Movie Discussion! - Page 272

On August 25 2011 17:35 Pangolin wrote:

Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman): A very heartfelt film about an old man who is jovial on the outside but cold and hard on the inside. Through the course of a single day, he realizes (perhaps too late) the mistakes that he has made in his life, and how it has affected his family. The film resonated with me as the main character reminded me of my own grandfather.


Alphaville (Jean Luc Godard): A sci-fi noir where a hard-boiled secret agent infiltrates a society run by a computer which cares only about logic. Citizens who show excessive emotion are re-educated or executed.

I was very interested to see what Godard would do with a sci-fi setting, but was not as impressed as I'd hoped. There were some good poetic moments, but the film lacked any real suspense or action, which are things I want in a setting/genre like this. Also, the ultimate conclusion that love conquers all is somewhat trite, despite being well executed. Worth watching but definitely not my favorite of Godard's films.


My Night At Maud's (Eric Rohmer): An intriguing look at the life and decisions of a young catholic man in France. It centers around the titular night spent at a woman(Maud)'s house, where the protagonist, his old friend, and Maud spend a good deal of time discussing their varying philosophies and moralities. The main character has his morality tested when his old friend leaves the him alone to spend the night with Maud.

I enjoyed the film a lot, because I am a fan of films where dialog is the focal point. In the end, I was left with a lingering sense of regret as the main character's old fashioned values (which are very different from my own) lead him down a totally different path from what I had hoped. Having a film affect me like that is a good thing. In this case, it made me evaluate what it is that guides us in the decisions we make in our lives.