I'm back.. Yes, I realise this was a long break and you may be thinking "ah-oh she's already bailed on Oscar", but no! In fact, it is Oscar who has been lagging the chain! It has taken me two weeks to get my hands on Michael Apted's, The Coal Miner's Daughter (thank you DVD King, I hope you enjoy my $27. Maybe I should ask for a refund for the free advertising). I refused to watch anymore movies past 1980 (I justified Atlantic City to myself because I would have watched a movie from 1981 in the same week as Tess and The Coal Miners Daughter in keeping up with my three movies a week average). But I felt it was cheating to move on any further. I guess I’ll have to make up for it now by having an anti-social movie week (sorry friends and as it happens my loyal followers hehe). However, I feel the need to further reassure you that I haven't lost my mojo. Picture this scenario: I'm sitting in my apartment, it's approximately 30 degrees and I do not have air conditioning, down stairs I can hear the tantalising, yet taunting sounds of water splashing. Is this the Brisbane River you may ask. No. Is it the sound of a small child jumping in puddles after the rain. No such luck, it doesn't rain in Brisbane. It is actually the sounds of my Brazilian partying neighbours living it up in the pool! What is stopping me from throwing on my bikini and literally diving straight into that pool? It's time to write on my blog! That, and I haven't quite given up on the ill conceived notion that all women have at this time of year. That false and totally proposterous idea of "there's still time to get that bikini body that I need and I can do it whilst sitting on my arse and eating junk food, I've just got to will my tummy off and it will go".
Enough ranting about Brazilians and imaginary tummy tucks, let's talk about The Coal Miner's Daughter!
The Coal Miner's Daughter
Director: Michael Apted
Starring: Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones
So, I actually really enjoyed this film. The PG rating was less than an inspiring when building myself up to watch it, but it was actually quite good. Admitedly, I am bias as I do enjoy biographical films (who can honestly say they didn't enjoy such films as A Beautiful Mind, The Doors, Schlinder's List etc.) However, I do realise that this genre is boring for many and if you are one of those people, I wouldn't waste my time with this movie.
The movie is based on the 60s and 70s country western singer, Loretta Lyn and her rise to fame. Sissy Spacek stars as Loretta and I have to say, she did a great job. Loretta was from the Appalachian region in America. I have to admit, I had never heard of this region before and so had to look it up. Basically, it is a group of states in America and derives its name from the Mountain Range which runs through it. There are a lot of myths around the people who live there, but basically it is an area where stereotypes, such as Cletus from the Simpsons, comes from. Of course, as of any stereotype it is usually based on some very limited and exaggerated truth, but is by no means absolute (sorry that's the social worker soap box coming out). But, because this movie is based on the autobiography written by Loretta herself, I would hope it is as true to life as possible.
Lorretta is the daugher of a coal miner, who although very loving and kind, is very poor and unable to provide for his family. Loretta, simply due to her circumstances (I'm assuming she had very little schooling due to her family’s financial status), at the beginning of the film is ignorant to the world outside of her small home town and was probably predestined to follow in the footsteps of her parents. That is until she meets her husband Dolittle Lynn or "Mooney", a nick name based on his involvement in “moon shining” (Tommy Lee Jones). She is instantly attracted to the older and reckless man and they marry within a couple of months of knowing each other. She is a child bride and totally ignorant of what it means to be married, particularly in that time (there is a rather disturbing scene of their wedding night, which I felt went dangerously close to crossing the line into a MA rating). Loretta has a lovely singing voice of which Mooney is only too aware (he heard her singing in one of the very first scenes and soon after he started pursuing her). He capitalises on this by pushing her to go and sing at the Grand Ol Opry (a famous venue for country and western performers in Nashville). She basically becomes an “overnight” superstar, touring with Patsy Cline and following her death, continuing to tour solo. She develops a real sense of independence and although Mooney tries to “reign her in”, she defies him at every turn and becomes her own person. Whilst the relationship between Loretta and Mooney was presented on screen as quite dysfunctional, with Mooney being quite reckless and volatile, yet controlling, as Loretta begins to assert herself, you start to see a tender side of Mooney, which is quite likeable and endearing. In one of the final scenes of the film, Loretta is literally overwhelmed with the pressure of maintaining her super star status and cannot sing. She collapses on stage and Mooney comes to her aid. He picks her up and carries her through the crowd to a safe haven. They also have this play fight in the film, where it starts off serious with Loretta becoming upset with Mooney for purchasing a piece of land to build on without checking with her first. In the end, she recedes, as she too wants a new place and they begin to play fight about where the main bedroom should go, with Mooney backing down.
