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Midweek Movie Free Talk
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
Train Dreams
As a fan of Terrence Malick, this is quite the weak rip off. I have so much more respect for Nomadland as a film now that I realize clearly ripping off Malick is difficult.
For one, this is boring, which Malick’s films never are. The dialogue here is also grating. Characters speak the themes of the story but they do so in that whispery tone. There’s this corny voice over that sounds like a commercial or a children’s film voice over.
It’s a pretty looking movie but there’s nothing substantial here. It’s all so effortful, shallow, and derivative.
(2.5/5)
Sentimental Value
I did not care for 2021’s The Worst Person in the world. It’s filled with too much “look at me” directing and is so millennial coded in its themes and the way it approaches the characters. Especially at the time when I was experiencing a backlash to how much of the cinema I grew up watching was already coded that way, it did not connect with me.
This is different. There are some showy directorial elements here but there’s real restraint shown. The drama plays out in a pure way, almost uninterrupted. I connected with and understood the main character here than I did in Worst Person. What’s interesting is that they deal with similar concepts but the execution in characterization is so different that it works for me here now. What helps is that it’s primarily dealing with familial tensions rather than just a woe is me fest.
It’s also, frankly, a much more interesting plot. Something that cinephiles can enjoy with the process of making a movie in the industry on display and with the many references to classic cinema.
The performances are killer. Elle Fanning was great in this. The woman who played the sister, I looked up her name but I can’t copy and paste right now and I don’t know how to spell it, was the stand out for me. Quietly devastating.
The way that this plays out, the look and feel of this, the subtlety. When I had dreamed of being a filmmaker as a teenager, this was the type of film I envisioned making.
(5/5)
Really looking forward to Sentimental Value now. I think Joachim Trier is an interesting director, though not exactly a rising star yet in my book. I was okay with The Worst Person in the world but with Oslo, August 31st it really became apparent how his film are very much tuned to a specific generation.
I think what helps here is Stellan Skaarsgard’s character. Because now he has a Boomer to write for he has to get their perspective down.
Does anybody want to talk about Brief Encounter (1945): ★★☆ ?
Well, I finally had to do it. I watched an English-language film with the subtitles on. I'll occasionally turn them on and go back when I can't understand a line of dialogue. I had to do that so many times in the first ten minutes of this movie that I just left them on. The characters all have English accents, talk quickly, and the movie relies so heavily on dialogue and narration that this poor American couldn't follow along effectively.
I was generally conflicted because the movie tries to get you to sympathize with the protagonists, but they are both married to different people. They absolutely aren't "the good guys" for that reason. But that doesn't cause a snag for you, I can see why this movie is so highly rated (79% four stars or higher on Letterboxd).
It was funny to me that the main character is annoyed by the motormouthed-woman at the beginning, but then spends the rest of the movie talking over it herself. It's justified as the protagonist's inner monologue, but I got a chuckle out of the irony.
There's a scene in this movie where they tip a waiter, but was made and set in England in 1945. Was tipping a thing in England at that time? I thought it was a distinctly American custom, especially that far in the past.
From what I've heard, this is very similar thematically to In the Mood for Love (2000). Maybe I should watch that soon.
I was reminded of Before Sunrise when I saw it, with its depiction of random encounters leading to strong romantic attraction. I very often find on screen romances in classic Hollywood very hard to believe in. They feel forced and "acted". This is one of the notable exceptions, as there is some undefinable chemistry between the two on screen. Also, the use of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 is beautiful done.