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[Why Watch This- Retro Movie Reviews] How to Marry a Millionaire

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Posted by :Lauren Sims On : October 9, 2014
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How-to-Marry-a-Millionaire-Marilyn-Monroe-Betty-Grable-Lauren-Bacall    Despite its title and overall premise, How to Marry a Millionaire, is actually a charming movie. But let me get it out of the way first, in honor of my “Gender in Film” college professor. Sure, yes, oh la-di-da, three models living in a swanky New York City apartment with a scheme to land themselves millionaire husbands isn’t exactly a feminist manifesto. But, I mean really, if they did make a movie of a feminist manifesto, would you want to see it? Probably not.

But as Drew Barrymore pointed out in this film’s intro during her “Essentials” segment on Turner Classic Movies, isn’t it nice to have a movie with three strong female characters and they are all getting along? Yes, Drew, yes it is. And even if you disagree with their motives and their goals, this was the 1950s after all, and we have three smart women living in New York City going after what betty and marilynthey want. You’re gonna make it after all! <hat toss>

Lauren Bacall plays Schatze Page (why does she have such a weird name? who knows?). Schatze is the brains behind the operation. She finds the beautiful New York apartment that was recently vacated By Freddie Denmark (David Wayne) who had to move to Europe to escape the IRS. She moves in two of her fellow models, Pola (Marilyn Monroe) (why does she have such a weird name? who knows?) and Loco (Betty Grable) (why does she have such a weird name? who knows?) (Wait, this one they explain, apparently she did something loco once).

Schatze got stiffed by her last husband, a car hop that had lied to her and said he was rich. No more, now it’s caviar only for this girl. The three of them proceed to find themselves rich men to marry, financed by selling the furniture in the apartment they are renting.

Loco meets a rich married man who lures her to his “lodge” in Maine. When she discovers it’s his personal cabin they then realize she has the measles and they’re stuck there for 2 weeks while she recovers. When she gets better her married man contracts measles as well. In the meantime, Loco meets Eben (Rory Calhoon) the local fire ranger and falls in love. He’s not rich! Oh no!

Pola meets a one-eyed man who pretends to be an oil tycoon. Pola is blind as a bat, and refuses to wear her glasses in front of men,Alexander_D'Arcy_and_Marilyn_Monroe_in_How_to_Marry_a_Millionaire_trailer because as Dorothy Parker once said: “Men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses.” Luckily, however, she is saved from the fact that he is a fraud because she accidentally boards a plane to Kansas City instead of the plane to Atlantic City she was supposed to board to meet him. Get it? She’s blind! Anyway, she ends up sitting next to Freddie Denmark (what a coincidence!) who is also blind as a bat. Freddie likes girls who wear glasses. They fall in love. He’s not really rich and may be going to prison soon! Oh no!

Schatze meets an aging millionaire (William Powell! Who doesn’t love THAT guy!) who wants to marry her. The problem is that htmam5she is in love with Tom Brookman (Cameron Mitchell) who she thinks is another poor car hop. He’s not rich! Oh no! But wait, he really is rich, he just pretends not to be and wears a weird twill jacket all the time and carries around a golf club everywhere he goes. Clearly the two signs of a deadbeat car hop. (What is a car hop by the way? Does anyone really know?)

Valuable lessons are learned all around, the girls all end up with the boys they love, and SURPRISE, Tom is loaded to boot. Nothing but fun, I tell you. To top it off we got some great Cinemascope action. This is the first film shot in Cinemascope and the second released. They use it well, the shots of the apartment with its broad windows and excellent views of Manhattan are stunning. And, there’s even an overture segment at the beginning where they show a WHOLE orchestra play a WHOLE song. Show offs. Technicolor, Cinemascope, Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and William imagesPowell? You simply cannot go wrong, it is impossible, so go watch it.

[California Seething] Lenny Holiday Letter 2013- Guest Intro Lauren Sims

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Posted by :Lauren Sims On : September 26, 2014
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I’ve been thinking about what to write for 2013, for what was to be his last letter. I think when you read it you will see that we knewCal-Seething-092614-lennyco it was going to be his last letter. At the time we wrote it, we were 2 months in to his diagnosis of “big-ass tumor on his liver.” We were freaked out, expecting the worse could and would happen at any moment. Little did we know that Lenny had 9 more months to give us, he wasn’t done with us yet.

