Borat

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OscarGuy
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Post by OscarGuy »

This one might actually have legs. The last three suits all had release forms. This one didn't. And his voice and likeness was used without obtaining a release form. Since this isn't ctual news, he might actually win something.
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Post by anonymous1980 »

Another lawsuit. Damn. These people should grow a sense of humor.

"Borat" draws another lawsuit in New York By Daniel Trotta
Thu Jun 7, 7:58 PM ET



NEW YORK (Reuters) - The hit movie and lawsuit magnet "Borat" has drawn yet another court action, this time from a man filmed running away from the fictional Kazakh television reporter on the streets of New York City.

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Last year's "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" was driven by comedian

Sacha Baron Cohen's improvised encounters with ordinary Americans who become his unsuspecting comic foils.

A man anonymously identified as John Doe sued 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp., in federal court in Manhattan last week over the scene in which he is seen "fleeing in apparent terror, screaming for Mr. Cohen to 'go away,"' court documents say.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and says the filmmakers used the plaintiff's likeness without his consent, causing emotional damage that he continues to suffer.

The comedy has grossed $260 million plus more than $60 million in DVD sales, it says.

A spokesman for 20th Century Fox called the lawsuit "completely without merit," saying free-speech law protects films and literary works that are "matters of interest to the public."

"Borat" has been sued at least three times already and has generated complaints from people who say they were duped into appearing in the fake documentary.

In February a judge threw out a lawsuit brought in Los Angeles Superior Court by two college fraternity members shown guzzling alcohol and making racist remarks. They claimed the scenes tarnished their reputations.

Last November, two residents of a Romanian village sued 20th Century Fox for $30 million, claiming the film wrongly depicted them as rapists, abortionists, prostitutes and thieves. The scenes depicting Borat in Kazakhstan were filmed in Romania.

A South Carolina man also sued over a bathroom scene that was deleted from the movie.

Reuters/Nielsen
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Post by Precious Doll »

Thanks Damien and everyone.

I also asked a friend at a dinner party who thought it was in the dinner scene as well. It must be the talk about the 'retired' gentleman at the dinner party that plays tricks on the memory.

My parents watched the film last night. My mother hated it (I wasn't surprised) whilst my father had mixed reaction to the film.
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Post by Damien »

My curiosity piqued, I did a Google search for "borat brother cage sister raped" and found this on a site called Movie Spoiler:

Borat then goes for his first American interview, with a joke coach named Pat Haggerty. Haggerty tries to teach Borat how to make appropriate and humorous jokes, which include NOT using jokes about “people with very funny retardation” or “making sexy times with mother-in-law.” Borat tells Haggerty about his retarded brother Bilo, who they keep in a cage. Their sister used to flash her privates at Bilo, teasing him and saying, “You will never get this!” until Bilo broke through his cage and “got this.” Borat gets Haggerty to high-five this joke before Haggerty starts to blush, realizing he just laughed over incestuous rape, which Borat finds hilarious. Haggerty hopelessly tries to get Borat to understand “not” jokes, with which Borat reveals his horrible comedic timing.

================================

Borat: "My brother, he retard. They keep him in cage. My sister, she 4th best prostitute in my home town. She spread her leg and tease my retard brother. She say, "you no get none of this, you no get none of this, ....la la la la la laaaa." My brother, he break out his cage...he get himself some of that!"

It's in the early part of the film, in New York City, not the dinner party.
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Post by Eric »

I'm pretty sure that "you will never get this" bit occured very early in the film. I think it was said to the "comedy expert."
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Post by Penelope »

Precious, I definitely remember that story as well, and, like you, I think it occurred during the dinner scene...tis a mystery....
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Post by Damien »

I'm not sure, Precious. But my recollection is that during the dinner party, the talk of retardation arises from the man who says he is retired, and Borat thinks he's saying retarded. And then later when the cops arrive, he surmiises it's because "the retard has escpaed." I don't remember him talking about his brother here -- but I only saw it once and that was back in the fall, so I could well be wrong.
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Post by Precious Doll »

I have a question about Borat that someone on the board may be able to answer.

I purchased the DVD last week and flicked through the film. I watched some scenes in their entirety and have a feeling that something is missing on the DVD that was in the cinema version.

During the dinner party scene at the cinema I recall Borat talking about his retarded brother who was locked in a cage and how his sister used to torment his brother and that one day his brother broke out of the cage and raped her. However this is not mentioned during this scene on the DVD.

Does anyone remember where this occured in the film. My partner and I were both sure it was at the dinner party but it may have been somewhere else. Hell, maybe it was never in the film anyway and was in a published interview with Borat.
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Post by Precious Doll »

Talk of Borat sequel on ice

Before Borat fans start giving each other high fives, 20th Century Fox wants to make clear that the boorish Kazakh journalist is not headed back to the big screen just yet.

Hours after News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch told reporters that British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen had signed a deal to make a sequel to his hit movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, a studio spokesman said the idea was merely under consideration.

