(7/9/07, castro theater w/Ell&Erin, 7:00p)
1) This movie is just good and fun and happy and beautiful
2) The ending is perfect, and it would make a good example if one were making an argument for the relevance of silent films. No amount of dialogue could have made that ending any better or more perfectly executed. All he needed to do was smile shyly. Reminds me of the likewise perfect ending of Before Sunset: it's all in the way Julie Delpy dances and Ethan Hawke smiles. And, of course, the fadeout.
3) Interesting how the drunk driving scenes are played up for light laughs. I can't imagine anything but the crassest of contemporary comedies using drunk driving in that way.
4) I love the early twentieth century faith and hope in science demonstrated by the blindness cure. Of course science will cure blindness! And then the blind person will be happier and more prosperous! (or maybe some of the prosperousness had to do with the thousand dollars the tramp gave her... also, I think the newspaper said the procedure was free for poor people, so I'm not exactly sure why she needed the money for it...)
5)Easily the greatest boxing scene ever filmed.
Showing posts with label Charlie Chaplin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlie Chaplin. Show all posts
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Great Dictator
7/6/07. Laptop in by bedroom, by myself, 11:00pm
1) This film is not at all self-contained. I don't know if it would be possible to really judge it in any way except as a response to the rise of fascism in Europe. You could try but you'd kind of be missing the point.
2) So its 1938 or so and you're the most famous filmmaker in the world, and its obvious to you that what's happening with Hitler in Europe is all sorts of fucked up, but for some reason a huge percentage of everyone else is not seeing coming what you're seeing coming. What more could you think of to do than to make a film portraying Hitler as absoulutely ridiculous?
3) What did it mean to be the most famous filmmaker in the world in the late '30s? Certainly it meant something different than it would mean today. How would you feel about your film if five years later it turned out that the guy you did everything you could to make appear absurd was responsible for the horrific deaths of millions of people? I mean, at least you tried, but how would that effect your idea of the potential power of film?
4) So many hilarious moments in this film, but the ballet Hynkel does with the balloon/globe thing was funny and beautiful and pathetic and horrifying all at once, especially when he lays on his desk and bounces it in the air with his butt.
5) Film critics are dumb. The barber's speech at the end is effective because it doesn't fit in with the rest of the film. It's not a flaw.
1) This film is not at all self-contained. I don't know if it would be possible to really judge it in any way except as a response to the rise of fascism in Europe. You could try but you'd kind of be missing the point.
2) So its 1938 or so and you're the most famous filmmaker in the world, and its obvious to you that what's happening with Hitler in Europe is all sorts of fucked up, but for some reason a huge percentage of everyone else is not seeing coming what you're seeing coming. What more could you think of to do than to make a film portraying Hitler as absoulutely ridiculous?
3) What did it mean to be the most famous filmmaker in the world in the late '30s? Certainly it meant something different than it would mean today. How would you feel about your film if five years later it turned out that the guy you did everything you could to make appear absurd was responsible for the horrific deaths of millions of people? I mean, at least you tried, but how would that effect your idea of the potential power of film?
4) So many hilarious moments in this film, but the ballet Hynkel does with the balloon/globe thing was funny and beautiful and pathetic and horrifying all at once, especially when he lays on his desk and bounces it in the air with his butt.
5) Film critics are dumb. The barber's speech at the end is effective because it doesn't fit in with the rest of the film. It's not a flaw.
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