2013 was a blur, and reflecting back, it still is, I couldn’t tell you one thing that happened last year. I’ll be in meetings at work and people will refer to things from 2013 and I’ll be like “that was a year ago?” But anyway, this letter was our attempt at a not too maudlin tribute to Lenny and all the crazy stuff we did with him over the years. I think we succeeded. However, I did receive some comments like: “wow, you guys are sad.” So maybe not so much on the “not too maudlin” part.

Lenny was crazy. Completely bonkers off his chain from the moment we brought him home from the West Los Angeles Cal-Seething-092614-hatAnimal Shelter. It was rough at first, for all of us. Eric and I had just moved to LA, Lenny was a young dog with an unknown past that hated anything on wheels and distrusted men. But we all figured it out and became a little family of sorts. As long as we didn’t expect Lenny to act like a “dog” or do anything that we “asked him to do,” we were cool and it worked for us for 13 years.

I can count on my hand the number of people Lenny liked. And this isn’t an insult to those he didn’t, but the Chow in him just didn’t allow him to trust most folks. But if you got on that list, and boy if you were lucky enough for him to sit so you could hug him, it was the best hug you could ever ask for. He would lean against you and look up, snuggle his head in. And sure, maybe he was just trying to encourage me to scratch his chest while he was suffering through this exercise, but regardless, nobody gave a hug like Lenny. Nobody, no thing. And I’ll miss that most of all. So here’s to Lenny—he was a good fucking dog, thank you.

Here’s the 2013 Holiday LetterCal Seething-092614-lennysmile

And here are all the other letters:

2005 letter
2006 letter
2007 letter
2008/09 letters
2011 letter
2012 letter

[Why Watch This- Retro Movie Reviews]- Atlantic City

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Posted by :Lauren Sims On : September 24, 2014
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windowAtlantic City (released in the US in 1981), directed by Louis Malle, is a terrific movie that leaves you wishing for another hour with these characters. It stars Susan Sarandon as Sally, a woman from Saskatchewan Canada, who now lives in Atlantic City. The movie opens with her neighbor Lou (played by Burt Lancaster) watching Sally through their facing windows as she performs a nightly ritual of rubbing lemon juice on her skin and washing it off. Lou used to be a small time hood for the mob. He used to protect the wife of the boss. His big story is he shared a cell with Bugsy Siegel.

Sally is trying to make a better life for herself; she is working at the seafood counter at a buffet in one of the casinos. But Sally wants a more; she is taking classes to become a coupier and dreams of moving to Monaco. She listens to opera and French language lessons on her little portable radio which she carries around in her purse.lou

However, things go awry for Sally when her husband shows up in town. We had previously met Dave (played by Robert Joy) when he had stolen a small package of drugs from a phone booth. With Dave comes Sally’s pregnant sister Chrissie (played by Hollis McLaren). Sally is obviously angry, Dave had messed things up for her in Las Vegas and then knocked up her sister and took off. Atlantic City is a new start lou and davefor Sally, a new chance and she doesn’t want Dave and Chrissie around.

She lets them stay one night in her apartment and then runs off to her coupier class. Dave goes off in search of a connection to sell the stolen drugs to and runs into Lou who helps him. Things don’t go so well for Dave and Lou ends up with the cash, the drugs and the connection to sell them.

Lou is revitalized by the circumstances and buys himself a snazzy new suit. He is a big shot with the shoe shine guy he meets in the bathroom, the two knew each other “back when,” and Lou tips him big. Things take a turn for the worse when the men who Dave stole the drugs from come after Sally and Lou.

Malle got the funding to make Atlantic City in 1979 with the stipulation that he complete filming by the end of 1979. He cast his girlfriend at the time, Susan Sarandon, who suggested her playwright friend John Guare to write the screenplay. Guare suggested setting the story in Atlantic City, and Malle created a fascinating time capsule of the city as the old buildings fell and the new ones began. They started filming at the end of October, and finished by December 31st.dave

You don’t have to dig too deep for the metaphor in Atlantic City. In 1979, when this movie was made, Atlantic City was going through revitalization. Legalizing gambling was their solution to urban decay, and Malle does a great job showing the old and the new. Sally’s apartmeposter2nt is half boarded up and due for demolition. The casino where she works is 1979 swanky, all red velvet and mirrors. So, right, metaphor time? Everyone’s got dreams—Sally is going to be a coupier in Monaco, Lou used to be a big time hood, and is the great protector who can save Sally from the men who are after her, Sally is an intriguing mystery in the window rubbing lemon juice on her arms, and Atlantic City is gonna make it this time. And when reality sets in and things don’t work out so well? They adjust.

endI was highly disappointed that as a movie funded by French and Canadian studios and directed by none other than Louis Malle himself, Atlantic City had an almost hopeful ending. And in 1979, the city, like the movie, had all sorts of reasons to be optimistic. Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal was in their future. When I lived in New York I used to love to go to Atlantic City, it was the cheapest weekend getaway I could afford. As I watched this film,  I found myself eating up the locations, looking for something familiar. I was delighted when they filmed a scene in the iconic White House sub shop. Little did they know what would happen in 30 years? But don’t feel bad for Atlantic City, it’s due for re-revitalization soon.

