Romancefest 2021: Love and Basketball

Written and Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood

Starring Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Alfre Woodard, Dennis Haysbert

USA, 2000

This love story set in the world of basketball follows a couple from childhood to adulthood, dividing their lives, relationship and career into four "quarters" -- before high school, when they first meet as kids; during high school, when they're both playing for the school teams and hoping to get into USC; college, when they're both playing for USC and after college, when they both go pro.

Their lives are intertwined from the first day they meet, as her family moves in next to his. He's the son of a pro NBA player who wants to follow in his father's footsteps. She's a huge Magic Johnson fan who wants to be the first woman in the NBA.

One things that goes a long way to making this movie more memorable than most of its kind is that it takes people's jobs and careers into account. And I don't mean just token mentions, or plot devices like someone has to stay late at the office or go on a business trip or something like that. I mean like the movie really takes the goals and ambitions of the two leads into mind, and shows the true consequences, hurdles, successes, etc. that might come along with them, in a very specific way. 

Although this movie is not so tied to the sports backdrop that the outcomes of games become important plot points, it is super realistic about the world of sports, and that in and of itself is inherently interesting because you don't often see that in movies. You might get glimpses of it, but this is a movie where the writer/director clearly understands her subject and exploits her knowledge of that subject to make the movie's point of view as fresh and unique as possible.

Romancefest 2021: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Written and Directed by Celine Sciamma

Starring Noemie Merlant and Adele Haenel

France, 2019

This movie was in theaters right around the time everything shut down for the pandemic, so I never got around to checking out until now. Highly critically acclaimed, this is the story of a young painter in the 18th century who travels to an island in Brittany to paint the portrait of a young woman on the verge of being married off. She refused to pose for the previous painter who visited, and her sister possibly killed herself shortly before that to avoid being married off. So, this young woman isn't coming into the happiest of circumstances in the lonely estate on the windswept island.

I knew the broad strokes of this coming into the movie, and based on the old dark house, the ominous warnings of the backstory and the images I'd seen of women in period costumes, for whatever reason I assumed this was going to be a movie about treachery, secrets and back stabbing. That some horrible secret would be learned and it would destroy everyone's lives, or everyone would be poisonous to each other, stuff like that.

I was happy I was wrong. I specifically liked the middle passage of the movie where, left in the home by themselves, the painter, her subject, and the maid, all sort of form their own little family together, enjoying time in the house together, time on the island together, helping each other with their problems, taking things into their own hands, feeling some sense of freedom.

The painter and her subject eventually admit they're in love with each other and begin a secret relationship, which is doomed due to the timing and circumstances. Still, they have this brief window where they're able to freely express their love for each other, and even before this, they have an unspoken love/lust for each other, as they seduce each other just be stealing glances or probing each other with conversation. Just finding someone to talk to can be so exciting.

Along with all of this, the movie is a beauty to behold, not just thanks to the locations and the actresses but also because of the way the director is able to make painting cinematic. We get tight closeups of the painter's canvas, and get a clear sense of how the layering of colors works, what the brush on the canvas really feels like. The thing you never notice about paintings until you see them in person is the fact that they're three dimensional, that texture is involved. This movie gets that texture across in a way few do, which sets it apart and makes it memorable.

Romancefest 2021: The Broken Circle Breakdown

Directed by Felix van Groeningen

Written by Carl Joos and Felix van Groeningen

Based on the play by Johan Heldenbergh and Mieke Dobbels

Starring Johan Heldenbergh and Veerle Baetens

Belgium, 2012

This movie bounces around chronologically through the relationship of two Belgian bluegrass musicians who meet, fall in love, make music together, make a child together, build a life together and then lose everything when the child dies of cancer.

It sounds depressing, and it is, though it does not wallow in misery quite the way that I thought it might, going into it. Showing not just the trials of caring for a child with cancer, but also the prologue to that and the aftermath, especially in no particular order, helped put things into a little bit of a context that offered more than just misery, though the movie, to its credit, also does not condescend.

One interesting thing about this movie is that it takes a couple that might otherwise be idealized in other media, whether it's a music video or even an indie flick, and shows them as real people. We've got a couple of quirky Belgians who love Americana, live on a farm, make their own updates to their ramshackle house, hang out with their friends from the band doing impromptu bluegrass jam sessions around the camp fire. In the wrong hands, this would all turn into a festival of twee, but this movie is not about that -- it's about how the trappings of one's life, no matter how specific, are not the point. The point is, it's still a life.

That said, I can't think of a more specific take on this than looking at it through the lens of a Belgian bluegrass musician who romanticizes America, especially when politics and religion come into the equation. I was having trouble putting this into words the other day, but I read a blurb about this movie that put it nicely: he's an atheist romantic and she's a religious realist. In other words, he's aggressively torn up about this terrible situation to the point where he has to scream about these injustices into the void. He behaves completely emotionally over a logical conclusion: there is no afterlife. 

She, on the other hand, believes in spirituality, and is able to accept what has happened and try to move on. He suspects, for instance, she might entertain the fantasy that their daughter might come back to visit them in the form of a bird, and feels the need to scream at her that that's not going to happen. On the other hand, even though you might argue that's a fanciful belief, she is able to somewhat coldly and logically move on with her life.

Cold is the wrong word. Obviously she's torn up, just as he is. It's just that he screams his passion from the roof tops and she keeps hers inside. It's two extremely different ways of dealing with grief and of course you could argue that the best way to do it is somewhere in the middle there. Maybe if they could have stayed together, they would have balanced each other out, eventually.

There aren't any easy answers, because this movie is as messy as real life, and based on characters rather than plots. There is, however, lots of great bluegrass music, performed by the actors themselves, and even if you don't want to sit through the movie I recommend checking out the soundtrack.

Romancefest 2021: Il Mare

Directed by Lee Hyun-seung

Written by Yeo Ji-na, Kim Eun-jung, Kim Mi-yeong, Wona Tae-yeon

Starring Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Jung-jae

South Korea, 2000

The premise to this time travel story might sound familiar to you: a woman in living in the present and a man living in the past, separated only by a few years, find they're able to communicate with each other through a seemingly magical mail box located at a house by the sea she just moved out of and he just move into.

