Tag Archives: Romance

Labor Day (2013)

04 Monday Apr 2016

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to describe “the cruelest month.” While I wouldn’t go as far as cruel, I applied it to the month of a certain fateful holiday.)

 

Of all the months throughout the year,
September haunts my soul.
The summer wanes; its dying pains
Serenely take their toll.

The children mourn that school awaits
And wish that time would freeze.
It never does; so says the buzz
Of insects in the trees.

When Labor Day arrives once more
And time begins to slow,
My mind returns and softly yearns
For that time years ago—

When he was in my mother’s house
And shared his every skill
Till Labor Day was snatched away
And trembling hearts were still.

As long as we are incomplete,
September days are dim.
The luster waits to gild those dates
Until we welcome him.
___________________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

Labor Day is the most romantic movie you’ll ever see about an escaped murderer taking a mother and son hostage. What sounds like a horror movie set-up becomes heartfelt and touching instead. Frank Chambers (Josh Brolin) gives his keepers the slip and hitches a ride home with Adele (Kate Winslet) and her adolescent son Henry (Gattlin Griffith). Instead of threatening them in the basement or the like, Frank instead fixes doors and pipes, changes tires, and bakes pies, and when he ties up Adele strictly for show and then cooks for her and spoon-feeds her, it’s almost surreal. Quickly, it becomes clear that Frank is not dangerous, and Adele’s fragile need for intimacy becomes one more trouble Frank can fix. Of course, he’s a wanted man, and the police are closing in.

Labor Day excels in its warm atmosphere. The radiant summer and subtle quietude brought to mind the tone of some of Studio Ghibli’s calm films, and I could believe how a three-day weekend could have felt much longer to the characters. I did also like the thoughtful details, like hearing a snippet of a Jerry Lewis telethon that used to air every Labor Day weekend. Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin are darn near perfect and have instant chemistry together, although their relationship transitions from dubious to surreal to madly in love a bit too easily. By the end, the film could have become one of those bittersweet tearjerkers that tear me up inside (like Somewhere in Time), but it wasn’t quite involving enough to trigger the waterworks. I’m unsure why, but it was still a poignant romance/coming-of-age tale that touches the heart in all the right ways.

Best line: (Henry) “I don’t think losing my father broke my mother’s heart, but rather losing love itself.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2016 S. G. Liput

373 Followers and Counting

 

Strictly Ballroom (1992)

17 Thursday Mar 2016

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There once was a couple steadfast
Who danced on the floor unsurpassed,
Till, thrilled by the groove,
The man busted a move,
And every last judge was aghast.

They groaned and bemoaned the upstart.
They claimed he disgraced their whole art.
Yet those like the pair
Who were willing to dare
Realized they didn’t care
About outlawing flair
And let them keep dancing their heart.
________________

MPAA rating: PG

Have you ever started watching a movie and knew from the first ten minutes that you didn’t care for it, and then, by unexpected degrees, warmed up to it until you realized that you did actually like it? I can’t think of another time when that was the case, but that was my experience with Strictly Ballroom, the first film from Australian director Baz Luhrmann. I’ve only seen his rather forgettable version of The Great Gatsby (the second half of which was better than the first), but Strictly Ballroom is his most critically acclaimed film, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95%.

Centered on Australian competitive ballroom dancing long before Dancing with the Stars, the movie starts out as a garish mockumentary, detailing the unconventional style of dancing favorite Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio) and trying to paint his haughty mother and the judges as unbearably pretentious. The gaudy close-ups and quirky editing were probably meant to be comedic and cater to Luhrmann’s penchant for flashiness, but it just comes off as bad acting and direction.

I was about ready to write it off as not for me, but I stayed with it. I watched as Scott was approached by the ugly duckling of the dance academy Fran (Tara Morice). I watched as their unlikely partnership bloomed into romance and Fran’s Spanish family showed their dancing chops. (There are Spanish people in Australia. Who knew?) I watched as Scott was torn between winning a competition for his sheepish father’s sake or dancing for himself and Fran. The whole movie just kept improving until I was left pleased and cheered by the finished product. The choreography was excellent, and certain scenes with Scott and Fran seemed to have a memorable quality, as if they should be much more famous and iconic.