[Why Watch This? Retro Movie Reviews] Jaws

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Posted by :Lauren Sims On : July 3, 2014
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The cynical among you may scoff at my choice of Steven Speilberg’s Jaws (1975) as the best 4th of July movie ever. So let me appeal to the cynics and say that in a world where a Google search for “best patriotic movies” comes up with:

  • Independence Day– ok, I guess, Will Smith kills aliens, the White House gets blowed up, yay America!
  • I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy– James Cagney tap dancing in tight pants. USA! USA!
  • 1776– William Daniels plays John Adams and Ken Howard plays Thomas Jefferson. They sing a lot. Hmmm, god bless America?
  • The Patriot– sorry, I will no longer, ever, ever, ever, watch another cheesy Mel Gibson movie. Sorry, nope. And, btw Google, dude’s Australian.
  • Then there is a bunch of movies about war and stuff. Yeah, I saw Saving Private Ryan once. Act of Valor, that one about United Flight 93, Band of Brothers (wasn’t that a TV show?), Born on the 4th of July (I never saw this one, but isn’t it critical of America, kind of?), war movie, war movie, war movie. OK, I get it. War=Patriotism or something like that, whatever.

However, I would suggest that to whichever Google “best of” list Gods are out there, they are overlooking the best movie about the 4th of July ever made. What’s that you say? JAWS! Of course! One mean shark terrorizes a New England island village. Munch, munch, munch!chrissy

In case you don’t know the plot, here is a brief synopsis: The movie opens with our young doomed Chrissy hanging out on the beach with a bunch of youngsters getting drunk. She makes eyes at a blond guy, they strip their clothes off and run toward the water. Chrissy swims out and starts to tread water. Blondie passes out at the water’s edge—typical. Anyway a truly terrifying scene unfolds where Chrissy is dragged through the water while screaming in pain until she finally disappears under the surface.mayor

Chief Brody (played by Roy Scheider) gets the missing person’s report on poor Chrissy and goes out to the beach to investigate. Chief Brody is the chief of police of Amity island, a quaint little bucolic island in New England. Think Martha’s Vineyard, cause, that’s where they filmed it and lots of the “locals” are played by actual locals. 4th of July is a big weekend for Amity island, the mayor and business owners are gearing up for the influx of tourists. The first thing we learn about Brody is he’s from New York, so an “outsider” and then we learn thatbrody at beach he hates the water. So why did he move to an island? “It’s only an island if you look at it from the water.”

They find Chrissy’s body, think it’s a shark attack, Chief Brody goes nuts closing beaches, calling the Oceanographic Institute, pulling people out of the water. But wait, Chief Brody, the rest of the town says, don’t overreact, it was jusbeach chaost a boat propeller, not a shark. You can’t close the beaches on the 4th of July. So he re-opens and then goes to the beach with his kids, cause, you know, why not? Things don’t go well, a dog and a young child get eaten. But the town, and it’s sleazy mayor played by Murray Abraham who should be commended for his blazer choices, refuse to close the beach. Chief Brody is frantic, he and Matt Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfus) from the Oceanographic Institute think it’s a Great White. They take some precautions, boats are patrolling, spotters are up in towers.

boat guyBut, you know, because it’s the way things go, it doesn’t go well. Humans can’t have hubris in the face of nature. Someone else dies (in actually my favorite shot in the movie: a guy in a boat who is trying to help Chief Brody’s son on his sailboat gets tipped over and we get our first glimpse of the shark as he eats the poor man, the shot reminds of me of a painting I used to love at the MFA in Boston called Watson and the Sharwatson and the sharkk by John Singleton) and now the town is serious about killing the damn shark. They hire Quint (played by Robert Shaw) and Brody and Hooper go out with him.

