Sunday 6/9: Drylongso (1998)
When I got home from my week long vacation with friends, I was wiped. Shit needed to be unpacked, laundry needed to be folded, and I needed to lie on the floor for an undetermined amount of time. It felt natural to grab a DVD from the stack I picked up at the library and hit play. Now, as someone writing about film, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I have a bad habit of not paying attention. I'll throw something on for background noise and not retain any of it! Drylongso may have been one of these cases, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
Movies about the creative process are always a slam dunk. Drylongso tells the story of Pica's creative process—she loves photography, but struggles to fit in with her mentor and peers and their belief that "good" art must be made a certain way. She wants to capture the humanity she sees around her every day. It highlights all the good parts of the 90s independent movement, from the bright colors to the stilted, yet painfully earnest line deliveries. That's what kept me watching despite missing (pretty vital) parts of the plot: every actor had that look in their eyes. It was more than fiction, and that's what good cheap casting needs. My laundry got folded, and my mind got something to chew on, so I'd say it was a successful day. / ★★★★
Monday 6/10: The Hours (2002)
This is the perfect example of a movie I would never in a million years watch if not for Referencedale. I'm sure I've said this before, but movies lose their charm when they're full of big-name actors. When nobodies tank a delivery, it's charming because they're still trying their best. They take big swings because they mean it. Here, it's grating. I know they can do better. I don't care about the actors, and I certainly don't care about the three tortured heroines.
I'm not sure what to think of the protagonists. Why is Virginia Woolf there? Are we writing boring RPF now? The whole thing reeks of Penny Marshal in a way that I'm not sure is fair to her. I just have a grudge against movies like this and she's a figurehead for the movement There are big, dramatic swells of music, notable names, and lots of close ups, so the audience must feel something, right? / ★½
Tuesday 6/11: Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
Rogerrrr! I spent Tuesday in a haze collecting clips for a Kevin Smith AMV, and I needed some company, so out came my Mill Creek/Treeline horror 50 pack. This movie had, and I don't say this lightly, the worst audio quality of anything I've ever seen. The parts spoken in different languages were indistinguishable from English, and the video scan was also washed out enough that the subtitles were unreadable. I loved it.
Movies like this aren't about being "good," or even "enjoyable." You sit down, watch an hour of needless misogynistic and racist caricatures, and wait for the 2 minutes of crazy shoe-string budget monsters. I'm pretty sure I've mixed it up with Horrors of Spider Island (1960) because I was dead sure that there were dancers in Creature. I guess that speaks to how fast people wanted to capitalize on popular ideas. That being said, Roger Corman likes to have fun, and god help anyone who stands in his way. Don't let the rating fool you: I would watch this again in a heartbeat. It was just also horrible. / ★★½
Wednesday 6/12: Design for Living (1933)
I mentioned that I spent a week away with friends, and while we watched a lot more movies that I thought we would, all of them were modern. In the comfort of my own home, they left a bad taste in my mouth. Pre-Code Hollywood was just what the doctor ordered.
You may also know that I'm a sucker for screwballs. Design toes the line of a drama, while keeping a screwball-esque light tone. Gilda has free reign over all events and people in her world, and the conflict doesn't arise from her actions, but rather the actions others take when let go from her grip. They would do anything for her to control them again, absolving them of sin and allowing them to act without inhibitions.
The ending is easily the best scene of the lot. Throughout the movie, the main three characters are split up for the sake of furthering the story, but it leaves me wanting more. Their chemistry is the driving force, not what happens around them, and while it may take a minute to get there, the ending understands this. Gilda and her lackeys are reunited, and throw away all they've gained (and learned) for a chance to recreate the past. With future movies forced to care about morality, it's nice to see it sticking to the sidelines for once. / ★★★½
Friday 6/14: Death at a Funeral (2007)
Should I start marking which movies I watch for Referencedale? Will that explain the shitty ratings? I promise I'm not doing this to myself on purpose (unlike me and Roger Corman <3). My main problem is that on paper, this sounds like a great movie. Once again, I think it's the casting that ruins it. Even if I don't know each actor, it feels like I should know them. They're eye-candy for people who regularly troll IMDB. It's also mean spirited. Whether you're gay, disabled, or a woman, this movie (kind of) hates you. Let Uncle Albert shit in peace. To add insult to injury, it wasn't even related to Referencedale. This was all a mistake. / ★★
Saturday 6/15: Key Largo (1948)
On Saturday I was struck by the sudden urge to take all of my DVDs off their shelves and arrange them by decade. Before I could start, I thought Key Largo would be the perfect movie to half-watch, so I pulled it up on my computer. Halfway through the credits, I thought to myself: don't I have a Bogie and Bacall multipack? Yes I do. So maybe I should have culled my unwatched DVDs while I had them out, but on the other hand, who knows what gems I have in there.
While most of it may be generic noir, one scene stays with me. Claire Trevor, fourteen years older than Bacall and painfully aware of it, plays Gaye Dawn, an alcoholic ex-singer. In the grand scheme of things, she doesn't matter, but for one moment, her husband/manager forces her to sing for another drink. She stands, voice quavering, before it all rushes back to her, and she goes from singing to preforming. The music cuts, and the camera gets ever closer. A moment is shared between Gaye and the audience before her husbands cuts her off and refuses the drink he promised. The world keeps on turning with a little less heart. / ★★★★
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