WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[JackFavell]

Thanks for the info on the bios - This sounds like great reading. The case was always fascinating to me. Ragtime (the book) did touch on some complex themes, maybe THE themes of the twentieth century. I thought the movie was good, if a bit flat compared to the novel, but I had read the book first, so if anything was obscure to the audience, I wouldn't have realized it. I went to see it because of Jimmy Cagney, but I thought most of the cast, especially Howard Rollins, were also quite good.

I think I'll head out to the library and pick up "Stanny"s bio, if it's there.

[Mr. Arkadin]

I watched A Short Film About Love, I really liked this movie, despite it being a rather strange relationship. Tomas works in a post office and keeps delivering a postal notice to Magda's box just so she will come into the post office where he works. He lives in the flat opposite and spends his nights watching Magda who I think he says 'spreads it around a bit' When Magda finds out about his infactuation, she doesn't react in horror but curiousity, when a 'date' between then ends in a humiliating manner for Tomas she is immediately struck with regret and tries to contact him. she later discovers that he has attempted suicide and has been hospitalised. It's a strange relationship but handled quite beautifully, the ending was lovely.

Also known as Decalogue VI, A Short Film About Love and A Short Film About Killing (Decalogue V) are often touted as the best of Kieslowski's masterwork, but I personally find the lesser known chapters, such as Decalogue II (where a woman must decide a fateful pregnancy), or Decalogue III, (which might be the ultimate Christmas film), deeper and more complex. They don't grab you immediately like the better known movies, but stay with you longer.

I've also watched another Rohmer movie Claire's Knee, again he touches on young girls and older men. This one is also wordy but for me it how the story is construcgted to make it wordy, the construction of a novel feels to false. This one I'm afraid wasn't for me.

Sorry you did not enjoy Claire's Knee, a film with a fetish facade, but deep underpinnings in spiritual ethics, philosophy, and motivation. Jerome is a man who thinks he understands morality, but like Plato’s Cave Allegory, does not realize he is limited by his own experience and self interest. His confidant Aurora knows better, but realizes truth has little value unless discovered by the very person who would deny it.

[Ann Harding]

Well, Moira, as promised, here are my impressions after re-watching Suddenly Last Summer (1959, JL Mankiewicz). The last time I saw the film, it was about 20 years ago in a cinema. At that time, I just swallowed the whole story goggled eyed. This time, I exercised more caution. I am still a fan of Tennessee Williams (particularly Streetcar and Night of the Iguana). His look at the neuroses of the southern people is still quite endeering to me. In Suddenly Last Summer, he piles all the taboos possible: homosexuality, rape and cannibalism! Obviously censorship makes it a play between the lines rather than being explicit (certainly a blessing). I was again impressed by the performances of both Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. Monty Clift is more like a witness facing these two powerful ladies. Hepburn is very impressive, cast against type as the praying mantis of a mother with her beloved son. Taylor gives a very gutsy characterisation of her Catherine, a girl who was used a bait to attract young men. Their long monologues are certainly like arias from an opera. The language has a certain rhythm and colour due to its repetitiveness. As usual with Mankiewicz, there is more emphasis on the word than the visual aspect. Nevertheless, Catherine's long confession is extremely well transfered visually as she recalls the horrendous death of her cousin. When you read Kenneth L. Geist's excellent bio of Mankiewicz, you realise that there was as many neuroses off-screen than on-screen. Kate Hepburn spat on the director and producer when the film was over. A very unlikely behaviour for Hepburn. She apparently couldn't stand the way Monty Clift had been mistreated on set. But various witnesses said it wasn't true. Deep down, Kate must have been disturbed by her own character. Plus, she always wanted to have the upper-hand on directors. Monty Clift was in a terrible state, that's for sure. But, everybody was very kind and understanding to him. Taylor was the only faultless trouper. To conclude, this Mankiewicz, shot in English studios, is certainly worth a look. It's own excess is balanced by the clever performances of all the actors.

[moira finnie]

I love Geist's bio of Mankiewicz too, Christine.

I always thought that Katharine Hepburn expressed her enmity toward Mankiewicz because of his treatment of Clift during the filming of Suddenly, Last Summer, as Geist points out. Still, I have heard other accounts that say she was just as angry that no filters were used to photograph her in the story. Supposedly, Hepburn was miffed that her real life wrinkles and signs of age were not masked with the ol' vaseline or silk stocking across the lens of the camera. Either way, her performance was really fascinating. I loved that scene that Fernando mentioned on the boards recently when Kate descends from above to meet the doctor (Clift) and shows him her overwhelming "jungle."

