A Little Romance (1979)

Being home means watching random movies my mom finds through Netflix. In this case, A Little Romance turned out to be entirely delightful. It's one of those movies where an American girl goes on a European adventure of sorts that I confess I love (ie, Chasing Liberty (2004)--Matthew Goode is irresistible when he wants to be). Lauren (Diane Lane in her debut film) is a 13-year-old who lives in Paris with her kind of slutty mother and actually good step-father. While reading a book at a movie set her mother drags her to, Lauren meets Daniel (Thelonious Bernard), a local French boy who snuck in.

The two soon start the kind of romance that 13-year-olds have. Well, brainy ones. They talk about Heidegger, which is boring except I'm delighted to think that there are 13-year-olds read and understand Heidegger. Although I can't really relate to that since I was still reading Sweet Valley Twins at 13. Anyway, Lauren meets Daniel on the sly, making her awkward/spastic friend Natalie (Ashby Semple) cover for her. Eventually they decide to run away to Venice to kiss under the Bridge of Sighs at sunset so that they'll love each other forever like the legend says because Lauren has to move back to America in two weeks. They enlist the help of a charming old man Julius (Laurence Olivier) to help get the money to go (by placing bets at the horse races) and get the two minors across the border to Italy. Crazy hijinks ensue.

It's a pretty typical sort of pre-teen movie that you'd expect Hayley Mills to be in if it were the 60s, except that A Little Romance is replete with classic film references. In fact, it's very French New Wave in that we're always aware of film throughout. Daniel himself is obsessed with Hollywood films, and when he first meets Lauren, he requests she call him Bogie since Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall belong together. There's another scene when Daniel and Lauren go on a surreptitious date, and Daniel takes her to some sketchy looking movie theatre that his sketchy friend sneaks them into, and the film ends up being Japanese porn of some kind. Let's hear it for Taxi Driver. And when they're in Italy, they escape from the police on bicycles. Bicycle Thieves much?

But the most obvious film reference is to The 400 Blows (1959). Daniel is very much like Antoine. He comes home and puts food on the stove. He wanders the streets of Paris. He finds refuge in the movie theatre. Some of the outdoor locations look familiar as well. But what really solidified the reference was the freeze frame/zoom in ending. I have no idea why the director, George Roy Hill, put so many film references in a kids movie, but it makes me happy.

In fact, it's more of a smart kids kid movie. The main characters are gifted children who are bilingual and like philosophy and math. Daniel has a large working knowledge of film (in one of the great moments of the film, he punches a terrible director that's been flirting with Lauren's mom in the stomach). And even if you don't get a lot of the homages (there were some I was sure I was supposed to know but couldn't place), you can enjoy the fun characters. They got Laurence Olivier to be in this movie, for heaven's sake. What else could you ask for? Nothing.

Medley of the Day: Moving away from Utah edition

I have a love/hate relationship with Utah. I came down here for school, and I don't regret it at all, but it's such a weird culture. A little too Mormon for my taste (I consider myself a moderate-liberal Mormon, if you can work with that). Anyway, I'm moving up to Seattle for grad school, and I'll be traveling back the Washington (my home state) this weekend. So, in honor of my journey, here's an extended playlist. Read into the song choices whatever you want.



1. "Place in this World" by Michael W. Smith. Oh yes, I went there. I can't not sing along to this song.

2. "Gonna Move" by Susan Tedeschi. This is a good story set to some bluesy awesomeness.

3. "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. Always appropriate.

4. "Funky Town" by Lipps, Inc. It's about movin'. To Funky Town.

5. "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. Because every mix deserves a power ballad.

6. "Journey to the Past" from Anastasia. So cheesy, so perfect.

7. "500 Miles" by the Proclaimers. I'm just sad Ted and Marshall won't be in my car singing and playing Zitch Dog with me. It's going to be a long trip.

8. "Never Going Back Again" by Fleetwood Mac. I've been on a Rumours kick lately.

9. "I Feel Bad" by Rascal Flatts. Country power ballad. Just embrace it and listen to the end of the chorus.

10. "I'm Free" by the Who. I like to think of Roger Daltrey running along the beach a la the film adaptation of Tommy.

11. "Handbags and Gladrags" by Stereophonics. This song (no matter what the version) will always remind me that it's the end of a painful/bizarre day.

The Audacity of Rock: Part 21

Amount of hair proportionate to the rocking.

Rock 'n' roll has had a long history of long/huge hair that somehow got lost in the 90s, but if you look hard enough, you can still find some fantastic locks. For this part, I'm ignoring the butt rock/hair band era because the hair was bigger than the rocking. Here are some legit examples.


"Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin (1973 performance)

The whole band is rocking some great hair in this kind of relaxed version of the song. While Robert's head of hair is always magnificent, I think the important thing to note is John Paul's grown out page boy. I should also note that costuming doesn't hinder the rocking, so rest easy when you check out Jimmy's get up.




"Bad Boys Running Wild" by Scorpions (1985 performance)

Dude. Scorpions were good at what they did, and they did it with some good locks on their head. This time, their locks are blowing in the wind (the winds of change?). Not even those striped pants can get in their way.




"Molly's Chamber" by Kings of Leon (2006 performance)

While Kings of Leon are now rocking significantly less hair, at one point they realized the potential that long hair could bring to their music. I don't think I have anything else to say except that I wish they'd kept the bangs.




Questions to ponder:

1. Will long hair ever come back unironically?
2. What rocker dons the most glorious head of hair?

Far From the Madd(en)ing Crowd (1967)

I don't know why I keep thinking a three-hour movies from the 60s will be good/hold my interest, but they never do (see: Oliver!, 2001: Space Odyssey). Far From the Madding Crowd, based on the novel by Thomas Hardy, is even worse because it doesn't actually use the time to explore ideas, characterization, or actually explain what's going on. It all seems to be implied. And while that usually means the filmmaker was trying to do something deeper, in this case, I was utterly confused and quite frankly bored.

Anyway, the IMDb descriptions says

Bathsheba Everdine, a willful, flirtatious, young woman, unexpectedly inherits a large farm and becomes romantically involved with three widely divergent men.

Why these men don't see that getting involved with a woman named Bathsheba would be a terrible idea, I don't know. At least one of the men, Gabriel Oak, manages to turn out okay and is decent human being. He's like an angel, get it? 'Cuz his name is Gabriel? And dependable, like an oak! Sigh.

To be fair, they were probably being very true to the source material, complete with obviously symbolic names. I've never read it, but I can only assume because it was originally a monthly serial, it had lots of description with bouts of drama thrown in at the end of each section. Plus, athe cinematography is gorgeous, despite how boring the characters are (good work Nicolas Roeg). There were many lovely shots and interesting uses of focus.

But let's get to the best part: Terence Stamp. Slightly fascinated by an article by Dan Callahan about Terence Stamp, I rented Far from the Madding Crowd. While Mr. Stamp did prove to bring a weird sort of sexuality to the screen in his portrayal of Frank Troy, he was unfortunately not in every scene of this glacially paced epic. I mean, he was the only character who managed to bring any drama, which made me excited mostly because I was all, "Frank seems kind of creepy, this could only end badly. Please can something bad happen so something happens?"

So, in honor of his being even remotely interesting, here's a photo gallery of Frank's greatest hits with captions. Also spoiler alert:

Did I mention he's a strapping young soldier?

With his first love Fanny after he gets dressed. Can you see where we're going with this?

Fanny shows up at the wrong church and accidentally stands up Frank on their wedding day. Frank is pissed and basically dumps her.

Franks meets Bathsheba one night by accidentally getting one of his boot spurs stuck in her petticoat. He Rhett Butlers his way through the encounter.

Frank declares his love for Bathshe-wolf through an unfocused frame of flowers.

In this scene, Frank shows off his swording prowess to Bathsheba. It's both a weirdly long scene and rather phallic, and I'm confused as to whether or not this is symbolic of them having sex. They spend so long on this scene I'm convinced it's more than Frank just being masculine and creepily flirtatious, but I have no idea.

One of Bath's spurned lovers, Mr. Boldwood, offering Frank money to marry Bathsheba like he should. Does this mean they did have sex? Is that why he should marry her? I know he totally slept with first-love Fanny, so is that why you mention Fanny? Because Bathseba's situation is similar? Implied plot points aren't helping.

In other news, Frank's nonchalance in this scene is kind of hot.

Newlyweds. Frank being sweet.

Frank is a surprisingly enthusiastic singer at church. And lovely shot composition, no?

Dance party!

Now using a cane as a phallic symbol. You can't heal everything with sex, Frank.

Cock fight!

Things finally get exciting, over two hours in when Fanny shows up again. Here's Frank kissing her when she and her child end up dead. This doesn't go over well with 'sheba.

Frank being emo in the rain.

Frank taking an emo swim in the ocean.

Frank as an emo carny after he fakes his death to get out of his loveless marriage.

And Frank comes back and ruins a perfectly awkward party. In case you want to drudge your way through this long (but pretty) movie, I'll just tell you that immediately after this, the most exciting part of the movie takes place. Also known as the last 10 minutes of the film.

