Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join in the fun by picking three movies that fit the week's theme and writing a bit about them!
I had a hard time coming up with movies for this week's theme, nostalgia. I'm assuming we're talking movies ABOUT nostalgia, not movies that evoke a sense of nostalgia within us. Although even if it were the latter, I still might have trouble. But anyway, here's what I could come up with.
Peggy Sue Got Married (Francis Ford Coppola, 1986) Peggy Sue is pretty unhappy in her marriage, and at her high school reunion, she passes out and wakes up back in her senior year of high school. Is she really there? Is it a dream? Would she do anything differently? The major conflict of the film, beautifully acted by Kathleen Turner in the title role, is whether Peggy Sue's nostalgia will overcome her so much that she will make the same decisions and fall into old patterns, or if she will be bold and blaze a new path for herself. Viewing this movie now, I was somewhat unsatisfied with the ending, but upon reflection it's a bit more complicated than I initially gave it credit for. It probably doesn't help that Peggy Sue's beau is played by Nicolas Cage at his most grating (on purpose, but still). But the cinematography is gorgeous, and the cast is an embarrassment of riches: In addition to Turner, who is brilliant, there's Helen Hunt, Joan Allen, and Jim Carrey! Which brings us to...
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004) Sometimes, you're not nostalgic for a time or place, so much as a person. The problem for Joel Barrish is that he realizes he's nostalgic for his ex-girlfriend Clementine while he's undergoing a procedure to have her erased from his memories. So he decides, along with the version of Clementine in his memories, to hide her. Charlie Kaufman's script is dazzling, and Michel Gondry's direction even more so, but the real draw here is the ensemble cast, especially the performances of Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as Joel and Clementine. Carrey was never used better in a dramatic role, his expressive face getting quite the workout as Joel goes back into memories of being a small child. And Winslet's performance is even more mind-blowing when you realize that for most of the movie, she's not actually playing Clementine, but rather Joel's memory of her. It's an incredible film all around, probably the best film since the new millennium. Truly a work of staggering genius.
Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen, 2011) Owen Wilson is engaged to Rachel McAdams. The two of them are visiting Paris with her parents on a business trip. He's a writer, and is naturally taken with the historical city. But at midnight, when he's wandering about, he ends up in the 1920s, in the salons of some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Will he try to stay in the earlier time period as he becomes more and more infatuated with it? I won't spoil that, but I absolutely will spoil some of the rogue's gallery of an ensemble, who are the true reason to see this lovely little film: Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein, Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali, Tom Hiddleston and Allison Pill as the Fitzgeralds F. Scott and Zelda, Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway... Allen clearly had a blast writing for these characters, and the actors pay him back with all they've got. Unfortunately, the present day characters are pretty much insufferable. But that's not near enough to take the fizz out of this champagne cocktail of a movie.
I went your way too regarding Nostalgia and you picked some good ones but..I still have to see 2 and 3 although I chose a Woody Allen film as well. I really enjoyed Peggy Sue and found it funny, a bit sad and a great take on the 50's way of living.
Quite a few of Allen's films deal with nostalgia - I could just as easily have gone with Purple Rose of Cairo, which is very much about Allen's own nostalgia for the time period instead of that of the characters.
I didn't read the theme your way, but apparently I'm the only one that didn't lol. I love your last two picks. I don't think I've ever seen Peggy Sue Got Married in full.
To get this out of the way right off the top we are in major disagreement on Eternal Sunshine...I detested that movie! I liked everyone in the cast but found it insufferable. I know I'm in the minority, I saw it on a sneak preview and everyone else that went with me (5 others) felt as you do.
On to better things. Love Peggy Sue, this is the film Turner should have won an Oscar for. Her work is very complex and it's a lovely gentle film, the scenes with her grandparents are so moving and provided Leon Ames (who plays a major role in one of my picks) a wonderful swan song to his career. The supporting cast is SO good along with the others you mentioned Catherine Hicks & Barry Miller added so much to the film. If Jim Carrey had been in Midnight in Paris you would have had a theme within the theme!
Midnight in Paris is without question one of Woody's best latter day efforts. I think making the modern day people so odious keeps it from being one of his best overall because they throw the balance off but everything can't be Hannah and Her Sisters. A very good and beautiful looking film nonetheless.
Being an old sentimentalist I had no trouble coming up with three this week my problem came when I had to trim back! But I'm happy with what I ended up with.
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)-A year in the life of the upper middle class Smith family (including second daughter Esther played by Judy Garland) as they and their hometown prepare for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. For the most part charming, sweet and bandbox pretty full of great songs-The Trolley Song, The Boy Next Door, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (which was written expressly for Judy) etc.-this is interwoven with dark undertones most courtesy of borderline psychotic (though she’s meant to be seen as innocently eccentric) youngest daughter Tootie (Margaret O’Brien-who won a special Oscar). Wonderfully produced by the Freed unit and directed by Vincente Minnelli.
On Moonlight Bay (1951)-Based on stories by Booth Tarkington we are once again at the turn of the 20th century. In bucolic small town Indiana the upwardly mobile Winfield family has just moved into a bigger house that only the father likes until tomboyish daughter Marjorie (Doris Day) meets handsome neighbor, college student Bill Sherman (Gordon MacRae). Suddenly she gets in touch with her feminine side and she and Bill start a romance which goes along fine until her father finds out Bill is a nonconformist who doesn’t believe in marriage or other traditional values. But after many songs, several mishaps and lots of warm and fuzzies all ends happily. Followed by a sequel “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”
Radio Days (1987)-Told as a remembrance Joe (Woody Allen) recalls his youth (played by Seth Green) growing up in the 30’s and 40’s with his colorful and somewhat crazy family (including his parents who will argue about anything including which is the greater ocean-Atlantic or Pacific!) and people he encounters including the story of radio personality Sally White (a quite brilliant performance by Mia Farrow). Filled with beautiful period detail this captures both the period and a sense of youth.
I wonder what it is you don't like about Eternal Sunshine... too tricksy? too quirky? I can see that, sort of, but I found the melancholy undertow to work really beautifully and the performances just knock it out of the park.
Turner's work in Peggy Sue is absolutely a highlight of her career, and of that very good Best Actress lineup. The way she modulates her voice to slowly become more like her younger self throughout the film is absolutely incredible.
Totally agree with you on Midnight in Paris, too. Much as I love McAdams, Mimi Kennedy, and Kurt Fuller (not to mention Michael Sheen and Nina Arianda), the characters are SO unpleasant that they throw the balance completely off. But yes, as always with Allen, the crafts are impeccable.
Meet Me in St. Louis is one of the greatest musicals ever made. A wonderful film, and a wonderful pick. I've heard of Radio Days, but it's one of the many Allen films I haven't seen. I've never heard of On Moonlight Bay, but it sounds lovely.
I like Midnight in Paris well enough, but I LOVE Eternal Sunshine. What a masterpiece that movie is. Somehow I still haven't seen Peggy Sue Got Married.
I went your way too regarding Nostalgia and you picked some good ones but..I still have to see 2 and 3 although I chose a Woody Allen film as well. I really enjoyed Peggy Sue and found it funny, a bit sad and a great take on the 50's way of living.
ReplyDeleteQuite a few of Allen's films deal with nostalgia - I could just as easily have gone with Purple Rose of Cairo, which is very much about Allen's own nostalgia for the time period instead of that of the characters.
DeleteI didn't read the theme your way, but apparently I'm the only one that didn't lol. I love your last two picks. I don't think I've ever seen Peggy Sue Got Married in full.
ReplyDeletePeggy Sue Got Married is definitely worth seeing in full. It goes to some very interesting places and Turner's performance is just magnificent.
DeleteTo get this out of the way right off the top we are in major disagreement on Eternal Sunshine...I detested that movie! I liked everyone in the cast but found it insufferable. I know I'm in the minority, I saw it on a sneak preview and everyone else that went with me (5 others) felt as you do.
ReplyDeleteOn to better things. Love Peggy Sue, this is the film Turner should have won an Oscar for. Her work is very complex and it's a lovely gentle film, the scenes with her grandparents are so moving and provided Leon Ames (who plays a major role in one of my picks) a wonderful swan song to his career. The supporting cast is SO good along with the others you mentioned Catherine Hicks & Barry Miller added so much to the film. If Jim Carrey had been in Midnight in Paris you would have had a theme within the theme!
Midnight in Paris is without question one of Woody's best latter day efforts. I think making the modern day people so odious keeps it from being one of his best overall because they throw the balance off but everything can't be Hannah and Her Sisters. A very good and beautiful looking film nonetheless.
Being an old sentimentalist I had no trouble coming up with three this week my problem came when I had to trim back! But I'm happy with what I ended up with.
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)-A year in the life of the upper middle class Smith family (including second daughter Esther played by Judy Garland) as they and their hometown prepare for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. For the most part charming, sweet and bandbox pretty full of great songs-The Trolley Song, The Boy Next Door, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (which was written expressly for Judy) etc.-this is interwoven with dark undertones most courtesy of borderline psychotic (though she’s meant to be seen as innocently eccentric) youngest daughter Tootie (Margaret O’Brien-who won a special Oscar). Wonderfully produced by the Freed unit and directed by Vincente Minnelli.
On Moonlight Bay (1951)-Based on stories by Booth Tarkington we are once again at the turn of the 20th century. In bucolic small town Indiana the upwardly mobile Winfield family has just moved into a bigger house that only the father likes until tomboyish daughter Marjorie (Doris Day) meets handsome neighbor, college student Bill Sherman (Gordon MacRae). Suddenly she gets in touch with her feminine side and she and Bill start a romance which goes along fine until her father finds out Bill is a nonconformist who doesn’t believe in marriage or other traditional values. But after many songs, several mishaps and lots of warm and fuzzies all ends happily. Followed by a sequel “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”
Radio Days (1987)-Told as a remembrance Joe (Woody Allen) recalls his youth (played by Seth Green) growing up in the 30’s and 40’s with his colorful and somewhat crazy family (including his parents who will argue about anything including which is the greater ocean-Atlantic or Pacific!) and people he encounters including the story of radio personality Sally White (a quite brilliant performance by Mia Farrow). Filled with beautiful period detail this captures both the period and a sense of youth.
I wonder what it is you don't like about Eternal Sunshine... too tricksy? too quirky? I can see that, sort of, but I found the melancholy undertow to work really beautifully and the performances just knock it out of the park.
DeleteTurner's work in Peggy Sue is absolutely a highlight of her career, and of that very good Best Actress lineup. The way she modulates her voice to slowly become more like her younger self throughout the film is absolutely incredible.
Totally agree with you on Midnight in Paris, too. Much as I love McAdams, Mimi Kennedy, and Kurt Fuller (not to mention Michael Sheen and Nina Arianda), the characters are SO unpleasant that they throw the balance completely off. But yes, as always with Allen, the crafts are impeccable.
Meet Me in St. Louis is one of the greatest musicals ever made. A wonderful film, and a wonderful pick. I've heard of Radio Days, but it's one of the many Allen films I haven't seen. I've never heard of On Moonlight Bay, but it sounds lovely.
I also picked Midnight in Paris. That film is so good! Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a great pick too. Haven't seen the other one.
ReplyDeletePeggy Sue Got Married is definitely worth your time. Not as good as Eternal Sunshine, mind you. But then... what is?
DeleteI like Midnight in Paris well enough, but I LOVE Eternal Sunshine. What a masterpiece that movie is. Somehow I still haven't seen Peggy Sue Got Married.
ReplyDeleteSeriously. Eternal Sunshine is a goddamn MASTERPIECE. Peggy Sue Got Married is pretty great. I recommend it!
DeletePeggy Sue Got Married is the only one I've not seen. While I've heard of it, I never knew what it was about.
ReplyDelete