The General

Again, I am impressed with silent films and their ability to keep me engaged (See post on City Lights). With all the special effects of modern day movies, how could a movie in which no one speaks and the only special effect is the music played by the orchestra compare?

In this movie, Busty Keaton, actor and director, plays Confederate locomotive engineer who attempts to recover his two loves stolen/kidnapped by Union spies. His two loves are his train, The General, and Annabelle Lee. His lonely pursuit of these two across enemy lines is hilarious! Actually Buster Keaton’s sense of humor originally reminded me of Charlie Chaplin. I thought, “Who is this copycat character and what makes him so special?” Quoting from Entertainment Weekly’s website:

Charlie Chaplin was perhaps the most famous person on the planet for the first half of the 20th century; since then, Buster Keaton has slowly risen in esteem, to the point where he's now regarded as Chaplin's superior in filmmaking (true) and in comic genius (endlessly arguable). What's undeniable is that Charlie's sentimental sensibility was rooted in the music hall and vaudeville of the past, while Buster was a poker-faced modernist who pointed to the future.

Watching the movie, I saw that the two are very different and I prefer Buster Keaton. The humor is more developed and sophisticated in nature (not just dropping anvils on people’s heads). The scenes that I thought were funny required some choreography and I think that it's important to a modern day audience that is accustomed to movies with tons of special effects and drama, ie Transformers, Avatar, Titanic. Let me know what you think when you see it.

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.

The Searchers

Who knew I would love a Western film so much? But I do and I love John Wayne. He has a rugged bad-boy aura which is universally appealing. What I like the most about this film is the psychological struggle of an anti-hero Civil War veteran who is on a quest to find his kidnapped niece. The niece, who was captured at a young age by Native Americans after her family was killed, has begun to assimilate with her new 'family'. Ethan, her uncle, harbors a deep hatred for Native Americans and must decide whether or not rescue his niece or kill her. The same struggle occurs with the audience as the audience must decide whether or not they like John Wayne's character. Initially, he is edgy and dark but during his quest to find his niece, another side of Ethan surfaces - one that is softer and that is passionately committed. Hate him or love him?

Quote: Let's go home, Debbie.

Sunset Boulevard

What a creepy movie - and it gets additional creepiness points because it was filmed in black and white.

Sunset Boulevard recounts the story of a unsuccessful screenwriter (Joe Gillis) who becomes the lover/pool boy to a wealthy former silent screen star (Norma Desmond). Norma, a recluse living in a large but crumbling mansion with one butler, incorrectly believes she can make a comeback to the movies and commissions Joe to write the screenplay with which Norma will make her comeback. In this movie, Norma reminds me a lot of Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians. Long sharp nails, thin red lips, expressive eyes.

One thing I liked about this American film noir is that the story starts at the end (dead body in a pool) and then starts at the beginning of the story which eventually ends with the dead body in the pool. Films like this and Vertigo are too dark and cruel for my liking and they always leave me with an uneasy, shocked feeling. Apparently, film noir is a visual style as well as a story type so perhaps the visual approach is contributing to my unsettled stomach. Either way, I definitely won't be voluntarily re-watching these movies.

Quote: I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small.

*The September Issue

The glamour and the glitz. The high fashion and the low patience levels.

In this documentary about the largest issue of Vogue's year, I learned about magazine production as well as the world of haute couture. Designing clothes is no easy task especially when so many distinct interests and perspectives are considered and also considering that trends appear to be invented on whim. There was one scene of a group meeting where the editors were trying to come up with content for the Sept issue and one woman says something along the lines of 'What's in? Should we make it ______ in?'. Is that really the trend forecast? I always though it was more of an industry standard. From what I gather from the movie, it's not really so planned out.

This documentary is a bit disjointed at times (jumping from topic to topic) and I definitely didn't feel the sense of urgency that I thought would be there given the high profile nature of this job as well as looming deadlines and a catty nature of fashion. Magazines are planned so far in advance and changes/edits/additions happen as close to print time as possible. Maybe it was for the image of Vogue portrayed in the movie, but these girls weren't running to put things together last minute. It wasn't as chaotic as I was hoping or imagining.

Honestly, after a huge dose of fashion, I am always re-inspired to pay more attention to how I dress and to invest more money and effort into my image. I guess deep down, I'm just not that kind of girl. I don't think I am interested in that line of work but I think this documentary opened up my eyes a little bit about the world of magazine editing and fashion. I would have done fine in this world without this movie though.

*500 Days of Summer

Hipster boy meets hipster girl. Hipster boy loves hipster girl. Hipster girl DENIES hipster boy. (hipster boy becomes hipster emo boy?) Their relationship is painfully awkward at times and I can't tell if it's Zooey or Summer, her character. Is Zooey a bad actress or is her character supposed to be flat and spacey?

Another question: Why do Tom and Summer always go to the movies? Is it because they want to escape their life together and are yearning for a romance that only happens in the movies like 'Sleepless in Seattle'!?? I have not seen 'The Graduate' so I am missing that reference in the movie.

It took my bf and I a while to figure out in what city this movie was filmed. We thought it was a more urban, older city, like Philadelphia or Chicago, and we were a bit surprised to find out it was LA. This movie doesn't show the typical LA shots - the beaches, plastic girls, the 'Hollywood' sign - and it was completely refreshing to see another side of the city.

My favorite scene was towards the end of the movie and it was the rooftop party scene that compared 'expectation' and 'reality' side by side. You have to see the movie to know what I am talking about.

Wise words from the 12 yr old: Look, I know you think she was the one, but I don't. Now, I think you're just remembering the good stuff. Next time you look back, I, uh, I really think you should look again.