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45 Comments
Gordon Hu
10/11/2018 09:23:25 pm
Wow, this movie was a treat. I watched Charade, and at first I was a bit disappointed in the naivete of Audrey Hepburn's character, Regina. However, as the movie progressed, she illustrated her cunning and proved to be as charismatic as Cary Grant's Peter/Alexander/Adam/Crookshank. I appreciated the clarity of the Trans-Atlantic accent and the lighthearted acting style. One of my favorite scenes was when Tex and one of the other ex-OSS operatives simultaneously say "naturally"; I think in this scene, even the actors broke character and started laughing.
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Russell Lee
10/14/2018 01:43:55 pm
I didn't notice many tropes as you did, but I did share in your overall enthusiasm for the movie. The humor, the action, the suspense, really made this movie defy static genre lines in a worthwhile way. What did you think of the relationship between Reggie and Grant? Did you think that was the progression that highlighted your enthusiasm for the movie?
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Tiffany
10/14/2018 10:37:22 pm
I don't usually like old-timey movies, admittedly because of pre-conceived biases against the gender stereotypes often portrayed in those movies, but also because the overall feeling and atmosphere of the film is too old for me to properly immerse myself in the setting. I'm not sure if that makes any sense--I think of it as kind of like I prefer more fast-paced and action-based plots which given the old movies I've seen seems to directly contradict the purpose of old movies. Having said all that, I think I'll watch Charade after reading such a positive response. After all, I can't really call myself a movie buff if I don't expose myself to all genres, including old American films.
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Nick Michael
10/15/2018 01:52:04 pm
I agree, I thought this movie was great! And kudos to you for noticing the scene with Grant's character in his pajamas, that totally flew over my head.
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Turese Anderson
10/16/2018 05:31:53 pm
I agree that the movie has a lot of different things going for it. The movie calls itself a romantic comedy but it focuses on its plot a lot more than just its romance, making it still entertaining and not just a bunch of schmooze.
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Tiffany
10/14/2018 10:27:06 pm
I watched The Seven Samurai.
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Gordon Hu
10/15/2018 12:33:07 am
While I personally have not watched the whole film, I have watched some clips and to the best of my knowledge *SPOILER ALERT* I believe a lot of the main characters die at the end. This is interesting to me because all three of your favorite movies share this same characteristic. I suppose tragedies, even those without clear tragic flaws, are still as popular today as they were in the times of Homer and Shakespeare.
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Eric Hernandez
10/15/2018 06:27:07 am
I also noticed the slow pacing and great camera work, and how the art direction worked well for the storytelling process! I really felt like this medium worked well for the characters, giving them a more emotional dynamic and making them more relatable. I think in general, it's interesting to see how certain methods of story telling work for some movies and not for others!
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Eric Hernandez
10/15/2018 06:18:21 am
I watched the Seven Samurai. Firstly, I haven't seen a movie shot on black and white film in a really long time, so I really enjoyed this change in what I usually watch. I actually felt like this medium aided in the story telling process, by taking us into a historic time period. If this film was shot on 4k maximizing today's film equipment, I don't feel like the experience would be as immersive, we would probably notice how fake it would look. I also noticed how dramatic the acting was. Emotions are clearly expressed in facial expressions, body movements and the way the characters speak. These details are given a lot of screen time as there aren't a lot of quick camera cuts like it's easy to do today, which I think makes the pacing of the film slower than what one might be used to. I think this is effective though because we are really able to feel the full extent of the emotions and sufferings of the farmer characters.
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Javier Arias-Romero
10/16/2018 02:18:10 pm
I like your observation on the pacing of the movie. Yes I do agree that the age of the movie contributed to the slower tempo. Also, I too took notice to the dramatic nature of the acting. For me, it really helped me form opinions on the characters because their personality was so clear and explicit, and it did not take me long to get a sense of them.
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Judith Kim
10/16/2018 02:27:07 pm
I agree about the slow pace of the movie and definitely agree that it made the film more effective in creating an immersive experience for viewers. I thought each detail that was captured was done intentionally and losing any scene in the film would change the dynamism it had.
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Jay Truong
11/20/2018 08:42:23 pm
I think you're absolutely correct. If the film was shot with today's 4k standards and other such equipment that would facilitate that experience, it would completely change the important aspects of the movie that make it what it is.
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Nick Michael
10/15/2018 01:49:12 pm
Charade
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Oreste Turchetti
10/15/2018 06:13:26 pm
Yeah the difference in tone in those two movies was pretty staggering! I agree that the main characters had good chemistry and were able to play off one another really well, so I'm not surprised a lot of people enjoyed this movie. I wasn't a huge fan, but I think that's just because this isn't really a genre I'm interested in. I could definitely appreciate the quality of the movie though, I think it was well made.
