Romancefest 2014: I Know Where I'm Going!

Now back to the UK for the thrilling conclusion of Romancefest with yet another Powell/Pressburger flick, I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!

This flick suffers a little from the conceit being dated -- the movie seems to put a lot of stock in the charm of the idea that their main character (Wendy Hiller) is a young woman who knows what she wants and, by gosh, is going to get it! That's not to say the movie itself isn't any good. It's just a little hard to overlook how in love with their own premise the filmmakers seem to be, especially within the first half hour or so.

After that we have other stuff to keep us busy. The story concerns a young woman (Hiller, who knows where she's going) who is traveling to a Scottish isle to marry a rich industrialist. On her way there, she's stopped when stormy weather makes the water impassable. Lingering in a small town, she meets another traveler who is also on his way to the Scottish isle, a naval officer (Roger Livesey) who also happens to own the Scottish isle in question, through family.

It's not giving much away to say that a romance develops between the two and it isn't long before our heroine is torn between the love that's right in front of her and the love that's across the water, the object of her ambition.

Like most Powell and Pressburger joints, I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! is beautifully shot and features great special effects in the most unassuming of places, this time during a storm at sea. Livesey, who played the best pal in A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, is just as likable, if not moreso, here, and of course Hiller is plucky in her plucky role.

So, this is the end of Romancefest 2014. I'm proud to say I made it this year after failing last year. Well, no one's perfect.

Romancefest 2014: Badlands

Now, here's one I'm ashamed I hadn't seen until now.

I've been a huge Terrence Malick fan ever since I saw THE THIN RED LINE on the big screen back in high school. Later, I was able to see DAYS OF HEAVEN on the big screen in college, and it only cemented my love even more. Still, somehow, his first film, BADLANDS remained unseen by me until just a few days ago.

This is the last (and best) of the "lovers on the run" flicks for Romancefest 2014, starring Martin Sheen as a wandering 25-year-old who has just quit his job as a small-town garbage man and Sissy Spaceck as the 15-year-old schoolgirl who he falls in love with. After a disagreement with her father (Warren Oates) turns Sheen into a murderer, the two lovers split town and hit the road, first living in a treehouse in the wilderness but eventually fleeing cross-country as Sheen's trigger happy ways lead to bodies piling up.

This is a more straight forward narrative than what Malick would eventually become known for, but it also has all of the more poetic elements that would eventually become his trademark, spending equal times with nature and scenery as he does with his main characters, allowing the film to wander between Scenes Where Stuff Happens and smaller, more microscopic moments that don't make it into most films.

Sheen and Spaceck are both great, about as naturalistic as you can get, which is insane, since they're both super young. Or, maybe it's because they're both super young. I don't know.

One of the interesting things about this movie is how Spaceck's character straddles the line between hostage and willing participant. A lesser movie would make a definite decisions -- she'd either be out for blood, or she'd be cowering and look for escape. But BADLANDS is too realistic for that. This is the kind of movie where shades of gray exist. I mean, how many people have followed someone they wanted to get away from? A lot.

How perfect is it that a movie so beautiful should be about a subject as mundane as teenage love and senseless murder?

Romancefest 2014: La Belle et la Bete

I've seen Disney's excellent version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST roughly ten billion times but this is the first time I've seen French director Jean Cocteau's 1946 version, LA BELLE ET LA BETE. This flick has been on a ton of "best of" lists, so it's about time I got around to it.

The familiar fairy tale stars Josette Day as Belle, the only decent daughter of a father (Marcel Andre) who has recently lost the entire family fortune at sea. On a hot tip that one of his ships may have survived, Belle's father sets off on a journey to recover some of the fortune. When asked what she wants him to bring back for her, Belle simply requests a rose. Unfortunately, Belle's father's mission is unsuccessful, and upon getting lost in the woods, he seeks refuge in a creepy, seemingly abandoned castle, and picks The Wrong Rose for Belle.

Turns out, the castle and the rose belong to The Beast! This is Jean Marais in some pretty sweet makeup for the time, even featuring articulated ears in some scenes! He can fully emote, even with the head of a lion, thanks to his visible eyes and mouth.

Anyway, long story short (too late), Belle agrees to take her father's place and go off to live with the Beast FOREVER. The Beast, in turn, asks her to marry him every single day. At first they don't get along, then she starts to love the Beast, eventually the Beast lets her return home as long as she promises to come back... and so on.

The movie takes place in an interesting dream world where half the scenes are shot in fairly realistic location settings and the other half are shot in the Beast's fantastical castle, complete with living statues, eyes peering out of the walls, and living arms that hold candelabras. The film has touches of horror, and of course lots of romance, and even some comedy. It's definitely a fairy tale, but not really for kids. They might enjoy the surface level, but pretty much all of the symbolism would be lost on them. To be honest, the symbolism was probably lost on me, also, but I do believe that kind of thing enriches a movie even if you're not fully conscious of it. Actually, that kind of thing probably works better the less conscious of it you are.

If I had to point out the biggest strength of the movie, I'd say it's Jean Marais as The Beast. Despite what could have been a clunky costume, Marais is able to get a full performance across, and even does double duty as Belle's greedy would-be suitor back in town, Avenant.

The biggest weakness of the flick, I think, is the portrayal of Belle. This isn't the fault of Day, and I guess you could even say if all Cocteau is interested in is symbolism, it's not really his fault either. Still, as far as a traditional narrative is concerned, Disney's more modern version of Belle is preferable as a three dimensional character who has more going on than simply being "pure of heart."

Romancefest 2014: The Last of the Mohicans

Normally I reserve Romancefest for flicks I've never seen before. I made an exception for LAST OF THE MOHICANS because it's as if I've never seen it before. Yes, I've seen it, but I could barely remember it and haven't watched it since probably the first time. Which is weird, because I vividly remember my best friends going on about how awesome it was. Where I was when they saw it, I don't know. All I know is, I always felt kinda left out when it came to LAST OF THE MOHICANS.

