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Taxi Driver

She must be the main reason why people give any attention to this film. I mean, she is simply gorgeous in it; especially in the scenes where she does not wear her sunglasses she looks like her glance can pierce you through. And she’s such a beauty too! Apart from that, I was also surprised how incredibly handsome Robert de Niro used to be, I only know him as old mafioso of course.

Nobody ever actually told me about what type of movie „Taxi Driver“ is. Although this might be common sense, but I simply did not know. Now that I have finished watching it, it reminds me the most of Leon, while I have preferred Leon by far. Leon is the portrayal of two characters, while „Taxi Driver“ is more like the portrayal of one main character and one society. All the characters, especially the two women are manifestations of this ‚rotten society‘.

Most of the film has been a surprise for me, and I am not even sure if it was a good surprise or not. The whole film extremely „Scorsese“ if you ask me, and I think that Robert DeNiro did a marvelous job portraying this contradictional character, but I am left with this feeling of uneasiness and pointlessness with this film. I wish someone could explain to me what the heck this all was for, why a man would run into a hotel and shoot down some people, or why he wanted to kill that senator in the first place. Perhaps it all doesn’t matter, but to me, I guess it does matter.

Finally, I can only say: See for yourself. There are a lot of things to like about this film, starting from a great soundtrack and ending at its suspenseful and unusual storyline. I was just incapable of getting the end of the film, that’s all.

The Other Boleyn Girl

For some reason, I have found Catherine of Aragón to look completely different than I expected. I expected her to look very kind and weak, perhaps with a rounder face (as she is portrayed on this picture). But what a queen she is! She has this slightly weird thing on the edge of her mouth, but apart from that, she looks quite hot-blooded and Spanish (as the historical Catherine supposedly is) and especially she has this stern and grand look digne d’une reine. Then, I looked up who she is and was like “Hmm, don’t tell me she is that Ana?”
I am completely in awe of Ana Torrent, and was extremely surprised to see this contrast. Needless to say that I have never ever seen her at the usual age you would see actresses – and I find her stunningly beautiful. Independently from that, her acting skills are just as stunning, especially as 6 year old girl.

The other surprise was Kristin Scott Thomas, of course. Ever since I have seen her in the “English Patient” and “Gosford Park”, I am inexplicably drawn to her. Very objectively, she is far from what you would expect a Hollywood diva would be because of these somewhat weird eyes she has, but I find her gorgeous!

Compared to these surprises, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman just did what they usually do: Look nice. Despite the melodrama of the film (which was not a problem for me, by the way, I loved that), they acted out their roles brilliantly. In real life, I think that Scarlett Johansson likes to give the impression of being a vamp and Natalie Portman the impression of being sweet and innocent though, so the roles are actually a little reversed. And it came off quite naturally, if you ask me.
Incidentally, the only slightly unnatural scene was when Anne Boleyn was raped. La Portman looked so… unintentionally comical? Surely the whole audience thought she must have deserved it, harr harr. Well, I was actually rooting for Anne.

I find it interesting that the German title was “Die Schwester der Königin”. It works well, because people here don’t know the name Boleyn anyways and the German title references the story even better than the original title in my opinion. It just sounds a little stupid, maybe.

Apart from this, who cares about the story. I knew what would happen pretty much from the beginning, because I have always been interested in the wives of Henry VIII, especially Anne Boleyn. I have read their Wikipedia articles about 10 times by now, and so, the film was just a must see for me for its actors and for its background, but I didn’t care much about how the story was carried out specifically. In my opinion, the film is much better than the critics say, but it’s also nothing outstanding in my opinion.

Fräulein Else

Okay, I admit it’s a little silly of me. There is this character called Adèle in Emma (who looks like this) and for some reason, I have always thought that Adele Sandrock would look like her. Or at least, have straight black hair. In fact, her hair was quite ondulated and while it doesn’t seem clear what color her hair was, I suppose it’s more a light brown. After a bunch of pictures of her as an old woman, the only decent picture (which looks like from the turn of the century) is probably this one.

Not really related to the movie.

