Change Your Image
MatthewJ
Reviews
Sommarnattens leende (1955)
Deft comedy, more playful and lighter than its sisters.
I approached Smiles of a Summer Night as a fan of Sondheim's score for A Little Night Music. (I'd never seen the show.) Smiles served as a good beginning to Bergman films: it's got some very dry humour, some very physical comedy, and the trademark panorama of morality that accompanies a Bergman character set. Overall, the film expresses a rather subtle message wrapped in both lighthearted comedy and heavy family relations (not unlike the Sondheim score). It's a message worth hearing, and Bergman's handiwork make its rather deep aspects more approachable. Let's not also forget the beautiful cast and settings, which are appreciated in ANY language. :)
Meet Joe Black (1998)
Death is the pace, shallow is the aim.
I really had hopes for this movie, as I think film above many arts can portray best life, death, the afterlife and things of similar magnitude. But this film was, despite the subject matter, incredibly shallow. "Love" in this film was no more than one meeting, two kisses, and a long Brad Pitt sex scene. "Family" was full of the touching smiles which you expect, but also functionality and trite pre-death resolutions which the viewer was expected to swallow with no satire. This work simply scratched all of its surfaces, never letting Hopkins explore the true consequences of his life, and never letting Pitt explore real life, save all of that peanut butter he got to taste. In short, sadly wasted potential.