Post 74

Man. That was--quite a contrast, really. Wow. It's--really, it's almost painful. I just--I mean--yeah.

Um. Yeah. So I just went to my school's International Cinema (it's pretty sweet--especially since it's free!) and watched two movies in a row--first, Shall We Dansu? (1997 Japanese) and then L'Avventura (1960 Italian). Going into it, I expected to really like L'Avventura and not really like Shall We Dansu?, but I wanted to watch both just for exposure's sake. As it turns out, I absolutely loved Shall We Dansu? and actually hated L'Avventura--whoda thunk it, eh?

Shall We Dansu?

As I watched, I recorded some broken thoughts--to ensure I didn't forget them as I watched L'Avventura. As it turns out, this was a very good idea because L'Avventura really took it out of me.

So, here are my broken thoughts as I recorded them (vocally, into my cellphone):

"Montage 'Save the Last Dance.'"

"Physical comedy accentuated very well."

"Simple humor very entertaining. I like it a lot. Highly recommended."

"Good character work, too. Well defined. I am really enjoying this movie. Funny. I didn't expect to."

"'Eating alone spoils the taste.' And the camera angles when he finally got to dance with what's-her-face--interesting the way they moved around. It's very nice; I approve."

"Using ballroom dancing in the background even when that's not what's going on in the scene is brilliant. Also, there's always something entertaining in the background, but it never seems to steal the focus off of where it should be, which is a hard thing to do. I'm very impressed with this movie. High quality. I see a lot of artisticness in it; I really expected this to be just a dumb romantic comedy. Apparently we only make that here in America--probably a good thing for the rest of the world."

"The use of montages is really good, too; I--I'm impressed. So good!"

(Said while laughing with audience audibly laughing in the background:) "I've seen a lot of plays where you can just tell the actors are having a lot of fun, but it doesn't retract but actually adds to the quality. And this--this is the first movie I've ever seen like that. I'm laughing out loud! The actors are just so good! And they are having so much fun! Oh my gosh, and it's just--it's a blast to watch them; this movie is a joy. I cannot express to you how fun it is. And I really love it--although the--the strictly musical version of 'Save the Last Dance' was slightly better than the one with words--um--I don't really like the singer's voice--but still a good version--and it works well--for the montage--and as background music."

"The monologues are surprisingly--unobtrusive. They're so--honest that they come off as real. It's a hard thing to do--especially for a modern audience. Maybe not in the Orient; I don't know."

"I was impressed that even though there were all sorts of--analogies, allegories, fables--whatever that--all the ways ballroom dancing relates to real life--uh--no one ever pointed them out; they're just there--like, 'It's how you deal with the bumps that counts--and sometimes you get high points for it'--that's--ya know--that's meaningful, but no one was ever like, 'Hey, look! This is a life analogy!'--'Kinda like in real life--' ya know. No. The audience is expected to figure that out for themselves."

L'Avventura

Before the opening credits started rolling, there was a notice that said this movie was honored in a 1960 international film festival for "a new movie language and the beauty of its images," or something like that. I don't really know what "a new movie language" means, but as for the beauty of its images--no arguments, here; there were a few different times that I thought to myself, "Look at that! Behold the glory of black and white!"

This movie is high quality; there can be no argument against that--at least, I can't come up with one. The writing, the directing, the acting--all of it was amazing. And very fine-tuned, too; everything was very focused upon the film's central message and theme. Unfortunately, that theme was People Suck. Seriously, every scene, every line somehow contributed to the overall portrayal of the shallowness and stupidity and callousness of mankind. I mean, I think I have a pretty low estimation of humanity; my view of human nature is generally pretty dim, but this movie far surpassed even my pessimism. I mean, dang--if this movie was right almost 50 years ago, if we were that corrupt back in 1960, I have to wonder how our handbasket has yet to reach the lowest realm of hell!

And, really, that's all I have to say about it except to reiterate the fact that I hated it--but perhaps that was the point.