Cleo from 5 to 7 (1961) and Vagabond (1985)
Since I live in LA I've decided that I should actually try to take advantage of the film stuff here and yesterday I went to a double show of two Agnes Varda films, Cleo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond, at the Aero Theatre. Agnes Varda was actually, there, too, and she spoke between the films (not bad for 11 bucks!)
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 - CLEO DE 5 A 7
I had never seen either film before. Cleo from 5 to 7 was good -but I didn't really get engaged with it. Cleo is a French pop music star who is waiting for test results to know if she has cancer or not. She goes to a fortune teller, hangs out with her maid, visits a friend, wanders around Paris, etc. For the first half of the movie she's basically a petulant child, but in the second half she grows up. Although it was very well done, I never warmed up to it.
VAGABOND - SANS TOIT NI LOI
Vagabond, though, was fantastic. This film is about Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire) a young girl who prefers traveling by herself to having a normal life (job, home, etc.). Although the movie follows Mona as she sets up her tent in fields, hitches rides, and tries to find food - we never really know why she does what she does. The movie is done in a half fiction/half documentary style. A character will see Mona - sometimes knowing her for a few weeks, or sometimes just glimpsing her for a moment - and later they talk to the camera and tell us their impressions of her. Inevitably, how they feel about Mona says more about them than it does about her. For some people, Mona is dirty and repulsive - for others she symbolizes freedom and romance.
Even though Mona is always a bit of a mystery - you care about her. Towards the end of the film Mona has several very bad experiences and it's tough to watch. My own thoughts about her (which say more about me than Mona) is how vulnerable she always seems - she keeps to herself but she is dependent on others a lot of the time for food, shelter, etc. She tries to be free, but it's almost impossible.
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 - CLEO DE 5 A 7
I had never seen either film before. Cleo from 5 to 7 was good -but I didn't really get engaged with it. Cleo is a French pop music star who is waiting for test results to know if she has cancer or not. She goes to a fortune teller, hangs out with her maid, visits a friend, wanders around Paris, etc. For the first half of the movie she's basically a petulant child, but in the second half she grows up. Although it was very well done, I never warmed up to it.
VAGABOND - SANS TOIT NI LOI
Vagabond, though, was fantastic. This film is about Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire) a young girl who prefers traveling by herself to having a normal life (job, home, etc.). Although the movie follows Mona as she sets up her tent in fields, hitches rides, and tries to find food - we never really know why she does what she does. The movie is done in a half fiction/half documentary style. A character will see Mona - sometimes knowing her for a few weeks, or sometimes just glimpsing her for a moment - and later they talk to the camera and tell us their impressions of her. Inevitably, how they feel about Mona says more about them than it does about her. For some people, Mona is dirty and repulsive - for others she symbolizes freedom and romance.
Even though Mona is always a bit of a mystery - you care about her. Towards the end of the film Mona has several very bad experiences and it's tough to watch. My own thoughts about her (which say more about me than Mona) is how vulnerable she always seems - she keeps to herself but she is dependent on others a lot of the time for food, shelter, etc. She tries to be free, but it's almost impossible.