52 Pick Up #16 – The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Oh, hey – two fairly recent films in under a month.

Wait, what?

Twenty?

Oh.

Oh God.

Okay. Just gonna table that existential crisis about the passage of time for later. In the meantime, welcome back to another week of 52 Pick-Up, my year long project to keep myself consistently writing and go through some never before seen titles on my cinematic to do list.

For this week, we're marking the second round of my wife invoking the veto power I gave her for a once a month pick (previously used for the rather charming Valley Girl.) Like I said last time, I'm keeping an eye on these – I know there's one other she is sizing up for down the line, so if we wind up with enough 'veto-proof' titles, that may be the last month of the year.

But, it's only April, so no sense getting ahead of things. For the moment, let's get into her pick for this month – between its sequel coming up and some generally not great news on this end (not likely to get into that on here) this seemed a good time to tag in for something lighter. As I'd never seen it before, this led to be watching The Devil Wears Prada for the first time.

This is one where it feels a bit odd doing the summary. I mean, this movie wasn't exactly obscure and it's still pretty well regarded (I say while acknowledging it took me twenty years to watch it.) But, in the interests of trying to keep to the format – here we go. 

For anyone who isn't especially familiar with this one, the movie follows Andrea (Anne Hathaway, and subsequently referred to as Andy) an up and coming journalist fresh out of school and ready to make her name in the industry. Her first opportunity comes in the form of the prestigious Runway fashion magazine. What she initially takes to be an easy assistant's job soon turns into a challenge of professional and stylistic means as she learns the ropes under her employer, the respected (and feared) Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep, and damn, it's been too long since she brought this kind of A game.)

This proved an interesting direction for me in this project, in that this is a movie I went into recognizing, by and large, this isn't really my lane. Not like a 'I know I'm going to hate this' experience, but simply recognizing that, as fashion goes, my knowledge qualifies for...I think the appropriate term here is 'heathen'?

Well, close enough.

Point is, I knew going in this wasn't going to land with me quite the same way it does with other people.

Having said that, I still found enough in here to enjoy. Which sounds like I'm copping out, but I swear, that is not my intent. While I recognize this movie definitely doesn't land for me the way it lands for a lot of other people, that didn't make this a bad time.

It's not quite "No, Ms. Sachs, I expect you to die."
energy, but damn if she couldn't make that pivot here and
still make it play.

If I'm shouting out any one point in particular here, and I suppose I already started to above anyway, it's the cast, and how the core group really help keep this moving and engaging. I know it's become a familiar line from me, but this is definitely another case where I can see a version of this where these characters would fall flat – where Andy's determination becomes grating, where Miranda's 'boss from Hell' energy would be overplayed and genuinely miserable to watch, where Nigel would either be ineffectively nice or pointlessly bitchy, and Emily would be a train wreck in a decidedly far less fun way. 

Thankfully, that isn't the case with what we do get in this, either at the script or performance level. Hathaway strikes a good balance between Andy's stress and also her enthusiasm in a way that keeps it from feeling like the movie is just kicking someone when they're down. Stanley Tucci takes his covert friend and semi-mentor position with that balance of dry humor and heart that, by the time this movie was around, he had made a brand and uses it very effectively here. For Emily Blunt, this was the role that really got her breaking out, and one can see why – like Hathaway, it's a balancing act that could have tipped into just being misery with a less experienced actress (though which levels she is balancing are, of course, different.)

Then there's Meryl Streep. I repeat what I said before – I get why people have talked up this role from her, it's an A game in a way it feels like she doesn't get as many chances to really play into these days. When people tend to picture the feared boss type, the first instinct is the loud, broad archetype, and while I feel like Streep COULD have done that in the right hands, her instinct to go quieter with this makes it much more effective as we watch her calmly, quietly dismantle a person or their arguments without breaking a sweat. It's an entertaining mode to watch her in, and even if it were just that, that would be enough, it's Streep mingling that with those flashes of the human being she is off the clock that really helps make this especially memorable. It's the sort of role that could have been a one note, even an entertaining one note, and Streep keeps it from going that way.

