HollyG's Film Spree

I really like Robin and marion also Thanks Holly

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No problem nebbit ya I really liked Robin and Marion it was fun to watch.Honestly there has not been one Audrey Hepburn movie I haven't liked except Green Mansions ,I'm not a big fan of that film.

ChungKing Express 1994 Kar Wai Wong

ChungKing Express is beautiful drama from Hong Kong and is directed by Kar Wai Wong. I want to start off by saying I really loved this film. Its a drama/romance and its a real fun film to watch and not to mention the visuals are amazing.ChunKing Express is two stories, each story is about a Hong Kong policeman and their ups and down with relationships. The thing I really enjoyed about this film is that it's about romance but its not all about happy endings, Wong seemed to focus more on the characters journey not their destination and it really seemed to work for this film.



The film's first story is about Cop 663.Cop 663 is dumped by his girlfriend a month ago and he can not seem to fully accept that.He buys a can of pineapples all with an expiry day of May 1 ( May is the name of his Ex) and he has decided that if she dose not come back to him by May 1 which is also his 25Th birthday he will say goodbye to her forever and move one with his life. In this story we also meet the women in the Blond wig, she smuggles heroin and she just lost a shipment and is very concerned that she will not be able to find her drugs in time. Cop 663 takes one glance at her and decides that he is in love with her and thats pretty much what story one is about.This part of the film is probably my favorite, what I like about it is that it shows you how much impact one act of kindness can have on a person. Its a beautiful story about rejection and hope. The First part of the film stars Briddgitte Lin as the Women in the blond wig and Tony Leung Chiu Wai as cop 663.



The Second part of the film is about He Zhiwu,Cop 223. His Air hostess girlfriend just left him and he is feeling utterly hopeless. He goes to a café and meets a kooky waitress who falls in love with him right away.Waitress Faye is an odd girl who dreams about traveling and constantly listens to the song California dreams by The mamma's and the Papa's. Cop 223 gives Fay his address and she decides to break in to his house everyday when he is working and she cleans and redecorates and day dreams about this cop that she has a crush on. This film focuses on two people who are not quite content with life and its shows how two lonely people can add happiness to each other lives. I also loved this story not as much as the first part but it still was a really great tale. This part of the film stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as cop 223,Valerie Chow as Air Hostess and Faye Wong as Faye.



This film and Wongs Fallen Angels were both released by Miramax under Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder imprint.In the middle of this film i thought it was gonna turn into a shoot em up action film, but it didn't it did the opposite. Chungking express is a character based film and also focuses on Hong Kong's night life. I loved all the character in this film each person in this film was a bit odd but i could not help relating a little bit to each person in the film.another thing that I liked about this film is that the Two story's are completely separate,The only thing they have in common is a little café. This was a really great watch and if you enjoy Asian films I highly suggest you check this one out.

F for Fakes (Verites et Mensonges) 1973 Orson Welles

Finally a film that me and Plainview agreed on and watched together! yay! F for Fake is the last major film by Orson Welles,Welles directed,co-wrote and starred in this loose documentary about the art forger Elmyr de Hory.The main topics of this film are fakery,forgery,swindling and art.This film is made from discarded footage by Francois Reichenbach and new material from Welles.I really enjoyed this film and I really enjoy the way this film was edited and Michel Legrand provided a wonderful score for this film.


F for Fake is about Elmyr de Hory the art forger, Clifford Irving the notorious hoax-biographer and even Orson Welles him self.This film pretty much follows these people around and tells a story of why they do the things they do.De hory is an art forger because he could not make a career on his own paintings so he began copying real masterpieces and he was real good at it.Apparently a few years after this film de Hory committed suicide because Spain was gonna to hand him over to the French authorities. Clifford Irving Wrote a fake biography about Howard Hughes which was later fictionalized in a another book he wrote called The Hoax.Brilliant.



I am not to sure what Plainview thought of this film but I really enjoyed it and I have as hard time getting into documentary's but this is not your regular documentary, F for Fake is a fun documentary that informs you all about the world of art forgery.

I thought it was great. Love the way Welles presented the film.

Fontane Effi Briest 1974 Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Effi Briest is a film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and based on a novel written by Theodor Fontane.I had the pleasure of watching this beautiful film last night and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Effi Briest is narrated by a few different people and Fassbinder used original quotes form Theodor's novel. I have not read the book yet but I would really like to.To sum up Effi Briest is a highly political ,beautiful,heartbreaking tale of a marriage that is not quite right.



Effi is 17 when her parents marry her off to the older Baron Von Instetten.Effi is not quite ready for marriage but she goes in to it holding her head up high and she really tries to make the best of things. She moves in to Instetten's house and right away she dose not feel quite right and this is not because of the Baron but more because she feels the presence of a ghost. The Baron tells Effi Ghost story's so he can strike the fear of god into her and he does this because he wants to control her.He wants to control her because he travels quite a bit to further his career.In the end Effi feels very lonely and she feels like she has a school master for a husband. They have a daughter by the name of Annie and Effi hires a damaged catholic women Roswitha to take care of her and her daughter.Effi ends up having an affair with Major Crampas and she does this because shes lonely and scared not because she loves Major Crampas. In the end the Baron and Effi and her family move to Berlin and six years after the affair the Baron finds out about his wifes infidelities and thats when their relationship falls apart.One of my favorite parts of this film was the dialog. The way that the main characters talk to each other was very entertaining.Hanna Schygulla played Effi and did a wonderful job of playing a young girl in turmoil,I was very I'm pressed with her performance.Wolfgang Schenck Played the Cold hearted Barron and also did a very good job.


