About Chocolate Parfaits

The Odd Couple

With “Cactus Flower” being one of my favorite films and Jack Lemmon starring in so many films I like that I won’t even bother naming them, it is a surprise that I have never seen one of their many collaborations. What’s better than to start with this film, which happens to be one of the first films they did together?

This is one of those films I just had to love. The characters of Felix and Oscar feel like they were designed to be played by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, even though I perfectly know that this is not the case. They did wonderfully, that is for sure. I laughed several times throughout the film, especially in the scenes where their friends are also present for added hilarity. I consider the possibility that I like the film so much because their simple presence makes me want to laugh. I blame Loris for that one.

The nicest thing about this film is that, despite all the comedic scenes and the general light tone, it’s a movie about friendship. After their fall-out in which they ultimately showed each other how much they do care for each other, Felix and Oscar came out to be better people and acknowledge that, though grumpily. It’s an utterly heartwarming film.

Oh gosh I really want to see “The Front Page” now. It has been in my to-watch-list forever, but I never came around to see it because I felt like it cannot possibly compare to “His Girl Friday”. Now I have doubts about that.

Hiroshima mon amour

I think it’s been some 3-4 years since Gorp said that I should watch this film, and I always refused because I disliked the Hiroshima theme. That is still the case – I don’t think this fear of atom bombs, which has inspired a few masterpieces in art like “The Physicists”, is of interest nowadays anymore. But a love story, especially the “Before Sunrise”-style kind in which the main characters seem to just talk to each other, will never seem old.

Despite having gotten a recommendation, I actually had no idea that this film would be this kind of talking love story. Back then, I disliked those cheap, romantic “Caucasian goes to Africa or Asia and starts some love story with native” love stories and I also disliked Resnais because of “Providence”. In essence, misconceptions and prejudices kept me up from watching this film. Of course, parts of these prejudices are true. The beginning of the film gave me a “Nuit et brouillard” déjà-vu, it’s overly political and there really is nothing Japanese about the movie except for some Asian faces, some gimmicky traditional-looking dances and the constant mentioning of the name of Hiroshima.

It is the love story that makes up for all the gimmicks. These two characters work the best when they are in bed together, which is the only place where their love can truly flourish, and they have. They also port themselves with more dignity than your average Nouvelle Vague (I’m thinking Antoine Doinel here, the most Schnitzlerian character of all times), and there is a surprising equality between them. Despite the short period of time they knew each other, there is an immense trust and closeness between them, similarly to “Before Sunrise”. As characters, they are probably better than Julie Delpy and especially Ethan Hawke who is kind of unlikable by default. It is therefore not very hard for Eiji Okada to overtake him, although I thought he was much better in “Suna no Onna”.

Resnais himself changed so much over the years, oh my goodness! Starting with “Nuit et brouilliard” and “Hiroshima mon amour” he evolved to stranger films like “Marienbad” or “Providence” and ended up at more light-hearted comedies with Sabine Azéma. My favorite Resnais will probably always be the film which is a little non-Resnais-like, since “Mélo” is neither a comedy in the Azéma-Jaoui-Bacri style nor strange in any sense nor a tragedy in black and white. It’s the only one of his films which is just a love story.

Whereas “Before Sunrise” is romantic in an almost silly way, this film is much more dark and bleak. This extremely handsome couple is painfully aware that they will forget about each other, just like the whole film is about forgetting. This awareness makes this film special, even amongst similarly disillusioned Nouvelle Vague films. It’s the better and more mature “Before Sunrise”, but it did not age all too well despite its deserved status as a film classic.

Romeo and Juliet

Boy is she beautiful! I suppose I do rant about actors a lot, but this woman is an exceptional case of beauty. I still think that Ingrid Bergman is unparalleled, but Olivia Hussey is probably the closest to that amongst all actresses I have ever seen and the two of them should win the award for most beautiful couple of all times.

This film is a classic, and I have wanted to see it ever since I saw a picture of Hussey as Juliet. Everything about this film looks right – the costumes look wonderful, the characters are beautiful beyond belief and everything just fits together including overly dramatic music. On a side note, I love how Romeo died with poison and Juliet died using the infamous dagger.

Apart from that, with 2 hours and 20 minutes, the film felt way too long. This is a problem when you know the story by heart because you have seen it so many times. I saw the horrible Leonardo DiCaprio film, Prokofiev’s ballet and of course “Shakespeare in Love”. Without having read nor seen the play, I still know almost about it, and besides a feast for the eyes, this well-known story is quite a borefest.

Personally I enjoyed the film the most in the scenes where Romeo and Juliet are together. They have a surprising chemistry despite their youth and lack of experience, and I like the purity of their relationship. Otherwise this is quite a forgettable film unless you have a love for the it as strong as I have for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. I could see that one over and over again, but not “Romeo and Juliet”.

Blue Valentine

According to Shii, the Big Two relationship movies are “Closer” and “Scenes of a Marriage”. I agree. “Blue Valentine” is a little closer to “Scenes of a Marriage”, with both having a blonde, somewhat meek female lead and revolving around a relationship which doesn’t really have anybody else involved, whereas “Closer” breathes through its many instances of infidelity and shuffling around between the characters.