And really, in general, who WOULDN'T want Stanley
Tucci to be a mentor figure?
Like, in prettymuch any field it seems like he could make that work.

So, I have to admit, hearing they got everyone back for this new movie? Potentially good sign. Personally, I'm not sure I'll be seeing it in theaters, because again, I know this isn't really my lane. But, if the word of mouth is good, I may give it a go down the line to see if they can get this balance right again twenty years later.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go curl up under a desk in existential dread at that realization of the passage of time.

If it makes you all feel any better, we're keeping in a lighter mode next time. Sort of.

We're getting ready to launch guerrilla warfare, for cinema. This month's Uncharted Waters takes us into his 2000 comedy, Cecil B Demented.

To be honest, of the unwatched John Waters movies, I think this is the one I've been most excited for. Let's see if it matches my expectation.

Till then.

52 Pick-Up # 15 – Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)

Welcome back to 52 Pick-Up, my year long, once-a-week dig into my cinematic to-do list, the titles largely left to random draw.

Initially I decided to choose these via shuffling to keep myself from getting into a rut – favoring certain eras or genres over others felt restrictive (give or take for certain cases where I will put a thumb on the scale, but still leave an element of chance.)

As a result, sometimes this leads to some strange shifts in tone (going from Costa-Gavras to John Waters comes to mind), but it's also made for an interesting challenge of trying to find the unexpected ties from week to week that occur. Sometimes they're obvious, sometimes they take a little digging.

This week in particular is one I wanted to point out because it was the main focal point I had for this movie and it only just now hit me how it dovetails off of Ponyo last week as two directors taking two very different dives into stories that have their origins in the world of fairy tales.

Where they each take those, of course, go in very different directions. So, now that we've seen what Japan did with jumping off of The Little Mermaid last week, time to see the direction Czechoslovakia went for Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.

Okay, let me be fair. Strictly speaking, this isn't quite where Czechoslovakia wanted to go for this one. Rather, this is where novelist Vítězslav Nezval and subsequently director Jaromil Jireš decided to go the latter adapting the work of the former) with the Czech government at the time feeling this was a little too arthouse for their liking.

So what is this about? Without getting too bogged down in the play by play, this concerns the titular Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová), a young girl living with her grandmother (Helena Anýžová.) Her life is complicated with the arrival of two people – the young Orlik (subtitles referring by the name Eaglet) and the Constable, a mysterious man who may also be a vampiric being known as the Polecat. Soon, the Polecat's influence spreads throughout the town and it comes to Valerie to keep herself alive and find a way to stop him.

I actually feel a little bad for that synopsis, because it really makes this sound so minimal compared to what's in the actual movie. If I tried to go through the larger breakdown, however, this would probably be half a page just on summary.

Which is probably the point where I should take the moment to warn – this is not going to be a movie for everyone. Normally, when I say that, it's in reference to a movie's containing objectionable content. To be fair, there is certainly some of that here, most notably a very distinct 'coming of age' theme in the narrative with some sexual undertones that feels kind of off-putting given the age of the protagonist and the actress playing her. To give the movie some credit, it never crosses a line into feeling as gross as it could, but it is also something I wouldn't fault a viewer for deciding they'd rather sit this out for.

And then there's this.
As coming of age touchstones go, you're not likely to encounter
this in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Back to my initial point, the other aspect of this movie that might make this a 'this isn't for everyone' experience would be the narrative structure, which is definitely more free form care of the filmmaker's roots in the Czech new wave. There's familiar elements in the plotting and structure, but also several creative choices that feel almost designed to throw the audience off (interestingly, from what I can tell, this is actually accurate to the novel it's adapted from.) If you're big on having a tight, coherent storyline, this is one week you may want to sit out. If you're open to a more fantastical and dreamlike approach, I'd say keep this one on your radar.