All in all, I thought it was a good film. Interesting because it was based on a true story and I guess it has that “good guy (in this case girl) coming out on top” subtext (Loretta was a small town girl, with a limited education and very little social skills, who became a super star). There were some comedic moments too, where Loretta would make some form of a social faux pas due to what she termed, “not stupidity but ignorance”, which provided a lot of amusement (there was one scene where she spoke on the radio about how horney she felt because she thought the meaning of that term was happy or excited).
I give it a 7/10.
Until next time “that’s all folks” (Porky Pig, Who Framed Rodger Rabbit)
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Oscar, you bastard!
Well I know it's only three weeks in, but it seems Oscar and I have had our first fight and in front of my parents too. Ohh the humiliation. We kinda made up, but things are definitely still not the same.
First off, it seems that he is not making himself completely available to me. What do I mean by this? I have had extreme difficulty getting The Coalminer's Daughter (circa 1980). This has seriously hindered my ability to get to know him as we cannot move forward until I am able to watch ALL films nominated for Best Film in the Academy Awards of 1980. Point one against Oscar!
Point two...... Tess!!!!!!! What a woeful film, if I've ever seen one. Absolutely, unequivocably, wholeheartedly, absolutely the most horrendous film. I'm sorry, but what was the Academy thinking? Worse still, my parents were up visiting for the weekend with Tim and I. When I told them of my plans for the next twelve months, my Dad being kind of a movie buff, was intrigued and offered to meet with Oscar. So we turned on Roman Polanski's, Tess. Our thoughts? See the review below!
Tess (1980)
Starring: Nastassja Kinski, John Collin, Peter Firth, Rosemary Martin
Director: Roman Palanski
So, this movie is about a self-pitying, passive and drab girl called Tess and is set in England in the 1800s. She is the daughter of an alcoholic farmer called Durbeyfield. Some how (honsestly the first 45 minutes, actually make that the whole film, I had trouble keeping up with what the heck was going on) the father finds out he has descended from the aristocracy, and more specifically the d'Urberville family. He sends Tess to check out a family living nearby, who share the same surname, and the son of this family (Alec) becomes obsessed with her. He forces himself on her, she runs away on a horse and carriage, then suddenly she is working on a farm. The camera pans to a shot of of a lady holding a baby, who she suddenly hands to Tess and she starts breast feeding the child (we can assume at this point that she had a baby and we are now viewing the future). Then suddenly, we cut to a scene of the family home, where a minister knocks on the door, asking to be let in "to bless the baby". Tess' father gets mad and refuses. Suddenly, it cuts to a scene of Tess approaching the minister, asking him for a "Christian burial" (Dad and I were looking at each other with utter confusion at this point, but we assumed the baby died, which it turned out we were right). He refused, so she became slightly emotive at this point and raised her voice beyond a whisper to say "I'll never come to your church again" (wow I really felt that, great directing Roman). Then suddenly, the scene cuts to Tess on a dairy farm, blah blah blah, she meets another man, Angel, doesn't tell him about the bastard child, they get married, he finds out, sends her back to her family but tells her to pretend they are still married for "appearances", the family become homeless because no body is working, she goes back to "raper" man, Angel comes back, she kills raper and then she is hung.
