Tag Archives: drama

#192- Last Year at Marienbad

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

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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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#188- White Heat

Quick recap: A gangster with mommy issues gets outgangstered. Totally a thing. Look it up.

Nothing weird going on here!

Nothing weird going on here!

Fun (?) fact: In between takes for White Heat, James Cagney liked to go up to co-star Edmond O’Brien and show him poetry he had written.

My thoughts:  Knowing that this was a gangster film, I was expecting violence but it being the 1940s, I wasn’t expecting anything super realistic. I was right in a way because the deaths were your typical ‘clutch the chest, fall over’ fare, but White Heat is pretty dark for its time. Many descriptions peg the main character Cody (not a very gangster name, tbh) as ‘psychopathic’ and ‘homicidal’ and that is very true. He doesn’t blink twice when offing someone and in some scenes, he seems to relish the torture he inflicts on his victims. It’s not that I wanted a gangster with a heart of gold, but I wasn’t expecting one so gangster-y.

As mentioned above, everything Cody does is for his mother. He runs the gang, but only gives orders that he knows she would approve of. I really liked her character because she didn’t put up with anything. In one scene, Cody is planning on giving himself up to police and when she is questioned later on, she plays the role perfectly of mom who doesn’t know anything, but will kick your ass if you keep asking. I had very little sympathy for Cody throughout the film, but what little I could muster was because of her and how true his love was. Plus, she left hiding to go buy the gangsters strawberries, so you can’t really hate someone who does that.

White Heat surprised me by how complicated it was, from both sides. The FBI obviously had no computers back then, but still managed to stay one up on the gang at all times. Cody, too, always thought ahead, like when he paid someone to rob a store many states away so that he could confess to it later on, thus providing an alibi for the much larger crime of a train robbery. In an effort to get Cody to admit his deception, the FBI plants one of their men as his cellmate to gain his trust. When Cody decides to break out, the FBI arranges a getaway car so that his relationship with agent Hank Fallon was still intact. And it’s not really a criticism of this film, but this constant life of being on the run made me wonder what the benefits of being a gangster really are. From the very beginning with the train robbery, everyone lives in constant fear of getting caught and must perform bigger heists to keep the money flowing in. I may just be lazy, but the lifestyle just seems like a lot of work. There were a few scenes of the gangsters counting their money, but besides buying high priced suits, what did they use it for? Being a gangster fit Cody because he was crazy, but I don’t know about the other ones.

Look, Ma, I'm on top of the world!

Look, Ma, I’m on top of the world!

Final review: 4/5

Up next: The Firemen’s Ball

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#187- Requiem for a Dream

Quick recap: Hey, kids: Don’t do drugs!

If your favorite cartoon stars from the '80s didn't convince you, maybe Jared Leto's dreamy eyes will

If your favorite cartoon stars from the ’80s didn’t convince you, maybe Jared Leto’s dreamy eyes will

Fun (?) fact: Most movies contain around 600-700 cuts, but Requiem for a Dream has over 2,000

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My thoughts: I have definitely seen Requiem for a Dream before, probably while I was in college. I remember thinking it looked cool and I remember the arm scene, but that’s about it. This time around, it was nearly impossible to look away.

More than anything else, this film is a testament to great editing. Having never done drugs myself, I can’t speak for the authenticity, but watching the characters descend into their various addictions sure felt real. Sara Goldfarb, played by Ellen Burstyn’s story was especially difficult to watch. All of the actors did an exceptional job, but her character was the one that resonated with me most because it was just so sad. All of the other characters (somewhat) knew what they were getting into, but she was just desperate to reclaim some of her youth. The manic scenes, especially the ones when she hallucinated that she was on tv were so realistic, in terms of her downward spiral. The ending with the electroshock therapy was a little ridiculous, but still captivated me.

The story itself, looking back, was a little heavy handed. I mean, it’s a movie so you expect over the top things to happen, but everyone’s ultimate destination seemed more like a morality tale about how drugs are bad for you, m’kay? than anything else and it was difficult to see other points being made. I get that everyone was chasing some sort of dream and the drugs kept them from reaching success, but all I could think about was my DARE class in 5th grade and how showing this movie would’ve had a far deeper impact than those stupid worksheets we had to do. I know 10 different ways to say no when someone offers me heroin, but if an officer had just shown the class a picture of Harry’s arm, he would’ve saved us all a ton of trouble later on down the line.

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Final review: 4/5. Stylistically,a near perfect film. Plot-wise, eh.

Up next: White Heat

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