There’s a lot of spectacular stuff I’m glossing over. Quint is manic in his relentless pursuit of the shark to the point that he dooms their venture. In a famous scene we learn that Quint was a sailor on the USS Indianapolis, the one that was sunk by a torpedo and all the sailors went in to the sea where they got gobbled up by hungry tiger sharks. This gives us some insight into castQuint’s fervor. Finally Brody shoots the damn shark and life is returned to normal on good ol’ Amity Island. Side note: if you have a moment, I highly recommend the documentary about the making of Jaws that came out a few years ago. There are all sorts of great stories involving midgets, malfunctioning sharks, and drunken actors. Good stuff.

There you have it—guy fights the machine, conquers nature, restores order, all set to a kick ass soundtrack that any five year old can play on the piano. And tell me you haven’t tried.

Come on, what’s more American than being the guy who knows what’s going on but no one will listen to him so they all die and shootsultimately he proves he’s right and kills a shark. It’s practically a brief summary of the Declaration of Independence right there. Thomas Jefferson is all like “Being ruled by Britain stinks!” and the rest of America is all like: “Nah, it’s ok, we don’t mind paying taxes and stuff.” People die, more people die, and then it’s like, “Wait a second, being ruled by Britain does stink!” And then well, you know what happens next: Thomas Jefferson kills a shark!

tjI’ve been criticized in the past about my cursory attention to history, so I would caution any youngsters out there from providing this answer on their next history test about the American Revolution. But, I stand by the gist of what I’m saying. Sharks that eat hippie chicks, young boys and dogs named Pippin deserve to die. It’s the American way.

[Why Watch This- Retro Movie Reviews] Cleo de 5 a 7

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Posted by :Lauren Sims On : June 10, 2014
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cityWhile watching Cleo de 5 a 7 (1962) (also know as Cleo from 5 to 7) over the weekend, I was struck by how relevant the film feels in 2014. The first time I saw it 20 years ago I was more caught up in the French New Wavy-ness of it. I love a good French New Wave film- all hand held cameras and black and white, the life and light of the Paris streets, that is the stuff that gets my blood pumping.

But what is fascinating about Cleo de 5 a 7 is that it operates on two levels. The first level is the stark almost documentary style of the film. The second level is how we perceive the world through Cleo’s point of view. The film happens in real time from 5 pm to 7 pm (technically 6:30 pm) as Cleo waits to call her doctor to find out if she has cancer.

The film starts with Cleo at the fortune teller having tarot cards read. From there, we follow her to a café, to a hat store and back to her aparmirrortment. Cleo, portrayed by the flawless Corrine Marchand, is a pop singer, she is beautiful, she moves through the streets of Paris with her hair piled on top of her head in a crazy concoction. Everywhere she goes there are mirrors and reflective surfaces that she uses to gaze at herself. She consoles herself: “Ugliness is a kind of death. As long as I am beautiful I am more alive than them.” Ok, so maybe it’s hard to sympathize with Miss Cleo, but she is beautiful, so, you know, go with it.

Once Cleo and her maid return to her apartment, what we had suspected to be true becomes clear. swingNobody knows the gravity of Cleo’s illness and she doesn’t tell them because they don’t take her seriously. Her rich boyfriend stops by (played by José Luis de Vilallonga who you may recognize as the man Holly Golightly almost marries in Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and flatters her, calls her “his pearl,” but seems unconcerned that she is not feeling well. Her songwriters come and make fun of her for being sick, clearly they believe Cleo to be spoiled and frivolous. I mean, come on, she has a swing in her bedroom. A swing.

But then, in an emotional moment Cleo sings the affecting song “Sans Toi” (Without You) and it hits a little too close to home. In a fit of emotion, she pulls the crazy wig from her head (it’s a wig?!), puts on a black dress and hits the Parisian streets again. Even though Cleo is more beautiful now, with her platinum hair in a smart cut, her black dress with the pleats, the emotions are different. You feel her tension and her isolation as she walks the streets. She seeks out an old friend to confide in, and then eventually ends up in the park where she meets a soldier who is about to ship off to fight in the Algerian war. (If there are any other French New Wave geeks out there, you may enjoy the short little film she watches with her friend that stars Jean-Luc Goddard and Anna Karina. If you don’t know who those 2 people are, you may wonder what the point of the weird little short film is. What’s the point? Who knows, I don’t, watch and let’s discuss)

cafeDid I mention that Cleo is beautiful? Yeah, probably. What I noticed this time is how everyone else in this film is not. She moves through the streets and the cafes and all the faces you see are normal people, haggard, wrinkled, big noses and small eyes. They all turn to watch her, look at her, because how can you not? She is a pearl, remember? Her new soldier friend refers to the two of them as “The pearl and the frog.” Cleo and the soldier form a quick bond. She tells him about her potential illness, he understands because he is about to go to war. We learn her real name is Florence and that Cleo is short for Cleopatra. Their scenes together are sweet, he teases her, they walk through the park. Eventually he convinces her to gbuso directly to the hospital to find out her diagnoses. He will go with her and then she can go to the train station with him to see him off to war. They make it to the hospital, they find the doctor and…I won’t give it away. Not knowing is half the fun.

