Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

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I won't dance. Don't ask me...
I personally like watching films with women as the lead characters, because those movies often have more depth and soul to them, especially if the script writer is a woman.
That's interesting Ms. M that you mention that. In what way would you say films today portray woman differently than 30 years ago?
Excuse my late replay. What I ment was the influence of feminism, I guess. I think social changes have an impact to the movie industry. As you mentioned, women stared to play in lead roles in this kind of movie, not only as a victims, but also as a strong characters. In Thelma and Luise they behave as a avengers, thei aren't helpless. The same in Sleeping with the enemy, which was released in the same year as T&L or in The Accused, which is 3 years older.
What do you think?



Excuse me late replay. What I ment was the influence of feminism, I guess. I think social changes have an impact to the movie industry. As you mentioned, women stared to play in lead roles in this kind of movie, not only as a victims, but also as a strong characters. In Thelma and Luise they behave as a avengers, thei aren't helpless. The same in Sleeping with the enemy, which was released in the same year as T&L or in The Accused, which is 3 years older.
What do you think?
I think you're right. I haven't seen the movies you mentioned. Have you ever seen Norma Rae (1979)? I remember the actress who plays the lead, Sally Field, said it was the one time in her career she got to play a complete person...as usual she played the girlfriend or some other secondary character.



I think you're right. I haven't seen the movies you mentioned. Have you ever seen Norma Rae (1979)? I remember the actress who plays the lead, Sally Field, said it was the one time in her career she got to play a complete person...as usual she played the girlfriend or some other secondary character.
She played a complete person in Places in the Heart and won a second Oscar.



Much of what makes Thelma & Louise dynamic is the script written by Callie Khouri. This was Callie's first big movie and you can tell it's a script that she poured her soul into. Callie gives Thelma and Louise depth, she gives them a back story and she transforms them by the journey that they take.

You know that Khouri won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for this film, right Citizen?



Thanks, I haven't seen that one yet. But I would like too.
Other movies where Sally Field played a "complete person":

Absence of Malice
Murphy's Romance
Steel Magnolias
Not Without My Daughter
Mrs. Doubtfire
Punchline



I won't dance. Don't ask me...
I think you're right. I haven't seen the movies you mentioned. Have you ever seen Norma Rae (1979)? I remember the actress who plays the lead, Sally Field, said it was the one time in her career she got to play a complete person...as usual she played the girlfriend or some other secondary character.
Unfortunatelly I haven't seen it yet.
I would add to @Gideon's list "Forrest Gump". She played there Forrest's mom. Her character did everything that was necessary for her son and I can't say she was passive, very strong personality for those days.




The Grass Is Greener (1960)

Director: Stanley Donen
Writers: Hugh Williams & Margaret Vyner (screenplay)
Cast: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance


Two British aristocrats (Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr) are in financial trouble, so they open their historic estate manor to public tours...Along comes a brash American millionaire oil tycoon, (Robert Mitchum) who takes a deliberate wrong turn in the manor and ends up in the very private quarters of Lady Hillary (Deborah Kerr). The American then begins charming the married woman and she falls for him hook line and sinker, leaving her husband to figure out what to do. CR


The Grass is Always Greener is a British comedy based on the London stage play. I have to believe the play was a bit more livelier, as the movie was bit of a bore. With an all star cast and a rather naughty theme for 1960 that is, it would seem to have been a shoe-in for a laugh-in. But I found very few laughs here.



The problem is the casting. Originally Rex Harrison was to play Cary Grant's role as the Lord of the manor, who has a wife who's cheating and he has to play his cards right so as not to drive his wife permanently into the arms of the other man.

Rex Harrison would've slayed this role! His screen persona of arrogance, combined with a smug moral superiority and sarcasm would have brought the film to life. Sadly his wife, actress Kay Kendall became very sick and passed, causing him to drop out....Cary Grant being the gentleman that he was, stepped into the role to help the production. But it was a role he didn't want to do and it shows. Cary is a favorite actor of mine but here he's only going through the motions and aids very little.



Robert Mitchum is another favorite actor of mine and usually he nails his role, but here he just doesn't have a handle on his character and it doesn't work, he's too stiff to be the romantic.

Luckily Deborah Kerr is up to the part and carries the film, much like she did in Marriage on the Rocks (1965). Jean Simmons, the actresses, not the elderly rock star, is kooky and fun when she's on screen, but her character really has no development and so she's just there to bounce a joke off.

Maybe the British liked this type of film back in 1960, but I didn't care for it.



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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Les parapluies de Cherbourg (original title)
Director: Jacques Demy
Writer: Jacques Demy
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon
Genre: Musical-Romance-Drama

"A young woman separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision."

That photo breaks my heart, so many scenes did...and if you've watched this and don't know what I mean, then there's nothing else I can say about this wonderful film that will reach you.

Jacques Demy effortlessly combines the classic French '
Cinéma de Qualité' with French New wave realism to create one unique film, with all the dialogue being sung. But that's mainly of interest to film scholars.

What counts to me is that this is one of the most heartfelt, emotionally honest films dealing with young love that I've ever seen. And let me tell ya folks, CR was once young and while I wasn't shipped off to war in Algiers, a lot of this story rang so true for me. Been there and experienced it...When you're young and in love for the first time, it's like us against the world and nothing in the universe can stop that love, say for one thing...time.
..And I've always had one saying that rings true, 'time kills all deals'.

Catherine Deneuve-Geneviève is very special here. Either you get her emotional fragility and exuberance over her love, or you don't. And yet the story is crafted so wonderfully sincere that it's easy to see how her one true love, Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), can in the end shift gears and still find happiness. And yes he ended up where he needed to be, and I guess
Geneviève lands where time took her. Oh and the gas station scene, powerful stuff! So metered and so real and I've been there too.