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Stacy Fernandes
10/15/2018 08:56:23 pm
I also had no idea it was a comedy when I initially started watching the movie. I thought the two main characters were great. The dialogue between them was funny. I thought it was hilarious when Cary Grant kept lying to Audrey Hepburn about his real name and yet, Audrey never gave up on him. She kept believing each time she received a new name. His persistence was great to watch but it was also kind of exhausting. However, I did enjoy the film.
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Abigail Magat
10/16/2018 09:05:14 am
I agree, I also went into the film not knowing what to expect and presuming that it was like those regular action/thriller movies. But come to find out that its actually comedic, which is interesting. Yet, I notice that movies from around this time period weren't always that very serious like the thrillers and mysteries we have today. Back then, I feel that people like to make comic of things, especially about story lines such as this one in Charade.
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riley robinson
10/16/2018 05:44:34 pm
I also had no idea this was going to be a funny film, but I enjoyed it very much, especially that line about peppermint flavored heroin. I agree with you that there wasn't much in the way of a deeper meaning in this film. But we can definitely appreciate it for what it is -- a well executed mystery/thriller from an iconic cast in an iconic time.
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Oreste Turchetti
10/15/2018 06:11:02 pm
I watched Charade.
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Stacy Fernandes
10/15/2018 08:42:23 pm
Film: Charade
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10/15/2018 09:21:21 pm
I do agree with how well the movie stick with the time period. Since I remember that the 60's happened to be around the time where some of the Bond films such as Dr. No and From Russia with Love. Since my dad introduced me to these films, I like this movie because it was around the time period.
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Rawan Mohsen
10/15/2018 10:01:19 pm
Hi Stacy,
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10/15/2018 09:14:56 pm
I had watch Charade.
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Stephanie Machuca
10/16/2018 11:40:40 am
I also believe that the tile Charade not only applies to the Peter dude, but also to figuring out who exactly the villain is exactly in the movie. We are left with little hints here and there pointing who it might be, but we are never sure as other events arise that make us doubt.
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10/15/2018 09:53:35 pm
The film I chose to watch was Charade. I really enjoyed watching this film. This really helped me appreciate older films. Throughout the movie Audrey Hepburn’s character Regina Lampert is being chased around by men that are after money that her husband stole. There were many twists revolving around “Peter Joshua” and who he really is. I really enjoyed how the film would allow you to get really comfortable and then Regina would find something out about “Peter” and then we would distrust him again. I thought the movie was cute, thrilling and funny, it really did not need the technology we have today to be a good film.
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Russell Lee
10/16/2018 12:55:34 am
Charades was an entertaining movie for me. The dialogue seemed to be timely for the 1960's. It was fluid and easy to follow. The characters were more interesting than I would've thought for a 1960's film. Going in, I thought it'd be hard to relate to the lifestyles of the characters, but I was genuinely pulled in by the humor and charisma of the cast, especially Grant. His acting seems to transcend time. Overall, I liked it.
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Abigail Magat
10/16/2018 09:05:33 am
I chose the film Charade and I surprisingly liked it. I didn’t think I would because I feel that with olden movies like this, the acting is bad and overexaggerated. I have never seen an Audrey Hepburn movie but I can see why she was admired. Her acting was great and the way she portrayed her character Regina made it exciting and mysterious. The plot itself was entertaining and thrilling. Before watching it, I presumed that it was a thriller/action movie but came to realize it was more of a comedy or sitcom type, which was interesting. The movie was still thrilling, but it didn’t come off as serious as most mysteries do.
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Monserrat Lopez
10/16/2018 11:17:00 am
Hi Abigail,
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Monserrat Lopez
10/16/2018 11:10:40 am
Film: Charade
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Sean Tseng
10/16/2018 01:33:24 pm
I definitely agree with your mention of the running gags in the movie! It's one of the things that I felt made the whole series of unpredictable, slightly outlandish events more grounded and cohesive. It functioned also as a great way to express character, as well as make the movie feel like a continuous inside joke that the audience was in on. I love that it served several purposes rather than mere comic relief, as I feel like many movies these days play on running gags as more shallow, cheap ways to garner laughs. I also agree completely at the attentiveness the audience has to have when watching to appreciate all the details within the film. For me, that level of detail in the movie showed great complexity in a stylistically lighthearted movie, which I appreciated. (:
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Luc Pogue
10/16/2018 06:00:27 pm
You're totally right about the jokes-- the script for this movie is really tight. I think the repeated jokes are really nice, since they allow for the viewer to gain a better understanding of Grant and Hepburn's relationship as it progresses (since they have 'inside jokes' that the viewer can be in on). I also noticed Hepburn's outfits, and that the designer for her clothes was featured with their own slide in the opening credits!
