The Classic 50s Melodrama

Was watching House on Channel 10 tonight and saw this really clever Honda ad - the one where they're advertising the Jazz and it's all set up like a Thomas the Tank Engine episode. Tried to google it but didn't get any relevant hits. But def check it out if any of youse get the time to.

I think today at Uni, even though I'm pretty attentive usually, I actually thought more in depth about the aspects of cinema than I have any other week. This week's topic was mise en scene and the screening was Imitation of Life (1959) directed by Douglas Sirk. Lana Turner as the lead was wonderful and of course, Juanita Moore as the warm, "coloured" maid Annie was excellent. I wasn't sure exactly when Hollywood became comfortable with African Americans in their movies, so I'm guessing it was before 1959. So I learnt heaps about the classical Hollywood melodrama, including their taste for exaggeration. Some parts were just so over the top people laughed, like a bit where Turner's character, Lora, is talking to her daughter and says "Oh I'll just give him up" with the whole wrist to the forehead, closed eyes and head tilted back look. Haha far out.

During the tute, the presentation was based around Once Were Warriors which has highly stylised mise en scene since heaps of things are red in the movie, symbolic of violence or bloodshed. Didn't really matter too much because only the girl who was presenting and our fill in tutor (who's also the lecturer since our male tutor is away for a few weeks having surgery) had seen the movie. Also realised that I am the only male in the tutorial often since one guy has only shown up for the first tute (he may have transferred into another tute) and the dude who is doing the presentation in the last week on Taxi Driver, same as myself, hardly ever comes to class. It's really weird. Sometimes I'm thinking, am I doing the wrong subject? Am I the wrong sexual orientation? Hehe...yes, cheeky me.

Anyway, picked up a few movies I wanna get my hands on namely - Far From Heaven (2002) with Julianne Moore which is a contemporary remake of another Douglas Sirk 50s classic melodrama (All That Heaven Allows, 1955). Also recommended by our lecturer was Velvet Goldmine (1998). I was thinking, "Yeah, maybe I'll try to see that." Then she said "Ewan McGregor is really good in it," and that was the clincher. My favourite two actors if you guys don't already know, are Ewan McGregor and Harrison Ford. It seems that I love every movie they both star in. And most Samuel L. Jackson flicks as well. He's so damn cool. Jules in Pulp Fiction? Nuff said.