It's still strange to think the movie I found myself comparing this to the most after finishing it wound up being Dario Argento's Suspiria. It's not necessarily that the two are especially similar in tone or structure, but there is a distinct thread in both of a very stylized director telling what are, functionally, horror stories with heavy fairy tale trappings laced throughout them. Valerie isn't as explicitly horror as Suspiria, but there are definitely aspects of it in the Polecat's role as a trickster vampire, even taking over the town in a way that evokes shades of Nosferatu (with less plagues and more hooking up.) The fairy tale element giving each a sort of heightened reality with regards to some of the plot mechanics – in the case of Valerie, best exemplified in the magic earrings she has that are said to shield her from harm. There isn't too much of an explanation as to how or why, you just roll with it as part of the kind of story we're telling.

I turned over a few ways to put my thoughts on this one. I'm glad I watched it, and there's elements in it to recommend if you can get on its wavelength (and aren't thrown off by some other aspects of it.) As much as I hate to use this because it feels like a classic hand-wave of a line, this really is a movie I would say can be best descibed as a vibes experience. One of those where you'll get a sense pretty early on if this is a movie you're going to want to keep watching or if this isn't your thing. It's not really one I can put too much into words. Just, if this got you curious enough, see if your library might have a copy. If not, no harm, no foul. There's still 51 other movies in this line up that may catch your attention.

Now that I'm thinking about it, there's enough points
that could be worth exploring a compare and contrast
between this and Nosferatu. Not a 1:1 by any stretch,
but certainly some interesting intersecting points.

For what it's worth, next week's entry will be a little less out there, though still one I wouldn't have considered without the outside nudge.

That's right – next week marks the second round for my wife invoking her tag-in privilege (and I'll just say this now – if this is used enough before December, I MIGHT dedicate the last month to tag out movies) to put in for something a bit lighter than I initially had pulled for next time.

So, with that said, we're going back to the states next week with a bit of a timely movie in a different sense as I sit down and watch The Devil Wears Prada for the first time.

Till then.

52 Pick-Up # 14 – Ponyo (2008)

Oh, hey there.

Sorry, I'll be right there. Just need to take a moment to finish eating this crow after the comments I made about the change in the weather in that last entry.

In hindsight, I should have known that would lead to snow. Not that it stuck around, but still a 'What are the odds?' moment to be sure.

Anyway, welcome back to 52 Pick-Up, the year long dig into my movie-going to do list. As the old saying goes 'You'll never watch/read them all', but damned if I'm not gonna try.

Going from last week to this week is making for an interesting contrast for me. Last week marked by second look into the works of director Jafar Panahi – and I'm fast becoming a fan – and conversely, this week I'm going into a director whose filmography I have already seen most of.

In hindsight, it's actually surprising I still had any gaps for Hayao Miyazaki, but here we are. On the plus side, that can also be read as saying 'Hey, I have a chance to see a Miyazaki movie for the first time' and those opportunities are rare for me now.

Which was the upside to the fact I'm only now getting to watching Ponyo (or Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea for the purists.)

Going into this, I only knew in the very general sense that this was Miyazaki doing his own variation on the story of The Little Mermaid. There is an element of that at play here – the underwater dwelling young girl meets a boy on the surface and decides she wants to see more of life above the water line. Past that, however, Miyazaki puts his own spins on it – rather than being a traditional mermaid, Ponyo starts as a fish-like being that ultimately turns herself more human as her desire to see this new world, and her human friend Sosuke, grow stronger. Her father, meanwhile, is against the idea both for the general reasons of not wanting to lose his child to the surface and also for the fact his daughter's newfound use of magic may be throwing the world into chaos. As Ponyo spends more time on the surface and the seas go more unchecked, the situation becomes clear that a choice will have to be made, in order to decide both the fate of the world and our titular heroine.

