Day 359 - Belle de Jour

Belle de Jour (1967) directed by Luis Bunuel

Belle de Jour begins with a startling rape fantasy scene where its main character Severine imagines her husband ordering two men to humiliate and dominate her. In reality her husband is near perfect, handsome, considerate and caring, but does not fulfill her innermost sexual desires. This is a film about sexual repression, fantasies and the means to liberate them.

When finding out that someone she knows has taken to prostitution in a brothel, Severine displays disgust but deep down inside she is erotically intrigued. She works up the courage to go to one and without any explanation or fanfare she decides to become a prostitute. While most girls do it for the money, she does it to fulfill her fantasies and liberate her sexual being. In the process we see that the nature of sexual desire isn't merely the act of sex (there are no explicit sex scenes in the film) but rather in the mind. We see several clients with odd fetishes that are difficult to explain. One involves a mysterious buzzing box and the sound of bells, while another involves some strange funeral ritual. The most normal fetish is simple domination which Severine observes with disgust yet watches intently. Severine's own domination fantasy involves mud being thrown at her tied-up body. If you watch enough porn, you'll eventually come across some crazy stuff that is just impossible to explain. Some of it is so bizarre  and/or disgusting you can't believe anyone would watch it yet some people clearly do. What makes it sexually provocative isn't the sex itself but the idea of it. Despite its steamy premise, Belle de Jour is more psychological than sexy, but hardly any less erotic or provocative than typical Hollywood T&A flicks. It is only so long before Severine's two worlds intertwine with each other, just as it her fantasies become more interlaced with her reality. By the end it is difficult to differentiate what is real and what isn't.

This is a hard movie to explain, yet so fascinating to watch. It may not be for everyone as it is the slow kind of artsy film that is purposely ambiguous and symbolic that some people just hate, but I was totally engrossed by it. It's hard to explain why I liked this movie so much, other than that I'm probably some type of sexual deviant with crazy unknown fetishes of my own. Kidding! (Sort of.)

Grade: A-

Day 358 - The Man Who Wasn't There

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) directed by The Coen Brothers

The Man Who Wasn't There is the Coen Brothers ode to film noir, a genre I have grown to know and love over the past year. It gets most of the details right from the stark black and white cinematography to the lurid plot details where people are blackmailed, backstabbed, murdered, wrongly accused yet rightly caught. Yet if there is one thing that it doesn't do right is pace the film accordingly to its potential. What I mean is that on paper the details look and feel like this could be a thriller on par with Double Indemnity but instead it opts to be a moody and deliberate character piece, which isn't actually a bad thing, but that isn't really what film noirs are. But I understand why this film is paced so slowly. It is because its central character, Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) is a slow and deliberate character. He narrates the film with a detached manner as if an impartial observer to his own story. He has lived a life with little meaning or passion. His wife is cheating on him but he simply shrugs it off as if that is just how things are.

The story has a familiar film noir plot. A businessman comes into town with the idea of a new invention called dry cleaning. He needs $10,000 to start up. Ed, tired of his ordinary meaningless life, knows where to get $10,000, anonymously blackmail his friend who is having an affair with his wife. It sets into motion a story straight out of the golden days of film noir complete with ironic twists of fates and unexpected deaths and developments. It seems intriguing but as I stated before it isn't quite as compelling as it sounds thanks to its meticulous pacing and focus on the details of the genre rather than the plot itself. The Coen Brothers carefully construct a classical film noir but uncharacteristically forget to get the story right. It's easy to read that and think that this is a slow and boring movie but it really isn't thanks to the Coen Brothers's excellent craftsmanship. The film looks superb and manages to keep things interesting even when the story isn't always on point. Plus the film is well acted and the slow and deep focus on Ed's character pays off as we get such a great sense of a character so lost and trapped in life. This may be categorized as film noir but it is perhaps an even better character study.

