#169 Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)

***

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Leon Ames, Tom Drake, Marjorie Main

This bizarre, Southern technicolor musical is set in the year 1903 in... you guessed it... St. Louis, Missouri. It's the story of an 'average' family filled with young, coming-of-age women both lovesick and ready for mischief. It's a simpler time, of course, when "men don't like girls who kiss before engagement." Judy Garland plays Esther, a middle child who is falling madly in love with her pipe-smoking, sweater-wearing neighbor. She seems to have a steady hand in keeping her family in line-- she plots to marry off her older sister and often is the one to take care of her two mischievous younger siblings (one of which is "Tooti" played by the famous child-star Margaret O' Brien).

The costuming, sets, and songs are over-the-top with color and imagination. The make-up and hair are plastic-perfection! Garland croons, swinging in doorways and off the sides of trolleys. Zing, Zing, Zing goes her heart strings, and the moment I finally saw that scene in its full cinematic context, a bit more of my life was indeed complete.

However, what seems to be the makings of almost a too-perfect, happy family classic somehow takes a dark turn. Long and dramatic interludes are taken into rather morbid subject matters, such as the youngest daughter burying her dead dolls, Halloween ghosts, and a young tortured child beheading her family's snowmen with a bat. Yes. This really happens.

And although it's still a speculation amongst critics as to whether this film is meant to be simply entertaining melodrama or whether it pushes the edge of making comment on familial bliss... it does not matter. Meet Me In St. Louis is by no argument meant to do less than dazzle.

#168 Rosemary's Baby (1968)

***

Director: Roman Polanski

Cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Victoria Vetri

With her sunken-in cheeks, translucent skin, and mod dresses, Mia Farrow glimmers in Rosemary's Baby as perhaps one of the most innocent and tortured victims of evil in horror movie history. Excited to begin her life in her new NYC apartment with her handsome actor husband, Rosemary Woodhouse (Farrow) occupies her days redecorating and entertaining the older and somewhat eccentric neighbors. When she and her husband decide to try for a baby, the neighbors seem to become more involved in her life than ever, taking their 'helpfulness' to a whole new level of creepy.

As her pregnancy escalates, Rosemary gets sicker and sicker, and she begins to question those that are supposed to be watching out for her. The ever-looming presence of evil both for the viewer and the star of the film never wavers, and it becomes a suspense to the end-- what really is wrong with Rosemary's baby?

I enjoyed the film-- it was an easy watch. Though horrific and skin-crawling at times, it was presented more in the form of a mystery rather than an all-out exocist, slasher, suspense horror. One of the attributes of this film most consistently noted in my film book is Polanski's knack for pacing when telling this story. I have to agree and say that I found it appropriate--the slow on-slaught of things-not-quite-right lead to the ending being both not surprising and yet completely shocking.

My gut reaction to the ending was. "Really?" I felt let down with the anti-climax and ambiguity. But now since a day has passed since my initial viewing of the film, I feel much better about it. I guess it's in our nature to want the inertia of the film to carry us to a conclusive ending. The look in Rosemary's eyes as she thought long and hard about mothering her child is certainly something to leave a lasting impression-- and that is what makes a great film.

#167 Brazil (1985)

****

Director: Terry Gilliam

Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Katherine Helmond, Robert De Niro, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson

A hats-off to Orwell's 1984, Brazil is set a retro-futuristic society under the hand of a tyrannical government, (though it lacks a Big Brother figure). When a fly falls into a printer and causes a printing error, a man is wrongfully arrested, tortured according to someone else's health file, is accidently killed.

Sam Lowry is a man who is working a mind-numbing job somewhere within the government, and daily, he drowns in the sea of paperwork produced by his government. When trying to take an insurance check to the wrongfully-widowed wife, he finds that her upstairs neighbor is the woman of his dreamworld-- a woman that he saves each night in his sleep. Determined to find her, he takes a promotion to The Ministry of Information Retrieval to get access to her file, and he begins his search for her. When she wrongfully gets mixed up as being a terrorist, Sam changes the records to say she is deceased, so they will no longer hunt for her.