Communicating, seemingly impossibly, through time, they begin to fall in love with each other, try to figure out ways to meet, find it's more complicated than they realize, and then attempt to exploit the time traveling letters to try to change their pasts or learn about their futures.

If this sounds familiar it might be because you saw the American remake, THE LAKE HOUSE, with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. I've actually never seen that movie, but I guess I remember enough of the advertising to feel like this premise seemed familiar to me.

This original version is pretty good -- it might be a little overdone in places, but hey, it's about how love crosses the gulf of time, so you can excuse it a little. Ultimately the time travel rules aren't totally figured out, because although the ending is sweet, and sort of inevitable, it does make you wonder -- if this really happened, how come she doesn't remember it? The movie tries to have it both ways with causality and predestination -- if you travel through time, can you change the course of history, or by the nature of time, has everything that's going to happen already happened, and there's no way to change it?

Of course the answer is that there is no answer. So you can't really fault the movie for not having one.

Romancefest 2021: Cold War

Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski

Written by Pawel Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki and Piotr Borkowski

Starring Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza, Cedric Kahn and Jeanne Balibar

Poland, France, United Kingdom, 2018

In post WWII Poland, a musician is working with a crew to record and archive the rural folk songs of the region, and put together a singing and dancing folk music troupe made up of locals. One of the young women who auditions sticks out from the rest, partly because she's only posing as a country girl to escape her troubled past in the city, and partly because the musician is falling in love with her.

The two begin a romance, and as the folk ensemble gains popularity and gets chances to play East Berlin, it also draws the attention of the government, who want to use it as a pro-Stalin, pro-communist propaganda tool. Under increasing pressure, the musician arranges to escape with his love across the border to freedom -- but when it comes time, she doesn't show.

The rest of the film follows the two as they come into and out of each others lives, always drawn back together because of their love but kept apart because of the state of the world. 

Thematically the film sort of reminded me of PHOENIX, also about how WWII destroyed people's families and relationships, and how the echoes of that destruction continued even after the war was "won." Of course, that movie's more of a thriller and this one's straight up drama.

The most striking thing about the movie is the beautiful black and white photography. Pawlikowski could probably make a movie about anything and as long as he shot it this way, I'd still like it.

Romancefest 2021: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Written and Directed by Kim Ki-duk

Starring Oh Yeong-su, Kim Ki-duk, Kim Young-min, Seo Jae-kyung, Park Ji-a, Ha Yeo-jin and Kim Jong-ho

South Korea, Germany, 2003

This beautiful and quietly haunting film tells the story of two Buddhist monks, a young apprentice and his older mentor. They live together in small monastery floating in the middle of a lake. The lake is surrounded on all sides by mountains, and is seemingly only accessible to the outside world via winding foot paths. The story covers most of the young apprentice's life, divided into episodes reflecting the different seasons of the year -- he's a child in the spring, a teenager in the summer, at the beginning of adulthood in the fall, and well into adulthood come winter.

It is difficult to talk about this movie without giving too much away, because not much happens in it and what does happen and how it develops is surprising. The way the story unfolds is not commented upon much by the characters in the movie, so most of the reward comes from attentively watching and drawing your own conclusions.

It is also difficult to talk about the tone of the film, because it is so hypnotic you sort of need to see it to believe it and understand it. I can tell you the seasons are all represented beautifully, that nature has never looked so perfect, and that every scene looks like a painting, but it's still not doing the movie justice.

You might be wondering -- what's this have to do with romance? Isn't this Romancefest? Well, yes -- and no. The Summer segment, in which the apprentice is a teenager, does feature a story in which love (and lust) blossoms. And, the consequences of this inform the rest of the movie. But the real romance is really between the viewer and the movie -- it is so beautiful and perfect, you fall in love with it.

Romancefest 2021: P.S. I Love You

Directed by Richard LaGravenese

Written by Richard LaGravenese and Steven Rogers

Based on the novel by Cecelia Ahern

Starring Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Harry Connick, Jr., Gina Gershon, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kathy Bates

USA, 2007

Here's a personal anecdote involving this movie for you. Once upon a time I worked at a video distributor and we were selling P.S. I LOVE YOU. Studios used to do this thing where they wanted to book their orders before they officially even announced when a movie's street date was. I guess this was because, at the time I had this job, the window between a movie hitting theaters and a movie hitting home video was shrinking smaller and smaller. The studios wanted to have it both ways: shrink the window so their ad campaign could basically work for both theatrical and home release, but don't spill the beans too early on when the home release is, because you might scare off ticket buyers.

Anyway, what this meant was we couldn't advertise these movies for sale, but we could call up our accounts in a blind panic, begging them to please order these movies before the order cut off date, which hadn't been announced yet and likely wouldn't be until it was too late.

One of my favorite accounts was a store in Brooklyn owned by a guy named Julio. He sounded and talked just like you might imagine a guy named Julio from Brooklyn would. He was a nice, funny guy, and a good customer. So, I called him up.

"Hey, P.S. I LOVE YOU is rebooking and we need to get your order in," I told him.

"What's the title?" he asked.

"P.S. I LOVE YOU," I repeated.

"Oh yeah?" Julio said. "Well, P.S. -- I don't give a shit."

Now, about 15 years later, I guess the answer is I give a shit, because I finally got around to watching it.

Jennifer Garner stars as a real estate agent who is dissatisfied with the size of her apartment and doesn't want to move on to the "having kids" portion of her life until she and her charming Irish musician husband (Gerald Butler) are a little more established (read: have a bigger apartment). As the movie opens, the two are in the middle of an argument the likes of which it seems like they've had many times before. To their credit, after each saying their peace, they get over it quickly and move on to continue loving each other.

One short opening credits sequence later and we are informed that Jennifer Garner is now a widow and Gerald Butler is dead! However, he reaches out from beyond the grave with a plan. While he was slowly dying, he wrote a series of letters to help Garner get through her grief, including suggestions of things she should do (go out and party with the girls), things she should buy (a lamp) and places she should go (Ireland). 

Garner's Mom, played by Kathy Bates, is wary that this might not be the best way to get over someone. This seems like some wise insight. But, you can't really tell someone how or when to grieve so much as just be there for them whatever they end up going through on their terms, which is what she does.