She is far from being a beauty, and that must mean that her acting was better than she looked. I als She had a scarily small part in “Fräulein Else”, but who cares. It was worth the trouble to see her!

It also was worth it to hear a theatre organ with my very own ears, although that was not exactly a big pleasure. The guy who played the organ was absolutely great, but the instrument itself just sounds utterly miserable, nothing compared to a church organ in my opinion. It’s just… a funny little piece of silent film history in my opinion.

Now, there also is not much to say about the film, because I found it pretty horrid. Objectively, it might not have been too bad, and Pixelmatsch has also very aptly noticed how the film uses quite a few camera angles that look pretty modern. By those times’ standards, I suppose that the novel “Fräulein Else” was rather modern too and so the film is no more than a bad attempt at doing the novel justice. I have not read it, but I imagine it to be very similar to the “Traumnovelle”, and if “Fräulein Else” reaches the depth of the “Traumnovelle”, I suppose that a Kubrick really is necessary to put the complexity into a movie. Speaking of “Eyes Wide Shut”, of course it ends very differently to the original novel, but it adds a lot to it. In “Fräulein Else” however, the difference contributes to the story as well in the sense that it makes the film more understandable, but it does not add to its meaning at all.

Elisabeth Bergner plays Else in a rather cute way, but I must admit that I think she looks exactly the same as every other one of those 20s silent film women. They all have the same type of hair, the same type of thin mouth (which I really, really, dislike, by the way) and somewhat empty, creepy eyes. Is it just me?

The only scene I personally liked was the one in which Else pushes her head against the mirror and looks extremely emo. Even though that scene just cries “Freud, Freud, Freud!” to you, I think that it was quite nicely done and shows how the poor girl delves deeper into her doom. The rest… oh well. As I have said, I think it was absolutely worth seeing this film, even though it was probably the worst film I have seen since… uh, okay, the last one I disliked was “Requiem for a Dream”.

One, Two, Three

Hahahaha. I’ll be honest, Billy Wilder’s looks creep me out like hell, but I full know why I love him as a director so much. I haven’t seen that many films of his so far: “Some Like it Hot”, “Avanti”, “The Apartment”, “Irma la Douce” and “Kiss me Stupid”, then “Sabrina” and “Love in the Afternoon”, which are, in my spirit, always rather associated with Audrey Hepburn rather than Billy Wilder. OK, I take that back: I have seen quite a few Billy Wilder movies, and I downright love all of them. “One, Two, Three” is probably my third favorite, but I think I should watch “Avanti” again to re-evaluate this opinion. I have always thought that “Avanti” would remain second forever, but now I am not sure anymore.

Very recently, I have realized that I find my own writing quite hideous. It is not very enjoyable to read my old postings on films (much less so than reading other opinions on films) and with that, I am failing the whole purpose of this blog: Originally, I wanted to be able to go back to my old postings and read about what my own thoughts right after seeing a film. I wanted to know what my initial impressions of a film were. Sometimes, I find the details that I am lying out in the acceptable (like for “Before Sunrise”); sometimes, I find my own postings to be downright dreadful (what the heck happened with me that I produced a posting for “Jules et Jim” like that?) I don’t even see a positive evolution. How could I have gone from a posting like this 2 1/3 years ago (where, incidentally, Prog wrote a comment ten times superior to what I have written before) to something like this very recently? Lately, I have been watching so many extremely good movies without being able to do them justice. “Full Metal Jacket” deserves a posting three times as long, and “Fanny and Alexander” deserves one four times as long.

Unfortunately, “One Two Three” is the type of movie that is really, really difficult to do justice to. For one, I think one needs to be able to type about double as fast as I do right now. A high speed movie calls for high speed typing, or so I think. Tempo is the movies biggest strength, and while everything happens so extremely quickly, it’s not even like you feel overrolled with it or anything. That it was such a box office success must mean that the film managed to be extremely fast and sophisticated – but also slow enough for your average person to watch.

