Tag Archives: 2/5

#192- Last Year at Marienbad

Quick recap: A man insists to a woman that he met her last year at-you guessed it- Marienbad.

delphine-seyrigs-style-last-year-at-marienbad-10-e1349333718554

Fun (?) fact: Delphine Seyrig, who plays the female lead, was Jeanne Dielman! I knew that movie would come back sooner or later to haunt me.

I didn't recognize her until I looked her up because most shots in this movie are of her looking off into the distance

I didn’t recognize her until I looked her up because most shots in this movie are of her looking off into the distance

My thoughts: Have you ever seen a perfume commercial and thought to yourself that it would be better if it was an hour and a half long instead of just 30 seconds? Well, then I have news for you! All your twisted dreams have come true in Last Year at Marienbad. The movie starts with a voiceover repeated the same few lines over and over and then there are people talking and then the rest of the film is the two main stars (who have no names, by the way) staring off into the distance, or sometimes at each other with pained expressions. Far be it from me to stereotype any kind of movie, but this one is very, very FRENCH.

I think that if all of the words were left out of the movie, it would’ve been more enjoyable to watch. The acting was meh but I absolutely loved the scenery and the costumes. The costumes, by the way were designed by Coco Chanel, which makes me wonder if this wasn’t actually a perfume commercial I watched after all. The music, too, was nice and suspenseful, although a little much sometimes.

So, I guess the question I’m supposed to ask is ‘did these two people actually meet last year….in Marienbad?’ and the answer is, maybe? I don’t know. The guy sure had some specific memories and even a picture of the woman he had an affair with, but she also seemed completely confused by the whole thing. One theory I read online was that the man was actually the woman’s therapist and he was inside her mind, trying to unblock something that had happened to her last year….in Marienbad. Another theory says that the man is from a parallel universe and is trying to warn the woman of something horrible about to happen this year….in Marienbad. Personally, I found the explanations much more interesting than the actual movie. Also, I could really go for some Chanel No.5. Is that still sold in stores?

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Final review: 2/5

Up next: Within Our Gates

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#190- She Done Him Wrong

Quick recap: Mae West plays Lady Lou, a woman with a bunch of guy troubles.

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Fun (?) fact: Mae West was sewn into most of her costumes.

it's a wonder she didn't pass out during every scene, with something that tight on.

it’s a wonder she didn’t pass out during every scene, with something that tight on.

My thoughts: If you are like me, you are probably wondering who ‘she’ is, as well as who ‘him’ is and what exactly went down. I gather that ‘she’ is Mae West but beyond that, I have no idea what the hell happened in this movie. There were so many guys in and out of her room that I couldn’t keep track of who was whom. I’m also not really sure about Lady Lou’s role in all of this because she seemed to have a boyfriend (?) and he seemed cool with her many guy friends (or suitors), but then there was an escaped convict that she also used to be with, so there’s that. And Cary Grant played Captain Cummings, a straight laced man who worked for the Salvation Army, but was actually a detective. And there were these Russians that had a prostitution ring going on, except that their accents came off as Irish rather than Russian so I kept expecting them to also be in disguise somehow.

So, the plot is needlessly complicated, and the acting didn’t redeem the movie all that much. Don’t get me wrong, Mae West was really good and I loved her voice, but even that schtick got a little old. Cary Grant was cute but the character was pretty bland, bordering on jerk because at the end of the film he ‘arrests’ Lady Lou, only to propose to her in the carriage on the way to jail. This was the most confusing part of all because Captain Cummings JUST finished arresting a whole slew of former suitors so he knew what he was getting into, but I guess he felt it would be different this time around. So is he the ‘him’ in She Done Him Wrong?? No clue, and I feel I’ve written about this movie longer than it deserves.

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Final review: 2/5.

Up next: 42nd Street

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#180- Le Million

Quick recap: A man loses a million dollar lottery ticket, which sucks for him because he told all of his creditors that he is rich now and can afford to pay his debts.

those are his creditors dancing for joy because this guy was kind of a jerk and apparently owed a ton of money

those are his creditors dancing for joy because this guy was kind of a jerk and apparently owed a ton of money

Fun (?) fact:  Nothing. Zip. Nada. First time in 180 movies that the trivia page on IMDb was empty, but it’s bound to have happened at some point.

