Less than two weeks to go...

Jul 30, 2002 · 3 minute read

The movie marathon continues apace. Latest update:

• The Young Wives' Tale - A typical British farce, not something that often appears in Audrey Hepburn filmographies. It's not very good at all, to be honest; Hepburn only has about five minutes of screentime in the whole film, and her character is almost completely superfluous to the plot. Not worth seeking out.


• The audio commentary of Scream 3 helped me to broaden my dislike of the film beyond 'Kevin Williamson didn't write it'. They only had Neve Campbell for 20 days of filming, and knowing this it becomes clear that Neve's character, the focus for the previous films, has only three real scenes in the entire film, and the rest has to be carried by the comedy-relief haracters of Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox), and Dewy (David Arquette), which doesn't quite work. That the script was still being written as they were shooting didn't help matters either.


• The Secret People - an interesting, if confused 1952 film about terrorism. The moral is smashed into the audience with all the sublety of a jackhammer, and the last fifteen minutes seem to come out of nowhere in particular, but it has a nice style and some interesting scenes. You can get a DVD copy from Amazon Japan (Region 2). Again, be warned - Hepburn isn't really a major character in the film, although she's more integral to the plot than in The Young Wives' Tale.


• Sabrina. I think I love the film a little more every time I watch it. A perfect fairytale, and possibly the least cyncial film Billy Wilder ever made.


• Love In The Afternoon - Whilst I like the central conceit here (international playboy made jealous by imaginary tales of a 19 year old cello student), the fact that Gary Cooper looks like he's three days away from being Hepburn's grandfather completely kills the film for me. If Wilder's original plan of getting Cary Grant to play the male lead had succeeded, I think I would have liked the film quite a bit more than I did.


• In The Mood For Love - Despite the fact that my copy was taped on a dodgy video recorder from ITVDigital's interesting interpretation of high-quality digital video (somewhat akin to watching an out-of-focus projector through clingfilm), the film is simply beautiful, infused with a quiet sadness, with an ending that would not be allowed in Western cinema today. Find a copy (Criterion have a lovely DVD available) today. Wong Kar Wei has done some work with DJ Shadow - have a look here for the wonderful video for 'Six Days'.

In response to our lamentations on Lauren's current TV projects, Simon Tyers sends Flossie and myself to this link, where she defends Mary Poppins's honour and makes the case for seven-year old alcoholics. That's much more like it.