for the first time, I felt needed

Average rating: 7.6

The Bishop's Wife (1947) - "Dejected by his efforts to raise money to build a cathedral, Bishop Henry Brougham beseeches heaven for guidance, and is visited immediately by Dudley, who claims to be an angel. Henry is skeptical, then annoyed when Dudley ingratiates himself into the household as his assistant—and worse, wins the attention of Henry's long-suffering, kindly wife. When Dudley continues to intervene in Henry's struggles, the bishop decides to challenge it." 

length: 1h, 49m  |  source: streamed on TubiTV  |  directed by Henry Koster  |  why I watched: this is becoming one of my Christmas classics (previously reviewed here)

IMDb: 7.6/10  |  Rotten Tomatoes: 85% / 81% Audience  |  my IMDb: 9/10  |  MPAA: Approved

tone & texture: warm, classic Hollywood polish

notable quote: "When you want to know about a woman, ask the old men. They know."

my notes: gentle, inspiring, and delicately funny. Cary Grant at his best. 

themes: hope, love

Academy Award winner: Best Sound, Recording—Gordon Sawyer; 4x nominee

overall: highly recommended

 

Flowers of Shanghai {Hai shang hua} (1998) - "In Shanghai in the 1880s there are four elegant brothels (flower houses): each has an auntie (madam), a courtesan in her prime, older servants, and maturing girls in training. The men gather around tables of food, playing drinking games. An opium pipe is at hand. The women live within dark-paneled walls. The atmosphere is stifling, as if Chekhov was in China. The melancholy Wang is Crimson's patron; will he leave her for the younger Jasmin? Emerald schemes to buy her freedom, aided by patron Luo. Pearl, an aging flower, schools the willful Jade, who thinks she has a marriage agreement with young master Zhu. Is she dreaming? Women fade, or connive, or despair." 

length: #1h, 53m  |  source: my DVD  |  directed by Hsaio-hsien Hou  |  why I watched: I'm on a quest to experience different types of Asian cinema (and I'm obsessed by Tony Leung Chiu-wai)

IMDb: 7.3/10  |  Rotten Tomatoes: 93% / 78% Audience  |  my IMDb: 8/10  |  MPAA: NR

tone & texture: intimate, lush & romantic

notable quote: "Good people wouldn't be in this profession."

my notes: this is a very quiet movie. If you're not interested in thinking and feeling and interpreting, then this is not for you. If you are, though, then you may find it as compelling as I did. Who "owns" whom? Are women's lives as frivolous as they seem, or are men's actually worse? What's the correlation between the genders' attractiveness and appeal? 

themes: power, identity, sacrifice

overall: strongly recommended

 

The Bear {L'ours} (1988) - "A bear cub is left alone, unable to feed or defend itself, when its mother is killed in a rockslide. Eventually, the cub attempts to bond with a male grizzly, which initially ignores it. When the grizzly is pursued by hunters, the cub comes to its aid and wins the grizzly's affection. However, when one of the hunters captures the cub, the grizzly must confront the armed hunters. The tale is told from the cub's perspective." 

length: 1h, 36m  |  source: my DVD  |  directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud  |  why I watched: Tchécky Karyo plays a hunter, and he's one of my favorites

IMDb: 7.7/10  |  Rotten Tomatoes: 88% / 82% Audience  |  my IMDb: 8/10  |  MPAA: PG

tone & texture: somber, soft & naturalistic

notable quote: "Everyone has a secret side. By God, that's the way it should be."

my notes: well! This was not what I expected, by miles and miles. An adventure story in the Disney model, there's got to be trauma before grace, like veggies before dessert. I was full-on bawling by around 0:15. The movie was profound, gorgeously filmed, and meaningful. 

    My problem with it: Karyo's voice was dubbed over with a very distinct, southern U.S. dialect. Jarring, unappealing, and frustrating, it ruined the experience for me. To be fair, I wouldn't have watched it again anyway (see 0:15), but that vocal change was not cool.

themes: found family, redemption

overall:  recommended with specific reservations

The Bigamist (1953) - "Harry and Eve Graham are trying to adopt a baby. The head of the agency senses that Harry is keeping a secret and does some investigating. He soon discovers that Harry has done an unusual amount of traveling from his home in San Francisco to Los Angeles. Harry gets tracked down in LA, where he has a second wife and a baby. Via flashbacks, Harry tells the adoption agent how he ended up in two marriages." 

length: 1h, 20m  |  source: streamed on Fawsome  |  directed by Ida Lupino  |  why I watched: I was in the mood for noir, and this was recommended

IMDb: 6.8/10  |  Rotten Tomatoes: 73% / 54% Audience  |  my IMDb: 7/10  |  MPAA: Approved

tone & texture: somber, soft & naturalistic

notable quote: "I can't figure out my feelings towards you."

my notes: what a curious movie! Everyone is flawed, but not enough to clearly dislike. The ladies are each appealing, but not enough for one to root for either one. And the fella...he's hardly charismatic or handsome or attractive in any traditional sense. Yet there's something enthralling about this very decorous, gentle shitshow. It's possible to see how it can happen. 

themes: moral ambiguity, identity, power

overall:  recommended

Ocean's Eleven (1960) - "Danny Ocean calls on some of his World War II buddies—including Jimmy Foster, Sam Harmon and Josh Howard—to pull off an elaborate New Year's Eve heist at five casinos in Las Vegas. Eleven members of Danny's crew come together to pull off a perfect robbery, but they suffer a series of setbacks when Duke Santos, a former gangster, tries to thwart Ocean's plans to disappear with the money." 

length: 2h, 7m  |  source: my DVD  |  directed by Lewis Milestone  |  why I watched: I'm selling the set, and wanted to get through it one more time before letting it go

IMDb: 6.5/10  |  Rotten Tomatoes: 47% / 81% Audience  |  my IMDb: 6/10  |  MPAA: Approved

tone & texture: playful, classic Hollywood polish

notable quote: "Fifty percent of something is better than one hundred percent of nothin'."

my notes: entertaining, talky, and pretty slick. The bringing-the-gang-back-together phase takes up 4/5 of the film, and the actual heist only that last twenty percent. The guys are a mishmash of cool, oblivious, greedy, smart, conniving, and gorgeous. You're welcome to try and figure out who's who.

themes: loyalty, found family, chaos v. order

overall: mildly recommended

 

[the title quotation is from The Bigamist]