In terms of comparisons to last week, this is another movie where there's a strength in how it balances its elements, perhaps best exemplified in the depiction of Ponyo's father, Fujimoto. Presented as distrustful of humans and the surface world, there are moments where it would be very easy for a less deft hand to try and cast him as an out and out villainous figure, particularly as this take on the story does not present any sort of witch figure as the cause of Ponyo's change. What stakes there are come more in the form of the tsunami that dominates the second half of the movie, explained as a result of Ponyo's use of magic. Part of what makes that balance interesting is, while the storm is present and not simply brushed aside, the emotional heft remains more on Fujimoto's fear of letting go. When he tells Ponyo's mother that the universe is out of balance, it can just as easily be in reference to how he's feeling in the moment as it is to the genuine consequences of what is happening. In keeping with that personal focus, the resolution is not a grand, sweeping gesture, but more an emotional moment of choice and acceptance that, true to Miyazaki's form, feels very adult even as he keeps much of the rest of this movie in a lighter, more child-friendly tone.

And hey, this kind of times up with Easter nicely
Less so the religious part, more Ponyo's enthusiasm for ham.

That tone, to be clear, isn't a criticism. In fact, it's another of the movie's real charms in this case. Visually, this has a bit of a different style to it compared to some other Ghibli movies – besides a bright color palette, there's some clearer, crisper line work (this being inspired by the animation director's earlier short film) that, rather than looking cheaper, actually pops more for certain scenes, such as Ponyo's first times coming to the surface. That look also feels fitting given how many scenes are buoyed by her childlike sense of wonder at this new world she is discovering and all the people within it. Going back to that earlier point, it speaks to how well the movie can balance this with the emotional heft of Fujimoto's scenes, both for tone and art style without the movie feeling like it's suffering any sort of whiplash for it.

I have to admit, going into this, I was initially having that thought of 'what to say here?'. Not because there aren't good things to say, I've already said some, after all, but also just because with the combined pedigrees of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, singing the praises of their work almost feels like a, if you'll pardon the term here, 'water is wet' moment. At the same time, that was part of what led to those topics above. Miyazaki does consistently good work, but that where he excels can vary from movie to movie,. There is something to the balancing act at work in Ponyo that feels rather unique to it, even if it's with elements that Miyazaki has touched on in his other movies.

No real joke here, but I do also really enjoy the fact
the opening sequence of this movie is entirely dialogue free.

Even as any sort of criticism goes, it feels strange that the most I can think to say here is 'it's good, but he's done better.' That's not even anything to the fault of Ponyo, but simply to the strength of other Miyazaki movies. Just taken on its own, this has a lot to recommend in it – it's a very funny, charming, brisk movie that brings a lot of the Ghibli spirit to a classic story and turning it into their own spin.

If, like me, you have somehow gone through a good number of Ghibli's movies and missed this, I would recommend giving this one your time. That said, I am also going to break from my usual format here to also say I would recommend watching this paired with another acclaimed Japanese director's take on the Little Mermaid story – Masaki Yuasa's Lu Over the Wall. While there are elements of similarity, it is also genuinely fun to watch how these two filmmakers each take this same core idea and both take it in very different (but both enjoyable) directions.

Okay, points to the randomizer. After how this month has been so far, I think I needed this refreshing watch.

But, April keeps rolling and it's time to wrap up here and start gearing up for next time.

The fantastical will be continuing, though in a bit of a different tone next week. Next week marks the first foray into Czech film with the dark fantasy, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.

Until then.

52 Pick-Up # 13 – No Bears (2022)

Huh. It took me this long to realize this entry is going up on April Fool's Day.

I'm trying to decide if that's a good or a bad sign. More so given this will be the thirteenth movie in the run on top of that.

Ah well, no sense dwelling on it too long. Best to just move on in and worry about the consequences later.

That's the lesson of this movie, right?

Right?

Oh. Oh dear.

ANYWAY.

