elmsyrup Reviews

Naqoyqatsi (2002)

A disappointing mess

[1/10 · 26 November 2023]

Koyaanisqatsi is one of the 10 best films that has ever been made, in my opinion. It was a totally new cinema experience and the music and images were perfectly combined to give a very powerful message. Elements of the film have been copied incessantly since.

Powaqqatsi, again, didn't have as much of an effect on me but was clearly made with a lot of passion and attention. All a bit Fair Trade hemp, but certainly watchable.

With a masterpiece and a half under his belt I never thought Godfrey Reggio would make anything as bad as this to finish off the trilogy. The computer animation on this is terrible. It looks incredibly out of date for 2002, like a 1993 Future Sound Of London video. I'm led to wonder what today's computer animation, so shiny to our eyes, will look like 10 years down the line. You never can tell, though funnily enough, hand-drawn animation like Snow White still looks amazing.

I have no idea what Mr Reggio is trying to communicate with his trippy fractals, shimmering ones and zeros, and clunky computer icons. There is one visual trick in this film- making every image all fuzzy and reversing the colours- and it's a damned ugly trick. It really doesn't seem as if he had any other thought behind this than "Oh, I'll saturate everything in neon- that'll make it look more techno".

Perhaps he is trying to say that the world is ugly now, he's not going to treat us to the breathtaking magnificence of his earlier work because he's lost hope for us, we are now entirely out of touch with nature. Well maybe that is true, but there's no need to make something so unpleasant to punish us for it. This is an absolute mess.

The Golden Girls: There Goes the Bride: Part 1 (1991) Season 6, Episode 16

One of the funniest episodes

[9/10 · 16 November 2023]

This episode had me laughing so much my stomach hurt. Really excellent writing and acting. There's something rather surreal about some of the scenarios in this episode, the tone was a little different than some of the others.

I don't mind the "continuity error" too much- it's a shame when people take it too seriously. Ok, so Miles' whole witness protection thing had been forgotten this episode. That's just because they screened them out of order, never mind.

Favourite line from this episode, maybe- Dorothy: I'll give you a clue, it's the best thing that can happen to a woman. Rose: it's the circus! The circus is in town!

The Butcher's Wife (1991)

Woody Allen's lost film?

[7/10 · 16 September 2013]

Mild spoilers below. This film is not very highly regarded, and there are some good reasons for that, but I enjoyed it a great deal.

Demi Moore was the wrong choice for the lead role. Her Southern accent is shaky, and her down-home folksiness can irritate. I don't like Andie MacDowell much but she might have been a better choice. At least her accent wouldn't have leapt all over the map.

However the supporting cast are mostly excellent, with interesting and quirky New York characters. I loved the psychiatric patient with the bowler hat, whose sessions keep getting interrupted. The plot is classic Woody Allen, a farcical series of partner-swapping japes, and the script is tight and funny. There are some great lines, for example: "I'm not a homewrecker! Well... that's not true... But I don't want to wreck YOUR home. I like your wife too much". And then later, from another character: "Why are you f'ing with my life"- to which the response comes back: "I never touched her!" There were parts of this film that were syrupy, but with the acidic script it avoided sugar-coma for the most part. At the end of the film, I was amused and touched. It's a fun watch, and I recommend it.

It Should Happen to You (1954)

Nobody comes out of this well

[6/10 · 29 November 2009]

While the performances in this film certainly had their good moments, none of the characters were particularly likable.

Jack Lemmon's Pete is manipulative and casually sexist, trying to bring Judy Holliday's character Gladys down to earth, basically dangling that holy grail of marriage just past her fingers, but saying that he would not offer it, or take her seriously, until she behaved herself like a good girl. She says to him, "don't be the one to burst my bubble", but he takes no notice and is petulant and possessive.

Then again though, those dreams Gladys has- just to be known, not for anything at all, just KNOWN. They aren't very noble dreams. It's good that she wants her autonomy, but she plays the dumb blonde shtick and comes across as irritating, vacuous and greedy, and is soon exploited by unscrupulous, slimy businessmen. I think there's an intended message here that women couldn't hope to win in the 1950s and they were silly to even try.

But it was Peter Lawford's character that was the worst. As the rich owner of a soap manufacturing company, he's practically psychopathic. I don't know how anyone could have interpreted his advances towards Gladys as romantic or warm. He's a man who won't take no for an answer. The scene where he follows Gladys into her home despite her saying goodbye numerous times made me very uncomfortable- many women will recognise that situation, where you don't want to be rude and so the man takes advantage of your politeness and pushes his luck despite understanding full well that he's not welcome. The scene in his apartment where she expects a business meeting and he expects her to prostitute herself makes me even more uncomfortable. You can see the fear on Gladys' face as she cringes away from his kisses (a good performance there from Holliday) and there are definite undertones of rape. It made me feel sick. Without the Hays Code restricting what could be shown and said, imagine that scene played more explicitly today- you would not be able to consider the film a comedy.

The ending of the film is supposed to be happy but I think it's rather a tragedy. Gladys and Pete, newly married, are in his car. Even from the brief scene it is made clear that she's been broken into submission. He makes all the decisions- we'll find a motel and go straight to bed, and then get back on the road early- and with a faint voice she asks if they couldn't possibly have breakfast before they leave. Yes, she's a good girl now.

Gone to Earth (1950)

Incredibly misogynistic

[5/10 · 21 April 2007]

One of Powell and Pressburger's more troubled films, Gone To Earth features the rapist as romantic hero.

Jennifer Jones is the quarry, the innocent young maiden who's pursued by, and eventually succumbs to the local squire despite her repeated refusals and her marriage to the parson. It's this fantasy women used to have when they felt ashamed of their sexuality- if I protest and he FORCES me, I can't be to blame. Or, alternatively, they really do want to say no but don't have the power to. Either way I can't help but view this with modern eyes and I find it offensive.

At the end of the film, Hazel dies while being literally hunted (with hounds) by the squire she eventually rejected because, it seems, she is a loose woman and can't be allowed to live. Again, this is just shocking.

As for the actors, Jennifer Jones is rather an odd actress with a dreadfully mangled accent. Especially at the beginning of the film, her English country girl sounds like she's from the Deep South of America. She was David O. Selznick's discovery and his wife which is why she got the part, but she was really the wrong choice for this role. David Farrar plays the rogue of the piece with a Nivenish, villainous flair and Cyril Cusack is sweetly sad as the mild parson, a noble creature who gets a raw deal throughout the film. The other actors aren't bad and the Technicolor scenery and the music is magnificent, to P&P's credit. I only wish they hadn't chosen this story.