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Lost Horizon
Lost in Translation
Love Actually
Love Before Breakfast
Love Laughs at Andy Hardy
Love Me Tonight
Lovely and Amazing
Loves of a Blond
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Lost Horizon 1937 Frank Capra 2.5 Ronald Colman as British wise man who is kidnapped and brought to Shangri-La, hidden in the midst of the snowy wastes of the Himalayas; H.B. Warner as Chang, a soft-spoken, wise-acting top official in Shangri-La; Sam Jaffe as the noble ancient High Lama, who always speaks leg crossed yoga style to the accompaniment of soft music; Thomas Mitchell as wiseacre American con guy, who decides to stay in Shangri-La; Edward Everett Horton, his usual annoying persona with his blank, clueless stares and open-mouthed double-takes as an archeologist equally happy to stay in the ideal kingdom; John Howard as younger brother of Colman – he is forever dissatisfied thinking only of getting out of Shangri-La back to the hustle and bustle of civilization; Isabel Jewel as cutey pie that seduces Colman aiding in campaign to get him to stay. Famous film dealing with the discovery of a utopia in the middle of the snowy mountains of central Asia, where all is serenely perfect. Chang and the High Lama explain endlessly that it is a place of quiet, satisfaction, lack of ambition, where the fevers of the civilized world don't apply; people age much more slowly (the High Lama seems to a couple of hundred years old), and all conduct their affairs in pure happiness and harmony; everything is to be taken in moderation, even happiness; pleasure should be pleasure of the mind and the arts – beautiful music and art are being preserved until the rest of the world needs them. Shangri-La is a fertile oasis isolated by vast expanses of snow, ice and steep mountains; temperatures are moderate, fountains flow, cattle graze, children sing cute songs; the architecture is gentle 30s modernist with clean lines, wide-open spaces and flowing fountains, and everyone is dressed in vaguely Tibetan or Mongolian costumes. When a native character speaks, he is usually accompanied by quiet, noble Dmitri Tiomkin music. There is virtually no tension in the film until the end, when the High Lama tells Colman that he has chosen him to succeed him; then Howard convinces Colman and his own girlfriend to attempt to escape from Shangri-La. The attempt ends in disaster: Colman escapes death, but then – as described by a British friend back in London – he moves mountains to return to Shangri-La, which he does in the last shot as he stumbles down a snowy slope. The film lacks dramatic character in most parts: endless, tedious sequences describing the (boring) nature of Shangri-La's society and showing the shallow, contented life its inhabitants lead. The omnipresent question in the viewer's mind is who would really want to live in such a place, where there is no passion, no intense emotion, no disappointment, no ambition, no striving after accomplishment, personal or otherwise. No doubt that this is a well-produced version of the extremely popular best-selling novel that perhaps expresses the world's desire for peace and security in the age of Hitler and Stalin.


Lost in Translation 2003 Sofia Coppola 3.0 Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson. Slowly paced but beautifully shot film about loneliness and isolation while two Americans are visiting Tokyo. Murray is has-been actor with a fading marriage (wife stays at home and calls him about rug samples and the children), who has come to Japan to do commercials for a Japanese whiskey; Johansson is very young wife (she is supposed to be about 24, but she thoroughly looks her true age of 18), who is already alienated from her young photographer husband, who abandons her and pays no attention to her. The two of them are mostly idle – absolutely nothing to do – and they eventually strike up a friendship. Murray’s performance is understated and mostly effective; Johansson ok (very cute but always reminds one of a teenager). Basically about human alienation; neither one of the characters relates to anyone, nor do they even have much to say to one another. The screenplay is very laconic: no speeches, no inner revelations, mostly limited chitchat, moving through pachinko parlors and drug/karaoke scene of glitzy Tokyo, and sitting together and staring into space; this leaves viewer a bit starved for information about the characters, who seem to have virtually no prior life. Pretty hard on Japanese culture: constant pictures of steel, glass, and flashing neon lights of downtown Tokyo; Japanese are very polite; much humor at their expense – for example, they can’t pronounce the letter ‘r’ (hysterical prostitute begs Murray to ‘Lip (rip) my stockings’); they are always imitating some lifestyle and trying to be cool; some outrageous characters such as the PeeWee Herman-like talk show host, etc. Tension attempted to be built through movie by perennial question – will man in his 50s and young woman have sex together; hard to believe that they would stoop so low! They don’t, but Murray whispers something in Scarlett’s ear at the end that takes the pain out of their faces and somehow engages them. Perhaps a nice ambiguity, but one is left questioning what it possibly could have been – are they going to get together? Did he give her his phone number? Some philosophic words of wisdom?


