Better Than Love YIFY
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Writer-director Peter Bogdanovich attempts to resurrect the fast-talking, romantic-minded musicals of the past with "At Long Last Love", but he fails to infuse it with the proper talent. As a wealthy heiress in smart society circa 1935, dating an immigrant gambler but in love with a playboy, Cybill Shepherd doesn't quite invoke the spirit of Jean Arthur or Ginger Rogers. She's boxy and flippant, like a female impersonator, and she never connects with anyone else on-screen. Burt Reynolds fares a bit better by emulating Clark Gable--affable yet quizzical--though he has more rapport with Madeline Kahn as a Broadway chanteuse than with shallow Shepherd. We can see that, but why can't Bogdanovich? Because the picture is meant as a showcase for Shepherd's musical and comedic talents, however her dancing abilities are nil and she's pseudo-addlepated without being funny. The movie, scored with Cole Porter songs (which the actors sing live), doesn't soar, however Kahn manages to blossom regardless--and in unexpected ways (she's softer and more womanly than ever before). John Hillerman, as Reynolds' valet, and Eileen Brennan have a nice romantic subplot, and Mildred Natwick is well-cast as Burt's dotty, energetic mother (essentially the same character she played in "Barefoot in the Park"). Bogdanovich approaches the material with a giddy sense of fun, but the results are like an inside-joke: the audience comes in after the punchline. *1/2 from ****
At least Lucy in "Mame" had great credits and a star the audience hoped wouldn't disappoint them, but at least she had done on movie musicals before. Perhaps Peter Bogdanovich should have shared writing credit with someone and toned down some of the grating musical performances by big stars who seemed directed to go for big, big, big. There's Ethel Merman big, perfect for a musical with Cole Porter songs, and then there's King Kong big which Broadway audiences know isn't musical theater appropriate.When Madeline Kahn, who had musical comedy experience, couldn't sell her opening number, you know the film is not starting off right. Her drunken rendition of "Down in the Depths" is shrill, and doesn't exactly get the audience interested in her character. Then comes along Dulio De Prete, badly breaking into another pointless song, and you get the drift of what the next two hours are going to be like.All of the physical elements are there for a gorgeous art deco musical comedy, sending us back to the days of "Fifty Million Frenchmen", "The Gay Divorce" and "Anything Goes". But the songs are badly sung, the jokes don't land and the plot is senseless, not that the plots of the musicals Cole Porter wrote songs for in the 1920s and '30s made a difference anyway.Talented actors I usually adore are out of step with the men obviously searching for a rainbow that never shows up. I don't feel sorry for the overexposed Burt Reynolds who ended up with three unlucky ladies (to quote another critical disappointment of the same year he starred in that at least had Liza), and he truly seems out of place here, certainly no Clark Gable. Cybill Shepherd is certainly a beauty with charm, but she should have spent more time rehearsing than recording.Then there's the supporting cast of John Hillerman and Eileen Brennan, cast as employees of the more glamorous folk, doing better than the leads, but that's not saying too much. the fault definitely lies with the direction here because they should have seen immediately how flat everything was falling, how the musical numbers made no sense in how they erupted, and what a turkey they had on their plate even before it reached the editing room.In a rare move for my reviews, I will not attempt to describe the plot, not only because the plots of these musicals are usually absurd anyway, but in the case of this one, it defies description. it's basically a string of the Cole Porter songbook lightly plunked together, and coming at the most inappropriate times. I can best describe this film as a litter box covered with the top of a wedding cake, pretty to look at, but as you inch closer, oh that smell.
