Same guy, same place, same characters, but different combinations. Same day? Maybe. Is this the same day in different combinations, or different days that show how utterly repetitive life is? There is room for debate there. If you've ever kept a diary over a period of years, then gone back to read them, the most shocking thing that many people find is not how much they've changed, but how much they haven't. You make similar decisions and similar mistakes. The situations are always slightly different, with some minor variable, but the results end up in the same place. This film is an examination of that idea. It's may not be for popular tastes, but it's good stuff, reminiscent of Eric Rohmer and the French New Wave.
Reviews
6 Reviews
Something Borrowed
(2011)
A classic melodrama for the millenial crowd.
21 May 2011
I tried to understand why I liked this film, because I did, but I shouldn't have. I should have despised the characters and the storyline. I should have been offended by the notion that a woman would betray her decades old friend for a man. A man has reached adulthood and is still too frightened and weak to make his own choices. The resolution is neat, tidy, way too convenient and completely improbable. All of these factors should add up to me hating this film. But I didn't. I quite enjoyed it. It took a little reflection for me to understand why I liked it, but I finally realized it was because it reminded me of the old 1940's melodramas like Now,Voyager. Emotionally ridiculous, deus ex machina galore, it didn't matter, they were still great fun. I've wondered what those movies would be like if they were made today, and now I know.
Cairo Time
(2009)
Think "Brief Encounter:Egypt"
21 February 2011
This film is very much in the spirit of the classic, Noel Coward penned, "Brief Encounter". If you have seen that, you have an idea of what to expect in terms of relationship progression here! In other words it's about two very responsible people, who have an incredible chemistry, considering being not so responsible. While definitely owing a debt to Noel Coward, I think this stands on its own quite well. The improvement to the theme is in the setting. While much of Brief Encounter takes place in dreary train stations and sleepy English villages, this story takes place in a highly exotic and romanticized Egypt, which has the result of winding the viewer up quite a bit more...if you ask me.
Riptide
(1934)
Not so old fashioned as you think...
13 August 2010
One of the things I find interesting in these comments are how many people insist that this is a terribly old fashioned story that couldn't be made today. Really? Because while watching this all I could think was that if movies could be said to have a family tree, then I think the movie The Kids Are All Right, which has been praised to the skies for being such a "modern" story, shares plenty of DNA with Riptide. There is a theory that there are really only 36 plots, and every story is just different variations on those 36. I think the key when watching these movies is asking yourself, what is the basic bare bones plot of this story? Can this story be told now and is someone telling it? The answer is almost always yes. It's fun to realize the progression.
There were a couple of really great scenes in this. The bug costume scene in the beginning(that was a seriously skimpy spider costume!) and the scene where she gets drunk with Trent and jumps into the pool. I did wish the film would have followed up a bit more with her husband's secretary, who was clearly in love with her. They just showed him mooning over her the whole movie, but never went anywhere with that. It seemed a bit random. I think if you're not going to do anything significant with something like that, don't include it in the movie.
There were a couple of really great scenes in this. The bug costume scene in the beginning(that was a seriously skimpy spider costume!) and the scene where she gets drunk with Trent and jumps into the pool. I did wish the film would have followed up a bit more with her husband's secretary, who was clearly in love with her. They just showed him mooning over her the whole movie, but never went anywhere with that. It seemed a bit random. I think if you're not going to do anything significant with something like that, don't include it in the movie.
Baby Face
(1933)
Compare the Pre-Release and Theatrical Release side by side!
11 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
On the Forbidden Hollywood DVD, both versions of the film are delightfully on the same disc, making it easy to compare them. I watched the uncensored, uncut pre-release version first, then the theatrical release to see what they had cut. Holy cow! A lot! To my surprise they not only cut, they revised. The revisions really change the tone and character motivations. If you've only ever seen the theatrical release then you must see the uncensored version, if only to find out three things 1. That the kindly old man who gives her earnest advice...is not the guy you thought he was. Almost all of his dialogue was cut or redubbed to make him a "moral voice of reason" in the theatrical release. The scene where he sends her a chastising letter was a revision. Get a load of what he actually tells her, and what he actually sends her! Let me put it this way, he's a much bigger influence on her behavior than the theatrical release led one to believe. 2. The boxcar scene. Which was cut in it's entirety from the theatrical release. It raised my 2010 eyebrows! Finally, 3. The ending when she's listening to her phonograph in the stateroom. Here I'll be specific because this was a change that irritated me. In the theatrical release, she's listening to the record and we see that she's thinking about her husband, and then she dashes off to find him. In the pre-release version she's listening to the record and she's thinking about ALL of the men who she's been involved with over the course of the movie that got her to where she is, finally ending with her husband and a voice-over of him telling her that he knows she's been with a lot of men, but he doesn't care, he loves her and is determined to make her love him. Then she dashes off to find him. Honestly that makes a big difference! You know she goes back to him because he's the one guy who accepts her for who she is. In the theatrical version she's just suddenly developed random affection for him, no reason. So if you can, watch the uncensored, uncut version. It's absolutely worth your time!
Dinner Rush
(2000)
Delicious!
12 April 2003
This movie was one of those unexpected finds for me. It's also one that I've been recommending like mad to everyone I know. I'm a complete foodie, so I loved the look into the hectic world of a restaurant. It reminded me of an Altman film with the way it had one core storyline surrounded by several "satellite" storylines. One of my favorites was the storyline with Marti the artist/waitress and the Fitzgerald the gallery owner. Her determination to not let such an obnoxious patron ruffle her feathers, and his attempts to ruffle them as part of dinner time entertainment. I found the ending to be a complete surprise, and I'm not easily surprised. Very unexpected. It shed a whole new light on the character of Louis that I felt required a second viewing. On the second viewing, all I could think was, "That Louis, he's a pretty cool cat." All of the actors were wonderful and did a first rate job.
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