The Women Directors Hall of Fame

I watched this one last night. After the first 5 minutes, I was thinking I would really enjoy it. Michelle Williams has become one of my favorite actresses working today. She's good in this movie too.

But after we get to the first scene in the airplane, I found I hated the dialogue. It sounded artificial, like something a writer cooked up. It sounded forced and contrived.

No big deal I though, it's just one scene. But as the movie went on I found every scene was like that. When ever the characters spoke, it seemed unnatural, like the writer Sarah Polley (who's also the director) had no style of her own, but was forcing eclecticism into the film, to give it some sort of faux style. The more I paid attention to the writing the worse it became.

The sets too seemed desperate, they screamed 'look at me, I've created style by overdoing it'. I mean every little thing that can be kitschy upped or painted in a look-at-this way, was done and overdone.

Wes Anderson can create a unique look with unique characters who don't sound or look like the real world, and yet it works as he creates his own universe and within that universe his characters make sense. The characters in Take This Waltz made no sense at all to me.

Michelle Williams' character seems too cutesy, too charming and too bonded to her husband...for her to then decide to cheat on him. I liked Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen in this, but geez I hated the casting choice for the boyfriend, who was two dimensional. He should have paired with Sarah Silverman who was also over done for the sake of being over done.

The DVD cover called this 'sexy', will call me a prude but I didn't find anything 'sexy' in this film. The sex, like the dialogue seemed 'jazzed up' to make something out of nothing. In Morvern Callar, I totally believed the hedonistic actions of Morvern as it fit her character. In Morvern Callar the actions of Morvern seemed organic, I believed them, they made sense, and that made the film good. In Take This Waltz I didn't believe the actions the characters took as natural. They didn't feel organic to the world the film created for them.

Sorry Sean, I've liked or loved all of your other Hof noms, but this one isn't for me.

Not every movie is for everyone, but, still, sorry to hear this didn't work for you, CR
You remarked on Morvern and compared and since I just finished watching Little Women - which I really enjoyed, but there was a bit of a viewing speed bump in the very beginning, shifting from Morvern to Little Women which took a couple of scenes to shift my mindset from one to the other. Which is what came to mind when reading that.
I'll post my review tomorrow since I'm on my phone presently.

Meanwhile, hope everyone had a great New Year!!!

you too

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This was a very good movie and a great nomination. I would have to disagree with Sean about a couple of things. First, it didn't remind me of a Tarkovsky movie at all. To me, this was a much more conventional type of film. Second, I didn't think the cinematography was especially brilliant. When I think of great cinematography in Soviet cinema, I think of War and Peace and The Cranes are Flying. In my opinion this movie wasn't even in the same ballpark in that regard. It looks fine enough, but I think it looks like what you'd expect a movie of it's time to look like that's filmed in the snow in black and white. I think the strength of the movie is in it's power. It's not a large scale war film, but a film that focuses on a small group of individuals. The story in all it's horror felt genuine and the performances were strong. I thought it was a very human look at a terrible time.

No, it wasn't that I was in the mind frame of Morvern Callar while watching Take This Waltz. I just didn't like the movie. I feel it would be dishonest of me not to say how I feel in a review. Hope everyone understands that.

My wife and I actually saw the trailer for this quite recently, and while we both thought it looked decent, I didn't put it on our watchlist for whatever reason. It certainly didn't end up how I expected and I'll be very curious to learn Sean's thoughts along with everyone else's. Straight up, I don't know how I feel about this movie and I'm all over the place on it. I'm not sure if I kind of love it or if I flat out dislike it. I found it to be a bit strange tonally and there wasn't even a bit of comedy like I expected. I'm not sure if adding humor into the mix would be a good thing or not. I just don't know. The three characters are the main focus of the movie and I think all of the performances are well done. I thought of Brief Encounter which watching, and in that movie I had some sympathy and understanding for the woman even if I didn't like her actions. Michelle Williams is so cute and innocent looking that the senses say to like her, but I found her character to be very off-putting. Now, I kind of think that was all completely the director's intention. I'm just not sure. Maybe she was likable if it weren't for her actions. The guy she meets, likable it seems, but where are his friends and family and how decent can he be if he's pursuing a married woman? I found it interesting when she said to him something to the effect of "make a move" and then he said the same thing back to her. If she does, is that justification to him? All of this is compounded by the fact that the Seth Rogen character is so damn likable. Sarah Silverman plays the next biggest part and it's an enormous highlight when she speaks to the wife toward the end, not over the top yet so effective. I thought the dialogue overall was pretty good with a certain gem being delivered by one of the older women in the shower, something like "even what's new gets old". More than that, I thought the dialogue's delivery was natural. People don't speak in a constant quick and witty manner, and that's what we see. I loved the look of the movie with the colorful neighborhood; it reminded me of Cambridge by my neck of the woods. Anyway, if this movie made me sad or devastated, I would have loved it for certain. Instead, it angered me and that leaves me very unsure of how I feel. One thing for sure, this wasn't a movie that I expected to give me any reaction.

