I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
... View MoreA bit overrated, but still an amazing film
... View MoreI think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
... View MoreThe plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
... View MoreThis is on Netflix. Probably the best LGBT film I've ever seen. It's a love story. The characters are believable as is their acting. It's quite explicit in some scenes so not for under 18s but despite that it's a very honest and true film. It's nice to see a film which focuses on the couples love rather than them being victims or outsiders in society. Although the film does highlight some social pressures of being out as a young person in modern day France the film really is a love story about freedom, art and expression as well as growing up and acceptance. It's a French movie, subtitled but don't let that put you off. It does everything a good love story should without the tinsel town Hollywood touch. As good as Priscilla and Roman Holiday. It's up there. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2278871/
... View More"Blue is the Warmest Color" deliberately swims in unsafe waters to emerge above the usual movies about homosexuality, but the artistic licenses of competent (and straight) director AbdellatifKechiche prevented a good story from drawing a larger and diverse audience. I don't mind graphic sexuality and one pour of raw emotion can never hurt a movie but talk about overplaying it. There's so much sex that the line between a fascinating life immersion and a sordid fixation on female anatomic details is crossed, and more than once. Ironically, there's something so honest and bold in the performances of Adele Exarchopoulos (Adele) and Lea Seydoux (Emma) that they almost unveiled the calculating nerve of a director who knew the film would need a little extra kick to be more than a lesbian romance, as if the romance wasn't enough. His sex scenes venture so much in the realm of pornography it's hard not to imagine someone licking his upper lip behind the camera. I'm not even accusing Kechiche, his actresses did, denouncing a climate of pressure that confined to harassment. Kechiche became the villain, to the point he wished the film wasn't released. And today's context of harassment' accusations spreading all over Hollywood gives a whole new perspective.It's only fair to use the context. The film was released after the legalization in France of same-sex marriage and the Golden Palm Award played like an official stance. During the promotional days, the two lead actresses were asked to comment on some statement from Christine Boutin, a French politician notoriously opposed to gay marriage, their answers can be found of Youtube, it was one of the reasons I didn't watch the film. Adjani would have spoken, these girls spontaneously raised their middle finger and it didn't really encourage me to watch the film. Still, the middle finger was a honest representation of Hollywood liberals' answer to "conservative bigots". But can't also this film serve as an illustration of actresses' needless over-sexualization, especially coming from a straight director?If you're telling me that there were 800 hours of footage, I wonder what the proportion of the sexual material was. Many questions are to be raised on that matter, would have Kechiche been as artistically zealous about men? I can't speak for him, but being a straight male, I would have probably skipped any love scenes with my remote control, I felt guilty I was actually aroused by the sex scenes. The film is in fact good, and sex is integral to its quality, but there's "sex scene" and "sex scene", and less would have been more. In the end of the first intercourse, there's a brief moment where the two young girls lie in bed in a position that reminded of a beautiful moment in "Five Easy Pieces", it allowed Adele to be staring at Emma's body and there was something fascinating in the way she looked at her sex and how she gently caressed her leg, like an intimate realization, that moment alone spoke more than any licking or humping.And just when you thought the movie would dig deeper into their relationships, it returned to sex, over and over again... while there was so much more to appreciate, Kechiche's insistence on sex stole the thunder of one of the most powerful and realistic romances of recent times. I felt really empathetic toward the insecurities of Adele and the way she eluded any attempt to admit she had more than a fling on Emma, the character of Emma and how she never took crap in the name of love, the differences between the two girls and how it affected their social and professional life, one as a teacher, one as a wannabe artist, how it affected their relationships with friends and family.In fact, the realism of the film is so striking that it's only when you realize there's nothing 'special' about it that you find out this is what makes it exceptional, but its own enemy was Kechiche who deliberately wanted to make something exceptionally graphic as if he didn't trust his material enough. And that's a shame because the film didn't need that; it is overly long while it could have better had it trimmed at least fifteen minutes of erotica.There's that Howard Hawks' quote I often mention in my reviews: a good film is three great scenes and no bad scenes, there are three magnificent scenes in the film, one where Adele is verbally harassed by a group of friends, pushed to admit that she's lesbian, implicating a response of hostility forcing her to deny it as a defense mechanism, Adele is a nice person who finds herself entrapped in her desire to a keep a low profile and her personal impulses.There's the beautiful park scene where there's no body language is enough to show the growing love between the two women, and finally, there's the argument near the end and it felt so real that for one moment I didn't know whom to root for, it was time for Adele to grow up and stop relying of victimization and defensiveness. The film is never as good a romance as it's a wonderful coming of age story and character studies, especially the titular Adele.Now, there's no bad scene but so overly long sexual scenes that they confine to voyeurism and can affect the film in a negative way. A film about heterosexual people wouldn't have needed so much sex, this one should have subdued it. "Milk" and "Carol" suggested the intimacy and weren't less powerful. And the problem with "Blue" is that sex occupies so much space it contaminates every review and distract from the beautiful relationship it deals with and makes the critics look like homophobic bigots while the overuse of sex was also criticized by gay people. The film was just, needlessly polarizing.
... View MoreThis movie received glowing reviews by the lgbt community, so I finally gave it a chance. It begins realistically, with a girl thinking she's straight, and having typical experiences. Her sexual awakening is one that can be appreciated. That being said, I grew bored with it. I am unfortunately disappointed with this movie.
... View MoreWhile sitting and waiting at the Paris airport, browsing for some YouTube videos to watch, I've stumbled upon an old 2007 documentary The Universe (S02E01 "Alien Planets"). I thought about the title of this movie when at some point they said: "As the star wobbles around, light waves appear to shift in frequency as the object emitting them comes toward or away from you. The light from an object moving toward you will look slightly bluer, and a light from an object moving away from you will look slightly redder".So I thought that Blue Is The Warmest Color because it is the closest <3.
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