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Stephanie Machuca
10/16/2018 11:35:24 am
The film that I chose to watch is Charade. I really liked the colorful opening credits, which kind of contrasts the opening scene; I wouldn't expect such a peppy thrilling song right at the start. In all honestly, the beginning started off slow for me; I wasn't really interested in what was happening at the ski resort and I barely caught a glimpse of Peter/Adam/hewithmanynames guy show up. I question what exactly about him made Regina fall so madly in love with him. He's a pretty bland guy. Although it revolved around a few murders, I couldn't really take this movie very seriously. There were several times where I laughed just because of how exaggerated some shots were or how things were portrayed, such as the fight scene with Peter and Scobie. Sound, in my opinion, played a big role in this movie. However, the end picked up very nicely. I didn't expect such a twist at the end of the whole hunt, which kept me attentive to what was happening unlike the very beginning. Overall, this was a good movie worth my watch.
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Sean Tseng
10/16/2018 01:27:02 pm
This week, I watched Charade and found it to be a wonderfully witty and satisfyingly complex film. The story had serious stakes and at the same time knew how to make fun of itself. The red herrings occasionally felt a bit tiresome, and some were perhaps a shade unrealistic, but what really kept me engaged was the dialogue. I loved the way the characters interacted with each other, and Audrey Hepburn's Mrs. Lampert was the source of great banter. I also enjoyed how lovable the characters were, as I think it would have been easy for Mrs. Lampert to fall into a clueless and frustrating character amidst the plots and schemes of those all around her. However, it felt like she stood her ground the way she knew how and was a lively personality rather than simply a generic vessel through which the audience could watch the movie. It seems that for all its complications in plot, the part that gave the film most heart and interest was its characters and their quick quips. The comedic running gags were done well enough that it didn't feel over the top, and I wanted to write down so many of the clever lines within the movie. Of course, there were also ridiculous moments that could only happen in film, and more than once, luck played a big role in whether a character succeeded or failed, but for all its twists and turns, I would say the movie kept the audience's attention quite well. As one of my few encounters with more traditional old American movies, I'd say it was a very pleasant one overall, and a film that I would definitely return to in the future.
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Jay Truong
10/16/2018 02:04:36 pm
The Seven Samurai struck me as a film that did well for the resources that Kurosawa would have had at the time. Even for the big action scenes, there was often a lot of attention paid to different shots that they could acquire, when I expected them to just be okay with a single wide shot to encapture the entire scene. This is an interesting choice that I noticed, since throughout the film, many points of dialogue and many establishing shots are done with a single, unmoving shot. I don't know what to attribute this movie's insane length to, I'd probably have to do some research on that, but nowadays, production teams have a quota of usually two hours max for a movie, and so they'll choose to cut out "unnecessary" shots where nothing is happening and there's no real addition to the plot's momentum. This made Seven Samurais fairly boring to watch, and by the end I was done watching anything else for the rest of my life.
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Javier Arias-Romero
10/16/2018 02:09:46 pm
I watched the Seven Samurai and loved the portrayal of feudal Japan and ronin samurai. The drama itself was great and realistic, and the characters were unforgettable. The numbers of "main characters' that died in the end also made it feel very realistic. I also appreciated the little side plots that would go within the samurai group and amongst a few of the farm villagers. Finally, I wanted to mention how much I enjoyed the explicit facial expressions used to capture emotion. It made for a good time.
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Ryan Askew
10/16/2018 02:22:57 pm
I watched Seven Samurai. I’d known a little about this film going into it and have been wanting to watch for awhile. Learning of its three and a half hour runtime was a bit daunting, and unlike something like The Lord of the Rings, this film did not hold my attention for that long. I had to watch intermittently, as the pacing was incredibly slow at times. It makes sense from a narrative standpoint I suppose to give us a sense of the life of the farmers before the bandits. It was interesting to see how the samurai assimilated life there. I can also see how films like this and others from Kurosawa influenced people like Quentin Tarantino and his ouevre. The way that some of the long, slow shots were set up and executed in this film reminded me of similar techniques used in movies like Kill Bill and Django Unchained. The amount of detail incorporated into the sets of this movie was awesome to see, including the varied locations and natural landscapes. I can see why this film has been so influential given how well executed it is, seamlessly blending multiple story threads into an epic tale of honor, friendship, family, revenge, love, loss, class, war, and defying the odds. The film’s sound, lighting, and cinematography is dynamic and beautiful, meeting my expectations for a film that’s part of the artsy Criterion Collection, which includes another film that this one reminds me of, stylistically at least, called “Wings of Desire.” The final battle scene was tense, and visually appealing, but it still felt somewhat scattered and anticlimactic with the main bandit hardly putting up a fight.
