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(Spoilery) Thoughts on Darkest Hour.  Lots of potential that ended up being wasted :/

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Thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi

(Assume that anything and everything will be spoiled ahead)

Overcoming the Star Wars Cult

At a certain point, the insistence on focusing on lore begins to inhibit the possibility for a film to be made and not leave privileged fans (the expanded universe seems to offer answers to just about any question regarding any character, no matter how trivial) disappointed.  I’ve come across many debates concerning the identity of Snoke and the identities of Rey’s parents since the release of The Force Awakens.  I imagine those who had placed a great deal of weight into those plot points will have been terribly disappointed, though I am pretty damn satisfied with how the film handled these issues.

1. Snoke not being given much of a backstory or identity

Does it really matter?  I don’t believe so and for a couple of reasons.  The first is that his key characteristics are made plenty clear enough from what we are shown, therefore eliminating the need for exposition about his past.  His similarity to the Emperor from the original trilogy is great enough that I would think many viewers would be able to apply the same legacy and associations to Snoke.  I already heard plenty of similar connections made between the new films and the old following The Force Awakens: “Poe is kinda like Han, right?”, “Han is the new Ben Kenobi”, etc.  There isn’t a great deal of mental gymnastics required to arrive at a similar conclusion with Snoke being the new version of the Emperor.  Both:

Have a strange power over a conflicted member of the dark side who is perceived by the rest of the film’s character

Hold a great deal of power with the force themselves., though they use it sparingly

Appear as holograms at first, only to later appear physically in their throne rooms

Are old and wrinkled

Are eventually killed by their conflicted apprentice

That’s enough evidence for me as a viewer.

One might wonder what his path to power was and how it differed from the Emperor’s, but the truth is that we didn’t know much about how the Emperor had gained power until the prequels were released.  That gap in the audience’s knowledge didn’t prevent the original trilogy from being beloved.  It was mostly through the release of the prequels that the development of backstories for many characters occurred.  It feels a bit spoiled to require in-depth knowledge about each character.  Development of his backstory would be a divergence from what this film (or its predecessor) is otherwise about and would therefore be a distraction.  One might argue that it would make his death more impactful if we knew more about him.  I will admit that this is true, but I would also argue that his death isn’t supposed to impact us.  Killing him serves to imbue Ren with absolute power over the Empire and is the result of Ren deciding not to kill Rey – the relationship between Rey and Ren had been focused on far more than any other throughout the film.

2. Rey’s parents (being insignificant) This could easily change since the only “proof” is a conversation between Ben (I’ll probably never pick a name that I feel like sticking with for him) and Rey, but I’d be happy if they stuck with it.  It would be refreshing to see a character that doesn’t have some tie to some prior character.  Making her the daughter of a significant character would feel a bit excessive and making her the daughter of an insignificant character would be little more than fan service.  Keeping her current heritage would also be consistent with the film’s theme that greatness does not need to come from prior greatness (see the humble beginnings of Rose and Finn).

Managing Dialectical Tensions There is a scene in the film in which Rey and Luke collectively describe the force as being the balance between basically everything.  While the listing off of each thing she sees and the blatant juxtapositions in this listing are a bit much, I like this description of the force.  The film also investigates a lot of tensions and some balances.  I like how the idea of the force enters into the film’s story more in this way.

Light Side vs. Dark Side (duh)

Epitome: Kylo Ren vs. Rey/Luke

Legacy-focused heroism vs. Unselfish heroism

Epitome: Poe vs. those who sacrifice themselves

Glamour vs. Concerns about exploitation

Epitome: Canto Bight (Finn’s excitement vs. Rose’s harsh memories of the city)

Class Tensions (maybe racial?)

Epitome: Canto Bight, again

I want to check to see how many different species we see in its casino.  In a conversation I had after the movie, it was mentioned that there didn’t seem to be as many new alien races in this film and I wonder if that’s tied to the classes being presented in the film.  The Empire is completely human while the resistance features other alien species in addition to the humans.

Paving one’s own path vs. Focusing on what came before

Epitome: Rey’s conflicting needs to work with Luke and help the resistance

Also seen with Luke and the destruction of the Jedi tree and books

Humble/Insignificant Beginnings vs. “Heirs”

Epitome: Rey, Finn, Poe(?) vs. Luke, Leia, Kylo Ren

Despite the split, it seems like both Ben and Rey feel like they have something to prove because of their backgrounds.  Rey seems to need to overcome the heritage which she seems a bit ashamed of, meanwhile Ben has to separate from his notable background in order to solidify his place on the dark side and pursue the legacy left by Vader.

It would have been nice if some of these went unspoken, but I’ll take what I can get.

But why that final scene?