Pride and Prejudice: this time it's Old Hollywood

It's been a whole month and a half since the last time I watched and reviewed a Pride and Prejudice adaptation, so obviously it's time for another one. This time it's the 1940 version starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, and heavens is it delightful. Pushing the time period up several decades to allow the costumes to have cinched in waists, elaborate bonnets, and full-length trousers, this version does a surprisingly good job of adapting Austen's novel.

Mr. Darcy (Olivier) staring at an ignorant Elizabeth (Garson). How elaborate are these costumes?

The time period allows for some loosening up of the manners and language and changing some of the settings (the balls require tickets, and the Netherfield ball is now a garden party). Overall, it makes things a little less claustrophobic from the constant scrutiny of chaperones. The screenwriters also cut out a lot of plot points, which only benefits the story altogether. Without trying to make everything verbatim to the classic novel, this Pride and Prejudice is a well-paced two hour version that captures the relationships and humor of the source.

One of the biggest changes is that Wickham is introduced first, but like I mentioned in my review of the Mormon version, this easily makes Wickham Elizabeth's preference and efficiently develops a strong bond. Plus, Wickham and Elizabeth's snappy conversation during the ball at the Assembly Hall makes Wickham seem rather charming. By the time Darcy insults her at the same ball, her mind is made up.

Mr. Wickham (Edward Ashley) has a fine mustache in this version.

However, many of the scenes remain mostly intact in their original form. The dialogue is changed around to be easier to understand, and some scenes offer extra information original found in other scenes not found in this adaptation. The wit may not be as dry and the satire downplayed, but Elizabeth is still outspoken and Darcy is still a bit stuck up. However, much more is said by Darcy's body language than anything. Mr. Olivier is certainly the master of the I'm-attracted-to-you-lean. It's both telling of how he feels about Elizabeth and his inablility to really express it. And this is really the core of his character relayed to the audience without words.

He's totally leaning.

One of my favorite scenes that is unique to this version is when Darcy saves Elizabeth from Mr. Collins at the Netherfield garden party and gives her a lesson in archery. It gives an easily readable scene where we see Elizabeth not afraid to surpass Darcy's skill (her sassy side coming out) and see a little bit of sexual attraction in the way Darcy gingerly sets Elizabeth up to shoot arrows. This economically shows us Darcy's obvious attraction to Elizabeth, and gives Elizabeth a chance to see that Darcy isn't all snobbery. We didn't even have to go to Pemberly for this to get across.

Mr. Darcy kindly turning Elizabeth's pages at Lady Catherine's house.

This film's ability to give us the proper emotional journey with each character is why this adaptation succeeds. I felt like each character, even if they were put in altered scenes, were presented the way they were originally written. Some of the relationships were simplified, and some minor characters removed, but this allows for the main story between Elizabeth and Darcy to shine through. The biggest change was the ending with the amelioration of Lady Catherine, but I was so delighted I didn't even care.

I caution those looking for a faithful adaptation, because this certainly is not one. But I also felt like the tone of the novel was kept intact and effectively told in an easy to understand two hours. And that's all you need for a good adaption. Even better if it's told with old Hollywood charm.

Here's the trailer:



Why yes, this version is a little bit Gone With the Wind.

(500) Days of Summer/Two for the Road

I know I've mentioned this a few times on this blog, but I love Two for the Road (1967). It's a decade-long story of a couple told in vacation flashbacks. It splits time between several flashbacks, showing us the happy beginning, the middling middle, and the awful present. We know that the marriage is having trouble from the start of the film, and every look back in the relationship tells us why.

(500) Days of Summer does much the same thing. We know from the start that the couple in question isn't going to end up together. The film goes mostly chronologically with two starting points: the giddy beginning of the relationship and the post-break-up losses. The two storylines are intercut together to create the sort of perspective that only a bigger picture can give.

While Two For the Road, I feel, gives us a better look from the romantically-minded female perspective on the relationship, (500) Days of Summer gives us the romantically-minded male perspective. Joanna and Tom both fall in love quickly and fully invest themselves into their respective relationships. Maybe they should get together so neither of them will be let down by their less invested counterparts.

Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Joanna (Audrey Hepburn) enjoying their road trip together as their car starts to catch fire.

Incredibly, the two films end on hopeful notes. Two for the Road ends with Joanna (Audrey Hepburn) and Mark (Albert Finney) accepting that they're a permanent fixture and complement each other well (exchanging the magical "Bitch" and "Bastard"of affection). (500) Days of Summer shows us Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) finding peace with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) marrying another guy and starting over again (giving us a fun 4th wall-breaking look to the camera).

With humor and retrospective wisdom, these two films give a larger picture of what a relationship is like--not just an anticiption of one--and even tell us it's worth it. Now if only real life would allow me to dance to Hall and Oates in the middle of the park.