halliwell Reviews

Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000)

A brightly colored lovesex fable.

[9 February 2003]

I've never been a big Fassbinder fan but with the coming retrospective I thought it was time to check him out again. So I chose this movie, since it was a Fassbinder script directed by a Frenchman (Ozon) that I admire. It was a delight. Somehow the problems I always had enjoying Fassbinder (the intense cruelty between his characters, the disorienting emotional mood swings, the bleak, dreary German atmosphere) were completely offset by the sense of play and love of color and music that Ozon brings to this script. As in 8 Women, his sense of style and beauty rival Almodovar's and even the grim reality of Fassbinder has a beautiful, chic French gloss. He understands that love and sex in Fassbinder are closely matched with jealousy and destruction. It all clicked for me. And the omnisexuality is so fresh - so unspoiled... That said, it's a devastating critique of what lovers can do to each other. But it's,...well...so pretty...

I really, really enjoyed it.

8 Women (2002)

I think I'm in love with this movie.

[9/10 · 27 October 2002]

Just returned from the theater and I have to say I loved this movie. A big piece of spun sugar with a sad, bittersweet heart. From the candy colored costumes and sets to the amazing talent on display - every piece of this flick satisfied me. I like this kind of stylized film. The suspension of disbelief gives way to suprising emotional weight. Ozon is obviously in love with all women and the way his camera lingers on their clothes, their hair, their jewels(and their guns)is a love letter from a French man to French women. The debt it owes to Umbrellas of Cherbourg is obvious - the debt to Coco Chanel and Yves St. Laurent even more so. I had a blast.

My only complaint is the way he deals with the lesbianism in the film. A little gratuitous, a little male fantasy...too old-school. Yet the song he gives Firmine Richard is the most touching moment in the movie.

All in all, pure pleasure.

Woman of the Year (1942)

guilty pleasure

[9/10 · 9 March 2001]

Yes, the politics are deplorable. But the fact of the matter is that we get to watch two screen legends truly fall in love and I can't think of another movie that gives anyone that opportunity (Cleopatra does not count.). The scene where Hepburn gets drunk and Tracy tells her that he loves her is one of the most beautiful, romantic things I've ever seen on screen - their first kiss is movie magic. That moment alone makes this movie a classic.