The movie benefits from a very nice supporting cast. Garner's pals are played memorably by Lisa Kudrow and Gina Gershon and Harry Connick, Jr. is on hand as a bartender and potential romantic option for Swank. Which leads me to the biggest bit of fantasy in the movie -- not that the letter-writing thing wouldn't work, not that Butler couldn't show up as a ghost and hang out with Swank and not even that the hunky other Irish musician (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) also happens to be the guy who saves you when your boat is stranded in the middle of a lake -- no, the biggest fantasy is that someone would be able to resist the charms of Harry Connick, Jr.

So, it's an interesting premise with a nice cast and some beautiful scenery but ultimately a little long and with a little too much extra stuff in it (Gershon's having a kid, Kudrow's getting married, Swank's figuring out her career). Reading up on the movie I noticed some viewers took exception to Swank's performance. I think that's sort of a cheap shot. She's sort of playing a goof ball in a goofy (but sad!) movie, what's she supposed to do? It's not her fault her character doesn't hook up with Harry Connick, Jr.

Romancefest 2021: Love Jones

Written and Directed by Theodore Witcher

Starring Larenz Tate, Nia Long, Isaiah Washington, Lisa Nicole Carson and Bill Bellamy

USA, 1997

Larenz Tate and Mia Long make an appealing couple in this then-contemporary tale of post-college romance among young Black artists on the Chicago scene. She's trying to make it as a photographer, he's a struggling writer. They meet when she sees him give an erotically charged poetry reading at an atmospheric jazz/poetry/blues club. It's not quite love at first sight -- there are many ups and downs as he first pursues her, they tentatively start a romance, she runs off to see if things will work with her ex, he has a dalliance with another woman, etc. Spoiler alert: they end up together!

The last half of that paragraph is not that important. The first half is what makes the movie -- the characters and setting are very specific and have a clearly unique point of view that sets this movie apart from many of its counterparts. This may be a romantic comedy/drama but it is an intelligent one with characters who have clear personalities who talk about things that are worth talking about and interesting to listen to.

I looked up writer/director Theodore Witcher only to see that this was the first and last feature he ever directed. That's a shame because he has a unique voice I'd like to hear more of, and assume it would only get better from here. Hopefully things will align for him to come out with something else in the future.

Romancefest 2021: Pepe le Moko

Directed by Julien Duvivier

Written by Julien Duvivier, Henri La Barthe and Jacques Constant

Based on the novel by Henri La Barthe

Starring Jean Gabin, Mireille Balin and Lucas Gridoux 

France, 1937

Here's a movie way ahead of its time. It came out in the late 30s but seems so modern it could be from the 60s. It's credited as being one of the biggest influences on the noir genre and it directly inspired THE THIRD MAN, widely considered one of the best films ever made. Also, you'd have to be asleep not to notice it must have been an influence on CASABLANCA, also widely considered one of the best films ever made.

This is the story of a gangster on the run who escapes Paris and flees to hide out in the Casbah quarter of Algiers. Police inspectors explain at the beginning of the film why this makes it difficult to capture him: the neighborhood is built on a steep incline, with narrow winding passageways and buildings crammed so close together one can travel from terrace to terrace, rather than at street level. It's over populated and insulated, a refuge for not just criminals but also those marginalized by wider society.

So, the police are constantly trying to figure out a way to draw him out, and his undoing ends up arriving in the form of a visiting beauty from Paris, who the gangster falls in love with, not only because he's bored of the Casbah, but also because she reminds him of the previous home he longs for. She stands as a symbol and reminder of freedom.

This movie is almost entirely made by its excellent use of location. Sure, the crime and romance plots are exciting and keep your interest, but it just wouldn't be the same without the intricate sets that stand in for the winding alleys and roof tops of the Casbah, blended with real exterior shots of the exotic locale.

Romancefest 2021: Journey to Italy

Written and Directed by Roberto Rossellini

Based on the novel by Colette

Starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders

Italy, France, 1954

Considered by many to be a key turning point in the transition from classic to modern cinema, JOURNEY TO ITALY tells the story of a married couple who travel to Naples to sell a property they have inherited. The married couple is not happy with each other and spends most of the film openly arguing with each other. This overwhelmingly negative relationship is a little oppressive to watch, making for a potentially downbeat experience.

However, during their trip, we're treated to sights like the statues of the Naples Museum, the volcanic Phlegraean Fields, the Fontanelle cemetery and, in the film's climax, Pompeii. These settings and sequences serve not to lighten up the proceedings, but at least provide a contextual counterpoint to the harrowing relationship, placing it as just one piece of a much bigger world and rich history.

Now it's time for a spoiler, so stop reading if you don't want to know the ending. I've rarely been as relieved in a happy ending as I was in this film. It comes right at the last minute, but it's so cathartic it really underlined just how wound up by the rest of the film I had been.

Romancefest 2021: The Circus

Written and Directed by Charlie Chaplin

Starring Charlie Chaplin, Al Ernest Garcia, Merna Kennedy and Henry Bergman

USA, 1928

You always know you're in for a good time when it's time for a Charlie Chaplin film, and although this one is not as well regarded as major groundbreaking classics like CITY LIGHTS and MODERN TIMES, it was still great.

Chaplin's familiar Tramp character falls in with a circus and through a series of mishaps and coincidences becomes the comedic star of the show. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize he's the main draw, so the guys who run the circus underpay him and take advantage of him. In the mean time, the Tramp falls for a girl in the circus who has a horse-riding act, and attempts to protect her as she is mistreated by the ringmaster, her stepfather.

Throughout the film there are many comedic set pieces, one more spectacular than the last, culminating in a scene where the Tramp attempts to walk the tightrope and everything you can imagine goes wrong. Just when you think Chaplin can't top himself, he always does. How'd he come up with this stuff?

Eventually there's a love triangle between the Tramp, his crush and the handsome tightrope walker, and this leads to the Tramp making an ultimately selfless sacrifice in a bittersweet and somewhat unexpected ending that elevates the previous material with a beautiful and iconic final shot. This injection of heart is the unique thing Chaplin had as compared to some of his contemporaries. Some might call it schmaltzy, but I like it.

