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And that brings me to the major issue I have with this film: Cebe. Despite Manz' great performance, I just hated her character too much to care about anything. From the very first scene when we see her as a child, I just thought she was irritating.
I felt the same way, yet that's a big reason why I loved the film. I spent all this time being annoyed by her, and then suddenly the end comes and I felt horrible for judging a young girl. She never had a chance, and it was an enormous emotional swing for me going from annoyance to empathy. Glad it wasn't bad for you.



I loved her throughout. She was definitely an a-hole but i knew it was a justified teenage rebellion phase considering what she went through. Plus it really suite the punk/the world is awful feel to the film.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
American Graffiti



A cool movie that seems like it was a passion product of George Lucas' childhood. I loved the look of the film. The cool colors, the drive in, and the cars gave the film a really slick look. It was cool to just see the characters drive around interacting, almost made me want to have been born during these cool times. The music in the movie is really awesome too. The acting was decent enough, no standouts or anything but they all did well enough. Can't believe that Harrison Ford was once this young, and can't believe Richard Dreyfuss grew old as hell just between this and Jaws. So while the film isn't a masterpiece, I give Lucas a lot of props for making something that he was obviously very proud of. Watching this can certainly make one feel young again I'm sure.




Let the night air cool you off
I had to pause In the Mood for Love with about twenty minutes to go, but I should be able to say something about it tonight. I probably could copy and paste cricket's write-up and be done with it. I really hoped that this would be a new favorite of mine, but I'm not loving it. It looks elegant and regal, but the pacing is working as a detriment for me. I also don't really get the sense that there is much passion from either of the two leads. The actors aren't conveying the sensuality that the smoke from cigarettes is. Maybe that's on purpose, but I think it would help if this near affair was at least seemingly yearned for a bit more. I do love the restrictive framing though. Some of the framing reminded me of Ozu at times. It's not a bad movie, so far, but I've waited too long to see it and it is falling victim to expectations.





L'Avventura
(1960)
Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring: Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lea Massari

The highlight of L'Avvenutra is definitely its beautiful locations. The film is filled with breathtaking landscapes and stunning architecture that the camera lingers on long enough for the audience to really appreciate its magnificence. Even the ugliest place in the film, the abandoned town Claudia and Sandro briefly stop by, is fascinating when you consider its relevance. The structures are fascist in design, and even the large church is devoid of any personality. The pit stop here, with the cemetery in the distance, is incredibly ominous and a great piece of foreshadowing for the events that follow.

While there are no creative lighting techniques or stark contrast, the film manages to maintain a sombre, lonely atmosphere, even during the lighter scenes. The existentialist themes and undercurrent of despair really would've enhanced the mood had the film kept its focus on the mysterious elements of the story, or if it had doubled down on guilt during the second half. However, the attention is instead shifted to a romance plot which really killed the film for me. The pacing became a drag, and due to my disinterest in the characters' relationship, the ending was quite underwhelming.

That's not to say that I thought the end wasn't appropriate. It left no impact and felt meaningless, but it certainly fit the film's tone. If you consider the film's bleakness from an existentialist perspective, the ending is actually quite perfect. However, I just expected more from the film since I was intrigued during the first half. I felt that there needed to be more of an overt critique of the characters and their lifestyles, or really anything more substantial. It was an interesting film, but it just didn't work well for me as a whole.


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One of the more interesting scenes is when Sandro goes into the hotel to get a room and Claudia is feeling guilty and worried her missing friend might be there, so she stays outside....and ends up surrounded by gawking men. Those starring men illustrate her inner turmoil at that moment of her journey
That's a great perspective, and I wish I had picked up on that when I watched it.

Since earlier in the film we see a huge horde of men swarming the streets to gawk at the expensive prostitute, when Claudia's scene came around, all I could think was that the men in those small towns are incredibly disgusting and act like they've never seen a woman before in their lives. Your take makes a lot more sense haha.



That's a great perspective, and I wish I had picked up on that when I watched it.

Since earlier in the film we see a huge horde of men swarming the streets to gawk at the expensive prostitute, when Claudia's scene came around, all I could think was that the men in those small towns are incredibly disgusting and act like they've never seen a woman before in their lives. Your take makes a lot more sense haha.
The expensive prostitute, was that the really tall woman with dark hair who was surrounded by mostly men? In this photo?



