Movies: Months in Review {November & December 2020}

Once again, late but hopefully better than never.  I may write one more post about a couple of specific musings on 2020, but I'm not sure.  Either way, this will be one of the last retrospective posts I'll share about 2020; I'm feeling an urge to put it behind me for the time being (as I'm sure many are), and I want to move forward with new content.  

And I think that, for me, part of executing that plan will mean not completing any of the tags I've been passed in recent months.  So, if you're one of the lovely people who tagged me lately — thank you so much!  Please know that I did read and appreciate all of the questions you posed, but for now I think I need to start afresh. 💛

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Arranged (2007) ● Not Rated

This had some painfully unprofessional moments, but I found myself very invested in the two women and the way their friendship evolved.  The story also offered a different and thought-provoking perspective on (consensual) arranged marriage, which I found very valuable as someone interested in that issue. 

Enchanted April (1991) ● PG

Oof.  This one was just weird.  I kept feeling as though we were on the verge of greatness, narratively speaking — there would be moments that kept seeming to press up against the very edge of quiet brilliance.  The story suggested fascinating meditations on female stillness, community, and solitude — but we never quite made it.  So much was left unresolved (or was resolved, but unsatisfactorily).  

(And also?!  I'm sorry but I must protest — Jim Broadbent making out made me waaaaaaay too uncomfortable.  No thank you.  Take it back.)

I'm hoping that I'll like the book better.

Happiest Season (2020) ● PG-13

Watched this for the characters and the Christmas aesthetic; did not regret it.  I could definitely see myself watching this several more times. 

Mulan (2020) ● PG-13

So for the entire first half of this movie, I kept thinking, "Okay, yeah, this is bad." 😂  I'd been very curious as to how I'd feel about it, given the firestorm of controversy it's stirred up.  And I have to say, I don't think it was good.  There are the concerns over the filming locations and the cultural inaccuracies to consider, of course, but even beyond that — from a technical, cinematic standpoint — I find it lacking.  Cheesy dialogue and stilted delivery made for some very cringe moments. 

However, that said, there are a couple of elements that I did appreciate:  I, personally, liked Honghui better than Shang as a romantic partner for Mulan, and I enjoyed their relationship.  I also liked hearing the original's soundtrack incorporated into the remake's score. 

And, as it went on, I did warm to it overall.  But it still gets a lower rating from me. 

Sleepless in Seattle (1993) ● PG

I tried to watch this years ago, because (as one does), I thought:  "It's Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan!  They're so unspeakably fantastic in You've Got Mail — surely this one must at least be decent!"

Ahem.

My first attempt to watch it failed pretty quickly.  It had too much innuendo for me at the time, but I also found it perplexingly dull.

This past year, however, I was determined to make it all the way through.  'Twas a Classic Rom-Com™, after all, and my love for Hanks and Ryan circa Mail had only grown in the intervening years.  Once again, my cock-eyed optimism got me into trouble, as my assumptions repeated themselves:  Surely — surely — there must be something in this story that I had missed, something which would explain its popularity. 

There . . . there wasn't.  

Y'all.

Why is this movie so popular? 😂  I don't — I don't understand?  Aside from the, you know, literal, actual, objective stalking Meg Ryan's character does (*strong ahems*), the narrative still strikes me as boring.  To me, it seems like this story tried and failed to do what August Rush succeeds in doing — craft a romance that depends on magical realism / suspension of disbelief.  Lots of reasons for that, but this isn't supposed to be a full review, so we'll leave it at that. 

The few things I actually liked about it:  The father-son relationship, the part where Tom Hanks and his brother-in-law (maybe?) start crying over that movie, and all the Affair to Remember moments. 

The Death of Stalin (2018) ● R

I haven't stopped thinking about this since I watched it.  Black comedy is something that must be executed (heh) in a very specific way in order for me to like it, and this is an example of what works for me.  The filmmakers aren't treating death or torture as something funny:  rather, they are exposing the evil of a dictatorship's frontrunners and using heavily sardonic humor as a means of belittling (and thereby defeating) them.

Craig Bernthal puts it excellently in Tolkien's Sacramental Vision, as he analyzes the significance of Tom Bombadil's levity when dealing with the Ring:  

Laughter can express sheer joy and exuberance, exhilaration, and gratitude at our participation in the order of the Logos.  A closely related laughter arises when we are released from a perception that is incongruous with reality.  Evil wants itself to be taken very, very seriously, and The Ring wants to be taken seriously as a dangerous instrument of power, but the idea of putting the world within the confines of a ring and thereby controlling it is just ridiculous to Tom, who sees it against the vast backdrop of joyful Creation and finds its pretensions ridiculous. . . . When the paltry, having given itself cosmic pretensions, is suddenly seen for what it is, cleansing laughter often comes to those who have been taken in. . . . Weapon and armor both, laughter defies evil, transcends it, shrinks it to its gargoyle proportions.  [ - Chapter 5]

*nods*  Now, that . . . that, I can get behind — when it is done thoughtfully and respectfully in light of the suffering caused by the evil that is being mocked.

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How are you all doing?