Romancefest 2021: Wild Strawberries

Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Starring Victor Sjostrom, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin and Gunnar Bjornstrand

Sweden, 1957

Over the years I've been steadily making my way through Ingmar Bergman's massive filmography and I've finally made it to WILD STRAWBERRIES. It's the story of a retired and reclusive physician who returns to his university to receive special honors, 50 years after getting his doctorate there. At the last minute he opts to take a road trip there, rather than fly, and the bulk of the movie is made up of this trip, the people he meets on it and the dreams, nightmares and memories that come to him as he goes along. His primary companion on the trip is his daughter-in-law, who is on the outs with his son for the moment. The evolution of their relationship from cold and distant to warm and friendly was one of my favorite parts of the story.

It was interesting to watch this movie unfold and notice the way it influenced other films I've been more familiar with throughout my life. The main on is DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, a Woody Allen film from the 90s with a similar premise. I've always known Allen was a Bergman fan, but it was fun to see a movie full of specific influences.

I also wondered, towards the film's climax in which the main character dreams that he's put on trial for his life and is declared guilty of guilt, if Pink Floyd's Roger Waters was a fan. Seems to me with the climactic trial, and the non-chronological structure blending past and present with fantasy and reality, this film may have been an influence on THE WALL, both the album and the movie, though I don't think I've ever seen this mentioned anywhere, so I might be way off.

Romancefest 2021: A Woman Under the Influence

Written and Directed by John Cassavetes

Starring Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk

USA, 1974

Seems like I've been turning in my film buff card a lot lately. Here's a terrible admission: up until this month I'd never seen a John Cassavetes film. I am familiar with his career, his movies, his influence on cinema (and the indie scene specifically), but I never watched one from beginning to end until now. Better late than never, I guess.

This is the tale of a housewife and mother whose mental state is slowly unraveling and her construction worker husband who isn't equipped to handle it. The housewife has strange ticks, appears constantly nervous and incessantly makes hollow small talk, all seemingly out of a crippling desperation to fit in and seem normal, to appear as if she knows what she's doing, to cover up whatever's going on in her head. Unfortunately, it just broadcasts that there's something off.

This eventually escalates until she's committed, and the 2nd half of the film deals with her homecoming after she is released, and the aftermath of that.

An unspoken aspect of the movie is that at times, the husband/father seems just as "crazy" as his wife, displaying bad judgment and unable to hold back emotional outbursts, going through the motions of being a father without putting feeling behind it. But, he doesn't have to go to an insane asylum. Only she does. Sexism, everybody!

This is the part where I say Gena Rowlands in the lead performance is amazing. But, that's the single most well known thing about both this movie and Gena Rowlands. It is hard to stress just how amazing she is, though. You have to see it to believe it. The performance is so great that it makes you feel uncomfortable and I wouldn't be surprised if some people simply can't make it through the movie and have to look away. It's almost like you're there, spending time with her, captive in that house, unsure of how to react as she does her thing. It really puts you, as a viewer, on the spot and implicates you in the action.

Although the movie, to its credit, never really tells us what to think, it does show us several sides of this relationship, so we can understand what the couple sees in each other even as we suffer through their fights and episodes. You're able to see both sides, sympathetic to why Rowlands' character is acting the way she is and also able to view her from the point of view of her husband or guests in their home, wondering what's wrong with her. This is a personal, non judgmental view of the way mental problems effect relationships, both positively and negatively, and it's a shame the stigma around that is still strong enough that we haven't had many more movies like this in the last half century.

Romancefest 2021: Three Colours: White

Directed by Krysztof Kieslowski

Written by Krysztof Kieslowski and Krysztof Piesiewicz

Starring Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos and Jerzy Stuhr

France, Poland, Switzerland 1994

There -- I've finally seen all 3 of the THREE COLOURS movies: BLUE when I was a teenager, RED in a previous Romancefest and now WHITE.

You can take a look at my DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE entry for some musings about Kieslowski as a filmmaker -- they all apply here. Although, WHITE stands out to me as a little more rough around the edges than the typical Kieslowski film. This might be why people consider it the least of the trilogy (although they still say it's great). To me this is actually a strength, instead of a weakness.

I'm not being a contrarian just to be a contrarian but I have to admit I may have liked WHITE best of the trilogy. It's at least as good as RED, and I definitely liked it more than BLUE. Though, I suppose I owe BLUE another watch, really, since I probably didn't have a brain capable of understanding it when I was in high school.

WHITE tells the darkly comedic tale of a freshly divorced Polish immigrant in France who systematically loses everything to the point that he's homeless, and arranges to have himself shipped back to Poland in a suitcase. Once there, he begins to rebuild his life, starting at the bottom rung of an organized crime ring, and climbing ever higher until he has his own successful (probably illegal?) business. It becomes clear his intention is either to win back the woman who divorced him, get revenge on her, or both.

This is the most male-centric Kieslowski film I've seen, focusing on the plight of a male character rather than a beautiful and exotic woman. Zamachowski has a great character actor's face and displays a lot of range going from a bumbling clown in some scenes to a crime boss in others. I'd put him up there with a guy like Paul Giamatti. Of course the object of his affection is Julie Delpy, who doesn't have much to do except look beautiful for most of the movie, though she eventually comes to play in the end.

The trilogy probably really deserves to be watched together, instead of over several decades, and I admit I'm late to the party on these, so maybe I'll check them out again some time. I can see why they're so well regarded by film lovers, and I like them well enough -- they just don't blow my mind.

Ugh, I feel like Diane Keaton in MANHATTAN when she says Vincent Van Gogh and Ingmar Bergman are overrated.

Romancefest 2021: Mutiny on the Bounty

Directed by Frank Lloyd

Written by Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman and Carey Wilson

Based on the novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

Starring Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, Movita and Mamo

USA, 1935

Hey, it's a Best Picture winner, everybody! MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY is the kind of title I have heard my entire life, and know the basics of, but never got around to watching until now. I'm glad I did.

In the late 18th century, the HMS Bounty disembarks on a two year mission to Tahiti, under the command of a tyrannical captain who over disciplines his mostly conscripted crew to the point of outright abuse. He even keelhauls a guy, in a special effects sequence that is pretty disturbing even today. You're not expecting them to show anything, and then they do, and the dodgy, dated effects sort of make it even more effective and shocking. 

After a stop over in Tahiti in which the men get to live the good life and fall in love with a couple of beautiful islanders, the men can't take the abuse anymore, set the captain and his loyalists adrift, and head back to paradise.