Anyway, now I feel less left out. This 1992 Michael Mann flick, straight outta Hollywood, tells the tale of Hawkeye (Daniel Day Lewis), a frontiersman who travels the woods of colonial America with his adopted Mohican brother (Eric Schweig) and father (Russell Means). The trio becomes unwittingly involved in the French and Indian war when they rescue the survivors of a betrayed and ambushed company of British soldiers and citizens, consisting of a Major (Steven Waddington) and the two daughters of a besieged British Colonel (Madeline Stowe and Jodhi May).

I don't want to waste too much time on the plot, but basically a bunch of colonials have pledged to help the British fight the French, but in the mean time the French and some Huron mercenaries they've hired, led by a warrior called Magua (Wes Studi) are trashing unprotected colonial settlements. This causes conflict between the British army and their colonial conscripts. Meanwhile, the British Colonel (Maurice Roeves) is on the verge of surrendering as reinforcements do not appear to be coming any time soon.

Lewis' Hawkeye is caught in the middle of all this at first because he sympathizes with the colonials and later because he falls in love with the Colonel's eldest daughter (the Stowe one).

This is all just an elaborate setup for an extended chase sequence in which Lewis attempts to rescue his party from the Huron mercenaries.

Look, I admit it. I cried like three times during this movie. The thing is, it's just so badass. Once Lewis is in love with Stowe, there's nothing that'll stop him from saving her. He chops guys up with his hatchet and jumps through waterfalls and climbs mountains and all kinds of stuff. There's even a subtle subplot romance between Lewis' adopted bro and Stowe's younger sis that brought me to tears. Turns out if you get a warrior running in slow-mo towards his about-to-be-chopped lover, I will cry.

Aside from all that, the movie's beautiful to look at. The plot be damned, this thing has scenery and cinematography that's amazing. Set that to a pretty score by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman, and it's hard to resist. This is the kind of stuff that Hollywood does best.

Romancefest 2014: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Ever since Roger Ebert put ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL on his "Great Movies" list, I've wanted to see it. It's a shame I haven't gotten around to it until now, because it's great. Just like he said it would be!

Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed this 1974 German film. It stars Brigitte Mira as a 60-year-old widow who finds herself drawn into a bar she passes every day but would normally never visit. Here, she meets Ali (El Hedi ben Salem), a much younger Arabic immigrant, who asks her to dance after some mean-spirited prodding from some of the other barflies. They dance together and instantly strike up an unlikely but easy rapport, and end up sleeping together that night.

They both realize they're lonely and that they'd be less lonely if they were together and make the pragmatic, if unorthodox, decision to get married. Of course, no one else understands this, including both characters' friends, family and co-workers.

The film is in turn touching, funny and tragic, as the innocent relationship between our two likable main characters is put to the test, not just by their surroundings, but by themselves. A lesser film would have the two main characters be saints, paragons of an enlightened age. But not here. Here, they make mistakes, buy into what other people are saying about them, and do things they regret.

Apparently this film was partially inspired by ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, which I just watched the other day, and it was nice to see them so close together. Still, ALI is the better film, if only because it allows for extremes that HEAVEN does not. For instance, in ALI the age difference is visible just by looking at the two characters. In HEAVEN, it's superficial.

Romancefest 2014: Betty Blue

Back to France for Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1986 film, BETTY BLUE.

First of all, instead of reading this, you should just go read Roger Ebert's review. It's hilarious. I liked the movie more than him, but there's no way I can be as hilarious as him.

Okay, are you done reading yet? Funny, right? Nobody did it better.

Anyway, BETTY BLUE is the tale of a stormy relationship between a young would-be writer turned handyman (Jean-Hughes Anglade) and a beautiful (but unstable) woman (Beatrice Dalle) who suddenly appears in his life. When I say unstable, I mean she does stuff like pour paint on her lover's boss's car, throw all of her lover's shit out the window, and eventually burns down the house on purpose. That kinda unstable.

But, our young hero loves her. Or, at least, loves to fuck her. No, he loves her.

In any case, thanks to their tumultuous lifestyle, the two lovers are forced to move from place to place, taking one odd job after another, falling in with one group of friends and allies after another. One thing that keeps them together (besides the sex) is the girl's passion for getting the guy published. Early on she finds his notebooks comprising a massive hand-written novel, decides it's a masterpiece, and becomes its only champion. And he likes this.

This is charming for a while, and I do think there is more to the flick than Ebert saw. There is a certain inherent drama to these kinds of relationships, and it is interesting to see the mechanics at work and fascinating to see how a couple of characters like this stay together.

Still, the version of the flick I saw clocked in at about 3 hours which was about 1 hour too many. After a little research it seems like maybe I watched the director's cut. I wonder if I would have liked the 2 hour version better. It's funny, I realize the 2 hour cut is probably a "Best of" of the entire running time, and they didn't just snip off the last hour, but my favorite parts were within the first couple hours, so if it did snip off the last one, that'd be okay with me. I liked when the two lovers were on the beach living in the little cabins. I liked it when they were trying to work in a friend's restaurant. I liked them less when they were running a piano shop 2 hours later.

Romancefest 2014: All That Heaven Allows

We’ll stick with Hollywood for now for the 1948 Douglas Sirk flick, ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS. I remember reading about Sirk after I saw Todd Haynes’ FAR FROM HEAVEN about a decade ago (sheesh) and wanting to check him out. So, I’m glad I finally have.

Jane Wyman stars as a middle-aged widow and mother of 2, whose kids are in college and on the verge of moving out of the house.  She has a nice gentlemanly suitor (Conrad Nagel) who is a little too boring and old for her, and an annoying group of shallow country club friends.

She starts to open up when she begins to speak with her gardener (Rock Hudson) who is younger than her, and viewed as lower class, due to his profession. This, coupled with the general attitude of the time concerning widows moving on, results in a controversial romance in which her friends and her own children judge her so harshly that the relationship is almost destroyed.