I defiantly enjoyed this film and I loved they way it looked. The film is black and white but it has this wonderful shade of gray to it,that I really enjoyed.I also really like the way the film was edited and the way the film had quotes from the original novel was pretty neat.This is probably not my favorite Fassbinder film but I did really enjoy watching this beautiful story of betrayal and heartbreak.

Good review Holly I should have watched it with you.

Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete)1946 Jean Cocteau

La Belle et la Bete may just be one of the finest romantic fantasy films I have ever see.I always get really excited when I watch a film that I really love and I can not express how much I enjoyed Watching Jean Cocteau's version of this beautiful tale.This film is adapted by two fairy tale novels the first one is Le Magasin des Enfants published in 1757 and the second novel La chatte Blanche by Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy.I absolutely loved everything about this film,The costumes,the score,the cinematography,the special effects and the acting all had a wonderful magical feeling to it.


This film is about a young women Belle who is full of hopes and dreams and is devoted to taking care of her family.Her father trys his best to provide for his family and Belle has two bratty sisters that wish to be rich and a drunken brother that is kind of a failure at life.Belles father go away in hope of making some money which dose not go the way he plans,On his return he picks a rose for Belle from a forbidden garden and he runs in to a very ugly creature which he calls The Beast.Beast tells Belles dad that the punishment for picking this rose is death or one o his daughters can replace him. When he returns home after telling his family all about his journey he falls ill and Belle secretly sets off to to take her fathers place.Belle is absolutely horrified when she meets this beast,but she agrees to stay even tho she misses her father horribly.Eventually Belle and the Beast bond and the Beast lets her return home for a week to see her father as long as she promises to return.I absolutely loved the acting in this film. Belle was played by Josette Day and Jean Marais played The Beast,The Prince and Avenant.



La Belle et la Bete is just a beautiful film that is wonderful to look at and the story itself pulls at the heart just like a good romance film should.When I Was growing up Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite films, but Jean Cocteau's version of this tale is a hundred times better. If you enjoy romance and fantasy films La Belle et la Bete is the perfect film to watch.

Told you that you'd like it.

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I never have understood the love for that film, but I'm "happy" when anybody likes anything. I'm not trying to say it sucks, but it doesn't especially work for this heathen American Imperialist.

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I guess I liked it alot because it was one my favorite fairy tales when I was growing up,thats probably part of the reason why I loved it so much.

Harry your always right, when comes to film, most of the time.I am just about to start watching Love Exposure and I have a feeling I am going to like that one to.

I've watched it at least three times, and it's a bona fide classic, so I'm not really trying to slam the film, but I have a disconnect with many classics although I champion many of them. I do think there are several cool scenes, especially the way the Beast's house comes to life, but I'll almost always prefer the Disney [animated] version, and that's probably the biggest difference between Harry and me.

One of my favorite parts of the films is when Belle gives her sister the necklace,I thought that was pretty neat. The Disney version will always have a special place in my heart.

wha? i confuse.

I think that the original, classic Cocteau La belle et la bete isn't as wonderful as others. I was trying to come up with reasons why this might be true. I'm an American, and many people from other countries believe that all Americans are heathen (or not) but they certainly believe we're Imperialist. Now, I must be a racist too because I tend to give foreign-language films lower ratings than those in English, but I do also try to balance that out by telling people that you can always drop my Anglo-American films one rating and raise my opposite of those a rating. Film is a visual storytelling medium. However, since even most non-English-language films rely on lots of dialogue (and these fire dialogue/narration at a rapid pace: Amelie, Elite Squad, Z), I often find it difficult to fully grasp films which are not in my native language and show a culture in some relatable terms more difficult to grasp and appreciate. The fact that I expose myself to many hundreds/thousands of different non-English-language movies should give me some slack in what I know and don't know, but there's always somebody who's more of an aficianado than you or I am.

Hey I agree with you, everyone has different taste in film whether its a foreign film or not. Ive been watching alot of non English films lately and Its hard on my eyes but I understand some French so It was easier for me to watch La Belle et la Bete.I have been watching alot of world films lately but sooner or later I need to catch up on my classics.

"World films" can't be considered classics?

No I meant all Classics not just American films.I have alot of films to watch.

Love Exposure(Ai no mukidashi) 2008 directed by Shion Sono

Love Exposure is a very daring 4 hour Japanese film about love,family,religion,perversion,sexuality and pantie peeking.I personally really enjoyed this film,I wasn't to sure if I would be able to sit threw a 4 hour film but the length of the film seemed to suit the story.When it finally ended I was kind of sad I wanted the film to keep going and thats the thing about this film is that you really fall in love with the characters.The thing is I don't really wanna get into the plot to much it is so complicated that I really do not want to give any spoilers away.Love Exposure is about a young mans journey in to finding the girl of his dreams and his journey into a life of sin.This film focuses on the bond of family and religion and it has alot of twist and turns and really is very exciting,This film really keeps you on the edge of your seat. Love Exposure has alot of great actors in it,The three main actors in this film are Takahiro Nishijima,Hikari Mitsushima and Saruka Ando.This film is very exciting and really fun to watch,if you like Quentin Tarantino films then you would really like this film.

Pretty much this.

The original cut was six hours long. I'm sure it would have been just as watchable though.

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