Directed by Baltasar Kormákur Written by Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell, and David Brandson Smith
The review:
I think one has to be in a certain mood to watch survival-at-sea-type films, and if you are anywhere near such a mood, please find time for Adrift which is not only a solid entry into the genre, but a great depiction of a woman getting things done.* I thought the back-and-forth structure worked well for the film’s general tension—there was both respite and insight in the flashbacks and I liked how they were often linked to the present. Claflin is good, and Woodley is her usual excellent self, so there’s no reason not to find and watch this film of survival.
The verdict: Recommended
Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99) Where watched: at home
This article wondering where all the female-centric survival films are
Further sentences:
*That we don’t have a better pipeline to these types of films is frustrating. I was intrigued by the trailer but did not prioritize this film for a few years. Part of it was not being in an ocean survival mood, but I wonder if I would have been quicker on the draw if I knew how much woman power this film has?
Questions:
How would you have cut the trailer to better bring out this story?
What’s your favorite Shailene Woodley role?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
According to Shailene Woodley, there were times on the open sea when, except for the director and cinematographer, everybody was throwing up overboard due to severe seasickness.
(I’ve never wanted to be an actor, and for sure I’ve never wanted to film a movie on open water.)
With my birthday card, my mom sent along this picture of me with my Easter basket. When I posted it on social media, more than one person commented that they lived in a house with that exact same fireplace.
My Aunt Carol sent along these two phots from when we visited Molokai. I think that’s my Aunt Pat (since the photos came from Carol, I’m guessing she was behind the camera?) me, and my brother dodging the waves.
And here we are running into them. (Except Chris, who was still in dodging mode.) Molokai had the best waves.
I was a guest on Lambcast Episode #555 where we discussed the two movie versions of Rebecca. As usual, my doodling kept me engaged through the recording.
This roll of produce bags is the only one available to serve this entire section of produce. I do not understand why 1) there are so few bag stations and 2) why they can’t keep the damn things stocked with bags.
Directed by Ben Wheatley Written by Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapenel, Anna Waterhouse
The review:
While this new version of Rebecca brings us the story of the second Mrs. de Winter in Technicolor and with a bigger budget* than its predecessor, it manages to drag, even though its runtime is eight minutes shorter.** I appreciate Kristin Scott Thomas’s take on housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, but it wasn’t as effective as Judith Anderson whose performance made the 1940’s version so enjoyable. Overall, the kind of newer version that is fine, especially if you haven’t seen the previous version, and perhaps it will encourage people to seek out Hitchcock’s classic.***
The verdict: Good
Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99) Where watched: at home
*So much lingering on vast vistas! Perhaps that’s what made it seem long. **On the plus side, though Maxim’s proposal retains its put down, Lily James has a bit more agency as the second Mrs. de Winter, especially near the end of the film. ***Which, if your library doesn’t have it, is a little hard to find. This needs to pop up on streaming tout suite!
Questions:
What’s your Rebecca pleasure? 1940 or 2020?
Would you like to live in the suite of rooms that were Rebecca’s?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
The car is a 1937 Bentley.
I got some great Cruella de Ville vibes from the driving scenes.
Yes, God, Yes. I paid $6.99 to watch this film in August, but you have waited and now you can see it as part of your Netflix monthly fee. Score for you, because this film set in early internet times is a hoot.
Spotlight. You get two things when you watch this movie about investigative reporters. You can check off a best picture winner and also see a fabulous movie about an uncomfortable topic.
Snowpiercer. Are you Bong Joon Ho curious, especially after Parasite won best picture? This might be your entry point. Class issues, end of the world issues, and Tilda Swinton stealing the show.
20th Century Women. I’m gonna keep shoving this generational coming-of-age film with so many good moments at you until you watch it.
Moneyball. Since we didn’t get sports in 2020 like we usually do, maybe you want a hit of baseball? But with Aaron Sorkin writing and Bennett Miller directing?
Laurie and Burt report that they tried a night during COVID at their favorite McMenamins. (It’s also my favorite McMenamins.) Laurie notes that it’s not the same because they aren’t using the indoor shared spaces, but that they did get to do the soaking pool and hang out on the grounds.
It sounds like it was a good enough visit for these pandemic times.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Written by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison
The review:
Rebecca has the usual problems one runs into with a film older than my social-security-collecting parents,* but that shouldn’t keep you from watching it. It’s a whole atmosphere, from the first line** to the last, iconic image, and so much of what’s fun about the atmosphere is the head housekeeper stink-eye provided by Judith Anderson. This is a great intro to Hitchcock, both for the universality of feeling being in over one’s head and for the Hitchcock camera angles.
The verdict: Recommended
Cost: Free via DVD copy from the Multnomah County Library. That copy kept freezing, so I also watched part of it via TV Time, the Roku channel that shows old movies and has commercials. Then the internet dropped out, so I went back to the DVD. It was a journey. Where watched: at home
*Older man treating the woman he loves like a child, the woman in question wandering through her life, the couple “falling in love” in the time it takes a rich lady to recover from pneumonia, the proposal that was a put down, etc. The infantilization of women in classic films is sometimes hard to take. **”Last night, I dremt I went to Manderley again” gave me chills and when paired with the visual and the distant tone in Joan Fontaine’s voice throughout the monologue, propels this first line right to the same territory as: “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”*** ***Goodfellas. AFI has neither of these quotes on its list of top 100 movie quotes, but what do they know?
Questions:
What would your reaction have been, coming home to Manderly?
It’s weird that there aren’t any titles used, eh? Like is he a lord, or a commoner from a very rich family?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
The first movie that Sir Alfred Hitchcock made in Hollywood, and the only one that won a Best Picture Oscar. Although it won Best Picture, the Best Director Award that year went to John Ford for The Grapes of Wrath (1940).
For those interested, back in the 90s, I watched an interesting documentary called Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood. I really liked the comparison between the two men and it’s worth searching out. It seems to be an episode of American Masters.
Full opening quote: (Though more fun to watch. I’ve got it queued up here.)
Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter for the way was barred to me.
Then, like all dreamers, I was possessed of a sudden, the supernatural powers and passed like a spirit through the barrier before me. The drive wound away in front of me, twisting and turning as it had always done. But as I advanced, I was aware that a change had come upon it. Nature had come into her own again, and little by little had encroached upon the drive with long tenacious fingers, on and on while the poor thread that had once been our drive.
And finally, there was Manderley. Manderley, secretive and silent. Time could not mar the perfect symmetry of those walls. Moonlight can play odd tricks upon the fancy, and suddenly it seemed to me that light came from the windows.
And then a cloud came upon the moon and hovered an instant like a dark hand before a face. The illusion went with it. I looked upon a desolate shell, with no whisper of a past about its staring walls. We can never go back to Manderley again. That much is certain. But sometimes, in my dreams, I do go back to the strange days of my life which began for me in the south of France…