Sirk’s movies were famous for being melodramas that dealt with domestic “women’s issues,” but viewed in retrospect there is of course a lot to be said about how films like this one expose the hypocrisy of the ultra-conformist 1950s and the shackles it placed on people who just wanted to be happy, especially women and minorities.

Watching it today, it’s tempting to say, “What’s the big deal?” but I think that’s the entire point. Things like this should not be a big deal, and yet they are. That’s what makes them injustices. That’s what makes lonely people, desperate people, unhappy people. Shit that shouldn’t be, but is.

The movie is beautifully shot with gorgeous, deep color and fantastic settings that turn suburbia into a grander setting than you might imagine. It combines reality with decadence in a way that filmmakers like Tim Burton would go on later to emulate with such intensity that it borders on parody.

The thing is, if the movie seemed insincere for just a moment, it’d all fall apart. Because it appears that Sirk really knows what he’s doing, it all works. What could be over the top is only over the top in service of Sirk’s point, which is sadly still poignant today.

Romancefest 2014: Letter from an Unknown Woman

Let’s jump a couple years ahead to 1948 and back over the pond to the US for Max Ophul’s LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN.

This flick is a very interesting examination of lifelong unrequited love. It opens with a man preparing to flee early 1900s Vienna on the eve of a duel (Louis Jourdan). However, he’s interrupted when he receives the titular letter, which starts with something like, “By the time you read this I might be dead.”

The rest of the film unfolds as the letter does. Turns out, Jourdan was a promising concert pianist who lived in a building next to a young girl (Joan Fontaine) who fell in love with him at first without even seeing him, just by hearing his music. She becomes obsessed and although her family eventually moves away, she turns down an engagement due to her love of the pianist, and returns to Vienna on her own to hopefully connect with him.

Upon connecting the two share a wonderful, romantic night together before Jourdan disappears from her life again. Later, they reunite yet again, this time with painful results.

Basically, what we have here is a one-sided romance, and a very in depth look at it. We see very convincingly how Fontaine can develop a crush and fall head over heels in love with Jourdan, or the idea of Jourdan, without ever really knowing him. At the same time, we can also see how her idealized vision of him prevents her from realizing he’s a womanizer, and prevents her from realizing the afore mentioned wonderful, romantic evening is possibly just another of his one-night conquests.

For Jourdan’s part, we can also see how he wouldn’t remember her over the years. We all must have someone in our lives that we were memorable to, but who we don’t remember. Similarly, I’m sure we all have people that we remember who don’t remember us. Of course it’s much more tragic to see both sides play out in a movie like this. Jourdan seems like way more of a heel when we know how in love with him Fontaine is. It’d be bad enough if she had just met him that night, their one night together, but it’s even worse knowing she’s nursed a love for him for maybe a decade.

Romancefest 2014: A Matter of Life and Death

Now back to the UK for A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1946 romantic fantasy. Everything I’ve seen from Powell and Pressburger has been impressive, and A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH is no exception.

David Niven stars as a WWII pilot who is shot down but somehow survives the crash. Turns out Conductor 71 (Marius Goring), the messenger from the afterlife sent to collect Niven, missed him in the fog. Just before crashing Niven was able to raise an American radio operator (Kim Hunter) and share what he thought were his last words were with her.

Now finding himself alive and on land, Niven runs into Hunter in the flesh and the two insantly find themselves in love. Goring visits to fill Niven in on what’s going on, but Niven appeals – why should he willingly head off to the afterlife if it’s the afterlife’s fault he’s still alive? Shouldn’t he get to continue living his life, especially now that he’s in love?

Goring reports Niven will stand trial in the afterlife, but it’s up to him to choose the person who will defend him – he has his choice of anyone in the afterlife. Meanwhile, on Earth, Hunter’s doctor friend (Livesey), fascinated by Niven’s tales of the afterlife, becomes determined to help Niven out.

Anyway, enough of the plot. It’s a good one, imaginative one, but the best things about this film are the images and the performances. Like most Powell/Pressburger films, it is shot in beautiful Technicolor – somehow these guys were able to make it look more rich and sumptuous than anyone else. The afterlife scenes are in black and white, and the sets used to demonstrate the afterlife are spectacular, the most prominent one being a gigantic staircase/escalator that’s constantly rising towards the clouds. The scene of the trial is amazing as well, especially in one shot where the camera pulls back to reveal the huge multitude of trial spectators until we pull out so far that we end up in outerspace.

Like many great movies, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH simultaneously tells an intimate and large story. It starts off showing us the entire universe, and ends up with the love of just one man and one woman. It deals with, as the title suggests, matters of life and death, as well as presenting some arguments about the UK vs. the USA (which were important in the midst of world war).

Niven is great as the lead, affable and likable, approaching things of wonderment with a great sense of humor. Livesy is also good, projecting infectious enthusiasm as the greatest champion of Niven’s cause. Goring is hilarious as the foppish, French afterlife messenger who is at first trying to get Niven to come with him but is eventually won over by Niven’s case. And Raymond Massey makes a lot of a possibly thankless role as the American prosecutor with a giant chip on his shoulder who is determined to get Niven into the afterlife and away from his love.

Romancefest 2014: In the Mood for Love

Now, back to Hong Kong for another Wong Kar-wai film, 2000’s IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. After watching CHUNGKING EXPRESS earlier this month, I was immediately excited to check this one out as soon as I saw the director’s name.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE does not disappoint. It is as beautiful, and in some ways more beautiful, than CHUNGKING EXPRESS and examines some of the same themes, most notably, loneliness.

It stars Tony Leung, also from CHUNGKING EXPRESS, as a journalist who rarely gets to see his own wife, who is usually away on business. He lives in an apartment building right next door to a secretary (Maggie Cheung) who also rarely sees her husband, who is also often away on business.

Both Leung and Cheung are shown to be characters of sweet disposition via their interactions with their employers, their co-workers, their off-screen spouses, and their landlady (Rebecca Pan).