The plan, however, backfires, and Sam is arrested. He finds himself in the token 'black bag' and torture chair...
And from there... I'll let the movie be a surprise.

It's confusing, it's fast-paced, and it's also kind of magical. The world in which Sam lives is nothing like our own, (except in terms of cultural mythology). On the same note, however, it is a world we are all too familiar with thanks to the written warning of George Orwell. The surrealistic background upon which the plot takes place is a frantic and frightening one. The enemy is obvious. Paperwork. People in charge. The ones who won't listen. The ones who will "just follow procedure." The ones who will wipe you out.

I feel like the film is somewhat masterfully created and imagined, though I did find many things within the movie that lead it to be hard to understand, and sometimes, hard to tolerate.

Although I feel I have much more to say about this film, I'm going to close this review early on account of tired eyes. I think it's definitely worth seeing, however, especially if you've read 1984.

#166 Midnight Cowboy (1969)

****

Director: John Schlesinger

Cast: Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Barnard Hughes


Joe Buck (Voight) is a young man from Texas who has just quit his job as a dishwasher and hopped on a bus to New York City. He plans to make a big buck by 'hustling' from wealthy, upper-crust ladies, but it turns out he's the one that gets hustled. Slow to catch on to the New York way of life and standing out like a black cat in snow with his cowboy get-up, he loses just about everything, including a bit of his pride.

He befriends a scammer, Ratso Rizzo (Hoffman), and what at firsts seems to be a relationship formed out of necessity soon becomes a close camaraderie. Rizzo's illnesses become a concern for Buck, and for the sake of friendship, he finds himself doing things he never imagined himself to do.

Having heard about this film from a friend years ago, this was not at all the image I had painted in my mind. I never expected this to be a film about friendship, and further, I never expected this to be a film starring Dustin Hoffman. I thought the film was not only emotional, but it was masterfully filmed. The flashbacks, though jarring and confusing, gave hints into Voight's character, and I appreciated that-- he was a man of few words. Hoffman, as always, was a captivating presence as Rizzo.

When this film was released, it was rated X (no admittance under age 17). It was the first rated X film to be shown on television, to a president while in office, and to win an Oscar. It eventually had its rating dropped to R without removing any content of the film, interestingly enough.

I had heard bad things about this movie, but I found it be rather classic in nature. I can see where a lot of later films have drawn influence from it, and I respect that. And who knew Jon Voight was actually hott at one point? Weird. Anyway, I give it 4 stars for being just centimeters below what I would call cinematic gold, and I would definitely love to see this movie again.

#165 Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

****

Director: Robert Benton

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Herry, Howard Duff, George Coe, JoBeth Williams


Ted Kramer (Hoffman) is obsessed with his job, and he stays late to tell jokes with the boss. Joanna Kramer (Streep) is a housewife who is losing it, and she chain smokes on the couch at night. And then, suddenly, she leaves her husband and 5 year old boy to find herself. Lost, upset, and conflicted, Ted has to learn how to be a decent father. He has to learn to juggle his two lives-- his life at home (grief, loneliness, fatherhood) and his professional life as a successful, stressed out art director. In a way that is not too sickenly sweet to stomach, this film is the story about a man becoming... well, a real man... a father.

When Joanna returns over a year later to fight for custody of her son, things get even harder. When Ted loses his job in the middle of the custody battle, things get even harder yet.

And well, the ending is something I won't spoil in this review.


Even though Hoffman and Streep are two of my favorite actors (especially Hoffman!), I was reluctant to watch this film based off of its description. I figured it would be cheesy and sentimental-- and worst of all, not real. But with Oscars for not only best actor, best actress, but even best picture! Well, I gave it a try.