Agnes Varda, the writer and director, was a pioneer of the French New Wave. Cleo is her second feature film. She is also considered to be a pioneer in feminist cinema. Prior to this she had made a documentary about how a pregnant woman relates to the Mouffetard, which is a famous outdoor food market in Paris. You may (or may not) be wondering to yourself how this is considered feminist cinema. A hungry pregnant woman goes to a food market. A shallow pop singer thinks she has cancer. I think it goes back to the film’s point of view. This is Cleo’s story and whether we like her or not, sympathize with her or not, we experience the world as she does for the 90 minutes we spend with her.

Even in 2014 there aren’t many movies or tv shows that have a strong female point of view, where the main female character is interesting, flawed, etc. and not just an accessory or afterthought to the male characters. I think too, it so relevant to the reality tv show world we live in right now, it’s kind of like what would Kim Kardashian do if she suddenly needed the world to take her seriously? I mean, I know, they would make a “very special episode” of KUWTK where there was some “grave” diagnosis, and in between the shameless product placement, we worried for a second that maybe Kim would die of some horrible disease or something.

Wait…it’s too easy right? You’d think less of me if I made the joke. But what if you knew Kim, you were her friend or her maid or something. Would you take her seriously? What if she walked out of her mega mansion in Calabasas and hit the streets. What if we felt her anxiety as the time ticks away, every second that she feels it, every minute that she feels it. We feel the slow minutes, as she maybe gets in a taxi and ridesoldiers through the streets of Calabasas, we feel the fast minutes as she laughs in a park with a total stranger. We feel her terror when she glimpses frightening ugly death masks in the window of some boutique in Malibu. Does this change how we feel about her?

We might think no, and it’s the same with Cleo, except that when she finds out, when she has her answer, we realize that it doesn’t even matter if it’s good news or bad news, it’s just that she knows the answer. Her relief is our relief and we all can’t help but smile.

[Why Watch This- Retro Movie Reviews] Tender Mercies (1983)

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Posted by :Lauren Sims On : May 12, 2014
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What a quiet and moving film Tender Mercies (1983) is. It sneaks up on you, you are lulled into the solitary life of Rosa Lee (played by Tess Harper), a young widow who runs a little motel and gas station in the middle of nowhere Texasmotel. The landscape tells you what you need to know, her life is as empty as the fields that surround her run down motel, with only the two lane highway bisecting them. We meet Mac (played by Robert Duvall) as Rosa Lee and her young son, Sonny, do through a loud drunken fight he is having in one of her motel rooms. They stand on their porch and listen to the violence and shudder together, and you realize all you need to know, they are alone, a young mom and her young son, out in this barren landscape. Mac gets knocked out, passes out and eventually awakes alone and broke.

Horton Foote, a playwright who wrote the screenplay, never explains the fight, never tell us who Mac was fighting with, or why they were fighting. Andgarden that’s the point of the movie right there, things happen in life to bring us to people or situations and we don’t know why. Bruce Beresford, the Australian director, paces this film slowly. Mac emerges from his room, broke and strikes a deal with Rosa Lee. He’ll work off what he owes her, she says fine, as long as he doesn’t drink while he’s working. He sticks around, he stops drinking, they fall in love. Most of this happens off screen, Beresford and Foote just give you vignettes as they story progresses. Mac and Rosa Lee marry and you sense they are happy in their quiet life. He proposes to her while they are working in their little garden after he announces to her that he hasn’t taken a drink in two months, something you sense is monumental.

As the film progresses we learn more about Mac’s past. He had been a famous country singer, married to Dixie, another famous singer played by Betty Buckley. They have a daughter he hasn’t seen in eight years. Back then Mac hadn’t been abetty good man, he drank, he beat Dixie and almost killed her once. It becomes clear that this new life, his new peaceful life with the serene Rosa Lee is Mac’s path to redemption. He writes another song, a sweet song that is clearly about Rosa Lee that goes: “If you hold the ladder, I’ll climb to the top.”