The other reason relates to the speed: So many things happen to the film. It is such a densely packed film that every single character is extremely developed (in their stereotypical comedy character way, of course) and at least Horst Buchholz even gets a little bit of character development. That, however, is not important. What is important, however, is the multitude of amazing lines they get. You won’t believe that I saw the movie two times in a row and believe that I will enjoy it even when watching a third time right now. I can’t stop raving about those gorgeous lines which made me laugh out loud even the second time I saw them! This is amazing, and I think the only two other films that managed the same thing are “To be or not to be” and, well, “Some like it hot”. Another movie that accomplished this is this Youtube video, by the way.
One of the greatest lines is unfortunately not in the imdb quotes. Just right after Otto, the young husband, has discovered the true evils of Russia, he converted from being a rabid communist to a state where he lost all faith in the world, and says: “Maybe our children can make this a better place to live in, a world where men are created equal, and there’s liberty and justice for all.” – “Congratulations. You just quoted Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.” – Otto: “I… what?” Mwahahahahahar!
Oh, another great one: “Atlanta? You can’t be serious! That’s Siberia with mint juleps!” (This one is on Imdb, thank God.) I actually imagine them to be delicious though.
Finally, the torture scene. The more I see it, the more I believe that torturing someone with the song “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini” is an idea of pure genius. The song is so incredibly horrible, but so funny at the same time. It’s a Rickroll! At the same time, the absurdity has something so incredibly deep and kafkaesque. Torture is perhaps one of the most horrible things in the world, and is not suitable for a comedy. But by turning the torture scene ad absurdum… Oh, I don’t know. I am losing my concept of interpretation here, but it won’t change my impression that something so very deep is lied out in this so simple and funny scene.

If you have seen the film, you might be able to guess who my favorite character was. Phyllis of course! A few days ago, I had a discussion with him in which I complained about how old women only get these nagging, frustrated women roles, but never some positive roles again. Just like how the black guy always used to be evil and now always is God. Unlike men, women are much more likely to be fit into stereotyped due to their gender the more they grow older. And that discussion took place just after we started talking about “Sunset Boulevard”! He totally did not agree and says that actresses like Meryl Streep still have a huge following and make gorgeous movies. After seeing “One, Two, Three”, I think he should have used this movie as an example. Phyllis is the archetype of a strong and great woman, who is more cynical than she is frustrated, and accounts for a large number of great jokes with her dead-pan humour, if you ask me. Arlene Francis also is about 1000 times better an actress than Pamela Tiffin and Lilo Pulver together. (Ok, La Pulver was also not that bad actually. Her table dancing performance is exquisite.) There really are quite a lot of more examples of great older women. I think that Catherine Deneuve is great as an old woman too.

Now, I should say a few things about the Cold War, I suppose. The truth is that I don’t think the Cold War is over. In politics, the Cold War is just as present as the World War II is, it’s just that it doesn’t influence our lives all that much anymore. In terms of political correctness, there are things that have to be left unsaid, and so I think that the movie is far from being outdated. However, the film itself doesn’t try to be political, which is probably the reason why it got shunned at the beginning. Just like “To be or not to be” fell into a really bad time, “One, Two, Three” also did. With the Berlin Wall, the Cold War was no laughing matter to Germans anymore. While it saddens me every time I go to the Berlin Wall Memorial and see the names of those who died at the attempt of crossing the Wall (especially those who died in 1989!), I laughed my heart out when I saw “One, Two, Three”. Today, it totally is acceptable to laugh at this. And even in 1961, I think I would have tried to laugh when a movie is funny, even when it touches me deeply. I think if someone turned my current life into a good, funny play (I still need to find my own Schnitzler for that), I would have enough humour to find it funny and encourage it. That is how it should be. There is nothing as tragic and sad as war, and yet I love “Full Metal Jacket” precisely for that reason. And so I don’t think I should feel ashamed of finding something as funny. It is more shameful to indulge in the so-called “Ostalgie”, for instance I recently was in the DDR museum and really took a liking to the design of the headphones there…

By the way, after seeing the film, I have had the Säbeltanz in my ear for about the whole night. The music just fits too perfectly. Molto furioso, please!

