Bring on the mushiness. I would like to thank Netflix for providing ample entertainment and encouraging my laziness on the couch fueled by at least, five cups of tea during each movie, and slices of toast. Here is a brief review of each movie that I watched this weekend.
Persuasion (1995)
This is the BBC version of Jane Austen’s classic, and here are a few key terms needed in order to watch this movie: DPE, or Dramatic Pained Expression. This is pretty self-explanatory, and the actress playing Anne (Amanda Root) has mastered this to a science. Look for this in combination with…wait for it…Camerawork Experimentation for Dramatic Effect (CEDE). This is demonstrated through a variety of zooming in and out, really super fast, mainly on Root’s DPEs. Another notable tool for CEDE is shaky camerawork. For example, in order to emphasis the unstable life out at sea, we see a lot of shaky camerawork in the opening shots of Persuasion.
What the hell was BBC thinking? Did the cameraman just discover the zoom button?
Why doesn’t Anne pluck her eyebrows? Everyone else in the movie has plucked eyebrows.
Despite these interesting artistic choices BBC made while doing this movie, it’s hard not to like a Jane Austen.
Watch it When: You need your Jane Austen fix and are tired of watching Pride and Prejudice.
The Edge of Love (2008): a Movie Created to Satisfy English Nerds’ Secret Desires
Oh—MALE English nerds’ secret desires.
Bathtub scene with Sienna Miller and Kiera Knightly. Really? Yeah, I doubt that my best friend and I would take a bath together, especially if my best friend was my husband’s childhood sweetheart. Maybe when I was five years old.
But, Sienna Miller is great in this movie, and Kiera Knightley is always great in period pieces (I use that term very liberally—I’m not sure if Pirates of the Caribbean qualifies as “Period” or “Disney”). The point is, you could throw Kiera in a great costume from any decade, and she’d probably do a pretty good job.
The cinematography reminds me of Twin Peaks, which I like. I do not like all the war scenes, and I wanted more romance. But what did I expect from Dylan Thomas? He’s a typical male: “I sleep with other women, because I’m a poet, and a poet feeds off life.”
Gag me. Reminds me of a guy I dated who lived like a modern day Hemingway, smoking on his couch and listening to jazz records like he didn’t belong in this era, like he was composing scores of novels in his head that just—oh--tormented him, so, soo much that it caused him to be lousy boyfriend material. So over it.
Ignore the unrealistic bathtub scene and Dylan’s douchebaggery, and you’ve got yourself a pretty good movie with decent female characters, but I will say—this movie does not belong in a marathon with BBC Jane Austin remakes or classics off of Netflix. It would be a total buzzkill.
Watch it When: A boy invites himself over to watch movies on the couch and you want to give him the cold shoulder without appearing rude (instead, you just appear super into movies with famous poets as characters).
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
This gem of a movie quickly became one of my new favorites. Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe play very well off each other, and there is eye candy galore between Elliott Reid as a detective and some extras playing the US Track and Field Team. There’s dancing, music, a little bit of Ziegfeld influence, a bratty kid, and a tiara.
Oh, and they’re on a boat. I’m not sure about why boats were so awesome back in this era (it seems like every third movie from this time period takes place on a boat), but these people really know how to make a cruise look like the cat’s meow. I suppose if I could charm people into however many diamonds I wanted, I’d go on a cruise to Paris, too.
The best thing about this movie was the dialogue. My favorite quote: “Dorothy’s not bad, honest—she’s just dumb.” --Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei.
Watch it When: You are in the mood to party on a boat without actually leaving your living room.
Love Affair (1939)
Oh, confusion. I’ve heard about this movie without realizing that I’ve heard of it. Two people (Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer) are on a boat (of course), they fall in love, but are engaged to other people (wah-wah). They decide to meet at the top of the Empire State Building six months later to see if their love remains intact.
Sound familiar? Sound like a billion other movies?
I thought this movie was called An Affair to Remember (1957) with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. It turns out after a little research, this was the first movie upon which An Affair to Remember was based, as well as 1994’s Love Affair with Warren Beatty, Katharine Hepburn, and Annette Bening. And who can forget the film’s honorable mention in Sleepless in Seattle (1993)?
Well, this is the first, ladies and gents, but probably not the most popular film version. It was still a tearjerker, though. I tried to hold back the tears, but couldn’t.
Watch it When: You have a suitable attention span and appreciation that comes with black-and-white movies, and you want to cry.
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