It is almost mandatory to watch Casablanca at least once in one’s life. Released in 1942 and directed by Michael Curtiz, the movie stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. I do not know what to say to do it justice, it is such a beautiful story I was left speechless.
Rick (Humphrey Bogart, magnificent) is a bitter, cynical man who owns a café in Casablanca in 1941. The city is controlled by the Vichy government, and is a platform where people can escape Europe and go to the US. He finds himself at odds when former love Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband Victor, a pillar of the resistance, show up in his café, needing his help to escape. It has all the elements for a great movie: romance, love triangle, danger, suspense, drama, humour. Bogart and Bergman are just amazing, although I have to confess a slight preference for Bogart’s character, more subtle, deeper. Paul Henreid (Victor) plays a hero and seems pale in comparison to Humphrey Bogart. Poor guy does not stand a chance!I A fun fact: apparently Ronald Reagan was briefly considered to impersonate Rick - thankfully, briefly!
It seems the movie was filmed with a half scenario, written by the Epstein brothers, with no specific end in mind, up until the very last moment – at first the end disappointed me but, thinking about it, it was the only logical choice, and very likely what makes this film unforgettable.
I loved that there is so much subtle, clever, funny quotes in the movie, that release the tension
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: Oh, thank you very much.
Rick: And remember, this gun is pointed right at your heart.
Captain Renault: That is my least vulnerable spot.
Also, in spite of the fact that it is war time, I loved the atmosphere at Rick’s Café, to the point where I almost wish it still existed: Sam is a great piano player and the general spirit is fantastic.
On Rick’s character, I could see some parallel with Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind: a cynic, still able to show a human side. Here the similarity is obvious:
Casablanca / Rick: I'm the only cause I'm interested in.
Gone with the Wind / Rhett: I believe in Rhett Butler, he's the only cause I know
The second confrontation between Rick and Ilsa particularly caught my attention: I remember being shown this scene a few months ago as part of a class, and the only thing we were asked after was: “Did they do it?” – strangely enough not everybody agreed! The DVD supplement (narrated by Lauren Bacall, Humphrey “Bogey” Bogart’s wife in real life) tells us that all explicit sexual references have been deleted, to be just hints and innuendo.
Some more intense scenes include the scene with The Marseillaise, beautiful and very emotional, especially when placed back in the context of WWII – remember, the film was released during the war!
The movie has an incredible amount of quotes that everybody uses at some point, some times without quite knowing where it came from:
-“Here's looking at you, kid.”
- "Usual suspects", from Captain Renault's phrase: “Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects”
-“Play it once, Sam. For old times' sake.”
-“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”
-And a personal favourite: “We’ll always have Paris”
I just could not put every scene, every quote, every picture in this post, otherwise the entire movie would have been shown here!
To finish on a less serious note, Casablanca was such a success that it was imitated many times, without success. However, a funny version is the Looney Tunes’, Carrotblanca:
Let’s step away from violence for a little nice and go back to a nice and feel-good love story: When Harry met Sally, released in 1989, directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan (pre-surgery).
Before / After
This romantic comedy follows Harry and Sally from the time they meet as graduates through several encounters over the years, and asks whether men and women can ever just be friends.
I probably saw it 6 or 7 times, but still enjoy it. The most famous scene of course is at the beginning, while Harry and Sally are having dinner. Sally argues that men cannot recognize whether a woman is faking and orgasm, and proves her point right in the middle of the restaurant, before proceeding with her meal as if nothing happened. A nearby customer then asks the waiter : “I’ll have what she’s having”.
This is a movie that I think aged well, one of my favourite quotes is the following, that I relate to more and more as I get older.
Sally:No, no, no, I drove him away. AND, I'm gonna be forty.
Harry: When?
Sally: Someday.
Harry: In eight years.
This film, for me, is the pioneer of all romcoms, and a pioneer in addressing the typical men/women relationships – when you take He’s just not that into you for instance, still the same theme! Meg Ryan is stuck-up, eccentric yet traditional, yet still loveable. I loved the many many different hairstyles she has throughout the movie, just to highlight time is passing. I liked the part where they are trying to set up their best friends with each other and, as always, it does not go as planned. A classic, a good moment!
The only things I know about Japan are sushis, sake, Miss Kitty and what Bridget Jones’ mother tells her about Mark Darcy’s ex-wife: “His wife was Japanese. Very cruel race”. I cannot judge on this, but it is true that Battle Royale is not exactly a feel-good, nice and sweet movie. Released in 2000, it was directed by Kinji Fukasaku, who is, as I heard, one of Tarantino’s inspirations: indeed, one of the actresses plays in Kill Bill – Volume 1. Battle Royale is his favourite movie, to the point he even said “If there’s any movie that’s been made since I’ve been making movies that I wish I had made, it’s that one”.
It starts with the following opening:
At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, AKA the BR Act....
So…. Battle Royale Act explained: a class is kidnapped and sent on a remote island. Rule of the game:
Today's lesson is, you kill each other off till there's only one left.
