About Chocolate Parfaits

Holiday

This is the problem with playing it safe when choosing films to see: It is increasingly tough for them to exceed your expectations if you already have very concrete expectations of the film. As for me, I think that screwball comedies are my favorite genre of all times, but then again – how many I have seen! For many reasons, I assume that nothing can dethrone “His Girl Friday” as my favorite, very closely followed by “The Shop around the Corner”. Even in terms of screwball love comedies with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, I’d say that “Bringing Up Baby” was better because it had so much more energy.

But what can I say, ultimately this is a very lovely screwball comedy after all. There are a few more I am particularly interested in but at this point I have probably seen the major ones. I wonder why there isn’t all that much more, but maybe it is not too easy to come up with a good story, good lines and good actors. Plus there are comedies, such as “The Women” which cannot technically be classified as screwball even though the humor comes very close.

Ultimately I suppose I don’t really buy this “man wants to marry woman but falls in love with her sister” kind of story, especially since (yet again?) Cary Grant’s role did not seem to have much of a choice than having to “settle” for the sister since the fiancée didn’t want to go with him. It is just ultimately not a story where the main couple displayed all that much chemistry, but some of the characters (the friends, the brother!) as well as many wonderful scenes (“It looks like me”) saved the day. I laughed out loud a few times, though perhaps Cary Grant’s clumsy face alone makes me want to burst into laughter.

But still, “Bringing Up Baby” had a much better, fierce Katherine Hepburn. This is an absolutely great film in itself, it just can’t compare to certain others of its genre.

12 Angry Men

The premise is great, there is no doubt about that: There is a sure-fire case and the whole movie discusses nothing but, well, the jury’s discussion. I think there is a certain beauty associated with that: A film that does not try to be too much, but delivers one simple story effectively.

This is one of those films that is so brilliant that its bad points stand out more than if it were ‘merely’ a mediocre film. First, I didn’t like how some of the characters were too easy to see through. Especially the racist guy’s final monologue was excruciatingly long and painful because of that – nobody would ever talk like this, even though aspects of its speech were exactly mirroring certain people’s (“I have a lot of gay friends” or “Of course there are exceptions”). But nowadays, racists are beyond the point of saying things like these which would uncover them as obviously racist, people are much more subtle, making it so much more difficult to talk to them. Second, I am not a huge fan at how the main character was bringing out one argument at a time. It’s wonderful for the film’s development and suspense that goes with it, but I just find it too unbelievable for its own good. Most of all, though, I was horribly annoyed at how some of the arguments were played out. At first, some guy wanted to say “not guilty”, was asked why to which he replied something like “I can make my own decisions, I don’t have to tell you”. Later on, somebody else wanted to plead “not guilty”, is being asked the same thing but for no reason is being forced to give reasons. This movie is a little bit too partial for its own good, and slightly inconsistent at that.

But, what can I say – wonderful premise and absolutely great execution; the actors were fairly brilliant. This film could (might?) have been shot on a budget and would work perfectly as a theatre play. Maybe I am partial to the type of film that could as well have been a theatre play, but in many ways, this is quite a unique yet simple story. I think this is something quite educational for children to see indeed.

Coco Before Chanel

I’m not sure if I liked the movie. There is not all that much to say about it, and to be honest, most of the story is absolutely forgetful. It’s a very, very typical biography in which you don’t really know if it’s supposed to be a love story or not, with the intent of depicting a real person’s life, all the while knowing that this depiction is disgustingly unfaithful to the true Coco Chanel.

So perhaps my biggest annoyance with the film is indeed how un-truthful it is to Coco Chanel – that she is not that ‘cool’ of a woman; that her views of life are perhaps not exactly how she is described in this film, considering that she has had love affairs throughout her life, and used her connections extensively. She had a great style, but I really am not sure whether she is more influential because of her style but more because she knew all those people. We used to look down on women who sleep through the world to get what they want, but it seems like there is the Napoleon effect here: If you made it big, suddenly you have to be viewed as revolutionary woman who is ambitious instead of slutty.

At any rate though, I am very in love with the Coco in the film. She is a lovely young lady and even if I don’t quite always agree with her treatment of the poor baron, she puts on an attitude which I adore very much. Everybody wants to be somebody, especially when you are proud and talented, and I think it is portrayed in a lovely way here.

Ultimately I don’t recommend this film to anybody else, considering that I watched it for three reasons: a) Audrey Tautou, b) Anne Fontaine, c) the clothing style of Mademoiselle Chanel. Apart from that, there really is absolutely no reason. I wonder when they will make a movie on Vivienne Westwood – women in fashion are indeed so much more fascinating. Why is it that we have to let men dictate what we wear, after all?