"We're eager to work with Sacha again, and we've had casual discussions about a sequel, which we'd love to do. But at this point, it remains too preliminary to discuss," said Chris Petrikin, a spokesman for News Corp-owned 20th Century Fox.

Borat, a faux documentary starring Cohen as a cluelessly offensive Central Asian journalist on a road trip across America, was a surprise box-office sensation last year, grossing $US248 million worldwide.

It earned an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay, and Cohen a Golden Globe for his performance as the wild-eyed Kazakh TV personality in a rumpled suit spouting catch phrases like "high five" and "sexy time".

Box-office success and awards to match virtually guarantee a sequel in Hollywood, and earlier Murdoch said the comedian had already signed a deal to make a Borat 2.

"He's signed up to do a sequel for us," Murdoch said at a media conference sponsored by McGraw-Hill, without giving details. But the subsequent statement from Fox suggested Murdoch had jumped the gun.

A studio insider told Reuters that Fox owns the rights to a second Borat film but has yet to reach a new deal with Cohen, and without him, no sequel is feasible.

Also left unclear was whether a Borat sequel would - or even could - follow the same "mockumentary" premise as the first movie.

Chronicling Borat's exploits on his road trip, the original film was driven by Cohen's improvised, unrehearsed encounters with ordinary people who become his unsuspecting comic foils.

Cohen has said his film has drawn such worldwide notoriety that it might be difficult to pull off a similar feat in the near future.

Besides its commercial success, Borat drew protests from Kazakh authorities outraged by Cohen's portrayal of their country as a backward nation of imbeciles. It sparked lawsuits by some unwitting subjects, including two fraternity brothers shown guzzling alcohol and making racist remarks in the film.

Borat is one of several oddball personas Cohen introduced to international audiences, including bad-boy gangster Ali G, of Da Ali G Show.

In fact, a 20th Century Fox rival - Universal Pictures which is controlled by General Electric Co - reached a deal with Cohen in November for film rights to another of his alter egos, a gay Austrian fashionista named Bruno, for a reported $US42.5 million.

At the time, show business newspaper The Hollywood Reporter said Universal plans to start shooting the Bruno film this summer for a 2008 release.
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Post by Akash »

Reza wrote:Little Miss Sunshine is a masterpiece compared to this sorry excuse for a film! We obviously saw different films because apart from a couple of amusing scenes I just thought the film was downright boring and repetitive (the idea should have stayed put as the sketch it was on tv). And here most of you guys were rolling around with tears streaming down your faces? I obviously didn't see the same film. It reminded me of the Jackass films.
Well....let's not go crazy. I didn't care for Borat at all (and Sonic eloquently lists all the reasons why so I don't have to, lol) which seems more like a conceit and not much of a film - and I'm extremely liberal, just to be clear.

BUT, Little Miss Sunshine isn't a "master" anything unless you count a masturbatory exercise in caricature and eccentricity.

I'm baffled as to why either of these films is receiving this level of attention. I guess much like our country's sad political landscape which is so inundated by excrement that middling shifts to the center are now hailed as "liberal", we're so similarly and regularly given crap onscreen that medicorities like Borat and LMS are hailed as "brilliant independent films!"
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Post by rain Bard »

Did you watch it with an audience, Reza? I saw it a couple weeks after its release in a well-attended theatre, and I'm sure a lot of my laughter was propelled as much by the phenomenon of group behavior as it was by the film itself. Sometimes I found myself laughing and not even knowing what it was I was laughing at.
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Post by Reza »

Little Miss Sunshine is a masterpiece compared to this sorry excuse for a film! We obviously saw different films because apart from a couple of amusing scenes I just thought the film was downright boring and repetitive (the idea should have stayed put as the sketch it was on tv). And here most of you guys were rolling around with tears streaming down your faces? I obviously didn't see the same film. It reminded me of the Jackass films.
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Post by criddic3 »

It isn't award-worthy. It's a funny satire movie and it works on that level. It is not the comedy masterpeice of the century. It's hardly even a film. It's an extended TV show. I know that Star Trek was, too, but that continued a story whereas Borat is there simply to throw things out there for us to laugh at. Nothing wrong with this, but Best Actor?
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Post by kaytodd »

About that black tape on the screen during the infamous nude wrestling match: did anyone else's eyes roll when you noticed the tape went down past Cohen's knees?

I am happy to say I have no idea how well endowed Cohen is. But I suspect a little "showmanship" here.

But, doesn't Borat himself say that is a characteristic of all Kazakh men? Bully for them!
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Post by Sonic Youth »

Well, I was taken aback as to how far he pushed things, that's true. I can't say I was offended, exactly. But Lord, does he have a pair (blacked out or not)! I laughed, though. Oh, yes I did.

No, I can't see the Academy going for this performance, either. First of all, they'd have to sit through the entire movie. How many of them will bail out after the first ten minutes? But also, IMO, the character of Borat just doesn't sustain himself over a feature length film. The thing is, Borat was always my least favorite of SBC's characters. I always liked Ali G and Bruno more, but maybe a little of them goes a long way, too.
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