Category: Podcast Rating

The screenplay is unfortunately quite a bit prosaic. None of the characterization is strong enough for us to really buy into the romance or Hepburn’s self-discovery.

But the footage of Venice in over-saturated Technicolor? Holy moley. I fell in love with the city all over again. Lean captures it with an intoxicating, almost delirious, beauty. *nostalgic sigh*

Perhaps a bit too generous towards its characters and indulgent in its runtime, but goddamn what a movie. The acting, the extended flowing shots, the use of sound (firecrackers!), the sprawling ensemble… this is cinema at its most robust and vibrant, and I’m here for it.

Still a biopic with too many biopic-y moments. But it’s David Lynch so there’s plenty of weirdness, dual-sided themes, and moral grayness. (Though it is the most conventional Lynch I’ve seen.) Looks amazing, sounds brilliant (Lynch was the sound engineer, too!).

The makeup/prosthesis is masterpiece-level, and John Hurt is phenomenal underneath it, too. Observing a person gradually emerge from something that looks so viscerally grotesque is the film’s greatest strength.

What a delight. Chaplin in fine form, with one sketch after another that plays to the setting well. (A high-wire monkey attack is, in particular, chaotic perfection.) There’s also a strong undercurrent of reflection on the life of performer and authenticity in entertainment, and an ending unusually bittersweet for early/mid-Chaplin.