I like Taylor okay in her modified hysterical mode, and think she may be at her most beautiful in Suddenly, Last Summer. I really like your comparison of the ladies' monologues to arias, which is so apt. At the end of the day, I am afraid that Tennessee Williams' neurotic Southern women make me glad I'm a Yankee. I may be mistake, but having spent some time in the South and dealt with many men and women in business there, I suspect that the stereotypes the playwright exposed in his plays may be a thing of the past, or were a reflection of Williams own complex familial and emotional life. Most of the Southerners I've met are pretty down-to-earth and they have a certain regional style we could learn from up North.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched A Short Film About Love, I really liked this movie, despite it being a rather strange relationship. Tomas works in a post office and keeps delivering a postal notice to Magda's box just so she will come into the post office where he works. He lives in the flat opposite and spends his nights watching Magda who I think he says 'spreads it around a bit' When Magda finds out about his infactuation, she doesn't react in horror but curiousity, when a 'date' between then ends in a humiliating manner for Tomas she is immediately struck with regret and tries to contact him. she later discovers that he has attempted suicide and has been hospitalised. It's a strange relationship but handled quite beautifully, the ending was lovely.

Also known as Decalogue VI, A Short Film About Love and A Short Film About Killing (Decalogue V) are often touted as the best of Kieslowski's masterwork, but I personally find the lesser known chapters, such as Decalogue II (where a woman must decide a fateful pregnancy), or Decalogue III, (which might be the ultimate Christmas film), deeper and more complex. They don't grab you immediately like the better known movies, but stay with you longer.

I've also watched another Rohmer movie Claire's Knee, again he touches on young girls and older men. This one is also wordy but for me it how the story is construcgted to make it wordy, the construction of a novel feels to false. This one I'm afraid wasn't for me.

Sorry you did not enjoy Claire's Knee, a film with a fetish facade, but deep underpinnings in spiritual ethics, philosophy, and motivation. Jerome is a man who thinks he understands morality, but like Plato’s Cave Allegory, does not realize he is limited by his own experience and self interest. His confidant Aurora knows better, but realizes truth has little value unless discovered by the very person who would deny it.

I didn't realise they were part of the Decalogue, another film, or collection of films that I'd like to watch. I think he uses actresses, particularly well, especially in No end and A Short Film About Love.

I really wanted to enjoy Claire's Knee but couldn't take to Jerome at all, I think the older man/very young girl strikes close to home and unlike in a film like Lolita where Humbert Humbert is distinctly strange and even Pauline At The Beach where Henri was after enything he could bed not just Pauline, it's the relative normality and justification of Jerome that made this film a miss for me. We can't agree on them all I suppose.

I like Suddenly Last Summer but I thought Katharine Hepburn had issues because the film was meant to have been watered down and wasn't, she felt she'd been tricked into agreeing to do a film that turned into something else. I can't imagine anyone putting one over on Kate or her not understanding what she'd siged on for. I'd never heard about her standing up for Monty, I thought that was usually Elizabeth's domain. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it when I saw it, I'd read so many bad things about it that when I did watch it I was pleasantly surprised.

[Mr. Arkadin]

I really wanted to enjoy Claire's Knee but couldn't take to Jerome at all, I think the older man/very young girl strikes close to home and unlike in a film like Lolita where Humbert Humbert is distinctly strange and even Pauline At The Beach where Henri was after enything he could bed not just Pauline, it's the relative normality and justification of Jerome that made this film a miss for me. We can't agree on them all I suppose.

I can definitely understand if it didn't resonate with you. We all like different things.

Jerome is an unlikeable character, but it's this element that provides Rohmer with a moral backdrop for his story. If we were to find him endearing, it might seem that Rohmer was excusing or endorsing his behavior (he doesn't). Indeed, all the characters are aloof with the exception of Laura (the younger sister) and Aurora, a creator of tales who presides over Jerome's delusional viewpoints. Claire's Knee is truly one of those wheel within wheel films where everything is not what it seems and those who think they are clever only end up fooling themselves.

[feaito]

I watched a forgettable fluff with Rock Hudson & Piper Laurie: "The Golden Blade" (1953). They are indeed very young and the plot is almost non-existent, but it's good for not thinking, enjoying the cardboard sets and the beautiful Technicolor. Laurie's pairing with Tony Curtis in "The Prince Who Was a Thief" (1951) was much better.

[Uncle Stevie]

I have been watching a recent Bollywood movie called "Marigold" (2008) with Ali Larter. It has joined a small collection of my attraction to this kind of film. I found it to be charming and enjoyed the culture swing in the plot. I do reccommend this movie.

Another film from india has become a favorite of mine. I am in love with "The Other End Of The Line" (2008). It is a beautiful comic love story with a taste of the international.

Both of these films have American leads with Indian co-stars. One a man and the other a woman. I find them both very warm.

[charliechaplinfan]

I really wanted to enjoy Claire's Knee but couldn't take to Jerome at all, I think the older man/very young girl strikes close to home and unlike in a film like Lolita where Humbert Humbert is distinctly strange and even Pauline At The Beach where Henri was after enything he could bed not just Pauline, it's the relative normality and justification of Jerome that made this film a miss for me. We can't agree on them all I suppose.

