I’m curious why you think the Paula Beer character “never quite makes sense.” I thought her role was coessential to the movie - she was the counterweight to Leon - or his conception of her was. When he thinks she’s an intellectual lightweight he dismisses her opinion, and he never bothers to ask her about herself - his editor does. Which is why we don’t know any more about her than Leon does, since we see everything through his eyes. When he finds out she is a literature scholar he’s furious he gave her his manuscript. He reacts to her at every step in the movie. Not to her overtures, but rather to who he thinks she is.
And, having been an impecunious graduate student who did stints stripping wallpaper and moving furniture, it didn’t strike as at all odd that she was scooping ice cream for the summer.
After watching it we watched Ondine, and I would say the character she played in that movie didn’t quite make sense. It starts with her threatening to kill her boyfriend for breaking up with her but she almost immediately forgets him for the new one. It’s a beautiful movie but that was a bit jarring.
I didn't review MAY DECEMBER (though I did write about it in my NYFF coverage). I'm not surprised Charles Melton won NYFCC's Supporting Actor--he's the best thing about the movie and I am sure it's not his last critic group award. I liked it, didn't love it. I should have reviewed it this week instead of the repugnant SILENT NIGHT. And how many more ROLLING STONES docs are we going to get? There are other effing bands to make crappy docs about, people! As for The Banshees of Penisherin, I mean SALTBURN, I finally saw it and felt guilty I had to ask Mr. Feeney to review it because I couldn't make the screening. That was bad. I don't know what our brethren sees in that, or saw in PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. That director's idea of shock value wouldn't faze my retired parents. I am reviewing EILEEN in the paper next week. I read the book. It's funny that a movie that's supposed to be set in Massachusetts was shot 30 minutes from my house (which ain't in Massachusetts). Don't think for one second that I'm leaving out of the review the fact that New Jersey played Massachusetts. I'll devote 9 paragraphs to it! Ten best list also drops next week. Looking forward to seeing yours if you run it here.
Great newsletter. I'll be interested in seeing Saltburn. Sociopaths are such strange, exotic creatures, almost like aliens. I love Tom Ripley; John Malkovich is the perfect actor for him. It is a testimony to Matt Damon's acting that he does such a good job as the odd sociopath. I Googled Tom Ripley and was surpised to find that there five Ripley films, dating back to the 1960 Purple Noon with Alain Delon. Patricia Highsmith herself was a truly strange, unpleasant human. Saltburn has the added appeal for me of being centered in the eaually bizarre to me British upper-crust.
I’m curious why you think the Paula Beer character “never quite makes sense.” I thought her role was coessential to the movie - she was the counterweight to Leon - or his conception of her was. When he thinks she’s an intellectual lightweight he dismisses her opinion, and he never bothers to ask her about herself - his editor does. Which is why we don’t know any more about her than Leon does, since we see everything through his eyes. When he finds out she is a literature scholar he’s furious he gave her his manuscript. He reacts to her at every step in the movie. Not to her overtures, but rather to who he thinks she is.
And, having been an impecunious graduate student who did stints stripping wallpaper and moving furniture, it didn’t strike as at all odd that she was scooping ice cream for the summer.
After watching it we watched Ondine, and I would say the character she played in that movie didn’t quite make sense. It starts with her threatening to kill her boyfriend for breaking up with her but she almost immediately forgets him for the new one. It’s a beautiful movie but that was a bit jarring.
I didn't review MAY DECEMBER (though I did write about it in my NYFF coverage). I'm not surprised Charles Melton won NYFCC's Supporting Actor--he's the best thing about the movie and I am sure it's not his last critic group award. I liked it, didn't love it. I should have reviewed it this week instead of the repugnant SILENT NIGHT. And how many more ROLLING STONES docs are we going to get? There are other effing bands to make crappy docs about, people! As for The Banshees of Penisherin, I mean SALTBURN, I finally saw it and felt guilty I had to ask Mr. Feeney to review it because I couldn't make the screening. That was bad. I don't know what our brethren sees in that, or saw in PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. That director's idea of shock value wouldn't faze my retired parents. I am reviewing EILEEN in the paper next week. I read the book. It's funny that a movie that's supposed to be set in Massachusetts was shot 30 minutes from my house (which ain't in Massachusetts). Don't think for one second that I'm leaving out of the review the fact that New Jersey played Massachusetts. I'll devote 9 paragraphs to it! Ten best list also drops next week. Looking forward to seeing yours if you run it here.
Great newsletter. I'll be interested in seeing Saltburn. Sociopaths are such strange, exotic creatures, almost like aliens. I love Tom Ripley; John Malkovich is the perfect actor for him. It is a testimony to Matt Damon's acting that he does such a good job as the odd sociopath. I Googled Tom Ripley and was surpised to find that there five Ripley films, dating back to the 1960 Purple Noon with Alain Delon. Patricia Highsmith herself was a truly strange, unpleasant human. Saltburn has the added appeal for me of being centered in the eaually bizarre to me British upper-crust.