Actually when I was writing this I thought, this sounds like a compelling story, but it just was not presented well. Let's start with the character of Tess. Again, like our female lead in Raging Bull, she was very very passive. Even though eventually, she overpowers the man who was the reason for all her misery by killing him, it didn't seem like the action of a strong person. Rather it seemed like the action of a weak person, who is both not strong enough to reject a man who treated her so badly (Angel comes back and asks for her forgiveness after an unspecified period of time, which is when she kills Alec) and who also allowed herself to get into the position of misery in the first place. She was just so accepting of whatever happened to her and didn't seem to fight any of it. She allowed herself to be in a vulnerable position with Alec, which resulted in an unwanted pregnancy, she accepted Angel dumping her without any objections, even in the final scene when her and Angel are trying to escape the authorities, they make their way to Stone Henge, and whilst Angel was compelling her to continue running, she just gave up and accepted that she would be caught and hung. Hello, you're in Europe Tess, cross the border into another country, you will never be caught. I'm pretty sure there was no "boat people" or "assylum seekers" in 1800-and-whatever and there was certainly no widely broad cast "most wanted list". There was no internet, phones or television for her "mug shot" to be circulated through. She could have gotten away.
More than the female protagonist letting this film down, was the cinemotography. Dad and I just couldn't keep up. Scenes would jump around everywhere, with no evident links between the two, so you were guessing the whole time what was happening. Although chronological, time was not presented in a logical way. Scenes would jump from one to the other, the one before feeling unfinished and the new one being unclear because there was no obvious link with the one previous. Overall it was confused and boring. Characters were quite unemotive, the muscial compositions were quite drab and did not invoke strong emotional reactions (think Indiana Jones, Titanic and Star Wars - the music in these films were almost as memorable as the movies themselves), even the costumes were quite bland (think Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Braveheart - all based on even earlier time periods in the Unite Kingdom then Tess, and the costumes are amazing).
All in all, highly disappointing.
2/10
MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Atlantic City (1981)
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Burt Lancaster and Kate Reid
Director: Louis Malle
This film is what saved my relationship with Oscar. Although, in my opinion not a great movie, it was certainly a step up from Tess. It is about a group of people, some how linked to the underworld of Atlantic City. The main character, Sally has relocated there from Vegas to become a dealer on the tables. This hobo looking couple rolls into town, who we later find out is Sally's sister and husband (Sally's husband left her to run off with her sister, who is an extreme hippie). They come into town because they have no money and need a place to stay, so they approach Sally. Meanwhile, in Sally's building lives Lou. He is a small time criminal, who likes to look at her through the window, pouring lemon all over her body (she works in the seafood buffet at a casino and puts lemon all over her to get rid of the fish smell). Lou lives with an elderly woman, Grace, who is the widow of a criminal acquintance of his and is very demanding, demeaning and bitter. Sally's ex-husband is pointed in the direction of Lou, to sell drugs that he stole from the Mafia. They kill him and Lou continues to sell the stash to a regular buyer. The Mafia finds out that Lou has their drugs and comes after Lou and Sally (by this point Lou has persued Sally and they have had a one night stand). Lou shoots the two goons in a struggle, he and Sally run off, Sally decides to flee abroad where she can persue her dream of becoming a casino dealer and Lou returns home to Atlantic City, where he and Grace sell the remainder of the stash.
Story not the best, pretty standard, but can see it would have been original in its time. The relationship between Grace and Sally's sister, Chrissie, is quite endearing and enjoyable. Here you have a tough, old battle axe and this soft, whimsical hippie, who come together and definitely make for a good laugh.
All in all, not a bad film. I'm yet to see a really bad film with Susan in it.
5/10
Until next week, "good morning, and if I don't see you again, good afternoon, good evening and good night" (Truman Burbank, The Truman Show)
First off, it seems that he is not making himself completely available to me. What do I mean by this? I have had extreme difficulty getting The Coalminer's Daughter (circa 1980). This has seriously hindered my ability to get to know him as we cannot move forward until I am able to watch ALL films nominated for Best Film in the Academy Awards of 1980. Point one against Oscar!
Point two...... Tess!!!!!!! What a woeful film, if I've ever seen one. Absolutely, unequivocably, wholeheartedly, absolutely the most horrendous film. I'm sorry, but what was the Academy thinking? Worse still, my parents were up visiting for the weekend with Tim and I. When I told them of my plans for the next twelve months, my Dad being kind of a movie buff, was intrigued and offered to meet with Oscar. So we turned on Roman Polanski's, Tess. Our thoughts? See the review below!
