The feeling that the film is too calculated made me analyze my feeling further. I think that in the past I didn’t mind so much if any film was too calculated or not. Some of my friends hate films such as AMERICAN BEAUTY and LA CLASSE DE NEIGE (1998, Claude Miller, A+), accusing them as too calculated. But I love AMERICAN BEAUTY and LA CLASSE DE NEIGE.
Why I seemed to mind that HAPPY ENDINGS is too calculated, and gave it A instead of A+. What made me feel like that?
I came to a conclusion that my feeling might not be the result of anything in HAPPY ENDINGS, but the real cause of my feeling is the fact that I watched LE COEUR FANTOME (1996, Philippe Garrel, A+) about a week ago. After watching this masterpiece (in my point of view), it seems as if every film by other directors looks too calculated for me.
At first I feel reluctant about whether I should blame it on Philippe Garrel or not. But after I re-read an article on Garrel by Maximilian Le Cain in Sense of Cinema, I think I should really blame it on Philippe Garrel, not on Don Roos.
The following paragraph is written by Maximilian Le Cain:
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/12/garrel.html
“Garrel's films are made up of moments, moments of day-to-day intimacy or alienation, often elliptically linked. Quiet conversations and silences between friends and lovers. And thought. Few other directors have made reflection so central to their filmmaking and almost none have captured it with such unforced grace. It is a cinema of contemplation rather than narrative. He shoots with the most basic means in an elegant, portrait like style. Sometimes he uses quite long takes, always with very little cutting around in a scene and often none at all. Scenes are filmed with a stillness and a patience that do the exact opposite of what most effective narrative cinema does, that is, to grab audiences and manipulate them into a state of false emotion.”
I have seen only two films by Philippe Garrel: THE BIRTH OF LOVE and LE COEUR FANTOME, but I think I really worship him now.
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There is another scene that I like very much in LE COEUR FANTOME. It is an early scene when a mother (Veronique Silver) is talking to her son (Luis Rego). I like the conversation in this scene very much. So I quote it here:
MY FAVORITE MOVIE QUOTE FROM “LE COEUR FANTOME”:
Son: Why do you ask? Thinking about dad?
Mum: No. No. It’s just if you feel like that…
Son: I’ll end up like dad?
Mum: No…But things would be easier between you and Annie.
Son: It wouldn’t change anything.
Mum: It would! I’M NOT ALWAYS THINKING OF YOUR DAD. WE’VE BEEN SEPARATED 30 YEARS.
Son: That doesn’t mean anything.
Mum: Yes, it does. Things are simpler than you think.
Son: Things are simple as long as the kids come first.
Mum: I’m glad you think like that. BUT KIDS AREN’T A CURE-ALL. TAKE ME AND YOUR DAD. WE HAD THREE.
Son: Why did you split up?
Mum walks away, thinking for a while, then says: I’d give you one version, your dad, another. No one would be any the wiser.
Son: What’s your version?
Mum: THERE ARE NO ANSWERS IN LIFE. ONLY SOLUTIONS AND DECISIONS. ANSWERS ARE ONLY IN STORIES.
Son: Say I’m writing a story about you and dad, and I need your point of view.
Mum: YOU CAN SAY WE THOUGHT WE WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER, AND THEN WE REALISED WE WERE WRONG.
--This conversation scene is now one of my most favorite scenes in this year.
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--Talking about films which show “moments of day-to-day” activities, another film which I like very much is a short film called SUN IN WINTER (DU SOLEIL EN HIVER) (2005, Samuel Collardey, A+).
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Below are some photos from LE COEUR FANTOME. I shot these photos from my TV by using my cheap mobile phone. The film is in color, but when I pressed the pause button on the video player, the picture on the screen lost the colors. These photos are very bad taken by me, I know.
VERONIQUE SILVER AS THE MOTHER:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1337/631179195_b39be9d1ea_o.jpg
VALERIA BRUNI TEDESCHI AS THE WHORE:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1239/631179217_764b139df4_o.jpg
EVELYNE DIDI AS THE WIFE
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1065/631179239_7186a6d634_o.jpg
JOHANNA TER STEEGE AS THE HEROIN ADDICT
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1094/631179185_29b306a4d1_o.jpg
2 comments:
Since now, I try to write more in English, but my English is very bad. So, sorry for every reader. : )
I think Happy Endings tried too much to balance the 3 storyline. But in the end I forgive it, maybe because of the 3 ‘secret-unravel’ sequences which begin with Lisa Kudrow scene, the dinner scene with Laura Dern and ended at Maggie Gyllenhal scene. The last part hurts my feeling very much. It breaks my heart to see that. And it’s so beautiful that Don Roos chose to tell the ending of every characters except Jude (Maggie).
I love Jude very much. In her opening scene, she seduced the married guy by singing “Honesty”, how can she do that? I read that Maggie insisted that if she take this roles, every singing scene must record live. She wanted to sing live because that ‘s the way to make it real.
I download all 4 songs that Maggie sang in Happy Endings, I will bring it to u soon : )
As for me, my favorite scene in HAPPY ENDINGS is the one scene when Lisa Kudrow met Maggie Gyllenhaal. That scene is not so important for the storyline, I think. But I am always thrilled when I see a scene like that: a scene in which two interesting (or bitchy) female characters meet or confront each other.
Apart from that scene in HAPPY ENDINGS, other scenes which thrilled me in the same way include:
1.In THE BLACK DAHLIA (2006, Brian De Palma, A+/A), there is a scene when Hilary Swank looked out of a window and saw Scarlett Johansson. Both women seemed to hate each other. And I felt the adrenaline rush watching this scene.
2.In THE COLOR OF LIES (1999, Claude Chabrol), I felt the most excited when I saw Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi tried to investigate Sandrine Bonnaire while the latter was ironing some clothes.
There is a film which I like very much for the same reason. That film is PRAYING MANTIS (1982, Jack Gold, A+). In this film, two femme fatales (Cherie Lunghi and Carmen du Sautoy) tried to outwit each other. Classic!
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