What they don't count on is the tenacity (and skill) of the captain enabling him to actually sail his tiny boat to safety, and return to capture the mutineers.

The movie takes the position that the captain, played by Charles Laughton, is an evil dictator, and the leader of the mutineers, played by Clark Gable, is a dashing hero. Most of the conflict plays out between those two, and it's great to watch, because both men aim for the heavens with their performances, especially Laughton. This may not be entirely historically accurate and I'm sure in real life there was a little bit more of a gray area when it comes to something as controversial as a mutiny.

Still, who needs gray areas when all you want is romance and adventure? Not me! Laughton's so good at playing a total jerk that I wouldn't have it any other way, and it's fun to see a young pre-mustache Clark Gable do his thing.

Romancefest 2021: Yi Yi

Written and Directed by Edward Yang

Starring Wu Nien-jen, Elaine Jin, Issey Ogata, Kelly Lee, Jonathan Chang, Hsi-Sheng Chen, Su-Yun Ko and Lawrence Ko

Taiwan, Japan, 2000

I already wrote this year about how writer/director Edward Yang is one of the greatest gifts Romancefest has ever given me. Since A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY was the kind of movie I wished would never end, I was delighted to find the next movie on the list was another of his works, Cannes-winner YI YI. I never wanted it to end either!

This film tells the story of a family and their neighbors, all experiencing some sort of dissatisfaction with their lives. The characters range from elderly to elementary school aged and the scope of events in the movie ranges from weddings to funerals. It's about a very specific group of people, but it is also all encompassing, universal and a strong portrait of what it means to be human.

The father of the central family is dissatisfied with the direction his job is going, and attempts to court business from an idealistic Japanese client who he grows to respect and admire. Unfortunately his co-workers seem to undermine him at every turn. In the mean time, he's also rekindling a relationship with an old girlfriend.

His wife feels empty, spiritually, after her mother (who lives with the family) has a stroke and goes into a coma. Is this all there is, she wonders? In an attempt to find out, she gets sucked into what seems to be a cult, but most of that is seen off screen and only implied.

The high school aged daughter feels guilty about the grandmother because she suspects the grandmother was attempting to take out the trash, a chore she neglected, when the stroke hit. She forms a friendship with the neighbor girl and becomes a go-between, passing notes between the neighbor and her boyfriend, and eventually becoming involved in what turns out to be a dangerous love triangle.

My favorite character, the elementary school aged son, is teased and picked on at school and at home, and quietly takes on his own projects like learning to swim or taking up photography right under the family's noses without them really noticing. He develops a crush on a girl at school, and becomes philosophically obsessed with the concept that people miss half their lives, because they can never see what's behind them.

There's also the neighbor's mother and her relationships, the mother's brother and his troubled marriage and money problems, and all kinds of other stuff. The movie's scope is epic, even though the stories are intimate, just like A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY. The main difference here, between the two movies, I think, is that A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY infuses this epic scope/intimate story format with the political and historical details of a specific time and place. YI YI goes the other direction and is infused with the big universal questions of life, the universe and everything.

This is another masterpiece and sadly Yang's last film. As I understand it, he began his struggle with cancer shortly after this film was made and eventually died a few years later. It's a shame he isn't out there making movies right now, but he has left an awesome legacy that I can only see growing ever more important as more people discover his work.

If it feels like I'm laying it on thick about how great this guy is, good.

Romancefest 2021: A Brighter Summer Day

Directed by Edward Yang

Written by Hung Hung, Lai Ming-tang, Edward Yang and Alex Yang

Starring Chang Chen, Lisa Yang, Chang Kuo-Chu, Elaine Jin, Wang Chuan and Chang Han

Taiwan, 1991

The greatest gift Romancefest 2021 has given me, and possibly Romancefest as a whole, has been Edward Yang. Here's a filmmaker I'd never heard of in my entire life until now. He made his best work in the 90s, the decade when I really got into movies seriously, and I still never heard of him. Now that I have, I learn he's already gone, lost to Cancer in the early 2000s.

This is one of the main reasons I do things like this -- to see movies I've never seen before and find filmmakers I've never heard of. I don't know how I missed Yang in his prime, but I did, and I'm glad I've found him now. He's one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

This flick is a sprawling 4 hour epic about some kids coming of age in 1960s Taiwan, complete with rock and roll and gang warfare. They're the kids of Chinese immigrants, fleeing communism, growing up in a chaotic and uncertain time, when their families and parents have been uprooted and had to start over, sometimes under suspicion by the government they've fled to for solace.

Yang said he modeled the movie partly after GOODFELLAS... it reminded me of CITY OF GOD, which came about a decade later. It might be better than both.

There is a central relationship between a boy and a girl, complete with a tragic climax -- an incident based on Yang's childhood memories. I won't give it away here, but it's heart breaking and surprising while also seeming inevitable.

I can't recommend this movie highly enough. You've likely never seen anything as great. For as many movies as I watch, it is rare something strikes me like lightning the way this one has, upending everything and making me feel like I'm seeing something totally unique and exciting for the first time ever. It made me feel the way I felt when I was a kid, and all of film history was new to me. It's beautiful and terrible, simple and complex, intimate and epic. It's a masterpiece.

Romancefest 2021: 45 Years

Written and Directed by Andrew Haigh

Based on the novel by David Constantine

Starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay

United Kingdom, 2015

As this movie started, I thought hey -- I'd like this life. We've got an older married couple, living comfortably with each other in a cottage in the English country side. Seems super cozy and comfy, with nice routine and everything. But that didn't last long. Soon, the conflict creeps in.

This couple is on the verge of their 45th wedding anniversary, which they're going to celebrate with a big party because when 40 rolled around they had to postpone for medical reasons. This time, a letter comes alerting the man of the house that his girlfriend's body has been located.

See, back in the 60s, this guy's girlfriend fell into a crevice in a glacier. He went on to marry and carry on a happy life, but now the specter of this old relationship is rearing its head with this new discovery. He's told his wife about his old girlfriend and what happened to her, but he left out some important details, or so she learns, as he dwells on the discovery and broods about her in the days leading up to the anniversary party.

