Emma
(UK, 2020) – Romance, Comedy – Mainstream
This is another nice example of the recent female directors make adaptions of classic novels trend that I wish never fades away. I honestly never read anything Jane Austen, and I committed the sin of disdaining her for believing her work being overly cheesy and languid. However, the trailer promised fun, and the movie delivered. I don’t know how faithful it is to the original novel, but I found a solid story with all the classical stereotypes and points; and the actors give everything and have the time of their lives believing they live in the Romantic Age England, something that is a true treat to see. Similarly to Greta Gerwig’s Little Women or The Favourite, the aesthetics and photography are utterly gorgeous and exploding in details, with a delicious usage of colour saturation, and the performance of the actors is joyful and lively instead of the solemn or gloomy roles other older movies in the same setting have shown. The only drawback I see is that the beginning is rushed so you don’t catch who is who if you didn’t read the novel, but the rest is solid and really amusing to watch. I’m probably going to watch it again sometime soon.
Witness for the Prosecution
(UK, 1957) – Thriller – Classic
This classic movie has earned the privilege to join Citizen Kane and All About Eve in my list of pre-modern classics that didn’t age at all. Heavily based on Agatha Christie’s judicative drama of the same name, it’s directed by comedy monster Billy Wilder, so here the first-class British mystery is intertwined with many of the director’s typical nonchalant, kind of off-topic bits. These, inserted into the overall regning thrill, act as relaxing punchlines that give a very refreshing touch. The setting and performances are terrific, especially Charles Laughton’s role as the defending attorney, which left me speechless in many moments. This move also employs some clever Hitchcockian visual hints (like sunlight reflected on some glasses that points an important item), that show Wilder’s master skill in making as movie unforgettable. As a good Agatha Christie work, expect to have impressing plottwists in some points. I imagine these having been so radical for the time that the movie features a voice on over during the credits explicitly asking the audience not to reveal any of the plot to their acquaintances that already didn’t watch the movie. Glorious.
The Untouchables
(USA, 1987) – Action, Drama – Modern Classic, Author
I watched this one last Saturday, when Sean Connery passed away, and the local TV emitted it for the occasion. I am sure that the story of Elliot Ness vs. Al Capone is already known to all Americans that read this, but I am sure that The Untouchables gives a different rendition to it. Here, Brian de Palma composes an unlikely homage to friendship, comradery, loyalty, ideals and reveals that he has a soft side, too. This movie does not betray his usual violent and crude tone, but leaves it a bit aside as the underlying rhythm, while the most prominent theme is the relationship of Elliot Ness with this team of Untouchables and how it unfolds and, ultimately, how it inspires his bravery and fuels his ideals that never fall and made him a paradigm of the figure of the American Hero. Because that’s what this movie does, in the end. In its violence and manicheist view of things, the very base of the immortal classical American movie formula is found, the kind of movies that can easily touch you and leave you with an unforgettable aftertaste of satisfaction when the credits roll. And that’s what makes it a modern classic. Aside from taking lessons from Hitchcock’s techniques and of the school of Eisenstein in some of the most memorable scenes, like the one in the train station and the stairs.