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The Seamstress told me I should watch this film. I fear it was talked up to me a bit too much, but then again, I did watch it whilst making dinner, so I was somewhat distracted for the first portion of it.
It seems a decent film. It didn't change my life or anything, but I did enjoy it. I must admit though, it didn't leave me with a great deal to say about it. The underdog-makes-good storyline is a safe bet to receive audience support.
Alan Rickman's presence elevates the film. Rachael Taylor, though I find her wonderful, her character isn't really there for any particular reason other than to foist irrelevant sexual tension on the tale.
I didn't really connect with it though, so I just... don't have much to say about it.
Final Thought: Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the first half of the film...
Up Next: The Bourne Identity (2002)
In my final years of high school, I had a great English teacher. A teacher who made the syllabus interesting and who didn't expect you to fit in to a mold, but rather wanted you to find your own voice. It was this teacher who one day insisted we go to the cinema and see Billy Elliot. He also insisted that we go see Fight Club, but that will come later.
So I went to the cinema, not really knowing what to expect of this film, and within the first minute I loved it. Billy is endearing before he even says anything. Dancing is just something that he happens to find himself doing, though it is bewildering for everyone else in his life, and he is more than aware of that.
I think I like this film because it isn't self conscious. It's just frank. Yes, kids pick up on more about their parents than they realise. Yes, you're more likely to get through to a kid if you talk to them as an equal. And yes, dancing is pretty great.
Final Thought: Just how many family issues could be solved by dancing it out?
Up Next: Bottle Shock (2008)
This is another film that I didn't like the first time I watched it. Perhaps I watched it just after having seen Edward Scissorhands for the first time. I was so blown away by Edward Scissorhands, way more than I expected to be (more on that when I get to it). So I did Big Fish a disservice by watching it soon afterwards. I came at it with expectations and it didn't fit in to them.
Then, a few years later, every second blog I read seemed to rave about this film. Coincidence or something, I don't know, but for a month I felt like all these writers I didn't know were telling me that I simply had to give Big Fish another chance. I did so, and couldn't understand what I hadn't liked about it the first time around.
The most beautiful thing about this movie is that it champions the oral tradition. It's all about the telling and passing down of stories. Of taking the time to tell them and listening to them. Of how important they are in the building of a child's imagination and how stories can connect families and friends. The sight of everyone telling stories at the funeral is wonderful.
Then there's the recurrence of "This isn't how I die". And the popcorn moment, which is stunning. And the moment in the bath... It's not often that you see such relaxed romance between older couples in films. Or couples of any age for that matter.
There's actually so many things I love about this film that it is an utter mystery to me that I didn't enjoy it the first time around. This movie inspires me. There is wonder in it. It makes me want to go for a walk.
Final Thought: I swear, Danny DeVito missed his calling. He should have been a ringmaster.
Up Next: Billy Elliot (2000)
I just... don't like this film very much. I would normally assume that I watched it due to liking Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, but that can't be the case because Being John Malkovich came out first and I definitely saw it at the cinema. And I don't even think I liked it then, so I must have bought it purely because John Cusack was in it. This was not a Be Kind Rewind experience - I did not enjoy it more the second time at all. All I kept thinking as I watched it was "Did I really enjoy this the first time I saw it? Why do I own this?? Everything is just so uncomfortable..."
It's really quite bizarre to have John Malkovich be the most likeable character in a film. Not to be insulting, but it's really against the grain for him and I'm not sure it's intentional. I enjoyed this film the most whenever he was on screen, and his exploration of his own subconscious is very inventive.
All in all though, I dislike this film. It'll be going to the second hand store tomorrow.
Final Thought: It is interesting to see story elements in this film that Charlie Kaufman clearly managed to make more successful in Eternal Sunshine.
Up Next: Big Fish (2003)
This is easily one of my top three childhood films. It is as comforting and familiar to me as the smell of my father's cooking. Angela Lansbury is just wonderful, and I was always amazed by films that combined animation with live action. I was amazed by how they managed to put real people together with something that I knew was created on paper. It seemed extremely clever to me and I was fascinated by any film where it occurred (which led me to watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as a kid; a decision I regretted. That steamroller scene was upsetting).
I regularly hired the video from my local store and knew it back to front, but upon purchasing the 25th anniversary DVD, it turns out that there was a lot more to the story than was shown in the initial version that I saw. There are quite a few songs that weren't in the video I saw as a kid, and the extended Portobello Rd dance sequence is lovely. I mentioned previously that I resented the addition of a song to my DVD copy of Beauty and the Beast ("Human Again" wasn't in the original version, and I don't feel that the film flows smoothly in to it, so it jars my viewing experience), but I must say that the additional scenes in Bedknobs and Broomsticks work for me. They give the characters more depth. As a kid, I particularly never understood why Emelius suddenly shacked up with Miss Price at the end, but with the extended version their quiet affection for each other is shown and so it all makes sense.
Final Thought: It often happens that, as an adult, you'll go back and watch a film or TV show you loved as a kid and realise that it was actually a bit messed up. It somehow didn't seem that way to you when you were young. Yet with Bedknobs and Broomsticks, I always thought the deflation of the suits of armour most creepy, even as a child.
Up Next: Being John Malkovich (1999)
I remember there being a fuss about this movie when it was released. The fact that computers were used to partly animate the ballroom scene was a big deal. It seemed so strange to me at the time that a person would use a computer for animation. I knew that making a cartoon involved several pieces of paper that you drew on and then flicked between a lot. The idea of using a computer for that was just weird.
I went to see this film at the cinema and just loved Belle. She was bookish, brunette and inquisitive, which I found appealing. I also loved the music theatre nature of the soundtrack. The opening theme is gorgeous and the songs have such entertaining lyrics ("I use antlers in all of my decorating...").
I do wonder though, how much of the furniture in the castle was just furniture? If it was entirely furnished with the staff in their transformed state, what did they do once everyone was human again?
Final Thought: Thinking back, "inventor" was a common profession according to 90s films...
Up Next: Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Something didn't quite sit well with me the first time I saw this film. Maybe my expectations were skewed, as I loved Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, and I expected to love Be Kind Rewind just as much. Maybe I just didn't really pay attention to what I was watching (I think I remember wandering around my room as it was playing). But there was something about it that wasn't what I hoped it to be.
Watching it for the second time, however, was very different. For one thing, I now actually know who Fats Waller was, and that heightened my interest. I enjoyed hearing his music dotted throughout the film. I feel privileged that I can recognise the songs and it made me feel more affectionate to the film.
I like it when that happens, when you enjoy something more the second time around. It's like you weren't ready for it the first time around and it had to wait until you were in the right place. It leaves me wondering whether I'll enjoy The Science Of Sleep more the second time I watch it as well...
Final Thought: If you watch this on DVD, in the special features there is footage of Mos Def singing Fats Waller's songs in Paris. Watch it. It's only 6 minutes but it's great.
Up Next: Beauty And The Beast (1991)