Grade: B-

Day 357 - The Wedding Banquet

The Wedding Banquet (1993) directed by Ang Lee

Have you ever told a lie that simply got out of hand? Wai Tung has lived his whole life as a lie, keeping the fact he's gay a secret from his old fashioned parents. This has served as a constant nuisance in his life as they keep pestering him about marriage and grandchildren. But they live in Taiwan and he lives in America so he hasn't felt the need to come out of the closet to them. After his parents take things one step further by setting him up with a woman, Wai Tung's boyfriend Simon comes up with an ingenious plan for Wai Tung to marry their friend Wei-Wei who needs a green card. She gets to stay in America while Wai Tung can finally get his parents off his back. That way everyone is happy. That is until the parents inform them that they will be coming to New York for the wedding. And the lies keep on building up until you know they will eventually tip over. The Wedding Banquet is a familiar comedy of errors and misinformation that could be so easily be made into farcical slapstick, but thankfully under Ang Lee's watchful direction and tender care, it becomes a surprisingly moving family comedic drama.

What makes this film so good is that it tackles important social and family issues of the pressures of being gay and pleasing one's parents while not taking itself too seriously either. There is a delicate balance between its light hearted comedic elements and its serious drama. The key to the film is in having characters that we can care about. We can sense the pressure in Wai Tung's life as he desperately doesn't want to disappoint his parents. There is Simon, the ever thoughtful and considerate boyfriend who suggests this whole farce in the first place. It is only inevitable of course that he will feel left out as he plays the role of "just a friend" while Wai Tung's parents are around. The parents themselves would be easy to stereotype as old fashioned folk who simply don't get it, and in many ways they are for the purposes of the film, but they are also surprisingly rich in character as well. Perhaps the most interesting character of all is Wei-Wei. The marriage benefits her because she gets a green card but her feelings are hardly considered. She likes Wai Tung and on some level wishes she really were married to him. By the end of the film, I grew to care for all the characters and was surprised by how moved I was by such a seemingly light hearted comedy.

Grade: A-

Day 356 - Touching the Void

Touching the Void (2003) directed by Kevin Macdonald

I'm always fascinated by these survival stories where people go through great lengths to get themselves out of impossibly harrowing ordeals. It is a true test of human courage and the sheer will to live. Stories like the guy in 127 Hours where he cuts off his own arm to free himself from a rock are just incredible to me. Of course it makes me wonder why people even climb mountains, explore the wilderness, and run across deserts in the first place. I guess part of what makes us human is our curiosity, our sense of adventure or our desire to simply conquer the world.

In 1985, two British climbers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates went to Peru to climb the treacherous west face of the Siula Grande. It had never been successfully climbed before and they were going to do it "Alpine style", climbing the mountain in one great push carrying all the gear with them. (Typically these climbs are pre-planned ahead of time with base camps set up along the way.) The climb to the top takes several grueling but uneventful days. The scenery is deadly but serenely beautiful and I can only imagine the feeling of standing on top of the world. But the tricky part is on the way down as 80% of all climbing accidents occur on the descent. I'm not giving anything away by saying something happens and that they live to tell about it because the real life Simpson and and Yates are interviewed recalling these events. But that doesn't make the film any less gripping and terrifying even though we know we are only watching a reenactment and that they survive.

The descent is hazardous and the worst possible thing happens; Joe lands awkwardly after slipping off a cliff face and breaks his leg, a virtual death sentence 20,000 feet high with no support. Recalling the incident Joe admits to being surprised that Simon stayed with him rather than going on ahead, decreasing his own chances of survival greatly. They devise a plan to attach two 150 foot ropes together to make one longer 300 foot rope where Simon would lower Joe down. The key moment of the film occurs when Simon inadvertently lowers Joe off the side of a cliff leaving him dangling in the air. Simon has no idea what is going on below him except that all of Joe's weight is on the rope. He is stuck holding his position unable to pull him up while Joe is stuck dangling in the air unable to get down or up. They are stuck in this position for quite a while when it becomes painfully clear that Simon will have to cut the rope or risk them both plummeting to their deaths once Simon's precarious position in the unstable snow gives way. But cutting the rope would mean almost certain death for Joe who may fall who knows how far below. It could be just 10 feet, it could be 5000. What a terrible decision Simon has to make but he makes the only logical one and one that Joe himself said he would make. He cuts the rope.