If I ever had a movie-like relationship which is comparable to the aforementioned first films and “Blue Valentine”, then it’s probably the one I had when I came of age. (I know I have no reason to be so secretive, but you guys all know what I mean.) The one before was so otherworldly that I don’t think anything like that actually was in the movies, the one after is so pleasantly normal and ubiquitous that no German novelist would touch it, thence also no Hollywood movie director. With that coming-of-age relationship in mind, the quasi-attempt at having sex in that love motel totally hit home. Let me repeat this key idea for emphasis – it hit home and I felt it throughout my body. It is that particular scene which stands for everything the film is. It has its weaknesses and the nonlinear storyline works so well and oh the doggy loser-version of Ryan Gosling is so cute and “grungy Michelle Williams” (like Shii put it) is so interesting – none of these aspects really matter to me. Bottom line is, this love story is bleaker than anything else Hollywood, Bergman or the French Nouvelle Vague has ever produced, and for me, its pinnacle was not the fight at the hospital but this failed sex scene at the creepy motel.

Nevertheless, I don’t quite get the movie. There are certain things I personally cannot get behind. I would never refuse a friendship to anyone. I would also never separate from somebody who loves me. Most importantly, I would never feel contempt towards a man who so obviously loves his wife like Dean does in “Blue Valentine”. Why does she have to behave like these women who want to be “conquered” and have a man “show the way”? So what if she is the “man in the relationship” – what’s so wrong with that?

Ironically, for me “Blue Valentine” stands in the same line as “The Notebook” (the other Ryan Gosling film where I happened to find him much less attractive, hahaha). Both movies pissed me off at times, but they had these scenes which melted my heart, each in different ways. Amongst these two, “Blue Valentine” certainly is the more interesting one.

Tangled

For all that it’s worth, “Tangled” was a lot of fun. It’s a suspenseful story with a good premise, but unlike most older Disney films, it just felt way too fabricated. So they wanted to give the guy a lot of screentime – fine, but did you have to use such a bland character? Which Disney prince has ever made “smug faces” before? If you say it’s supposed to be realistic and modern, then I must say that I doubt I have seen such a smug face in the last 10 years.

What irked me the most was probably that the songs were really bad. Maybe that was always a problem with Disney movies but I cannot remember such a thing. As far as I know, people are still listening to the Lion King soundtrack, and I still feel nostalgy in my heart when I hear songs from “The Little Mermaid”. Because the songs were bad, I was also not able to feel any chemistry between Rapunzel and Flynn. Their romantic moment was nothing compared to Aladdin and Jasmine’s despite the beauty of the CG, because the lantern tradition is just sooo idiotic and almost politically incorrect. So if the film manages to be so modern and feminist, why is it incapable of getting rid of this princess thing, where the film must mention at least twice how much the kingdom loves their monarchs and they happen to have a yearly tradition for a member of the royal family?

I can’t pinpoint anymore why that is, but the writing of the story largely felt very… stupid to me. Perhaps this is because the old wench was perhaps the least likable Disney villain of all times. Just her presence managed to annoy me – and I thought this only happens with French arthouse films.

With all that said, coming to the beginning of this review, I am not surprised that “Tangled” was a big success. It might have its problems, but disregarding all that, it’s good evening entertainment and an enjoyable 90 minutes spent.

The Return

Oh God, I wanted to cry when Ivan ran into the water crying “Papa, papa!” This movie is too beautiful for words, even though it took me ages to finally watch it. I read somewhere that the director was intensely looking for “genius actors” to play the brothers and these boys are absolutely brilliant. Vladimir Garin would probably have grown into a great actor, and Vanya Dobronravov probably is (despite his lack of large roles ever since).

This is one of those films where not so much happens, and more emphasis is put on subtleties between the character and the endless vastness of Russian landscape – Tarkovsky anyone? Luckily this film is more than just beautiful shots of Russia, although the film leaves me a bit speechless. After the most powerful moment in the film, the escalation of the conflict between father and son, Zvyagintsev brought out the most serene and beautiful shots of the sea, and the photo series at the end of the film was reminiscent of the ending of JSA.

God is dead. I agree that the film is clearly supposed to be religious in a similar way that “Au hasard Balthasar” is, except the father here is God. The brothers represent ourselves who have lost the father and are bound to lose him again. With that background, everything that happens in the film becomes acceptable – you don’t ask yourself why Andrei doesn’t reprimand Ivan for literally having killed their father, nor what is up with that box the father retrieved on the island.

I might not have loved the film as much Shii did, but I certainly loved it. It is memorable and beautifully shot (albeit maybe just a little bit less so than Tarkovsky’s Stalker) and Gorp should watch it if it has not happened yet. XD

Wristcutters: A Love Story

This movie could have been my favorite movie of all times, but it’s not. I have always had a certain fascination with suicide, and I cannot imagine a better comedy premise than suicide itself. Perhaps I have grown out of it. No matter how bad things are, suicidal thoughts do not actually come up. I suppose I have learned to suck it up now. I can’t even remember the last time I cried, and there were quite a few bad cases these days. It’s not like everything is always perfect, I just don’t express it anymore when I happen to get hurt.

Nevertheless, having grown stronger (or number? LOL) should not have kept me up from enjoying a good comedy about people who killed themselves. But perhaps my expectations were just too high, because “Wristcutters” really wasn’t all that funny. In general, it is a good movie. It has interesting characters build upon a great premise and a few amusing elements like the dark tones of the film and the black hole underneath the car, which I think is the product of a genius mind. But everything else about the film just pretty much bored me. It wasn’t bleak enough to be a black comedy (although the whole family that killed itself comes very close to it), and after the first 30 minutes – which actually had a few good jokes and lovely background music – the film mostly confused me. Even Will Arnett’s awesome appearance couldn’t beat that.

All in all, I’d say I am ambiguous about the film. In retrospect I am not surprised that the film was made on a mere 1 million dollar budget and made less than 500,000 in theaters. I might have wanted too much because I was so in love with its premise beforehand that I couldn’t really relate to the film. I am glad I finally saw it, after planning on it some 2-3 years ago, but in retrospect, even though I enjoyed the film, I feel rather nonchalant about it.