Tag / 1961

by Jaime Rebanal

Happiness of Us Alone – Review

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This 1961 melodrama from Japan unfortunately doesn’t seem widely known, which is a great shame because it also happens to be one of the most gruelling films ever made for its own sort, for I’ve only been left shaking as it sunk into my mind from only as much as one viewing. I’m still not even sure where to begin if I want to even cover what this movie does right, because I haven’t been so taken in from such an experience and yet I think returning back to watching will prove itself an incredibly difficult task. But as I was sitting there watching Happiness of Us Alone, I was convinced this was something that I so badly needed – and I wouldn’t have found it had another friend of mine not brought it to my attention earlier.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Last Year at Marienbad – Review

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Alienation: “a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person’s affections from an object or position of former attachment,” as the Merriam Webster dictionary defines it. The same source also defines the term “dream” as: a state of mind marked by abstraction or release from reality. Both terms’ meanings carry an apt description that fits so perfectly well when talking about Alain Resnais’s Last Year at Marienbad, for only one viewing can boggle the mind that one won’t even know where to begin when talking about the sort of wonder it creates. But I’ve already watched Last Year at Marienbad numerous times and I’m still left with that befuddling emotion although I know deep down that it truly is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed to have graced the screen. The term “unique” may already be overused a tad but it’s only fitting when describing this sort of experience.

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by Jaime Rebanal

West Side Story – Review

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A part of myself has a soft spot for Hollywood musicals as together with film-noir, they were among some of the first of classic Hollywood films which I had grown around (Singin’ in the Rain was a favourite in my younger years, and still remains one to this day). One of those reasons as to why I still hold an attachment to musicals arises out from West Side Story, which always succeeds with pulling in myself towards all the energy it revels in while it lasts – a joyful, heartbreaking, and all-around blissful experience from start to finish. A glorious update from the setting of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, this may very well be the one interpretation of the story that I enjoy the most. Like Maria sang, she felt pretty. That is certainly what West Side Story is, but more too. Continue reading →