The final scene felt a bit heavy-handed while also being unnecessary.  On its own the scene could say a few things:

There are other force-sensitive individuals

There are individuals wanting to help/join the resistance

These individuals may be restrained/hidden by their position in society

But we have already seen all of this throughout the movie.  The film features three key characters who were restrained/hidden by their place in society, one of them being force-sensitive.  Inevitably the next film will involve the resistance trying to gather enough support to overcome the Empire and First Order, so if that’s the purpose of this final scene, it’s superfluous considering what will happen anyways.  You don’t need to open that door now.  And if that’s not a part of the next film, then the scene doesn’t need to say it, eliminating a reason for it to stay in the film.

Some Other Lingering Thoughts

The direction style resembles The Force Awakens much more than it does the original trilogy.  Biggest difference is the camera movement.  The original trilogy had pretty limited movement, mostly using pans and tilts when the camera did move (probably modeled after Kurosawa considering his other influences on Lucas in making Star Wars) while the newer films have kept the camera moving in just about every way, but pushes are the most prominent in my mind.  Also the pace of editing , though that’s reflective of greater trends in filmmaking.  There is no objectively superior method of filmmaking, but I believe the older style allowed more individual images to be cemented into our minds.  I can’t think of a shot that is remotely similar to the static, 15-second long shot of Luke looking at the “Binary Sunset” and I also can’t think of a shot that sticks with me like that one.  It’s a shot that requires some patience, but not all that much.  Not too much for 2017 anyways.  Not too much for an audience that will sit through literally anything Star Wars related.

Not a complaint, but I’ve realized that the main two ships basically stay in the same place for the 90% of the film.  It kind of cockteases us with the suggestion of a bunch of light speed jumps, then only one happens for the rest of the film between the two main ships.

Leia’s Poppins-esque flight back to the cruiser seemed a bit ridiculous.  I’m happy to have her begin to use the force.  I’m happy to accept that she isn’t dead after that explosion.  Felt bizarre to have her suddenly wake up and use the force in that substantial of a way.

In Summary I was surprised and pleased by Star Wars: The Last Jedi because it was willing to sacrifice pandering to the desires of fandom in order to center on the film’s ongoing conflicts.

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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) [Spoilers]

Score: 82/100

The first five minutes of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, following a quite pretty title sequence with people walking through the rain, were jarring to say the least. Unlike most other musicals, every word is sung. Does this make it an opera? I'm not sure of the word's definition. Regardless, it does not make the line "The engine still knocks when it's cold, but that's normal" sound any more musical or poetic. I don't want to sound too critical of this choice in style. Although there are lines like that throughout the film, they are few and far between. Overall, I did not find wishing that a more conventional style was chosen, nor did I wish more musicals followed the style used here. Another notable style choice is the way the film uses color. The first hour has some of the most vibrant colors I've seen outside of a Wes Anderson film. As the viewer becomes more pessimistic about the happiness of our protagonists and the possibility of their love seems to disappear, so does the vibrance.

The love story isn't anything revolutionary to be quite honest. Young love only to be taken away and eventually be forgotten in favor of something more practical. Maybe I'm being cynical. After all, there are a limited number of plots. The love story is believable though. What makes it work so well is the performances from Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo. They show these extreme levels of happiness and sadness that seem melodramatic, but they are meant to be. The words they say are clichéd, but they are meant to be. I believe the movie intends on showing how romanticized teenage love is by teenagers in love. They have conversations that seem ridiculous for people as young as they are, conversations where they are practically wishing/dreaming their lives away. The bright pinks throughout the movie are reflective of the bubble gum glasses through which the characters view their world.

Once Guy [Nino Castelnuovo] leaves for the military, Geneviève [Catherine Deneuve] is obviously torn apart. It is quickly revealed that she is pregnant (via Guy) which causes her and her mother [Anne Vernon] a great deal of stress in regard to her future. Enter Roland Cassard [Marc Michel] who, over a period of months, courts Geneviève. Although she initially clings to the earlier belief that she and Guy will be together forever, she does marry Roland. To her and the audience, it's not the fairy-tale decision, but it's the right one.

In the final act, Guy returns from the military to a very different Cherbourg. Any trace of Geneviève is gone, he seems to lack the same passion for his work and his (Aunt?) Elise [Mireille Perrey] passes away. The movie then proceeds to show this somewhat rushed relationship with Madeline [Ellen Farner], who I am not sure whether or not she is related to Guy in the movie. Maybe a cousin. It was a different time.

Four or five years pass and both established relationships have resulted in a marriage and a child. In the classic movie fashion, Guy and Geneviève meet again in this last scene. There's a part of you, as the viewer, that wants some absurd way for them to end up together, but it wouldn't be the right thing. However, neither of them has forgotten about the other with their children named what they had planned in the first act. If anything, the final scene demonstrates the new maturity of our two protagonists. Despite the dramatic "I Will Wait for You" from earlier in the film, they both are quite satisfied with their lives separate from each other. While the movie could have gone for the easy "magic" moment of them going off together, it went for something better. The true "magic" of the ending was seeing Guy embrace his son as Madeline returned to the gas station with him. The movie never puts down Guy and Geneviève's early fantasies, but instead shows how life does not have to be those fantasies for it to be happy.