My thoughts: The fact that I had such a hard time finding anything out about Le Million says a lot. It wasn’t a good or bad movie. It just was. For a movie made in 1931, I was most impressed by the sound quality, which is the reason, I think, for including it in The List. The songs (yes, this was a musical) were catchy, although they kind of drifted in and out through the movie, never really beginning and never really ending. It was weird, but also made the movie’s events seem more plausible, almost as if it was a dream.

One of the reasons I didn’t really embrace Le Million is because of the characters. Michel is the jerk who lost the lottery ticket. He’s a penniless artist who has a fiancée but also sees girls on the side, which she totally knows about but refuses to break it off. Classy guy, that one. His friend (or rival?) Prosper is not much better and challenges Michel that if he finds the ticket, he gets half of the fortune. There’s also a mob guy, Grandpa Tulip, who takes the jacket that the ticket was in, and then the opera singer, Ambrosio, who buys the jacket and refuses to return it. I spent most of the film trying to figure out whether I wanted Michel to find the ticket or not, but ultimately rooted for him because his fiancée Béatrice was the one who gave the jacket away initially and I wanted something good to happen to her.

Looking on the positive side, although I can’t really say that I ‘enjoyed’ myself, I certainly wasn’t bored. I never laughed at any of the funny parts but I recognized that they were supposed to be funny, if that’s a thing. One scene in particular stood out: when the opera singer is on stage and Michel sneaks on to take the jacket. It had many elements of Moulin Rouge, including the way the audience was seated. I couldn’t find anything online, but I’m curious if Le Million inspired Baz Luhrmann in any way. It’s also possible that I see Moulin Rouge in practically everything.

Final review: 2/5. A very ‘meh’ movie.

Up next: The Ballad of Narayama

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#179- Diary of a Country Priest

Quick recap: A young priest keeps a diary of his time at a parish

the priest and I shared the same expression throughout the movie

the priest and I shared the same expression throughout the movie

Fun (?) fact: The hand, as well as the handwriting throughout the film belong to director Robert Bresson. Yes, this was the most fun fact I could find about the film, which does not bode well for its rating from me.

My thoughts: 179 movies in and I’m already getting tired of the ‘sad priest’ and ‘crisis of faith’ trope. Had I seen this movie before Winter Light, I might have appreciated it more, but that’s the way this goes sometimes. Just once, I’d like to see a movie about a priest who learns rad tricks on a skateboard for his congregation. The only crisis of faith he would  suffer would be when he isn’t sure he can master a 360 flip in time for the competition against the rival Baptist church down the road.  I’m not asking for much, you know. Just a skateboarding priest. With blue hair. And maybe the ability to fly.

YES.

YES.

Quite honestly, I’m not really sure what I was watching most of the time. The beginning of the film made me think that the priest had been thrown into a parish that he wasn’t able to handle. He’s unable to make anyone happy and at the first sign of difficulty runs to a nearby priest for guidance. As he starts to interact more with the locals, I felt an almost sinister vibe to the town, from the little girls in Communion class humiliating him to the suicide of the doctor. That would’ve made the movie far more interesting, if it turns out the priest had been sent to a parish full of demons.

The main storyline with the Count was also confusing. Everyone in that house had some sort of issue that involved the priest, but all the issues contradicted each other so much that I didn’t know who to believe, if anyone. Part of me wonders if that was the point, that the priest should’ve just left them all alone instead of meddling in affairs he didn’t belong in, but that also says a lot about his character. Throughout the movie, the priest suffers from some mysterious stomach ailment which finally leads him to seek medical attention in the end. The Count’s daughter comes by to talk, and although she has caused so much trouble,the priest continues to talk to her and calmly explain his actions. This is where the movie turned the priest into a God-like Saint role, putting others before himself, even to the detriment of his health.

It is revealed at the end of the film that the priest has stomach cancer and dies, but not before regaining his faith. It was a decent ending, I suppose, but as a whole, Diary of a Country Priest was a bit too heavy for me to ingest.

Final review: 2/5. Different time and different place, I might’ve enjoyed it more, although this isn’t really the kind of film to ‘enjoy’

Up next: Le Million

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