Pierrot Le Fou (1965)

Ugh, another Godard movie? When will I get it an just put an end to this misery? Alright, that expression of intense suffering may be a small overstatement, but I really don't care for Godard. Maybe this makes me a naive, provincial student of cinema; maybe this makes me a decent human being. Anyway, I watched Pierrot with an open mind. Jean-Paul Belmondo + Anna Karina are probably the most beautiful French actors from this era, so that made the movie a bit more palatable.

The main idea of this movie is that JP and Anna team up and act as French Bonnie and Clyde and rob people [not banks] and sometimes sing songs. They are unsavory characters despite being total babes. That's probably the only thing they have in common besides being pricks.

2/5 pizzas

Babette's Feast (1987)

Maybe this is the first Danish movie I've seen? I can check that off my list. I watched this because it was maybe famous, as I've seen its posters in places that care about hoighty toighty movies, and more importantly, because a pal-o-mine who loves Little Women owned it. To be frank, I didn't love the movie -- it was too lengthy and pretty much dull. Despite its sparseness, Babette's Feast takes a turn for the better when Babette actually cooks her, um, feast. Babette feeds a group of pious old folks who are way against indulging in epicurean desires. These dudes got burnt, though, because they really indulged in the pleasures of the flesh, or the tongue, I guess. These puritans got downnn.

2/5 pizzas

La Pointe Courte

Another French movie? What's going on, right? Well, I wanted to finish watching all of the main Agnes Varda movies, and now I have, so great. This is her first film and it's about a couple who maybe have some problems. It takes place in a small fishing village that is blighted with BOREDOM. It was difficult to watch this 80-minute movie because it was dull with a capital D. The only good thing about this movie was a series of weird shots that resemble the photo above. Also, as Carmel pointed out, Varda likes for her male actors to have the same haircut she does [see the above dude].

2/5 pizzas

Claire's Knee (1970)

I like Eric Rohmer in that I've seen Pauline at the Beach and thought it was pretty good. This is my second movie of his, and now I think I've formed the opinion that I like his movies. He's French and post-New Wave [I know, I know, barf.] Most of his movies consist of a series of conversations between two people that are usually about "love" or doing it.

Claire's Knee is part of Rohmer's series the Six Moral Tales. Supposedly they are all based on Sunrise in that the dudes in the movies are (about to get) married and consider being or actually are unfaithful. In Claire's Knee, this dude Jerome who looks like a young version of my great Uncle Enzo flirts with the idea of being with two young girls [15 and 18]. Icky! He only does this because his friend is a novelist and prompts him to act out a story she is writing about the same subject [doing it]. Nothing sexual happens, which decreases the ick factor, but Jerome becomes obsessed with the older girl's knee.

The best thing about this movie besides all of the weird desire and tension is Jerome's impressive array of pullovers. The blue is the best.

4/5 pizzas

Le Bonheur (1965)

Another Varda movie in the same day? Question mark? My mom mentioned a "French movie about an affair" that she really like from 30ish years ago, and from that ridiculous criteria we narrowed it down to Le Bonheur. Luckily, the movie was pretty okay, and it turns out that I like Le Bonheur much better than Cleo. It came out three years later, has magnificent cinematography, and maybe even has some important thing to say about feminisms. For me to explain this, though, I have to spoil a large plot twist, so spoiler alert like whoa here.

Le Bonheur means "The Happiness" I think. The movie is about an extremely satisfied couple -- this man and woman who are foxy and have adorable children and ride bicycles and go to the country every Sunday. One could say they've found "happiness." For no good reason, the husband starts doing it with a lady from the post office and is a total bj. Now, the wife is pretty subservient, so we can see that [duh] The Patriarchy is everywhere, even in France. Anyway, the husband lets his wife know that he loves her, but he also bones the postal worker, and he confesses this like it's no big deal. The wife says, "Okay, totally cool," but then drowns herself! The husband is sad, but he waits about 5 minutes for him to instruct his mistress to start raising the kids and be his new wife. Problems!

I left the movie unsatisfied, as it ended abruptly and the patriarchal Pepe Le Pew husband goes unpunished. Maybe Agnes Varda is saying something interesting -- that patriarchal dudes like this one think that women are just uteri with aprons, and essentially replaceable, and that this is a problem. Feminist statement question mark?

4/5 pizzas

Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)

Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7 marks a landmark in my movie-viewing -- it's the 250th movie I've seen this year, so great job. I was excited to see this movie because it is about a woman and it is directed by a woman. For some reason, France is kind of okay in making sure that films by ladies' movies get produced and stuff. Agnes Varda is one of the most important directors in the French New Wave and I had never seen one of her movies, so I watched 2 today.

Cleo from 5 to 7 stars the lovely Corinne Marchand. The flick captures 2 hours of Cleo's life, almost in real time, which is cool. As she awaits the results of whether or not she has cancer, she roams around Paris and has hella depression. She is also narcissistic and a bit annoying. The movie is for sure nice to look at, but it's difficult for it to avoid dullness since it a movie about nothing.

3/5 pizzas

The Red Balloon (1956)

I haven't seen this movie in about 20 years, but I was pleasantly surprised. I usually don't care for children, but this kid was totally okay, and the movie was very sweet [for lack of a better word]. No one speaks for the whole movie, which is pretty cool, and although this is filmed in color, almost everything in the movie is grey [besides the balloon]. Also, the music by Maurice Leroux is stunning. The red balloon follows the boy, and [spoiler alert] when it pops, all the balloons in Paris float out of windows and chimneys, rush over to him, and carry him away. The ending is actually very beautiful. Sorry for all the mushiness.

Uh oh. Looks like Pixar's Up has a little plagiarism suit coming their way.

4/5 pizzas