Women will be your undoing, Pépé



American Graffitti

Hot rods, diners, drag strips, high school Hops and the ever elusive pursuit of trying to find something to frickin do on a weekend night while listening to Wolfman Jack on the radio.

The halcyon daze of long past is played out in an unknown small town in - someplace out west, possibly California, during one night of the youths of this movie. Which, hearing the opening with "Rock Around the Clock" made me remember the favorite rumor of my youth that this was the inspiration for the TV Show Happy Days.
Though, rumor, it may be, it did allow this old codger to wander back to that time in the 70's when I first saw this on TV and then, as a teenager, doing the local cruise on one of the two main strips on the east side while getting into trouble and searching for more trouble in the process.

This is not a hard impacting film about teenage angst, but it does touch base on a lot of the things that were on their, and, after a fashion, our own minds back then. Where to go to next, now that high school was behind them. To leave, to stay, to remain in the past and do the same old same old, to follow the dream and pursue the passion that wafts just out of reach. . . While the music of the time plays out to the operatic occurrences of the night time.

Having seen so many remakes of varying time periods that seem to get more and more outrageous, this version seems almost tame in all that occurs, though, I must say, that is a very good thing. Like one does with a memory of something long ago. All the cars are finely polished, the girls are friendly and your friends ALWAYS have your back.

Good times. Good times.

Thanks Citizen for this stroll back to those days. Much appreciated.



American Graffitti
...hearing the opening with "Rock Around the Clock" made me remember the favorite rumor of my youth that this was the inspiration for the TV Show Happy Days.
Happy Days and American Graffiti inspired each other. It goes like this:

George Lucas had the idea for making his movie way back in the 1960s. Gary Marshall made a pilot called Happy Days in 1971 or 1972 but it didn't get picked up, but it was recycled as an episode of Love American Style in 1972. George Lucas in that interview I posted, said he asked Gary Marshall to send him the pilot and he watched it, thus casting Ron Howard in his movie. So then American Graffiti gets made and comes out in 1973 and is a hit. The networks then want to cash in on it and ask Gary Marshall to do his 50s TV show Happy Days. Confusing huh

I'm currently watching Happy Days and I'm up to season 9. What strike me when I watched American Graffiti is how it influenced Happy Days. Like you said, the song Rock Around the Clock, the glowing neon cursive title, the opening shot at a drive in diner with all those cars. All repeated by Happy Days when it hit the airwaves a year later.

as a teenager, doing the local cruise on one of the two main strips on the east side while getting into trouble and searching for more trouble in the process.
Do tell! When was this? Was there cruising like in the movie? And what kind of trouble did ya get into



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Happy Days and American Graffiti inspired each other. It goes like this:

George Lucas had the idea for making his movie way back in the 1960s. Gary Marshall made a pilot called Happy Days in 1971 or 1972 but it didn't get picked up, but it was recycled as an episode of Love American Style in 1972. George Lucas in that interview I posted, said he asked Gary Marshall to send him the pilot and he watched it, thus casting Ron Howard in his movie. So then American Graffiti gets made and comes out in 1973 and is a hit. The networks then want to cash in on it and ask Gary Marshall to do his 50s TV show Happy Days. Confusing huh

I'm currently watching Happy Days and I'm up to season 9. What strike me when I watched American Graffiti is how it influenced Happy Days. Like you said, the song Rock Around the Clock, the glowing neon cursive title, the opening shot at a drive in diner with all those cars. All repeated by Happy Days when it hit the airwaves a year later.

Do tell! When was this? Was there cruising like in the movie? And what kind of trouble did ya get into
THANKS for the correct details, CR!! Yeah, watching that opening had so many tie ins to the tv show.

As for the cruising, there were a couple of huge main streets coming out of downtown Detroit and running some 20 miles out in the suburbs. The main, central one, Woodward Ave ran from downtown to the city of Pontiac and it was legendary for car racing way back in its day (50s, 60s and early 70s). To celebrate it there is a yearly Dream Cruise every late July with every muscle car, hot rod and classic car cruising some 10 miles of it north of Detroit. It lasts a week and a half with the street and sidewalks PACKED with car lovers.
The one I would often followed was on Gratiot Avenue and my teenage years of high school were 79 through 82. Like Woodward, it ran from downtown, some 20 miles out to Mt Clemens. And it was a hangout cruising fest north of the city limit. Like Woodward, there were eight lanes of traffic and it was a late night traffic jam with people drinking, partying and hollering from one car to another. With the cops trying to keep order and failing miserably at it. Though they did eventually get a handle on it some time in the early nineties - to a point.
Cruising Gratiot was a hour or two out of a full night that was spent mostly down in Detroit. Which is how long it usually took to get about 5 miles in the packed traffic before moving on.
Those two were on the East Side, and on the far West, they did the same on Telegraph in its day and they have their own cruising classic car clubs at local diners similar to what you see in the movie during the summer as well.