And this is where the story gets really dicey. Simon has no idea where Joe could have possibly landed when he cut the rope and can only assume the worst, that he's dead and goes on ahead alone. But as we all know, Joe is alive and well (sort of). Incredibly he falls relatively safely into a deep crevice. Unable to go back up and not content to just sit there and die, he gambles by going down even further into the crevice, into the unknown. Amazingly he manages to find a way out, but that is only the beginning of his ordeal. He still has thousands of feet to descend with a broken leg and limited supplies. This portion of the film is a testament to human courage and sheer will power. Of course we know he survives but the ordeal is so impossible we can hardly believe it is true. When Joe and Simon are finally reunited together, the emotional power of the moment is almost too much.

Touching the Void is an incredible story that is both terrifying and inspiring. It is also perhaps the best docudrama I've ever seen. I know the actors playing Joe and Simon are reenacting the scenes with the safety and supervision of stunt coordinators but I was genuinely scared for them. Shot on location in the Andes the scenery is breathtaking and daunting. In one scene we see Joe bravely crawl and hop his way twenty yards at a time when the camera dramatically zooms out revealing the entirety of the mountain and just how tiny we really are in the world. That Joe was able to survive is simply amazing.

Grade: A

Day 355 - The Gambler

The Gambler (1974) directed by Karel Reisz

It's always funny when you watch a movie that could basically be about you. I kind of feel that way about any movie about gambling since I could always find something to relate to; the uncontrollable itch, the thrill of victory, the soul crushing losses, the self loathing afterwards, the glimmer of hope, the despair, the highs, the lows, the smoothness of the dice, the anxiety of the next card, praying on a longshot, the feeling of cold hard cash, searching through your empty pockets, betting money you can't afford to lose, winning money so you can bet even bigger, bemoaning your bad luck when deep down inside you know you're destined to lose, the self destruction. I know these feelings all too well, perhaps not as much as Axel Freed does in The Gambler, but I'd be lying if I said I haven't been just as stupid as he is at times in this movie.

James Caan plays Axel Freed, a gambling junkie who is in for $44,000 to some very bad people. It's money that he does not have yet he doesn't seem too worried. All he needs is one big rush and everything will be better. But of course we all know how that turns out. His mother bails him out and gets him the money but instead of paying off his debts he instead gambles even more and even bigger. His girlfriend asks him, "What if you lose?" He replies back, "I'm not going to lose. I'm going to gamble!" During a hot streak in Vegas he doubles down on a hard 18 which is obviously ridiculous. Someone tells him that he is crazy. He replies back, "I'm not crazy. I'm blessed." There are some all time classic gambling quotes in this film for its sheer absurdity and awesomeness.

The plot develops the way you would expect, with Axel's gambling addiction spiraling out of control as his world collapses around him. This is one of the best films I've seen in dealing with the issues of gambling addiction as it captures the desperation of Axel's character so well. (The best film I've seen about gambling addiction is Owning Mahowny) What also makes the character work is the actor who plays him, James Caan, who delivers his lines like a true junkie and is generally awesome. I could see a bit of myself in the character which was kind of funny and scary at the same time. That could very well be me in ten years!

Grade: B+

Day 354 - My Week with Marilyn

My Week with Marilyn (2011) directed by Simon Curtis

If there is any one person who exemplifies the pressures of fame it would have to be Marilyn Monroe. She was perhaps the most famous woman in the world, practically a goddess to many, but deep down inside she shared the same insecurities and vulnerabilities as the rest of the world. It sounds cliche to say but celebrities are people too. My Week with Marilyn captures a brief moment in the troubled star's life told from the perspective of Colin Clark, a young assistant director during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).

The film centers around Monroe but is actually Colin's story. In a way this is the best way to understand Monroe because we can never really know what she was thinking or how she felt. Here was a woman who was so well known yet remained a mystery to even those who knew her best. We can only know how she affected the people around her and how the world perceived her. The film begins with Colin, an eager youth who talks his way onto the set of The Prince and the Showgirl as an assistant to Laurence Olivier. (How it must have been to be working underneath one of the most revered actors of all time and the biggest icon of the time both at once.) In walks Monroe and heads turn and hearts drop. Even the mighty Olivier is mesmerized. The film is all about Monroe but also about how others responded to her.

