I have a huge stack of movies from the library I am trying to get watched.
La veuve Couderc [The Widow Couderc] (1971) In rural 1920s France, widow Simone Signoret hires drifter Alain Delon as farm labor. Things get complicated. Mature themes. Interesting period piece, great acting, but nothing to really go nuts over. 6/10
Minato no nihon musume [Japanese Girls at the Harbor] (1933) Directed by Hiroshi Shimizu. Silent melodrama once again marred by the tinny piano noodling of "noted silent-film composer" Donald Sosin, cursed be he. The film itself, once the irritating racket is shut off, is a bit primitive in execution, with a few stylistic tricks overplayed. Presentation is strangely anti-Japanese, with no distinctly Japanese locales or settings, and only the Fallen Woman dresses in kimono. More educational than entertaining. 4/10
Au coeur du mensonge [The Color of Lies] (1999) Another Claude Chabrol story of bad things happening in a small town. The interest is not so much in the events as in the characters and their responses to them. Fascinating French-faced women, and a neurotic artist you, Jeffrey Meyer, would surely understand. An excellent movie for grown-ups. 8/10
Merrily We Go To Hell (1932) Directed by Dorothy Arzner, a melodrama of the "modern marriage." Meaning alcoholism, adultery, and lots of forced gaiety to hide broken hearts. Pretty strong stuff, with great work by Frederic March and Sylvia Sydney. And man was that little gal built. Snazzy modern style sets and luscious gowns galore. 9/10
