The Holiday Shuffle: Too Many Movies, Too Little Time
It's been a while since I've written about any movies I've seen, but believe me, it's not for lack of movies I want to see! It's not even December and I'm already feeling the holiday overload of films that have either been recently released or are upcoming in the near future and are clamoring for my attention. The only one I managed to check off over the Thanksgiving holidays was "Margot at the Wedding" (my friend's preference rather than mine: I was pushing for either "Enchanted" or "No Country for Old Men"), which I found frankly underwhelming and distinctly inferior to last year's "The Squid and the Whale." When I tried to convince my parents to toddle forth to a movie theater, they ended up convincing me to stay home and watch "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" instead...I'm actually glad they did, since they've had it on VHS forever but (I'm ashamed to admit) I've never actually watched it all the way through. My recent attendance at the AFI's Tribute to Catherine Deneuve rekindled my interest in doing so, despite my vague childhood impressions of "Cherbourg" as a sappy, candy-colored musical. Well, it's certainly as candy-colored as I remembered, but it's in fact much less dewy-eyed and a lot more delicately nuanced than I was expecting...In fact, I'm contemplating doing a separate blog post on the film, though I doubt I'll have much to add that hasn't been said by legions of critics.
But anyway, this means I'm behind on the movies I want to see, and more are coming. Currently on my ever-expanding wish list:
"No Country for Old Men"
"Enchanted"
"I'm Not There"
"The Savages"
"Starting Out in the Evening" (saw it at Sundance, but want to see it again: PEOPLE, PLEASE GO SEE THIS MOVIE, DON'T LET IT GET LOST IN THE HOLIDAY SHUFFLE!)
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"Juno"
"The Golden Compass"
"Atonement"
"Diva" (Beineix's ubercool New-New Wave masterpiece is being briefly rereleased in theaters in selected cities, I think in honor of its 25th anniversary. It's also being released on a new Criterion DVD.)
I have fond hopes of seeing ALL of these and commenting on them before Christmas, but there is that little thing called work, that may intrude. Nonetheless, I will do my best. This is truly the best and worst time of year for movie lovers.
But anyway, this means I'm behind on the movies I want to see, and more are coming. Currently on my ever-expanding wish list:
"No Country for Old Men"
"Enchanted"
"I'm Not There"
"The Savages"
"Starting Out in the Evening" (saw it at Sundance, but want to see it again: PEOPLE, PLEASE GO SEE THIS MOVIE, DON'T LET IT GET LOST IN THE HOLIDAY SHUFFLE!)
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"Juno"
"The Golden Compass"
"Atonement"
"Diva" (Beineix's ubercool New-New Wave masterpiece is being briefly rereleased in theaters in selected cities, I think in honor of its 25th anniversary. It's also being released on a new Criterion DVD.)
I have fond hopes of seeing ALL of these and commenting on them before Christmas, but there is that little thing called work, that may intrude. Nonetheless, I will do my best. This is truly the best and worst time of year for movie lovers.
posted by lylee at 2:58 AM
2 Comments:
Yes, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is a good film. I've been trying to think of something new to say about it too.
However, "so good it makes you want to grab Baz Luhrmann by the scruff of the neck and say, 'Now this is what a musical is supposed to be like'" just didn't seem to do the film justice.
Sad to say, I think it would be very difficult to sell "Cherbourg" today, at least to American audiences. (Possibly not to French, to the extent they haven't been corrupted by our exports.)
Funny that it still has something of the aura of a romantic film, when, really, it's anything but romantic. My parents have a habit of saying the French are the most anti-romantic people in the world (with the exception of Victor Hugo). Maybe not, maybe so, but in some ways they do seem to have far the most realistic perception of human nature and relationships.
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