Love Actually 2003 Richard Curtiss (Britain) 2.5 Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, etc. Potpourri of romantic comedy bits all pasted together with people in love getting fulfillment; beginning and end image – people meeting their loved ones at Heathrow. Usually quite corny with lost of scenes that just don’t work – corny, strained, etc. E.g., all scenes with Liam’s son, Colin Firth with the Portuguese maid, Alan Rickman in all his scenes. ET as pretty stuffy and a bit miscast although she has one good cry that is convincing. Bill Nighy pretty hilarious as washed up rock star recording cynical Christmas song, and then falling in love with his manager (“Tubby”). Good soundtrack of typical hits, especially Joni Mitchell. Hugh Grant probably the best as bemused prime minister, who gets his girl (a personal assistant) and the cheers of the British by finally standing up to a boorish U.S. president played by Billy Bob Thornton.


Love Before Breakfast 1936 Walter Lang (Universal) 2.5 Carole Lombard sparkling, smart, effervescent, fast-talking, and charming, but still has a good cry when she thinks her fiancé has abandoned her; Cesar Romero for whom work matters most – it is even worth taking a job in Japan for two years (he is miscast; what happened to the toothy seducer who cares only about women?); Preston Foster as persistent, suave, dynamic big businessman, fast-talking but without much charm. Muddled love quadrangle – Romero cares about his work and is willing to leave his fiancée for two years; Foster, who sent Romero to Japan, wants to marry Lombard; Lombard is engaged to Romero; and the Countess wants to marry Foster. A sort of screwball comedy set in upper middle class business and society circles in New York – riding in the country, costume balls; dinner dance with champagne sparkling; sumptuous interiors mixing Art Deco and Chinese; cruises on yachts. Foster pursues Lombard relentlessly, showing up wherever she is; impossible to discourage him: nowadays his behavior would qualify as stalking! Unusual example of battle of sexes, as older very rich businessman tries to replace much younger man on the make. Good gag – Lombard has Preston and a southern Belle girl at the costume ball yelling at one another because she has told both that the other is hard of hearing. Another: Lombard agrees to marry Foster strictly, it seems, for money (?); when she accepts she runs off with the three engagement rings he offers her. Characters show inconsistent motivation – e.g., after getting Lombard to agree to marry him, Foster decides suddenly to bring Romero back from Japan for a test, because he doesn’t want to marry someone who doesn’t love him. Lombard then hangs out with her fiancé even though she doesn’t seem to like him, one supposes waiting for Foster to come after her. The two principals, mad as hornets at one another, end up on Foster’s yacht. The film ends in a mad, completely improbable screwball sequence: Foster and Lombard shout and fight until they agree to marry; during the wedding ceremony, they start arguing again about whether Lombard is going to obey her future husband and the ship’s captain proclaims them man and wife, while Lombard’s mother continues to rub Lombard’s feet that are soaking in a tub. The message is that women are willful and spoiled, and that they need a strong man to whip them into shape! Film is hard to watch except for Lombard.


Love Laughs at Andy Hardy 1946 Willis Geldbeck 2.0 Mickey Rooney short, hyper-active, impulsive, expressive, obsessive, motor-mouthing, cute smile and hopelessly in love with Kay; Lewis Stone as his distinguished judge dad, benevolent and filled with good advice and low-key understated humor (Father Knows Best?); Bonita Granville pretty, young, enthusiastic eyes, well-spoken for a teenager; Fay Holden as slightly scattered, but well-intentioned and affectionate mom; Lina Romay as little Latina who performs two short South American songs; Dorothy Ford very tall and also filled with good advice for her buddy (e.g., girls grow up faster than boys, and when they hit 20, they are already young women ready to confront the responsibilities of life). A late installment of the classic MGM series. Takes place in a small town where everyone knows one another and is pretty decent; everyone is white, even the manual workers; wives stay at home and look to their husbands for guidance; kids and parents basically get along; although it takes place right after the war, it doesn’t seem to have had much effect; boys and girls court one another, but they are most interested in dancing and planning for marriage; college kids wear ties and sport coats and often little multi-colored beanies on their heads; barely a smooch, and certainly no making out or sex. Plot is very slight: Andy loves Kay, but when he finally sees her, she has decided to marry an older man; he has a hard time getting over it, has a few minor adventures, and in the presence of his ubiquitous father, he swears off women at the end. Some low-key humor from Stone’s off-hand ironies, Mom’s well-meaning bumbling confusion, and the contrast between Rooney’s short stature and the tall Ford (a couple of feet difference!). Warm, secure family atmosphere: no matter how confused and loony Andy may get, his family will stand beside him, and things will turn out.