I can definitely understand if it didn't resonate with you. We all like different things.

Jerome is an unlikeable character, but it's this element that provides Rohmer with a moral backdrop for his story. If we were to find him endearing, it might seem that Rohmer was excusing or endorsing his behavior (he doesn't). Indeed, all the characters are aloof with the exception of Laura (the younger sister) and Aurora, a creator of tales who presides over Jerome's delusional viewpoints. Claire's Knee is truly one of those wheel within wheel films where everything is not what it seems and those who think they are clever only end up fooling themselves.

Yes, I can see that, I thought perhaps I didn't like Jerome and that wasn't what Rohmer intended. Laura was my favorite character and thankfully for me she got the upperhand with Jerome. I couldn't understand Aurora, for me she was the device to drive the narrative forward.

[Mr. Arkadin]

I couldn't understand Aurora, for me she was the device to drive the narrative forward.

Aurora is the enlightened one or perhaps "God figure" of the tale. As I said before, she is a novelist, writer/creator of stories and Jerome's quest is played out from her direction. However, she does not intrude or interfere in his life, but allows him to make his own choices. His focus on Claire's knee, turns from a sexual fetish and last stab at youth, to a protective role of human comfort. As we see at the end of the film, Jerome has completely misread his world, but he is perhaps a little more human because of it.

[feaito]

Mr Ark, I like very much your new avatar of the repressed and double crossing Brigid O'Shaughnessy..Is it a caption from the film?

[charliechaplinfan]

I couldn't understand Aurora, for me she was the device to drive the narrative forward.

Aurora is the enlightened one or perhaps "God figure" of the tale. As I said before, she is a novelist, writer/creator of stories and Jerome's quest is played out from her direction. However, she does not intrude or interfere in his life, but allows him to make his own choices. His focus on Claire's knee, turns from a sexual fetish and last stab at youth, to a protective role of human comfort. As we see at the end of the film, Jerome has completely misread his world, but he is perhaps a little more human because of it.

I can see Aurora's parellel to God. It's not the easiest film I've viewed, memorable is best to describe it.

[MichiganJ]

I couldn't understand Aurora, for me she was the device to drive the narrative forward.

Aurora is the enlightened one or perhaps "God figure" of the tale. As I said before, she is a novelist, writer/creator of stories and Jerome's quest is played out from her direction. However, she does not intrude or interfere in his life, but allows him to make his own choices. His focus on Claire's knee, turns from a sexual fetish and last stab at youth, to a protective role of human comfort. As we see at the end of the film, Jerome has completely misread his world, but he is perhaps a little more human because of it.

I can see Aurora's parellel to God. It's not the easiest film I've viewed, memorable is best to describe it.

Aurora encourages Jerome's relationship with Laura so that she, Aurora, can sit back and watch and get material for her novel. She's a little like Gunnar Björnstrand's character in Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly, who manipulates and uses the dramas of friends and family for their work.

While the moral tale in Claire's Knee is the engaged Jerome's temptation for another woman (or, in this case, women), I don't think it's fair to reduce the film to a story about an older man falling for a young girl. To me it's more about Jerome's belief in his own commitment to his fiancé, a woman that he doesn't find physically attractive but finds intellectually interesting. But of course he can't live up to his own stated ideals when he encounters Claire, an attractive young girl who shows little interest in Jerome.

And while the film is about Jerome's moral dilemma, Rohmer is most interested in Laura, the young girl who has her own crush on Jerome, but soon recognizes Jerome's ultimate shallowness and gets on with her own life. Béatrice Romand is just great in the role and she returns in a number of other Rohmer films.

[Mr. Arkadin]

Mr Ark, I like very much your new avatar of the repressed and double crossing Brigid O'Shaughnessy..Is it a caption from the film?

It's a screencap. I can't remember where I got it, but I always thought it was possibly the best visual shot of the film.

[Mr. Arkadin]

While the moral tale in Claire's Knee is the engaged Jerome's temptation for another woman (or, in this case, women), I don't think it's fair to reduce the film to a story about an older man falling for a young girl. To me it's more about Jerome's belief in his own commitment to his fiancé, a woman that he doesn't find physically attractive but finds intellectually interesting. But of course he can't live up to his own stated ideals when he encounters Claire, an attractive young girl who shows little interest in Jerome.

And while the film is about Jerome's moral dilemma, Rohmer is most interested in Laura, the young girl who has her own crush on Jerome, but soon recognizes Jerome's ultimate shallowness and gets on with her own life. Béatrice Romand is just great in the role and she returns in a number of other Rohmer films.

You must be reading my mail. Personally, I feel Claire's Knee is the best of the moral tales and the film is perfection from beginning to end (and I don't say that about a lot of movies).