I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that until fairly recently, I really had no appreciation for older films. I used to think this was because I wasn't really raised on classic American movies (I didn't see Casablanca or Gone With the Wind until I was at least 16). I am starting to think that I was merely introduced to the wrong kinds of old movies.
Now there are some classic old American movies (by old, I mean pre-James Dean in the US, and pre-70's elsewhere) I've more recently begun to enjoy: the two mentioned above, It Happened One Night, Chinatown (which I posted about last) and others.
While I'm beating around the bush, let me also note that as a rule I can't stand recent foreign films, or people who like foreign films (merely because they are foreign) for that matter.
All that to say that I am currently in love with the combination of two categories of films I have long detested: old foreign films, specifically, Bergman and Fellini's movies. Granted, they are wildly different from one another, but I think both explore the subtleties film can uniquely express (I use the word subtleties loosely; Fellini is anything but subtle).
My favorite Fellini film so far is La Dolce Vita, which, to be fair, it a poorly written and plotted movie, though no more so than many of its contemporaries. Also, it's hard to give Fellini credit for making a movie about himself. The brilliant thing about this movie is how ridiculous it is, and easily the best scene in the movie is the opening shot of the helicopter carrying the metallic statue of Jesus. It's also thoroughly unapologetic about itself, making it a delight to watch (I think).
Again, stifling my embarrassment, I have to own up to the fact that I saw Nine before I saw any of Fellini's films, which is what got me interested in them to begin with. I love love loved Nine. I was everything a musical should be, but it still got poor reviews. It was no Chicago (but then, what it?), but critics complained that it was disjointed, hard to follow and the great tunes didn't compensate for the lack of plot. Sidenote, how GREAT was DDL as Fellini? So great.
However, I think that if Fellini were alive today, he would make exactly the same kinds of movies as Rob Marshall (another sidenote: who is psyched about Marshall directing Pirates 4?? I didn't even like the others, and I know this one will be worth watching); extravagant, shiny and sometimes pointless (Memoirs of A Geisha...A movie with a plot as cliche as they come that still rocked).
Anyways, I doubt any old American movie can measure up to the delightful self-indulgent spectacle that is La Dolce Vita. But why should it?
Have you ever watched any movies with the Hillsdale Film Society? They watch a lot of foreign stuff. One week last semester, they showed a 1992 Chinese action movie (oh God, it already sounds painful) called "Hard Boiled." It was so bad I got up and walked out after five minutes. I actually have trouble with any foreign film because reading the subtitles requires more concentration than I'm willing to give to it. They also showed "Seven Samurai" (1954) one evening--a 4 hour long movie. It actually wasn't bad, but I left after the first hour because I knew I would fall asleep if I tried reading subtitles for 4 hours straight.
ReplyDeleteOn a slightly different topic, you also mention the movie "It Happened One Night." I've never seen it, and the only reason I've heard of it is because when my dad was on Jeopardy, his second Final Jeopardy question asked about the winners of the 1934 Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress. He answered correctly with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. I always wondered how he could have known something so obscure without having been given the title of the movie, but after looking it up, I've discovered that it's more well known than I originally thought.
You should look up Ordet. It's an old Danish film in which one of the main characters goes insane after studying Kierkegaard at seminary and thinks he's Christ. It's a very calm, slow movie most of the way through, but the ending is amazing.
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