Love Me Tonight 1932 Rouben Mamoulian (Paramount) 4.0 Maurice Chevalier as tailor who invades the land of royalty trying to collect a debt, Jeanette MacDonald as princess who wistfully pines for a true love, Charlie Ruggles as amusingly daffy Count of Paris who owes Chevalier a lot of money for his clothes, C. Aubrey Smith a senior Duke, who at one point delightfully raises his head from his pillow and sings a reprise of “Mimi,” Myrna Loy as horny, man-crazy denizen of chateau, Charles Butterworth as confused suitor of Jeanette who doesn’t stand a chance against the sincere, suave Maurice. Absolutely delightful, imaginative, ground-breaking early 30s musical based on a script rejected by Lubitsch and executed in a far more flamboyant style than the master would have used: abandoning the stationary microphone, Mamoulian uses editing and dubbing to create a movie that is completely informed by musical and rhythmical values. Score and lyrics of Rogers and Hart are delightful and form the backbone of the film with delightful, corny music, rhythmic editing, conversational pieces, etc. Opens with a symphony of rhythmic Paris morning activities in the street that introduce us to Maurice’s hat, then Maurice, who has a sort of recitative with one of his customers, and then film launches into “Isn’t It Romantic?” The song is delightful, and it progresses by editing from Maurice depicted in triptych tailor’s mirror, to a taxicab, a ride in a train with French soldiers singing in chorus, and then to soldiers marching across (the obviously Southern California) countryside, to a mysterious violin in a gypsy encampment, to finally the chateau, where Jeanette comes to the balcony to deliver an operatic rendition of the song – the point being of course that the two future lovers are fated to be together before they have ever heard of one another. ‘Mimi’ has close-ups of the over-the-top corniness of Chevalier singing in campy fashion to Jeanette. The doctor’s rhymed, rhythmic conversational song as he diagnoses Jeanette’s lovesickness is naughty and delightful. The title song (“Love Me Tonight”) has Maurice and Jeanette in a split screen each in their separate bedrooms with their heads on the pillows dreaming the song (their lips do not move) and suggesting perhaps satisfaction after having sex. Film has certain class consciousness, as it has petty bourgeois Chevalier invading the rarified atmosphere of French pretended royalty (Jeanette had been married to a 75 year old man because of his proper lineage; he died when she was 19) and teaching her what is really important (“You know too much about hunting, etiquette, tradition. You know nothing about style, charm, love.”) and that his being a tailor is not the essential fact. Film is very naughty – double entendres, Jeanette appearing often in her slip, Maurice saying in “Mimi” that what he wants is to have a son by her (despite this being their first meeting), the doctor always asking if Jeanette’s discomfort and restlessness occurs at night, etc. – but all in a good cause, i.e., true romance with marriage in the end and living happily ever after. Chevalier’s performance is emblematic – smiling with his slightly curled lower lip, jaunty carriage, delightful corniness, romantic directness, energetic stride through the chateau, etc. Hard to find a movie more delightful – charismatic stars, great tunes, imaginative score, ingenious direction.


