Author Archives: mabelsfa

#404- Chungking Express

Quick recap: The first part of the film follows a policeman who wants to fall in love before his cans of pineapple expire. The second half involves a fast food worker in love with a policeman (not the same one). When he doesn’t seem interested, she breaks into his apartment and spruces up the place.

But now I can’t stop thinking about pineapple

Fun (?) fact: The movie is filmed in sequence, with director Wong Kar-Wai writing the next portion of the script the night or morning of shooting.

Thoughts and observations:

There were parts of Chungking Express that were so confusing to me, like trying to figure out what kind of food Faye was making when she worked with her cousin. But then other parts were intimately familiar, like Officer 223 setting an arbitrary expiration on his single life. As most people know, jumping back into a relationship to get over a previous one doesn’t usually end well, but it’s what keeps you going sometimes. The same could be said about vowing to hit on the next woman to walk in the bar, yet Officer 223 does it anyway and ultimately feels better. I loved the ambiguous ending of the first story, as he goes out for a run to expel all wetness from his body. The woman he ‘fell in love’ with never really seemed into him (maybe something to do with her actually being a drug mule and looking for a lost shipment), but the night he spent with her seemed to be what needed to happen.

In the second half of the film, the audience comes across another lovelorn officer- this one goes by 663, who was just dumped by a flight attendant. He is so deeply in denial that it’s over, that he barely notices Faye, the fast food worker who instantly falls in love with him. And here again, I found myself relating so much to her character. I’ve never broken into my crush’s house and redecorated but I have created a dream world in my mind imagining what life could be like together. The ending of this story is also ambiguous, but maybe less enjoyable for me because I so wanted the two of them to fall in love together. And maybe they did, but it also reminds me how love can feel so consuming in the moment yet not be the end of the world when it fails to happen.

The director’s use of color and staging intimate shots made me realize there is a third love story- this one about Hong Kong. I could’ve just watched scenes of people walking and eating and chatting for hours. It’s a city so alive with possibility. No wonder these people felt it so important to be in love. I also enjoyed the soundtrack, although I admit to tiring of ‘California Dreamin” after the 4th go round. Still, much of Chungking Express reminded me of Manhattan, in that it follows Woody Allen’s weirdo relationship but the setting overpowers the plot in the most powerful way.

Watchability score: 4/5

Up next: A Place in the Sun

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#403- When Harry Met Sally

Quick recap: Harry met Sally after college graduation. And then again at an airport. And then at a bookstore. And then they got married!

Fun (?) fact: It was difficult but I did find trivia not related to that orgasm scene: The scenes of married couples talking were real stories but performed by actors.

Thoughts and observations:

  • Although this was my first viewing, this film is iconic enough that there were really no surprises. Except that Carrie Fisher was a main character, but that’s the best kind of surprise.
  • There were many scenes that made me laugh and so many memorable lines! I didn’t find the orgasm scene all that funny but that’s probably because I’ve seen it referenced so many times.
  • The main question in the film about men and women being just friends reminds me of all the earnest conversations I had while dating about this same topic, not realizing it came from a movie. I apologize to everyone who had to sit through one.
  • It’s probably blasphemy to say but I always forget about Meg Ryan as an actress, mostly because I don’t watch many RomComs. When Harry Met Sally reminds me that she is really good at what she does. Oh, and Billy Crystal is in the film too.
  • Is it weird that I was disappointed they got married in the end? After their first time together, part of me hoped they could just stay friends and prove everyone wrong. But I guess that’s sort of the plot of La La Land, isn’t it? And what a bummer of an ending that was, let me tell you. Still, I think 3 months is still an incredibly short time to get married, even if you have known each other for 12 years.
  • And finally- I’m never big on those ‘but what if there were cell phones’ debates people make about older movies, but I did find it funny thinking about Facebook. Had this movie taken place in modern times, Harry and Sally would have friended each other and then moved on with their lives. When they met again in the airport it would’ve been so awkward to know about the other’s life without having seen each other in years. I doubt that would’ve eventually lead to true love, just Harry quickly running away and hoping Sally didn’t see him.

Watchability score: 4/5

Up next: Chungking Express

 

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#402- Man of Marble

Quick recap: A young filmmaker tries to make a documentary about a former communist hero but instead finds a lot of depressing facts instead.

I loved Agnieszca and her boldness

Fun (?) fact:  Bricklaying competitions were totally a thing, probably because there wasn’t much else to do.

I’d totally watch bricks being laid by this guy

Thoughts and observations:

Despite not understanding what was going on some of the time, I think Man of Marble is an important watch. Essentially, it’s about a man opening his eyes to corruption and finally seeing how government let him down. Mateus Birkut started out as a simple bricklayer, building structures for the Communist party in Poland. One day he is chosen to lead a team of men to a brick laying record. Birkut is adorably confused by the sudden fame and quickly becomes tired of the constant attention. After completing the record, however, he warms up to the idea of being the face of the party. It isn’t until years later that his hands are ruined by sabotage and he realizes being a part of the propaganda machine isn’t what he wanted.

What makes this film unique for me is that the audience learns bits and pieces of the story just like the filmmaker Agnieszca. It reminded me of a limited series podcast, where each episode would be her interviewing an important person at a different time in Birkut’s career in order to work out where he currently is. Actually, her film gets canceled because it makes everyone look bad and only at the very end does she think to track the guy down. Spoiler alert: he’s probably dead. Her fixation on this simple bricklayer is an attainable way to track the horrors of the controlling party at the time. By showing his downfall and entire life ruined, she is also essentially filming the downfall of Communism.

Watchability score: 4/5

Up next: When Harry Met Sally

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#401- The Rules of the Game

Quick recap: A bunch of rich people do dumb rich people things like have affairs with their friends and needlessly kill small animals. And despite being on the brink of a war, no one mentions anything related to Hitler’s escalation.

Fun(?)fact: Although partly a myth, the film was really unpopular when it was first released. One person tried to burn down the theater it was playing in using a lit newspaper.

Thoughts and observations: 

A conversation with my 11 year-old, after we had finished watching this movie-

Me: You are a trooper for sitting through two hours of subtitles and watching something made in the 30s!

B: You didn’t like it? I thought it was really funny!

Me: Maybe I just didn’t get the humor. It’s probably something complicated like every character stands for a different aspect of high society.

B: I just thought everyone was ridiculous, especially the guy who couldn’t get out of the bear suit. The one part of the movie I didn’t like was when everyone went hunting and killed all those rabbits and birds for no reason. I hated them

Me: Well, anyway, I’m going to do some research and find the true meaning of what this movie was about. French films are always way more complicated than they appear.

 

And then after ‘hours’ of research (I read the full Wikipedia article), I realized that my kid hit the nail on the head. This movie is about the ridiculousness of society and how they could throw parties and fall in love and get stuck in bear suits when World War II is on the cusp of beginning. And the hunting scene was put there to show how casually the rich felt about the taking of innocent life. If that wasn’t too on the nose for you, there is also a scene in which two women discuss getting the new Diphtheria vaccine. Because when you are rich, that is just a choice you can make. Good thing we’ve never had to revisit that discussion!!

 

As it turns out, my son would make a good reviewer one day. Then again, he hasn’t sat through the pile of French films I have and developed his own jaded attitude. One day, kid. One day.

Watchability score: 3/5 for me. If you are 11 though, apparently this is a 5/5

Up next: Man of Marble

 

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