David Lean 101
1945, David Lean
Their affair, the moments and feelings that pass between them, is a small one—while they are caught up in one another, everywhere life in all its banality goes on around them: other flirtations, other domestic dramas, gossiping women, stricken children all intrude upon the bliss they share in fleeting moments alone. It is these banalities that impose feelings of guilt and indecency upon them—and to which they almost gratefully return, to avoid complication, to regain simple comfort. No extraordinary event prevents their love from flourishing, as does in most romantic melodramas. They decide for themselves to return to their respective families, to get a hold on themselves, to behave as sensible adults should. The tragedy in Brief Encounter is not really a romantic one: it is of needless, unheroic, pathetically small self-denial. » » »
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» Project introduction
1942, David Lean & Noel Coward
Leave it to Noel Coward to write (and direct, and star in, and produce, and compose the music for) the most charming war film ever made.
1949, David Lean
The film makes much of different kinds of love, and of evolving kinds of love, making no prescriptions for them except for Mary herself.
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80 Years Ago
1928, Clarence Brown
It may be an overlong, dreary thing, but if it's possible to become insusceptible to the erotic energy of Garbo & Gilbert I can only attest I have not yet. That this is so is double praise to Garbo, because John Gilbert really is a terribly gorgeous, terribly gallant, bore. I imagine he is in real life as he is in this film: helplessly wandering about in the wake of her charm, waffling spinelessly, hoping to capture this strange creature, though stubbornly, on his own terms. He does good enough work, and is pleasing to my eyes. Garbo is as always a goddess. » » »
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A "gay melancholy," the critic wrote, infused his deeply personal art. And a "mad naïveté."
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With 1929 in the offing, we sit here quietly reviewing our life & times. Many things, not all, seem discouraging.
2008
2008, Arnaud Desplechin
These people, members of a fractured and estranged family come home for Christmas and to rally around their cancer-ridden matriarch, these people are unfailingly authentic. How trite that sounds in so many words -- it could be another bored homecoming drama, it could be a Wes Anderson quirkfest, it could be (the sort of thing usually IS) The Family Stone. Funny, richly drawn, wonderfully involving lives, each with their own catalysts, irrational behaviors, alliances and affinities. Unlike similar films, each is allowed room to be a human being, not satellite figures with definite plot-defined reasons for being, filling out necessary types on a checklist. But it is boring to even think of this in terms of being an "ensemble film" -- it breaks those bounds; it is a new animal. » » »
2008, Jonathan Demme
The film covers a few days between a homecoming & a marriage, a natural set-up for big EVENTS, but it refuses to exploit them. It takes that set-up & instead fills it with life.
2008, Isabel Coixet
Another film adaptation of another Philip Roth fantasy about a brilliant aging man nursing a sexual obsession for a much younger, earthier, and ironically wiser woman.
Other Reviews
1943, George Stevens
A superlative romantic comedy, although Stevens' entries in the genre lack the speed and sass of his best contemporaries. They make it up with thoughtfulness and sensitivity: punctuated by outbursts of zaniness, and carried along by pleasant vibes of charm and sweetness, but they are basically much more serious affairs. Frank Capra, plainly, has more edge. At the same time, they never drift into meaningless sentiment or crass manipulation, regardless of the material (and consider how easy it would have been with something like the laughable-on-paper, much-afflicted lovers of Penny Serenade) -- Stevens' films are above all grounded in moments of refreshing human intimacy.
1973, Stephen Dwoskin
Both are miserable. No one can communicate. We remain quite separate and isolated—as Dwoskin demonstrates well visually.
1967, Jean-Luc Godard
Godard's disjointed, rambling anti-capitalist screed is never less than engaging, often hilarious, and occasionally astonishing.
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BlogTCM is airing more Jean Harlow pre-Codes (recall that I forgive all for pre-Codes), more gangster films, their gangster doc (perfect timing—after Little Caesar I decided to pursue them), Jean Arthur comedies in the morning… Yes, I have better things to do and watch, and for that matter I like my sleep, but this is just irresistible. Liveblog starts with Hold Your Man at 1:30AM EST. Excuse me while I make a fresh pot of coffee. » » » » 2008 in Review » 20 Favorite Actresses » The Great TLC Thanksgiving Taped-TCM Live-Blog Marathon Event! » Five favorite in-transit romances Viewing Log5/8 A Woman of Affairs 5/4 The Sorrows of Gin 5/3 The Letter 5/3 The River 5/2 Little Fugitive 4/28 Girl with Green Eyes 4/27 Seance on a Wet Afternoon 4/21 The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner 4/19 The Kiss Before the Mirror Five FavoritesNothing better suited to Hollywood romance than three weeks out of time, away from life, falling in love with a stranger, spending days idly and nights actively.
5 Penny Serenade Current 2008 Top Ten1 A Christmas Tale |
1928, CLARENCE BROWN
1979, JACK HOFSISS
1929, JEAN DE LIMUR
1964, BRYAN FORBES
1933, JAMES WHALE