The Love Parade 1929 Ernst Lubitsch; music by Victor Schertzinger (Paramount) 4.0 Lubitsch hits the jackpot with his first musical: slyly sexy, frank, delightful musical score, equally delightful and clever sense of humor, dialogue suggestively punctuated and rhythmic; although originality and pace falter a bit toward the end. The film takes place in the usual fake Central European location – everyone is uniform, fabulous palace, elaborate ceremonial, regal music. Narrative deals with playboy Chevalier settling down and marrying the Queen; then he is treated imperiously as only the Prince Consort (vide Prince Albert), who must obey his wife in all fields; he threatens to leave for Paris, she caves in, promises that his wises will always be respected, and the curtains to their bedroom are drawn. Some satire of unbending royal etiquette, idleness of the rich. Royalty is impossibly restricted in its behavior and customs. Some class consciousness – servants, masters and dogs do things differently. Maurice Chevalier is charming, childlike, mugging, boyish, broad engaging smile, acts embarrassed, appealing awkwardness, corny as hell, pouting when he is bored; Jeannette MacDonald is pretty, a bit wooden, lovely operatic voice, shapely legs, sexy looks, and has great chemistry with Chevalier; Lupino Lane as vaudevillian, acrobatic servant Jacques often taking pratfalls; Lillian Roth down-to-earth, very sexy, and a bit awkward; Eugene Pallette as gravel-voiced minister. Most of the good musical numbers are toward the beginning. 1) Jacques “I’ll lay the dish here” short, rhythmic, and peppy as he sets the table for his master ***; 2) Chevalier (and then Lupino and a couple of dogs) “Paris, Please Stay the Same” – corny but engaging tribute to the beautiful women of Paris ****; 3) MacDonald and her ladies in waiting, “Dream Lover” extremely lyrical, purely and beautifully sung yearning for finding her true love****; first interview between MacDonald and Chevalier quite risqué – Queen is supposed to be scandalized by the Count’s philandering, but she thinks it very fun and is smiling all the time, while Chevalier acts like embarrassed lovesick adolescent; 4) The two in a duet “Anything to Please the Queen” – indirect lovers’ conversation, lilting, flirtatious ***1/2; the first interview between the two is reported by gleefully curious onlookers; 5) Chevalier and MacDonald “Eyes of Grisette, Smile of Mignonette…You are my love parade” followed by lengthy kiss – nice letting go of the last reserve before falling in love and deciding to get married***; 6) Lupino and Roth, “Let’s Be Common, and Do it Again” – very cute, acrobatic, battle of the sexes, lively dancing with idea that common people can be more frank and have more fun ***1/2; 7) MacDonald and chorus – early morning patriotic song with soldiers acting as chorus; pure operetta a la Herbert**1/2; 8) Chevalier, “Nobody’s Using It Now”, complains about that he’s not getting any love; pretty smarmy**1/2; 9) Lupino, Roth, and servants’ chorus, “The Queen is Always Right”, a sort of rap song with sexy virago Roth manhandling Lupino**1/2; 10) Short reprise “Dream Lover” as MacDonald bemoans the departure of prince Consort; 11) Corps de ballet performance while royal lovers have discussion “Beg Me”; 12) Ends with short reprise of “Grisette”.


Lovely and Amazing 2001 Nicole Holofcener 4.0 Catherine Keener as daughter of Blethyn – formerly a homecoming queen in high school, she is in a bad marriage and with a anger problem; Emily Mortimer as another daughter aspiring to be an actress and with grave doubts about her body and her talents; Brenda Blethyn as equally neurotic mother with a weight problem, but she adores her daughters (“Lovely and Amazing”); Raven Goodwin as adopted black 8-year-old, who also has a weight problem; Jake Gyllenhaal as pretty adolescent kid who seduces-falls for Keener; Dermot Mulroney as self-involved movie star who has an affair with Mortimer. Outstanding slice-of life comedy drama about a mother and her three daughters. All four women are imperfect and more or less neurotic, and yet the director and the audience harbor affectionate feelings for them and care what happens to them. The characters are extensively, believably, and warmly delineated: Blethyn is lonely, decides to have liposuction surgery (which causes a lot of medical complications), and she imagines groundlessly a developing flirtation with her doctor; Mortimer has serious self-esteem issues about her physical appearance and her skills as an actress, and even goes to the extent of asking Mulroney to critique the details of her body as she stands displaying herself in full frontal nudity (the extreme display is appropriate for the subject matter); Keener, who knows her husband is having an affair with a friend of hers, is angry and unfulfilled, strikes out at people by calling them names (e.g., she calls the woman who rejects one of her miniature chairs as “bitch”) and ends up having an affair with a 17-year-old; little Raven is self-indulgent especially in her eating, rude to her aunts (“fuck you”) and heedless of their worry about her when she goes to MacDonald’s to pig out, very loyal to her mother, and she wonders about having the only brown-colored skin in the family. The narrative ends inconclusively with Blethyn returning home after a longer than expected stay in the hospital fairly content with her slimmer profile, Mortimer ironically having her lip bit by a dog she is trying to rescue, and Keener, who has been arrested for statutory rape, being released and moving back to her mother’s house to get away from her snarky husband (Clark Gregg). The film is almost exclusively focused on women’s issues – lack of self-esteem (Mortimer), obsession with body image (Raven, Blethyn and Mortimer), loneliness (Blethyn), difficulty in finding the right man (all three adults). All the men in the film are inappropriate or unapproachable: the distant, sarcastic husband, the adolescent lover (!), the handsome middle aged doctor who couldn’t care less about you, the narcissistic movie star who wants you for his ego and for sex. The film’s tone is uniformly gentle and humorous all the way through, from the use of harsh language (accepted as a matter of course by the women), the sarcasm of Keener toward her husband, Blethyn’s self-deception about her doctor, Mulroney’s unconscious hypocrisy, Raven’s insistence that she isn’t going to eat all the MacDonald’s junk food in front of her, but she is just going to eat the one that tastes the best. A wonderfully sunny, although real, treatment of American life.