This makes it even more heart breaking when we learn that they’re each being cheated on. It isn’t long before Leung and Cheung realize their spouses are cheating on them with each other.

Here, they embark on their own relationship. They identify with each other, for obvious reasons, and begin to feel for each other, but it’s a delicate situation. After all, their crowded apartment building has many eyes and ears always watching, and at this time and in this place, it would look suspect for a grown married woman and grown married man to form even a platonic friendship.

So, even though the two are drawn to each other, and begin to fall in love with each other, they never so much as kiss. They do spend a lot of time “practicing” scenes with their own spouses – scenes of confrontation, etc. They also spend time writing kung fu stories together, and even take a hotel room so they can work and hang out without anyone suspecting anything.

But ultimately the movie is about how they can’t or won’t do anything about their situation. It’s kind of like BRIGHT STAR, in that sense – both movies are about couples who can’t or won’t consummate, based on their societies and their positions within their societies. Ironically, though BRIGHT STAR was literally about a poet, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is the more poetic movie, in cinematic terms, with beautifully memorable shots and compositions.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE has a bittersweet, nostalgic ending, and some times those are the most romantic of all. You really feel like you got to spend some time with these characters, and you really feel their sense of loss and longing. There’s a reason why this movie tops so many “best of” lists.

Romancefest 2014: Tabu

TABU is a very interesting film. It’s a silent film from 1931, at the end of the silent era, directed by F.W. Murnau, one of the greatest directors of the era. The interesting thing, though, is that it was shot entirely on location in the Polynesian islands and all the main parts were cast with real natives, instead of Hollywood stars.

The movie was originally intended to be half documentary and half narrative, but it’s clear from the finished product that while the settings and actors are authentic, the story comes straight from movie-land.

Even though it is not entirely authentic, it is still an interesting snapshot of a time and place, more so than most movies of the era. The sad fact of the matter is that most mainstream movies of the time didn’t show any kind of diversity in culture or if they did it was even less authentic than this. Just the fact that the movie’s shot on location with non-professionals is worthy of comment.

Anyway, the story concerns idyllic life in Bora-Bora, untouched by modern technology, as its interrupted by the arrival of a messenger (Hitu) from some kind of “overall chief” of the island system. He announces the maiden they had who appeased the Gods has died, and they’ve come to fetch a new one from Bora-Bora.

This is Reri (Anne Chevalier) who moments before this messenger’s arrival is playing innocently in a waterfall and flirting with a strapping young fisherman, Matahi (billed simply as Matahi).

The rules are, once a maiden is chosen for the Gods she cannot be corrupted by interacting with mortal man. She’s Tabu. So, looks like the love affair between REri and Matahi is off. Or is it? Spoiler alert: they decide to run off in a canoe and seek their fortunes as pearl divers on another island.

Of course things aren’t as simple as that and the past eventually catches up with our lovers. But that goes without saying.

While the story of TABU is lacking, the visuals are very impressive and you won’t find many films like it. It was Murnau’s last film, and has many of his characteristic touches, including creative use of shadows to help tell the story.

Romancefest 2014: Bright Star

Back to the UK for something a little more reserved, 2009's BRIGHT STAR, the true story of the love of poet John Keats' life, Fanny Brawne. This film was directed by the great Jane Campion, an Australian filmmaker of some note.

Abbie Cornish stars as Fanny Brawne, a young woman who meets John Keats (Ben Whishaw) through family friends and eventually develops a romance with him. The drama of the film comes from two elements, the first being that it's the 19th century, and Keats, being a man of little means, doesn't dare actually court Brawne for real, and the second being that Keats is not well and may not make it through a bout of consumption.

The drama is heightened by the fact that Keats' attention is torn by his best friend and writing partner, Brown (Paul Schneider) and by the fact that the two would-be lovers are basically living in each half of a combined house. They're so close, but so far away. They kiss and hold hands and write love letters and really, honestly love each other -- but so much keeps them apart.

It's frustrating, but I guess that's what makes it romantic. To be honest, I was bored for much of the film, but I don't think that's entirely the film's fault. It's beautifully shot and well-acted, and actually takes a very mature approach to what could have otherwise been schmaltzy. Still, I think you really need the period and the costumes to fill in that extra missing x-factor for you, to really thoroughly enjoy the movie. And, all that stuff is nice, but not quite enough to keep me engaged.

I did like the fact that it was about a famous poet, and I liked the fact that a lot of his poetry was read in the movie and it was read very well. I also liked how beautiful the movie was, and how restrained it was. Campion does a great job of showing things at all levels around the house, particularly when she allows the camera to linger on Brawne's youngest sister, who must be seeing real romance for the very first time, play out right in front of her. You can tell she knows what's going on, but doesn't know quite what to think of it. And that's kind of how I felt.

Maybe the film could have used a stronger Keats, but I don't know. Whishaw is fine in the role, and the role doesn't really demand a strong presence, necessarily. Also, the movie's about Brawne anyway, so why overshadow her? Schneider is great in the thankless role as the guy trying to keep them apart.

So in the end, it's not like there's anything wrong with this movie, and there's actually a lot right with it. But it still left me kinda cold. Maybe it's just tough to adjust after HEAD-ON. I guess you could say that's a drawback to Romancefest -- watching things back to back might not give them time to breathe and shine on their own.

Romancefest 2014: Head-On

One of the best reasons to do something like Romancefest is to find movies like HEAD-ON. This 2004 German/Turkish co-production directed by Fatih Akin would have never even been on my radar if I wasn't doing something like this. And I LOVED it.

Birol Unel and Sibel Kekilli star as two Turkish-Germans who meet in the psych ward after individual suicide attempts. Unel's given up and turned to drugs and alcohol in the wake of his wife's death. Kekilli just wants to get away from her oppressive, conservative family so she can enjoy being a free young woman.