And so, a comfy, nice life deteriorates into one of questions and suspicions. The more the wife investigates, the more she finds that seems to show her husband has spent the last 45+ years secretly in love with his old, deceased, girlfriend.

On one hand, you can sort of understand. It was a traumatic experience, it was young love, it's hard to forget. Obviously, no matter how much you love the woman you pledge the rest of your life to, you'll always have something in the back of your mind for an old flame who died a tragic death. How can you not?

On the other, how alive must these memories be? And how alive does the wife discover them to be? Too alive, I think. There are multiple times here where the husband could be a little more up front about this stuff but he chooses not to. And that's the biggest betrayal. His feelings are understandable. The way he approaches them are not. And as the film unfolds, it gets worse and worse.

The interesting thing is, you don't want it to get worse. As you watch, you want the couple to come back together, to find an understanding, to have a catharsis. Maybe when the catharsis comes the wife understands the husband all too well. The tragic thing is that the husband does not understand the wife at all.

Romancefest 2021: The Double Life of Veronique

Directed by Krysztof Kieslowski

Written by Krysztof Kieslowski and Krysztof Piesiewicz

Starring Irene Jacob, Philippe Volter, Sandrine Dumas, Alexsander Bardini, Louis Ducreux, Claude Duneton, Halina Gyglaszewska and Kaline Jedrusik

France, Poland, Norway, 1991

This one's a little hard to explain, but I'll do my best -- a young Polish singer seems to have an exact look-alike, a music teacher in France. They seem to be supernaturally connected and able to sense each other in on way or another. The first section of the film follows the Polish singer who senses this connection. After her untimely death, the second section of the film follows the French music teacher who senses she has lost something but isn't sure what. The centerpiece of the film is a sequence in which one of the young women catches a glimpse of her own double boarding a bus.

Make sense? It's hard to put in words. Thankfully this is a movie so instead we get beautiful images and stirring music to help get across an unsayable but recognizable feeling. You can enjoy it just on the level of experiencing the sights and sounds, but it also gives you a lot to think about, if you feel like it.

This is not my first Kieslowski film, nor is it the first Kieslowski film of Romancefest, so settling into his usual rhythms was comforting. His movies are usually fairly slow and methodical, but never boring and always intellectually and emotionally stimulating. They can seem a little standoffish at times, and although Kieslowski is known as a master I wouldn't count his movies among my personal favorites. Still, I like to take time out every now and then, get into his flow, and see what he wants to say. Because usually whatever he wants to say is impossible, and that makes the most rewarding kinds of movies.

Romancefest 2021: Phoenix

Directed by Christian Petzold

Written by Christian Petzold and Harun Farocki

Based on the novel by Hubert Monteilhet

Starring Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld and Nina Kunzendorf

Germany, 2014

A Holocaust survivor, having undergone facial reconstruction surgery after a botched execution, returns to Berlin shortly after the war ends. She no longer looks exactly like herself, but does look close enough to attract the attention of the man she was married to before the war, who believes his wife died in the concentration camps, but wants to use the survivor to pose as his wife so he can collect the inheritance from her family, which has been entirely wiped out.

The survivor goes along with this because she's still in love with her husband, but here's the catch -- her friend tells her it was probably her husband who turned her in to the Nazis in the first place. The survivor is unable (or doesn't want) to believe this, and enters into a warped relationship with her husband as they plot to stage her "return" from the camps.

This is a great, suspenseful neo-noir that effectively uses post-war Berlin as a backdrop for a story Hitchcock would have been proud of. There's shades of VERTIGO here, though, of course, it's a lot more loaded, given the subject matter and tone.

I don't want to give anything away, but I will say the conclusion is at once satisfying and beautiful, taking an already perfectly good film to an even higher level.

Romancefest 2021: The Magnificent Ambersons

Written and Directed by Orson Welles

Based on the novel by Booth Tarkington

Starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford and Richard Bennett

Narrated by Orson Welles

USA, 1942

Okay, this is one of the many times in life I feel obligated to turn in my film buff's card. I'm a fraud, because I hadn't seen THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS until a couple weeks ago. That's right. The movie some say is even greater than CITIZEN KANE. Hadn't seen it.

But, it's not my fault. See, every time I'd read about it as a youngster I'd read all about how the studio stole it away from Orson Welles and chopped a 2.5 hour movie down to less than 90 minutes and how the original version is lost, although it might be in Brazil somewhere. Then at some point TCM or someone tried to cobble together a semblance of a director's cut, using the original script and some stills interspersed with the finished film.

So, do I watch it or wait until Brazil finds it? I waited, and waited. Nothing. Meanwhile, every source says even the short cut of the film is a masterpiece, so why wait? Well, as I always say, the more time you spend watching movies the less time you have to watch movies, so I never got around to it and Brazil never got around to it and here we are.

But enough about me! THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS is the turn of the century tale of how a once wealthy and prosperous midwestern family and their decline. The movie strongly suggests the matriarch simply married the wrong guy -- instead of hooking up with an early innovator in the world of horseless carriages (that's cars, folks!), she goes another direction. After her first husband dies, she rekindles the flame with her true automobile industry love, but the spoiled son of her first marriage who the entire town hates, objects. After all, how dare you court another guy after Dad's dead. Right?

If you've seen KANE, this movie has everything in it that you'd expect from early, peak Orson Welles: groundbreaking special effects, beautiful cinematography and great performances (especially Agnes Moorehead). Also like KANE you've got a variety of show of everything from high melodrama to dark comedy to keep you entertained.

And there's even romance -- or is there? I guess, if you count tragic romance. The central relationship is the ill-fated one between the widowed matriarch of the Ambersons and the automobile industry magnate. Her ungrateful, spoiled son stands between them, and she ultimately takes his side. For his part, the son fails to woo the daughter of the automobile magnate, as she sees right through him and wisely chooses life without him, even if she does harbor some feeling for him.

Romance or not, any lover of cinema owes it to themselves to see this one and I'm sorry I deprived myself for so long. It's the studio's fault, really, not mine. And Brazil's.

