Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

USA
directed by: James Whale
written by: William Hurlbut, John L. Balderston, Philip MacDonald, R.C. Sherriff + Mary Shelley (book)
starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson
seen on 23rd May, 2021

I'm not sure if I watched it in a wrong mood or what but this sequel seems to not follow in any footsteps that made the first one good/interesting. The prologue with the authors was awesome, the ending in the lab with the hissing was extremely awesome, everything Boris did was frickin' mega awesome, but the rest of the runtime... 

Unbearable side characters such as the old maid or the fiancée, Henry is still an impotent ignoramus, doctor Devil and with his trunk of bottles is ludicrous... The second half does get better, but oh my did the middle part with all the needless stuff make it hard to watch, the atmosphere suffered a real blow. 

Frankenstein (1931)

USA
directed by: James Whale
written by: Garrett Fort, Francis Edward Faragoh + Mary Shelley (book)
starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clarke
seen on 21st May, 2021

The thing is, to Boris I would not hesitate giving all the praise there is, but I do have a bunch of not-so-nice notes towards the rest of the film, making the review "average" even though the film is obviously not average at all. 

At the centre of my displeasure is how the film-makers either don't understand the character of Victor Frankenstein (in the film renamed Henry) or intentionally manipulate emotions to make him  seem like a "nice guy". I've hated the character with a passion ever since I read the book many years ago and he definitely has a spot in my personal "top 10 most hated fictional characters of all time". So any attempt at making him into a sympathetic protagonist makes me angry beyond measure.

Instead of this true, deep evil (that the book really is about, to me) the film-makers dwell on the "pretty" stuff, like pseudogothic set pieces, mob mentality and sensitive monster exploitation. It is a genre building piece of cinema, but it also foreshadows how many horror movies remove the intriguing layers from their backgrounds. It attacks the lowest urges instead of asking questions.

Jules and Jim (1962)

Jules et Jim
France
directed by: François Truffaut
written by: François Truffaut, Jean Gruault + Henri-Pierre Roché (book)
starring: Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre
seen on 3rd April, 2021

-"Keep in mind that words can't have the same meaning across languages, because they're not of the same gender. Unlike in French, "war", "death" and "moon" are masculine in German, while "sun" and "love" are feminine. "Life" is neuter."

I'd like to think I'm playful, but this film would make me judge and reject everything playful altogether. Too much of a male optics for me to navigate through. 

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

USA
directed by: Frank Capra
written by: Robert Riskin
starring: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft
seen on 23rd March, 2021

Oh yes, the ancient human fantasy of punching a lawyer in the face without repercussions. 

I don't really know what to think about Mr. Deeds, and I'm not sure if letting my impressions settle will help me or make me completely forget about the film. I immediately thought of comparing it with Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, which I found better articulated and better made overall. 

Mr. Deeds is either too much (or too little) a comedy, in its current state it seems like the jokes are interrupting the flow of the story and/or message. Gary Cooper is obviously brilliant and I like him way more that Jimmy Stewart, but the rest around him... The tension between comedy, romance and militant naivete is stressing me out and I seem to have some kind of a personal feud with films that can't decide what they want to be. Stop hiding behind "a comedy" when you want to make a movie about something serious, film-makers. Mr. Deeds does not exactly fall into that category, but still. It made me think of that so here it shall be written.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

USA
directed by: Wes Anderson
written by: Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
starring: Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson
seen on 30th December, 2020

I don't know how does Wes Anderson fare with regards to mental health, since his movies don't necesarily reflect his actual reality (but I bet they kind of do and oh wow), but Owen Wilson for sure battles with bipolar disorder and self-destructive depression all his life and oh wow. With this in mind I have big trouble trying to consider this a comedy and maybe I'd even dare say it wasn't meant to be one. The fact that the maker has a sense of humor does not dictate the genre of the film he makes. I would probably label Tenenbaums to be psychoanalysis verging on psychotherapy. Those inner demons are more or less visible in every Wes movie, but this one seems to be the most raw, the most painful and the most uncomfortable to watch. Whenever I watch any Luke Wilson film (including Legally Blonde), I always end up thinking about him finding his brother Owen after his attempted suicide and saving his life, and therefore every Luke Wilson film ends up causing me a little bit of trauma. How big of a trauma will this film cause, opening its veins directly? But perhaps my vision is clouded by my own demons and most viewers don't see the same film as me when watching The Royal Tenenbaums. Lucky them.

The Ice Storm (1997)

USA/France
directed by: Ang Lee
written by: James Schamus + Rick Moody (book)
starring: Joan Allen, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Sigourney Weaver
seen on 30th December, 2020

I would be rather interested to find out how it's possible that Mychael Danna's score for The Ice Storm has been one of my favourite soundtrack for years without me ever seeing the film itself before. In any case, this is one of those movies where it's kind of impossible for me to make my own opinion of them because I remember it being one of my mum's favourite films, and all of my mum's films become shrines and mementos of her and as such I cannot consciously or unconsciously question them.

Nevertheless, I can say that apart from that deliciously melancholy music I was deeply touched by the interplay of what was going on in the story with the enviroment where it was happening: naked trees, dead leaves on the ground, wind, cold, that depersonalized house, and of course ice.

For Sama (2019)

United Kingdom
directed by: Waad Al-Khateab, Edward Watts
starring: Waad Al-Kateab, Hamza Al-Khateab, Sama Al-Khateab
seen on 28th December, 2020

-"She's saing 'Mum, why did you give birth to me? It's been nothing but war since the day I was born.'" 

I myself am speechless.