Two Favourites: The Ladykillers and Howl's Moving Castle
Jan 30, 2018 2:09:01 GMT
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Post by poodlemum on Jan 30, 2018 2:09:01 GMT
I had a big birthday last weekend, so I got to pick all the movies to watch ... turned out my partner (poodlepa) enjoyed all of them too. 
I started with our newest acquisition, last year's biggie "Your Name" by Makoto Shinkai. There's little I can add to what has already been said - it's brilliant and affecting and wonderful.
Instead, I'd like to focus on two not so new (and quite different!) movies that captured me when I first watched them.
The Ladykillers: a 1955 Ealing Studios comedy, starring Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers et al. I got the 60th Anniversary Collector's Edition and the picture quality is excellent, plus there are a number of interesting special features included.
I regard The Ladykillers as the pinnacle of Ealing comedies; yes, I prefer it over Kind Hearts and Coronets which I find a little too repetitive in structure. But I guess that's something film buffs will happily debate for hours on end!
The one aspect that to me makes The Ladykillers (Alexander MacKendrick directed) so special and perfect is that Every Frame Matters. You notice this especially in the beginning. Do not miss one shot! Every frame tells you something important, and bit by bit, like a kaleidoscope, the pieces fall into place. It's simply good writing - but it cannot be re-stated often enough. Like my (long ago) writing tutor instructed us: Make Every Word Count. Every word has to earn its keep - else you cut it! And The Ladykillers is the perfect example of this. That's why it rightly earns the title "classic".
Granted, there is a stretch in the last third of the film where the pace slackens a little .. it's not a 100% perfect. But it's perfect in how it executes its vision. You realise that disaster quite simply and unescapably awaits these lovable rogues - and you watch, like a rabbit caught in the headlights, as the surreal tale unfolds.
It was a gift of a role for Alec Guinness, of course: the quite mad criminal mastermind. You could argue that, by modern standards, he perhaps over-acted. The quietly subversive real star though is Katie Johnson. Aged 76, she turned in the performance of her life (which earned her a BFA Best Actress in 1955) as the sweet yet utterly determined Mrs Wilberforce - or "Mrs Lopsided", as gang member 'One-Round' (played wonderfully by Danny Green) calls her affectionately.
Once seen, how can you ever forget Mrs W causing an almighty ruckus leading to an overturned vegie cart, traffic obstruction and fisticuffs?
And I can't think of another iconic example of film/TV history where a parrot (Monty Python!) snatches the scene and ends up creating a meme.
The other great movie we watched was Howl's Moving Castle, a Studio Ghibli production helmed by Hayao Miyazaki.
I watched it soon after it came out in 2004, on DVD, and loved it. Now I invested in the Blu-ray edition and I was blown away by the beauty of the graphics. A wondrous European-themed (Victorian?) steampunk-ish world unfolds and envelops you. We watched it in Japanese with subtitles, but there is a stellar English voice cast too and I look forward to experiencing it with that option.
The film is based on a YA novel by prolific (but sadly gone) British fantasy writer Diana Wynne Jones. Our total love affair with Howl's Moving Castle led to us researching Wynne Jones, her bio- and bibliography, and I'm determined now to seek out some of her books. I love it when you get this natural segue happening, leading you from one work of art to another ... As a sidenote, for us there is also a slim personal/family connection as we found out that she spent part of the wartime years in the Lake District, where she met Arthur Ransome (Swallows and Amazons) and her family stayed at the house occupied by the Altounyan family, whose children were the inspiration for Swallows and Amazons. Poodlepa's family later met the grown-up Altounyans on summer holidays at Coniston Water.
Back to Howl's Moving Castle and what is so extraordinary about it. It's the characters and the story (duh) - animated with such love of detail, capturing every nuance. It's the way the (surprisingly) dark and even scary elements - there is a bitter war going on - intertwine with the more humorous aspects. It's the fantastical world, imagined so that you can dive in and feel like you know it, it's palpable. Every character will surprise you; not a sliver of cardboard anywhere. I can't think of another fantasy movie where the world feels so *unique*. It's the way in which the human heart is represented. This is a movie with more "heart" than any collection of Hollywood drippy, soppy dramas. There are surprise twists at every corner; you think Where can this story possibly go from here?, and it will take you by surprise yet again and veer off at unexpected angles, without ever losing sight of the core question. The film starts with a breath-taking event that befalls young Sophie, portrayed in quite a matter-of-fact way, and resourceful Sophie undertakes a journey that'll change her life and the world around her. Diana Wynne Jones said in an interview that she had the idea for what happens to Sophie because of an illness she suffered in her middle years, which changed her outlook on life and how we journey through it profoundly. And that's what you find in this movie: a way of looking at the world and your life through a fantastical yet earthbound lens. Oh, and Howl is hands-down The Most Gorgeous Wizard ever. No argument!
I started with our newest acquisition, last year's biggie "Your Name" by Makoto Shinkai. There's little I can add to what has already been said - it's brilliant and affecting and wonderful.
Instead, I'd like to focus on two not so new (and quite different!) movies that captured me when I first watched them.
The Ladykillers: a 1955 Ealing Studios comedy, starring Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers et al. I got the 60th Anniversary Collector's Edition and the picture quality is excellent, plus there are a number of interesting special features included.
I regard The Ladykillers as the pinnacle of Ealing comedies; yes, I prefer it over Kind Hearts and Coronets which I find a little too repetitive in structure. But I guess that's something film buffs will happily debate for hours on end!
The one aspect that to me makes The Ladykillers (Alexander MacKendrick directed) so special and perfect is that Every Frame Matters. You notice this especially in the beginning. Do not miss one shot! Every frame tells you something important, and bit by bit, like a kaleidoscope, the pieces fall into place. It's simply good writing - but it cannot be re-stated often enough. Like my (long ago) writing tutor instructed us: Make Every Word Count. Every word has to earn its keep - else you cut it! And The Ladykillers is the perfect example of this. That's why it rightly earns the title "classic".
Granted, there is a stretch in the last third of the film where the pace slackens a little .. it's not a 100% perfect. But it's perfect in how it executes its vision. You realise that disaster quite simply and unescapably awaits these lovable rogues - and you watch, like a rabbit caught in the headlights, as the surreal tale unfolds.
It was a gift of a role for Alec Guinness, of course: the quite mad criminal mastermind. You could argue that, by modern standards, he perhaps over-acted. The quietly subversive real star though is Katie Johnson. Aged 76, she turned in the performance of her life (which earned her a BFA Best Actress in 1955) as the sweet yet utterly determined Mrs Wilberforce - or "Mrs Lopsided", as gang member 'One-Round' (played wonderfully by Danny Green) calls her affectionately.
Once seen, how can you ever forget Mrs W causing an almighty ruckus leading to an overturned vegie cart, traffic obstruction and fisticuffs?
And I can't think of another iconic example of film/TV history where a parrot (Monty Python!) snatches the scene and ends up creating a meme.
The other great movie we watched was Howl's Moving Castle, a Studio Ghibli production helmed by Hayao Miyazaki.
I watched it soon after it came out in 2004, on DVD, and loved it. Now I invested in the Blu-ray edition and I was blown away by the beauty of the graphics. A wondrous European-themed (Victorian?) steampunk-ish world unfolds and envelops you. We watched it in Japanese with subtitles, but there is a stellar English voice cast too and I look forward to experiencing it with that option.
The film is based on a YA novel by prolific (but sadly gone) British fantasy writer Diana Wynne Jones. Our total love affair with Howl's Moving Castle led to us researching Wynne Jones, her bio- and bibliography, and I'm determined now to seek out some of her books. I love it when you get this natural segue happening, leading you from one work of art to another ... As a sidenote, for us there is also a slim personal/family connection as we found out that she spent part of the wartime years in the Lake District, where she met Arthur Ransome (Swallows and Amazons) and her family stayed at the house occupied by the Altounyan family, whose children were the inspiration for Swallows and Amazons. Poodlepa's family later met the grown-up Altounyans on summer holidays at Coniston Water.
Back to Howl's Moving Castle and what is so extraordinary about it. It's the characters and the story (duh) - animated with such love of detail, capturing every nuance. It's the way the (surprisingly) dark and even scary elements - there is a bitter war going on - intertwine with the more humorous aspects. It's the fantastical world, imagined so that you can dive in and feel like you know it, it's palpable. Every character will surprise you; not a sliver of cardboard anywhere. I can't think of another fantasy movie where the world feels so *unique*. It's the way in which the human heart is represented. This is a movie with more "heart" than any collection of Hollywood drippy, soppy dramas. There are surprise twists at every corner; you think Where can this story possibly go from here?, and it will take you by surprise yet again and veer off at unexpected angles, without ever losing sight of the core question. The film starts with a breath-taking event that befalls young Sophie, portrayed in quite a matter-of-fact way, and resourceful Sophie undertakes a journey that'll change her life and the world around her. Diana Wynne Jones said in an interview that she had the idea for what happens to Sophie because of an illness she suffered in her middle years, which changed her outlook on life and how we journey through it profoundly. And that's what you find in this movie: a way of looking at the world and your life through a fantastical yet earthbound lens. Oh, and Howl is hands-down The Most Gorgeous Wizard ever. No argument!
