Movies galore!

Ok, so my summer is pretty much been obliterated by my sluggishness and fatigue. I have been unusually tired these past two months, but I guess there's also a plus side -- lots of quality time catching up with movies and books, which has been quite satisfying. I recently watched Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), which is just beautiful and rhythmically addictive. The bossa nova beats structurally complements and drives the straightforward plot, which is a modern reconstruction of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. It's an easy film to get into because the dialogue isn't complicated and you already know the plot, so it's nice to just be along for the ride and the clever twists on the myth.

Strangely enough, I think Black Orpheus may have been my only foreign film so far. Lately, I've been watching a lot of American films from the 1970s, which are interesting because the sixties was such a fascinating decade for me and I really never had thought to look into films from the 1970s. I thought they would be cheesy and too much of a predecessor for soap operas and the terrible 80s films that I grew up with. But much to my surprise, they are well constructed and are creative in their own right.

It started with Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, which was surprisingly convincing in both plot and production. You would think that a plot about a woman carrying the devil's child would be ridiculous, but both the actors and director seem to try and put it into a more realistic context by playing with the psychology of the human mind. Like in one scene, Rosemary seems to be going crazy and so she seeks her old doctor for solace, but unfortunately he, who seems to represent a society that she has been isolated from, does not believe her. This sort of isolation is also explored in other 70s horror films, like The Omen, which stars Gregory Peck. However, it seems to explore the isolation between the world of politics and religion. Of course, having watched these two films, I also watched The Exorcist, though it was a bit harder to believe for me -- a girl's head turning 360 degrees and constantly throwing up? The level of grotesqueness was a bit much for me. But Ellen Burstyn, who was in Requiem for a Dream and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, was excellent. Then... Harold and Maude, which is such an enjoyable film, even though a 19 year old sleeps with an 80 year old (the film made even that a lovely thing). And again themes of isolation come about, but this time they are resolved. Unlike the horror films, Harold and Maude make a more optimistic attempt at resolving these feelings. Though considering when it was made, it is a statement to the younger audiences to live more freely and with purpose. It is a film with a lot of things to say, but still it is so charming. Ruth Gordon is simply delightful and hilarious as the jubilant Maude, and Bud Cort with his boyish face is her perfect opposite -- young and obsessed with death.

There have been some other films, but this entry is long enough! I'll update some more stuff later.