Why did it have to start so poorly? I’ve read that the film plays with stereotypes, but the beginning employed a stylistic choice that fell flat, in my opinion, and persisted in the insufferable authority figures who refused to allow Scott’s personal dance choices. While they were consistently grating, I did appreciate how his foe’s stance was explained as both uncertainty at what would be acceptable or able to win and cutthroat greed to protect a “sport” that had become an industry.

Either way, I wouldn’t watch Strictly Ballroom for the antagonists. Scott and Fran and their dancing are the core of the film and an endearing cinematic example of the whole “follow your heart” cliché. My ranking it as List Runner-Up rather than List-Worthy lies mainly in the beginning’s shortcomings and the fact that it wasn’t very funny for a comedy, but another viewing could easily raise my opinion. Strictly Ballroom is a prime example of why you should finish what you start; it just might surprise you.

Best line: (Fran, with a quote that seems like it should be more famous too) “A life lived in fear is a life half lived.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2016 S. G. Liput

368 Followers and Counting

 

The Book of Life (2014)

27 Wednesday Jan 2016

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Life is full of love and song
For those with both within their hearts;
But why must death and sleep be different
From their former counterparts?

Grief will mark a soul’s departure
Here on earth where all lives cease;
But from grief comes celebration
In another life of peace.
__________________
 

MPAA rating: PG

 

While Pixar has been rumored to be working on a project called Coco about the Mexican Day of the Dead (supposedly for a 2017 release), Reel FX and 20th Century Fox Animation beat them to the punch with 2014’s The Book of Life. This inventively animated romance starts out with a frame story reminiscent of The Princess Bride, with a confident museum guide recounting a story to a collection of rowdy schoolkids, who interject their occasional thoughts and worries as the tale progresses.

While these kids have a more typical cartoon human appearance, the characters in the tale being told are intentionally modeled as wooden puppets, with visible joints but no strings. This aesthetic combines with the off-kilter animation to give the CGI film a stop-motion aspect, not unlike The Lego Movie. The story itself follows three childhood friends, Manolo Sanchez (Diego Luna), Maria (Zoe Saldana), and Joaquin (Channing Tatum), who are destined to grow up into a love triangle. Just as viewers often debate who will get the girl in any number of series, the trio attract the attention of the two rulers of the afterlife, the lovely La Muerte of the Land of the Remembered and the bitter Xibalba of the Land of the Forgotten. Ron Perlman as Xibalba seems knowingly reminiscent of Hades in Hercules as he makes a game-changing bet with his counterpart as to which boy will marry Maria.

The Book of Life has a lot of positives. The animation is frequently enchanting and the characters surprisingly personable. While the characterization sometimes falters, I liked how one suitor was clearly meant as Maria’s soul mate, but the other was still given a chance to be heroic rather than being turned into a villain. The film also offers a uniquely positive view of death, treating it not as the end but as a second stage to reunite with loved ones and join in one big fiesta.

On the other hand, these same themes of death strike me as problematic. The depiction of the afterlife rings with Mexican culture but is entirely irreligious, as is the notion that our departed loved ones live on in happiness only as long as we remember them. The film’s conflict makes a point of noting that, without anyone to remember them, the dead will pass into the hellish Land of the Forgotten, which makes me wonder why no one is bothered by the fact that this will happen anyway within a few generations. I don’t remember my great-great-great grandfather; that doesn’t mean he’s not in Heaven. This idea of the afterlife is meant as a secular comfort but not a lasting one.

The Book of Life is also marred by tired clichés about being oneself against an overbearing parent; some awkwardly out-of-left-field pop songs, as if it’s trying to emulate Shrek; and oddly by the same animation I praised earlier. When I first saw the animation style, it reminded me of the Nickelodeon show El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (picture below), and sure enough, director Jorge Gutierrez was also that show’s creator and apparently just translated the animation from 2D to 3D. While it works most of the time, certain scenes look strangely cheap with elaborate mustaches and protuberant noses that aren’t even trying for realism.

Here I go again, sounding all critical as if I dislike anything with flaws. Not so. The Book of Life rises as a delightful, energetic, and uniquely cultural change of pace from the usual stylings of Disney and DreamWorks while not coming off as low quality. Its themes of family and life and telling our own stories are commendable, and I enjoyed it, as I think most fans of animation will.

Best line: (one of the distraught schoolkids) “What is it with Mexicans and death?!”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2016 S. G. Liput

360 Followers and Counting

 

VC Pick: The Christmas Card (2006)

24 Thursday Dec 2015

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You speak a word or you write a card,
And think perhaps that they have no effect,
The same clichés by triteness marred
That lead to an “Aww,” then most likely neglect.

But none can know where their kindness ends
And where a larger design can begin,
Where welcomed strangers grow into friends
And holiday spirit makes room at the inn.

You might send a hundred clichés someone’s way.
A heartfelt word may brighten more than their day.
____________________

MPAA rating: Not Rated (definitely G)

 

I’m sorry I’m getting into the Christmas spirit a little late this year. I thought about compiling a top Christmas movie list, but it would be the same old popular favorites for the most part (A Christmas Story, Home Alone, etc.). Instead, I decided to turn over the holiday reins to my VC, who is fond of this little Hallmark movie that I gave her as a Christmas gift a couple years back.

While it’s perfect for the holidays, The Christmas Card is far from the best Hallmark has to offer. It starts out in Afghanistan, where Sgt. Cody Cullen (John Newton) receives an encouraging Christmas card from a woman out west. When a comrade is killed in action and Cody visits his widow on leave, it turns out that she lives conveniently in the same town as the woman who sent him the card. That would be Faith Spelman (Alice Evans), who conveniently has the same tastes as he does and attends the same church he visits. Conveniently, she has a father (Ed Asner) who takes an instant liking to the handsome soldier and would like nothing more than to fix him up with his daughter. Then, of course, there’s her jealous fiancé and split affections and, well, you see where this is going. While the plot is wholly predictable romantic novel stuff, it’s still rather sweet and enjoyable, though that’s largely due to the scenery.

The Christmas Card always fills my VC with drooling envy, thanks to its setting. The Spelmans live in the quaint mountain town of Nevada City, California, a beautiful hamlet brimming with holiday spirit and warm small-town hospitality. Not only is it the kind of town that could lure my earthquake-phobic VC to California, but the Spelman’s home looks like an HGTV dream house, a palatial but cozy log cabin with a roaring fireplace and a Christmas tree that stands above the rafters. Just looking at this snug residence is enough to put us in the Christmas spirit, perhaps to wrap in a blanket and sip hot chocolate. While the environment keeps my VC’s attention, Alice Evans keeps mine, with her sweatered loveliness and charm holding the affections of two jealous men, though I’m surprised half the town isn’t after her. It’s also cool to recognize her as the younger Eloise Hawking on Lost.

The Christmas Card is nothing deep. John Newton is particularly wooden as the stoic veteran, and neither the acting nor the script is great, though Ed Asner did get an Emmy nomination for his role as the buoyant matchmaker father. While its technical merit is low, it nevertheless rings with Christmas warmth and generosity and brings attention to the soldiers who are away from their families during the holidays. There are better Christmas movies out there, but we keep coming back to The Christmas Card. Merry Christmas to all!

Best line: (Cody, upon meeting Faith’s father Luke) “It’s a real honor to meet you, sir.”   (Luke Spelman) “Honor? I guess you haven’t caught wind of my reputation.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2015 S. G. Liput

352 Followers and Counting

 

VC Pick: Cousins (1989)

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

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Her husband cheated with his wife,
The ruiners of married life,
So Larry and Maria planned
To let them suffer doubt firsthand.

A walk and talk or two or three
Let friendship flourish fluently,
And is not romance at its best
When friendship fully has progressed?

A marriage undermined by lies
Will likely lead to compromise,
But truer love is worth a chance
To lose the doubt and share a dance.
______________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

This is a film my VC adores so I couldn’t put it off any longer. Seriously, it’s in her top 50, and while I’m not as much of a fan, I do agree that Joel Schumacher’s Cousins deserves more recognition. Based on the 1975 French film Cousin Cousine, this growing romance seems to both condemn and embrace marital infidelity while balancing the heavy stuff with playful interactions among an extended Polish-French family.

At Phil and Edie Kozinski’s middle-aged wedding, all manner of quirky relatives pour in, from a pair of overly critical slobs to an old lady who thinks Edie killed her last husband by feeding him too much butter. Among the extended kith are two couples, Larry and Tish (Ted Danson and Sean Young) and Tom and Maria (William Peterson and Isabella Rossellini). Larry and Maria happen to meet while looking for their respective spouses, and what could have remained familial rapport is strengthened by the mutual belief that their spouses are cheating with each other. Hoping to “get back” at Tish and Tom, Larry and Maria take walks, break fish, and revel in the knowledge that their spouses must be seething with jealousy. Nothing happens, but that’s not to say they don’t want it to. When their marriages are further strained, propriety finally takes a back seat, and a romance born from conversation and a personal connection is able to blossom.

Marriage is very much at the forefront. The progression of Larry and Maria’s relationship plays out against the diverse spectrum of their large family, from wedding to funeral to wedding. Charming subplots provide detached vignettes that still hold an air of romance, such as Larry’s father (Lloyd Bridges) in search of love with the help of his weird grandson (Keith Coogan). Ultimately, though, Larry and Maria must face the fact that they love each other and weigh that love against the strained marriages they already have.

My VC finds this film entirely romantic and enjoys the different kinds of marriages depicted, from the wedded bliss of the older couples to Larry and Tish, who share a bohemian spirit, to Tom and Maria, whose uneasy awareness of infidelity doesn’t foster the most loving home for their daughter. My VC also loves the lesson that you’re never too old to fall in love and get married, and she admires the fact that the protagonists actually care enough about their marriage to hesitate, unlike their unfaithful spouses.

As much as I wanted to love, love, love Cousins as much as my VC, it never rose above charming in my estimation. Thanks to a clever script and their unmistakable chemistry, Danson and Rossellini do make an appealing couple, and I had no problem with their initial plan against their unfaithful spouses. It all seemed rather innocent at first, but as much as I believed they were better off with each other, it’s hard for me to fully agree with cheating on cheaters, especially when their marriages might have stabilized without the added doubt. Even so, in the end, this is a film in which we recognize who is meant for whom, and we might as well enjoy watching the characters figure it out. If you don’t focus too hard on the failed marriages, the successful romances will leave you smiling.

Best line: (Aunt Sofia, who has been talking with Larry’s strange son Mitch throughout the film) “You still want to kill people?”   (Mitch) “Nah, they’re too stupid.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2015 S. G. Liput

342 Followers and Counting

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)

05 Wednesday Aug 2015

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How provincial is the province where no one has heard the name
Of Dumas or Dostoyevsky or the books that earned them fame!
Why are some so sadly eager to commit the page to flame?

Do not heed the narrow tyrant quick to outlaw and condemn.
Read the words or listen close, and you may find a worthy gem,
But beware that written words have ravished many, changing them.
_______________

Rating: G (should be PG for light language and a few mature themes)

Language: Chinese and French w/ English subtitles

Born in China and now settled in France, director Dai Sijie obviously has deep ties to the story of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which he adapted himself from his first novel of the same name. Set during China’s Communist Cultural Revolution, it follows his own personal experience of spending three years in a rural re-education camp from 1971 to 1974.

From the very start, the film’s tone is clear. While the village’s devoted Communist Chief promptly burns a cookbook for mentioning chicken because it is too bourgeois, the new arrivals Ma and Luo convince him to preserve Ma’s violin by insisting that Mozart wrote music with Chairman Mao in mind. Like the film overall, the scene is a little pitiful and a little funny, but it clinches the role that music and Western civilization play in helping the oppressed feel human again. Love can do the same thing, and when a tailor visits with his beautiful granddaughter, this “Little Seamstress” wins the hearts of both young men. She, like most of these country folk, is sadly ignorant, and they commit themselves to transform her with their “reactionary” Western ideas.

Based on the mention of re-education camps, I might have thought that this was some dark, murderous picture of persecution like The Killing Fields, but it’s not. In fact, there’s a notable lack of life-or-death danger here. With their forbidden books, the three friends are always in danger of being found out by the semi-vigilant Chief. As an authority figure, though, he’s less like a severe commandant and more like an inattentive parent, who barely notices when his charges sneak behind him with banned ideas and hidden abortions and fibs that prey on his ignorance.

At the same time, these work camps are rather effective, forcing many into a mindset of fear and submission. Yet the stories and concepts that Ma and Luo and the Seamstress keep and slowly spread to others also disseminate a starry-eyed freedom. Can you imagine such a beautiful, exotic name as Ursule Mirouet? Can you imagine a poor man becoming a wealthy count like Edmond Dantes? It’s ironic that, at a time when burning a bra was seen as liberating to women in the U.S., its introduction had an empowering effect on the Little Seamstress, leading to a bittersweet choice.

There’s a “Hitler Reacts” YouTube video (parodying a famous scene from Downfall), in which he decries Balzac’s ending and questions the point of the entire story. However, the film overall has that romantic quality of someone reminiscing, perhaps not of the best years of their life but the most memorable. Like all memories, they are swallowed by the floods of time but not forgotten.

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2015 S. G. Liput

329 Followers and Counting

The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

31 Friday Jul 2015

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They say that pain demands to be felt,
And we’re the ones to feel it,
The ones to bear the cards we’re dealt,
Unable to conceal it.

But pain is not the only one
Demanding our attention,
Although it blinds us like the sun
From others’ intervention.

Yet if we look beyond the pain
To love without regret,
We’ll see that neither is in vain
If love’s demands are met.
_____________________

Rating: PG-13 (for language, sexuality, and some heavy themes)

The first time I heard about The Fault in Our Stars was when a female coworker of mine gushed over how much she loved it and how much she cried and how much she loved crying at it. Thus, I thought it was merely some weepy chick flick. Then I heard all kinds of buzz about the movie adaptation and its talented young stars. Then my VC read the book and was wholly unimpressed, finding the character of Hazel Grace Lancaster so ill-tempered and somber as to be irritating.

Thus, I didn’t know what my opinion would be once I finally saw the blockbuster tearjerker of 2014, and I must say that it deserved its praise. Shailene Woodley is indeed melancholy as Hazel Grace, but with good reason: riddled with cancer since the age of thirteen, she has few joys in life. All the normal teenage pleasures of friends and such have yielded to chemotherapy sessions and constant fears about those who fear for her. Her morbidity is understandable and, as my VC pointed out, off-putting, but that only makes the subsequent romance more surprising and heart-winning.

As Augustus Waters, Ansel Elgort is the nicest guy imaginable, able to keep his spirits high with life-affirming metaphors and willing to part with everything from trophies to wishes for the sake of his friends. Like me and Pat from Silver Linings Playbook, he can’t abide unsatisfying endings, and he won’t accept that life is meaningless. He’s “kind of awesome” and almost too good to be true, but therein lies his appeal. My VC and I both love Elizabethtown, and I pointed out to her that Orlando Bloom’s character in that film also starts out depressed and obsessed with death (with only good looks being a reason for anyone to be attracted to him), yet he is captivated and encouraged by Kirsten Dunst’s Claire, who seems to consider his happiness her mission. Augustus is the same way. When Hazel desires further information about her favorite book (which happens to be about cancer), his efforts on her behalf are more than enough to win her heart.

Based on what I’ve written so far, this may seem like a happy, uplifting story that starts low but keeps on getting better, “a rollercoaster that only goes up,” but such is not the case. Like life itself, there are ups and downs and a tear for every smile. The film is sometimes shockingly abrupt in ungilding the lily, but even then it achieves a touching balance of bitterness and humor, of cynicism and sentiment.

That’s not to say that it is without fault. I didn’t care for how the lone Christian character is mocked as a sincere but inept “Kumbaya” advocate. It’s easy for cynicism to slough off the assurances of religion, but I for one can’t imagine finding meaning in suffering without faith (Christianity, in my case). As convinced as Hazel is from the start, I don’t believe in oblivion, and it’s a bit sad that even the most buoyant character can only say he believes in a heavenly “something.”

Even so, The Fault in Our Stars treads the line between the two viewpoints, Hazel’s sarcastic pessimism and Gus’s vague optimism, and retains a unique intelligence within its familiar romantic storyline, acknowledging that one deep love can be life-affirming. While it’s essentially this generation’s Love Story, The Fault in Our Stars engages both mind and heart far better than the usual tearjerker, though it can still jerk the tears with the best of them.

Best line: (Augustus, to the mother of his friend’s ex-girlfriend) “Hello, ma’am. Your daughter, she’s done a great injustice, so we’ve come here seeking revenge. You see, we may not look like much, but between the three of us, we have five legs, four eyes, and two and a half pairs of working lungs, but we also have two dozen eggs, so if I were you, I would go back inside.”

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2015 S. G. Liput

328 Followers and Counting

Winter’s Tale (2014)

22 Wednesday Jul 2015

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“What if the war between darkness and light
Decided if stars would fluoresce in the night?
What if a thief and a horse snowy white
Could save an enigma at destiny’s tasking?

“What if, when angels and demons do spar,
They fight for the miracles human souls are?
What if we die and become a new star?”
“Quite simply, we don’t, silly girl, so stop asking!”
________________

Akiva Goldsman has had a mixed career; he did win an Oscar for his screenplay for A Beautiful Mind, but that was after also writing Batman and Robin. His directorial debut Winter’s Tale plays to both his strengths and weaknesses, with a story that is sometimes fancifully rich but also stumbles in trying to sustain that richness.

Winter’s Tale is an unusual blend of real-world romance and parallel fantasy. On the human side, the story follows Peter Lake (Colin Farrell), a thief who falls in love with Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay). In 1916, she is dying of tuberculosis and has some odd opinions about the afterlife. On the fantastical side, a mobster named Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe) is really an undercover demon who wants Peter dead and is part of a covert “dark side” intent on preventing humans from fulfilling their inner miracles and becoming stars. Apparently in this story, Beverly’s beliefs are correct, though there’s no indication of how she learned about the whole romantic “star” mumbo jumbo, nor why this version of New York City has angels and demons but no sign of traditional religion, nor why it is ostensibly the real world but no one seems to have noticed flying horses or men who don’t age.

As the story progressed, I was unsure where it was going, though I was more confused than intrigued. Still, now that I understand the full picture, I believe Winter’s Tale is a worthwhile story that unfortunately loses its way. I admire its themes of hope and good triumphing over evil, as well as the message that our destiny is rarely what we expect. The period setting and intermittent effects are also well-crafted for the most part, and I found the acting quite good, especially Crowe as the snarling villain.

Yet it’s hard to ignore its weaknesses, particularly the gushingly romantic, sometimes poetic dialogue about stars and the universe, which stand in for heaven and God, respectively. In addition, one of my complaints about The Notebook was that Ryan Gosling is reduced to a lovesick recluse without his sweetheart and for far too long. Here, that weakness is extended for decades with no end in sight, a state that our hero accepts with little to no change.

Winter’s Tale has merit but not enough of it to make it a must-see, even for fantasy fans. Some aspects surprisingly work (such as Will Smith’s cameo as the devil), but others are just hard to believe (such as the flying horse who is really a dog who is really an angel. Huh?). I would see it again, but I wouldn’t seek it out.

Best line: (Beverly Penn, in an instance where her voiceover rings true) “But be warned: as we seek out the light, darkness gathers and the eternal contest between good and evil is not fought with great armies… but one life at a time.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2015 S. G. Liput

328 Followers and Counting

VC Pick: Cannery Row (1982)

17 Friday Jul 2015

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Some funny folk know
Where to go,
Even though
There aren’t any canners on Cannery Row.

‘Tis not a disgrace
To embrace
Such a place.
You’ll see when you meet these new friends face to face.

In this blithe domain,
It is vain
To be sane.
Just mix with the locals, and they’ll entertain.
____________
Rating: PG (would probably be PG-13 nowadays, due to profanity)

My VC has often mentioned how much she enjoys this film and how she likes it more with every viewing, but somehow I had never gotten around to seeing it for myself…until now. Adapted from John Steinbeck’s book Cannery Row and (to a greater extent) its sequel Sweet Thursday, this Depression-era charmer has all the quirk of a cult classic, though it isn’t one to my knowledge. The actual storyline, set on the California coastline, is rather thin, and instead the film relies on humorous vignettes, establishing its cast of lovably screwed-up characters and letting them interact as only amiable neighbors can.

There’s Doc (Nick Nolte in one of the few roles I’ve seen of his before his “grizzled old man” makeover), the benevolent marine biologist who has special plans for some captured octopi. There’s Mack (M. Emmet Walsh), the leader of a quintet of goodhearted bums, and Hazel (Frank McRae), the anxious dimwit fated to become President of the United States but who may be wiser than even he knows. There’s Joseph and Mary, owner of the local grocery who happens to accept frogs as currency (and yes, that’s the name of one man). There’s Fauna, proprietress of Cannery Row’s friendly neighborhood brothel, and the Seer, a homeless codger who has visions and plays his trumpet to the rising sun. And then there’s Suzy (Debra Winger, possibly at her prettiest), the newcomer in need of a roof, a job, and maybe a little love.

All these colorful personalities bounce off each other perfectly, aided by the droll narration of John Huston himself (known to me as Gandalf in the Rankin/Bass version of The Hobbit) Thus, they do have quite a bit of waggish fun: party fiascoes, unprecedented frog hunts, dance challenges, beer milkshakes, rattlesnake conversations, and so on. Where else are you going to hear a line like “A man sentenced to be President of the United States could not go to a party as a dwarf”? In addition, Cannery Row itself happens to be an ideal backdrop for these amusing misadventures, a huge set (which is clearly a set) of dirty inlets beneath salt-encrusted boardwalks and nocturnal serenades of bluesy jazz, although there’s a good deal of classical and swing music too.

By the end, the jocularity gives way to some buried guilt and dark possibilities, yet the story’s irresistible charm still wins out. Both my VC and I were left smiling as the credits rolled, satisfied that this endearing microcosm of friendliness and romance had found its “greased grooves.”

Best line: (Hazel) “I love Doc! He was a character witness for me, and I ain’t got no character.”

VC’s best line: (Suzy, to Doc) “Look, every time I talk to you, I get more confused. I like you just fine when you’re not around.”

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2015 S. G. Liput

327 Followers and Counting

Roman Holiday (1953)

11 Saturday Jul 2015

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For visiting tourists, there’s no place like Rome;
For young Princess Ann, it’s too much like home
And all of the cities in which she’s a slave,
Condemned to repeat boring answers and wave.

Escaping outside for a chance to be free,
She’s found by a grudging reporter, and he
Will grant all her wishes for leisure and fun,
As long as an interview comes, one on one.

But Rome is a place where romances pervade,
And many big plans yield to memories made.
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Rating: Not Rated (might as well be G)

One of those acclaimed older movies I’ve never seen before now, Roman Holiday is a renowned classic, and unlike The Philadelphia Story, it deserves that hallowed status. Audrey Hepburn’s original Oscar-winning role, at only about 24 years old, impressed Gregory Peck enough to earn her top billing, even though she was just being introduced. While she deserved it, Peck’s actions also indicate his generosity, and watching two earnest, utterly likable actors of Hollywood’s Golden Age remains a treat, thanks also to a shrewdly written screenplay.

It’s a plot that has been reused many times over in TV shows since: a discontented royal sneaks away for a day of fun and escape. Hepburn looks as regal as the reformed Eliza Doolittle, thanks to her natural beauty and the Oscar-winning costume design, and she performs certain scenes of immaturity splendidly, scenes that could have been ridiculous with a less talented Princess Ann. How she meets reporter Joe Bradley (Peck) is far from ideal, but it sets up quite a few laughs. Once the two of them start touring Rome, though, accompanied by photographer Irving (chuckle-worthy Eddie Albert), the on-location film becomes cinematic sightseeing at its best, despite being in black and white. Piazzas and landmarks like the Spanish Steps and the Mouth of Truth serve as a romantic backdrop for the trio’s jaunt; the famed Mouth of Truth scene made me feel rather ignorant, since I had no idea where its central gag originated (I only knew it from National Treasure: Book of Secrets).

(Some spoilers ahead.) While Bradley’s motivations in escorting Ann around town seem selfish at first, his plans evolve imperceptibly over the course of the day. I kept waiting for him to broach the subject of his demanding an interview, but by the time that opportunity passes, we’re left to wonder what it was that changed his mind. For Bradley and the princess, duty and affection take opposite paths, but loyalty remains their common bond and a common separation. As a romantic comedy, Roman Holiday elicits plenty of smiles but chooses the less predictably rosey path, a bittersweet sendoff that chooses nostalgia over love.

Best line: (Princess Ann) “What do you sell?”   (Joe, the newspaper writer) “Er, fertilizer.”

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2015 S. G. Liput
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