A Few of the Films I've Seen Lately, Some of Which I Loved Greatly

Shake, rattle and roll, Baz Luhrmann’s biopic, Elvis (2022) Luhrmann. A basketball player starts the game smoking hot, hitting threes from impossible distances, flashing by defenders for theatrical dunks and making dazzling behind-the-back no-look passes. He’s in a zone and is an absolute joy to watch. As the game wears on he continues to play well though without the dazzle. By game’s end he’s given an excellent overall performance though people are still talking about that first period display. That, for me, was Elvis. Clocking in at two hours and thirty-nine minutes it was bound to slow down, even producing a yawn or two towards the end, but the overall effect was extremely satisfying. Elvis is highlighted by its two leads, Austin Turner in the title role and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker both of whom give bravura performances. Elvis glosses over the real Presley’s cultural appropriation of African-American music and style but despite this wart is to be credited for giving a kaleidoscopic view of the U.S. from the early fifties through the mid seventies. Funny thing for me is that I never really liked Elvis Presley and after seeing the film I still don’t. 

Miscast, Overly Melodramatic but Beautiful, La belle et la bête (1946) Cocteau. A thirty-three year old woman (Josette Day) who could pass for forty, should not be playing Belle, a role for someone between eighteen and twenty-two. Jean Marais, the director’s lover, was also miscast as the beast — actually he was fine as the beast, but once he made the transformation to prince (oops! Spoiler) he’s all wrong. This version of Beauty and the Beast is a feast for the eyes and worth a gander for that alone. But Cocteau was not one for half measures nor even full measures, he always went for one and half. The melodrama here is over wrought approaching bad soap opera level. I still admire the film, but the flaws are big sore thumbs.

The Most Fascinating Chess Game Ever Filmed, The Seventh Seal (1957) Bergman. Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal is generally regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. I certainly feel it is, as evidenced by the fact that is in my all-time top ten. More than that it is an iconic film that is instantly recognizable to people who’ve never seen it. It was an influential picture which stamped Bergman as an important director. Max Von Sydow making his first of many appearances in Bergman films, stars as the knight, Antonius Block, returning from the crusades, only to have to fend off Death (as personified by a man in black) in a chess match. This he does while roaming the countryside with his squire. They encounter a three-person acting troupe (reduced to two as Death pays one of their members a call — no chess match here). What better time to contemplate life and its wonders than when pursued by death. As Samuel Johnson said, a forthcoming death “concentrates (the) mind wonderfully.” For a film about dying, The Seventh Seal is wonderfully optimistic with scenes of lightness and rascally fun. Yet it takes it theme seriously and its ability to ease viewers into musing about morality is unmatched in cinema. Seventh Seal is also notable for some of the finest cinema photography ever committed to celluloid (credit Gunnar Fischer, who shot many of Bergman’s film before Sven Nykvist took over). Bergman's framing of scenes and shots is masterful throughout. 

Once Upon a Great film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) Tarantino. I believe this was my fifth viewing of what is becoming for me a classic film. I like everything about it but perhaps mostly the uncanny recreation of California in 1969. I’m writing a book set in the Sixties so my brain spends a lot of time back then and OUATIH along with the next film I’m going to mention, are very much of the time. In my latest viewing I took particular note of the manner in which co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt shone in their respective roles, calling upon their many years of experience to give their characters depth. Margot Robbie is similarly important as she brings a kittenish charm and fun into her role as Sharon Tate, making Ms. Tate's murder seem all the more tragic. Indeed the entire supporting cast is wonderful, particularly the legendary Al Pacino and on the opposite end of the age scale, Julia Butters (sixty-nine years his junior). I also fell in love with Margaret Qualley as Pussycat. Meow.

Gentrification circa 1970 in The Landlord (1970) Ashby. It was an underrated film when it hit theaters (I saw it way back then) and is an underrated film today. One supposes it will never get its due, which is a pity. Beau Bridges plays the scion of a wealthy, conservative family who buys a tenement in a Black section of Brooklyn aiming to convert into his own dream house. But the best laid plans…. He falls for not one but two African American women, the problem is that one he impregnates is married and lives in the apartment with her (justifiably) angry husband. So yeah, complications ensued. More importantly our young hero learns lessons aplenty, as does his adventurous mother who deigns to visit the apartment. It’s all very Sixties as few films can claim to be, wonderfully capturing the zeitgeist. There is much wackiness amid the morals and it all makes for great fun and a memorable film. Hal Ashby's directorial debut.

Enjoying different perspectives through film, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022) Hyde. I haven’t spent a lot of time wondering about the sex lives of sixty something widows. But I got some insight into the topic from this delightful new film starring Emma Thompson as a woman who hires a male escort in hopes of enjoying the kind of sexual adventures she was denied in marriage. Topping her list of to-dos is achieving her first orgasm, but she also longs to both perform and receive oral sex. Not your usual cinematic fare. Most of the film takes place in a hotel room and features Ms. Thompson talking with her co-star the appropriately young and handsome (not to mention charming and polite) Daryl McCormack. The encounters push the boundaries of your typical male escort/widow encounters, not through any sexual gymnastics, but in the depth of conversations in which they engage which in their way go further than the sex does (though there's plenty of that too). It is in many ways a weighty film but easy to take given the charming co-stars and an excellent screenplay by Katy Brand. Envelopes are pushed, lessons are learned and viewers are entertained.