@cricket Loving your reaction. I definitely think Lol let wants you to have different reactions at different times. Williams' character is conflicted throughout and we are meant to be as well. Similar to Le Bouhner which I just watched a couple weeks ago, the way this movie ends determined whether I hated it or loved it. That's because everything the film is saying thematically is tied into where she ends up. I won't say more than that because I don't want to give things away. I think this movie has so much to say about marriage in our culture and how we approach love. I think it absolutely hits the nail on the head, and I love it for that.

Excited to watch it again. Probably been 3 years at least. Hopefully Camo watches this week and we can get some discussion going. Please watch Stories We Tell for the upcoming countdown if you haven't seen it.

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Letterboxd

It'll probably end up being the most polarizing film for me in this Hall of Fame, and I expected it to be the least.

The funny thing about this movie is that I didn’t like it at all until about half way through, then something just sort of clicked and I started to appreciate it. Overall I still didn’t love it, but I got it a bit more. It’s a bit of a weird movie tonally, almost an anti-romantic comedy in some ways but as with a lot of things that are anti, it’s a little bit empty if it’s only anti other things and not really pro anything for itself.

My main problem right from the start (which never really goes away) is that the main character is incredibly immature, selfish and almost impossible to sympathise with. Evident from the start where she turns up at the airport in a wheelchair because she’s afraid of being afraid. This is someone clearly not equipped to deal with adult life and decisions. That none of the characters seem capable of adult conversations is another issue. I also didn’t get enough of a sense of emotions from Margot or Daniel to make their connection believable. She’s passive, he’s even more so, a blank canvas, an idea of romance without really exhibiting any particular passion or care. He says supposedly deep things to her about her after knowing her for a few hours but comes with no real story or family or depth of his own.

I was also unconvinced by the whole uber-quirky environment in which they live. Sometimes it’s pretty but sometimes just on the grating side of too much. Daniel has a ‘real’ job as a rickshaw driver which he seems to goof off whenever he likes and a hobby as an artist. Margot writes one leaflet in the entire film. Not quite sure how they pay the rent. And the plinky indie music annoyed me.

Margot and Lou’s relationship is all comfy snuggles and baby talk but they never really talk to each other as adults. This is frustrating until it becomes apparent that it’s deliberately there to be frustrating. The turning point for me was the restaurant scene. Not only did it look great, but it perfectly encapsulated how Lou didn’t even realise it was necessary for them to have a conversation. I also really liked the scene with Daniel and Margot at the fairground, the way the lights so suddenly come back on, that seemed to be a metaphor for their relationship in a way. And then I quite liked the party scene as well. A lot of it is really well framed and well lit, actually.


I kind of liked

I did feel like the whole film could have been done better if it had been shorter, it would have packed more of a punch.

American Psycho (2000)

I'm of a mixed mind on this one. I really liked the first hour of the film. I loved the dark satire of the whole 80s Wallstreet-Yuppie-Greed thing...it was brilliantly done. It was great how Patrick Bateman's anti-social psycho killings were driven by his deep insecurities, and by his need to be aname dropping rich snob. I loved the whole send up of the 80s stuff.

Christian Bale nails it! I liked his character! He's quite charming in an odd way...and that's why I liked the first hour so much. Patrick Bateman was personable just like Anthony Perkins was as Norman Bates. Clearly the movie Psycho has inspired this movie.

In the first half of the movie the killings weren't too graphic, so were tolerable for me, as they were done with a tongue in cheek humor, which also reminded me of Heathers.

In the second half the film gets more real, more serious as Patrick goes completely over the edge and the body count rises...And that's where I stopped liking the film as it then took on the feel of a slasher movie and I never liked those. Not that it grossed me out, but Patrick 'eating' the first woman and then naked and covered with blood chasing the prostitute down the hall with a chainsaw seemed like a popcorn slasher scene. Fun for some, but not my cup of tea.

I wanted the second half to be more like the first, but it wasn't. I don't call that a failure on the film's part as I believe it's well made for the intended audience...it's just I'm NOT the intended audience.

Tomorrow hopefully. Watching Call Me By Your Name in about an hour.

31/121 reviews in already! Five of us have watched at least four films with Cricket already having seen seven

Think i agree with that now although i didn't when i was younger. I like it more when he's pretending to me normal and condescending to people, when he starts going proper insane it doesn't work for me as much it used to.

Yup, that's how I felt too.

BTW I have 5 reviews now, but it says 4.

Yep, Clueless is out. I'm keeping the reviews up since me and you took the time to watch and write about it. Was only us two thankfully.

ha! I guess I'm clueless I should have figured that out.

I just noticed the other day Joaquin Phoenix won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for Lynne Ramsay's new film You Were Never Really Here. Ramsay won Best Screenplay for it too. Sadly it's not out anywhere until April 6th (the day after my 25th Birthday ) so it will miss the Countdown. Still it's probably my most anticipated film of this year.

The things you learn. I never realise that was directed by a woman. And I completely agree with your review.

I guess I'll take it off my countdown watchlist then.

In what way or ways?