Her plan for freedom? Marry Unel. He's about twice her age, but he's Turkish, so her family will accept him, and once she's out of the house, she can do whatever she wants -- party at clubs, sleep around, whatever. For Unel's part, he'll have meals and a clean apartment. He reluctantly agrees.

Now, this sounds like the setup for a lame sitcom. Let me guess, I thought: they learn to love each other and live happily ever after. Not exactly. There's some of that, but Akin's screenplay also allows his characters to be real, three dimensional humans, which means things are a lot messier.

And are they ever messy. Unel and Kekilli are totally convincing in their roles, Unel disappearing early on into his stubble, greasy hair, and anarchic alcoholism to the point where you wonder if this is actually how this guy is. Kekilli's more challenging parts come later in the story, as you see the full range of her character develop. Both characters have moments of joy, but there are also moments of immense pain.

Aside from the acting, what faces these characters have. Kekilli is beautiful in a very unique way, and able to inhabit several different looks and moods like a chameleon. Unel has a scarred visage you won't soon forget, a face as complex as his performance.

This movie succeeds on so many levels, beyond just the story and the acting, that it's hard to put into words. I should also note that it's very nice to see a story told from a point of view I've never seen before, which is that of a Turkish immigrant living in Germany. Isn't it interesting how just one little point of view change can breathe new life into what might have been a story that's been told before? Of course, we have the benefit of Akin obviously knowing what he's talking about, and fully exploiting every angle of his premise, his setting and his characters. This movie doesn't neglect a single angle of what it puts before us. There's not a contrived moment in the film, even when it is contrived.

Romancefest 2014: Pierrot le Fou

Sticking with France for now we’ve got Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 flick PIERROT LE FOU, yet another in the “young lovers on the run” genre, which seems to be a running theme this year for Romancefest.

This time it’s Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina. Belmondo snaps at an insufferably douchy party and abandons his family, taking along Karina, the babysitter, who turns out not only to be his previous lover, but also a gun-runner with criminal ties.

Like most of Godard’s stuff, and French New Wave in general, there is a certain artificiality assumed in the material, which is more about “being a movie” than about really telling a story or featuring authentic characters or situations. A flippant way to describe it would be “all style, no substance.” That’s a little too dismissive and simple for Godard’s work, but it kind of gets the point across.

The problem with a movie like this is if you take it seriously, the joke is on you. If you get all uptight about our cute little lovers killing people and stealing cars and stuff, you’re missing the point. But, if you don’t take it seriously, the joke is still on you, because now it’s just a series of seemingly unconnected events and images.

So you kind of have to meet Godard halfway, and I guess you could argue his style of filmmaking is the act of the artist meeting the audience halfway. You and Godard both agree “it’s just a movie” and then you both agree “movies are to be taken seriously” and then you have something. Kinda.

The nice thing is, this flick is beautifully shot in blazing, alive color with great locations and great looking people. Even if there’s nothing going on, there’s always something going on.

The movie does have something wise to say about relationships, I guess, if you can see through all the shenanigans and goings-on long enough to try to pick it up. But, again, if you try to see through all the shenanigans and goings-on, you might miss the movie, so you kind of have to look at it out of the corner of your eye without it knowing that you’re looking at it.

All right, now I’m being as annoying as Godard.

Romancefest 2014: The Lovers on the Bridge

Let’s return to France for Leos Carax’s 1991 film THE LOVERS ON THE BRIDGE.

I remember reading Ebert’s review when the film finally saw release in the US about a decade after it was produced. So, going into the movie, I remembered thinking the review was interesting and that I’d be happy to finally see the movie.

Reading the review again, I see it is riddled with red flags. It’s not a negative review, but it does give an accurate idea of what you’re getting into. I had forgotten that, over the years.

In any case, THE LOVERS ON THE BRIDGE stars Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant as homeless lovers who live on Paris’ oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf. She’s an artist who has given up on life because she is going blind. He’s an alcoholic who supports himself by street-performing as a fire-breather.

It all sounds quaint and quirky and everything, and it kind of is, in pretty little bursts, but taken as a whole, the movie is a big sprawling overblown mess.

Ebert’s review says Carax was inspired in part by L’ATALANTE, and I can definitely see that in the movie (especially in the closing sequence involving a barge). This comparison gives me a useful way to figure out what put me off about the movie, though. In L’ATALANTE you’ve got your quirky characters being cute and fussy and all that kind of stuff but it’s against a pretty realistic, gritty background.

Here, you’ve got movie-star beautiful Juliette Binoche pretending to be homeless while looking perfect, against a back drop that’s supposed to be the streets, but is a fairly beautiful representation of Paris. Yes, I realize bad stuff happens in pretty places to pretty people, I’m just saying this movie wants it both ways – to be about the fringe in a mainstream way, I guess, where the world is real enough to have homeless people in it but not real enough to have any circumstances for anything our lead characters do.

Romancefest 2014: The Paper Chase

Back to America for James Bridges’ 1973 film THE PAPER CHASE.

Timothy Bottoms stars as a Harvard Law School student who unknowingly falls in love with the daughter (Lindsay Wagner) of a legendarily tough professor (John Houseman).

This is an interesting pick for a love story because the actual love story between Bottoms and Wagner isn’t that great. But, it’s not supposed to be. The point of the movie is that Bottoms’ obsession with Houseman eclipses his romantic relationship to the point where he has to choose one over the other.

The relationship between student and professor, however, is much more interesting, as is the observational stuff about what it’s like to be in a tough law school. It’s not often you see a movie so thoroughly examine what it takes to be a really good student.

This is a tough movie to evaluate, because our main character, the ambitious student played by Bottoms, is not all that likable and neither is Houseman’s professor. On one hand that’s refreshing, because who says every movie has to be a touchy feely examination of characters we love? On the other hand, it makes the flick a tough watch.

It starts out interestingly enough as the premise is set up but then kind of seems to meander and lose its way towards the end. Still, you can see why Houseman won a best supporting actor Oscar.

Romancefest 2014: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Let’s move on to Italy for Vittorio De Sica’s 1963 film, YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW, winner of that year’s foreign language Academy Award.

