Divine Sequences

I'm going to try and start a new feature here on YRC titled "Divine Sequences" where I will embed sequences from recent films I've watched that have struck a deep chord within and then explain why and do some cinematic and personal analysis. It'll be a chance to share things I love with whomever so decides to read this blog.

Let the sequences commence!

Tonight I had a few friends over and we watched a recent personal favorite (Lone Sherfig's An Education) and a music biopic I'd never seen, Immortal Beloved. My love for An Education runs very deep, but I have to say that the latter film was stunningly beautiful, even if it didn't strike nearly as deep an emotional chord as the former. The two sequences I will be discussing is the "Paris" montage of An Education and the "Ode to Joy" sequence from Immortal Beloved.

The Paris Montage:



The Paris montage in the above clip starts at 0:14 and is the most accurate representation of Paris' personality that I've yet to see on film. Having lived there for a whirlwind 4 months, I watch this sequence with nostalgia because this clip has the odd ability to stir up each experience and emotion I felt while abroad, and does it with such panache and grace. It's a stunning sequence that just makes me want to head back to France immediately.

The "Ode to Joy" sequence (it ends around the 4 minute mark):



The film up to this point had certainly interested me and made my eyes very happy, but this marked a turning point in my viewing experience. I feel as though we hadn't seen enough back story on Beethoven and seen his internal trajectory. This sequence provided exactly what I felt the film had been missing to that point, and from this moment on I was enthralled. My mind could not turn away from the story. There is nothing I love more than a story set to music without any dialogue, and this is the epitome of those moments. Set to the incredibly moving "Ode to Joy" we see Beethoven as a child escaping the oppression of the home and achieving the joy he so rightly deserved. It's an inspired moment and that final image of him laying in the lake with the stars reflected in the water is one of the most stunning images I've ever seen.

Hope you enjoyed my effusion of love!

THX-WHAT!

In Film Appreciation today we viewed George Lucas' THX-1138 and color me bored. Anybody who knows me understands that science fiction never toots my horn, but despite some fantastic photography from the film (all the stark white, the wonderful camera angles), it was the single most amateur and indulgent science fiction "masterpiece" I've ever seen. There was little to no character development that went beyond "I stopped taking my MEDS!" and the film as a whole offered little engagement for me. Believe me, I tried hard to appreciate the use of the soundscape, the repetitive images, the dystopian intertextuality, but it all felt flat and paint-by-numbers. At least we had a young and HOT Robert Duvall:

Well hello there! Who knew you used to be so attractive? All I can picture are the shots of him in the upcoming Get Low....let's say that they're less than appetizing.

Dear Patty, I understand that you want us all to love your favorite films (mostly science fiction and Hitchcock), but please stop it. I would like something a little different soon. What happened to the Meet Me in St. Louis days? I miss Judy Garland singing in garish costumes.

Unmoved!

I seem to find myself inextricably unenthused by Jean-Luc Godard's films. Now I've only seen Breathless, his bazonkers King Lear, and todays Contempt, but each one failed to move me in any way. Contempt came very close with its shocker of an ending and the banter between Brigitte Bardot and co-star Michel Piccoli, but it again failed to inspire me.
I guess I'll just keep on trying.





Also? I found Brigitte Bardot not nearly as attractive as she's supposed to have been. I understand that she seems to exude sex out of nearly every pore, but she's not nearly the Gallic beauty I thought she would be. I thought she'd look something like this:

This is promotional art for Contempt (and perhaps the most iconic shot of Bardot), and although she wears a red towel in one--albeit very long--scene, she not once looks like she does in that picture. Misleading? Yes. Disappointing? Whatever. She's still French, blonde, and buxom. Doesn't that mean that the men will fall over her no matter what? It seems as though nobody in this film was very taken with her. Therefore proving my point that she is not the Megan Fox of 1963.

Top 10 of 2006:#2

(David Frankel, 2006)

It has been a very long time since I first made my top 10 of 2006, and I am proud to say that my choices haven't really changed. Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette would replace Venus, and Little Children would certainly have fallen by the wayside. Alas, I must stick by my top 2 since they haven't changed. David Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada is a chick-flick. What draws me to it again and again is its perfection in its focus. It presents the fashion world without blatantly criticizing. Alongside what may possibly become Meryl Streep's most iconic performance, Anne Hathaway emerges as an actress separate from The Princess Diaries and makes good on her shining talent which was showcased in Brokeback Mountain. This is one of those few films that I could turn to on T.V. and no matter which scene it was on I could pick up watching immediately.

Mulliganed!

For those of you who know me, you'd be apt to recognize that I am what Nathaniel Rogers of The Film Experience Blog would call an "actressexual." Definition meaning that I am wholly devoted to actresses of all shapes, sizes, and colors. My newest obsession seems to be Hollywood's as well: Carey Mulligan.

As you can see, Carey is a great enough actress that she interpreted my excitement at her casting in the future "My Fair Lady" with this wonderful photo above. Although I'm saddened that my personal fave Joe Wright isn't helming, the news that Carey will be playing Eliza Doolittle makes me giddy beyond belief. Life is good.

NEGLECT!

So, for the people in my head whom actually read my blog, I imagine it's been an upsetting two years since my last post! Believe me, I have been extremely upset as well. I'm going to attempt to revive this blog through various thoughts, reviews, pictures, and musings about my life and my daily encounters with cinema. I'm hoping this will prove to be both cathartic AND fun! We can only hope.

The Top 10 of 2006: #3

Venus (Roger Michell, 2006)
Peter O'Toole is this film. He carries it through his pathos and his beautiful longing. This is a love story, though a very unconventional one. At first the love between Sir O'Toole and the teenage Jessie (played by Jodie Whittaker) creeped me out. However, when you move past the sexuality that appears to drive this relationship towards the beginning, something beautiful shows itself. This is an extremely sad film, and it's not for those who are easily upset (sorry Kiki). However, it is a film that is rewarding to the viewer in every sense of the word. I love it.