Vertigo

I don't usually like Hitchcock movies because they are super suspenseful and psychologically too thrilling. I can't handle suspense - I often times have a pretty good sense of what is going to happen in the movie and I really dislike it when I don't. But that's just me... this movie was so shocking to me but I thought everything about it was so well done. Just like the movie Chinatown, the last scene in this movie sold it for me.

In short, this movie is about an old San Francisco detective, suffering from acrophobia, who investigates the strange behavior of an old friend's wife. During his investigations, he finds himself dangerously obsessed with her. The second time Kim Novak appears in this movie, I thought either I was going mad or the producers were too cheap to hire another actress. Simple-minded me. It was this twist that blew my mind.

Memorable quote: And if you lose me, then you'll know I, I loved you. And I wanted to go on loving you.

*Lust Caution

I was so blown away by the music in this film – there is something so powerful, restrained but beautiful about this original score by Alexandre Desplat. Something I’ve noticed in my movie watching - when I remember the music from a movie, it is usually because the same music is played over and over during certain key scenes throughout the course of the movie. I think this technique of associating the audio and visual really heightens the viewer’s experience. For me, it brought to the current scene, emotions and thoughts I had about the prior scene with this same score. The movie, Vertigo, uses this same technique.

The risque scenes in this movie are a bit too graphic for me. Call me a grandma, but it was really uncomfortable for me to watch. I know actors are professionals but seriously, how did Mr. Yee and Mak Tai Tai film these explicit sex scenes? I imagine the average Chinese audience was pretty appalled by seeing the two butt-naked going at it several times throughout the movie. While these scenes certainly added to the drama of the movie and the development of the characters, I am not sure if they were necessary. In one of the scenes, the audience sees for the first time, Mr. Yee’s vulnerability but this same characteristic is brought out in Mr. Yee in the Japanese geisha scene. Sex for story-telling purposes or for controversy and PR?

This movie was incredibly powerful and I really liked it. I am biased though - I tend to think more favorably of Chinese language films when I can understand what they are saying.