I just watched 'Le Havre'
It's a film by Aki Kaurismäki. He's a Finnish director. It's set in France. So, a French film where people are taciturn ;)
I loved it and I came out of the cinema happy.
The trailer on youtuibe: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKzHv6A5Or0
1. It reminded me quite a bit of The Man Without a Past, partly, I think, because it's by the same director and I had been thinking about it.
But partly because of things that are in both films:
A big crime happens at the beginning and the film utterly refuses to be about that.
People are lost and people are kind, and some people go out of their way to help. Sometimes not the person you (you-the-viewer) would expect.
There are people in a shipping container.
Having papers - official documentation - is important. The film talks about how important it is to have that paper, that says who you are, and that you have a right to be where you are. And ow it's not the important thing really.
Another thing, that occured to me: hospital and medical care are something that is taken for granted, it's something nobody worries about financing, even in cases as the hospital don't know who it is -- in The Man Without A Past and in the case where people are quite poor, in Le Havre. It's just not something to worry about. So much love for socialised medicine, free-at-the-point-of-use. So much casual love, which makes it even more love. There's something about a thing being so right and necessary and the freedom to take it for granted.
2. Quotes (Not verbatim, because the film is in French and also, from memory.)
Claire: "You're not worth such a good wife. You don't deserve her"
Marcel: "Nobody does, so it may as well be me"
Marcel: "I had great artistic success" [implied: no commercial success whatsoever].
Marcel visits Arletty in hospital and brings flowers:
Arletty:"I'm only gone one day, and already you are spending money"
Marcel:"They were on sale! ...Okay, I got you the most expensive ones."
And the conversation between Idrissa and Arletty. That got me near tears.
3. I did not like the colours of this film. The palette. It seemed odd and retro-is and ... it seemed to have gone through some blue-greenish filter.
It was shot from 23 March to 12 May (in 2010), Wikipedia says, so it should go from wintery grey-ish to brighter spring colours -- the story seems to -- And the opening shot outside the station is dominated by greys and beige, and te closing shot has bright blue sky.
But most of the time it has an odd greenish tinge, the sort that reminds me of Fuji film photos. Or some of those instagram filters or summat. It annoyed me, mostly just in the noticing of the colours.
I thought Little Bob's charity concert looked fine. I liked the colours in that. Maybe it's an artificial light as opposed to natural light thing.
Maybe the light in Le Havre really does look like that.
4. The film started and it takes a bit to get going - to get to the plot that the trailer and the online reviews mention. But meanwhile I was just enjoying it, I liked these people and wanted to just spend time watching them.
5. I had no idea when the film was set, there were old cars and an old bus and an old-fashioned dial phone. And Marcel and Arletty are poor, they don't have new shiny things, so I kept wondering when it was.
Then some guy pulled out a mobile phone and I was like: 'oh!'
I have been watching shiny films and living in the future and not paying attention. But I think some of it was the palette. The colours were saying 'this is not now'.
6. I liked the hopeful & happy ending.
I loved the film and I came out of it happy, a sort of gentle happiness about people being kind and the world being an amazing place.
Then outside the Prince Charles Cinema were people in costume for the Quote-along Ghostbusters and they were awesome, and that made me happy for the creativity and dedication and geeky joy. Also I took photos.
This entry was also posted at http://ruthi.dreamwidth.org/349409.html, where it has
comments. You can comment here, or there.
I loved it and I came out of the cinema happy.
The trailer on youtuibe: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKzHv6A5Or0
1. It reminded me quite a bit of The Man Without a Past, partly, I think, because it's by the same director and I had been thinking about it.
But partly because of things that are in both films:
Another thing, that occured to me: hospital and medical care are something that is taken for granted, it's something nobody worries about financing, even in cases as the hospital don't know who it is -- in The Man Without A Past and in the case where people are quite poor, in Le Havre. It's just not something to worry about. So much love for socialised medicine, free-at-the-point-of-use. So much casual love, which makes it even more love. There's something about a thing being so right and necessary and the freedom to take it for granted.
2. Quotes (Not verbatim, because the film is in French and also, from memory.)
Claire: "You're not worth such a good wife. You don't deserve her"
Marcel: "Nobody does, so it may as well be me"
Marcel: "I had great artistic success" [implied: no commercial success whatsoever].
Marcel visits Arletty in hospital and brings flowers:
Arletty:"I'm only gone one day, and already you are spending money"
Marcel:"They were on sale! ...Okay, I got you the most expensive ones."
And the conversation between Idrissa and Arletty. That got me near tears.
3. I did not like the colours of this film. The palette. It seemed odd and retro-is and ... it seemed to have gone through some blue-greenish filter.
It was shot from 23 March to 12 May (in 2010), Wikipedia says, so it should go from wintery grey-ish to brighter spring colours -- the story seems to -- And the opening shot outside the station is dominated by greys and beige, and te closing shot has bright blue sky.
But most of the time it has an odd greenish tinge, the sort that reminds me of Fuji film photos. Or some of those instagram filters or summat. It annoyed me, mostly just in the noticing of the colours.
I thought Little Bob's charity concert looked fine. I liked the colours in that. Maybe it's an artificial light as opposed to natural light thing.
Maybe the light in Le Havre really does look like that.
4. The film started and it takes a bit to get going - to get to the plot that the trailer and the online reviews mention. But meanwhile I was just enjoying it, I liked these people and wanted to just spend time watching them.
5. I had no idea when the film was set, there were old cars and an old bus and an old-fashioned dial phone. And Marcel and Arletty are poor, they don't have new shiny things, so I kept wondering when it was.
Then some guy pulled out a mobile phone and I was like: 'oh!'
I have been watching shiny films and living in the future and not paying attention. But I think some of it was the palette. The colours were saying 'this is not now'.
6. I liked the hopeful & happy ending.
I loved the film and I came out of it happy, a sort of gentle happiness about people being kind and the world being an amazing place.
Then outside the Prince Charles Cinema were people in costume for the Quote-along Ghostbusters and they were awesome, and that made me happy for the creativity and dedication and geeky joy. Also I took photos.
This entry was also posted at http://ruthi.dreamwidth.org/349409.html, where it has
comments. You can comment here, or there.