Days of The Week (Films Watched June 11 – 17)

 

 

Mostly re-watches this week thanks to a busy several days. Actually, getting the better part of the way through one particular rewatch left me with an idea. I didn’t finish the film, so I haven’t logged it below, but let it not be said that revisiting an old film cannot prompt fresh thoughts.

 

#52FilmsByWomen continued this week with LOLO directed by Julie Delpy.

 

Delpy is an interesting case for my slate so far. She is only the third actor/director I’ve selected, but still not the last (Penny Marshall and Barbara Streisand are both still to come). What makes Delpy an interesting case is that she is the first of the five (and only the second, counting Streisand) whose directing career exclusively involved directing herself.

When I mentioned this to my wife, she smiled and shrugged saying:

“…ya gotta make your own shit if people ain’t makin’ it for ya…”

We wouldn’t say word-one about this if she were a man, of course, but in the scope of this project it’s an important detail. Delpy isn’t hanging back and waiting for the interesting parts for women to come to her. She’s creating them herself; doubly so, since all five of her films are written by Delpy as well. In that respect, she deserves a tip of the cap for an entire class of future filmmakers; Delpy is a woman who has done much to change the status quo.

 

The only thing that’s unfortunate is that Delpy can’t have a better say in how her movies are sold.

In the midst of writing my review last week on LOLO, I got my first look at the film’s trailer. It did a piss-poor job of selling the film, making it look like a Clouseau-esque slapstick romp involving a son and a mother’s boyfriend. It eventually is, but it doesn’t get to the level of what we’re sold until the final fifteen minutes. It would be like selling INGLORIOUS BASTERDS based on the violence of the cinema massacre.

The problem with this, is that films like Delpy’s need all the help they can get drawing an audience. Put LOLO in one theatre and AVENGERS in the theatre next door, and tell me which one fills up. So selling the smaller film to an audience that will appreciate everything about it is key. Setting people up for a giant fall isn’t really fair.

Delpy isn’t alone in this, of course; next to nobody in film gets to market their own films. I’m just suggesting that there a little bit better packaging might net that little bit more success and allow Delpy to flex her mighty muscles in a bigger way next time.

Regardless, I’m a sucker for Delpy’s words and vision and will certainly sign-on for anything she points her camera at in the future.

 

Here’s the week at hand…

 

Screenings
LOLO – I think I need to go to Southern France soon.
FINDING DORY – Good-but-not-Great Pixar, which sounds like a backhanded compliment but isn’t meant to be. More tomorrow.

 

Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
IMITATION OF LIFE – Lord, could I ever go for some pancakes now.

 

Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Seen Before
EDGE OF TOMORROW – Possibly one of THE most underrated action movies of the last few years.
PULP FICTION – Seen it?
WHIPLASH – This movie should be shown as a master class in editing
RAISING ARIZONA – Anyone know where I can get a shirt like that?

 

Boxscore for The Year
110 First-Timers, 72 Re-Watched
34 Screenings
182 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?