I was moved by the simplicity of this film. Having seen its poor imitators (Big Daddy much?), I was pleasantly surprised with the honesty of this film. The moments of father-son bonding were never unreal, never too contrived. They were simple, and they were warm. One of the most outstanding moments of the film is Dustin Hoffman on the stand as a witness in the courtroom. I paraphrase: "If a woman is every much as equal to be in the workplace and be a strong woman, then why does a man not have an equal right to be a loving, nurturing single parent?"

I thought the acting was brilliant, and I thought it was just the right amount of emotion. I am really pleasantly surprised to love this film. Delightful.

#164 The Jerk (1979)

****

Director: Carl Reiner

Cast: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Caitlin Adams, Mabel King, Richard Ward, Dick Williams, Bill Macy

Navin R. Johnson (Martin) is a dimwitted, but lovable man who was raised in a rural poor black family-- and he doesn't know that he's white. Once he finally figures this out, he goes off into the 'real world' to live his life, and he gets into all sorts of trouble along the way.

The comedy of this film is throwaway and awesome. I actually have always hated Steve Martin in all of his movies, but people reassured me that this is 'his only good film.' I actually loved this movie from beginning to end, and it made me laugh consistently. While it's super silly and extremely contrived, the characters are ridiculously loveable, including Bernadette Peters who plays Navin's main love interest, Marie Kimble.

I would definitely watch this film again and recommend it to others. Most importantly, it redeemed Steve Martin, if only slightly, in my mind.

#163 Blue Velvet (1986)

***

Director: David Lynch

Cast: Isabelle Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, Dean Stockwell

Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) is back from college to take care of the family hardware store after his father suffers a serious stroke. On his way home from the hospital, he stops to throw rocks in an empty field and discovers a human ear lying in the tall grass. Taking it to his neighbor, the local detective, they promise to look into the case, but Jeffrey needs to butt-out. The detective's daughter (Laura Dern) spills some information about the case, and Jeffry takes it upon himself to do some mystery-solving of his own.

This leads him to the apartment of Dorothy Vallen (Isabella Rossellini)- a deeply disturbed and tortured lounge singer who seems to be mixed up in some awful, dirty business. Jeffrey witnesses as Dorothy is sexually abused by a torturously evil and mentally disturbed man named Frank Booth, and he uncovers the truth about Dorothy's kidnapped family.

All of this wraps itself up into a romance with the detective's daughter, a twisted sexual relationship with Ms. Vallen, a jealous jock boyfriend, a perverted clown, a man in a yellow suit, and a blue velvet fetish.

The film seemed to me to be making some brilliant observations about suburban society and its under-belly. What on the surface is tulips blowing in the wind and fireman riding by waving in slow motion--is really a dirty apartment building full of bourbon, perversions, abuse, and secrets.

Though beautifully shot and continually surprising, the actors of this film aka LAURA DERN were really quite awful. Every time I found myself slipping into the dark world that rests beneath the surface... butterface Laura Dern popped on screen and killed everything. One of the most amazing and disturbing scenes of the film is the appearance of Dorothy Vallens at the house of the detective. Ghostlike and somewhat possessed, she is clinging at Jeffrey, and it is completely beyond amazing/horrific. Then, cut to Laura Dern, who is making the most god awful crying face I have ever seen captured on film. This woman is far more horrifying than anything else that was happening in the film. Ruined it for me.

I also don't want to spoil the ending of the film, but I found it to be SO disappointing. The director really opened an interesting door with how long he let the guns be pointed in suspense at the end, but then he chose to bring it round full circle back to Happy Days. It's obvious he was making a nod back to the beginning of the film-- he even re-used some of the footage-- but it didn't leave me in a good place. The calling-in to dinner and scene in the park were just a little too much for what I could stomach. I wanted an ending that revealed something or left it just a little uncertain. I can't decide if it was a cliche ending, or if it was cliche to make a point.