The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)

Zangiku monogatari
Japan
directed by: Kenji Mizoguchi
written by: Matsutarô Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda + Shôfû Muramatsu (novel)
starring: Shôtarô Hanayagi, Kakuko Mori, Kôkichi Takada
seen on 28th February, 2022

I can't say I know what to write, even though my brain was working the entire time and my tears made an appearance in several waves. I'm trying to form my thoughts and gather my impressions after every film I watch, so that the "work" of watching it isn't "in vain", but sometimes it really can't be put into words.

Soul (2020)

USA
directed by: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
written by: Pete Docter, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers
starring: Jamie Foxx, Richard Ayoade, Rachel House
seen on 18th February, 2022

One of viewer comments on IMDB was headed with something along the line of "don't show this to your kids" and I think I can agree with that. I cried several times, rather during the film than at the end. The only thing I "disliked" was the character of 22, because the position of a talkative annoying side-kick is a little bit overused, and Tina Fey did nod manage to deliver some sort of charisma or personality to make 22 shine among the other characters/voices. I was very proud of myself for recognizing Rachel House just by her voice. That woman is fantastic and I would follow her anywhere.

The Queen (2006)

United Kingdom/France/Italy
directed by: Stephen Frears
written by: Peter Morgan
starring: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, Helen McCrory
comment made on 1st February, 2022

Looking at it from a film-making perspective, it seems both udignified and courteous at the same time. The big old middle current, everyone is a bit likeable, everyone is a bit of an idiot, let's cry a little, let's move on. In the end it's most interesting as a film about context, and that's how I will think about it.

La Vie en rose (2007)

La Môme
France/United Kingdom/Czechia
directed by: Olivier Dahan
written by: Isabelle Sobelman, Olivier Dahan
starring: Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, Emmanuelle Seigner
commented on 24th January, 2022

I prefer when biopics examine the art rather than the artist's lives themselves. (Which sadly is not the case here.) At least we got the comparison between the composer demonstrating it and the interpret than taking it and making it her own. 

After some deliberation I am ready to say that the time jumps, which I've seen people to criticize as disrupting their viewing experience, made the film better in my eyes. It was a way to make an "ordinary" (predictable? I swear to god all life stories of great singers are the same) story stuctured in some artistic way and give it a glamorous aura of mystery. 

When the ending made me cry, it was because of the music itself shaping it and filling it, not because of the life that preceded it.

The Beautiful Troublemaker (1991)

La Belle noiseuse
France/Switzerland
directed by: Jacques Rivette
written by: Jacques Rivette, Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent + Honoré de Balzac (story)
starring: Michel Piccoli, Emmanuelle Béart, Jane Birkin
seen on 19th January, 2022

When I watched The Troublemaker for the first time (14. 5. 2011), I thought I either didn't like it or didn't understand it. Today I know that I was bothered by the trope of a tortured artist (or worse, one who tortures others) to have someting to make art about. I will probably need to revisit the film in a decace or so again to figure out my stance on it. But I am still not intrigued enough to want to see the painting.