That’s what I really liked about this movie. You know that song is about Rosa Lee, but they never tell you it is. You know that Mac is rebuilding his life, that he has transformed from the alcoholic beast he was before to this kind husband and father, but they don’t put lights around it and shove it down your throat. Mac begins talking to his daughter again and sticks his toe back in the business, he records his new song with a young band and it is getting radio play. When they perform it at a small dance hall, you know it’s a good song because everyone gets up and dances, and the smile on Mac’s face as he Texas two-steps Rosa Lee around the dance floor afterward tell you everythingplayingng you need to know.

Duvall is phenomenal, this is the role for which he has his only Oscar. Not only acting, but he sings all the songs and even wrote some of them. The rest of the cast is fantastic too, including Wilfred Brimley (who doesn’t love that guy?) and a very young Ellen Barkin as Mac’s daughter. The film wasn’t received well when it was released but it has been loved by critics since and is on many “Must See” lists.

Finally, at the end something bad happens that threatens to derail Mac’s path. He is back in the garden questioning why do good things happen and why do bad things happen. I’ve failed to mention the deep vein of spirituality that runs through this film. Early in the film, Rosa Lee takes Mac to church with her where she sings in the choir. Eventually he is baptized in that church. And now at the end you know he is talking to God: why am I alive when others are not? Why am I here? Why did I end up drunk and broken in that motel room where I met Rosa Lee and she saved my life? He says to Rosa Lee: “I’ve never trusted happiness.” And she just listens to him and eventually leaves him in the garden. But it’s the little things, I think, that Foote wants us to remember. It’s like knowing you are here but for the grace of God.  In one scene Rosa Lee says to Mac: “I say my prayers for you and when I thank the Lord for his tender mercies, you and Sonny are at the head of the list.” And there you go, be thankful for the tender mercies, because the rest can never be known.

[Why Watch This- Retro Movie Reviews] Notorious 1946

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Posted by :Lauren Sims On : April 27, 2014
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If you are a frequent reader of Why Watch This, or the other title: Retro Movie Reviews, then you know that I love French Films. And The Smiths. Ok, here is something else to know about me, I love Hitchcock movies. In fact, it was the viewing of Strangers on a Train, during my freshman year “History of Film” class at Boston University that started my love affair with film from the 40s, 50s and 60s. And if you haven’t seen Strangers on a Train, go out now and watch it. Watch it and then try and explain to me why in the hell Ted Turner thought he had to go out and colorize all black and white films. I mean really, the scene where Bruno comes to Guy’s house at night and he is hiding in the park is a clinic on the use of light and dark to illustrate, uh you know, light and dark.

saveAnyway, this isn’t about Strangers on a Train, this is about Notorious, 1946, starring our favorites Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Notorious, probably one of Hitchcock’s best for sure, and the favorite of Robert Osborne (of Turner Classic Movie fame). Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, the daughter of a convicted Nazi. She is recruited by U.S. government spy Devlin, played by Grant to go to Rio and seduce Alex Sebastian, played by Claude Rains, who is believed to be part of a Nazi spy ring in Brazil.

Before Alicia’s assignment begins, in fact before our two leads even know what it is, they fall in love. However, once Devlin finds out she is to seduce Sebastian, the walls go up, and he soon becomes bitter as Alicia not only succeeds in seducing Sebastian, but marries him.  Watching Alicia, it is obvious that she is only participating in this scheme out of guilt for her father’s deeds, and her own difficult feeling regarding her past. At one point she refers to herself as “Mata Hari, she makes love for the papers,” as if becoming this instrument of the U.S. government is what she deserves.

Because Bergman is such an incredible actress, you see the devastation on her face when Devlin doesn’t tell her not to do it. She wants him to tell her not to do it and he wants her to tell him that she won’t. Well, neither get their wish. At each stage, from the initial assignment, to when she tells him that Sebastian has proposed, she wants him to save her, to just break through his pride teaand tell her he loves her and that he won’t stand for it. And he wants to, you can see his anger, frustration, and bitterness at the situation, but it’s pride that keeps him playing along. Until the end, when finally he realizes that the risks that Alicia has taken to get them the information they have and need to stop this group of Nazi spies, have put her in mortal danger. And then he saves her, and boy oh boy is it satisfying. He admits he was a “fat headed guy full of pain,” and look, I don’t know about you, but when Cary Grant says something like that to you while he is saving your life, well, the rest of your life isn’t long enough.

