous, haunting voice. Wow.

In a word, cheesy.

I agree with Timmy, the subsequent documentaries about The Carpenters give you a little more insight into the music they've created and to some degree into their personal lives. In terms of them not being accepted by the counterculture or the music critics who-cares. As Duke Ellington said, "There's only two types of music good and bad". Critics be damned, people knew what they heard was good music, hence the countless hits. The duo may not have caught on in the mid /early late 60's, but when they did start having some success, soft rock was emerging too. To say they were out there by themselves isn't accurate. (IMHO)

my favorite song is , "Bless The Beast and the Children".

------------

[Edited 11/16/10 18:11pm]

TD3 said:

In a word, cheesy.

I agree with Timmy, the subsequent documentaries about The Carpenters give you a little more insight into the music they've created and to some degree into their personal lives. In terms of them not being accepted by the counterculture or the music critics who-cares. As Duke Ellington said, "There's only two types of music good and bad". Critics be damned, people knew what they heard was good music, hence the countless hits. The duo may not have caught on in the mid /early late 60's, but when they did start having some success, soft rock was emerging too. To say they were out there by themselves isn't accurate. (IMHO)

my favorite song is , "Bless The Beast and the Children".

------------

[Edited 11/16/10 18:11pm]

Yeah. I still wonder how folks thought it was cool to "not like" them. My favorite from them right now is "We've Only Just Begun" (followed by "Yesterday Once More").

baroque said:

i saw it on a website. my friend recommend it to me. it was silly at first but as gradually as the story continued i was sad. the sadness sort of managed to tinge on my day after watching the film. it isn't a easy film to digest. i can say i loved the music behind! i didn't know the carpenters were such a good act. i would like to hear your feed back on this movie? i have to add two things: for all we know is my favorite song ever and todd hayne is a bloody good directory.

[Edited 11/15/10 20:40pm]

Thanks for reminding me about this film. I'd heard about it and had been meaning to see it. I didn't realise it was made in 1987. I just looked up the wiki entry for it and it makes more sense to me.

As I was watching it I was thinking "How in the f**k did he get clearance to use these songs when he's portraying the family so critically?" And now I see he didn't.

At first I thought it was gimmicky and cheesy that he used Barbie and Ken dolls but really if such a plastic wholesome product is going to be applied to any people, superficially The Carpenters are the perfect fit. The dark portrayl seems to be an apt approach to reflect the contradictions there must have been in their real life. It was very heavy handed and a bit bizarre in some places (wtf was up with the spanking and the jaws-music-holocaust-footage when they sign there contract with A&M??)

This quote I found from him pretty much sums up what he tried to achieve...

“I've always felt more politically comfortable making films that demonstrated problems and didn't tell you how to solve them, but made you feel enough for the subjects who were hurt by these problems...”

I can get that but the film obviously needs the music, I'd find it unwatchable and silly without it.

Her death is the first 'celebrity' death I remember exactly where I was when I heard, because I literally stopped in my tracks.

Picking a favourite song is difficult but We've Only Just Begun or Goodbye to Love or I Need To Be In Love would be my Top 3. Probably.

http://www.amazon.com/Lit...amp;sr=1-1

[Edited 11/17/10 5:28am]

I wonder if some of you are thinking about the TV movie. The original post is referring to a film Todd Haynes made as a student, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, not the television movie made shortly thereafter. Superstar is a great film short, bold and moving considering it's told exclusively with Barbie dolls and stock footage. MyNameIsNotSusan is correct; there were no clearance rights for this film from the family, the label, etc. It never had a proper release, and it never will. Richard didn't like its (accurate) portrayal of their family. Any official film or book that has come out about Karen - until the book that CarlCranshaw just posted - has met the approval of the family and been pretty sanitized.

RipHer2Shreds said:

I wonder if some of you are thinking about the TV movie. The original post is referring to a film Todd Haynes made as a student, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, not the television movie made shortly thereafter. Superstar is a great film short, bold and moving considering it's told exclusively with Barbie dolls and stock footage. MyNameIsNotSusan is correct; there were no clearance rights for this film from the family, the label, etc. It never had a proper release, and it never will. Richard didn't like its (accurate) portrayal of their family. Any official film or book that has come out about Karen - until the book that CarlCranshaw just posted - has met the approval of the family and been pretty sanitized.

I was referring to "Superstar".

Timmy84 said:

RipHer2Shreds said:

I wonder if some of you are thinking about the TV movie. The original post is referring to a film Todd Haynes made as a student, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, not the television movie made shortly thereafter. Superstar is a great film short, bold and moving considering it's told exclusively with Barbie dolls and stock footage. MyNameIsNotSusan is correct; there were no clearance rights for this film from the family, the label, etc. It never had a proper release, and it never will. Richard didn't like its (accurate) portrayal of their family. Any official film or book that has come out about Karen - until the book that CarlCranshaw just posted - has met the approval of the family and been pretty sanitized.

I was referring to "Superstar".

Cheesy . . . I stand by that review.

Though Richard hated that he and Karen were portrayed as the Pepsodent twins, they really were.

TD3 said:

Timmy84 said:

I was referring to "Superstar".

Cheesy . . . I stand by that review.

Though Richard hated that he and Karen were portrayed as the Pepsodent twins, they really were.

A part of me thinks Richard liked the image they were portrayed as but Karen was the one who resented it.

Timmy84 said:

TD3 said:

Cheesy . . . I stand by that review.

Though Richard hated that he and Karen were portrayed as the Pepsodent twins, they really were.

A part of me thinks Richard liked the image they were portrayed as but Karen was the one who resented it.

Po' Richard, he took great pains not to cuss in that documentary because he can't cuss. You're right, I don't think Karen was as tightly wound as her brother. Richards's nerd and that's okay, it takes all kinds.

TD3 said:

Timmy84 said:

A part of me thinks Richard liked the image they were portrayed as but Karen was the one who resented it.

Po' Richard, he took great pains not to cuss in that documentary because he can't cuss. You're right, I don't think Karen was as tightly wound as her brother. Richards's nerd and that's okay, it takes all kinds.

Yeah I saw their "Only Yesterday" documentary and when he's talking about Karen's illness, the only curse word that came out was "BULLSHIT" but the way he said it was like "BOAL SHAT!!!!!!"

Timmy84 said:

TD3 said:

Po' Richard, he took great pains not to cuss in that documentary because he can't cuss. You're right, I don't think Karen was as tightly wound as her brother. Richards's nerd and that's okay, it takes all kinds.

Yeah I saw their "Only Yesterday" documentary and when he's talking about Karen's illness, the only curse word that came out was "BULLSHIT" but the way he said it was like "BOAL SHAT!!!!!!"

i'm glad i'm not the only one that caught that.

TD3 said:

Timmy84 said:

Yeah I saw their "Only Yesterday" documentary and when he's talking about Karen's illness, the only curse word that came out was "BULLSHIT" but the way he said it was like "BOAL SHAT!!!!!!"

i'm glad i'm not the only one that caught that.

There's a lot of good documentaries on the group.