Romancefest 2021: A Cinderella Story

Directed by Mark Rosman

Written by Leigh Dunlap

Starring Hilary Duff, Jennifer Coolidge, Chad Michael Murray and Regina King

USA, 2004

Here we have the familiar tale of CINDERELLA transposed to the (then-contemporary) San Fernando Valley! But... it's also complicated up with a bunch of confusing stuff. Like, we get back story of how our modern day Cinderella's Dad died in the Northridge earthquake, and then we're dropped head first into a plot involving our modern day Cinderella's online relationship with a mystery man who, unbeknownst to her (but knownst to us) is the high school football star.

See, he runs with the popular kids, so he'd NEVER like someone who looks like Hilary Duff, because she... works at a diner? Yeah, her stepmom, who inherited the dead dad's mansion and money (or did she? There's even more plot about a will...) makes her work at the diner while her "ugly" step sisters are free to work on their synchronized swimming routine. 

Upside of working at a diner: the colorful cast of minority characters led by Regina King who are there to fairy-godmother up Duff's life. Downside: entire school thinks you suck because you're a waitress.  

There's also a mistaken identity love plot between a popular girl and Duff's thespian sidekick, some worry about a drought that's going on, drama with the football star wanting to be a (gasp) writer and go to (gasp) Princeton instead of... taking over a car dealership. Can you imagine if your biggest problem in life is that you both want to go to Princeton and get into Princeton?

What I am trying to say is that for as simple of a plot as a Cinderella story should be, this flick has a LOT going on. Not in the TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY sense (a movie I still haven't figured out even after reading Wikipedia), which is what makes it frustrating. So much time and energy is put into all these plots in what should be a simple rom-com that it gets in the way of enjoying a fun, talented, likable cast and a classic story.

Also, the movie's sorta tone deaf, in a way only mass produced Hollywood stuff can be. Just as an example, one sign that Duff's character is a poor outcast is that she drives a classic Mustang. I did a double take -- were they honestly trying to show Duff's pre-ball Cinderella status by saddling her with a sweet sports car? Yes, but, it's supposed to be a joke. Like, hey, everyone else is so rich, that her classic Mustang isn't good enough. Get it? Whatever.

This is the kind of movie where a drought is established early on and pays off at the end when it miraculously rains. Except, halfway through the movie we get night scenes where the roadways have been dutifully wetted down by the teamsters to reflect lights. So it's a drought, but it always JUST rained a minute ago. Right.

There's a couple clever things here. I like how they try to show the step mother is "evil" partly because she's wasteful, doesn't respect he environment, etc. And, I like the parting line of the movie where Duff's narration nods towards the fact the relationship may not last since, even though they're going off to college together, they're still going off to college.

I wish the whole thing went that "smart" direction instead of wasting so much time on convoluted subplots that it makes 95 minutes seem like 950.

Romancefest 2021: Cutie and the Boxer

Directed by Zachary Heinzerling

Starring Noriko Shinohara and Ushio Shinohara

USA, 2013

Here's a first for Romancefest -- a documentary! At least, I'm pretty sure it's a first. Seems strange, considering a relationship is just as great a subject for a documentary as anything else, but there you have it.

This documentary follows the several decades long relationship between two Japanese artists who moved to America as young adults. He's more established than she is and she's 20 years younger than him. They squeak by, worrying about bills in their Brooklyn apartment/art studio. She feels her artistic career has been sidelined as she spends most of her time taking care of her husband and her son, and begins creating a series of art pieces that add up to what looks like a graphic novel, telling the story of their relationship.

These "cartoons" are brought to life throughout to help tell the story of how the couple met and give us some insight into how she views everything. Meanwhile, we see his attempts to sell old pieces to museums and collectors, mount new showings, and watch as he "boxes" his paintings to life, dipping big gloves in paint and punching the canvas.

Like any portrait of the intimate interactions between a couple people who've known each other forever, CUTIE AND THE BOXER makes us fall in love with these two and appreciate what they have. However, it is very realistic about the difficulties of the relationship and how substance abuse and financial irresponsibility can stress things. There's also deep worries of whether or not one artist or the other has fulfilled their potential in their creative lives.

It's difficult to decide exactly how to feel about this relationship, and I guess that's a testimony to the reality of the documentary. On one hand, you want to excuse everything and say, well, deep down, they both love and need each other. Everyone has problems, and love overcomes.

On the other, you wonder how much of that is colored by just accepting the status quo -- would she flourish without him? Would he be helpless without her? We'll probably never know, and I guess it's not up to me to pass judgment. I'd like to think they're meant for each other. They make a good case for it.

Romancefest 2021: Days of Being Wild

Written and Directed by Wong Kar-wai

Starring Leslie Cheung, Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Jacky Cheung and Tony Leung

Hong Kong, 1990

This is not the first Wong Kar-wai film of Romancefest -- in previous years I've checked out his more recent, and more famous, efforts, CHUNGKING EXPRESS and IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. Having loved those flicks, I was pretty excited to see this, his second movie.

Ultimately, I was a little let down. Yeah, I can see his style in there and it's clearly an early entry into what would become a great filmography, but having been pumped up to expect something really transcendental, I was a little underwhelmed. I know it sounds dumb -- complaining a perfectly fine movie wasn't as great as a couple of sublime ones. So, don't get me wrong, please. It was just a little less narratively satisfying for me.

The story follows a playboy in 1960s Hong Kong as he starts and ends passionate romances with women who have their hearts broken in his wake. Along the way, there's a love triangle and a sweet unrequited relationship as well.

Probably the most memorable scene is early in the running time, although referenced throughout -- a scene in which the main character asks the girl he's trying to pick up to spend a minute of time with him, watching the clock as it goes by, and claiming now they'll never forget that one minute they spent together, and that they'll be one-minute friends forever after. It works on her, and it worked on me, because it's good.

I hope to watch this movie again some time. It's the kind of movie where I have a hunch subsequent viewings will bring it into more focus. I wish I had seen it back in the 90s when it came out. Back then I had time to watch exciting new things over and over. Now, I guess I still have the same amount of time, it's just harder to spend watching something I've already seen that it used to be. This one deserves another look. I promise I'll try.

Romancefest 2021: Little Women

Directed by George Cukor

Written by David Hempstead, Victor Heerman and Sarah Y. Mason

Based on a novel by Louisa May Alcott

Starring Katherine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Paul Lukas, Frances Dee, Jean Parker, Edna May Oliver, Douglass Montgomery and Henry Stephenson

USA, 1933

I've seen a couple version of LITTLE WOMEN over the years, most notably the one from the 90s and the Greta Gerwig movie from a year or two ago, but somehow this classic version has eluded me until now, so I'm glad to say I've seen it.