This is a comedy anthology featuring 3 stories each starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

The first story has Loren and Mastroianni as a poor couple behind in their bills. Loren’s threatened with jail time but the couple discovers a loop hole in which a pregnant woman can’t be arrested, and neither can a woman within 6 months of having a child. So, the couple conspires to keep Loren pregnant as long as possible.

The second, and shortest, of the stories has Loren as a rich, married socialite on a road trip with her extra-marital lover, Mastroianni. The more stuff they wreck into, the more they question their relationship.

The third and final store has Loren as a prostitute who draws the attention of her young neighbor, a student on his way to becoming a priest. She runs afoul of his grandparents when he threatens to leave the priesthood to be with her. Meanwhile, Mastroianni is on hand as her neurotic and horny client.

I liked the first and last stories better than the middle one, but one thing I liked about all of them was how they made it clear that these characters live within communities. These stories all played out in public, with lover’s quarrels and relationship ups and downs took place in front of an audience of bystanders and neighbors. It gives the movie a warm sense of community and kind of makes you want to go live in the various locations.

Of course the other great thing about each segment is the performances from Loren and Mastroianni, both effortlessly shifting from one story to the next without losing sight of the humor of their situations.

Romancefest 2014: Weekend

Now we travel to the UK for Andrew Haigh’s 2011 film, WEEKEND. I remember seeing this trailered at Cinema 21 several times, but never got around to checking it out until now.

WEEKEND is an intimate examination of a potential one-night stand that turns into a passionate and deep (if brief) love affair between two young men. It stars Tom Cullen and Chris New as the couple, and they carry most of the movie because most of the movie is just conversations between the two of them.

These are both great but very different performances. Cullen’s character is withdrawn, shy and introverted, an “out” gay man who remains as “in” as possible, with mostly hetero friends. New, on the other hand, is an edgy, brash, artistic type who is very “in your face” about his sexuality.

They meet at a club for a pickup, but find themselves connecting the next morning as New interviews Cullen for an art project. They end up hanging out later in the day and connecting even more, until New reveals this is his last night in town and he’s about to leave for the states for a 2-year art course.

This movie was very quietly charming and very realistic. It’s rare to see such minute pieces of a relationship displayed on screen in a way you can identify with. The movie obviously gets props for examining the love lives of gay men in an original way and from an informed perspective, but it also deserves to be admired for simply approaching relationships, intimacy and vulnerability the same way.

In fact, it’s rare I’ve seen a movie examine a character like Cullen so closely. I guess the fear is if you examine an introverted person with subtlety that it’ll be boring. Instead, it was touching, charming and romantic.

Romancefest 2014: The Fabulous Baker Boys

Continuing with our Hollywood streak, we’ve got Steve Kloves’ THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS, starring real-life brothers Jeff and Beau Bridges as big-screen brothers in a jazz piano duo. Finding their gigs ever fewer and farther between, the duo decides to become a trio and hires a singer in the sultry form of Michelle Pfeiffer.

Jeff’s the womanizing one with more innate talent. Beau’s the business-minded one who’s willing to do the dirty work, like deliver the hacky lines that get them through their shows each night. It’s clear from the beginning that the duo is ready to split, and Pfeiffer is just the final nail in the coffin, when her relationship with Jeff gets out of control.

Once again, there isn’t much here in the way of story that hasn’t been seen before, but it’s the way the story is told and the way these specific characters are observed that makes THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS memorable. All three leads are great in their roles, and all three roles are multi-dimensional and surprising.

The other great thing the movie has going for it is its subtlety. No one is too much of any one thing. Jeff and Beau are both believable as humans before character types, and Pfeiffer is able to transform what might be relegated to a thankless role in another movie into a complex individual.

Part of this is thanks to the performances, the other part is thanks to the writing and direction by Kloves who went on to great success as the guy tasked with adapting all the HARRY POTTER books to the big screen, and somehow managing to make them all good. He also adapted THE WONDER BOYS, one of my all time favorites.

The movie is also beautifully shot by Michael Ballhaus on location in Seattle. I’ve never seen the city made to look so good and so moody. They really exploit a lot of great locations and scenery, giving the film a very unique look and feel.

All of this comes together in the most famous scene, which has Pfeiffer slinking seductively onto, off of and around Jeff Bridges' grand piano while she sings "Makin' Whoopie." It's so beautifully shot and perfectly performed, it wouldn't have even had to be sexy to be memorable. But it's sexy, anyway.

Romancefest 2014: The Notebook

Sticking with Hollywood for now, we move on to Nick Cassavettes' THE NOTEBOOK, which was hugely popular on release. At the time I worked at a video distributor and the movie’s sheer ubiquity kept me from taking an interest. Now, enough time has passed, that I’m able to give it a fresh look.

It’s easy to see why THE NOTEBOOK struck a chord – it’s a classic tearjerker. I don’t think it would resonate the way it does, though, without the central performances from Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.

The movie starts as a summer romance between the young couple who are eventually torn apart by class differences, and then further torn apart by the advent of WW2. When they’re finally reunited, McAdams is engaged to marry a guy her parents approve of (James Marsden) and Gosling is still pining for her, having just restored a mansion in the hopes that she’d come spend her life with him there.

This story is framed by another story involving an older couple in an old folks’ home. James Garner plays a man who is reading the Gosling/McAdams love story to Gena Rowlands, who seems to be suffering from dementia or Alzheimers.

Spoiler alert: it’s the same couple!

I knew this going into the movie, and watching the movie I realized it was made fairly clear to the audience early on, as well. That surprised me because I thought part of the heartbreaking ending was the big reveal. But I guess not.

The ending is sad, especially as Rowlands floats in and out of knowing who Garner is. And, the romance leading up to it is moving, as well. Still, the stuff of the story itself is fairly thoroughly covered terrain and at times plays as if every cliché in the book was added up and put into one movie.