Tess (1980)
Starring: Nastassja Kinski, John Collin, Peter Firth, Rosemary Martin
Director: Roman Palanski
So, this movie is about a self-pitying, passive and drab girl called Tess and is set in England in the 1800s. She is the daughter of an alcoholic farmer called Durbeyfield. Some how (honsestly the first 45 minutes, actually make that the whole film, I had trouble keeping up with what the heck was going on) the father finds out he has descended from the aristocracy, and more specifically the d'Urberville family. He sends Tess to check out a family living nearby, who share the same surname, and the son of this family (Alec) becomes obsessed with her. He forces himself on her, she runs away on a horse and carriage, then suddenly she is working on a farm. The camera pans to a shot of of a lady holding a baby, who she suddenly hands to Tess and she starts breast feeding the child (we can assume at this point that she had a baby and we are now viewing the future). Then suddenly, we cut to a scene of the family home, where a minister knocks on the door, asking to be let in "to bless the baby". Tess' father gets mad and refuses. Suddenly, it cuts to a scene of Tess approaching the minister, asking him for a "Christian burial" (Dad and I were looking at each other with utter confusion at this point, but we assumed the baby died, which it turned out we were right). He refused, so she became slightly emotive at this point and raised her voice beyond a whisper to say "I'll never come to your church again" (wow I really felt that, great directing Roman). Then suddenly, the scene cuts to Tess on a dairy farm, blah blah blah, she meets another man, Angel, doesn't tell him about the bastard child, they get married, he finds out, sends her back to her family but tells her to pretend they are still married for "appearances", the family become homeless because no body is working, she goes back to "raper" man, Angel comes back, she kills raper and then she is hung.
Actually when I was writing this I thought, this sounds like a compelling story, but it just was not presented well. Let's start with the character of Tess. Again, like our female lead in Raging Bull, she was very very passive. Even though eventually, she overpowers the man who was the reason for all her misery by killing him, it didn't seem like the action of a strong person. Rather it seemed like the action of a weak person, who is both not strong enough to reject a man who treated her so badly (Angel comes back and asks for her forgiveness after an unspecified period of time, which is when she kills Alec) and who also allowed herself to get into the position of misery in the first place. She was just so accepting of whatever happened to her and didn't seem to fight any of it. She allowed herself to be in a vulnerable position with Alec, which resulted in an unwanted pregnancy, she accepted Angel dumping her without any objections, even in the final scene when her and Angel are trying to escape the authorities, they make their way to Stone Henge, and whilst Angel was compelling her to continue running, she just gave up and accepted that she would be caught and hung. Hello, you're in Europe Tess, cross the border into another country, you will never be caught. I'm pretty sure there was no "boat people" or "assylum seekers" in 1800-and-whatever and there was certainly no widely broad cast "most wanted list". There was no internet, phones or television for her "mug shot" to be circulated through. She could have gotten away.
More than the female protagonist letting this film down, was the cinemotography. Dad and I just couldn't keep up. Scenes would jump around everywhere, with no evident links between the two, so you were guessing the whole time what was happening. Although chronological, time was not presented in a logical way. Scenes would jump from one to the other, the one before feeling unfinished and the new one being unclear because there was no obvious link with the one previous. Overall it was confused and boring. Characters were quite unemotive, the muscial compositions were quite drab and did not invoke strong emotional reactions (think Indiana Jones, Titanic and Star Wars - the music in these films were almost as memorable as the movies themselves), even the costumes were quite bland (think Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Braveheart - all based on even earlier time periods in the Unite Kingdom then Tess, and the costumes are amazing).
All in all, highly disappointing.
