Today is the day that I finally got in my early morning viewing of Claire's Knee. I can sympathize with Jeff. I love Rohmer almost unconditionally. I've seen seven of his films and they're each one perfect. The thing is, his films are really difficult to write about. There's no way to credibly do so without interacting with the contents of the many conversations throughout. I'll just point out that the males in Rohmer's Moral Tales often draw a moral conclusion by the end of the film that is altogether different than the moral of the film itself. Jerome in Claire's Knee thinks that he has learned a lesson (and he has), but it's not (I don't think) the lesson that the viewer gets. Then again, against the series title, Rohmer isn't ever interested in straight preaching. In my mind, he's closest to Cassavetes (though with wildly different sensibilities) in honestly presenting his characters relating to one another in broken ways. Both of these great directors are only always interested in love. Anyhow, we don't get a straight lesson a la Aesop. We get a character drawing a conclusion and we're left to draw our own conclusions.
Other unfinished business...
I was disappointed that no one mentioned Open Range during the 2003 talk, so I re-watched it. It's only so-so. It's twice as long as it should be, long on atmosphere and generally bloated.
Smallville has been good to us lately. The Metropolis Green Arrow stuff has some promise; I'm waiting for some sort of JLA-lite moment to happen before the season is over.
The Little Minister had a few good moments but it, too, went on for far too long. I might have been a bit more sympathetic if it hadn't been Katharine Hepburn as the manic pixie girl. I can't stand Katharine Hepburn.
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