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Screening Roomby Ari
John and Mary (Peter Yates, 1969)
This film continues to grow on me the more I think about it. John and Mary is a romantic drama with a very young Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow, more interested in the behavior of the characters than a lot of movies of this kind. John and Mary meet one night a bar, they go back to his place and have sex. When they wake up the next morning, they spend the next day getting to know each other, analyzing every movement, every gesture and every detail about what they say and do. John expresses his view of the situation, trying to figure out who she is and how she lives. Mary does the same. Not only do we hear the dialogue between the two characters, but we hear their thoughts as well. And as their conversation progresses, we get flashbacks that gradually reveal how they made it to that particular bar on that particular night. The structure makes it stylistically appealing, but the writing and performances keep you compelled. I liked that John isn’t your typical romantic lead. He’s not very charming at all, really. In fact, he can be condescending and extremely self-centered. And Mary isn’t your pure and innocent sweetheart either. It makes the story more interesting.
Another exceptional film by Akira Kurosawa, arguably the greatest director to ever live. No Regrets For Our Youth deals with the political shift in Japan during the early '30s and through World War II. A professor is fired from a university in Kyoto in the early 30s for opposing the occupation in Manchuria and other Government changes. His students protest against oppression, but lose. The professor’s daughter, Yukie (Setsuko Hara), starts the film as a selfish girl who understands very little about the problems in her country. She loves an idealistic student, Noge (Susumu Fuhita), but when he vanishes from Kyoto, Yukie decides to leave home and move to Tokyo. Once she matures, she’s reunited with Noge and marries him. However, as Noge secretly fights against the political system during the war, things become more dangerous than expected. No Regrets For Our Youth has a slower pace than most Kurosawa films, but the forceful themes and highly emotional performances keep you gripped to the story. And, as always with Kurosawa, the photography is stunning. |
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