But, the performances save it! Particularly McAdams, who brings a goofy joy to her portrayel of the rich girl torn between worlds. Usually this kind of role is totally humorless, but McAdams plays it as real, and because of that, we see all the joy in it.

Romancefest 2014: You Only Live Once

Now, back to America for Fritz Lang’s YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE. I usually only stumble across the great Fritz Lang during Horrorfest, so it’s not to see him show up for Romancefest, as well.

This gangster flick stars Henry Fonda as an ex-con engaged to marry the public defender’s secretary (Sylvia Sidney). The would-be happy couple finds their dreams of domestic bliss interrupted when they realize how difficult it is for an ex-convict to assimilate back into society. After a series of misunderstandings, Fond finds himself back in prison, this time on death row. After a series of even more misunderstandings, Fonda escapes and soon the couple is on the run.

Like some of Lang’s earlier films, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE is considered an early example of noir. This flick’s pretty brutal, and if you can get past the heavy-handed moralizing, it’s a pretty entertaining yarn.

In this flick you can see the genesis of several “criminal lovers on the run” flicks to come, like BONNIE & CLYDE, NATURAL BORN KILLERS and even WILD AT HEART from earlier this Romancefest.

Romancefest 2014: Chungking Express

All right. Enough of France for now – let’s go to China for Wong Kar-wai’s 1995 film CHUNGKING EXPRESS.

This is a flick I was always on the verge of renting in the mid-90s because in the States it was distributed through Quentin Tarantino’s personal wing of Miramax, Rolling Thunder. At the time I rented everything with any connection to Tarantino, but somehow I never got around to this one.

The film is actually divided into two stories that are only superficially connected within the narrative, though they both share some of the same themes and echo a few moments from each other.

The first is about a lonely cop (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who has been recently dumped. He gives himself a month before moving on, hoping his lover will come back. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman (Brigitte Lin) attempts to orchestrate a drug deal. The two characters’ paths cross on the last night of the cop’s 30 days.

The second story is also about a lonely cop (Tony Leung), also recently dumped, who catches the eye of a girl who works in a snack shop (Faye Wong) who intercepts his apartment key and takes it upon herself to secretly invade and disrupt his life in cute, basically harmless ways.

The charm of the movie comes from the interesting characters – we hear their inner monologues, and they’re offbeat, quirky, cute and very human. If you’re looking for a satisfying plot, I’d steer clear of this flick, but the plot is not the point. The point is how these people interact and how they see their little corner of the world. They very messiness of the loose end filled story is what makes the movie compelling.

I imagine this is one reason Tarantino was drawn to it, since his films often confound narrative convention and go one way when you expect them to go the other, transforming fractured narratives into satisfying experiences.

Wong Kar-wai does the same here: CHUNGKING EXPRESS is not about one big overall message, it’s about the little moments, and often times those moments are the ones that make romance memorable.

Romancefest 2014: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Continuing with our French streak, here's Jacques Demy's 1964 musical THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG.

Nino Castelnuovo and Chaterine Deneuve star as a young couple, hopelessly in love. He's a 20-year-old mechanic and she's a 17-year-old who works in a shop (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) with her mother (Anne Vernon). 

The couple's ready to get married, but Deneuve's mom thinks she's too young for that kind of commitment. The shop is also hurting for money and might have found a savior in a rich dude who shows up with the hots for Deneuve (Marc Michel). 

Castelnuovo, on the other hand, lives with his sickly aunt (Mireille Perrey) and her lovely young caretaker (Ellen Farmer). He's also on the verge of being drafted and shipped off to Algeria.

The first thing you notice about this movie is how beautiful it is to look at. The colors pop out of every shot, costume and set, as vibrant as if you were there. Actually, even more vibrant than that. At the center of all of this beauty is Deneuve herself, who is improbably perfect for her role. The film was restored in the 90s and looks as if it was shot yesterday.

The next thing you notice is the singing. This isn't just a musical -- every line of dialogue is sung. This could be annoying (see LES MISERABLES for an example) but somehow it isn't here. I don't know if it's because they're singing in French or if it's just that the movie is put together so well, but you don't even notice after a while. It seems totally natural.

The cool thing about this movie is that while it looks and sounds about as deep as cotton candy (which is to say, shallow), it actually has a pretty mature and sobering message. Without giving too much away, let's just say young love doesn't necessarily work out and that's not exactly a tragedy. The final scene of this movie is so bittersweet and perfect that it would have made this one a classic even if the rest hadn't already been good.

Romancefest 2014: L'Atalante

Let's stick with French flicks for 1934's L'ATALANTE from director Jean Vigo. This one's been on my list to watch for a long time because you often see it pop up in "greatest of all time" lists, including Ebert's.

Jean Daste stars as a barge captain who marries a girl from a small village (Dita Parlo). She comes to live with him on his barge (L'Atalante) with his first mate (Michel Simon) and cabin boy (Louis Lefebvre). Parlo has never left her village and is excited that the barge will be making stops in big cities, like Paris. But she's less excited to learn of the bro-tastic bachelor lifestyle of the barge crew. The boat's infested with dirty laundry and stray cats, and although Daste loves Parlo, neither of them know what it's like to live together, especially under these conditions.

When things don't go as planned in Paris -- the first mate gets wasted and the barge has to depart early, before Parlo can have a night on the town -- Parlo ditches the boat and strikes out on her own. Embittered and heart broken, Daste leaves without her. Will they get back together? Is it Romancefest?

This whole thing basically sounds like a sitcom plot. That's because it is. But, the movie is so firmly rooted in the world of its characters that the material is elevated. We really get to know these characters and really get to understand what it's like to live on the boat and on the river. The movie uses its hackneyed plot as nothing more than an excuse to explore quirky characters and settings to their fullest.

