Relevant elements: Interracial marriage, the trope of a child bringing home someone surprising to meet the folks
Why it resonated: Took on racial and generational issues that were roiling in the 1960s
General comments on the film: You can complain that it's too talky. You can marvel at the prescience of a white woman meeting a black man in Hawaii and dreaming that their child would become the President of the United States. You can question the probability of the existence of such a jolly, socially progressive monsignor. You can feel sorry for Katharine Houghton as she is doomed to be the dimmest presence on the screen, obliterated by the waves of charisma emanating from Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, and Sidney Poitier. You can even be a little annoyed at yet another pervasive song being played in pretty much every scene (this time "The Glory of Love"-- the one that Bette Midler's character brassily oversings throughout Beaches, not the Peter Cetera one featured in Karate Kid II). But it's hard not to feel stirred by the film's passionate argument for the importance of peace, love, and understanding.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Cultural Gap Film #20: Love Story
Relevant elements: "Love means never having to say you're sorry"
Why it resonated: "Boy meets girl, boy rejects privileged family when they reject girl, boy and girl get married and scratch their way to a good life, girl dies of an unspecified disease" is timeless
General comments on the film: There's a lot to commend this movie beyond its admittedly poignant tear-jerking ability. Its efficiency echoes the simplicity of its title, moving through the courtship, marriage, and death with little exposition or narrative fat. That means it relies pretty heavily on the leads, and although I sometimes found Ali MacGraw's character off-putting, the film makes you believe in the young couple even though the opening voice-over has already told you the tragic end of the story.
It also remains cinematically interesting in a way that I didn't expect. The mobility of the camera, particularly in the early days of the relationship, lends a sense of handheld verisimilitude, as though these are home movies. But the really noticeable element is the sound design. The lovely piano score underpins much of the movie without being as obtrusive as some other themes I've encountered during this series (see Breakfast at Tiffany's), and there are several unconventional uses of sound, such as an entire scene in which we hear a flirty back-and-forth between our young lovers but the visual is just a discreet slow zoom on the exterior of a Harvard dorm. Throughout the film, sound is used in expressive ways without feeling overly gimmicky and distracting from the romance at its heart.
One parting observation: Here we have another Harvard-based movie with the line "It's not your fault" near the end. It almost makes me want to re-watch the last ten minutes of The Social Network and With Honors to make sure it's not some running inside joke.
Why it resonated: "Boy meets girl, boy rejects privileged family when they reject girl, boy and girl get married and scratch their way to a good life, girl dies of an unspecified disease" is timeless
General comments on the film: There's a lot to commend this movie beyond its admittedly poignant tear-jerking ability. Its efficiency echoes the simplicity of its title, moving through the courtship, marriage, and death with little exposition or narrative fat. That means it relies pretty heavily on the leads, and although I sometimes found Ali MacGraw's character off-putting, the film makes you believe in the young couple even though the opening voice-over has already told you the tragic end of the story.
It also remains cinematically interesting in a way that I didn't expect. The mobility of the camera, particularly in the early days of the relationship, lends a sense of handheld verisimilitude, as though these are home movies. But the really noticeable element is the sound design. The lovely piano score underpins much of the movie without being as obtrusive as some other themes I've encountered during this series (see Breakfast at Tiffany's), and there are several unconventional uses of sound, such as an entire scene in which we hear a flirty back-and-forth between our young lovers but the visual is just a discreet slow zoom on the exterior of a Harvard dorm. Throughout the film, sound is used in expressive ways without feeling overly gimmicky and distracting from the romance at its heart.
One parting observation: Here we have another Harvard-based movie with the line "It's not your fault" near the end. It almost makes me want to re-watch the last ten minutes of The Social Network and With Honors to make sure it's not some running inside joke.
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