No escape possible as each student has an electronic device around the neck, set to explode if he or she does not want to play the game, or if there is more than one person left at the end of the game.
It is gripping, very violent, but somehow I was hooked from the start, dying (ha ha) to know what would happen: because, of course, the twist is that you will find some love stories / triangles in there. The beginning is almost funny: the teacher explaining the rules of the games and killing a couple of students for good measure, the video explaining the rules of the games that is presented by a cheerful girl, dressed in bright colours and just saying, basically “have fun!” is a sharp contrast with the reality of what is really happening:
Kyouichi Motobuchi: If I survive, can I go home?
Teacher Kitano: Yes, but only if everyone else is dead.
So basically for about two hours we watch people fighting while, in sharp contrast, music by Bach, Verdi, Schubert and Strauss is playing in the background… To some extent this film reminded me of two books: The Long Walk, by Stephen King, where 100 guys are selected to participate in The Long Walk and maintain a constant speed of no less than four miles an hour or risk being shot by soldiers monitoring the event. Up until there is one winner. The second one is Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, where schoolboys stuck on a deserted island try and govern themselves, without success, and fall into savagery.
Loved it, loved it, loved it. And to conclude:
Life is a game. So fight for survival and see if you're worth it.
I loved jack Nicholson in Something’s Gotta Give, I liked him in the Bucket List, in Shining, in Wolf, in The Departed, even in Batman. I did not in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest , released in 1975 and directed by Milos Forman. This movie left me uneasy. It was moving and emotional towards the end, but it took such a looooong time to get there!!
McMurphy hopes he can get out of doing time in prison by pretending to be mad and is sent to a mental asylum. He seems at first the unpleasant guy taking advantage of the fragile patients – running cards game and taking everyone’s money and cigarettes, but evolves as someone who cares, which is also why he starts challenging Nurse Ratched. The story with Billy, both during the therapy session and at the end was very sweet – what I found a bit shocking though McMurphy being fairly understanding with the patients, while having absolutely zero respect for the women in general, and Candy in particular. Granted, she is a prostitute, but I was shocked by the way he and the guard treat the two girls during the party at the hospital. His main attempt to try and “wake up” the mentally ill patients is at the beginning: “But I tried, didn't I? Goddamnit, at least I did that”, and is linked directly to the end, where everyone is better off for having known him.
I may have a bias against Jack Nicholson, he genuinely looks crazy in general, and I am guessing it is probably one element that bothered me. That said, the end is heart-breaking.
I liked the Indian guy, aka the Chief, particularly when he starts talking.
It was strange: I never saw it coming that he would end up being one of the main characters of that movie. But I have learned since then the movie is inspired from a book by Ken Kesey, that tells the story from the Chief’s point of view. Being seemingly deaf and stupid, I could not really understand at first why McMurphy took such an interest in him. At the end, though, it is obvious. It’s good that the Chief gets the last word, so to speak.
Nurse Ratched is as unpleasant as expected, her calm contrasting very well with McMurphy (Nicholson)’s livelihood. Clearly, his arriving at the asylum marks the end of her dominance, and it is clear she does not appreciate the improvement in the patients’ therapies. Seems the actress, Louise Fletcher, did not do much after that film, appearing mainly in TV shows such as Heroes, Private Practice, ER, etc…
I had watched some scenes of it and was dubious, but in the end that’s what this project is about: watching things I would not necessarily have picked. The movie was directed by Tim Burton, and I got to admit, I was not disappointed.
This is a movie for kids: Pee-wee loves his bike more than anything else in the world and refuses to sell it to his obnoxious neighbor Francis. But the bike is stolen, and Pee-wee visit a psychic who tells him his bike is in the basement of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. After realizing that this is a joke, he keeps going on. His adventures will lead him to Hollywood, where he is reunited with his beloved bike and his friend Dottie, happily ever after.
The movie is a succession of short, humoristic scenes, some of them better than other. Having been in Texas recently, I particularly liked these ones, in reference to the pride of Texans for their history and culture:
Additional good scenes include:
1. With Dottie at the bike shop:
Pee-wee: There's a lotta things about me you don't know anything about, Dottie. Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand. Dottie: I don't understand.
Pee-wee: You don't wanna get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel. So long, Dott
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKLizztikRk
2. When trying to get the truth out of Francis, who is taking a bath: Go ahead and scream your head off! We're miles from where anyone can hear you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuQDYOrh5wM
All in all, a good moment, once you get over the extremely annoying voice of Pee Wee (played by Paul Reubens). Oh, and way too much make-up on this guy, it doesn’t look natural. Granted, it is probably meant to be so, but that really bothered me. I am not saying it is the best movie of all times, but it is worth taking the time. I liked it.
Also, in spite of the fact that it is war time, I loved the atmosphere at Rick’s Café, to the point where I almost wish it still existed: Sam is a great piano player and the general spirit is fantastic.