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Judith Kim
10/16/2018 02:23:49 pm
The film I watched was the Seven Samurai. I thought the film itself was beautifully constructed and that there was a mix of action, drama, and occasional humor. The story followed the typical hero’s journey with a call to action, but there were some characteristics that made this film unlike others. For example, I found it actually quite difficult to pick a main protagonist in this film. The film can be seen as a bildungsroman that follows Katsushiro, but the film gives a lot of screen time to other characters and details that it’s really hard to tell. That is not to say that the film was bad, because I think this all worked in favor of it. The film was immersive and emotional and dynamic. Each edit and composition seemed to be carefully timed.
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Michelle Nguyen
10/16/2018 05:24:47 pm
Hi Judith,
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Ryan Askew
10/16/2018 05:30:18 pm
That’s an interesting perspective! I hadn’t considered that Kitsushiro was, or could be seen as, the main protagonist. I suppose it works with him going through the most character development, but I had thought it was meant to be the main samurai. I was also thinking there isn’t really meant to be a protagonist in the traditional sense of the word. The seven samurai as a unit can be seen as such, but given, what’s said at the end, their victory belongs to the farmers. This story is ultimately theirs, as it was about keeping themselves and their livelihoods safe from bandits, increased trade demands, and modern technology.
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Ma. Rebeca Escamilla
10/16/2018 03:01:08 pm
The Seven Samurai
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Cassiel Chadwick
10/16/2018 03:08:09 pm
I watched Charade.
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Michelle Nguyen
10/16/2018 05:21:47 pm
I watched Seven Samurai and I think that for me, it was a great movie. I found myself drawn to the characters, mainly Kambei and Katsushiro. I think the way that the story progressed was slow, but still meaningful to understand each samurai and how the villagers need their help. The relationship-building among the samurai was also entertaining and interesting to watch because each interaction showed different facets of them; each samurai had a unique personality that made them memorable. As I was watching the movie, I noticed that much of the movie is less about the battle and more about the preparation of the battle, which I feel is telling of the true purpose of the film, especially in the ending. The ending sends the message in that war should not be used not for individual gain or for glory, war should be used in the benefit of the victors.
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Turese Anderson
10/16/2018 05:30:42 pm
I was all hyped up to watch Seven Samurai, but then I realized the movie was 3 hours long, and, as you can see here, I started watching the movie less than 3 hours before class.
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Riley Robinson
10/16/2018 05:36:08 pm
I chose to watch Charade, and I found that the writing was all-around fantastic, and the movie kept me interested. Specifically, the aspect of the writing that I liked most was the intrigue and mystery surrounding Cary Grant's character. Over the course of the film, the viewer is forced to change their mind about who he is a number of times, just as Regina does in the actual story. I was stunned when Cary Grant's character went from observing the assailant men from the balcony to talking to them, revealing that he was acquainted with them. I was just as shocked at the end when we find out that he is actually working for the US treasury in the US Embassy. Each time his identity changed, I felt just a fooled as the last time. Overall, I think that Grant's character encapsulates the great writing of this film. The interest the viewer has in his character throughout results from well placed plot twists, and an increasingly greater sense of mystery surrounding the characters' identities and motives.
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Luc Pogue
10/16/2018 05:56:50 pm
For this week I watched Charade. Overall, I liked the movie, and it was certainly nice to see two ‘classic’ Hollywood actors in their prime (in the performances of Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant). The script and general direction of the movie are really good—the viewer is constantly in suspense and the ‘killer’ is shrouded in mystery throughout the movie. The ‘twist’ at the end with the final reveal is unexpected. That being said, the constant ‘mini-twists’ with Cary Grant’s character felt a bit annoying, especially since Audrey Hepburn continued to fall for him despite his constant lies (though she was admittedly a strong character). The direction of the movie was nice as well—one shot that stood out to me in particular was that of the three men at Charles’ funeral. The lighting that showed their silhouettes in the doorway was really cool, and it almost felt like those shots were straight out of a spaghetti Western for some reason. The scenes of Hepburn running from Grant in the subway were also nicely done. The movie felt only a bit dated, though it was mainly due to its commitment to reality—that is, the fight scenes looked like actual fights rather than choreographed spectacles. Gotta love Grant’s transatlantic accent though!
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Cassiel Chadwick
11/23/2018 06:50:04 pm
I tend to appreciate simple fight scenes - especially when paired with simple editing. There's a crispness to it that a lot of films lack. Motivations are clear, action is clear. Less fluff to obscure the fight's trajectory.
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