PS. The ranking of doom, as always:
1. Some Like it Hot
2. Avanti
3. One, Two, Three
4. Sabrina
5. The Apartment
6. Love in the Afternoon
7. Kiss me Stupid
8. Irma la Douce

Fanny and Alexander

There are two Criterion versions for this film: The „normal“ version and a more ‚deluxe‘ box with the TV version and the film version. Since I have yet to see the TV version, I absolutely want to get myself the deluxe box one day. The first thing I realized when I saw „Fanny and Alexander“ was that I have found it to be too short with its 3 hours. There is just so incredibly much that the film is saying, although nothing really seems to be happening. It’s a complex slice of life and with the multitude of characters, you’d wish every single one of them (except for Alexander as the main protagonist) to be more developed and given more screentime. It is especially notable how Fanny, whose name appears in the title after all, actually didn’t get much screentime at all.

In some article I read earlier, it was stated that „Fanny and Alexander“ is not as depressive and dark as Bergman’s other works. This is funny, because I didn’t perceive „Wild Strawberries“ as very dark, but I think that „Fanny and Alexander“ has some very depressive parts, especially with the bishop. Even though I knew that the children would get saved at some point, I was still afraid about their horrible situation. „Fanny and Alexander“ was depressive in the way it felt real, while „Wild Strawberries“ was just… black and white.

I really would never recommend „Fanny and Alexander“. It’s an utterly weird film, it doesn’t really have a climax, it’s depressive at some times and the film takes a long time introducing characters that don’t re-appear in the film again. At most, they play a very indirect role for the understanding and the happenings of the end of the film. To me, this slice-of-life type film is very intriguing, but it really is very different from what you usually would expect from a movie. But it’s great, and I am amazed how every single Bergman film I have seen so far („Persona“, „Wild Strawberries“ and this) turned out to be absolutely great, despite the great differences between the films. It’s astonishing how versatile (and productive!) Bergman was.
I suppose I have to watch „Tystnaden“ now. And “Smiles of a Summer Night”. And “Cries and Whispers”. And „The Seventh Seal“. And “Through a Glass Darkly”. And… too many more.

City Lights

This evening, I am going to cook some Depression Cooking food: I have had a bad test today, and with my newly gained freedom, I am going to spend this beautiful evening watching movies and get rid of my backlog. Isn’t this a beautiful way to cope with my unhappiness? Heh.

And so, I shall start with a funny movie; in fact, lately we have mostly been watching comedies because about a week ago, when I still felt happy and needed motivation to study for my tests, I felt like watching comedies a whole lot. The first choice fell on this Chaplin that Théo uses in „The Dreamers“ to prove how Chaplin is superior to Keaton. I have yet to see a long feature by Keaton, but I definitely agree with people that Charlie Chaplin deserves to be the most well-known silent actor. I grew up with stories of the Tramp, and still love them today.

„City Lights“ also appears on quite a few hitlists, and this is something I cannot quite understand. Of course it’s a brilliantly funny film, and it does end on a predictable, yet very sweet note, but I don’t quite see what elevates „City Lights“ over all the myriads of other brilliant movies. Is this very simple hilarity enough to judge it better over the likes of a Wilder or a Lubitsch? Personally I actually prefer the latter two, and I find their humour on a, how should I say, higher level? Chaplin indeed is very kitsch after all.
What makes me wonder even more is that „City Lights“ stands above other Chaplin films. What about „Gold Rush“, „The Great Dictator“, „Modern Times“, „A King in New York“ and all those I didn’t mention? At least „Modern Times“ was better in my opinion, and „A King in New York“ even more so, I think.

So, the question remains: Keaton or Chaplin?

Charade

It must have been at least two years since I have made a list of Audrey Hepburn films I want to see, and “Charade” has always been the one that I have only heard positive things about. Sure, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is more popular and more well-known, but it always seemed to me that “Charade” must be the crème de la crème of Audrey Hepburn’s films.

