Fat Tuesday (or how I spent my day watching movies during a mysterious university holiday)

A more dedicated student would have spent their day off doing homework or something. I, however, decided to spend the day with my NetFlix account (and methinks it was the best decision I’ve made in a while).

Two in the Wave

A friend of mine has recently got extremely into French New Wave cinema, so I’ve been compelled to revisit the movement again. Typically, I’m not a fan of French cinema in general, I generally find it too pretentious for my taste, but I like to be proved wrong often, so I’m never closed to revisiting things I don’t like. Two in the Wave is a pretty good look at two French New Wave masters, Jean-Luc Goddard and Francois Truffaut. I prefer Truffaut over Goddard, due to Jules et Jim being one of my favorite films ever (the exception to my anti-French Cinema rule). However, I appreciate that Goddard takes a stylistic approach to telling a visual story rather than a realistic one. There were definitely points in Two in the Wave that fell flat and I felt that end ending was just satisfactory instead of enjoyable. I recommend this film only to those who have a genuine interest in Goddard and Truffaut, not to just the casual documentary watcher.
Let’s Make it Legal

In my quest to watch every film Marilyn Monroe was ever in, I watched this film on NetFlix. I’ll start by saying that Marilyn is only in the film for three scenes even though she is prominently on the poster of the film. The marketers of that film need to stop the false advertising so that Marilyn fans don’t face the disappointment of her not being in the film. That being said, it was a lovely little film to watch. Let’s Make it Legal definitely doesn’t make it onto any of my top film lists, but it was entertaining. The storyline was forgettable and most of the acting was just average, but luckily the great Claudette Colbert carried the film from beginning to end. She was definitely the most interesting thing about the film, but I wouldn’t even recommend that Claudette Colbert fans watch that film… its just too average.

Tiny Furniture

Lena Dunham is now one of my favorite contemporary filmmakers. Tiny Furniture is about a young woman, fresh out of college who’s in the limbo between graduation and real life. In telling this story, Dunham embraces a hyper-realistic style to her story. The characters look like real people and act like them too; there is no glamour and no movie magic. This film seems like a documentary on someone’s life, though it is a film. I think that ‘slice of life’ films are the hardest to make, which is why Hollywood in general goes with a glamorized version of life instead of a real one. By embracing the style of realism, Dunham holds up a mirror to young America and forces us to look at ourselves in a way. Independent Cinema generally resonates with me more on a personal level because indie filmmakers generally care more about turning their films into mirrors of society, thus making their films a lot more interactive than the normal film. Tiny Furniture is a captivating film because its such an emotionally interactive story. I completely enjoyed watching it, and I highly recommend this film to all.

A Woman is a Woman

Going along with a French theme, I watched the Godard masterpiece, A Woman is a Woman staring Anna Karina. Most French Directors tell their stories through dialogue, which is quite alright except for the fact that I like to watch a film more than I like to hear it. What I like about Jean-Luc Godard’s A Woman is a Woman is that it’s told in such a pleasing visual manner. Godard’s visual style is so cool and interesting, and shows off the beauty of Anna Karina in many flattering ways. This film is definitely high on my list of favorite foreign films now and I highly recommend to all. My mom pointed out that Anna Karina’s character in this film is a lot like Audrey Hepburn’s in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which is an interesting and fairly accurate comparison. A Woman is a Woman is ridiculously cute and very entertaining, and I definitely recommend it to anyone willing to watch a film with subtitles.

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Now that I’ve effectively evaded all of my academic responsibilities (though it can be argued that spending a day with cinema is an academic responsibility), it’s time to spend the rest of the night doing homework and such.

So Spoke Godard:

The cinema is not an art which films life: the cinema is something between art and life. Unlike painting and literature, the cinema both gives to life and takes from it, and I try to render this concept in my films. Literature and painting both exist as art from the very start; the cinema doesn’t.

I have a different respect for Jean-Luc Godard after watching Two in the Wave. Now to go watch A Woman is a Woman and sulk about not being apart of a cool film movement yet.