luni, 20 martie 2017
Harvey adapted by Mary Chase from her Pulitzer Winning Play
Harvey adapted by
Mary Chase from her Pulitzer Winning Play
A different version of this note and thoughts on other books
are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E
and
http://realini.blogspot.ro/
Harvey is a six foot-tall...rabbit.
So you get the idea:
This must be either a comedy or a horror film
You can't make a drama with a hero like that...
Well, they have a tall thing in the White House and that
apparition seemed as unlikely as a six foot rabbit, only some months ago.
Elwood P. Down is the protagonist who walks about with and
talks to his friend Harvey.
Therefore, Veta Louise Simmons, his sister wants to commit
him into a mental institution.
It is understandable, even if the hero is a gentle, kind and
likable man?
He is played perfectly by the great James Stewart.
Right at the start, as Veta and her daughter have a party,
the maid announces she is leaving.
But why?
And now that we have all these guests!
The problem was that Elwood introduced her to...Harvey.
In fact this is what he tries to do throughout this
excellent comedy
Get people to meet his fictional friend.
Elwood is indeed very friendly, sociable and inviting taxi
drivers, door men, even one who has spent some time in jail to his home.
And when faced with the option to have this gentle, open,
kind man or a new version that would be obtained after a sort of
"neutering of the soul" treatment in the Doctor's office, Veta is
sure to run fast and try to get the right man...
What does she opt for?
The answer is in the film
The humor is extraordinary.
From the simple to the sophisticated, which right there in
the main theme and the decision that Veta and we have to take in life...
Should we be satisfied with very good, psychology calls this
satisficer?
Or insist to have only The Best, which applies to
maximizers?
Elwood is a wonderful man, even if he pretends or does see a
giant rabbit.
Veta says at one point that she has heard about Harvey so
much that she sees him now and then.
This is trouble for her.
She mentions this in the cabinet of a doctor and she is
taken in the institution instead of her brother.
But she says it is the brother who is sick
That's what they all say
In the bar, Elwood talks to Harvey.
A man drinking decides to stop, seeing as he does not
understand what's going on and assumes he has had too much.
When the bartender says he has to pay, he responds
The man at the end of the bar will pay...that is where
Harvey is supposed to sit
In a taxi, the driver is in the front and Elwood in the back
talking to his rabbit friend
It is nice Harvey
The name is Henry, says the taxi driver
It is Henry, Harvey
No, just plain Henry
The hilarious confusion is caused by the fact that the
driver does not see anyone except Elwood in the back
And there are plenty of other gems.
The painting of Elwood and Harvey has replaced the one of
grandmother.
So Veta talks to another doctor assuming it is her mother at
her back, on the wall.
But it isn't.
The doctor sees it isn't
And the behavior of Veta is obviously strange in the
context...
She carries on about art and its magic and the dream that
paintings have in them and photographs don't.
But she has no idea she is talking about the ever present...
Harvey the Pooka
duminică, 19 martie 2017
La Terra Trema directed by Luchino Visconti and based on I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga
La Terra Trema directed by Luchino Visconti and
based on I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga
A different
version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E
and
http://realini.blogspot.ro/
This is an
impressive, wonderful dramatic film.
It was
mentioned by Martin Scorsese in an episode of the exceptional documentary American
Cinema.
Since he
praised this work, I looked it up and when I could finally see it, it became
evident that this is a fabulous achievement.
It is
called docufiction and part of the reason for that is explained at the start
where the public is told that there are no actors on screen.
More information
I have received from an Italian professor that I meet downtown at the…sauna,
where we both go regularly.
He told me
that Giovanni Verga is the representative of naturalism, even if in Italy this
movement did not reach the importance it had in France for instance.
The audience
is overwhelmed by the struggle of the fishermen who are at the center of this
narrative and who have to live in poverty.
Their work
is dangerous and many of them die at sea.
They sail
under any circumstances- almost- and yet there is little to show for their
ordeal and constant toil.
The main
reason appears to be the greed of the wholesalers, the men who take all the
fish and pass it on.
In a normal
economy or market, the middle men have a major and honest role to play, taking
products from makers to consumers.
That notwithstanding,
in this small village called Aci Trezza, on the coast of Sicily, wholesalers
have a monopoly.
Therefore,
the prices are fixed and instead of a free market, we have a rigged commerce with
all the profit going to a handful of men.
‘Ntoni,
from a well-established family of fishermen is the Rebel With A Cause who tries
to end this injustice.
He faces
individuals who have a much bigger financial power and are united in what is in
effect a small cartel.
‘Ntoni or Antonio
is right in figuring out that once the cartel would be broken or avoided,
fishermen could have a profit.
Like it is,
they can only sell what they catch to the profiteers who abuse their power and
the fact that the poor have no option.
The family
of Antonio is convinced to mortgage the house and invest in preserving the fish
with large quantities of salt.
Mind you,
the film was made in 1948, so the narrative depicts what happened in a period
when this is all they could afford…
Barely…
Indeed,
even under the new circumstances, the situation does not improve for the
Valastro family and the outlook is worse.
The girls
of the family approach or are at a “romantic age” but conditions are not
favorable, because of the same financial problems and the social norms of the
day.
And a nadir
is reached during a particularly bad storm, which caught the Valastro fishermen
at sea and damaged their new boat.
They had to
risk disaster and even worse, death, seeing as the pressure of the mortgage and
the many mouths to feed was too great.
It looked
for a while that they are lost, but they are ultimately found, even if the
despair is not ended with a temporary salvation.
Because they
face not just humiliation, with their enemies taking a revolting revenge, but
outright starvation.
One silver
lining in all this may be a discovery referring to the Great Depression during
which people had to eat little in large parts of America.
Studies have
shown that they lived longer as a result of reducing dramatically the calorie
intake during the Depression.
And this
proves again that research in Okinawa and other places is correct in
emphasizing that eating less prolongs life.
Still, the
drama of the Valastros and the other protagonists fighting hunger and their
human adversaries makes for a masterpiece.
sâmbătă, 18 martie 2017
Aparajito -One of the Best Films Ever- based on the novel of the same name
Aparajito -One of the Best Films Ever- based on
the novel of the same name
A different
version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E
and
http://realini.blogspot.ro/
This the
second part of the trilogy Apu.
It was
listed by TIME Magazine as one of the best 100 films, a compilation that you
can find here:
In the
first part, Pather Panjali (noted here: http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.ro/2017/03/note-on-acclaimed-pather-panchali.html
) the family of Apu suffers a double tragedy, with the death of Apu’s sister
and aunt.
They move
to Benares, but there is a similar poverty, if not complete destitution and
some repellent practices.
One character
talks about the money he saved and that he needs to have 500 rupees in order to
get a bride.
Even today,
from what I know, families prefer to have boys and when they see the sex of the
baby during pregnancy and she is a girl they opt for abortion.
On account
of the backwardness, lack of education in rural areas and slums, many women are
attacked.
That is
made worse by the lack of sanitation and plumbing, with many people using the outdoors
for necessities and therefore exposing women to violence and rape.
The face of
India that we see in this gem is a gentle one, if really poor, the streets
crawling with animals.
Of course,
the presence of cows, even in schoolyards and monkeys is part of the tolerant
tradition and religion of India.
There is a
small, funny scene wherein Apu’s mother fears one of the monkeys and stands back,
although the mood of the film is rather dark.
In the
temples, there are monkeys everywhere and Apu feeds them, together with other
men and women.
In this
poverty, there is sharing: when the family of Apu needs matches, for they are
that destitute, a neighbor is happy to oblige.
Alas, death
strikes again and this time it is Apu’s father, the priest who had to make a
daily effort in the scorching heat.
When the
father dies, there are many black birds flying, in a scene that has reminded me
of Poe and Hitchcock.
One aspect
which seemed to have gotten worse is the train ride, which in those days was
better than I see in photos today.
Although crowded
inside, at least the trains we see in this film did not have crowds on top and
hanging on the side.
With the
death of the family head and the only bread winner, the Apu family has to
reconsider the future.
A neighbor
offers help, suggesting that they move again, this time in the countryside in
the state of Bengal.
Apu wants
to go to school, but that costs money and they have practically nothing, except
for a few rupees saved by mother.
If he wants
to have an education he has to work and study, with the perspective of becoming
a priest like his father.
He has a
conflict with his mother at a later stage, when the option of going to
Calcutta- or Kolkata as it is called today- is raised.
She wants
her son to stay in the village, with her and respect the tradition which would
dictate that he becomes a priest.
But the boy
is brilliant and he wins the second place in the whole district, in spite of
having to be only a part time student.
In school,
there is an interesting scene when the inspector comes and invites pupils to
read about the state of Bengal:
-
It the greenest of them all
-
The language is like no other…
Finally, Apu
is allowed to go to study in Calcutta, where he has to work again, after he is
finished with class, in the afternoon.
His effort
in the printing shop takes a toll and he is falling asleep in class, attracting
his expulsion from one subject.
But Apu
will have time to recover and we will see in the last part his probable rise
and accomplishments.
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