2/10
MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Atlantic City (1981)
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Burt Lancaster and Kate Reid
Director: Louis Malle
This film is what saved my relationship with Oscar. Although, in my opinion not a great movie, it was certainly a step up from Tess. It is about a group of people, some how linked to the underworld of Atlantic City. The main character, Sally has relocated there from Vegas to become a dealer on the tables. This hobo looking couple rolls into town, who we later find out is Sally's sister and husband (Sally's husband left her to run off with her sister, who is an extreme hippie). They come into town because they have no money and need a place to stay, so they approach Sally. Meanwhile, in Sally's building lives Lou. He is a small time criminal, who likes to look at her through the window, pouring lemon all over her body (she works in the seafood buffet at a casino and puts lemon all over her to get rid of the fish smell). Lou lives with an elderly woman, Grace, who is the widow of a criminal acquintance of his and is very demanding, demeaning and bitter. Sally's ex-husband is pointed in the direction of Lou, to sell drugs that he stole from the Mafia. They kill him and Lou continues to sell the stash to a regular buyer. The Mafia finds out that Lou has their drugs and comes after Lou and Sally (by this point Lou has persued Sally and they have had a one night stand). Lou shoots the two goons in a struggle, he and Sally run off, Sally decides to flee abroad where she can persue her dream of becoming a casino dealer and Lou returns home to Atlantic City, where he and Grace sell the remainder of the stash.
Story not the best, pretty standard, but can see it would have been original in its time. The relationship between Grace and Sally's sister, Chrissie, is quite endearing and enjoyable. Here you have a tough, old battle axe and this soft, whimsical hippie, who come together and definitely make for a good laugh.
All in all, not a bad film. I'm yet to see a really bad film with Susan in it.
5/10
Until next week, "good morning, and if I don't see you again, good afternoon, good evening and good night" (Truman Burbank, The Truman Show)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
No Ordinary Man
So it's been a busy week. My fiancee Tim and I went and visited what seemed like our 20000nth potential wedding venue and actually couldn't find anything we hated about it. Believe me this is a miracle. Really, we have rejected places for such reasons as the following: ugly carpet, low ceiling, too big, too small, bad smells (eww I still shudder at the thought of that place), weirdly shaped room, freaky wedding coordinator and the list goes on. So to actually be seriously considering a place is very exciting. But, I haven't forgotten about Oscar and have spent two nights and one afternoon with him (one night was a monage situation with Tim joining us).
So, I've watched three of the nominees for best film from the 53rd Academy Awards (1980). It was only 30 years ago, but it just seems like a completely different time. The one thing that I've noticed that is common between all three films is that the directors/writers appear to be presenting these films to a more intelligent audience. Unlike a lot of the movies of today, which often have predictable endings, the exact same storylines (boy meets girl, girl rejects boy for a more attactive one, but then realises the love of her life was right in front of her the whole time - YAWN) and the same actresses (e.g. think every Katherine Hiegal movie - except Knocked Up, love that movie), these movies were very different, highly unpredictable and (some) were highly captivating. Two of the films were even black and white, which I took to be meaningful in very different ways.
Ordinary People (Winner)
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler-Moore, Timothy Hutton
Director: Robert Redford
Wow, how tortured are these people!! This was my thought when I watched this movie. Yet sooo repressed. The emotional unrest is like the elephant in the room, that nobody talks about. You feel it in every scene. Whilst I couldn't relate directly to the content, the thing I liked about the movie, is that anyone can relate to what I think is one of the key themes coming through the film: the feeling of loving somebody, who does not love you back and the pain of not being able to talk about that (hello every high school crush I ever had).
So basically, the film is about this middle class, American family, living in suburbia, where everybody knows everybody. The film starts out, just after the son has returned home from a mental health facility (he attempted suicide following the death of his older brother). The father (Donald Sutherland) is the kind and loving peace maker in the family, the son Conrad (Timothy Hutton) is a very damaged teenager due to the death of his brother and his mother's emotional dettachment from him and the mother (Mary Tyler-Moore) the home maker and middle class, middle aged socialite, who is quite cold and shut off from her son, but interestingly not her husband. The film depicts the family's life not long after the death of the eldest son and how they cope with this. But I think the mother's lack of love for Conrad, goes back before the older son's death in the form of favouritism. It's just so sad. Coming from a family background of being an only child and having an overbearing mother, it was really sad to watch. She literally cannot reach out to him and is almost mad at him for attempting suicide, like it was an embarassment to her. The son ends up going to a therapist and has to deal with all his issues relating to his brother's death (they were on a boat and the brother drowned, so he blames himself for not saving him), as well as the family issues. In the end he actually confronts both his parents and the father is almost forced to choose. Conrad actually comes to terms with his mother's lack of love for him and stops being angry about it, even giving her a hug towards the end of the film, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but there was literally no physical contact between them other than this moment. The mother is unable to change her feelings, which is too much for the father to deal with and in the end he has to admit he doesn't love his wife anymore. The saddest part is, he really did love her so much before he came to the realisation that she can never love their son. He is forced to end their twenty plus year relationship. I was so in awe of his courage, I have to admit. It would have been easier I think for him to keep burying his head in the sand and keep reassuring the son that it was "all in his head" and his mother does love him (which is what he did at the start of the film). However, he cannot live with that and choses bravely to face the truth, which ultimately brings him closer to his son, but at the cost of his marriage. AHHHHH tortured!!!!
