Tag / natalie wood

by Jaime Rebanal

Jaime’s Film Diary: February 28, 2020

In order to continue keeping this site as active as possible while I have not been able to write as many full-length film reviews as I had planned initially, I figured that another solution would have come by in placing my Letterboxd entries starting from the week before here as a placeholder for eventual full-length reviews that are set to come by, if I were able to find the time to write another one. But as is, these are quick thoughts that I figure would be nice to keep afloat so that the site will remain active on a regular basis.

First-time viewings are noted as such. You can follow me on Letterboxd right here.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Rebel Without a Cause – Review

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I’m fairly certain that Nicholas Ray didn’t make Rebel Without a Cause as a teen drama back in its day, the way it could have been perceived during its own time. Had this film been a teen drama reflecting the morals of the youth of the period, it’s easy to say that it didn’t age very well, but perhaps it feels reflective of another image of youth that still carries its own bite today. Though to know the style of Nicholas Ray is to know his own tendencies to present an image from an outlook and then distort it, and on this ground he has proven himself to be one of the finest filmmakers working in Hollywood during its classical period. And although Rebel Without a Cause makes a case for the potential the late James Dean had, there’s all the more reason to see this film as a defining moment of its own era. Teen drama it may not be, but as a distorted teen fantasy it finds its own wonder and becomes something incredible.

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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 →

by Jaime Rebanal

The Searchers – Review

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A lot seems to have changed amidst the perspectives from watching The Searchers at different points of my life. My first viewing from childhood left a mark on my life that has never faded away. Looking at The Searchers amidst a more critical standpoint only further solidifies how highly I think of it. At this point, John Ford has mastered story structure in such a manner that everything is so seamless from start to finish, it could not be any better a film than it already stands out to be. Often hailed as the greatest American western, the reasons behind such a lofty reputation flash so clearly on the screen. In all the beauty which it displays, it is also a film so scathing with its views on the intolerance flooding society that still bites perfectly well today.
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