The most fascinating character in the film is Simon as the first mate. He's big, dirty, loud and drunk. He's been all around the world, picks up junk at every port to store in his cabin, and doesn't know quite what to do with the newlyweds on board. He's the emotional core of the movie, and the greatest performance in it, and he gets to be the decisive one when it comes time to finally sort out this romantic mess. This might have been the beginning of the romantic comedy tradition of scene stealing sidekicks.

Romancefest 2014: Un Chant D'Amour

One thing that's always kind of annoying about Romancefest, as compared to Horrorfest, is that romantic movies are always so damn long. I mean, sure, there are plenty of 90 minute romantic comedies, but then there are the epic romances with war and death and disease and all that stuff, and those ones -- sheesh. The saying goes no bad movie is short enough and no good movie is long enough, but when you're trying to watch 28 in 28 days, you start to notice things like running times.

So, it was a rare surprise for me to realize Jean Genet's UN CHANT D'AMOUR (A Song of Love) is only 25 minutes long! And, as a bonus, it features lots of male frontal nudity. Finally, the two things Romancefest has been missing, in one movie: brevity and cock shots.

But seriously, folks, this silent, black and white art film from 1950 isn't really what most would call a "romance." It does deal with unrequited passion and desire, sexual frustration, voyeurism, repression and oppression, though, so it's close.

What we've got here isn't a narrative in the traditional sense so much as a series of evocative, metaphorical shots. We start with a prison guard walking his beat, then descend into a couple of prison cells adjoined by a wall where two male prisoners, one on either side, are desperately trying to connect. They pace their rooms, pound on the wall, dance in agitation and clutch at themselves. Occasionally the wall is penetrated by a straw through which the prisoners share some cigarette smoke. Also occasionally, the prison guard peeks in the cells' peep holes to see what's up, before eventually entering to engage in some sadism of his own.

This is eventually intercut with idyllic shots of our prisoners enjoying a nice day out in nature, though Genet never lets us enjoy this long before cutting back to prison to remind us this freedom is only in our characters' minds and that their reality is much more grim.

As a movie about the repression and oppression of gay love and lust, UN CHANT D'AMOUR is way, way, way ahead of its time, even more frank in some of its images of male on male sexuality than any mainstream gay romance made since.

The final result is a brief but effective film that gets its message across clearly. You can feel what these people are feeling. It's a shame Genet never made another film, he clearly took to the medium naturally, with flair and edge and something to say that no one else was saying.

Romancefest 2014: Holiday

This George Cukor screwball comedy starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn is one of those movies I can’t believe I hadn’t seen yet.

The always likable and charming Grant stars as a self-made man from a modest background who becomes engaged to marry a woman (Doris Nolan) who turns out to be from a rich family. Grant doesn’t mind, of course, but he plans to scrape together enough money to retire early and really think about what he wants to do with his life. His future wife, on the other hand, plans for him to go straight to work making big bucks to add to the family fortune.

Hepburn stars as the self-described black sheep of the family who is instantly charmed by Grant and sympathetic towards his goals in life.

HOLIDAY features a lot of what you might expect from a movie of this kind, and that’s another way of saying it’s great – it has all the fast-talking interplay you’d expect from this genre, delivered by a perfect cast.

Romancefest 2014: Waterloo Bridge

This Mervyn LeRoy film stars Robert Taylor and Vivian Leigh as star-crossed lovers torn apart by WWI. They meet on Waterloo Bridge, in London, during an air raid, and engage in a passionate whirl wind love affair before being separated – Taylor’s a Captain in the army and must go to the front and Leigh is a ballet dancer ready to leave her career to marry him.

The opening romance is beautiful, especially the scene in which Leigh and Taylor share a dance as candles lit around them are put out for the night. It’s a nice, quiet little scene that creates a tenderness between the characters that is all the more tragic since we already know from the opening featuring an older Taylor reminiscing that things are probably not going to turn out all right.

Spoiler alert: Leigh is mistakenly informed that Taylor has been killed in action, and unable to make ends meet, she turns to prostitution in order to survive. Of course Taylor turns back up and is thrilled to find Leigh, who feels like she needs to keep her secret for fear of losing Taylor.

This is where the movie runs into some potential issues. If you view it a certain way it becomes a morality tale in which fate punishes Leigh for her transgressions. But, if you just view it matter of factly as a story of two individual characters, you can understand their motivations, especially for the early 20^th century setting.

This was Leigh’s first movie after GONE WITH THE WIND and her performance here, although not as remembered, is just as great as her more famous turn as Scarlett. Taylor is also great, in what I’ve read was his favorite role, able to do something a little more complex than his usual matinee idol turns.

Romancefest 2014: Wild at Heart

Time for another Romancefest, where I try to watch 28 romantic movies I've never seen in 28 days in honor of the month of Valentine’s Day, February. I failed last year. Here’s hoping I get it done this year. Let’s start with:

WILD AT HEART

David Lynch’s lusty crime tale of two young lovers on the run was a little too tongue in cheek for my taste. We’ve got an Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as the passionate couple, running from Dern’s mother (Diane Ladd) who’s intent on keeping them apart. There are reasons for this that become more and more clear through flashbacks, but ultimately it doesn’t add up to much.

Why not? Well, I guess because I just didn’t buy any of it. Like a lot of David Lynch’s stuff, WILD AT HEART is over the top to the point of being a cartoon. We’re faced with frank depictions of violence and sexuality, but it’s all perpetrayed on and by characters we’re not given much chance to take seriously.

That’s not to say there aren’t funny moments, mostly thanks to Cage’s great comic timing as a young hood who’s obsessed with Elvis.

The movie is not lacking in style, that’s for sure, and it was clearly influential on a lot of what was to come in the rest of the 90s (Tarantino). To be fair. if I had seen it when I was told to see it by my buddy Brocker when I was 15, I probably would have liked it. But now that I’m an old man, I dunno.

The movie’s greatest strength is the cast, all of whom deliver great performances better than the movie itself. Aside from the perfectly cast Cage, Dern and Ladd we’ve also got Harry Dean Stanton, Willem Dafoe, Isabella Rossellini and Crispin Glover.