I give it a 6/10. The characters were strong and the story was original. It was a bit slow moving and long, which is why I didn't rate it higher.
Raging Bull
Starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Jo Pesci
Director: Martin Scorsese
Hmmm, at the risk of being stabbed by the film community (haha as if they are reading this, "whatever" the film community is), I did not like this movie. The characters were unlikeable, the story was kind of blah and it was kind of difficult to follow. I know this opinion will be vehemently opposed, as after I did some reading, I've realised some rate it as one of the best films of all time. But sorry I'm just not feeling it.
The movie is based on the autobiography of Jake LaMotta. I think this is why it is almost what I would call a "gritty realist" film, because it's based on a true story. It's even filmed in black and white, which I think is to create more a gritty depiction of the "mean streets" of the Bronx and to keep the focus on the story. No bright colours to distract the viewer. No fantasy. This is the real world and it's ugly. It's set in the Bronx, everybody swears and the fighting is fixed by Italian crime bosses. The movie is almost a montage of Jake's fights in the ring, with in between scenes of fights in his "real" life with his brother (Joe Pesci) and wife (Cathy Moriarty). None of the characters are likable. Jake is a self-destructive, jealous, volitle and violent man. His brother Joey is skeezy, sneaky and also violent. Seriously, I don't even think Vicky LaMotta his wife is that likeable. She is quite volitile too, but also quite passive. As the viewer, we don't really get to know her story, but I guess it is based on an autobiography, which means it is coming from one perspective, but still I would have liked more focus on her and more of an exploration of why she stayed with him, despite his jealousy and controlling ways. I guess it was because she loved him or maybe she was afraid to leave, but if it was either one or both of this reasons, I don't think they came through strongly in the film. Overall, I didn't really get it. Nothing much happened. Jake kind of just burned out, stopped fighting, opened a night club where he was the host/comedianm (random considering he was so angry for the first three quarters of the film), then went to jail for letting under age women in and then came out and continued with life as per usual (although Vicky left him at the end).
Overall, I didn't like it. I guess it was Scorsese-esqe. But I just didn't feel it. Sorry. 3/10
FILM OF THE WEEK
The Elephant Man
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt
Director: David Lynch
Wow, easily my favourite movie of the three. Warning though, you need to watch this when you are able to dedicate yourself to it completely. It requires your complete concentration and can be difficult to follow, particularly at the start. It was also filmed in black and white, but for completely different reasons than Raging Bull.
The film is about a surgeon Fredrick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), who takes on the care of a man with a serious genetic disorder, John Merrick (John Hurt). It's called the Elephant Man, because John was in a freak show and was cruelly named the "Elephant Man" by the owner because of the disfigurement to his face, which resemble elephant features. John is whipped, beaten and emotionally abused by this man, to the point where he does not speak, is unable to breath properly because of a raging chest infection and is just generally traumatised and tortured. Frederick agrees to take John in for medical care to treat his bronchitis, but then offers him permanent shelter and refuge in the London Hospital, with much opposition from other medical professionals. The film is about Frederick assisting John to come out of himself. John is actually very intelligent, but has been so traumatised, he is unable to speak or share his knowledge. He has such a gentle soul and whilst it might sound "cliche", the movie I guess is about showing true internal beauty, which despite his hideous external appearance, John has. His mutilated face not only result in him being treated cruelly and stop him from forming close relationships (at least at the start), it also restricts him physically. He is unable to lie down in bed, as this restricts his breathing, so he has to sleep upright.
