CC_qqqwerty Reviews

Fuyu no hana (1978)

"I'm happy just looking at paintings."

[9/10 · 21 October 2021]

The world before Kano understood the beauty of Tchaikovsky's music was a cruel one. She said she often wrote him letters at a cafe, so he wanted to try it himself. Yes, he could fake normal, drinking coffee and listening to classical music. It's an easy thing to do. But the truth remains that the discrepancy between Yoko's world and his was too much. His gaze was always uncertain and anguish; the patterns of his old life were back, as though they were stuck in a Sisyphean loop.

Excellent framing technique and the choice of classical music, as well as an oyabun that loved paintings, makes it unusual setting of both beauty and macabre.

Izakaya Chôji (1983)

"No one can take away what a person carries in their heart."

[7/10 · 13 October 2021]

Choji is a deeply unhappy man. Even though people go in and out of his izakaya aka snack bar - either for snacks or gossip, nobody seems to realize how unhappy Choji really is, except his one true friend. Not even his sweet, hardworking wife knows much about his past. As much as he wears a 'mask', Choji really is a stoic man. By this I mean he's the type that lives in accordance with reality.

Bad things happen, good things happen. Doesn't matter because that's life. The point in living a good life is to able to find peace even if he's not living his dream, or even living with the woman he truly loves.

Morning's Tree-Lined Street (1936)

Anti-romance

[8/10 · 6 September 2021]

In order to build a better life, some women choose to help themselves, instead of relying on their Prince Charming aka romantic fantasies.

A rather cynical, anti-romance film with a small hint of optimism.

Le coeur battant (1960)

A rather caste and light-hearted romance

[6/10 · 15 June 2021]

I watched this, even without English subs - no, I'm not a French speaker - because of a young, baby-faced Jean-Louis Trintignant (this guy is just -sigh- amazing).

And it managed to make me smile like a dork :D.

Poison for the Fairies (1986)

How to corrupt innocence

[8/10 · 12 May 2021]

I'm so glad to watch this!

Twisted fairytale. A deeply psychological horror on how an innocent child may transform into a potential sociopath. If adults aren't careful enough, those childish games may even lead to an inevitable tragedy.

The Crowd (1928)

A humanist masterpiece

[10/10 · 21 October 2020]

I was stunned for a while.

Shedding few tears here and there, it's not really a big deal, since I sometimes cried during movies. Is this film sad? Yes, it is. Has this film got some humor? Yes, it does. The film is filled with moments of romance, happiness, desperation, sadness, pessimism and optimism.

John Sims is a deeply relatable character. What we see in this almost 100 year-old film still springs true to this day. Life is often unpredictable; people fall in and out of love after some months of marriage. It depends on how a couple decide to fall back in love again. When one finally feels like they had a minor achievement, a tragedy strikes you without an ounce of warning.

"The world can't stop because your baby's sick!"

The crowd moves quickly; if one loses his head, he will soon feel alienated from it. However, if you are as lucky as John Sims, you will experience the same unconditional love from your family. Maybe one day you will gather enough courage to laugh again at the absurdity of life. After all, life will keep on moving forward - whether you laugh or cry.

First Comes Courage (1943)

Oberon and Aherne deliver.

[8/10 · 29 September 2020]

One of the users said s/he almost gave this film an 8. That was my exact opinion, until I watched "The Mortal Storm". In my opinion, this is a better film with an equally impressive and handsome hero and a more impressive (albeit more glamorous looking) heroine - less romance, more sacrifices, which seemingly best suited during wartime.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968 TV Movie)

A wonderful adaptation and performance from Palance

[8/10 · 30 May 2020]

Jack Palance had looks so angular, those knife-like features seemed to be destined to play Frankenstein's monster. Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde - a part that has been adapted countless of times, Palance still managed to convince me as this saintly Jekyll who wanted to repress the darker side of him and regretted all the mess he made, as well as this irredeemable evil Hyde. A man that was both pitiable and terrifying.

Twentieth Century (1934)

Ahead of its time.

[7/10 · 27 May 2020]

Someone said they couldn't enjoy the film where Barrymore and Lombard spent most of the time screaming. However, that's the whole point: the very art of screwball comedies lies on fast paced talking, screaming at each other aka battle of the sexes and absurd situations.

