I feel cheated

Yesterday, I eventually went to see Three Billboard Outside Ebbing Missouri. I did not fancy it, but people were raving, the media were predicting Oscars and several nominations have been awarded already. So, I thought, it is almost an obligation for somebody who sees films often and appreciates their value to see this particular film even if I did not like its setting much. I thought this was rather low of me so I went to see it and I had an open mind.

                            

During the film, I laughed, I cringed, I was engrossed in the action 100%. When the film finished, I thought that it deserved all the Oscars it was nominated for and conceded its superiority over other films I previously liked a lot. My personal assessment of Call Me by Your Name was demoted to a lower position in the films ranking.

Then, while walking home I reflected on what it was all about and what actually moved me so much. The acting was great, and I think this was a dishonest trick to put emphasis on role-playing to obstruct the film’s psychological inconsistencies, emptiness and untruth. Since analysing is often my game and sometimes my shortcoming, so I analysed the issue and quickly came into conclusion that the moments in the film that made me think of the goodness of human nature hidden behind rough exteriors are seriously unconvincing. The film is full of that. People who are extremely cruel, harm others in the most brutal way without a moment of thinking, suddenly see their failings and show the most touching human generosity. Like the boy who was savagely harmed by the policeman, later recovering in the hospital and seeing the policeman who was patient himself after an accident, after some hesitation comes with the glass of juice to the bandaged policeman and tenderly positions the straw so it can be reached easily. Nice. And I went for it thinking that human nature has so much goodness underneath of violence. Well, I feel gullible.

                              

The most difficult to swallow is, however, change in the officer Dixon, brilliantly played by Rockwell. The dumb, violent, cruel man after receiving the letter prizing him for potential detective talents turns into an honest, dedicated person who almost starts to display an aptitude to solve complex problems.

Well, I still think that the film will get his Oscars in abundance, but I will not be convinced.

Phantom Thread

 The leaflet for Phantom Thread was laying on my table for some weeks to remind me to see the film when it comes to my local cinema. The leaflet comes with the descriptions: “One of the best pictures of the year”, “Seductive and absorbing”, “Daniel Day-Lewis, the best actor alive”.

I had my nomination for the best film of 2017 and this has not changed after seeing Phantom Thread. I am not sure about Daniel Day-Lewis as I have seen only few films of his and they perhaps were not the best examples of his acting. I have not seen some films acclaimed for his acting as they seemed particularly brutal and I decided to skip them in self-defence against depression. I agree however that the film is seductive even if there were moments I got out of the spell and felt a little bored. I have rather mixed feeling about the film. Maybe I did not get it. I definitely found it confusing. Surreal in several places.

                                           

On the surface, the film is about famous dressmaker of the 50t’s, his work and his creations. Underneath this beautiful and elegant cover, there is a messy and disruptive love between the controlling, famous dressmaker and a young, strong-willed young waitress. Alma, played by Vicky Krieps, in the first scenes says sweetly simple “Yes” to orders and propositions of the patron of the restaurant she works at. After becoming part of his life as a model, muse, and lover she wants the relationship to be based on her terms as well as his. Or maybe only her terms? There is a struggle between a domineering and totally unreasonable male, his equally domineering sister and the sweet downtrodden girl.  The girl, however, has guts and determination. The film tries to tell us that her love is the motivation for her very unorthodox methods to win the heart and obedience of her lover. I am not convinced here. OK, it is a metaphor, surrealistic one and I reluctantly accept it as such.  Though, I liked very much the scenes in the kitchen where she prepared her love potions. The dignity, calmness and the sense of purpose while cooking are like a slow dance. Loved it.

I am not sure how to explain the dressmaker submissive joy of receiving the tokens of the love of his, by then, wife. The best idea I came up with is that his pleasure is masochistic.

An odd film, but on reflection there is a sense of humour there even if warped, there is a lot of beauty, there is a struggle of sexes with the woman able to stop psychological abuse, there is a lot of nostalgic fashion at its best. On second thoughts the humour is really the strong side of the film.

                                                  

At the beginning of the film, Daniel Day-Lewis dresses and prepares his appearance for the day in the fashion house.  This is a great scene during which he puts on great socks. Long to the knees, with turn up and in great reddish-plum colour. I was so fascinated with the socks that I noticed in the following scenes that he always wears them. The man of style, of course. And a very bad temper.

My favourite of the film is Vicky Krieps an actress from Luxembourg. I hope to see more of her in the future.

                                                   

4.5 out of 5 for this one. It grew on me. It was only 4 out of 5 yesterday.