The movie concludes with John being kidnapped by the freak shower owner, being freed by the "other freaks" and finding his way back to Frederick and the London Hospital, but finds out he is terminally ill. Rather than leaving his death in the hands of destiny, John takes charge and does the one thing he has always wanted to do, lies down in bed. This leads to his death. Ultimately he dies a happy man, having experienced love and friendship from Frederick and having been exposed to human kindness through Frederick and a famous actress who befriends him, invites him to the theatre (a big deal for somebody who never goes out in public) and dedicates the show to him.
Loved it loved it loved it. So moving and a wonderful story, showing all aspects of the human condition. 8/10
Stayed tuned for Tess (1980), The Coal Miner's Daughter (1980 and if I can find it, having some difficulty) and the first of the 54th Academy Awards (TBA)!
Until then, "make like a tree and get outta here" (Biff, Back to the Futre)
So, I've watched three of the nominees for best film from the 53rd Academy Awards (1980). It was only 30 years ago, but it just seems like a completely different time. The one thing that I've noticed that is common between all three films is that the directors/writers appear to be presenting these films to a more intelligent audience. Unlike a lot of the movies of today, which often have predictable endings, the exact same storylines (boy meets girl, girl rejects boy for a more attactive one, but then realises the love of her life was right in front of her the whole time - YAWN) and the same actresses (e.g. think every Katherine Hiegal movie - except Knocked Up, love that movie), these movies were very different, highly unpredictable and (some) were highly captivating. Two of the films were even black and white, which I took to be meaningful in very different ways.
Ordinary People (Winner)
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler-Moore, Timothy Hutton
Director: Robert Redford
Wow, how tortured are these people!! This was my thought when I watched this movie. Yet sooo repressed. The emotional unrest is like the elephant in the room, that nobody talks about. You feel it in every scene. Whilst I couldn't relate directly to the content, the thing I liked about the movie, is that anyone can relate to what I think is one of the key themes coming through the film: the feeling of loving somebody, who does not love you back and the pain of not being able to talk about that (hello every high school crush I ever had).
So basically, the film is about this middle class, American family, living in suburbia, where everybody knows everybody. The film starts out, just after the son has returned home from a mental health facility (he attempted suicide following the death of his older brother). The father (Donald Sutherland) is the kind and loving peace maker in the family, the son Conrad (Timothy Hutton) is a very damaged teenager due to the death of his brother and his mother's emotional dettachment from him and the mother (Mary Tyler-Moore) the home maker and middle class, middle aged socialite, who is quite cold and shut off from her son, but interestingly not her husband. The film depicts the family's life not long after the death of the eldest son and how they cope with this. But I think the mother's lack of love for Conrad, goes back before the older son's death in the form of favouritism. It's just so sad. Coming from a family background of being an only child and having an overbearing mother, it was really sad to watch. She literally cannot reach out to him and is almost mad at him for attempting suicide, like it was an embarassment to her. The son ends up going to a therapist and has to deal with all his issues relating to his brother's death (they were on a boat and the brother drowned, so he blames himself for not saving him), as well as the family issues. In the end he actually confronts both his parents and the father is almost forced to choose. Conrad actually comes to terms with his mother's lack of love for him and stops being angry about it, even giving her a hug towards the end of the film, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but there was literally no physical contact between them other than this moment. The mother is unable to change her feelings, which is too much for the father to deal with and in the end he has to admit he doesn't love his wife anymore. The saddest part is, he really did love her so much before he came to the realisation that she can never love their son. He is forced to end their twenty plus year relationship. I was so in awe of his courage, I have to admit. It would have been easier I think for him to keep burying his head in the sand and keep reassuring the son that it was "all in his head" and his mother does love him (which is what he did at the start of the film). However, he cannot live with that and choses bravely to face the truth, which ultimately brings him closer to his son, but at the cost of his marriage. AHHHHH tortured!!!!
I give it a 6/10. The characters were strong and the story was original. It was a bit slow moving and long, which is why I didn't rate it higher.