Kobayashi makes very clear his distaste for authoritarian power of any kind (I believe he has an almost exact quote to that fact), and nowhere does he see more problems than with his home country of Japan. However, what astounds me about his movies is that he is very careful to present the issues in so much more than simplistic terms, and though there are "good" guys and "bad" guys, he is a strict realist and makes sure their motivations and viewpoints are fully explained. His movies always surprise and compel me, and now that I'm one third the way through his 9 hour long trilogy, I am remembering why.Say what you want about Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion, the samurai "hero" is no action star and his fights ultimately come from being cornered where diplomacy and critical thinking no longer works. Now, Kobayashi is in the WWII era and there are no samurai defenders of justice to save the day, only a complicated mess of Imperialism, nationalism, and patriotism that one lowly humanist finds himself in constant confrontation with. Getting a job at some ore mines, Kaji hopes to find a productive job that will keep him out of the front lines of the war while doing the best to preserve human life in any way he can. At first arrival (in a noteworthily dusty and windy fashion), he confuses his new bosses and their coworkers by claiming he can increase production by--get this--treating workers well and giving them an incentive to work. These terribly radical ideas that clash so harshly against the typical production cycle of "beat the worker, get work done" is at first met with some success, much to the surprise and elation of the workers, but soon afterward the military appears with a cargo of 500 Chinese POWs to increase labor in the mines, and Kaji finds himself a slave owner of hundreds of desperate, starved, unwilling "special workers." Now no one has any patience with his pleas as he attempts to find a way of treating the new workers fairly, stemming escape attempts, and working the complicated and corrupt politics of so many military, industry, and government men.You know where this is going, but despite the 3hr40min playlength, it goes by rather rapidly. Again, there are no samurai sword dances to bring justice and hope to the "end" of the first part, but nevertheless most viewers should find themselves riveted to the screen as fully fleshed out, realistic characters struggle for power and attention and try to save lives--whether it be other people's lives or their own. This movie was shot in the late 1950s, not too far removed from the actual war, and Kobayashi fearlessly and directly confronts everything he observed wrong with the system during wartime Japan. Historical cultural stresses are recognized too, as the Chinese laborers and Japanese masters are constantly confronted with dehumanization and racism, and even a lone Korean appears as a guy "who is hated by both sides" and, in his own way, becomes a massive wrench thrown into an already crumbling machine. The dialog is also very precise and meaningful, important in a nearly four hour long movie, and there's a surprisingly lot of it considering the landscape its shot in. Which brings me to my final point: this is all set against the backdrop of a mining country-side, and Kobayashi uses the natural Japanese landscape to backdrop an epic humanitarian struggle against a sort of severe and rigid lifelessness. The landscape shots themselves can keep you interested through much of the movie, and Kobayashi's use of widescreen composition would make Sergio Leone's jaw drop (if it didn't actually, it would).Kobayashi's storytelling, also, is rather a little more accessible to Western cultures, too. It's more Kurosawa than Mizoguchi or Ozu. Along with many references to Western influences, the actor who plays Kaji looks more like a Westerner than most of the other characters around him (during the dust storm scene he almost looks like Clark Gable...), and he even gets judged poorly for "so many Western books". I'm not entirely sure that Kobayashi looked to the West and found a much better solution to authoritarianism, but he certainly is not attached to Japanese styles of film-making despite his intimacy and familiarity with the culture (which, by the way, extends beyond even the typical countryman's understanding of his own nation). In this movie many direct references are made to the fact that Kaji does not necessarily fit in, and that his mentality is literally Other than the predominate Japanese culture. What makes it great, though, is that Kaji is no perfect being and the other characters are never simple caricatures. Kaji approaches issues with straight-forward critical thinking, and despite how strong his convictions, surprisingly never falls into idealism. It's rare to see a movie like that from any culture, much less one that's able to sustain it for such a long period of time.We'll see how Kaji survives being on the front lines. Methinks the dialog will continue but the story is going to get a lot more messy.--PolarisDiB
This is the first of three very long movies that are based on Jumpei Gomikawa's six-volume series. It is set during WWII and is about a Japanese man named Kaji. Kaji is a very liberal man for the times--something that COULD be very dangerous in the militaristic Japanese society. When he's called up to fight in the war, he's torn. He's basically a pacifist at heart and cannot see himself killing another. Luckily for him, his boss gives him a choice--report for military duty or go off to Japanese occupied territory to be the production head for a forced labor camp. Not surprisingly, he goes to work at the camp--and takes his new wife with him.When he sees the camp, Kaji is angered--the soldiers brutalize the workers and have absolutely no regard for them. The camp is also rife with corruption. He insists that the beatings MUST stop and he is opposed by the staff--but he's not willing to budge and he has the authority to make it stick. Fortunately, when the workers are better few and treated well, production increases dramatically. However, when there are prison escapes, the hardliners press for a return to brutality. After all, they feel, these aren't exactly humans--just Chinese and Korean conscripts and, worse, Japanese political prisoners. What is Kaji to do? As the film progresses, to save himself he may need to forget about his high ideals. But, can he live with himself? And what about his marriage? Because of the job, he's withdrawn and miserable--and a lousy husband. I'd say more, but this would ruin the film.Overall, an excellent film that is worth seeing. I am excited to see what happens in the second film, as at the end of the first there is a BIG twist and Kaji's world has been turned upside down in the process. My only question is could this film STILL be a bit sanitized? From what I've read about these camps, they were MUCH more brutal than even the film portrayed. 781b155fdc