What I’ve Caught Up With, July 2023:
Film: Ladies in Retirement (1941)
<There is an odd little subgenre of Victorian noir that would include films like Gaslight, Lady Macbeth, and definitely Ladies in Retirement. Housekeeper Ellen Creed (Ida Lupino) brings her two simple and possibly insane sisters (Edith Barrett and Elsa Lanchester) to live with her. When things go south and the mistress of the house (Isobel Elsom) wants the sisters gone, things become murderous. Things become more complicated with the arrival of Ellen’s nephew Albert (Louis Hayward). It’s good, not great, but Ida Lupino as always is a treat to see on the screen. Films like this make me wonder why she wasn’t a much bigger star, because she definitely had the chops.
Film: Jockey (2021)
There are a few classic sports stories that show up in movies. One of them is the story where the old professional is on the tail end of the career, looking for one more victory or one more title. Horseracing seems like an odd choice for this story but that’s the story being told in Jockey. Jackson Silva (Clifton Collins Jr.) is barely hanging on to his career, and is falling apart physically when two things happen. First, his trainer (Molly Parker) acquires what may be a champion horse. Second, a jockey named Gabriel (Moises Arias) arrives, claiming to be Jackson’s son. It’s a standard sports movie in a lot of ways, but is a true showcase for the talent of Collins, who is magnetic, if perhaps a bit too tall for the role.
Film: High Life (2018)
A lot of science fiction is all chrome and flash, but there’s a different brand of sci-fi that looks dirty and lived-in, like Alien. High Life evokes that, but comes much closer to the original Solaris. A group of death row convicts are given a sort of reprieve by being sent on a space mission out of the solar system to a nearby small black hole. For much of the film, we are left with Monte (Robert Pattinson) and his daughter, with a great deal told in flashback as we see the dissolution of the people on the ship billions of miles from home and traveling at near-relativistic speeds. Is this a horror movie? Kind of, but it’s surprisingly realistic, existential horror, where there’s no fear, but simply the dread of continued existence. To be fair, I’ll watch just about anything with Juliette Binoche in it.
Film: Pride and Prejudice (1940)
I am not the target audience for the writings of Jane Austen, and yet here we are, with the second version of this that I’ve seen. The truth is that the story of Pride and Prejudice is genuinely a good one. This version is perhaps a bit more stiff than the one from the 2000s and because of that it shows its age, but it’s impossible not to be entertained by it. The fact that it stars Greer Garson shortly before her Oscar winning performance in Mrs. Miniver and Laurence Olivier at the height of his powers makes it more worth seeing. Elizabeth Bennet’s dressing down of Mr. Darcy is never not going to be great, and while I like the 2000s version better, this is awfully good.
Film: Black Widow (2021)
These days, I’m finding it more and more difficult to care that much about superhero movies and the MCU in general, but I’m still struggling my way forward with the ones I haven’t seen yet, which is most of the last three years or so. Black Widow is, honestly, the female-led movie the MCU needed. It’s actually a little short for a modern MCU film, and that’s a bonus. It also moves pretty quickly. It’s the ending Scarlett Johansson deserved, and it’s a nice to see Florence Pugh in the MCU. Ultimately, I’m happy to have seen this, but it’s not one I feel I’ll need to watch again any time soon.
I'm sorry about your dad as I hope he goes out with some dignity intact. Seeing my dad in those final days having to sit with tubes all over him and such and looking miserable was terrible. Thankfully, it didn't last that long as it would've sucked if he had lived another year in that condition and if he was around during the pandemic. It would've killed him mentally. I just hope you get a good cry and some time off after this.
ReplyDeleteThe only film on that list I've seen is Black Widow which I liked a lot though the screening I went to was terrible because of technical issues with the projector. It may not be top-tier MCU but I had fun because of Scar-Jo 3:16 and Florence Pugh. They made the film for me. And to just let you know... at least it's not Quantumania and some of the things in Secret Invasion.
High Life is one that I think might be worth seeing. If you're interested in Juliette Binoche full-frontal (kind of) and like Mia Goth, it's definitely one to seek out. Jockey is better than the premise by far, but that's all because of the cast.
DeleteI like this version of Pride &Prejudice, but if you've seen the modern one, it's not required viewing.
Sorry to hear you are going through a rough period, I can definitely sympathize. Some situations can only be accommodated not cured but once the logistics are worked out they become far less chaotic and coping much more achievable. I hope that happens for you soon.
ReplyDeleteI’ve only seen the two older films, but I am most intrigued by Jockey. Clifton Collins Jr. is a seriously underappreciated performer.
I have superhero burnout so at this point I doubt I’ll ever watch Black Widow.
Now to the two I have seen.
I agree that Ladies in Retirement isn’t great, however it seems it could have been with a bit more care. So it might not be great, but Ida is! Even though she is years too young for the part, the film is based on a Broadway play where Ellen is supposed to be closer to 60 than the 40 Ida was working towards (she was 23 at the time!) she makes such considerations unimportant with the intensity of her performance.
Absolutely agree Ida should have been a bigger star but the reason she wasn’t isn’t too hard to fathom. She was under contract at both the right and wrong studio-Warner Brothers. Right because her tough no nonsense wired style was a perfect fit for that studio’s rhythms. Wrong because the Queen of that particular lot was Bette Davis and she had first choice on the cream of the scripts. If she passed then Ida had to duke it out with Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan and once she came over from Metro, Joan Crawford who were along with Ida the premier second string. If they said no the scripts were then assigned to Priscilla Lane, Geraldine Fitzgerald or Joan Blondell and onward down the chain. In fact when Ida’s contract came up for renewal a few years after this she refused citing the fact that she had been used as a threat to Bette and didn’t intend to suffer the same treatment with some up and comer. Plus she was anxious to get into the production end of the business.
I liked this version of Pride and Prejudice but no matter how much I adore Greer Garson at 36 she is just far too old to be playing Elizabeth Bennett. Olivier is much better suited to Darcy but even he, when compared to Matthew MacFayden, seems a bit off. However, Mary Boland is a delight as Mrs. Bennett and even if they softened her character Edna May Oliver scores as Lady Catherine. The film is pretty as a picture (although the clothes are incorrect for the period) but again up against the 2005 version it comes across as a bit sterile.
Ladies in Retirement is one I would watch again, but not one I would go out of my way to see. Most of that is Lupino, but a little of it is Elsa Lanchester, who is always entertaining.
DeleteGarson was 36 in Pride & Prejudice, which is a little old, but she looks good in the role. Olivier, was 33, and that's about perfect for Darcy, and he absolutely looks the part. Honestly, it's a little refreshing to see the age difference in this direction for once.
While Garson was too old for this, it's certainly better than the disastrous Romeo and Juliet from a few years earlier w th a 43-year-old Leslie Howard playing Romeo. Also better than the '30s Little Women that featured a 23-year-old Joan Bennett playing a 12-year-old.
Hollywood has its problems, but this is one that seems to be better in general.
I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. I've started to notice my dad moving a little slower than he used to, which is to be expected for a man in his 70's, but still. It sucks to be faced with that.
ReplyDeleteI haaaaated High Life. It just did not do it for me. I loved Black Widow though. I've shamelessly tried to recreate so many of the hairstyles in that movie on myself.
I think High Life is pretty polarizing. I can absolutely get hating it. I didn't, but I can see it.
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