Now, let me warn you, if you are one of those people who has very rigid views and loves to post all sorts of angry things on fightFacebook about rape culture and evil white men, then I fear I must tell you that the beginning of this movie is not kind to our friend Alicia Huberman. There is drunk driving! Gasp! And at one point Cary gets a little physical and manhandles Ms. Huberman, including slapping her face. And let me be very clear, I don’t like that he slaps her, I don’t like it all. But I get over it because this is one of the best directed and acted films ever made and it was 1946 and now its 2014 and if I judged everything through a modern day lens than I would just sit in my living room watching Frozen over and over again. And that would truly be a tragedy.

So despite all this, Notorious is a very romantic movie. In fact, it has one of the longest kissing scenes ever in film. Hitchcock circumvented the codes of the times of only allowing a kiss to last 3 seconds by having them break apart, nuzzle, kiss, nuzzle, talk, kiss, Bergman plays with Grant’s ear. In this scene we learn everything we need to know:

Alicia: “This is a strange love affair…”

Devlin: “…Why…”

Alicia: “Probably because you don’t love me…You haven’t said anything…”

Devlin: “When I don’t love you I’ll tell you…Actions speak louder than words.”

And there you have it, she wants him to love her, she doesn’t think he does because he doesn’t act like he does. She takes part of in mission, puts her life on the line, all the while desperately wanting him to tell her he loves her. It’s heart breaking and wonderful at the same time.

motherBergman is fabulous. And I could go on and on about the rest of the cast. Sebastian’s mother is deliciously evil. The camera movement and shot set up is masterful. But, just go watch it. That’s all. What else do you want? Ok, what Smith’s song does it evoke? Girlfriend in a Coma. Watch it and you’ll know why.

[Why Watch This] Repulsion

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Posted by :Lauren Sims On : April 14, 2014
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I’ve always had mixed feelings about Roman Polanski. And I’m talking strictly about his work. If you want an opinion about his personal life, go read Jezebel. Polanski is responsible for 1 of the movies that is on my personal top 5 movies of all-time list: Chinatown. And yet, he also made Knife in the Water, a movie that is on my personal top 5 movies that seem over-hyped that I totally don’t get. And I was a little deceived by Repulsion. Catherine Deneuve is in it, so I figured it was French, and y’all know by now how I feel about French movies. Because of this, it’s been on my list of movies I’ve wanted to watch for a long time. So, I was home alone this weekend, Eric is away, it’s a lonely Sunday afternoon, I just drank an entire pot of coffee by myself, what the heck, let’s watch Repulsion.

Deneuve plays Carol, a young Belgian girl living in London. Wait—London? They’re speaking English? WTF? Doesn’t Polanski live in Paris? Ok—thank you Wikipedia for proving that I’m a big dumb idiot. Repulsion was made in 1965—before he was even married to Sharon Tate and WAY before he made the mistake of going to that party at Jack Nicholson’s house. So it’s not French, and I’m not going to be able to expound all sorts of theories about connections between Carol’s extreme prudishness and Polanski’s exile from the U.S.

With that out of the way, I settled in and watched the film. Carol’s got probs. Big probs. She glides through life often getting distracted, often staring into space. When we first see her she is at her job at a beauty salon, staring at the hand of the wealthy old woman she is supposed to be performing a manicure for. “Are you asleep?” the woman asks and Carol smiles and tries to recover. Carol moves through the streets of London like a sleepwalker. Colin, played by John Fraser, is a potential suitor who pursues Carol despite her disinterest and ambivalence.

cracksShe lives with her sister Helen who is having an affair with Michael, a married man. Carol lies awake at night listening to them have relations. Michael puts his razor in Carol’s toothbrush cup, which is enough to drive any young girl bonkers, but there are hints that there is more going on behind Carol’s blank eyes. All heck breaks loose when Helen and Michael leave for a trip to Italy and Carol is left alone in the apartment they share. It becomes clear that some bad stuff happened to Carol in her past, and she has nightmares that bleed into her reality. Carol starts deteriorating fast, and I won’t give too much away, but things don’t go well.

Repulsion is the first in Polanski’s “Apartment Trilogy”, a horror series to be followed by Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant. It is his first English language film and second feature length film after the afore-mentioned Knife in the Water. The apartment Carol and Helen share is almost a character, as it becomes both a sanctuary and a prison for Carol as she relives the horror of her childhood using weapons. Sound and noise also are characters in this film, whether it is the street noise of London as she walks the sidewalks, the constant ticking of the clock in the apartment, or the clanging of the bells from the convent next door.

