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Emma. (2020)
Strangely under-appreciated
I'm puzzled that this film hasn't had more positive user reviews. Perhaps Austen's anti-hero Emma is harder to like than her Dashwoods or Elizabeth Bennet; or perhaps the greater modern awareness of the source of the characters' wealth makes it harder to appreciate the story purely as a comedy of manners; perhaps current taste is for something rather more consequential than Jane Austen.
But this is a really beautifully crafted movie, with a finely judged screenplay, glorious design, costuming and cinematography, enchanting music, and uniformly fine performances, including some from actors that I admire in other genres but whom I hadn't expected to shine in a period piece.
For me, Sophie Thompson as Miss Bates in the Gwyneth Paltrow adaptation still has the slight edge on Miranda Hart in the heartbreaking picnic scene, but it's a close run thing. Otherwise, as a delightful Jane Austen adaptation I couldn't really fault it. And I sincerely appreciated the talent in front of and behind the camera.
Un rubio (2019)
Stunning filmmaking and a superb cast
I saw this film at the BFI Flare LGBTQ+ festival earlier today and was blown away. Quite simply, it is superb filmmaking at the very highest level, with extraordinarily subtle performances from the two leads.
Director Marco Berger presents the story of a love affair in a series of uninflected, mostly static shots, letting the camera linger on characters' faces as they register attraction, desire, frustration, jealousy and love.
In less skilled hands it could easily be boring or pretentious, but instead it's riveting ... and at times achingly painful.
Both lead actors - Gastón Re playing Gabriel and Alfonso Barón as Juan - are outstanding, as it the girl playing Gabriel's daughter. Gastón Re, in particular, deserves to win multiple awards for his beautifully judged performance. Largely wordless, he brings to life the inner life of the shy, yearning Gabriel so fully that I felt I'd known him for years.
If you were affected by Brokeback Mountain or God's Own Country then you will surely appreciate this film. Beyond that, if you admire the work of Ingmar Bergman or Wong Kar-wai or Pawel Pawlikowski then you should go out of your way to see this superb Argentinian film.
The Man in the White Suit (1951)
Lasts forever and never wears out
For me this is Ealing Studio's most perfect film - as fresh and relevant half a century later as it was the day it was released.
As a satire on economic notions of 'growth' and the commercial need for in-built obsolescence, it could scarcely be more up-to-the-minute. And of what other film can it be said that the hero literally wears the plot?
Oddly, there are parallels with Jurassic Park, in which messing with the environment will literally turn round and bite you. But Spielberg shied away from the book's brilliant central conceit to tack on some nonsense about 'children'. Hmmm.
In The Man In The White Suit, Alec Guiness plays an idealistic young scientist who comes up with a cloth that never gets dirty and never wears out. Suddenly workers and capital at the northern English mill where he is working are united as never before in protection of their livelihoods.
Of course, being Ealing, it's a comedy, but it needn't have been. The complex interplay of vested (should that be suited?) interests plays out beautifully, as one by one all parties realize that 'progress' is a threat, and that disposability and waste are what keep the looms turning.
But, yes, this is a comedy - albeit a pointed one - and amid the political ironies are delicious performances, and some good old-fashioned knock-about laughs.
Nonetheless, it's the biting satire that endures - dazzling and white.
The Princess Bride (1987)
Some of the trees are really quite lovely
You haven't seen The Princess Bride? Incontheiveable! Clearly you've fallen for one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is never get involved in a land war in Asia ...
I first saw this as a student on the eve of my finals, and it was the perfect antidote to pre-exam nerves. Since then I must have watched it ... oh, I dunno, maybe 30 times. Which sounds terribly sad, I know, but I just feel the need to get other people to watch it, and - well - I end up watching it too.
Basically, it's just terribly funny, but also - and here's the thing - it works as a fairy tale too. Admittedly, it would be perfectly nauseating without the subversive wit and huge silliness, but when combined the result is irresistible.
A word of warning to the uninitiated - give it 20 minutes to get into the swing of it. It can take that long to realize that this film has its tongue firmly in its cheek.
My favourite lines? So hard to choose. Q: 'You don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?' A: 'Do you always begin conversations this way?' Or how about: 'You mean you'll put down your rock and I'll put down my sword and we'll kill each other like civilized people.' But I think the honours have to go to 'I'm not saying I'd like to build a holiday home here, but some of the trees are really quite lovely'.
Oddly enough, I'm not left-handed either.
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