Its strengths are in its lead performance by Katherine Hepburn, great as always and perfectly cast as the head strong and intelligent Jo, and in its efficient story telling. Its weaknesses come from that same efficient story telling -- since they sped through the story with a refreshing quickness, they left out a few of my favorite parts, most involving fire.

I assume the story doesn't need any recapping, but we'll do it, anyway -- it's the coming of age story of four young sisters in New England, during and after the Civil War, who all attempt to find happiness and their places in life in different ways. The main thrust of the story, as usual, is with Jo, who is the most rebellious against her expected position in life, even going so far as to turn down a proposal from a perfectly decent guy, in a scene that is just as memorable here as it is in the other versions.

So, where's the romance, then? Well, it's not quite as belabored over in this version as in some of the others, but it's still sweet when Jo's spurned suitor ends up with one of the other sisters and the German professor from the city comes calling for her in a rain storm.

Romancefest 2021: Only Angels Have Wings

Directed by Howard Hawks

Written by Jules Furthman

Starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Rita Hayworth

USA, 1939

Here's another movie that has everything -- adventure, music, romance, special effects and more.

A rugged individualist and head pilot of a South American air-mail delivery service has his life turned upside down when the dangerous ins and outs of his work days are interrupted by the arrival of a piano-playinge entertainer.

This is one of those "will they, won't they" tales, where the man has had it with women and the woman is strong enough she's not going to sit around begging for a man. He has a devil may care attitude about the realities of his deadly profession and she loves him so much she wishes he'd be more careful but wouldn't want to bother him about it. This leads to the perfectly written line, "I'm hard to get. All you have to do is ask me."

The thing is, the backdrop of the story is so interesting and well fleshed out that the romance almost takes backseat to just getting to know all these pilots, the ins and outs of their business, caring about whether they have to shut down, worrying whether they'll make their flights alive. That's the trick: sneak the romance in the back door and you please everyone with a story well told.

Of course it helps that Cary Grant is the best, and Jean Arthur's no slouch either -- she's not a typical leading lady, but that's her strength, and I've loved her since the first thing I ever saw her in, SHANE. On top of that you've got another great -- Howard Hawks -- behind the camera, and super cool flight scenes that are thrilling even today.

As the movie unfolded, I couldn't help but note the similarities between it and a cartoon I used to watch on the Disney Afternoon growing up, TALE SPIN. Grant's head pilot character has the nickname "Papa Bear," just like the lead protagonist of the cartoon, and his sidekick's nickname is "The Kid" which is not far off from the cartoon counterpart, Kit. Add to this the fact they work for an air delivery service and a strong woman comes in to turn their lives upside down, and I think we're on to something.

Some say this is the best movie ever made. It's worth checking out for yourself. 

Romancefest 2021: The Twilight Samurai

Directed by Yoji Yamada

Written by Yoji Yamada, Shuhei Fujisawa and Yoshitaka Asama

Starring Hiroyuki Sanada and Rei Miyazawa

Japan, 2002

As Stefan from SNL would say, this movie has everything. Family drama, action, suspense and... of course, romance.

Towards the end of the feudal era in Japan, a low-level samurai finds himself taking care of his mother, who has dementia, and caring for his children as a single father, as his wife died young. With no one to look after him he starts to let little things like hygiene and the state of his clothing slide, and he never has time to go out with the other samurais after work.

Change comes into his life when his best pal's sister, who is also a childhood friend and long-time crush, is threatened by her drunken and abusive ex-husband, and he agrees to fight to defend her and her family's honor. One of the film's best scenes follows in which the samurai, not wanting to actually kill anyone, succeeds in besting his lethal opponent with just a stick. It's awesome.

So seems like he should hook up with the sister, right? Naw, he doesn't think he's good enough for her. He's already been through it once with his wife, he's got kids and a mom to take care, she deserves a better shot. So, she moves on. That is, until, the local warlords charge him with the mission of assassinating a fellow samurai, and he doesn't know where to turn for support other than the true love he has denied himself.

This is one of those great movies where it's not only beautiful to look at but it also has a totally satisfying story (even if it's bittersweet) and never stops being entertaining. The main character is so lovable and badass, all at once, that you get more out of one movie than you'd normally get out of a dozen. And, you never know quite what's going to happen -- is the samurai's mission a suicide mission? Or will he live to see retirement? I won't give it away.

Romancefest 2021: The Child

Just when I thought I was running out of online lists of romance movies to use to help build Romancefest, I found a new one. But it has some strange choices in it, as far as "romance" is concerned -- it'd probably be better classified as a "relationship movie" list. Maybe I'll have to change the name of Romancefest. Then again, maybe I won't. 

In case you're wondering, Romancefest is what I do to myself every February: watch one romantic movie for every day of the month, preferably one I haven't seen before, and write about it. This year I have all my movie watching done but the clock's ticking on writing about them. I guess I better get to it.

THE CHILD (Belgium, 2005)

Written and Directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Starring Jeremie Renier and Deborah Francois

This bleak tale of a few rough days in the lives of a young semi-homeless couple starts sad and gets worse: our teenage lead has just given birth, and has to walk around town to find the father, her boyfriend, who is currently living under a bridge because he's rented out their apartment for some quick cash. This guy's a real catch, in his early 20s running a gang of tweenage petty thieves, and blowing what little scratch he comes up with on dumb things like leather jackets and day-long sports car rentals. He barely acknowledges his new child, until he learns he can make some good money from selling it.

There's a little bit of romance early on when you're hoping things will turn out all right for this crazy couple. Maybe they can make a go of it, maybe they'll rise to the occasion. They seem to really love each other as they wrestle and play like children. But this hope gives way to an impending sense of doom as, in the span of just a few harrowing scenes, Dad goes from contemplating selling his baby to actually going through with it, and once he's done it, spiraling into worse and worse situations as he tries to undo his actions, which obviously destroy his relationship.

So, it's a tough watch, and not what most would consider a traditional (or any other kind of) romance. But, it's compelling from beginning to end and I do have to admit I've never seen anything quite like it. So all in all, a worthwhile beginning to Romancefest 2021.