Repulsion is one of those great black and white movies from the 1960s that is a little slow, but gives you tons to think about. Polanski doesn’t give you a lot of plot, but loads of images and sounds and even smells to let your mind fill in the blanks. When Carol takes the skinned rabbit that her sister was going to cook for dinner but didn’t out of the refrigerator, you are repulsed. She leaves it on the coffee table and you know it’s there, you hear the flies buzzing even though you don’t always see it, and you can smell it, I swear you can. It’s rather remarkable. He never tells us why Carol is the way she is, but he gives us clues, from the way Carol reacts to Michael, to an old family photograph.

Halfway through watching Repulsion this weekend, I started to wonder if maybe I picked the wrong weekend to watch this movie: I’m home alone, there is a lot of ambient noise at our house, I haven’t spoken to anyone but the dog for days.

Time for the Repulsion You’ve Been Home Alone Too Long Test:

  1. Skinned rabbit carcass in a plastic baggie hidden behind the toaster oven? Check
  2. Ironing a dress without plugging in the iron? Check
  3. Staring blankly at the cracks in my plaster walls until it seems like they are getting bigger? Check
  4. Hammering a board across the door so no one can get in? Check

rabbitOk, time to go back to work. When’s Eric coming home?

[Why Watch This] The Long Good Friday

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Posted by :Lauren Sims On : March 31, 2014
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showerYou may have never heard of The Long Good Friday. Maybe you were born in the eighties, maybe you don’t follow British cinema from the late 1970s, maybe you didn’t realize that this was Pierce Brosnan’s first film and also the film that made Bob Hoskins a star. Maybe you didn’t realize that by watching this film, you can finally fulfill your lifelong ambition of watching Bob Hoskins shower for three minutes while awesome synth music is playing. So there you go, you’re welcome.

The Long Good Friday is a period piece extraordinaire. Harold Shand, played by Bob Hoskins is having a really bad couple of days. The London gangster has just returned from a trip to New York where he was trying to partner with the mafia in a real estate development deal that will make his “Corporation” more boat“legit.” He and his wife, played by Helen Mirren, are hosting two American representatives from that group to close the deal and things start going awry. First the car that is driving Harold’s mom to church explodes. Next Harold’s close friend and associate is knifed in a swimming pool locker room (by Pierce Brosnan! this is Pierce Brosnan’s first film! He doesn’t speak!). More bombs go off and Harold has to figure out who’s behind it before the mafia get nervous and backs out of the deal.pierce

The Long Good Friday was written by Barrie Keefe, an investigative reporter who spent a lot of time with London gangsters in the 1970s. In the movie, Harold Shand’s plans to develop the Canary Wharf docklands areas of London in order to get the Olympics to come to London, was inspired by the plans of the Krays. Yes, the Krays, Ronnie Kray and his brother, something or other Kray who terrorized London in the 1970s. And, perhaps more importantly, Ronnie Kray is the subject of Morrissey’s song The Last of the Famous International Playboys. Sing it with me: “The last of the faaaaammmmoooouuus in-ter-na-tional playboys/ the last of the faaaammmmmmoooouuuss…” etc. etc. And yes, all of life and art can somehow be tied back to a song either by The Smiths or Morrissey and if you haven’t figured that out yet go listen to Louder Than Bombs a few times and we’ll go get some hot pot in Koreatown. Hotpot, that’s a thing, right?

phraseAnyway, back to The Long Good Friday. The movie was originally written to be part of a tv series, but then lots of stuff happened and ultimately it ended up being released in theaters under George Harrison’s company Handmade Films. And, as a side note, if you watch the Criterion Collection version and you suddenly get excited by the X rating that shows before the beginning credits, don’t. I think an X rating meant something different in England in 1979, because there is only mild nudity, light violence and absolutely no swearing in this movie. And I can’t guarantee that about the swearing, because I can’t say I understood every word uttered through Mr. Hoskin’s east side London accent. But I suppose the surprising lack of violence, nudity and cussin’ was due to its television origins. I only bring it up because it is considered the forefather of the British gangster film, which I guess is a thing. Like Guy Ritchie, you know that guy that made all those British gangster films, aren’t they known for foul language and extreme violence? I don’t know because I never saw them, but I’m just pointing it out because I think it’s ironic.

This is a great film. Especially if you like 1970s style cinema: long close ups of people’s faces, awesome synth music, plots that are endreally really unnecessarily complex. The IRA is somehow involved, I think, and I’m not just saying that because they’re bombing stuff. But it’s good, so watch it!