Five Movies

[bcholmes]

Synecdoche, New York: I feel like a total film faker for admitting this, but Charlie Kaufman's stuff doesn't make me squee. I don't dislike any of the films, but I sometimes find them a bit self-indulgent. More often than not, I think that moments are really clever, and then I find myself growing a bit restless with a sequence that's going on a bit too long. Synecdoche is like that. There are parts where I go: "wow, the amazingness of that particular image almost pays off the long, long, long build-up.

I'm reminded of what Dorn says about Constantine in The Seagull: "He thinks in images; his stories are vivid and full of colour, and always affect me deeply. It is only a pity that he has no definite object in view. He creates impressions, and nothing more, and one cannot go far on impressions alone."

There's also a weird set of queer elements to the film that leave me wondering what they're doing there and which confuse me.

The Day the Earth Stood Still: Okay, maybe because I'd heard this film slagged so fully, I had sufficiently low expectations. I thought it was a relatively fun SF-adventure flick. I thought Reeves was surprisingly good, and I was pleased to see Connelly play a scientist hero: I feel like the scientist hero has fallen out of favour in film (they're not "average person" enough, I guess). It would have been nice if she'd used a bit more science, though.

I remember seeing the original version on TV when I was a kid, and I thought this version did a pretty respectable job out of remaking it. I am a bit tired of the "oh, gosh, you humans are special snowflakes -- every other alien species is very simple to understand, and you're not, but I'm glad I finally understand you" trope.

Seven Pounds: on the one hand, this film dials up sentimental to eleven. But on the other hand, it's exactly the film that I wanted to watch when I did. It's hard to talk too much about the film without giving away its premise, but it has to do with guilt and an insane plan to make amends for a past mistake.

Rachel Getting Married: I think of all five films I've watched recently, this one is the one that I enjoyed the most. Initially, I found it very difficult to watch; it's about Kym, an addict in recovery, and Anne Hathaway perfectly does the whole self-centred/"my recovery must take centre stage" thing that reminded me waaaay too much of my mother.

And then Debra Winger enters the picture, portraying Kym's (and Rachel's) mother, and her character is just devastating to watch. It's amazing how her character is mostly defined by her absence. Partially, it made me think about my own withdrawal from my parent's lives and how that's similar or different than the Winger character's withdrawal from her daughters' lives. It's a challenging film.

Happy-Go-Lucky: I didn't like Poppy. I found her annoying, and I found her attempts to try to make people happy for her own benefit were rude. Oddly, I found myself siding with Poppy when her sister started talking to her about behaving like an adult and saving for retirement. Mostly, I didn't like the film.

Comments

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

Right there with you on Charlie Kaufman!

[lisaquestions.livejournal.com]

My problem with The Day the Earth Stood Still was that I couldn't detect an actual story. :( It was rather fluffy and lacking in content, and I felt there was some plot-induced stupidity on the part of the government.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

the day the earth stood still passes the bechdel test, and just about made me cry in the theater because of the portrayal of what *my* family might look like in ten years. uh, minus the visiting space alien. so, i'm going to buy it, and godot is going to have no idea why i make him watch it all the time. (odds are good that godot will be a boy.)

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

I think that if you have the opportunity, you should try to include the visiting space alien. I mean, he can do nifty things with any electrical connection, and... hey, who hasn't wanted their own space alien?

Is godot likely to be a boy just 'cause, or did you specify favourites?

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i have totally always wanted a space alien.

in the program i am in, first time parents are not allowed to specify gender. so, i am in as being open to either. most people who are adopting who get to specify, specify girls. so, in the subset of babies placed with families who do not specify gender, that subset is primarily male babies. i don't know the exact numbers, but i do know that my worker made a point of talking to me about my son and what my son would be like, etc, so it seems as if she'd be surprised if i had a girl placed with me.

i had always planned on having girls (in that same way i had planned to be six feet tall when i grew up), but i have decided that i will teach a boy to pee sitting down, and that i can grit my teeth and have a pink princess playset in the damned house after all.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

The gender police aren't gonna like you.