Day 70: The First Wives Club

Three women are reunited after their friend from college commits suicide (Stockard Channing, how much would I have loved for you to be in the rest of the film? Such a loss). All three have been ditched for younger women and they decide that rather than feel bad about themselves, they’ll do good for the women in the community and open a Crisis Centre. Of course, in order to do that they need money. And who better to get money from than their ex husbands?

This film balances the tears and the laughter so well. Every single time I watch them go down the outside of the building in the window washer lift I just crack up laughing. When Bette Midler does her sad eyes I just start blubbing, I can’t stop myself. The three women are excellent together, I love the ending where they dance down the street singing You Don’t Own Me.

Seriously though, is anything better than this film? Bette Midler, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn? Lesbian daughter (“I’m a lesbian. A big one.”)? Women coming together and realising they are strong and can do things for themselves? Ah, I love it so much. I think I’ve watched this film at least twice a year since I saw it as a youngster, I just think it’s great.

“You think just because I’m a movie star I don’t have feelings, well you’re wrong. I do have feelings. I’m an actress, I have all of them!”

10/10

Day 55: The Godfather

The head of one of the major Mafia families in New York, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), is shot after he refuses to help another of the families sell drugs. His sons attempt to deal with this and there’s quite a lot of murdering. Eventually, Michael (Al Pacino), steps up and restores a sense of balance, becoming the new Don Corleone.

The change in Michael’s character was brilliant. He starts off as this sweet guy who doesn’t want to get involved in his family’s business but as people come to rely on him he ends up being a total badass and sets everything right. I didn’t like how he was just replacing the women in his life though; first he’s with Kay (Diane Keaton) then he has to go away so he shacks up with Apollonia (Simonetta Stefanelli), then she dies and he goes back to Kay again. Women aren’t interchangeable, I don’t like the idea of just dropping one and picking up another. Kay isn’t even a good choice for what you’d need in a wife when you’re head of a mafia family, she asks way too many questions. And then he had to lie to her at the end, I just can’t see it going well. I can't believe I'm saying Diane Keaton isn't a good choice for a wife, my brain must be broken.

When Carlo (Gianni Russo) was beating Connie (Talia Shire), I was so angry I can’t even describe it properly. I’m not even sure I understand how he thought he would get away with hitting her. She is the daughter of Vito Corleone, are you just out of your idiot mind? My notes just basically consist of lots of swearing and rage for any scene that he is in. I’m glad Sonny (James Caan) beat him but he should’ve murdered him, I was just hollering at the screen for him to kill him during that fight scene. Then when Michael was letting him be part of the family, I was confused for a while but then I realised what was going to happen and I literally could not wait. So glad they strangled him, shooting would’ve been too quick. I’m the least violent person but I just can’t handle it when people think it’s acceptable to hit their spouses.

I was dreading watching this film (a gangster film that’s 3 hours long? Aah) but it turns out that I actually loved it. So brilliant, I never once checked to see how long was left because I wasn’t sure I even wanted it to end. The feeling of family running through each relationship was lovely, and the suspicion of almost everyone kept everything nice and tense. Loved it.

9/10

Day 23: Love and Death

Napolean is invading Russia which means Boris (Woody Allen) has to join the army. That puts a bit of a dent in his plans, being that he is a pacifist and useless with weapons. He just wants to marry Sonja (Diane Keaton) and preferably live out his life without any murdering. He miraculously survives the battles unscathed and eventually marries Sonja. However, he can’t escape the murdering as she decides they should kill Napolean.

After his return from battle, Boris meets a lovely Countess and disgraces her honour, according to her lover. So, naturally, they must duel. Before he duels, Boris wants to marry Sonja. He's loved her since they were children and he wants her to promise. She promises that she will marry him if he survives the duel, believing that he couldn’t beat the Countess' lover. He does, however, and she has to marry him. She’s worried she’ll feel suffocated and trapped. I’ve always thought about that when I’ve thought about marriage. It seems insane to stay with one person forever, regardless of how amazing they are just now. How could you stay interested in one person forever? I mean, sure, I find people fascinating and I’m constantly surprised by the things they do but to make a commitment to one of them for the rest of my life seems so difficult. And how can you know what you’re going to feel for them years later? Feelings are fluid, I think. One person can be all you think about for a while and then you move on (or you don’t, that’s always less good). To say you’ll always love someone is to lie, in my opinion. You just don’t know that so how can you say it? I will grant you, it is a nice lie. But I’d much prefer people to say “I love you now” rather than “I’ll love you always”. It seems more honest.

Such a funny film. I wasn’t expecting to laugh as much as I did. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are a wonderful duo and play off each other brilliantly. Sadly I have no time to write as much as I’d like to so I’ll have to stop here.

 “To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer, to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness - I hope you’re getting this down.”

8/10

Day 17: Annie Hall

Today I needed to break out one of my favourite films. I don’t really like to admit to my love of Woody Allen films because well, he married his daughter, y’know? It’s difficult to separate that knowledge from the films themselves but I loved this one before I knew about any of that so it’s ok. Totally justified.

Terminal complainer, Alvy (Woody Allen), falls in love with the adorable Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). We’re given glimpses into the time they spend together and you get a general feel to their relationship. They seem an unlikely couple but they work well together all the same. I like that they almost instantly bond; they’re playing tennis then he goes back to her apartment and they’re getting to know each other then he goes to watch her sing and that’s it, the relationship is set. When they have left the club after she sings, I love that he stops her and just says “Hey listen, listen, give me a kiss.” so they can avoid the inevitable awkwardness later in the night. They just kiss and get it over with so they can continue enjoying being around each other without that looming over them.

Diane Keaton is wonderful here. The way she goes “Hi… Hi… Hi… Well… Bye.” is just great. Spot on awkwardness, I love it. She’s so awkward and nervous you can’t help but instantly be drawn to her. I always find myself giggling when she’s on the screen because I just pick up her energy. I’m always drawn to people who seem to just be overflowing with energy and Diane Keaton is no exception. I can tell I'd already be half in love with her if I was Woody Allen here.

Alvy tries to get Annie to read books that give an insight into who he is and while she complains that he thinks she's not smart enough for him, I think that doesn't really factor into what's doing there. When you enter into a relationship with another person (friend or otherwise), you're getting a crash course in who this person actually is and what's important to them. It makes sense to give this new person in your life films and books and music that reflects who you are so they can more easily understand you. If someone was to take a crash course in who I am, I think I'd recommend a variety of things that would help; Frightened Rabbit songs, 'American Gods' by Neil Gaiman, 'Deathless' by Catherynne M. Valente, etc. There'd be a whole host of things, really. I'd love it if, when I met a new person, they just sat me down and said "This is what you need to read/watch/listen to in order to even grasp a little of who I am." There's only so much talking you can do, sometimes you need to immerse yourself in the things they enjoy.

These are the kind of romantic comedy type films I like; where the couple doesn’t end up together but they learn something along the way.

9/10