Sunset Blvd. (1950)

USA
directed by: Billy Wilder 
written by: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder
starring: Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, William Holden
comment: 6th January, 2017

Well, I'm rather confused, and most of all by William Holden's part. (I would very much like to see the film with the original choice for this role - Montgomery Clift. I saw a picture of him and an older actress and his lover at the time, Libby Holman, and immediately I was under the impression that a much more unique film was stolen from me.) The living character of Holden's is a cynic and an opportunist, but his dead voice brings no other qualities, or I fail to recognize them, so it only doubles the informations I'm already seeing. I would like to see the film without the voiceover. Overall gravitas and eloquence would skyrocket, I imagine.

I actually compared Sunset Blvd. with A Streetcar Named Desire in my head a couple of times. The films were released closely to each other, they both deal with their heroines descending into madness, and their final scenes are almost identical, including the two memorable quotes proclaimed while already deranged. I also read that Billy Wilder knows nothing about further fate of Norma Desmond, except for the fact that she went insane for good, while Tennessee Williams said that Blanche flourished in the mental institution, she got the attention she needed and went on to achieve life's happiness. This also illustrates the difference I feel between these two works of art and while I enjoyed Sunset Blvd. and have respect for its "message", I would always prefer the Streetcar over it. Because when I try to imagine that the whole of "Streetcar" gets narrated by Stanley Kowalski's bland and informative voiceover, it instantly ages the film by a few decades and loses it's modern feeling. And that's how I perceive Sunset Blvd.

The Matrix (1999)

USA
written and directed by: The Wachowskis
starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne
comment: 5th Januray, 2017

-"Do you think that's air you're breathing now?"

If there is a film equivalent of a motivational postcard depicting sunset with a scribble reading "Which one of you bitches wants to dance?", then it must be The Matrix. Because there is no spoon. It's a fairy tale conveying that everything can be alright in the end, complete with a wise fox offering helpful advice, a horse with golden mane that can fly and help you achieve your mission and a crossroad where a hero must choose which path will most likely lead to the water of life. And never before and never after was the unchanging expression of Keanu Reeves used so efficiently and ostentatiously. I will, probably forever, love everything about this film, including the fact that the steak Cypher enjoys so much looks absolutely revolting to me.

MASH (1970)

USA
directed by: Robert Altman
written by: Ring Lardner Jr. + Richard Hooker (book)
starring: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman
comment: 3rd January, 2017

It needs to be said that the subsequent TV series was intensely watched (and worshiped) in my household throughout my entire childhood, so the series will always be a golden standard in my eyes, no matter what the circumstances are. And while I'm saying things that need to be said I better say that I don't think I properly understood the film. I mean, I am perceiving what is going on, and I sense what were the creators' intentions, but I don't get why they chose to approach the subject the way they did and sometimes it's even a bit uncomfortable for me to watch it.

The song "Suicice is painless" sums it up nicely. It's a bit scary without context, it might seem harmless and catchy, but the longer I think about it the more silly and detrimental it seems - mainly because of its lyrics, the interpret's uncaring tone of voice and absence of healthy sarcasm anywhere near it. The song's use during "the last supper" somehow betters its reputation in my eyes, beucase it gets the much needed, even though unspoken, commentary from film's creators.

So yes, some parts of the film can be entrancing, but the whole thing does not work for me. My favourite anti-war satires look differently. Right in the year 1970 sprouts one of my favourites, Catch-XXII, and it beats MASH by a lot. I can understand their work with absurdity of war with my mind and with my heart and both are happy. I miss Altman's points completely. He's humiliating Hot Lips to reveal her hidden fragility, what?!