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Reviews
Charade (1963)
Tongue planted firmly in cheek?
I just saw this film again last night for the first time in a long while, so I thought I would comment. Charade has always been one of my favorites as it has two of my absolute favorite actors: Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Though I do not think either of them have their best performances in this film, the sheer fact of them acting together bounces this to the top of my list.
Now, last night as I watched this, I suddenly realized for the first time how intensely comic this is. Of course, the shower scene, among others, provides for laughs. However, now I'm realizing that almost the entire script is extremely tongue in cheek. With lines like "Maybe he'll meet his hand in the afterlife," how can one deny it? And Hepburn's repeated proclamations of love for Grant...
Well, anyway, I think this is great, and one of only two films I was surprised to find out were NOT directed by Hitchcock. The other was The Prize, and that, my friends, is a completely different story.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Beauty found in comic places
The Royal Tenenbaums, to put it shortly, is a weird movie. It is the story of a family longing for its heyday to return. It is the story of a man who wants to be accepted. It is a story of redemption, filled with small epiphanies and smaller details that make for excellent viewing. It takes delight in showcasing its brilliant characterizations and depictions of social oddities. Many will find it hard to relate to such strangers and therefore decline to revel in this film's cinematic glory. We can pity them.
Those that enjoy Wes Anderson's films can be put into two categories. There are those that simply find them to be quirky joyrides and laugh them off as such. Then there are those who recognize the loneliness in all of the characters Wes Anderson writes - it is this sense of loneliness that Wes Anderson, as a storyteller, brings to the screen. It is this sense of loneliness that makes Wes Anderson one of the most visionary filmmakers out there today.
The Royal Tenenbaums is an altogether thrilling experience. It is epic, filled with pageantry. Though categorized as a comedy, at times it seems darker then typical black comedies - a drama, or even a triumphant tragedy of life's unrealized outcasts. As Margot Tenenbaum (Gwenyth Paltrow) says in one of the last scenes: "Well, I'm sure he'll get over it." The Royal Tenenbaums is a rejoicing in the human spirit's reluctant but continuous march forward.