The Sword of Doom (1966)

Dai-bosatsu tôge (original title)
Director: Kihachi Okamoto
Writers: Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay), Kaizan Nakazato (novel)
Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Yûzô Kayama
Genre: Action, Drama


"Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely."

I liked this. I usually like older Japanese cinema, especially when it's a historical theme. This was set in 1860 during the Samurai period and was like a window back in time. I might not have a time machine but by the magic of film I can see and experience the past. That's why I dig old movies btw.

What a powerful image that is of the actor with the intense stare. His reed hat and the photo reminds me of an old Clint Eastwood film. I thought the actor was great at making a striking and foreboding character. I liked the other actors too, especially the lady who took care of the girl, she was interesting in her manners.

The film is visually impressive with many realistic looking sets, villages, buildings, countryside, really beautifully done. I swear the cameraman did have a time machine as it looked so authentic.

No real complaints, I liked the sets, the story, the actors. I wasn't real big on the way the film ended but then I learned later that the author of the novel that this was based on, died before it could be finished, so the ending is an appropriate way to acknowledge that fact.

I'm not a fan of martial arts films, though I know it's big in Japan. Luckily the amount of sword fights were only a few minutes, and I liked the story itself. Oh it looked great too, as it was a restored Criterion print.






Entre nos (2009)

Directors
: Gloria La Morte, Paola Mendoza
Writers: Gloria La Morte & Paola Mendoza (screenplay)
Cast: Paola Mendoza, Sebastian Villada, Laura Montana
Genre: Biography Drama



I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! It's such a well done, heartfelt story treatment of a serious subject about abandonment and homelessness. I loved the way the story was told from the perspective of the mother. This is sincere film making. It's no wax job, it's straight up movie making that doesn't rely on fancy camera tricks or pseudo film editing...There's no flash backs, no flash forwards, no duel or triple story lines to get in the way. The film is shot and edited entirely in line with the subject matter and the emotions of the film. It's balanced.

Entre nos, puts us literally into the shoes of a Colombian immigrant woman with two kids, who's abandoned in New York City by her deadbeat husband. The film felt real to me! That's high praise. It was like I went along with the family as they tried to make money by picking up aluminum cans, and sleeping on the streets. Geez what a life. And then the very ending with the post script about the film maker, blew me away! I had no idea that this was a true story and the film maker was the little homeless girl in the movie. With hope, anything is possible

The actress who plays the homeless mother, Paola Mendoza, was exceptional good. The entire film is focused on her and she's in just about every seen too. She felt like a real person to me, and that's what made the film work so well.





I won't dance. Don't ask me...
The plot sounds heartbreaking. I'm not sure, if I could stand this movie till the end. Too much emotion...



The plot sounds heartbreaking. I'm not sure, if I could stand this movie till the end. Too much emotion...
I'll tell you about the emotion of the ending without spoiling the ending in the spoiler below.

WARNING: "Emotion of ending" spoilers below
It has a happy ending. And it's based on a real life story and at the end of the film you find out what happened to the children when they grew up and it's all good news.





The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Rules, I could swear you reviewed this before (sometime last year maybe, right after I caught a little bit of it on TCM?)

...or maybe I'm thinking of a different French musical.



Rules, I could swear you reviewed this before (sometime last year maybe, right after I caught a little bit of it on TCM?)

...or maybe I'm thinking of a different French musical.
I may be thinking of The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) - which also starred Catherine Deneuve. I remembered it had 1 American star (but it was all in French) so I looked up Gene Kelly (thinking it was him) to find it. I take it you reviewed this movie not too long ago?



I may be thinking of The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) - which also starred Catherine Deneuve. I remembered it had 1 American star (but it was all in French) so I looked up Gene Kelly (thinking it was him) to find it. I take it you reviewed this movie not too long ago?
Yup it was The Young Girls of Rochefort that I had reviewed before. Link to my review

I only found out a few days ago that Françoise Dorléac the girl with the auburn hair was Catherine Deneuve sister. Sadly she meet a untimely end.



I won't dance. Don't ask me...
I'll tell you about the emotion of the ending without spoiling the ending in the spoiler below.

WARNING: "Emotion of ending" spoilers below
It has a happy ending. And it's based on a real life story and at the end of the film you find out what happened to the children when they grew up and it's all good news.

Uff!




In Search of Fellini (2017)

Director: Taron Lexton
Writers: Nancy Cartwright, Peter Kjenaas
Cast: Ksenia Solo, Maria Bello, Jay Kunzi
Genre: Surrealistic Adventure-Drama, Romance



In 1993...A shy introverted girl who has lived her life being protected from the realities of the real world by her overly idealistic mother, finds herself strangely drawn to the films of Federico Fellini. She's so enthralled that she journeys on her own to Italy to find the master film maker and there finds herself. CR



I thought this was pretty cool. If you like Fellini films then this is worth a watch. The first part of the film might seem like an atypical movie about an unusual girl and her overly protected mother and goofy aunt, but once she gets to Italy the film changes gears and she starts encountering people and events that seem to be straight out of a Fellini film. At this point the film takes on a duality and tells both a story of an childlike young adult woman who know nothing of the real world or love...and it also becomes at times, very surrealistic. Which to me was a plus. The surrealism suits a film about Fellini and expresses the emotions that the young woman is feeling as she's immersed into a foreign culture.



If you familiar with Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La Strada then you'll see how Lucy (Ksenia Solo) is the same type of wide eyed, innocent lost waif. Her journey is like Gelsomina's journey. I though that was pretty cool and Ksenia Solo was perfectly cast in this movie too. The Italian part of this film is shot in Italy which is a plus. And like Gelsomina, Lucy faces some brutality at the hands of a would be Romeo.

Better than most recent made movies I've seen.
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