The Post

I thought I shake off my Call Me by Your Name infatuation for a while and write about something else like The Post. I saw the film just recently and I am moderately impressed, but still would recommend the film and give it my 4 out of 5. But no Oscars from me for the film or anybody related to the film. Just a well-made film, the story that kept my attention even if I knew the facts the film is based on. I could have filed my impressions somewhere in the memory without giving it a second thought if it was not for the nostalgia for the times that were honest and values that were idealistic. The film reminds us of that and I am thankful for it. Maybe there is a hope for us as a human race to turn to those idealistic values again. Well, I know it is pathetic what I write, but they are my naked sentiments and longings. Be they as they may. Looks like Spielberg has similar sentiments so I am in a good company with my nostalgia for honesty and truth.

                                    

The film is about the Washington Post or rather Katharine Graham making the decision to expose the Pentagon Papers and telling the public that the US government was hiding for years the fact that the Vietnam war was unwinnable. Publishing such news was a personal threat to Katharine Graham and Ben Bradley the editor of the newspaper.  This meant many years in prison and the decision was to be made by a woman who most of her life was just a daughter of the powerful father and then the wife of the powerful husband. It was not a comfortable territory for her, but she made her very courageous decision risking a lot. In the end, it worked out very well for the family and for the newspaper. And for her in many ways, I can imagine.

I liked the moment of her making the decision. She was not sure, she was scared and she remembered what her duty as the owner of the newspaper was – to inform the public of the truth. She makes a very hesitant statement with panic sounding in her voice – let’s go, let’s publish. And the history was made.

I have been particularly interested in women like Katharine Graham or Madelaine Albright at some stage of my life. I have read their biographies trying to find guidance on how to live after a major life disappointment. It helped to take some blinkers off and build up courage, but it required ripping out a lot of my idealistic self (Aciman returns) to carry on. Hence my special respect for the women. And the person I was myself some time ago.

               
                                                          My role models

Back to the film. I find the major value of the film in the reminder that it was possible (maybe still is?) to lead the media business in an honest (or at lease semi-honest) way. In the current times, money and power seem to be the only motivation in the world of the politics and the media. I am longing for some idealism and I am happy to realise that there are others who share my longing.

Looks that I am of the generation that looks back to the happy times of the 70ties and the 80ties and shakes the head at the current events as not measuring up to their happy days. My parents and grandparents did the same when my generation was coming on the scene. So, I know the changes are inevitable, but it still does not stop me from having nostalgic feelings and liking the film for waking them up. 

The best film of 2017 – Call Me by Your Name

                                     

As I am up and about I decided to catch up on movies. I am glad that the first film I decided to see after the break was Call Me by Your Name. I believe that it will disappear from my local cinema soon and it would have been such a shame not to have seen it. I was not aware that this is another film by Luca Guadagnino. Not that I knew that another two films that made a particular impression on me were made by the same person. Now I see the very strong emotional similarities in all three films.  The other two are I Am Love and A Bigger Splash. It has been some time ago that I saw the other films and at that time I did not link them. The links that for me are strongest are between I Am Love and Call Me by Your Name. Both of the films show love or rather submission to ecstatic love in a similar way. Both made me a bit uncomfortable in the way they show the naked feelings of passion. Nothing vulgar about it, just so honest and natural that somebody, maybe a little prude like myself, finds it slightly uncomfortable. Those are touching and memorable scenes, though.

Both of the films show the tremendous beauty of Italy. The first one presents elegantly stylized interiors of a Milanese modern mansion and the other rather messy, but full of objects of considerable beauty and books, lakeside villa somewhere in the Northern Italy. And of course, abundance of Italian nature in both of the films as a background to uninhibited feelings.

Call Me by Your Name is a film about a young, very intelligent and sensitive, talented boy and his awakening sexuality. Sensuality is build into him through the environment he lives in and his absolutely incredible parents. I wonder if such parents really exist? My direct experience is of life in the middle-class situation and the film is about academics involved in higher artistic pursuits. Maybe this can make a difference and maybe the times are now of higher acceptance of non-conventional love? I still look at the film from a perspective of an older person who only watched the changes rather than lived through them.

   

So, it is about Elio, 17teen-year-old American-Italian who spends summer holidays with his parents in their villa somewhere in Northern Italy. Oliver the American graduate student of Elio’s father comes to spend some weeks with the family. He is given the room of Elio and gaining a description of ‘usurper’ said with a French accent. The dialogs are interchangeable English-Italian-French. The relationship starts with some reservations and almost unfriendliness towards the young American who says “later” to finish a conversation which Elio considers inappropriate and rude. This is how it sometimes is in early stages of love which has not yet come to realization of what it really is all about. Oliver is a very beautiful man and his physical beauty is shown as typically beautiful women are shown. He is not feminine at all though; his body is sculptured like Roman statues. And this is beautiful. 