Raging Bull
Starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Jo Pesci
Director: Martin Scorsese
Hmmm, at the risk of being stabbed by the film community (haha as if they are reading this, "whatever" the film community is), I did not like this movie. The characters were unlikeable, the story was kind of blah and it was kind of difficult to follow. I know this opinion will be vehemently opposed, as after I did some reading, I've realised some rate it as one of the best films of all time. But sorry I'm just not feeling it.
The movie is based on the autobiography of Jake LaMotta. I think this is why it is almost what I would call a "gritty realist" film, because it's based on a true story. It's even filmed in black and white, which I think is to create more a gritty depiction of the "mean streets" of the Bronx and to keep the focus on the story. No bright colours to distract the viewer. No fantasy. This is the real world and it's ugly. It's set in the Bronx, everybody swears and the fighting is fixed by Italian crime bosses. The movie is almost a montage of Jake's fights in the ring, with in between scenes of fights in his "real" life with his brother (Joe Pesci) and wife (Cathy Moriarty). None of the characters are likable. Jake is a self-destructive, jealous, volitle and violent man. His brother Joey is skeezy, sneaky and also violent. Seriously, I don't even think Vicky LaMotta his wife is that likeable. She is quite volitile too, but also quite passive. As the viewer, we don't really get to know her story, but I guess it is based on an autobiography, which means it is coming from one perspective, but still I would have liked more focus on her and more of an exploration of why she stayed with him, despite his jealousy and controlling ways. I guess it was because she loved him or maybe she was afraid to leave, but if it was either one or both of this reasons, I don't think they came through strongly in the film. Overall, I didn't really get it. Nothing much happened. Jake kind of just burned out, stopped fighting, opened a night club where he was the host/comedianm (random considering he was so angry for the first three quarters of the film), then went to jail for letting under age women in and then came out and continued with life as per usual (although Vicky left him at the end).
Overall, I didn't like it. I guess it was Scorsese-esqe. But I just didn't feel it. Sorry. 3/10
FILM OF THE WEEK
The Elephant Man
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt
Director: David Lynch
Wow, easily my favourite movie of the three. Warning though, you need to watch this when you are able to dedicate yourself to it completely. It requires your complete concentration and can be difficult to follow, particularly at the start. It was also filmed in black and white, but for completely different reasons than Raging Bull.
The film is about a surgeon Fredrick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), who takes on the care of a man with a serious genetic disorder, John Merrick (John Hurt). It's called the Elephant Man, because John was in a freak show and was cruelly named the "Elephant Man" by the owner because of the disfigurement to his face, which resemble elephant features. John is whipped, beaten and emotionally abused by this man, to the point where he does not speak, is unable to breath properly because of a raging chest infection and is just generally traumatised and tortured. Frederick agrees to take John in for medical care to treat his bronchitis, but then offers him permanent shelter and refuge in the London Hospital, with much opposition from other medical professionals. The film is about Frederick assisting John to come out of himself. John is actually very intelligent, but has been so traumatised, he is unable to speak or share his knowledge. He has such a gentle soul and whilst it might sound "cliche", the movie I guess is about showing true internal beauty, which despite his hideous external appearance, John has. His mutilated face not only result in him being treated cruelly and stop him from forming close relationships (at least at the start), it also restricts him physically. He is unable to lie down in bed, as this restricts his breathing, so he has to sleep upright.
The movie concludes with John being kidnapped by the freak shower owner, being freed by the "other freaks" and finding his way back to Frederick and the London Hospital, but finds out he is terminally ill. Rather than leaving his death in the hands of destiny, John takes charge and does the one thing he has always wanted to do, lies down in bed. This leads to his death. Ultimately he dies a happy man, having experienced love and friendship from Frederick and having been exposed to human kindness through Frederick and a famous actress who befriends him, invites him to the theatre (a big deal for somebody who never goes out in public) and dedicates the show to him.
Loved it loved it loved it. So moving and a wonderful story, showing all aspects of the human condition. 8/10
Stayed tuned for Tess (1980), The Coal Miner's Daughter (1980 and if I can find it, having some difficulty) and the first of the 54th Academy Awards (TBA)!
Until then, "make like a tree and get outta here" (Biff, Back to the Futre)
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