Twentieth Century is actually one of the earliest films that explored this type of comedy. If you can stomach this genre, Barrymore and Lombard will become genuinely hilarious in your eyes. Also, I am quite convinced Gene Wilder's Dr Victor Frankenstein was (at very least partially) modeled after Oscar Jaffe.

A Brief Vacation (1973)

Be like a train; concentrate on your road and go with no hesitation!

[8/10 · 25 May 2020]

Be like a train; go in the rain, go in the sun, go in the storm, go in the dark tunnels! Be like a train; concentrate on your road and go with no hesitation!" Mehmet Murat ildan

Trains are featured prominently in this film. Without them, our heroine, Florinda Bolkan wouldn't be able to go to work, or even mountain retreat. Like trains, she would go on with her life journey - with no regrets and hesitations, in spite of tears.

Ornamental Hairpin (1941)

"All poetic illusion is like a dream, and is always beautiful. But all reality is always ugly."

[8/10 · 21 May 2020]

Hiroshi Shimizu's films have some sort of languishing energy that can be described as elegiac, mournful, or melancholic. This, as whimsical as it is, too cannot escape from such sorrow.

The story sets in a small inn where almost everyone wants to know everybody's private business. When Chishu Ryu hurt his foot accidentally (or rather poetically) by a stranger's ornamental hairpin, the rest of the inn dwellers expect a love story to happen immediately. Nonetheless, life is often not that predictable.

Eventually, every meeting ends with a bittersweet farewell. The problem is we never know when. To leave or to meet again lies on the palms of our hands, they say, but when a person is tied to their own fate, this kind of decision are deceptively simple because they can be hard to make. I suppose this is what most of us would call real life.

The Passionate Friends (1949)

"You are happy, aren't you ?"

[9/10 · 2 May 2020]

This film surprised me a lot. I watched it merely out of curiosity; by the end of the film, I was struck by Ann Todd's performance and had to watch the film twice back-to-back. She expressed her character's inner turmoil so well that I wonder if she was playing herself. I profess I don't watch a lot of movies, barely up to 2,000 films. However, that is only because I am damn picky.

This is rather a mature story of romance. How a relationship could evolve from a marriage of convenience to a real thing of beauty between two people. How one's maturity could evolve from a real thing of passion to a mental state of contentment and stability. It's also a story of irrational jealousy that could potentially negate a prosperous family life.

This is a good example of a film where filmmakers do not have to resort to gratuitous, meretricious scenes to portray lust or passion.

F... comme Fairbanks (1976)

C'est la vie

[8/10 · 25 October 2019]

Patrick Dewaere had his own brand of acting. I would like to think that he was an instinctive talent with an eye for sly humor and over-the-top antics - either comedic or anger. He also proved himself to be a versatile performer, equally capable of being subtle/restrained.

And what a strange film is this ! It cannot be defined in a genre; initially it served as some sort of a light-hearted romantic comedy (you will see that Dewaere did have the quintessential Fairbanks spirit for adventure and virility - just look at how he moved, jumped and rode a horse without reins ! ) and then it gradually turned into one giant existential rabbit pit-hole against a backdrop to the city's economic recession, where our Fairbanks-esque hero slipped so deeply that he just couldn't get out (whereas his Alice could). It's that thin line between comedy and tragedy; delusion and reality. Sometimes it's hard to differentiate between the two.

Angie (1994)

Not much of a comedy, more of a drama with some adult humor

[7/10 · 17 October 2019]

Sometimes I wonder why Geena Davis' 1990s movies (apart from Thelma and Louise and A League of Their Own) received a lot of bad reviews. Angie isn't even as bad as some would think.

Seeing how this film was marketed when it first came out when it isn't even a romantic comedy in the first place, it was no wonder some felt there was too many dramatic things going on all at once. In truth, Angie is an adult with a lot of unresolved issues due to her childhood abandonment by her mother. This 'baggage' leads her into becoming an irresponsible, selfish adult who does not know how to make good decisions; one incident after another, Angie is really one unlikable protagonist despite having a great circle of supportive friends and family. She even has a nice guy for a fiance - someone who actually wants to marry her when she gets pregnant. What does she do instead ? Having an affair with a stranger whom she barely knows.

However, this is the whole point about the movie. At the end Angie learns that it wasn't only her who was having hard time accepting herself. All the people who are important to her, all of them are having the similar feelings - it's just different situation.

I don't know how you feel about this film, but to me, this film is about learning how to accept own's past and how to love unconditionally. Such theme is getting rarer and rarer...