The Beaches of AgnesAfter many rough starts, Sandy and I watched this autobiography of Agnes Varda together while chatting. I'll spare you the spotty conversation we had and just give you the meat.
What I most love about Agnes is her voice. Not her physical voice, but her writing voice, that which makes her presentation unique. She is such a pleasure to listen to, a pleasure to let her ramble and carry on about nothing in particular. Her mind is so complex and filled with extraordinary detail. In presenting her life, she will talk about things that had little or nothing to do with her at all, like river jousting or Harrison Ford's dead in the water acting career. About how, as a girl, she and her fellow students in an all girls school would sing to the founder "we, all your sons." Not the sort of thing that is significant in a biography. But fascinating, and fun. At the end of the film, I knew a lot of details about her life, but don't ask for a summary of the events of her life. I'm not sure.
Visually, the scattered details are also present. She might present a number of photos of her family, a set of cards that happened to include her and her husband Jacques Demy, a variety of knick-knacks that could be from her childhood that she picked up at a flea market or an office that is set up on a beach. She is full of imagination and joy and she has no time to spend on her husband's death of AIDS, her movies that were set aside, or the passing of old friends. There is so much to show, so much to see.
It's just like spending an afternoon with your grandma. If your grandma were still bright, full of energy and happened to be a key director of the French New Wave. What a great time.
4/5
American Ultra
Here is the germ of the idea: A pothead is secretly a super-violent assassin, only he doesn't know it. You see that much in the trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLGFwkRx2HAIf you liked what you saw in the trailer-- well, the movie is just full of more of this. If you think the trailer is pretty stupid-- save your money. My wife and I saw the trailer. We liked it. Despite mediocre Rotten Tomatoes scores, we took a chance at seeing it in the movie. We had a great time. Kristen Stewart being all serious and Jesse Eisenberg being all dumb-like and action-like, but not a hero because he isn't really aware of his actions until after he's done and he tries to figure it all out. That's funny. The writing is sometimes good. But if you don't like the idea, you won't like the movie. It's pretty simple.
For some reason, I've had My Blue Heaven running around in my head since the film. But it fits the mood of the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdSU-LxwfgEThat plus a lot of graphic violence.
4/5