Elio is at the stage of life when he is about to discover sharing his sexuality with another person. He does not have particular preferences as far as sex is concerned and I find it refreshing if not surprising. There is a girl he thinks of having his first experience with and then this fascination with this older then himself man takes over his senses and desires. Sharing on intellectual level takes precedence. And this is what the story is all about. The love between two men, true, romantic, homosexual love. And this is beautiful. I started to understand homosexual love, I think.

The role of Elio’s parents in amazing. At the early stages of the romance, the mother already sees what is going on and with full understanding what turmoil her son may be experiencing reassures him saying that Oliver likes him more than Elio likes Oliver. This is like an advice given by a more experienced person. While I had been in a similar situation with my mother supporting my first love it was a girl-boy type of love.  In the film, the support of the parent went further and this is the change of times, I noticed with some surprise.

Equally moving was a tender scene between Elio and his father who, knowing how difficult parting of the two lovers may be for his son, talks to him with deep understanding and empathy about the beauty of love in all its forms; sorrow and sadness being a part of it.

                                                   

At one stage the father said that the first love is most valuable and most powerful and that to each following one we have less to give. This I found particularly true. It explained some of my personal experience only too well. I think I may order the book on which the film is based on. Apparently, the scene between the father and son is taken verbatim from the book. There is also a different ending. Hmm… I am curious. Five out of five for the film.

Wonder Wheel

Realising that my posts lately have been predominantly about books and films I asked myself a question if my life has become one-sided. Maybe it has as my mobility in the past few months has been somewhat restricted. At the same time, sporting events are not likely to occupy my thoughts to the extent that I shall write about something like energetic activities. Reading has been my favourite occupation since I was a small girl and now that I have much more time for myself than I had in the past I came back to my favourite pastime with new interests and some wisdom I was lacking earlier on. Books give me new subjects to ponder on, teach me a lot and inspire me. The same goes for films. Looks like I have a need to justify myself and this is perhaps a bit silly. I do not need any justification in this case.

                                            

After this introduction, I want to write about a film this time. I have seen Wonder Wheel, the new film of Woody Allen. There have not been any films lately that I thought were more interesting than the books I have on my table, but I wanted to get out from home so I found a film, I thought it had potential to interest me. The main reason and attraction was Kate Winslet. I have liked this actress for quite some time, even if I have not seen many of her films. Mostly I liked her for The Reader, The Dressmaker and Pride and Prejudice. For some reason, I developed high respect for her as an actress and I was not disappointed to see her performance in Wonder Wheel. Highly emotional role. 

                     

Winslet plays a woman who feels that her life did not go the happy way. She is about to turn forty, still attractive, but the freshness is gone. She is married to a man whose idea of good time is to fish and now and then suggests that his wife joins him in this great fun. The answer is always negative. One day Ginny meets a young man, played by Justin Timberlake, who becomes her lover. He does not mind the age difference until such a time when a stepdaughter of Ginny appears on the scene. He continues the romance with the woman who feels her age more and more, but he appreciates attractiveness of the young girl. This gives Kate Winslet an opportunity to show her talent, she plays her role that well that I got sucked in and stopped noticing shortcomings of the film and the banality of the story. This spell lasted to the end of the film and I left the cinema moved, but then reflections came in and the film does not seem to be that good after all. The story falls apart at the end when the finale comes to the point when Ginny out of jalousie causes serious damage to the young girl, possibly even her death. This I find not convincing, maybe it is only a metaphor representing thoughts rather than actions? Maybe… but I think I am trying to find a positive point here. So, I would say 3 out of 5 or even less for the film.

I have not followed scandals related to “Me too”, but Woody Allen has unethical sexual behavior on his account and I knew about it, even if I did not pay much attention to it. Reading about the interview that Kate Winslet gave not long time ago in which she raved on the sensitivity of Woody Allen towards women’s problems, I started to feel negative about the whole thing, and that includes my favourite actress. 

The face of Margot Robbie present at the interview is showing her views, but Kate Winslet went on praisingWoody Allen. Margot Robbie said nothing. Hmm...

                                

How can we praise sensitivity of a person who has molested underage girls? How can I admire the film about women’s issues and consider its creator to compassionately understand women while behaving in an unethical, if not criminal, way towards girls? Are artists allowed more than we expect of other people? Not in this case, at least not for me.