Loves of a Blond 1965 Milos Forman (Czech) 3.0 Short, black-and-white, low budget film about loneliness and the awkward search for a romantic connection in Communist Czechoslovakia. Factory girl Andula (Hana Brejchova) works in a factory staffed mainly by girls and lives in a dormitory; she has a brief fling with a musician from Prague, Milda (played by Vladimir Pucholt); she arrives unexpectedly with her suitcase at his parents’ home in Prague; the parents don’t know what to do; the girl returns to her factory town, where she lies to her girlfriends about how nice the parents are and the last scene has her back to work painting shoes in the factory. Film has New Wave-style, spontaneous feel throughout, where camera kind of glides where it feels like it (following the soldier’s ring rolling across the dance floor and under the table of the three girls who suddenly close their legs) and the actors, many of whom are amateurs, appear to be improvising their dialogue (the three soldiers at the mixer dance talk among themselves interminably about whether they should approach the three girls at the table, how to approach them, etc.; later in Prague musician’s mother is motor mouth about her resentment at son’s girlfriend showing up invited and unannounced at her house). Perhaps the film expresses the desire for freedom under a repressive (Communist) regime – the freedom exteriorized through sexual relations since political freedom is impossible (an important theme in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”). The film seems to focus mostly on loneliness and the desire of young people to connect with one another, although their attempts are farcically inept; Andula pursues Milda without thinking it through, sits passively as the parents argue and try to figure out what to do with her, and somewhat hopelessly returns to her factory town, where she continues to pretend, perhaps to hope, that she will find true love and fulfillment; (but on the other hand, all the adults seem overweight and settled into dull lives; so what so the kids have to look forward to?). Film is so improvisational and pedestrian that sometimes it bores; but it has droll, low key humor and generates compassion for the young people trying to find hope and a future.


Luther 2003 Gill (Britain) 3.0 Joseph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Colin Firth, Claire Cox, Peter Ustinov, Alfred Molina. Lavishly mounted and photographed biopic of Luther from the strike of lightning until the Confession of Augsburg; international European production, apparently at least partially dubbed in English, with a preponderance of German actors. Fiennes badly miscast as Luther (young, cute, dewy eyed, and often glamorous!), but he tries hard with the Angst; his romance with Katherina is afterthought and laughable; they both are making lovey eyes and kissing sweetly and frolicking decorously in bed in the 1530s! Other actors are good, particularly Ustinov, who is a kind of second hero as Frederick the Wise – wily old fox, decent at heart, sensible and loyal man who will not give up his dear professor; also Firth as the intransigent Aleander, and the cynical and inattentive Leo X. Broadly historical, but lots of liberties taken with chronology and actual content of events to make interesting for viewer. Movie clearly takes side of Luther, who seems to stand for religious liberty (sort of true), the modern masses, and a humane liberal view of God as the loving Father, against the cruel, sadistic God of the Catholics and the obscurantist, authoritarian privilege of the corrupt Roman curia. Ideology of the sides seems rearranged to fit 20th century issues: e.g., it’s a good thing to strike for religious liberty, but not to spill blood over it (the many mangled, bloody bodies of the Peasants’ War)! Good on recreating the culture of indulgences (Alfred Molina excellent as Tetzel!), and Luther’s confrontations with Cajetan and the Emperor at Worms are convincing and interesting.