But immediately we can see she is not perfect. She has the finicky nature of a movie star where everything must be just right, but she also has the insecurities of a normal young woman. She is afraid of not being good enough, afraid of being alone, perhaps afraid of herself. On the set, she is a nervous wreck, forgetting lines and missing her marks. Soon enough Olivier's admiration of her turns into angry frustration, writing her off as another typical spoiled Hollywood starlet. In the background is the lowly assistant Colin who observes everything. He sees Monroe's great beauty and talents but also her fragile nature.

Eventually Monroe notices Colin and befriends him. The film, and Colin himself, doesn't really say why she takes an interest in basically a nobody, but perhaps it is precisely because he is a nobody. In one scene she admits to him that everybody wants to be with Marilyn Monroe but once they realize that she is not her, they all run away. Naturally Colin assures her that he would never run away. As he gets to know Marilyn, Colin grows to admire and love her but this is not a romance or even an account of an affair. (There is no sexual relationship implied in the film.) After all, how do you hold onto a star without being burned? How could a goddess love a mere mortal? This film simply captures a moment in Colin's life when he once spent time with and even kissed the most famous woman in the world. Clearly these precious few days meant the world to Colin, but did they mean anything to her? Not even he can really know. That is basically the entirety of the film. Eventually they finish shooting the movie and Marilyn is gone, though memories of her stay with Colin forever.

Obviously the film starts and ends with Michelle Williams who basically makes the movie. The film wouldn't work without a compelling and believable Marilyn. She looks pretty close to the real deal and captures Marilyn Monroe's look and feel pretty well. The way she smiles, the way she pouts, the way she poses and even her raspy voice is pretty spot on. Sometimes I forgot I was watching a performance and not the real thing. The film has plenty of strong performances to match up with Williams. Kenneth Branagh plays Laurence Olivier well and Judi Dench, who plays Sybil Thorndike, is always good. Interestingly the character of Colin, played by Eddie Redmayne, is perhaps the weakest though perhaps that was done intentionally to contrast him with Marilyn.

I'm sure there's been dozens of Marilyn Monroe movies but at least this one is unique in that she isn't really the central character. Instead the story is told from an onlooker's perspective which is really the only way to really talk about her since even those closest to her didn't know her completely. The film provides a brief glimpse of her life and like Colin, we're left wanting more. Unfortunately that would be the story of her life as she died at just 36 years old.

Grade: B

Day 353 - American Reuinion

American Reunion (2012) directed by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg

I think American Pie was the very first rated R movie that I snuck into with a group of friends. It was one of the most awesome things that I had seen at the time and in many ways is one of the iconic coming of age teenage films of the 1990's. It dealt with all the issues of teenage life that horny adolescents thought and cared about, sex, sex and more sex. And it's raunchy absurdity made the film fresh and exciting. Of course there had to be sequels. It is an inevitable fate for Hollywood blockbusters and unfortunately, like in many other series, each installment of the American Pie series has gotten progressively worse. Well, that's not really fair... more like progressively stale. Isn't there a certain age limit for low brow college level sex jokes? And just how much more growing up do 30-something year old men need?

Jim, Kevin, Oz, Finch and Stiffler are all in their 30's now but with each generation comes a new level of sexual problems. Jim and Michelle are now parents but their sex lives have suffered because of it. Oz has become a celebrity of sorts though still longs for his high school sweetheart Heather. Kevin is happily married but old feelings stir up when he sees his high school sweetheart Vicky again. (What ever happened to Tara Reid's career by the way?) Finch is just gonna Finch. The person with the biggest issues of course is Stiffler who seems to still be stuck in high school despite the fact that he supposedly learned to grow up a bit in the last installment American Wedding almost nine years ago. And that is one of my issues with this series, didn't they all complete their story arcs entering manhood in the last movie? Why was this movie even made?

Some of the jokes are funny, but how many sex jokes can you really sit through for thirteen years? A lot of the initial charm has sort of lost its luster and the movie feels like a shell of its former self. It is nice though catching up on old friends. I did sort of grow up with these guys after all. I just hope I don't have to watch American Mid-Life Crisis ten years from now when they are all complaining about erectile disfunction and the hot secretary they wish they could bang.

Grade: C+