I was wrong. Perhaps it’s Audrey Hepburn’s role, perhaps it’s her underdeveloped relationship with Cary Grant, while I watched the film, something felt missing. Audrey Hepburn felt much less sparkling in this film, much less charming (but a little more stupid) and the story felt much less interesting than usual, because the shocking revelations and turn of events came off as little plot holes. (Which were solved at the end, sometimes at least.) Dear Ms. Hepburn, when you are not sure if a certain person wants you dead or not, you should not make out with that person.

Nevertheless, the film delivered two hours full of enjoyment to me. Even though this is clearly not a Wilder’s work, I had to laugh or at least smile quite a lot of times in this film. Especially the dialogue at the end was so perfectly charming – at this point, who cares about clichés anymore? Despite the little mistakes the film had for me, it was still very suspenseful, and I must say that I enjoyed Mr. Joshua’s changes of name a whole lot. Did you know that I have always wanted to change my name? I have always wanted to see how it is to suddenly go somewhere, change your name, start a new life for awhile and then go back at some point. Internet nicknames are nothing against the kick you can experience when somebody looks deeply into your eyes and calls you lovingly by your fake name. Or so I imagine it to be. Heh.

I can see how “Charade” can be other people’s favorite Audrey Hepburn film – it surely is one of the funniest and most suspenseful or her films. However, perhaps my bond to her other films (“Roman Holiday”, “Sabrina”, “Wait until Dark”) is already too strong to leave the top places in my ranking to “Charade” which had a few weaknesses for me. Finally, if somebody wanted me to recommend an Audrey Hepburn film to them, I would probably say “Roman Holiday” or “Wait until Dark” first, and then “Charade”.

My ranking, however, looks like this now:
Finally, my current ranking looks like this:
1. Wait until dark
2. Roman Holiday
3. Sabrina
4. Love in the Afternoon
5. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
6. Charade
7. War and Peace
8. Two for the Road
9. My Fair Lady
And of course there is more to come. I want to see “The Children’s Hour” someday, and “Funny Face”. I am not so sure about “The Nun’s Story”, “Nous irons à Monte Carlo” (just to see her speak French), “How to steal a million?” and “Paris when it sizzles”.

Full Metal Jacket

Okay, I admit that I could not resist writing about this movie. I know this is not the first time that my blogging backlog is full of films and other things I wanted to blog about, but then cast away everything for one of these movies that I have found mind-blowing. Now, perhaps this was not a mind-blowing experience as „Donnie Darko“ or „Huo Zhe“ were, but it comes damn close.

I have this bad habit of looking up beforehand what a movie is about, because I want to know what I will be watching. However, the positive surprise that a „Donnie Darko“ or a „25th Hour“ can give me is only possible when I don’t know much about the film beforehand at all. „Full Metal Jacket“ was such a case. I knew it’s some Vietnam war movie, but that’s all. And damn, this felt like „Jarhead“ all over, only better. Before seeing M*A*S*H, „Jarhead“ was the only war movie I have ever approved of, and now there is another item on the list.

By the way, I find it a little sad how American soldiers watch this movie before going to war. (It saddens me even more that they run through Iraq with the same music I used to listen to when I was younger.) Then again, I cannot understand anybody who seriously believes in either war or communism.

What can I say, this movie has everything; it’s funny, it has gorgeous characters, it’s extremely suspenseful, serious and dramatic at times. And last but not least, it’s wonderfully directed. I cannot see one single drawback of this movie, except maybe that it doesn’t have one single continuous storyline and ends a little too quickly for your average moviegoers’ mind. The movie is kind of strange indeed, but nevertheless, I cannot see anyone dislike it.
I have never really cared about „Full Metal Jacket“ before, but I recognized many of its quotes. Especially the beginning of the movie felt so incredibly familiar („Come to my house and fuck my sister“, harr harr) although I had no clue that these quotes came from the movie. This is what I call a cult film.

So far, I have seen “Eyes Wide Shut” (liked it), “Lolita” (disliked it), “2001” (loved it) and a part of “A Clockwork Orange” (no opinion yet), but I think that “Full Metal Jacket” has good chances to becoming my all-time personal favorite Kubrick film.