I won't get into the trouble making scenario and just say that the guy in the movie Hesherwere they guys I hung with and caused damage with. And then some.



The expensive prostitute, was that the really tall woman with dark hair who was surrounded by mostly men? In this photo?
Yeah. I couldn't remember her name, but the reporter Sandro was speaking to told him she was one. I wasn't sure if he meant it or not, but when we see her again, she does ask him for money.



Let the night air cool you off
In the Mood for Love spoiler ahead


I had to pause In the Mood for Love with about twenty minutes to go, but I should be able to say something about it tonight. I probably could copy and paste cricket's write-up and be done with it. I really hoped that this would be a new favorite of mine, but I'm not loving it. It looks elegant and regal, but the pacing is working as a detriment for me. I also don't really get the sense that there is much passion from either of the two leads. The actors aren't conveying the sensuality that the smoke from cigarettes is. Maybe that's on purpose, but I think it would help if this near affair was at least seemingly yearned for a bit more. I do love the restrictive framing though. Some of the framing reminded me of Ozu at times. It's not a bad movie, so far, but I've waited too long to see it and it is falling victim to expectations.
So the last ten minutes are amazing and left me reconsidering some things. I really wish I could have watched it straight through, because I had too much time feeling disappointed. I wonder if the impact of that last ten minutes, where everything seemed to get heavier, would have hit me harder and allowed me to be more forgiving. The little boy and the secret seem to imply that the two were more than what they were willing to admit to themselves. But it's all unclear on purpose, and I am fine with that, but I really wish the first 70 minutes were better or had better pacing. I also didn't feel that passion until the last ten minutes or so when they both went back to the rooms where they met.



In the Mood for Love spoiler ahead




So the last ten minutes are amazing and left me reconsidering some things. I really wish I could have watched it straight through, because I had too much time feeling disappointed. I wonder if the impact of that last ten minutes, where everything seemed to get heavier, would have hit me harder and allowed me to be more forgiving. The little boy and the secret seem to imply that the two were more than what they were willing to admit to themselves. But it's all unclear on purpose, and I am fine with that, but I really wish the first 70 minutes were better or had better pacing. I also didn't feel that passion until the last ten minutes or so when they both went back to the rooms where they met.
My favourite scene is the one they are first openly discussing the affair together and she is completely broken up, he tries to be a man that is fine but he's clearly not. I was going through a break up at the time and it completely destroyed me, i thought it was a tale of how two people in love came together not how they stayed apart out of dumb principles. If i knew it was the latter i wouldn't have watched it then!



I'm surprised In the Mood for Love is getting such cool reactions. I thought it was pretty great myself. I'm glad the director choose to show their relationship as restrained, as restraint was what the entire movie was about. I liked that idea and I like movies that are subtle and this is.

Maybe it's the title's fault? I mean the title does sound like it will be a steamy love affair, when it's not. I really think that In the Mood for Love would benefit from a second watch. Any one up for that? I bet on a second watch, with already knowing what to expect, the beauty of what the director and cinematography has achieved can shine through.



I decided to finally settle on a ranking and send my list in.

It was quite difficult, since I rather liked almost every film in this HoF, and the couple that weren't really for me were still very well made and great nominations.



Save the Texas Prairie Chicken
Sorry, sorry, sorry, guys!!!! Too busy during the week. That tires me out and then I get stuck going out on the weekend and being out late. You would think I was like 20 years old again. And I am then too tired to watch anything when I get home. That just proves I'm not 20 anymore!

Please tell me the deadline again. I am too lazy to look for it.


The only movie I got around to watching was The Station Agent. I will try to get something written up later today or right away tomorrow.


Right now I am going to do some serious library-hopping. I need to get those movies again and I don't want to request them again. I just want to get them right away so that I can watch them.


I shouldn't worry that any of you will doubt me. You all know I will finish this.
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I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe