Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Morrigoon]

So, leading into this year's nye party, I've been watching a few more Indian films. Just finished one called Kalyug, which is also a kind of expose on porn and the exploitation of women.

I don't know if it was the streaming or really bad editing, but the sound was a little delayed. Other than that, I really enjoyed it. Guy meets a woman, falls in love (insert mandatory love song videos here), they marry, and then on their honeymoon, someone at the hotel secretly films their wedding night and posts it on the internet. Short while later, the couple gets arrested for making a "blue film". The guy gets beaten up by the cops, the girl gets pushed into signing a statement, then kills herself. So her husband ends up going on this quest to avenge her death and ends up rescuing people instead.

[sleepyjeff]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/mo...wond.html?_r=1

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home renovation.

The movie starts sappily enough, with three angels in outer space discussing George’s fate.
Soon enough, though, the darkness sets in. George’s brother, Harry, almost drowns in a childhood accident; Mr. Gower, a pharmacist, nearly poisons a sick child; and then George, a head taller than everyone else, becomes the pathetic older sibling creepily hanging around Harry’s high school graduation party. That night George humiliates his future wife, Mary, by forcing her to hide behind a bush naked, and the evening ends with his father’s sudden death.

Disappointments pile up. George can’t go to college because of his obligation to run the Bailey Building and Loan, and instead sends Harry. But Harry returns a slick, self-obsessed jerk, cannily getting out of his responsibility to help with the family business, by marrying a woman whose dad gives him a job. George again treats Mary cruelly, this time by chewing her out and bringing her to tears before kissing her. It is hard to understand precisely what she sees in him.

George is further emasculated when his bad hearing keeps him out of World War II, and then it’s Christmas Eve 1945. All the decades of anger boil to the surface.
After Potter takes the deposit, George flies into a rage and finally lets Uncle Billy know what he thinks of him, calling him a “silly, stupid old fool.” Then he explodes at his family.
If you watch the film this year, keep a close eye on Stewart during this sequence. First he smashes a model bridge he has built. Then, like any parent who loses his temper with his children, he seems genuinely embarrassed. He’s ashamed. He apologizes. And then ... slowly ... he starts getting angry all over again.

Now as for that famous alternate-reality sequence: This is supposedly what the town would turn out to be if not for George. (But what it really is, is the) true characters of these individuals, their venal internal selves stripped bare. (Gower is a drunk; Nick, uncaring and mean); The flirty Violet, a dime dancer and maybe a prostitute; Ernie the cabbie’s blank face speaks true misery as George enters his taxi; Bert the cop is a trigger-happy madman, violating every rule in the patrol guide when he opens fire on the fleeing, yet unarmed, George, forcing revelers to cower on the pavement.

Read the whole thing at the link above.

[Alex]

How timely. I was just telling people that It's a Wonderful Life is not a good movie yesterday. I'd kindly as the New York Times to stop ripping off my LJ, even if it is pre-emptive.

[Strangler Lewis]

I'm sorry. It's A Wonderful Life is a great, poignant movie. What it is not, is realism.

I do wonder, however, if the George and Peter Baileys of the world aren't responsible for the current financial crisis.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Interesting article. I have always felt weird about the part where he treats her like crap. A lot of awful things happen in that movie but it somehow makes it uplifting. That's some amazing movie-making.

[Alex]

I'm of the opinion that the only reason it is considered a great classic is the accident of it existing in copyright limbo for decades meaning that independent TV stations around the country were able to use it as holiday filler for very low cost.

Over time, it just became part of the holiday and overly sentimentalized like most holiday associated things are. But there is a reason it was generally considered a flop until well after that holiday TV ubiquity began. That reason is the movie sucks.

[flippyshark]

I've tried so hard to like 'It's a Wonderful Life," but I haven't really managed to. (On the whole, Capra movies are a challenge for me - not because I'm cynical or anything, I'm a total sap - just something about htem has never quite worked for me.)

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Funny, I always chalked up my issues with the film next to "from another era". Guess I may be wrong.

[Betty]

I've never managed to watch the entire movie at once - but I think I've seen it all by watching it over the years, 10 minutes at a time before switching the station.

But hey - I'm not the only one and that's nice to know.

[Snowflake]

I'm not a huge fan of It's a Wonderful Life, either. I've never found the George Bailey character appealing (even with the almost always appealing Jimmy Stewart). I never understood why the Donna Reed character ever married him.

Of course, I have a real problem with the entire Capra body of work. A few stand out films, It Happened One Night is charming, almost a happy accident. There are things I love about Bitter Tea of General Yen (no matter how totally ridiculous it may be and how awful Barbara Stanwyck is). Capra seems to be viewed as a director/storyteller with heart. I rarely find any real heart in any of his films. If I am looking for that, George Stevens does the trick every time. Lost Horizon has great sets and I give Capra chops for casting H.B. Warner in so many films. :-)