gfrancie Reviews

The Party (1980)

No Molly Ringwald but definitely entertaining

[6/10 · 26 March 2005]

I suspect that most Americans have become acquainted with this movie through their High School French classes. I know I did. It became a bit of an in-joke among a number of my class-mates that would cause us to laugh a bit when recalling the theme song. It is essentially a teen comedy about a young girl's daily life and her first relationship. The movie also has a subplot about the main character's parents marriage falling apart but there is never addressed with serious depth. It seems to be tossed in there at the last minute to fill the time. An interesting minor character is the girl's Grandmother who encourages her romantic relations and is kind of a kindred spirit to her while her parents are having difficulties. It isn't a great movie by any means but it is fun and I think for many teenagers it is something to relate to. A girl is finding independence by attending to slightly more adult parties, having a boyfriend and all of the emotions that go with it and dealing with parents. I think most recall the film with a touch of nostalgic fondness if it is first seen when one is a teenager. Definitely fluff, but amusing French fluff.

Touch of Evil (1958)

Two films in one

[9 February 2005]

I saw the first version that most people have seen when I was a kid but the memories of it are rather vague. I remember thinking how it was kind of silly to cast Charlton Heston as Mexican but this was also the age of casting Italian people as Native American. So anything goes I suppose. When they re-issued the version that was close to what Orson Welles had in mind in his notes I was curious to see it. It was darker and more evocative and I really enjoyed it, despite the obvious mis-casting of Heston. It was kind of like elevated pulp fiction with so many layers. I saw what a crying shame it was that the studio did not listen to Welles but that was kind of his personal pain. He captured something really interesting on film that isn't always easy to describe. This film had such a beautiful, macabre essence about it.

Magnolia (1999)

What is forgiven

[3 February 2005]

This was such an interesting film. P.T. Anderson focuses on the people who skim the edge of society in many respects. From Boogie Nights with the subject of pornographers to this tale of people who feel they don't quite fit right yet mask it well. I can understand this movie being difficult to watch because it is incredibly long and rather emotionally draining because all of these characters are so pathetic in one way or another. They all have failed in some respect and the failures still cling to them. Some more visibly then others. The thread that ran through all of the lives of these people was the phrase, "What do you forgive?" At the end of the day you pick and choose what you can forgive and you continue on.

I suppose the film came out at a time when I was examining that very thing and it did mean a lot to me.

John C. Reilly turns out one of the most delicate and personal performances. He always brings such a fragile presence to the screen and it shows so much in this film. It was such a fully formed character that had plenty of things hidden and yet revealed so much to the audience. His scenes with Melora Walters just broke me in two.

All of these characters broke my heart so much.

Anything But Love (1989–1992)

When television was smart

[24 October 2004]

This was such a lovely show and I miss that sort of thing that isn't on television anymore. It was very smart, very silly and combined slapstick and clever dialogue well. The show reminded me in some respects of films from the thirties that had witty dialogue and a screwball sensibility and the chemistry between Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis was endearing and believable. One was given the impression that everyone enjoyed what they were doing. A favorite episode of mine involved someone running into an ex at a restaurant and the three four different stories of how the situation occurred. The best was a Fellini-like observation of the event. It is one of those clever obscure shows that deserves to be on DVD just for my sake.

Bright Young Things (2003)

Bright and Beautiful moments

[9 June 2004]

"Bright Young Things" is a very stylish adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel, "Vile Bodies". I felt the film captured the snarky satire tone of the novel and was a fairly decent effort on the part of Stephen Fry who was making his directorial debut. I found the film played fairly light and enjoyable; a bit like a meringue that way. I suspect that this is a film for those with a fondness for wicked satire, in jokes and an interest in period pieces.

There is a kind of manic pacing to the film and the cinematography which I suppose matches the feeling of the time. People had survived a war, and a pandemic so it might make one a bit dotty.

I was quite pleased by some of the work by some of the young actors who had never been in a film before. They had a pleasant ease infront of the camera.

It isn't going to be some over the top smash. It is one of those nice art house films that one later rents from the library and shares with certain friends who have a taste for colorful clothes and characters.

Brideshead Revisited (1981)

beautiful sadness.

[18 August 2003]

The book and the mini-series always broke my heart. I first read the book and viewed the series as a teenager and it affected me much more then "Catcher in the Rye".

It is probably one of the finest adaptations of a novel put to film. You watch as the reckless innocent fun of youth is slowly taken away and replaced by sad old cynicism.

It captures the feeling of the stolen season of peace between the world wars and the cool observant eye of Waugh who before hand always wrote detached speedy amoral stories. This seemed so...different.

The acting is so on the spot. Carefully restrained and woeful as we watch our favorite characters grow.

Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)

simplicity

[17 August 2003]

It starts off as a "little movie" and then turns into a sort of love story. It isn't the greatest thing in the world, yet it holds my attention. Natalie Wood and Steve Mcqueen are two people who meet in a casual situation which soon becomes serious when She becomes pregnant and needs an abortion. It is after that situation the story changes and becomes much lighter and you see two people falling for one another and wanting to resist it to a certain degree.

It is definitely evocative of the early sixties and so intriguing. The film I think, makes Steve Mcqueen very accessible to women in this light.

I Capture the Castle (2003)

nice little film doesn't do book justice.

[23 June 2003]

Right off the bat I possess serious prejudices regarding the film. One being that the book that it was based on is my favorite book in the entire world. I first read it when I was seventeen, I have since read it about thirty times, so I know the story and the characters so very well. I did watch the film with equal anticipation and dread (like most people do when their favorite book is adapted to film) and I was slightly pleased and often disappointed. I think the key to the book and how it works is the constant sense of restraint and keeping certain things a mystery. One never found out much about the mother she was more of a ghost that wasn't truly important. And I wasn't keen upon the fact that they made a bigger deal about her, and took the film in a direction that was quite different and shall I say over-dramatic for the tone it should have set. I did find it to be a nice little film, definitely fun for those who favor frock films, and pleasant to see a film where it isn't neatly tied up at the end. (which is a bit like the book, but again in a different sense) I do understand it is difficult to cover a book in a two hour movie, thus I think it would have been a much better idea if they had made it into a mini-series. Then there would have been proper exploration and it would have stayed much more true to a book I adore.