As I was watching the documentary series The Story of Film last year (a must see for every movie lover), Tokyo story was a movie which was mentioned regularly. The way in which director Yasujirô Ozu placed his camera, often at the height you would sit on the floor, is praised in it, but also that every shot has a deep focus, which allows you to see what is happening everywhere. With that knowledge in the back of my mind it was interesting to see this movie. Continue reading
There are some areas where I’m seriously lacking in my movie knowledge and French cinema definitely is one of them. It doesn’t mean that I haven’t seen any French movies, but the total number is extremely low. It meant I wasn’t aware of the work by Jacques Tati. I have had his movie Playtime on my ever expanding to watch list, but hadn’t come around to checking it out. As a new DVD set of his movies was just released over here it was a good moment to step into the world of his most famous character: Monsieur Hulot. Continue reading
Last year I saw Les diaboliques, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. It was a very good mystery/thriller, but I never bothered to check out more of Clouzot’s work, until someone suggested I’d watch Wages of Fear. After having done so I have to make sure to check out more of his work, because this movie is stunning, thrilling and will probably have you biting your nails. It proves that a movie doesn’t need fast paced action to be thrilling to watch. Continue reading
A while ago Ruth from Flixchatter celebrated the birth of (one of) her favorite actors that has graced the screen, Gregory Peck. She advised me to watch Roman Holiday, which is one of her favorites (you can read here why she loves it so much). So I bought the DVD and, as it goes when you have so many movies you want to watch, it took a while for me to get around to seeing it. So what are my thoughts on this modern fairytale? Continue reading
Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable), Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe) and Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall) are three single ladies. They all do some modelling work to at least have a little bit of money, but it’s not their most important job. The title of the movie says it all, trying to hook up with a millionaire and marrying them so they can enjoy their wealth. To cover their motives they rent an expensive apartment (that they only can pay by slowly selling all the stuff in the apartment). The search for a man is proving more difficult than they expect. Continue reading