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Reviews
Blow-Up (1966)
Blowup -- bitter sweet life
This movie's essence is timeless: eventual solitude of every individual, indifference of society, meaningless of life ...
All those who whine about its lack of entertainment value make me feel sorry for them ... Cinema for pure entertainment purposes? ... Sure, if you grew up with daily TV 'entertainment' American style, it's hard to stand the 'anti-tainment' of more artful films ... But what else is film making than another media for artists? ... Once again it proves how hard it is for the majority to even attempt art: if it isn't easy to consume, it must be bad... Simple formula ...
Luckily there have always been artists and film makers who broke or just ignored the 'golden rules' of commercial film making and produced timeless masterpieces ... Look beyond the period appearance and extract the essences...
The world of cinema would be poorer if there had never been 'Un chien andalou' , 'La Dolce Vita' or 'Blow Up': Nothing easy to digest nor understand -- but such is life -- and do not look for any explanation in the books or places of worship ... They are just deceiving ... Look inside yourself and see if it hits a chord ... Hopefully you find you are still alive!
Julia McLaughlin
One, Two, Three (1961)
Wilder's delayed home run
When this hilarious comedy first came out, history had just outrun its subject: on August 13th, 1961, the Berlin wall became the impenetrable border in a divided post war Germany ... While the movie still showed the semipermeable division and post-13th August every-day reality of people pretty freely changing from East to West, this should be from now on an impossibility for the next the 28 years ...
This accounts probably as the main reason for this movie to be a box- office failure at its opening in Germany at that time ... Nobody really wanted to see a comedy about a situation that had just dramatically changed and would cost the lives of many who tried to 'jump the border' in its consequence ... Even in the U.S. this movie was not the typical 'Wilder success', as the turn of events tainted the fun of this great comedy even on this side of the ocean ...
Wilder's only return to shoot a movie in Germany, after he had left to flee the upcoming Nazi regime in 1933, proved to be somewhat of a 'flop' (at least commercially) at the time ... Nevertheless -- it had its second coming in the 1980s, when it was re-released in Germany with tremendous success ... Considered an 'almost forgotten gem' at the time, it was as popular as it could have been at its original release in 1961 ...
Interestingly enough, it proved to be as fresh and timeless in its humor and very sharp in tackling German and American stereotypes ... A wonderful cast of German and American actors make it a special treat, especially if you are at home in the cinematic world on both sides of the ocean ... One of the many innuendoes and an extra treat is the part of the secretary, performed by the sparkling Lilo Pulver: her whole look and interpretation is so 'Marilyn'-like, that it can only be seen as a Wilder attempt to take a little revenge on he legendary MM, who also was known to be on his 'black list' of actors never to be worked with again, after they shot 'Some like it Hot' together ...
Few movies (especially of this genre) have proven to hold so true over time: when the wall came down on November 11th, 1989, it was obvious everywhere in the streets of Berlin: capitalism had outlived communism (at least for a while) with the people ... Coca Cola cans were littering the streets everywhere, Coke being the preferred beverage of the liberated East Germans who spent their first West Marks on long missed 'Western goods' ... Wouldn't Mr MacNamara have had a field day?!
Julia McLaughlin
8 femmes (2002)
Vous etes somptueuses, Mesdames!
Yes indeed: these ladies, girls and dames are gorgeous!
Before I saw this film I read about its production history and the basic idea of this great director (Ozon) to realize (another) remake of 'The Women' ('The Opposite Sex' was a 50s attempt) ... Not being able to get the rights for this old favorite of many 'old Hollywood movies' fan, he decided to give it a try with his own plot ...
Boy did he succeed!
Yes, the story and its twists are delightful ... BUT: when has anyone of us seen so many French movie legends in one film? ... Being so utterly seductive, entertaining, tragic (yes, this IS a drama mesdames et messieurs movie goers!) and glamorous beyond comparison ...
The costumes, make ups and hairstyles are prime examples how to 'introduce' the characters through her appearance ... The set and the light setting all provide the perfect backdrop for each character's special, personal story... Not enough that we learn though their words what they suffered through their short or long lives for a little bit of warmth and love -- they even sing it to us! ...
Of course, these singing acts border the ridicule at times -- but not because they are badly interpretated or written, but merely because the average movie goer is more used to TV-'showbiz' and 'action' flicks from the 'new' Hollywood and usually skips anything that appears 'artsy' or (beware!) black and white ...
Ozon deserves highest praise for his bravery to give us such a lush production that is surprisingly vintage in so many aspects, yet timeless in its main message: love hurts!
What irony that it had to be a French director and an entirely French cast to show jaded Hollywood what quality and style really are! ... Then again: doesn't that have tradition? ... Where did all those great directors and authors in the past come from, if not from Europe (Wilder, Lubitsch, von Sternberg etc.)? ...
I found it terribly refreshing to see the un-dubbed French version in the U.S. ... Though I also saw a very nicely dubbed German version, which perfectly matched voices (and character) by great, reputable German actresses with their French counterparts, it was unsurpassed fun to hear those great Ladies of the French Cinema act out all their charm, seductiveness and humour with their purring, excited and bewitching voices...
An almost private highlight is the little sequence showing that this is actually a movie with 9 women ... Remember when Louise (Emanuelle Beart), the smouldering maid, drops a photo from her cleavage the and explains that the lady in the picture was her former employer/mistress? ... None else than the legendary Romy Schneider is this very lady! ... Romy, who so died in 1983, leaving a tragic life behind her and a legacy of wonderful movies to her fans would have been certainly a top choice for Ozon to put into his masterpiece ... What a charming innuendo!
So, for everyone who has not seen this film: rush and behold the beauty! ... For all of you who have already seen it: go again, if you can ... I sure know that this movie will go straight on the top shelf of my collection as soon as it comes out on video or DVD ... Cheers Julia
The Living Daylights (1987)
The sexiest Bond, the sexiest killer ...
This first of two the Timothy Dalton 007 movies (let's not talk about his second round -- it was rather awful) is a very rounded, exciting and besides his cool British flair, sexy Bond movie ... After the aseptic years of Roger Moore and all those awful attempts of other actors to fill the shoes of the unsurpassed 'lady killer' Sean Connery (what a delightful ham!), Dalton brought back some component that was missing for such a long time!...
But why stopping there? ... Take Andreas Wisniewski as Necros, the merciless killer whose life has to end on a shoestring ... If in the old Bond movies, men and boys could drool over the bikini clad beauties in the swimming pool or beach scenes (and almost every 007 movie had at least one), this one makes all sexes drool (so they are inclined) over a perfectly built, blond young hunk of a man ... Rarely had a male 'sidekick' more screen time to show off his gorgeous physique ...
So, even if you weren't a Bond fan before and maybe never after -- go and watch this movie/video/DVD and find out for yourself ...
Cheers ... Julia :)