Summer always makes me want to watch vacation-y movies. Last year I did a week of beachy, summer resort-type movies. This year I wanted to go abroad, so I put together some good ones with European settings (well, France and Italy, at any rate).
Midnight in Paris (2011) (rewatch)
Trailers: Somewhere in Time, Last Night in Soho
This was my #2 movie of 2011 and, I have to say, some of the shine has worn off. It’s still incredibly charming and I still love the sequence that gives Gil his epiphany. And at least part of my disillusionment is probably the Woody Allen of it all. But wow, I found the Rachel McAdams character and ESPECIALLY the Michael Sheen character absolutely intolerable. I mean, I know that’s the whole point of their characters; you’re supposed to be annoyed by them. But I can’t help thinking that Gil’s problem isn’t his nostalgia; rather, he just needs to get these horrible people out of his life. I’m sure loads of relationships have survived despite differences of interests, even huge differences, but if you’re with someone who thinks everything you care about is stupid and a waste of time … I don’t know, maybe just don’t be with that person.
Trailers: Kate & Leopold, I Love You to Death
I saw this so many times the year it came out and when it first appeared in the video stores. It’s funny, it’s gorgeous, and it’s very romantic in its own way. But I’ve lately come to realize (and I know I'm not alone) that 1990s rom-coms were WILD. The plots for most of them are legit insane, and this is no exception. I can buy a woman flying to Paris, despite her fear of flying, to get her man back. I can even buy her being drawn to a strange Frenchman and realizing that her man is not worth getting back after all. But the end – even though it totally works on me and gets me choked up! – could only happen in a movie. And while most of the writing is quite good, there *are* at least a couple of cringy exchanges (most notably the “I want you…” callback, which sounds exactly like someone's darling that they couldn't bear to kill because they thought it was so doggone clever). I still enjoy it, though. And there is nothing better than Kevin Kline's delivery of "Olé."
Trailers: Charade, Tom Jones
I really loved this. Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney play a married couple who are on the brink of crisis (and perhaps have been for some time). We see them driving through the south of France at several points of their relationship -- from their initial courtship to an ill-advised trip with another couple and their supremely annoying child to the dozens of times Finney's character misplaces his passport. The movie jumps all over the place, with no seeming organizational thread, but that's not a bad thing. It shows the highs and lows of a marriage in a way I've never quite seen before, and it doesn't really matter if you can keep up with all the time periods and exactly where you are in the relationship. There are some truly great transitions in this, connecting moments between these two characters in unexpected ways. It has a very late 1960s sensibility in that it ostensibly has a happy ending, but it's bittersweet because this couple problems are still going to be there.
Trailers: The English Patient, Primal Fear
This movie was director Anthony Minghella's follow-up to his Oscar-winning The English Patient, and it really sets off my secondhand embarrassment squick from almost the first moments. I remember it best as a travelogue of Italy, with beautiful locations and cinematography, but there is some serious skewering of bored rich people as well, especially the stunning lack of self-awareness of so many of them. All these socialites (especially Cate Blanchett's character) leave themselves vulnerable to grifters like Ripley because they're afraid to admit they don't recognize someone in case that person is Very Important. I love how the movie is able to get you at least somewhat on Ripley's side -- partly because it's kind of satisfying to see how gullible these people can be because they've never had problems their money can't take care of and it doesn't occur to them to be on guard (except for Philip Seymour Hoffman's character).
Trailers: Moonstruck, While You Were Sleeping
One of my favorite 1990s rom-coms and another wild premise. It's a Norman Jewison movie, and I'm always here for that. I enjoy the Robert Downey Jr. and Marisa Tomei stuff (which makes any interaction between Tony Stark and Aunt May in a Marvel movie extra-charged for me). But my favorite character in the entire movie is Faith's sister Kate (played by the criminally underrated Bonnie Hunt). The side-plot with her marriage troubles is given more care and attention than just about any rom-com side character I can remember. And for all the romance of the main plot, the most romantic thing in the movie to me is the resolution of Kate's story. I will say, though, that as much as the movie sells me on how great a guy RDJ's character is ... shoes off on a plane with your feet on top of the seat in front of you? JAIL.
Trailers: To Kill a Mockingbird, Breakfast at Tiffany's
"Were I not completely aware of my duty to my family and to my country, I would not have come back tonight ... or indeed ever again." One of my favorite line deliveries in any performance EVER. It is no wonder that this movie -- her first American film and her first major film role period -- put Audrey Hepburn on the map in a way that only happens in the movies. Her final scene is an absolute master class in how to convey a tremendous amount of emotion underneath a composed, diplomatic surface. If there's a better advertisement for why you should visit Rome than this movie, I don't know what it is, and I love that it's not Emily in Paris with the most obvious landmarks in every shot. It shows us Rome as a real city, not just a collection of photo ops, and it's an inspiration for me, as someone who loves to travel, of how to put down the guidebooks and really experience a place -- even (perhaps especially) if you only have a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment