Casablanca

In my review of the film Amelie, I said they had reached perfection in a film medium. Since that, I have watched The Godfather (Parts 1 and 2, haven't got to 3 yet.), and Casablanca. The revelation I had was that I should have listened to my parents years ago and watched these films earlier, because if they do not reach perfection they come incredibly close.

This particular film is one of the best, if not the best, love story I've ever watched. It has literally everything good- phenomenal cast, comedy, expert scripting, a striking wardrobe, engaging performances, a good ending, everything.

First of all, the cast. Humphrey Bogart's character Rick Blaine is just so cool. In my eyes, it takes quite a lot to be considered cool, but he just is. He looks after himself, basks in the glory of the society he lives in without getting too big headed, and he doesn't even aim to be like that- as he continually says, he cares about himself and himself only. Humphrey Bogart, the actor playing Rick, displays each of these qualities with great believability and passion- but he achieves what the character is portraying, by making it all look so effortless.

The other lead role in the film is that of Ilsa Lund, Rick's love interest from years ago and a character with so many dimensions. She displays love for two people, and I do think she really loved both of them, with precision and, similarly to Bogart, passion. She seems very manipulative, the way she convinces Rick that she'll stay with him and she still loves him, in order to save her husband Victor Lazlo. Although I think being a manipulative person is obviously a bad human trait to have, I think this character makes it okay, because she's doing it to benefit other people. I can only imagine the position this character is in, but I when I do I imagine it to be a very difficult situation to be in- therefore I think the achievement of the actress to be an even greater one than it already is, because it would be so hard to relate to a character in a situation like the one she is. I find it astounding and atrocious that she wasn't even nominated for this performance.

The smaller characters in this film are another factor that just make it so good. They add so much to the story, and their smaller lines bring so much comedy and substance to the film- the fact that everyone seems to dote around Rick so much is one of the things that makes the character more interesting. Speaking of the lines used in the film, I think I could write a whole blog post alone filled with quotes that aided this film in reaching such a high standard- I implore everyone to go and read the quotes section of this film on www.imdb.com, because there are so many small lines that don't get quoted massively, that just add to the feel of the film- I don't have time to list them all here. The ones that really caught my attention were the classics though- "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." "Here's looking at you, kid." and of course "Round up the usual suspects."

To conclude this, absolutely everyone should see this film,as education in... something. Acting, dressing, love, politics, there really is something for everyone. You can't beat the classics, you really can't.

Submarine

The issue I had with this film, really, was that it was trying too hard- in every aspect. Someone did make the point that it could have been doing that deliberately, to reflect the fact that it was about a 15 year old boy and they always try too hard, but it just made the film not my cup of tea.

First of all, they tried to make the lead character- Oliver Tate- too individual and too rebellious, which eventually resulted in him looking a bit like a show off and an idiot. Other flaws in the character are that he looks magnanimous and patronising- when he gives his classmate advice, the analysis and attempted fixing of his parents marriage- plus 15 year olds don't use words like schism. These qualities are displayed most prominently, however, when he was trying to impress Jourdanna, his girlfriend for the most part of the film. I think that the lengths he goes to to keep her are too extreme- the arson (to the extent of burning his leg hair), and the lack of depth in the emotions that they are feeling. To be fair, this could be an accurate portrayal of teenager's relationships in today's society, but I felt that the film over egged it and it made the transformation of the female lead (when her mother goes into hospital and she cares about her relationship all of a sudden) quite unbelievable.

Speaking of Jourdanna, I felt the film depicted her similarly to Oliver really- too individual, too rebellious, and eventually just a bit pretentious and full of herself. Also her character completely flips round when her mother goes into hospital (although that strand of the film did have potential, they should have made more of it). I thought the emotional overturn of this character did make her seem more real, but I still felt they over egged it too much. 

Talking of over egged characters, the next door neighbours were just made a bit too weird. To be honest, the only character I felt they actually got right was that of Jill Tate- played by Sally Hawkins. I thought she was funny, believable and compelling- as she has been in everything I've seen her in.

All in all, I felt everything in this film took it too far. The shots were trying too hard to be arty and clever (the shots of the kids kissing, the montage of their relationship and the singular shots of various characters), the carnival shots are too dramatic- as is the music in this scene. To conclude, I felt the only aspects of the film worth watching for are Alex Turner's music, which is genius and cleverly placed, and Sally Hawkin's character. Everything else was just too overdone.

West Side Story

I think this film is really just beautiful. It's so.... everything. Moving, sad, happy, engrossing and of course it's so full of life! The actors portray each and every one of the characters different emotion with such precision and care that its hard to believe they're fictional.

The first cast member to really catch my eye was Natalie Wood, the lead female. At the start, she seems so innocent, cheerful, optimistic and youthful. She also embraces love like a welcome hug- so much so that when her heart gets broken you just want to give her a cuddle! At the end of the film, when all the big events are coming to a head, she seems to grow up a great deal. 

In relation to this character, I think that the female characters portrayed in the Latin culture are much stronger characters than those in the American- I think the Latin characters are portrayed as characters in their own right whereas the American girls just sort of fade into the background, although this is protested slightly in the film I still feel that the Latin girls have much stronger parts.

Another actor that really caught my eye was Richard Beymer, the lead male. He, again, seemed to embrace all the aspects of his character to a massive standard, which I think would be hard considering he has so many different sides. I think it would be hard to portray a character that will be "forever faithful" to the Jets, which he pulls off well, and then to show the love for someone in a rival culture tied in with the guilt he feels at the death of his arch enemy.

I also think that the music in the film is very expressive, and used to a high standard in scenes of high tension and great importance- which I think is an achievement in itself because in a lot of films scenes of this nature rely a lot on dialogue.

I'm finding this film a bit hard to review, really, because I enjoyed literally every aspect of it. The only fault I can find is it feels a bit like a stage show, but that's to be expected because it's adapted from a stage show which was adapted from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet! It's also not really a fault, because that aspect of it just engrosses me more.