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Screencaps
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This film — and I am absolutely not simply pandering to Mango or only grading on a wonderful viewing experience (but it WAS a wonderful viewing experience!) — quite possibly has it all. Audrey Hepburn at her most deeply human and emotionally resonant (with apologies to Mango, she is too often made into a pretty doll, however much the viewer may know better). Albert Finney every bit her match, a wonderful discovery as a young man (what thighs! and more ;)). Thrilling, beautiful dialogue. Editing every bit the match of Bad Timing. But what this engrossing, lighthearted and profound examination of a relationship comes down to is, as Donen put it: every moment is the present. Every moment is the lives of these two people: informs every decision, every fleeting thought and feeling, and that is why there is something like an unbreakable bond between people. Every moment lasts.
Eh, I should have written about this last night anyway. It’s the kind of movie I love while watching it: and I leave the theater feeling sly and roguish, leaving cryptic messages on my friends’ voicemail inboxes. And it’s the kind of movie that definitely benefits outrageously from seeing it in the theater: noise, scope, eyes forceably glued to the screen… it’s the kind of movie I have to be “in” to fully enjoy. But then it is the kind of movie that, the next day, begins to lose its appeal, because let’s face it, it is a candied summer thrill ride, and just not the sort of film to stick with one. Even so, from this vantage point, I will say I love the Bourne movies over and above all contemporary action films, and agree with one reviewer who said Greengrass should be forced to helm every action film that rolls out of Hollywood. In his hands, the shaky-cam, fly-on-the-wall thing works; it’s somehow hypnotic rather than unsettling. Add to that, Joan Allen emotional but badass, David Strathairn almost cartoonishly villainous (catch his penultimate scene!), hunky Matt Damon, and an almost not wimpy Julia Stiles. And… I’m convinced the only thing preventing Allen & Strathairn’s characters from ravaging each other was some producer-level decision that the audience would not be interested in such a thing. I wish they’d consulted me. Hoping for a deleted scene on the DVD! |
about
 Lauren, 25, out-of-work librarian. At the moment, TLC is but a review blog and catalogue of my film-related perversions. I always plan to do more with it — and to one day step outside 30s Hollywood again. Who knows?
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Screening Log
» Appaloosa 2008, Ed Harris
» Belle toujours 2007, Manoel de Oliveira » Duel in the Sun 1946, King Vidor » Dragonwyck 1946, Joseph L Mankiewicz » The Spiral Staircase 1945, Robert Siodmak » The Man Who Knew Too Much 1934, Alfred Hitchcock » Tell No One 2008, Guillaume Canet » Heaven Knows, Mr Allison 1957, John Huston » Vicky Cristina Barcelona 2008, Woody Allen » The Great Lie 1941, Edmund Goulding
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Anyway, this is as sophisticated as this sort of thing gets. I love it.