Welcome back to 52 Pick-Up, my year long trip through my cinematic to do list.

March has come to a close in a suitably raucous fashion and as the weather starts to warm up, I'm changing gears again and kicking the month off with another movie from the 2020s.

Two in four months. Not too shabby.

Following up on my comment on this from last month, this title made it onto my list care of last year's It Was Just an Accident. That movie made it up to my #1 spot, in large part thanks to the impressive balancing act in tone that director Jafar Panahi accomplished, and it immediately raised my interest in checking out his previous feature, No Bears.

I went in knowing as little as possible, save for Panahi's involvement. What I got was an experience that reminded me of the strengths of his later movie, but also showed me more of his general style in a way that has me intrigued to see more.

The first thing that struck me was the very meta framing of this story. Panahi appears in this movie as a fictionalized version of himself, an embattled film director who has been barred from making movies in his home country of Iran. We see this Panahi is working around this by operating in a small town near the border with Turkey where he connects with his crew by remote. The story follows two threads in particular. The first with the subjects of Panahi's film, a couple trying to get papers to leave Iran. The other involving Panahi himself as his stay in the village where he has situated himself becomes increasingly more fraught as seemingly minor actions prove to have unanticipated ripples.

In both this movie as well as the subsequent IWJAA, Panahi demonstrates a keen sense for narrative escalation. In both cases, he starts the movies with what could easily be a minor incident – something that can happen to anyone on any day and be forgotten just as quickly. Except in Panahi's hands, these incidents become part of a larger context that causes these innocuous acts to trigger subsequent actions to greater and greater consequences.

In comparison to the later use of this in IWJAA, No Bears takes a different approach. IWJAA balances its entire escalating chain of events on an uncertainty – every action the lead makes after his first decision is spurred on by the lingering question of 'what if I've been wrong about all of this?' and his reluctance to make that final decision that can't be taken back unless he has certainty. In the case of No Bears, there isn't an ambiguity behind the way things spiral out of control. As this movie presents it, there is no 'what if', but simply that the die is cast and we, along with the fictional Panahi have to watch as the figurative dominoes all fall down, not sure where the chain of events will go until the actual damage is done. If there is any uncertainty, it is in Panahi being completely unaware of the full consequences of his actions until they are taken past that point of no return.

The decision by Panahi to make himself the protagonist – as a fictionalized version of himself – adds another interesting element to all of this. Particularly as the film presents his role in the events that unfold – while Panahi is the unwitting instigator, the audience can sympathize with things like his frustration over the traditions of the village he is staying in, in that he is not made aware his actions are seen as taboo until the lines have been crossed. Conversely, the movie he is filming secretly within Iran feels like it's taking him to task for his detachment from the story unfolding – particularly as it spirals to its ultimately tragic conclusion, which Panahi can only observe from the perspective of a director.

The more I think back on this movie, the more I'm struck by the way it's constructed. Panahi presenting two stories that are both seemingly disparate but also quite similar, each effected in one way or another by his presence (or distance) from the action involved. It's an exercise in perspective that shifts from story to story and even from particular character as the scene shifts, even as it holds with our metafictional protagonist the whole time.

 

Looking back, this so far makes Panahi two for two on movies that I liked when I first watched them, but the more I think back and prod and pry at them, I become even more interested in what they're doing. Part of me wants to rewatch this soon, part of me wants to give it more time first and let myself come at it a bit fresher. Maybe something for after the project.

In the meantime, I'm going to be keeping an eye out for more of his movies, because this has further cemented my interest in what else this man has done.

With that as a welcome start to a new month, it's time for 52 Pick Up to move on as I hope from one prestigious director to another. Next week, I'm addressing one of the rare holes I still had yet to address in the filmography of Hayao Miyazaki (yes, I was surprised to remember there were gaps here too.)

52 Pick-Up will be back next week as I hope for warmer weather to properly go with writing about Ponyo.

Until then.